I just beat FFVIII! Here is my review.
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It's one of the best FFs but if you didn't deal with the junction system good you'll end up hating the game.
Anyway it have a great story line with awesome Characters and great world map but it have too many summons like Cerberus you can put magic insted of him and I liked Diablos idea when you take him out of the lamb but it's a little weak.
Yea the game is great.
Anyway it have a great story line with awesome Characters and great world map but it have too many summons like Cerberus you can put magic insted of him and I liked Diablos idea when you take him out of the lamb but it's a little weak.
Yea the game is great.
Hrmm...alright. I just beat it the other day and I didn't quite get the ending. Anyone care explaining?
Anywho, it was a good game overall. I loved the GF's and Junction system. Great +, IMO. Ultimecia was actually pretty weak if you had Lion Heart used. =/.
Anywho, it was a good game overall. I loved the GF's and Junction system. Great +, IMO. Ultimecia was actually pretty weak if you had Lion Heart used. =/.
I have just recently Beated FF VIII and it was a blast.
Squll was a little hard to get used to, but he grew on me, And I loved his Lionheart Limit break to death. And I think I'm one of the few who liked Rinoa, I found her energy quite refreshing. Quistis, Zell, Irvine and Selphie were wonderful too, esp Quistis and Zell.
And now for the reason which drew me into the FF VIII story. Edea. Edea is such a beautiful and wicked character. Her design and the atmosphere around her just wowed me. Above all that, her speech was wonderful and was the thing that made me respect Ultimecia. Sadly the highpoint of the game kind of went into a decent after Disc 1. Then after certain events, Ultimecia was shown in Disc 4 and I have to say, her backstory was a little hard to reach initially, I actually read the "Wicked Theory" and when I got to the quote, "You think that I'm Ultimecia? Then so be it, kurse you all, I AM Ultimecia!" I found her to be very interesting and quite complex. So I'm not afraid to say the Ultimecia is ranked up there in my villiain list, but not quite #1.
Anyway, the Junctioning system. I was caught so off-guard after being introduced to this method. Infact I had to restart from scratch just to get even more used to it, And I've learned that Drawing Magic is VERY VERY important. But other than Drawing Magic and Juctionng the magic on some GF skills it's quite easy to move on in the game. Though it was quite a rough start indeed.
Now the music, the music was fantastic! Liberi Fatali, The Landing, The Extreme, Time Compression, Maybe I'm a Lion, The Man with the Machine Gun, Eyes on Me and The Stage is Set are some from the top of my head which made me stall on things in the game to just listen to them a little longer. I'm not a big fan of The Castle though, just couldn't get though to Ultimecia fast enough to get away from it.
Overall it was a great game.
Squll was a little hard to get used to, but he grew on me, And I loved his Lionheart Limit break to death. And I think I'm one of the few who liked Rinoa, I found her energy quite refreshing. Quistis, Zell, Irvine and Selphie were wonderful too, esp Quistis and Zell.
And now for the reason which drew me into the FF VIII story. Edea. Edea is such a beautiful and wicked character. Her design and the atmosphere around her just wowed me. Above all that, her speech was wonderful and was the thing that made me respect Ultimecia. Sadly the highpoint of the game kind of went into a decent after Disc 1. Then after certain events, Ultimecia was shown in Disc 4 and I have to say, her backstory was a little hard to reach initially, I actually read the "Wicked Theory" and when I got to the quote, "You think that I'm Ultimecia? Then so be it, kurse you all, I AM Ultimecia!" I found her to be very interesting and quite complex. So I'm not afraid to say the Ultimecia is ranked up there in my villiain list, but not quite #1.
Anyway, the Junctioning system. I was caught so off-guard after being introduced to this method. Infact I had to restart from scratch just to get even more used to it, And I've learned that Drawing Magic is VERY VERY important. But other than Drawing Magic and Juctionng the magic on some GF skills it's quite easy to move on in the game. Though it was quite a rough start indeed.
Now the music, the music was fantastic! Liberi Fatali, The Landing, The Extreme, Time Compression, Maybe I'm a Lion, The Man with the Machine Gun, Eyes on Me and The Stage is Set are some from the top of my head which made me stall on things in the game to just listen to them a little longer. I'm not a big fan of The Castle though, just couldn't get though to Ultimecia fast enough to get away from it.
Overall it was a great game.
underated
I enjoy FFVIII's plot the most out of all the series so far because I really feel as if we really get to see deep into the main protagonist's (Squall) struggles, how he deals with day to day life, and how he overcomes these issues. The only other character off the top of my head that comes close to this is Cloud from FFVII. Sure Cloud is a headcase in himself, but do we really see everything he has gone through? No. I almost feel as Squall is so much more real than most other characters in other games. How you see in the beginning of the game he was a cold kid with a chip on his shoulder. You see how he warms up to the crew and how he has problems just like everyone else. This is really seen for the first time when he has his emotional outburst in Galbadia Garden, when he thinks to himself that he does not want to be thought of in the past tense like they were all doing with Seifer. That is just an example of how he has problems just like everyone else. Even with the other characters, we see Irvine, Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Seifer, and Ellone, and also Squall, how they grew up together in an orphanage but had forgotten due to the GF's. And Rinoa, she is a different story with the sorceress power and everything, but we still see her backround from General Caraway and Julia? (forgot her name) But when you see this deeper than an I-found-you-lets-fight-together connection between the characters, it makes the experience that much more personal. And the older generation you see of Laguna, Kiros, Ward, and even Raine, Cid and Edea, it also adds to the personal feeling of it all.
I feel like the over all plot of this game is awesome until Ultimecia comes around and begins her time compression. Where did that come from? The plot with Edea gaining rule and creating a nation of terror was great, and even when Adel came around it seemed a bit rushed but everything still held together for the most part. I understand the relations of Ultimecia:Rinoa and Griever:Squall, but I still believe that if it were explained/developed more in the story that the more casual player would appreciate the plot so much more. True, this is at its purest a love story, but the detail and the subtleties of the plot make this game's plot almost if not just as good to sink teeth into as a good novel.
Gameplay wise, this game was a stroll in the park compared to older titles especially FFIV. The fact that it takes only 1000 exp points to level up makes level 100 seem like a very reachable goal as opposed to the ultimate goal that is next to impossible. I very much liked the junction system and the GF ability/character ability system as it made up for the lack of customization with armor and such. But one thing i didnt like was the, i dont want to say non-importance of magic, but how it just became some disposable thing that came and went. In other games magic was a huge deal, (Meteor in FFVII anybody?, black mages? white mages?) In FFV you had to go through hell to get spells like Flare and Holy, in VIII, welp theres a draw point, cool I have the strongest magic in the game. It just all seemed to easy. But regardless of how easy it was, I still said hell yeah when i got the lionheart gunblade and pulled off that finishing move on the last form of ultimecia.
Overall, the somewhat undeveloped but still awesome plot, and amazing character development make up for the joke that is the difficulty of this game.
Oh, and the theme for Fisherman's Horizon was literally reason enough for me to pick up the game and start playing again after a few months, just so i could hear it, it is that good. Love that town except the random card rule that makes me lose every time.
I enjoy FFVIII's plot the most out of all the series so far because I really feel as if we really get to see deep into the main protagonist's (Squall) struggles, how he deals with day to day life, and how he overcomes these issues. The only other character off the top of my head that comes close to this is Cloud from FFVII. Sure Cloud is a headcase in himself, but do we really see everything he has gone through? No. I almost feel as Squall is so much more real than most other characters in other games. How you see in the beginning of the game he was a cold kid with a chip on his shoulder. You see how he warms up to the crew and how he has problems just like everyone else. This is really seen for the first time when he has his emotional outburst in Galbadia Garden, when he thinks to himself that he does not want to be thought of in the past tense like they were all doing with Seifer. That is just an example of how he has problems just like everyone else. Even with the other characters, we see Irvine, Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Seifer, and Ellone, and also Squall, how they grew up together in an orphanage but had forgotten due to the GF's. And Rinoa, she is a different story with the sorceress power and everything, but we still see her backround from General Caraway and Julia? (forgot her name) But when you see this deeper than an I-found-you-lets-fight-together connection between the characters, it makes the experience that much more personal. And the older generation you see of Laguna, Kiros, Ward, and even Raine, Cid and Edea, it also adds to the personal feeling of it all.
I feel like the over all plot of this game is awesome until Ultimecia comes around and begins her time compression. Where did that come from? The plot with Edea gaining rule and creating a nation of terror was great, and even when Adel came around it seemed a bit rushed but everything still held together for the most part. I understand the relations of Ultimecia:Rinoa and Griever:Squall, but I still believe that if it were explained/developed more in the story that the more casual player would appreciate the plot so much more. True, this is at its purest a love story, but the detail and the subtleties of the plot make this game's plot almost if not just as good to sink teeth into as a good novel.
Gameplay wise, this game was a stroll in the park compared to older titles especially FFIV. The fact that it takes only 1000 exp points to level up makes level 100 seem like a very reachable goal as opposed to the ultimate goal that is next to impossible. I very much liked the junction system and the GF ability/character ability system as it made up for the lack of customization with armor and such. But one thing i didnt like was the, i dont want to say non-importance of magic, but how it just became some disposable thing that came and went. In other games magic was a huge deal, (Meteor in FFVII anybody?, black mages? white mages?) In FFV you had to go through hell to get spells like Flare and Holy, in VIII, welp theres a draw point, cool I have the strongest magic in the game. It just all seemed to easy. But regardless of how easy it was, I still said hell yeah when i got the lionheart gunblade and pulled off that finishing move on the last form of ultimecia.
Overall, the somewhat undeveloped but still awesome plot, and amazing character development make up for the joke that is the difficulty of this game.
Oh, and the theme for Fisherman's Horizon was literally reason enough for me to pick up the game and start playing again after a few months, just so i could hear it, it is that good. Love that town except the random card rule that makes me lose every time.
LordLucaBlight
Mad Prince
this game rules. the ultimecia thing was not touched on enough in game, but out of game (it that makes sence... i mean sort of when ure not playing and you think about it) theres alot to look at in regards to her history/motives etc..... shes actually a very deep charcter indeed! may i suggest going to gamefaqs. com and reading the Time/Ultimecia PLot FAQ by Sir Bahamut, TheONionKNight and Squall_Of_Seed...
if you read through that you will have a totally different opinion on Ultimecia and realise how deep she was (and the ff8 story in general). to me it seems Square wanted a viliian that the player had to decipher and wasnt simply preached about in game.... it seems that this move led to very few players ever realising much about Ultimecia at all.
ps, based on your question, this game is freakin briliant. absolutely awesome, and ill stand by that despite what most ppl think
if you read through that you will have a totally different opinion on Ultimecia and realise how deep she was (and the ff8 story in general). to me it seems Square wanted a viliian that the player had to decipher and wasnt simply preached about in game.... it seems that this move led to very few players ever realising much about Ultimecia at all.
ps, based on your question, this game is freakin briliant. absolutely awesome, and ill stand by that despite what most ppl think
omegaweapon1337
The Ultimate Monster!
The game was great! No questions asked! Especially the music and character relations, even through time (Squall/Laguna)! But I HATED having to sell an arm and leg to get cool magic like aura and ultima and items like holy war! I also think some of the monster attacks were kinda ridiculous ( Blobra:StickyIcky, Wedingo: Dribble)! The junction system was great though! It made the GF from flashy spell casts into real semi-tamagochi pets! I almost cried when Seifer killed Odin
(he used to get me out of all sorts of trouble, even helped me getting Mal. tentacles for Doomtrain)! I liked most of the characters, even Ultimecia, whom most people think is too undeveloped (I only didn't like those FH idiots! I seriously wanted to Galbadia burn down FH)!
:ifrit:
(he used to get me out of all sorts of trouble, even helped me getting Mal. tentacles for Doomtrain)! I liked most of the characters, even Ultimecia, whom most people think is too undeveloped (I only didn't like those FH idiots! I seriously wanted to Galbadia burn down FH)!:ifrit:
AmanoLover
Just call my name.....
FFVIII is the first game I played when I have play station, the first time I played I found out boring, because I was dump, I didn't pay attention what Quistis is talked to Squall, I just running here and there do nothing, because I don't know what to do, when I went outside and met Quistis, supposed to go to Fire cavern, but I can't find the exit, jammed there, then I went back into the garden, accidentally I walked into the Training Center w/o junctioning GF, then I got killed.
The next play was 1 year later, I told myself to pay more attention to what they've said, I've read what they talked, but I'm still a dweeb, I can't understand well. Uhh, I guess I just go for the review.
This game is really amazing, no matter in battle system, characters, locations, plot, is a wonderful game I could say that.
I had mad many question for myself, like "if Laguna really married Julia, then perhaps Squall and Rinoa will be brother and sister instead of a couple?", "if Laguna return to see his new born baby Squall, then Squall will never get to know Rinoa and the others?" so far I remember this two stupid questions.
Ultimecia is not as strong as I expected, she acts pretty slow, the first time I fought her, my heart just can't stop beating, but when the battle ends, I like "wth? is that it?" fighting Omega weapon is even more harder than fighting Ultimecia, if you don't have Holy War to cover your party, you'll be death by its greatest attack (what's attack named? I forgot)
The next play was 1 year later, I told myself to pay more attention to what they've said, I've read what they talked, but I'm still a dweeb, I can't understand well. Uhh, I guess I just go for the review.
This game is really amazing, no matter in battle system, characters, locations, plot, is a wonderful game I could say that.
I had mad many question for myself, like "if Laguna really married Julia, then perhaps Squall and Rinoa will be brother and sister instead of a couple?", "if Laguna return to see his new born baby Squall, then Squall will never get to know Rinoa and the others?" so far I remember this two stupid questions.
Ultimecia is not as strong as I expected, she acts pretty slow, the first time I fought her, my heart just can't stop beating, but when the battle ends, I like "wth? is that it?" fighting Omega weapon is even more harder than fighting Ultimecia, if you don't have Holy War to cover your party, you'll be death by its greatest attack (what's attack named? I forgot)
omegaweapon1337
The Ultimate Monster!
Omega weapon's (MY!:cloud
most powerful and most devastating attack is mendigo flame! It burns everything that doesn't have 9999 HP to a pile of ash!
:ifrit:
most powerful and most devastating attack is mendigo flame! It burns everything that doesn't have 9999 HP to a pile of ash!:ifrit:
OniSlash
Protect my friends no matter what the outcome may
All around, i say this game gets a B+ in my opinion. The battle system classic as any other final fantasy -well most of them-. It was cool to see ur weapons change as you upgraded them too, Espcially the Lionheart. The story mode is bout romance and thos are the kind of stories I like most about games. Graphics were good in its time. GF's were amazing I loved them all -mostly Leviathen-. Magics were cool to me also. I just love this game cuz I can brag about it all day.
MysteryMoogle
moogle it up
Got to the second disk and had to stop. I just got too much frustration from this game you know? oh well, i got like 3 other ff fames that need to be beaten
kingpinkill920
Newbie
My Final Fntasy 8 Review!
I am not here to bash this game and piss people off or anything but I really didn't like this game at all! Don't get me wrong, the graphics were a huge upgrade from FF7 and I actually liked the draw system which allowed the player to upgrade stats for their characters depending on the GF your using and how powerful the magic is that you junction. My main beef with this game is the story-line. It absolutely made now sense and it was pretty much a joke! I understood the story for the most part (i think)with the evil sorceress and the whole time warp thing but I thought it was extremely weak. Training establishments (called Gardens I believe) trained recruits over long periods of time to become SeeD's whose main purpose is fight and take out an evil sorceress? Comon! WTF where they thinking when they made the story-line for this FF installment? What made it even worse was that the whole futuristic theme in this game did not go well this this story at all. Final Fantasy 7 was able to get away with this mainly because the story was a lot better but the story was so pitiful in FF8. In many ways, Square kinda redeemed itself with FF9 and I actually enjoyed that game alot. Also, elements in most of the FF's (chocobo's, summoning monsters and s a few dungeons) did not fit this game well IMO. I don't know what the hell happened when they came together and created this cluster-F*&k of story. Its like they just slapped this evil sorceress together just so they can can have a main villain in the end, which all FF's will always have. I didn't feel any kind of emotion or sense of accomplishment when I beat that sorceress when comparing it to the final battles in FF7. I know this isn't much of a detailed review but its just my thoughts on this game. I did not intend to make anybody mad or anything! I typed this really fast and out of the blue so bare with my spelling and grammar errors!
au revoir!
I am not here to bash this game and piss people off or anything but I really didn't like this game at all! Don't get me wrong, the graphics were a huge upgrade from FF7 and I actually liked the draw system which allowed the player to upgrade stats for their characters depending on the GF your using and how powerful the magic is that you junction. My main beef with this game is the story-line. It absolutely made now sense and it was pretty much a joke! I understood the story for the most part (i think)with the evil sorceress and the whole time warp thing but I thought it was extremely weak. Training establishments (called Gardens I believe) trained recruits over long periods of time to become SeeD's whose main purpose is fight and take out an evil sorceress? Comon! WTF where they thinking when they made the story-line for this FF installment? What made it even worse was that the whole futuristic theme in this game did not go well this this story at all. Final Fantasy 7 was able to get away with this mainly because the story was a lot better but the story was so pitiful in FF8. In many ways, Square kinda redeemed itself with FF9 and I actually enjoyed that game alot. Also, elements in most of the FF's (chocobo's, summoning monsters and s a few dungeons) did not fit this game well IMO. I don't know what the hell happened when they came together and created this cluster-F*&k of story. Its like they just slapped this evil sorceress together just so they can can have a main villain in the end, which all FF's will always have. I didn't feel any kind of emotion or sense of accomplishment when I beat that sorceress when comparing it to the final battles in FF7. I know this isn't much of a detailed review but its just my thoughts on this game. I did not intend to make anybody mad or anything! I typed this really fast and out of the blue so bare with my spelling and grammar errors!
au revoir!
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Summoner Yuna
The pirate and the princess
Nice review but we have a stickied thread for reviews. Please look for sticky threads before posting. I'll merge the two threads.
*merged*
*merged*
Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite Final Fantasy game so far. I still have not passed X and even though my fav character is Yuna I still found the story much better of VIII. Oh and Right now I can not even compare Rinoa and Yuna lol. This game's gameplay was awesome.
took me a while to get used to it and actually beat it. Great game! I think it's wayyy better than 9. storyline wise, i think it was pretty good and i like how the relationship grew between Squall and Rinoa though. The Ending is probably the best I've witnessed for a FF game. It really does end in a good way also. B+ for me.
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Let's try to remember that this is a thread for reviews only, we have discussion threads stickied where you can discuss the game ^^
The Official FFVIII Review
I'm breaking it down into several different sub-categories and rating each one on a 1-10 system. The average will be the overall score.
Story - 8.5
The story itself, was brilliantly thought of, a fantastic idea, and beautiful grouping all-in-all. The dream world aspect was also an ingenious idea, throwing another set of people's story into the mix and connecting it to the main characters was great! But it was also somewhat sporadic, in the fact that it was not until very late in the game that the "Main Conflict" was actually understood. Where there were obvious sub-conflicts, if you will, the story doesn't base all conflicts on one specific source, as most RPG's do. It wasn't a horrible idea, square was trying something different, it just didn't pan out as well as most had hoped.
Gameplay - 9
The gameplay was fun, exciting, pretty action packed (after all the tutorials and what-not in the beginning) and it was easy to get into. GFs took the "summon" aspect of other FF titles, and turned it into something else entirely, but in a great way. The limit breaks were fun, and they involved the player with many of them such as Renzokuken needing an R1 press at precise times, Duel needing a combination of button presses, and the ever popular Slot as well. The junction system was also pretty well thought out. The only slight issues I have is that the junction system took a while to get used to and drawing magic, as everyone knows, is a pain in the ass.
Side-Quests - 9.5
I really enjoyed all of the side-quests. The Triple-Triad card game was probably one of the funnest FF mini-games I've ever encountered. It requires searching for cards, people to give you cards and monsters to fight for cards. And the game itself isn't half bad either, a little difficult to understand, a better tutorial would've been nice, but once you get the hang of it, it's really quite fun. The quests for GFs were fun and also helpful once you obtained them. And Of course chocobos are back, however, the mini-game around them isn't as much fun as FFVII.
Graphics & Sound - 10
For its time, Final Fantasy VIII was the pinnacle of graphic evolution. FMV cut-scenes are beautiful, and the proportionate character design was ahead of its time. The sound and music in this one is just what you would expect from the FF series, amazing!
Overall - 9.25
This game was, overall, exceptional! It also has great replay value as, most likely, you won't understand everything, do all the side-quests, or get everyones ultimate weapon the first time through. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't picked this one up, give it a shot!
9.25
Average is the sum of all scores [37] divided by the amount of categories [4]
I'm breaking it down into several different sub-categories and rating each one on a 1-10 system. The average will be the overall score.
Story - 8.5
The story itself, was brilliantly thought of, a fantastic idea, and beautiful grouping all-in-all. The dream world aspect was also an ingenious idea, throwing another set of people's story into the mix and connecting it to the main characters was great! But it was also somewhat sporadic, in the fact that it was not until very late in the game that the "Main Conflict" was actually understood. Where there were obvious sub-conflicts, if you will, the story doesn't base all conflicts on one specific source, as most RPG's do. It wasn't a horrible idea, square was trying something different, it just didn't pan out as well as most had hoped.
Gameplay - 9
The gameplay was fun, exciting, pretty action packed (after all the tutorials and what-not in the beginning) and it was easy to get into. GFs took the "summon" aspect of other FF titles, and turned it into something else entirely, but in a great way. The limit breaks were fun, and they involved the player with many of them such as Renzokuken needing an R1 press at precise times, Duel needing a combination of button presses, and the ever popular Slot as well. The junction system was also pretty well thought out. The only slight issues I have is that the junction system took a while to get used to and drawing magic, as everyone knows, is a pain in the ass.
Side-Quests - 9.5
I really enjoyed all of the side-quests. The Triple-Triad card game was probably one of the funnest FF mini-games I've ever encountered. It requires searching for cards, people to give you cards and monsters to fight for cards. And the game itself isn't half bad either, a little difficult to understand, a better tutorial would've been nice, but once you get the hang of it, it's really quite fun. The quests for GFs were fun and also helpful once you obtained them. And Of course chocobos are back, however, the mini-game around them isn't as much fun as FFVII.
Graphics & Sound - 10
For its time, Final Fantasy VIII was the pinnacle of graphic evolution. FMV cut-scenes are beautiful, and the proportionate character design was ahead of its time. The sound and music in this one is just what you would expect from the FF series, amazing!
Overall - 9.25
This game was, overall, exceptional! It also has great replay value as, most likely, you won't understand everything, do all the side-quests, or get everyones ultimate weapon the first time through. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't picked this one up, give it a shot!
9.25
Average is the sum of all scores [37] divided by the amount of categories [4]
Completley original review by: A20
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CetraProductions
ShinRa Guard
you're saying there were no sidequests? basically getting every single GF was a sidequest or at least kind of secret (drawing from bosses). without a guide i think the only GFs you'd probably have would be the starting three (counting ifrit). but i'll agree that the main characters were great and that ultimecia was kinda randomly thrown in. i'll give ff8 an A-