I just beat FFVIII! Here is my review.

Sora's Final Fantasy VIII Review

Okay me and a friend just played FFVIII and this is what I have to say.

First disk, everything goes smoothly. If you learn the -J abilities on this disk you'll be doing yourself a favor. Drawing 100 of every magic is a must although I can see not getting Demis and triples from diablos and Cerberus. They are tough. The game itself is packed with all the characters, good GF's, nice spells, but really lacks good transportation. \

Disk 2 is where you finally after a while... ... ... get to move around the world. It has some cool ends to it and like the whole game can get kind of confusing to find the right spot at the right time. Its a long game but something about it makes me think wow this game is tiring. This disk is where I picked up my level 2 magic, drain, refines, and tons of rare cards.

Disk 3 is the best disk. Get Rinoa and the ship then level, find items, upgrade weapons, and do every side quest there is. What me and my friend did was get 6 of every scroll. str, Hp, magic, vit., spirit, speed, and luck. Now I know there are items that let the characters learn Evade-J but you need 50 barriers for 1 ageis armlet. With lets say 3 GF's having the evd-J you'd still need 150 barriers. Thats like 70 behemoths battles and the only place I know where they spawn is around Esther. The queen of cards quest is also a nice factor and if you want you can get every card on disk 3. Easy right?

Disk 4. Well after disk 3 your just proceeding cause there's nothing left to do but fight Omega. Hopefully you keep a save on Disk 3. With all 6 elemental GF's with all 7 -J scrolls on and everyone equip with 100 of the most powerful magic, Ultima, Pain, Meltdown, Flare, Meteor, Holy, Tornado, refect, Haste, Triple, ect, everything is too easy. No need going to the world map looking to do a side quest in Winhill. All te towns are barred. So yeah make sure you got that disk 3 save.

Overall the game (if you know what your doing) is to easy. Early in it I found myself having to switch Junctions so much and wasting so many cure spells it sucked. Plus some of the items (cursed spikes) are so hard to find and if you want your Characters to have 6 of all the GF learning items, your in for a good sit down. 100 cursed spikes = 1 dark matter. 1 dark matter = 1 luck scroll or 1 rosetta stone. thats 1400 cursed spikes I got in order to get what I wanted. Sure I didn't have to do it that way but with all the strain of not wanting to play the game ever again + wanting to have the best file, I had to.

This game after you get real smart is a walkthrough. I give it an A cause you can dig deep. Maybe one day I'll try to farm some str ups as well as spd ups and all but for now, the game is old.
 
Here is my review:

Final Fantasy VIII​


Gameplay: 2/5 – Was quite average. The ATB system was the same as in FFVII and the Limit Break system was almost the same as well (I liked the FFVII's more).
The junctions system was average, as it was impossible to do some cool combinations of magic and the like. I liked the idea that you have a certain amount of magic.​
It was kind of cool in my opinion. The only thing that really ruined it for me, was the too useful GF system. I am not the type of person who won't use the most useful thing just because it is becomes annoying (because of repetitive usage).

Summoning a GF offers two things: it can be used as a shield during the summoning process and has (usually) a very strong attack power (more powerful than what characters can do without Limit Break). Seeing those two advantages of summoning a GF, I just couldn't avoid using them in almost every battle. Thus the battles became repetitive and action-less (only watching the long GF scene) .​

Plot: 5/5 – A very solid and interesting plot. It has some expectable and unexpectable parts and was overall very good. I really enjoyed the end as well.​


Character: 4/5 – I very liked most of the characters (Squall, Qustis, Selphie, Rinora).
I didn't give it 5 out of 5 only because I think that the story (past, role in the plot and the like) of some characters wasn't deep enough.​

Soundtrack: 5/5 – It has many of my most favorite soundtracks and probably the best of all FFs I have played so far. I especially like the boss battle theme and the Liberi Fatali.​

Graphics: 4/5 – During FMV it was totally awesome. As for in-game and during battle graphics, it was very nice.​

Enjoyment: 5/5 – I very enjoyed the game, especially because of the amazing plot.
It was boring sometimes because of the GF, but I totally forget such things when I enjoy the plot of a game. Besides, after learning the No Encounters ability, it was very fun.​


Overall: 4.34/5​
 
kingpinkill920 said:
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!
Click to expand...

another ff7 fanboy... =.= well, can't help it when ff7 fanboys compare 8 to 7... i mean what's the point? 7 is 7, 8 is 8... different series, different ff world... both have unique story if you'd just really think it through... maybe you just didn't pay much attention to the game itself because you were too busy finding faults so you can compare it to your "oh-so-mighty" ff7... the fanboy that you are.. =.=

@darkclaymore if i have to rate the gameplay, i would rate it 5/5... the junction system is easy to use when you get the hang of it. you can abuse it to your hearts content if you just know how to take advantage of it. and the way the monsters level as you do renders old-school power leveling useless early in the game. fufufu >:))
 
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Well, here's my review:
Disk 1: draw some rare magic ( in boss- battle).
The beginning of the disk, i must prepare to make the character become stronger. For me, this time is the most bored- time. Fightting with the fish, but i did not kill them, i used the ability card to collect them- acquire AP. After i learned the abilty Card-Mod,and some abilty to exchange the item into magic. i go meet the Queen Card, change the trading rule to all. Then i came back to the Garden, duel with every one.
Get the card, exchange them into item, then to magic. Use item to upgrade weapon. The most powerful magic i had in the beginning of disk 1 was Tornado or Flare.
With Str + 60% ( learned from Ifrit), i made Squall ( only lvl 10) has the strength of 130-150 ( equip 100 tornados). HP : 3000 >>>4000.

With that power, none boss in disk 1 +2 shall stand in our way. One hit for seifer and one hit for Edea ( in the ending of disk 1).

I didn't train for exp/ lvl. I waitted to disk 3, then i had some command ability like : HP up, str up, ..etc. I went to Island closet to Hell/ Heaven to train. With that strategy the character will be faster maximum stats.
The remain thing were easy.

One more thing, the side quest were very interesting. And i thought the most difficult side quest was the quest about the secret in Obel-Lake.
 
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my favorite part of final fantasy was the card games although they got boring after while it was still fun for me to play'em from time to time

Mod edit: Please put more effort into your posts. This is a review of FFVII thread, not a "simply put what you liked" thread. Thanks :)
 
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I hated drawing from monsters, and some parts were very boring for me, especially looking for Raijin in disc 2 balamb. The FMVs still impress me, even today. The game was pretty easy overall, and Omega wasn't much of a challenge. Squall is a cool character, but I don't like his personality, and I'd rate the game a 8/10
 
My Review of FFVIII is that I'm very impressed with it. Yes at some parts, they were tedious however, the way the story progressed made the game worthwhile. As I was reading through everyone's posts and reviews, especially regarding the whole scenerio of Ultimecia being developed. It makes sense that she is Rinoa's and Squall's internal fears. Throughout the game or the ending I should say, there seemed to be a really interesting connection between the three. There was even talk if Ultimecia is Rinoa or vice versa.
 
My Review of FFVIII

Story
The Story of FF8 is amazing, nothing less. A love story, intertwined with an sci-fi, adventure theme. Many people talk about how compelling FF7's story was but i think 8 has the superior story. Firstly it is a love story, between two people who maybe shouldn't fall in love. A mercenary trained to defeat the sorceress and the girl who herself is the next sorceress, of course the mercenary doesn't like her initially as he has a problem opening up to people and finds it hard to give himself to her, however it is only when she is taken from him that he realises he needs her. Aswell as a love story the game also has a twisting tale of wars, sorcery and just down right action all rapped around the central theme. 8 also has some parts that arn't spelled out to the player liked in many FF story's, leaving you to ponder and come to your own conclusions. 10/10

Gameplay
The game play itself is very strong. Battle's are fun and not as tedious as they grow to be later in the series. Some people really dislike the Draw/Junction system the game uses but i really enjoy it. It gives the player a sense of freedom to make their characters exactly how they want them. I will admit that drawing can be a pain at times but is still cool to have a different way of obtaining magic. The games difficulty isn't to much of an issue because if you want it to be harder you just dont junction as strongly or don't spam GF because when you know the game and how to use it, it can be a very easy stroll through. 9/10

Graphics
Graphically it was very impressive when it was released over 10 years ago. Of course now a days it can't stand up to what is pumped out so i base this on graphics during 1999. It stands out as one of the very best of the time and still ranks up high in the PS1's entire catalogue, very impressive cinematic scenes and some quality animation make FF8 a graphical wizz kid. 10/10

Soundtrack
The score is simply stunning nothing else can describe it. Some of the peices are Nobuo's finest work while others are still memorable. Some peices in perticular that need to be heard; The Salt Flats, A Sacrafice, The Oath and Liberi Fatali just to name a few. 10/10

Characters
The characters of FF8 are one of the reasons the game is so good. From Squall, the loner teenager afraid of letting himself be loved, to Irvine the big headed love machine, FF8's characters are wide and varied but all come together one way or another to fight a common cause. For me FF8 has the best characters not FF7. 10/10

Enjoyment
The enjoyment is a big fat 10/10. Simply amazing game that i reply over and over and find myself more in love with it each time.

Overall
For me it IS the Final Fantasy of Final Fantasies. 10/10
 
Oh I decided to add more to my review. I feel since FFVIII is my most Favorable game out of the series, I should give my review more effort ^_^ like I had done with The FFIX and FFX reviews.

Characters~ The characters, I loved Rinoa and Squall the most for many reasons. Seeing how their bond grew and playing the game following their journey or story just made it that more engrossing to get into. Sure, Rinoa is the most strongest Final Fantasy female however, she represents so many values and strength that I admire her for. Squall I could relate to a lot, afraid to get close to people and opening up. I understand how that feels, then Rinoa comes along and she provides that special push to lighten his heart; to show him that its alright to express your feelings;that its okay to let others know whats on your mind. But, more importantly communication was the basic key in this game. Communication is essiental to having a healthy mental mind. Letting others know how you feel but more importantly, how they feel.
Squall practicaly fights his way for Rinoa.

Story~Wonderful! :D
Fufilling, it doesnt ever need to be changed or revised at all. It truly shows how amazing fate can be.

Battle System~ I enjoyed it though the Gf's could use more development, but as far as boosting them, that added to the mix good. The Magic scenerio was annoying but strangely it was fun. Especially casting haste. I didnt know it could be so useful. Right now I'm in disc 3, which I have beaten the game many many times. I just like starting over and replaying it cause now I have like 76 hastes. xD Oh oh Carbuncle is adorable! <33 Loved how they made him.

Graphics~ Wasnt high tech or anything but it was enough for me to enjoy it
and love it ^_^ They did a wonderful job of creating the appearances of the characters. Each were very different plus the cutscenes, were just remarkable and beautiful <33

Review Rating~
10/10

Typo Error~

"Isnt the most"
 
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i agree there are to many ff7 fanboys/girls they piss me off and just find the flaws in 8 well i guess i should go through 7 and find the many flaws in that.
but as for my review for the game i would give it at 5/5
 
Final Fantasy VIII had a nice charm to it, like any FF should, but some things about it definitely had me disappointed. A prime example: The draw system was great until about half-way through the game, in which magic doesnt really amount to much when it comes to thoroughly kicking some ass. Support spells were the only ones worth casting// And having no armor upgrades or consistent progression in weapons just didnt leave you much to look foward to. Obtaining GF's were the only critical thing to do besides going with the otherwise linear gameplay, which isn't much of a filler when you consider the rest.
Im not saying FF8 was bad. It was a great rpg, even by FF standards, but it needed more than Ultima and Omega to salvage its potential glory.
 
I replayed 8 a few months ago and I enjoyed it more than when I originally played it. As opposed to when I replayed 7 (my expectations were to high for 7 being it was in my eyes the greatest game). Also this time around I played with Boco in choco-world and this nets you some awesome stuff you can't really get elsewhere.

This game had some real forward thinking- a blog, online tutorials who would've guessed the ubiquity of both of those now?

I love the actual places in the game, the locals; that the world was modern (they played bball and hockey!). The cities/towns were original and diverse from each other- fisherman's horizon was nothing like Esther which is nothing like Galbaldia which is very different from Wine Hill etc. I just wish there were more places the whole southern continent for what 2 places?

I loved that there were lots of vehicals and other transportation means- hell you drove a friggen garden. The card game was complex enough to be interesting and yet easy enough to understand all aspects quickly enabling you to play it often and that cards led to tangible things was cool.

I didn't like the fact that when you used a spell you had junction you weakened that stat category but other than that the junction system was cool. It allowed for lot of customization. is it better to null the effects of different elements or statuses or should I buff up my strength or hp? Also cool was that enemies leveled up with you so that traveling from place to place wasn't suddenly a joke which happens a ton in the other FF's (travel the high road in X right before you go into sin and see what a joke it has become); I wish FF would bring this back.

The only lame plot part (other than laguna being a friggen whackjob) was that this "random" group of kids happened to be in the nursery at the same time and all knew each other. It would've been more realistic to say they had all gone through the nursery but maybe not all at once. Other than that the plot was neat- very different than other FF's.

It was not 7 or 10 but I would put this right behind those 2 tied with 6, ahead of 9,12,13.
 
After playing FFVII my expectations were unrealistically high going into FFVIII, perhaps leading me to not enjoy the game as much as I probably would have if I hadn't have experienced the paradigm-shifting, masterpiece that was FFVII. The opening scene to FFVIII is still brilliant, and the orchestra that accompanied it was excellent, it's *definitely* one of the best openings to a game I've ever seen, just behind Ominishu 3. The CGI and animation is stunning. I sometimes go onto YouTube and watch it. Every time the orchestra kicks in I get nerd-bumps.

My first play-through of the game wasn't great probably because I was young and it was such a dramatic change from FFVII. However, a few years ago I played the game again and now I consider it to be one of the best in the series. Where do I start? The characters were pathos-engendering, each with their own unique idiosyncrasies and foibles, Irvine's inappropriate flirtation made me laugh, Zell's cocky bumptious attitude always made for good comedy, and Squall's and Rhinoa's 'will they won't they' relationship had me on tenterhooks throughout (that moment in the Ragnarok hit me like a nuclear strike to the tear-ducts). Sure, Squall was monosyllabic and po-faced, but I think that lent well to his character, and it was interesting watching Rhinoa trying to make him open up and let other people in. And after reading the thought-provoking 'Squall is dead' theory I now have a whole new appreciation for the game. The story was totally bonkers though. *What* are the chances that *all* the characters just happened to be in the same nursery together as kids? Talk about a curve ball.

Gameplay-wise, the Junctioning-system I thought was unreasonably complicated and the draw system was an absolute bane, considering every time you used a magic spell your character's stats incrementally went down and they became weaker discouraging you from using magic and instead just hitting the 'attack' button. The limit breaks I think gave you an unfair advantage, because you could just inflict damage on yourself until your health was low enough and then go berserk with Zell's unstoppable combo rush, which you could drag on for ages, providing you had nifty fingers and knew the right combination of buttons. I killed most bosses in the game by just activating Zell's limit. What were the developers thinking? Also, I didn't like how each boss levelled-out to suit your abilities; that was sort of patronising and weakened the challenge considerably. The rate at which your characters levelled-up was too fast as well, and the amount of distractions once you had completed the main game was paltry compared to FFVII.

Visuals were great and the realistically proportioned characters were nice, but the graphics when you were in-battle were noticeably of lesser quality than FFVII.

Oh, and I still think Seifer is the best character in any FF game.
 
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I like the beginning... I like the feel of it or something. Like the tutorials, while annoying (and can be skipped) just give me this awesome feeling... for some reason.

Anyway, magic is useless in this game. It's weak and is only good for healing/junctioning/support.

Other than that I love this game.

Good review. <3
 
I am on the same side when it comes to the Ultimecia story. I feel as if there was a lack of storyline with Ultimecia, I would have liked to have got real feelings for her but there is not much of her. But I love the Rinoa and Squall story :D
 
Beat FFVIII recently

Final Fantasy VIII is one of the best games I have played in a long time. The music, environment, atmosphere, along with other qualities are not in RPG games much anymore. I beat both Ultima and Omega weapon, and Omega weapon took me 5 1/2 hours. Even with 100 holy wars, theres still an element of luck necessary to win this battle because sometimes he gets lucky before you can use another holy war. When that happens, I prayed to god himself that he would not use Terra Break and annihilate my entire party with 4,000+ damage each hit. He almost wiped out my party again with that attack but Zell somehow managed to survive with about 5,000HP left (all my characters were level 100 with 9,999 HP). That battle even with Holy Wars is one of the toughest opponents I have ever faced, but least it made the final battle seem like a joke:gasp:. Currently I am working on FFIX on disc three at Mount Gulug. I am also at the end of FFIV trying to figure out how to beat Zeromus. Will get back to work on FFXIII once I am finished with these two FF titles.
 
I must say the story with Squall and the gang I loved so much I loved Squall as a
Character and I loved the love story with Squall and Rinoa. I love the past they all had togther but I did think that Ultimecia could have been so much better. I would have loved to hear more about why she was the way she was.

 
So, I -- like many others here -- hold 7 dear to my heart. When going into 8, I firmly reminded myself to not compare 8 to 7 (though the game makes it a little HARD after a while) and to just enjoy the game.

This is truly a game worthy of the Squaresoft pedigree. The characters were fun and engaging and I delighted in hearing what they had to say next. Squall makes me laugh like hell, especially when Rinoa hauled his sorry ass out onto the dance floor. That's a treasured moment there. ^_^ He's a well-developed character that grows appropriately to his situation, which is always a joy to see in games.

Sure, some of the characters were annoying (Zell, Selphie) but they weren't nearly as annoying as some other characters from other games are. *coughff10cough* They were just annoying in some places, but it stopped there.



Fun and interesting characters that I want to know more about? Check.



The junction system was definitely unique, but as some have said, magic doesn't really mean much when you get past a certain point in the game. I also deplore the loss of spells that affect all the characters at once. In 7, at least one had Big Guard, in 12, one had Protectaga and Shellga. But in 8? You just have to manually cast protect for EVERYONE individually and that quickly became tedious. I also missed having accessories and armor to equip, since those so often came in handy. Fighting marlboros? Equip Ribbon! Equip Bowline Sash! Equip Star Pendent! But not in 8 -- you just get a percentage against it IF you have the right GF's.

For all that though, it was incredibly well balanced and it worked, against my expectations. I think this is the earliest FF I've played where stats matter. That's a huge bonus in my book so it gets props for that. And needless to say, the idea of 'free summons' (I don't have to give up an MP :P) was very appealing to me. Diablos + Quezocoatl = dead Propagators everywhere. :griin:

Also, I enjoyed using the gunblade R1 feature in combat every time. It gave me an unprecedented control on damage which was excellent for when I wanted to steal from monsters. However, the 7 limit breaks are still the best of the best of the best. That will never change. While it was nice that you could spam limit breaks in 8, I still like the reliability that 7 gave me in that matter. I've yet to play an FF with limit breaks as satisfying as those in 7, so it cannot be helped.



Unique gameplay that I can toy around with and have fun with? Check.



Now for the story! I found the story very, very, very engaging and it made sense. I don't know why there are all these 'theories' running about. It made perfect sense to me (with a few added mysteries, but then FF games are known for them and it just added flavor to the setting for me.) The Laguna dreams actually make sense when you play the game through and it's quite ingenious. The only thing I didn't understand was the 'time compression'.

I also quite liked that the characters took time to SLOW DOWN and EXPLAIN things to you, O Player, and it made the story just that much more enjoyable. I think 8 trumps 7 when it comes to story-telling. 7 was specifically written to make the player speculate which is a right pain in the ass (and of all people, I should know since I made the mega post explaining the plot on the 7 board) whereas 8 was written in the exact opposite. I enjoyed having a permanent window into Squall's head and see all the quirky things he thinks, but never says. It made his character all the more enjoyable and sympathetic.

Needless to say, I enjoyed this very much and think this game is a true boon to the FF series.



Unique and interesting storyline that I enjoy and want to see more of? Check.



I like this game! It's a great game that should be played by everyone and the story is quite enjoyable whether or not you really mind that kind of thing. The characters are fun and no one need fear a love triangle. In this game, the couple is SO OFFICIAL, they made it the game logo. :dave:




But other than that, I have one major complaint about this game. None of the bosses give you EXP. This, I do not appreciate. This, I do not think is amusing. It isn't even witty. I like getting a hunk of EXP for my characters as a reward for a job well done, but nooooo, not FF8. That pissed me off a little. I got sick and tired of fighting a boss and not getting a drop half the time and only getting a handful of AP that I could easily farm from cactuars.
 
Dragon Mage said:
The junction system was definitely unique, but as some have said, magic doesn't really mean much when you get past a certain point in the game. I also deplore the loss of spells that affect all the characters at once. In 7, at least one had Big Guard, in 12, one had Protectaga and Shellga. But in 8? You just have to manually cast protect for EVERYONE individually and that quickly became tedious. I also missed having accessories and armor to equip, since those so often came in handy. Fighting marlboros? Equip Ribbon! Equip Bowline Sash! Equip Star Pendent! But not in 8 -- you just get a percentage against it IF you have the right GF's.
Click to expand...

I love your review, this is the only part I have a minor quibble with - while it does suck to cast Protect three times, there's always the Triple spell. But Triple junctions EXTREMELY well to Speed, so you wouldn't want to cast it...then there's Cerberus, which is really your only alternative. But at least he casts Double and Triple on everyone.

Downside? The more you use GFs, the more your SeeD rank goes down...and your paychecks are the only steady source of income you have.
 
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