Final Fantasy 8 - A critical reevaluation

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Omega weapon was awesome.

So was Ultimecia's castle, which I think is the most beautiful environment ever made in a video game; it really is incredible.

Hmmm, I beat Emerald weapon without any fancy tricks, but not Ruby (protip: KotR with HP absorb and mime  :wink:)

I used holy wars for Omega, but not any one hit kill moves (and wasn't it Selphie's, not Quistis's). Although the way I attacked him does remind me of one real flaw the game had: allowing meltdown-aura-Renzokuken combos.

I never bothered with Ozma; I suppose I didn't get into 9 as much as I got into the previous two.

And I'll confess to using Zanmato a few times during the Dark Aeon quest (but not every time; fighting the Dark Magus Sisters without it is brilliant  :mrgreen:)
 
ahhh  yes was Selphy ;)  Quistsis had those crappy enemy skills.

Well I will be making sure you won't be getting away with those again with my small mod.  Hope you check it out when it is made and see what you think.
 
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I agree, FF8 was really very well-written, and conveyed a great story. Frankly, there is no such thing as "too emo". It did make Squall less easy to relate to for many people. But, in fact, that was a slight risk on Square's behalf (though not a huge one, considering Japanese youth culture at the time), and I applaud them for taking it in the name of conveying a true-to-vision story. But it didn't make Squall a bad character, at least not in the scope of FF8. Squall was certainly a believable and well-made character, and his half-hearted apathy was right on the mark for that kind of persona.

I've known people who fit the bill as well - very introverted, allowing their own fear and past trauma to dictate their rational mind, and using a false sense of apathy toward the outside world to rationalize/justify it all. Those people may not be very likeable, but understanding what's at their core, beyond their emo exterior, and hidden (or perhaps even flaunted) trauma/weakness, is important in being able to tolerate and/or empathize with them.

Perhaps, that which causes us to dislike a character for its emo persona, is invoking a little bit of Squall in us in and of itself. ;)
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i found it really easy to relate to squall. heck, i could go as far as say i was the same.

"everyone has to take care of themselves" attitude is what describes him best. everybody has problems they have to take care of. but i do not find it humiliating/wrong to ask for/give help if necessary.
 
It took me about 3 playthroughs to realise Laguna was Squall's father.
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I didn't know that at all :0
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It's so subtly hinted at that you shouldn't feel bad coming out of it not knowing it. There's a combination of about three short and semi-unimportant scenes and a VERY cryptic one-liner by "Ward" (I say that because it's the older one that can't talk) that are your only clues. It does make the SquallxRinoa love story much more interesting, however.
Overall, it's not a bad game and there were parts that I enjoyed, but I still think it would have made a better movie/book. Screw "Spirits Within" and make this the movie. That would have made a good movie.

It's really IX that's underrated. I loved every minute of it and love playing it over and over. The characters have more personality. I still hate X and I'm surprised that it's number 1 on that list. I gave that game all the way to the end to be redeeming and found nothing in it. I just last night decided that I needed to give XII a try. I don't know how that will turn out. Here's hoping...
TotA is number 44 and it looks like it's the number one Tales game. Not surprising, really. The others just weren't as grand overall I don't think. There were just so many good eye-popping moments in it. Akzeriuth and the Sephiroth trees and all that...
 
That really was an interesting read.

I'd like to see a project dedicated to retranslating Final Fantasy 8 the same way as we're doing with 7 right now. I can't help but feel some things might have gotten lost in translation, y'know?
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I'm playing through the game again for the first time in a few years, and I might be up for this.  I don't have the mad programming skills that some of you have, but I can translate pretty well.

It might be fun to do a reimagined version of this game with a better translation and a few other flaws fixed -- it's always bugged me that there are no hints about some of the easy-to-miss stuff.  In particular, I would have liked to know that it's OK to wander around a bit after becoming a SeeD (the rules against talking to people are off) -- you can rent a car and go up to Dollet from Timber if you like! -- and that there are two GFs on your study panel.  Oh, and Cid should just hand you the Battle Meter!  :-D
 
That really was an interesting read.

I'd like to see a project dedicated to retranslating Final Fantasy 8 the same way as we're doing with 7 right now. I can't help but feel some things might have gotten lost in translation, y'know?
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I'm playing through the game again for the first time in a few years, and I might be up for this.  I don't have the mad programming skills that some of you have, but I can translate pretty well.

It might be fun to do a reimagined version of this game with a better translation and a few other flaws fixed -- it's always bugged me that there are no hints about some of the easy-to-miss stuff.  In particular, I would have liked to know that it's OK to wander around a bit after becoming a SeeD (the rules against talking to people are off) -- you can rent a car and go up to Dollet from Timber if you like! -- and that there are two GFs on your study panel.  Oh, and Cid should just hand you the Battle Meter!  :-D
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If you're interested in this when you play through it still, give me a PM or add me to msn. I can't translate, but I'd invest the time in changing the script and examining lines and whatnot after certain parts are translated.
 
I actually loved FF8. FF7 is naturally my favorite, simply because of the story (I've yet to see a more mentally twisted protagonist in any game), but FF8 was close. It is a beautiful game, and the story showed signs of brilliance... it just wasn't translated into English all that well, and I thought they dropped the ball with some of the character motivations, but in general the story was very good.
 
I just last night decided that I needed to give XII a try. I don't know how that will turn out. Here's hoping...
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I loved the battle system in XII. The story isn't the most interesting, but the encounters are less random and more fun than in other FF games, IMO. In fact, the story could have been complete trash, or even the story from Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, and that battle system would have made it worthwhile.
 
Oh, and junctioning 100 Death (I think it was Death) to Squall's gun blade made the game ridiculously easy, even at level 100. But it was so much fun! Slashboom -- dead!

In truth, I never had a problem with the junction system. Personally, it just meant I didn't use magic much unless the fight was quite difficult. Really, come to think of it, my biggest gripe with FF8 was the whole orphanage plot device. Did every character have to have such elaborate connections with each other? Just seemed to mar an otherwise wonderful story.
 
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now that i look back i faintly recall the orphanage deal.

can someone remind me the details on that? i can't remember the story for ff8. in fact, i cannot remember how squall ended up in balamb seed...or why seifer went with the sorceress...or why galbadia attacked balamb....

holy $^!* i can't remember more than half of the story!!
 
Neither can i haha.

I got to the end of the game, had three level 100's And like.. the rest 30 ish, Got to the end, made me split everyone up and ended up being i HAD to have my low levels in one team haha. So i was boned and stopped playing XD
 
now that i look back i faintly recall the orphanage deal.

can someone remind me the details on that? i can't remember the story for ff8. in fact, i cannot remember how squall ended up in balamb seed...or why seifer went with the sorceress...or why galbadia attacked balamb....

holy $^!* i can't remember more than half of the story!!
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Heh, I had to think for a while to remember the details, but basically... all of the SeeDs came from one orphanage, only they had forgotten it because they all used Guardian Forces (GFs). Furthermore, the orphanage had been run by none other than Edea, the sorceress who was being controlled by Ultimecia. It all just seemed a little too convenient if you know what I mean. Like they were trying so hard to figure out a way to connect everybody, but really, they didn't need such a hokey plot device. In my opinion anyway.

But I did love the overall story... just not that part of it. Maybe a better translation would have helped, but I remember the moment falling flat and it being pretty easy to jump out of my suspension of disbelief.

Oh, and you should definitely look into finishing the game at some point hellbringer! It has my favorite ending in any FF game save Tactics.
 
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In truth, I never had a problem with the junction system. Personally, it just meant I didn't use magic much unless the fight was quite difficult
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I loved the junction system, eventually. It took me forever to finally understand it, because it was too complicated and the menu for using it was confusing and poorly implemented, but the ideas behind it were good and once I got used to it I couldn't live without it.
 
It would have been cooler is magic didn't get used up.

I hated that my options were use magic, get weaker, Or stay strong, no magic
 
It would have been cooler is magic didn't get used up.

I hated that my options were use magic, get weaker, Or stay strong, no magic
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Get enough magic = use it,still be strong

 :-P it really isnt taking that much time.
 
I just played it again on my laptop while on vacation... I forgot just how much I enjoyed playing this game!

It really is very under appreciated. Sure, aspects of the combat mechanics could be a little less frustrating, but for me, that's a minor trifle compared to the great story. I would have to agree with the reviewer mentioned at the outset of the article concerning the plot. One of the strong points of the story is that it knows what it wants to do right from the beginning, and rarely strays, whereas in most FF games, the plot is typically all over the place. FFX comes to mind as another game that knew where it wanted to go from the outset, but FF8's story appeals a little more to me, perhaps because they actually develop a love story in it. Now, don't get me wrong, I love action and excitement as much as the next guy, but a good love story has its place too, and I had forgotten just how well this one was done.

Additionally, there was never a case where I thought, why are the characters doing this? In many of these games I fundamentally have a problem with the typical saving the world for the sake of saving the world theme. Often, this is masked by personal tragedies, such as losing homes or loved ones, but that's so cliche. I thought FF8 managed to maintain a fine balance between personal motivation and overarching concern for the world at large. Oh, and the orphanage moment I mentioned before wasn't so bad. It wasn't a strong point of the plot, but it wasn't as self-indulgent as I had remembered and feared.

Finally, it visually is simply an amazing game. The character and environment designs are simply top notch. I can't wait until I get home and can play the game again on my 'gaming' computer and see the visual difference.

FF7 has always been my favorite because of the groundbreaking (in a game) journey that Cloud takes with his psyche, but I have to admit that FF8's story, on a whole, is more concise and engaging than FF7's. FF7's story was great, but admittedly very complex, to the extent that it required numerous play throughs, at least for me, to really grasp what was going on, and even then there were many ambiguous elements. FF8 never really suffers from that problem, if you want to call it a problem.
 
Finally, it visually is simply an amazing game. The character and environment designs are simply top notch. I can't wait until I get home and can play the game again on my 'gaming' computer and see the visual difference.
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What Square did with the Playstation was absolutely amazing. On a SDTV, the game looks almost as good as a 1st gen PS2 game. The game also looks fantastic in 640x480 mode on PC. Honestly, I think that a graphics mod for FF7 should strive for FF8's style and quality rather than Kingdom Hearts or Advent Children. It would fit with the game universe and still look fantastic.
 
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