Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?

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So what do you guys think of FF8? I have played up to Balamb before the missiles hit and am currently looking for Cid. So far I like the game a lot. I do have some problems with it though, like while I really like characters like Squall, Laguna, Quistis, Rinoa, and Edea as the villain, I really dislike some of the others like Zell and Irvine. Selphie is alright, with her blow up everything attitude and Seifer, well, I kind of like him but every time i see him I immediately think of Rufus.

Also, the battle system is a bit annoying because I put it to Active, but you still have to wait for casting animations and attacks to complete, unlike in 7 where in Active they no longer affected the time bar, and GFs seem a bit overpowered, every boss in the game so far has been relatively easy for my first playthrough, as opposed to say my second ever 7 playthrough.

Although some of the music isn't as memorable as the older games, overall I really like the score, particularly the overworld theme Blue Fields, the battle and victory themes, and force your way, as well as that song that sounds like an 80s cop show which I don't know the name, but it's used in a similar manner to FF7's hurry.

I love the new large overworld and the use of cars and trains and roads, it feels much bigger and grander in terms of scale than 7. The world is pretty breathtaking.

The FMVs in the game are jaw dropping for the time (I love the intro fight), and there's so many - As are the graphics for a PS1 era game. At times I almost think I'm looking at a PS2 game with the GFs.

So yeah, my main questions here are, what do you guys think about it, like and don't like, and also, does the main story of the game get (hopefully a lot) harder from where I am? Because right now it seems too easy for a first playthrough. And don't say just don't use GFs please.

I used to hate this game as a kid and never played it, but a lot of that hate probably came from me not understanding the junction system, and me being closed-minded and favoring FF7 as a kid over, well, everything. As it stands, I love it so far, aside from some of the problems I have with it.

P.S. - I don't think the Junction system is that bad, I find it rather interesting.

EDIT: and try to avoid any spoilers please  ;)
 
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this is your first play through it? keep me updated :P i wish to see if you join the "absolutely love it" or the "absolutely wanna slaughter square for daring to create this game" group
 
i wish to see if you join the "absolutely love it" or the "absolutely wanna slaughter square for daring to create this game" group
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Heh, i used to sort of be in the second group, but that was just bias. Now that I've given it a chance, It's growing on me a lot. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a piece of crap later on like I once thought it was.

Part of the growth is affecting a lot of me too, today I wore squall's necklace to school, and I started playing squall in dissidia, and I also just replaced the Fanfare and Boss themes from 7 in FF7music with 8's. Probably a bit much  :P
 
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I am sure someone will jump down my back for saying this, but of the PSX FFs, 8 is my favorite, I really enjoyed the story and Omega Weapon in this game is one of my favorite boss battles ever! The music in it is some of Nobuo Uematsu's best work too.
 
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- Sums it up. I still play it every now and then.
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Haha, I love that guy. I hate the card game, haven't pressed square at all yet :)
 
Only thing I don't like bout 8 is that you can't change everyone elses names. Only Squall and Rinoa. And Angelo.
 
Only thing I don't like bout 8 is that you can't change everyone elses names. Only Squall and Rinoa. And Angelo.
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thats an outright lie bro. Almost positive you can name your characters and GFs whatever you want  :evil:
 
thats an outright lie bro. Almost positive you can name your characters and GFs whatever you want  :evil:
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riiiiiiight. I forgot the GF part. Other than that, you can't name anyone else besides Squall, Rinoa, and Angelo.
 
VIII is definetly good...but it is mind-numbingly easy unless you really suck at junctioning or don't bother to collect any magic or GFs.  If we are just talking about storylines...I'd have to say it ranks at the bottom of PSX FFs. Not saying I dislike the game, just that I have a lot of problems with it.
 
VIII is definetly good...but it is mind-numbingly easy unless you really suck at junctioning or don't bother to collect any magic or GFs.
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a lot of people tend to fail epically at collecting magic and GF's, it is kinda easy which is why I've been meaning to try that hardcore mod for 8
 
I'm one of the few people who forgive FF8 for its storyline. I actually like it. Heck, it's better than FF1's, FF2's, FF3's, FF5's, FF12's and FF13's - and maybe even FF6's IMO.

What I don't like much though, is the junction system. Makes most magics useless, since if you use junctions properly, using the best spells will make your character weaker each time you use a magic. Flawed system is flawed. And since physical attacks are so much stronger than anything else (and the fact that almost no enemy is strong against physical), you don't have a reason to use magics anyway (except Rinoa with Angel Wings, maybe).

Also, spending ten minutes or more drawing magics from enemies... ...Gosh. I know some people say it's not needed thanks to the magic refinement system / the card mod system, but when you meet a new enemy that has great magics, you'd have to be stupid not to. Especially since there are no drawbacks to drawing for long periods of time. And don't get me started on the level up system... ...if you play the game normally without grinding, chances are you'll finish the game before you can draw the most powerful spells from them (they'll still have -ara spells).

So yeah, it's a good game, but not as good as FFIV, VI, VII, IX and X to me.
 
i really think that FF8 could have benefited from using one of the other games battle systems, like 7 or 3 or even 1.
 
The gameplay is very good, no matter what.
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lets agree to disagree, i personally just didn't like it at all, from monsters leveling up with me to it being annoying to hit a simple limit break. to each his own i suppose.
 
VIII was a masterpiece.  So was 7,9,10 and to a lesser extent imho, 6.

All of these games have tons of gameplay and all but 6 have a very good character based story, something that the games after X lack.  I have never enjoyed a final dungeon as much as I have VIII's, it made it enjoyable with clever level design and gameplay (such as finding the monsters, finding omega, finding secret items) rather than what XII did... grind grind grind grind.

VIII is often slated for its story but let's look at it this way, yes time compression wasn't exactly brilliant, but what was going on in the story was.  You have characters that you can care about, and a lead character who is a sociopath learning to love again.  Most people seem to hate squall because "He is an idiot", but that's just the whole point of the story.    The clever causality loop at the end was a nice way to go out I think, and even if you didn't like the story, you cannot deny it had some good characters and development.  Seifer, is among my favourites.

Game play wise, it is well up there with the big 4.  There is tons to do, and it is fun to do it.  Chocobo, cards (definitely the best one imho), drawing summons, junctioning spells.  The game came together on so many levels.  Having cinematic sequences that add to the game (as opposed to XIII) was also a bonus.  Who could forget the garden battle sequences and amazing music by Uematsu?

The game works on nearly all levels.  I think I might play it again one day.   I did finish it 4 times....
 
The only problem I see with VIII is the draw system, which works in my opinion, if you don't abuse it. And by abuse it, I mean sit  there and draw 100 fires all at once, you draw as you go. :P. It's just they made the battle system so easy to break, such as leaving Squall dead the whole game.
But, the storyline was pretty magnificent, a tad confusing, but hey, what good story doesn't have plot twists? ;P

Also Laguna just happens to be my all time favorite video game character :P. I also tend to like games with cyber punk themes.
Yeah... That's about it. XD.

Thanks,
Mendel
 
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