Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BloodShot
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Laguna has the better battle theme ever, that's for sure. I discovered that game long ago and finished it about 20 times now. My last time was the finish of my No-Level Up game. Very easy but boring in the beginning.
 
The only Final Fantasy games I've ever finished from start to finish are I, II, VI, XIII, Tactics, and Mystic Quest. However, I've played all of them and got really far.

Final Fantasy VIII was interesting. I really liked the junction concept. But I disliked how they removed equipment. Sure you can change weapons, but there's only like six. And there's no armor or accessories. The dialogue was WAY better than Final Fantasy VII. You can get to level 100 and have a max quantity of 100 of an item in the game. I thought this was a little inconsistent, but I'm just being a little picky. The world map seems a lot larger than Final Fantasy VII. There are a lot of side quests and optional things to do, which makes the game open. A lot of people hated Triple Triad, but I thought it was awesome! It's much better than any other Final Fantasy minigames, like Blitzball. The game is extremely easy if you draw a bunch of spells and morph a bunch of cards in the beginning of the game.

Overall, Final Fantasy VIII is an excellent game that is usually overlooked. It's definitely in my top 5 Final Fantasy games.
 
People who disliked triple triad did not use their brain and realise how its more advanced features worked.  It was a mathematical game and a fun one.
 
FF8 was a great game, and I suspect that most of the people who malign it are people who didn't bother to learn how the game worked. The draw/junction system is quite unusual, and if one tries to play it the same way that one played the other FF games, one is in for a frustrating game.

I don't make this claim based on no evidence. Most of the criticisms I've seen about FF that come from fans rather than reviewers imply that drawing magic for hours on end is the only way to play it and it therefore sucks. Apparently, these  people never learnt how to use GF abilities to their advantage; x Mag-RF abilities will go far towards eliminating the need to draw spells. Not that buffing up one's characters is necessary in FF8 anyway; it's like grinding in FF7: completely unnecessary, given the game's difficulty level.

These people probably tried to play MGS the same way that they played Duke Nukem and then complained that the alarms went off too often.
 
These people probably tried to play MGS the same way that they played Duke Nukem and then complained that the alarms went off too often.
HAHAHAHAHAHA !  It is so true :P
 
riiiiiiight. I forgot the GF part. Other than that, you can't name anyone else besides Squall, Rinoa, and Angelo.
Griever would like a word or three.

I've played this game through several times and I've never really liked it. I understand the junction system and the drawing, but most of the time attacks took the form of GFs. Their long animations got real old after a while. I thought it was too easy to get to level 100 too. I wasn't crazy about the junction system either. Cast junctioned magic and your stats go down, draw and they go up. It felt pretty easily abuseable.
 
It was easily abused, the funny part is that it took very little to OP any single character.  Hp Junction + Vit Junction, now you're character will never die and you can spam Renzokuken/Dual.  Str junction, now you kill things with 1 hit.  I liked to play with the system, but the strength of the enemies was just absurbly low.  Why bother Junctioning when a Funguar only has 300 HP?!  The first time through the game I just spammed summons and never really had any problems.  I'd have to say that VIII, while good, could have been much much better.
 
I like Final Fantasy VIII, because the junction / enemy level system punishes stupidity with extreme violence.

Like me.

These people probably tried to play MGS the same way that they played Duke Nukem and then complained that the alarms went off too often.
...This was actually a real criticism of one of the first stealth FPSes, System Shock. That said, I remember being about twelve, and not really understanding why I couldn't kill enemies by punching them to death. I guess I was just so used to the simple conventions of PSOne third-person action games I just couldn't grasp the idea of non-lethal aggression.
 
Last edited:
Griever would like a word or three.

I've played this game through several times and I've never really liked it. I understand the junction system and the drawing, but most of the time attacks took the form of GFs. Their long animations got real old after a while. I thought it was too easy to get to level 100 too. I wasn't crazy about the junction system either. Cast junctioned magic and your stats go down, draw and they go up. It felt pretty easily abuseable.
All of that is a problem with the implementation and not the system.  if we want to criticise 8 then we have to criticise 7 on the same basis.  Ridiculously easy and not implemented well at all.  The systems themselves are great and if you choose not to abuse their limitations, you will have more fun.

Beating omega weapon properly and collecting all cards and doing all side quests etc, is definitely not easy in 8
 
Last edited:
That said, I remember being about twelve, and not really understanding why I couldn't kill enemies by punching them to death. I guess I was just so used to the simple conventions of PSOne third-person action games I just couldn't grasp the idea of non-lethal aggression.
This!  Sweet Jesus I thought I was the only one, and have never before admitted to is.  It literally took at least 7-12 tries before I figured out what the hell I was supposed to do.  It could be due, in part, to the fact I was playing it in Toys R Us with no instruction manual, but the point still stands.

/offtopic

I'm not sure why I play FF8 and FF9, I never end up beating them or enjoying them all that much, but they are just good enough to keep drawing me back in for another try. 

/nostalgia goggles
 
I very much enjoyed playing through FFVIII when it came out, and I still do with the enhancements offered here. Haven't played in a while though.

I thought it had a great story with some good twists as well as good systems that were really customisable based on how you wanted to play the game. This forum has really enhanced my enjoyment of VII and VIII; I just wish that IX was also released for PC because it's the only one I can't replay in HD without an emulator (ePSXe bugs me). I can't stand looking at PSX era games on my PS3, the upscaling is horrible. If they implemented trophy support I probably wouldn't care though, three very easy Platinums!
 
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.
Well, in all technicality; Final Fantasy VII's storyline is a near copy-paste of FFVI's.

Ex-member of evil organization (empire) that is trying to take over the world
Member of said org. wants to become a god
main char. works for rebel force
organization fails
World threatened (FFVI's world actually destroyed)
Killing villain saves world (for different reasons, Kefka's corruption and Sephiroth's will)

In fact both villains are only villains because of a mental breakdown; one from discovering that he is a monster (due to experiments)
and another had a mental breakdown (cracked sanity) due to an experiment to make him into a weapon.

In all honesty, the fight of Bizzaro Sephiroth looks like the Tower of Kefka fight right before his angelic version, which you go into an Angelic version of Sephiroth as well.

Don't get me wrong, FFVII is no less in my eyes but the similarities of the main plot points and character points is remarkable, especially since they are the only ones that have those similarities.
 
Even being the FFVI fanboy I am, I have to second DLPB on this.

Ex-member of evil organization (empire) that is trying to take over the world
Member of said org. wants to become a god
main char. works for rebel force
organization fails
World threatened (FFVI's world actually destroyed)
Killing villain saves world (for different reasons, Kefka's corruption and Sephiroth's will)
Congrats, you almost described all FFs :D (FF2, FF4, FF6, FF7, FF8, FF9 & FF12 for sure - and arguably FF5, FF10 & FF13) :

IE, bad guy linked to evil organisation wants to gain power to do evil deeds, hero part of rebel force, and things go bad until you finally defeat the final boss and restore peace. But fortunately, Final Fantasy stories are more than just that.
 
Last edited:
Well, in all technicality; Final Fantasy VII's storyline is a near copy-paste of FFVI's.

Ex-member of evil organization (empire) that is trying to take over the world
Member of said org. wants to become a god
main char. works for rebel force
organization fails
World threatened (FFVI's world actually destroyed)
Killing villain saves world (for different reasons, Kefka's corruption and Sephiroth's will)

In fact both villains are only villains because of a mental breakdown; one from discovering that he is a monster (due to experiments)
and another had a mental breakdown (cracked sanity) due to an experiment to make him into a weapon.

In all honesty, the fight of Bizzaro Sephiroth looks like the Tower of Kefka fight right before his angelic version, which you go into an Angelic version of Sephiroth as well.

Don't get me wrong, FFVII is no less in my eyes but the similarities of the main plot points and character points is remarkable, especially since they are the only ones that have those similarities.
Classic FF6 fanboy behaviour, singling FF7 out for doing what every single FF does.

You're also wrong that it's a copy paste. Playing FF6 is like finding Tolkein's first draft of LotR. You can see all the basic ideas in there, but they're all much less well developed. Just take the mental breakdowns of Kefka and Sephiroth, which you drew attention to. FF6 used the cop-out of having Kefka go mad because lol magic poisoning his brain. FF7 took the much more satisfying, but harder to execute, route of driving him insane through a dramatic revelation. Or look at how Sephiroth controls Cloud and compare it to how Kefka controls Terra; lol magic hat! ;D

FF7 has a lot of things in common with FF6, yes. But FF7 is a lot more mature from a literary perspective. FF6 uses very cheap and unsatisfying explanations for what's going on: Kefka kills people because he's crazy, and he's crazy because magitek melted his brain. Kefka controls Terra with a magic hat. No more explanation needed. FF7 has a go at giving more detailed explanations for what's going on and more complex motivations for the characters.
 
Last edited:
Some people try to pass off FF6's failings as superiorities, and it drives me crazy. They say Kefka is a better villain because he didn't need a reason, he was just crazy. No, that just makes him an underdeveloped villain. The fact is, he's really no better than the villain from Dungeons & Dragons: evil because he's the bad guy and that's his place in the story. He does horrible things, and his only apparent motivation is that the writers want to make sure you know he's the bad guy.

This isn't to say FF6 is the only game with this problem. FFIV had it in spades. The difference is, FFIV doesn't try to hide it, and more than makes up with it through some of the best hero development I've ever seen in a game.
 
/\ I just got 4 for my psp, and now I have more reason to play it.

Should I play 6 as well?
 
/\ I just got 4 for my psp, and now I have more reason to play it.

Should I play 6 as well?
Yes. While many of us will argue against it when it's compared to FF7, it is still a very good game.
 
Some people try to pass off FF6's failings as superiorities, and it drives me crazy. They say Kefka is a better villain because he didn't need a reason, he was just crazy. No, that just makes him an underdeveloped villain. The fact is, he's really no better than the villain from Dungeons & Dragons: evil because he's the bad guy and that's his place in the story. He does horrible things, and his only apparent motivation is that the writers want to make sure you know he's the bad guy.

This isn't to say FF6 is the only game with this problem. FFIV had it in spades. The difference is, FFIV doesn't try to hide it, and more than makes up with it through some of the best hero development I've ever seen in a game.
I have heard all that too and it is so desperate and frustrating.  It is generally the same with everything.  Like with ff13, they say it is great that your control was minimised or that traditional towns "that got in the way of the action" have been almost eradicated. 

FF6 had a very basic plot but let's remember what console it was on.  For its time it was an amazing game but people need to take off the blinkers.  Story wise compared to VII it just doesn't rate, and as kud said, that is wholly demonstrable in terms of dialogue and complexity.  People like to make excuses for things when they have nowhere else to run.

kefka is mad... because he is.  Someone is in love... because they are.

There is no way around it.

 I was bored out of my mind with FF6's story to be frank (and all the while what faith I had in reviews was dwindling to nothing), and the reason I finished the game was because the music and gameplay were up to the standard.  The FMV added later for PSX were good too.
 
Last edited:
lol, I had the opposite experience with FF6 and FF7. Played FF6 first (it was my first FF actually), and after playing through FF7 for the first time, I ended up being disappointed somehow. I felt it was lacking, in the gameplay department. Where were my 4 character teams, my multi-party dungeons, my Tools, Blitz, Runic, Rages, my item trade system called the Colosseum, my Merit Award, my Cursed Shield, ... ?

Plus, there was no second world map to freely explore, musics for the most part were midi-quality, and you couldn't remove Cloud from the party. All this (and I forget some) led me to feel that FF7 was just a downgraded FF6. It was only years later, and after FF8's and FF9's release maybe, that I finally could enjoy FF7 for what it is. But I still feel FF7 is lacking in the gameplay department, and this is why I've been working on a FF7 mod for so long.

The funny thing is, I can't play FF6 nowadays. I don't know if it's because I played it too many times in the past, but its battle mechanics, its story and even its graphics & musics bore the hell out of me. Also, Esper learning sucks balls, and stats are badly designed (Stamina, Vigor and Speed are useless compared to Magic Power).

And strangely enough, even though I played FF7 just as much, I don't see myself getting bored of it anytime soon. And to go back on topic, FF8 also feels like a downgraded FF6 to me, but without FF7's redeeming qualities.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top