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mibuokami on 06 March 2009
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blaydcor said:
Khuutra said:
blaydcor said:

You have a pretty bland intellectual palatte if you find this percieved, insipid garbage to be 'mindblowing'.

No neeed to be all jerkish there Rambo.

The primary reason that that particular idea was appealing is that it completely recolored the entirety of the game and lent new meaning to everything that transpired during a second playthrough. My personal interpretation was that Squall became Griever, refusing to leave Rinoa even as she went insane, even knowing that they would end up essentially destroying the world before being killed by themselves. The game was billed as "the greatest love story ever told" and with this idea it shifted from "this guy like totally loves this chick man you have no idea" to "these two are so much in love that they are willing to destroy all creation so as to always be with one another".

It was awesome, terrifying, and completely contradictory to every expectation one had about their romance, and it implied in the ending that when Squall chose not to die that he was choosing to destroy the world altogether instead of leaving Rinoa by herself.

I understand if that doesn't appeal to you, but compared to what the story actually was, it was absolutely fantastic.

It's not that it doesn't appeal to me per se. I just found the game overall to be pulpy and not that well-written. If what you percieved about Squall and Rinoa was actually there, then the writers weren't  being subtle or clever, they were being cumbersomely oblique. They could have executed the concept much better. If not, than you just have a great imagination. More power to ya. There are much more poignant, effective, and understated ways to show pure love than to slap together a peicemeal, last-minute 'twist' like the one you go on about above.

Compare Ultimecia to, say, Jon Irenicus. Irenicus is not only one of the greatest villains in gaming, but I would go so far as to say one of the greatest characters. He is intricately and gradually developed, his motivations slowly elaborated on. Unravelling his identity is one of the driving mysteries of the game. He goes from an anonymous guy who kidnapped to you to a conflicted, tortured, but nevertheless inarguably evil villain over the course of the game. Ultimecia seems like she was thought up by an 8 year old who spends all his time reading comic books compared to this.

Final Fantasy VIII just felt too self-inflated and contrived for me to be really wowed by it. Like it's "oh, wow!" moments weren't the result of an artistic vision, but a massive budget and severe pressure to make a mind-bending, amazing game.

Like I said previously; Mindblowing concept for JRPG; there is no correlation of my intellectual palatte in that misinterpreted statement.

That being said, I would still ranked FF8 as one of the best JRPG storey ever. It doesn't hold a candle compared to Baldur's Gate 1-2 much less the legendary Planescape: Torment but it's still a great story. Also don't forget the great cultural divide that seperate the east and west. Literature is never universal.