Qays on 20 April 2010
Oh God, here we go. Spoilers for anyone who still wants to play this game.
Let me preface this by saying that VIII was my first FF. I loved it when I was younger. But I've matured since then. Games have matured since then, FF included. It is pretty unambiguously the low point of the series.
FFVIII's storyline has everything you could hope for. It starts out with a seemingly simple premise: The player takes control of Squall, a surly, moody teenage mercenary trainee in some far off universe/time who is just finishing his final test to become a member of SeeD. Then it adds in a bunch of other interesting and likeable characters (also some not-so-likeable), gives you some solid information about them, and then, takes the player on an absolute rollercoaster ride between plotlines, brainwashing you several times, messing with your mind, betraying your trust, and ultimately, leading you to an epic and ingenious climax.
1. None of the characters are likable, deep, or even multi-dimensional. Squall is a surly, moody teenage mercenary trainee who spends the entire game cutting himself BUT BUT BUT HE HAS A COMPLEX BECAUSE HIS SISTER ABANDONED HIM oh grow up Squall. Rinoa is an obnoxious spoiled brat who loves Squall for literally no reason. Quistis is an insecure, pathetic woman who craves Squall's acceptance and his mancock for equally inexplicable reasons. Zell is a retard who likes hot dogs. Selphie is a retard who likes trains. Laguna is a retard who gets cramps in his legs. Seifer, your archrival, one of the game's main antagonists, is essentially a high school dropout who can't do anything right ever also he sucks at fighting which is the one thing he's supposed to be good at. And don't even get me started on Irvine, the guy who grew up in an orphanage with all the other characters but forgot to tell that fact to anyone.
2. The plot makes absolutely no sense. Think back on the way the characters behave. Deling City: everyone is in position, shit is about to hit the fan, and Quistis, my right-hand woman, the most responsible and level-headed member of my squad of idiot rookie SeeD morons, decides to abandon her position to go apologize to Rinoa for having yelled at her, thereby endangering the entire mission. I'm supposed to believe that this woman is a mercenary? I'm supposed to believe that any of them are mercenaries? Bull. Shit. They're whiny kids with abandonment issues. Zidane and the crew from Tantalus are more competent than they are.
Again, the characters all grew up in an orphanage with each other. That is, on the face of it, a really stupid plot twist. Even stupider is the fact that one of your party members KNOWS THIS but doesn't tell anyone for no reason whatsoever. Literally none. Heavy-handed and stupid stupid stupid is how I would characterize that bit of nonsense.
Oh, and Ellone. Ellone can send people's minds back in time to inhabit other people's minds in the past. Why is she able to do this? It makes no sense. There is no supporting cosmology to explain why Ellone has this power.
No game would be complete without a manner of playing which would truly immerse the gamer in it's simplicity, yet wrap them with many layers and facets of playing which would make for a truly startling experience. It plays like most RPG's, mainly comprised of random battles, character interaction, exploration, and side-quests. Sure, that may sound simple, but FF8's battle system is unlike any other RPG's to date. You see, in most RPG's, characters learn their magic by gaining exp or through some kind of magical item, but in FF8, the characters ''draw'' their magic from enemies.
That's right, there is an in-battle option to ''draw'' from an enemy, which allows you to take a number of spells from an enemy. Different enemies have different spells, and once you're out, you are forced to draw more. These spells also have another effect--the ability to junction. Junctioning is, simply put, a way to customize your characters' stats through the use of spells and abilities. Which brings in another factor--GF's. Many will be familiar with the summon spells in FFVII, well, they're back, but this time, they're called GF's, and they're actually living, breathing things which ''attach'' themselves to your characters. And they learn abilities. Depending on the abilities they learn, you can use them to customize your characters.
Sound complicated? I'm afraid it is, and, I'm sorry to say, I won't be able to explain it all to you--That's what the booklet is for. But, it is a solid system which works out well in the end. I've heard people claim it's too time consuming to have to draw spells, and it's too complicated to deal with junctioning, but I say, so what? If a developer is daring enough to try something new, of course it will have it's flaws, but hopefully it will have a number of redeeming qualities as well, which FF8's system does. So just bare with the fact that it's not perfect, and enjoy the pros of it all--you won't regret it.
That's right, there is an in-battle option to ''draw'' from an enemy, which allows you to take a number of spells from an enemy. Different enemies have different spells, and once you're out, you are forced to draw more. These spells also have another effect--the ability to junction. Junctioning is, simply put, a way to customize your characters' stats through the use of spells and abilities. Which brings in another factor--GF's. Many will be familiar with the summon spells in FFVII, well, they're back, but this time, they're called GF's, and they're actually living, breathing things which ''attach'' themselves to your characters. And they learn abilities. Depending on the abilities they learn, you can use them to customize your characters.
Sound complicated? I'm afraid it is, and, I'm sorry to say, I won't be able to explain it all to you--That's what the booklet is for. But, it is a solid system which works out well in the end. I've heard people claim it's too time consuming to have to draw spells, and it's too complicated to deal with junctioning, but I say, so what? If a developer is daring enough to try something new, of course it will have it's flaws, but hopefully it will have a number of redeeming qualities as well, which FF8's system does. So just bare with the fact that it's not perfect, and enjoy the pros of it all--you won't regret it.
No, sorry, VIII's combat/advancement mechanics suck. In other FFs your stats progress as you go through the normal course of the game, and you grind a little here and there when you run into a particularly tough boss fight. In VIII it is literally impossible to improve your stats relative to your enemies by just fighting enemies normally. You have to spend fifteen minutes holding down the X button to stock up on spells. That's tedious and it's not fun and it's not a positive feature by any means.
Then add to that the fact that it makes no goddamn sense. Why don't I know how to drink a potion without having a GF around to tell me how to?
What are these GFs, exactly, considering apparently everyone in my party is too stupid to function properly without one? Just kidding, it's never explained.
Combat in VIII is the most broken of any game in the series. At any given moment in time you basically have three different approaches to combat:
1. If you've junctioned enough magic to strength, spam attack
2. If you've been slacking off on junctioning, spam your strongest GFs and hold down the select button and mash square like an idiot
3. If you're low on health, spam limit breaks
At the end of the game this boils down to exactly one approach to combat:
1. Cast Aura on yourself and spam limit breaks
No other FF has been so thoroughly broken from the very beginning of the game.
VIII is the worst game in the series, by a long shot.
