#02 - Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
As guessed by Scoobes :)
Final Fantasy VIII was an adventure like no other. No other game has resonated with me in quite the same way as FF VIII did. Following on from the behemoth that was VII, a game that literally got me into a genre, defined the PS1 for me and so many other things, I thought "it can't get any better than this". How wrong I was...
One of the thing that VIII absolutely nails - despite what other people may say - is the story. Sure, there's a plot twist people might not like here, a character people might not like there, yet absolutely none of these complaints that get brought up bother me. Squall is awesome. Miles better than Tidus or any of the modern-day FF heroes. The plot twist? Again, doesn't bother me at all. I can suspend my disbelief for it. What they did nail, however, is absolutely every other aspect of the plot. Pseudo-high-school settings, warring gardens, sorceresses from the future, time travel, missile bunkers... literally everything in the game worked and was just absolutely perfect. Across 4 disks and 60 hours I've never been so attached to a plot as I was to FF VIII.
But even while the plot was debatably better, I think it would be hard to argue that the gameplay wasn't massively improved. Finally, ATB battles were interactive. I could boost summons. I could trigger gunblade. These additions added just the right amount of activity to keep me on my toes when choosing commands yet having little downtime in between while I was waiting for ATB to fill up again. In addition, little tweaks like: seeing your other two party members follow you around really add a whole lot to the experience. Graphically, the game was - and still is to me - an absolute tour-de-force. I had never seen a game so beautiful at the time, and even now the game looks jagged but beautiful, particularly in the pre-rendered cutscenes. And the soundtrack - another perfectly crafted masterpiece from Uematsu, mixing in fantastic character-centric themes with stunning pieces showcasing the action (as seen in the video below :P)
FF VIII sat at the top of my favourite games list for a long long time, and I still regularly change my mind and put it on top. It's the game in the genre I don't think will ever be topped, and is a perfect demonstration of what Squaresoft were capable of at the height of their brilliance.
