After finishing final fantasy 9 and giving it a 9.8/10 i decided to go on with the previous final fantasy game :)
StoryLine
This has to be the most confusing storyline i have ever witnessed, many things in this game do not make sense at all, infact the only redeeming part of the story is the laguna arc.
But it's not all bad, once again just like final fantasy 9, there is a love story, but instead of being a subplot like it was in 9, the whole story actually revolves around squall and rinoa, which is both good and bad, the bad point is quite obvious, it left me not caring about the main villian, infact i just rushed through every scene that didn't involve squall and rinoa.
StoryLine #2
The relationship between squall and rinoa is without a doubt the best aspect of this game, other then the music, it's really the main aspect of this game that truely shines, squall at the start was just a total hard ass on rinoa and well everybody, but as the story pans along, you can see him finally opening up and this all has to do with his hidden feelings for rinoa which he has yet to expressed, but someone like squall isn't easily changed, so for him to change something big had to happen to someone he truely cared about, and when rinoa collapsed, that was the moment that changed squall for ever, and he became a whole different person, infact he changed so much that his main goal was to save rinoa which was just cute, and this led squall to carry rinoa on his back just to find a cure for her, and this scene was in my opinion, the best scene in the entire game "bar the space scene" squall pretty much opened himself up to her, and he gave himself to her, and for the first time in the entire game, i actually cared about him.
Gameplay
This is easily the weakest part of the game, every battle just turned into a "GF" Spamming fest, and every victory feels undeserving because it's not actually squall doing the battling, it's the gaurdian force.. "why did square add this into the game? it's cheap and it make's no sense.
Other then that, everything else is quite solid, the game plays alot like final fantasy ix, except quite faster " which is a good thing" and the whole junction system while confusing at first, ended up being a really great feature.
Characters
I abolutely love the characters in this game, selphie is without a doubt the cutest thing alive, seriously!! i love her to bits, she's actually a female version off me in many ways, squall on the otherhand is a mix bag, for the half the game i hated him, and i pretty much cussed at the screen many times saying "stop being a total dick" but as the story progresses, you actually find out why squall is this rude, and he really starts to open up, which was needed, because i was about to quit the game if he kept acting like this.
Graphics
I don't know how, but this game is somehow slightly better then ix, infact the "CG" cutscenes are nearly miles ahead, did square drop the budget after this game or something, because this is easily the peak in the PS1 series
Music
The soundtrack in this game is just beautiful, hearing eyes on me during the space scene is just amazing, it seriously is, and at it's time it would have been nothing short of amazing, if this game should be complimented on anything, it should be the music, because it's just amazing, from the upbeat ragnorok theme to the calming theme from the garden, it's just nothing short of inspiring, but what really won me over was just this 1 soundtrack
Love grows, this is without a doubt the best sound the best song the best anything, that i have ever heard in a game, it's just beautiful
Conclusion
I didn't let a few flaws stop me from enjoying this game, and no one should either, this game is without a doubt amazing and it's nearly up to IX's level, infact the squall and rinoa love story was far better developed then zidane and garnet ever got, and to be honest, i didn't even like the first 4 hours of the game, it was terrible, the characters were strange, and setting was weird and squall was a total jerk, but that all changed during the ballroom scene, that scene showed me that i was in for something special, and i wasn't dissapointed, this game only got better.
Score
Graphics : 10 (Slightly better then IX)
Music : 9.7 (Eyes on me, love grows.. need i say more?)
Gameplay : 7 (GF's can get really repetitive, although the overal combat is solid.)
Difficulty : 10 (Alot harder then IX)
Story : 8 (Rinoa and Squall is pretty much the reason to play this game)
Length : 10 (Took me 60 hours to finish this game "slightly more then IX")
Final Score : 9.2 (i didn't round it up, just my score for the game :P)
Now off to final fantasy 13 for me, then 7 :D
