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thelalaby on 27 January 2015
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IFireflyl said:
thelalaby said:

Well duh, hence why I said different works. VIII is one of my favorites too. However, it is a fact that many gamers were turned off by the game at the time since they were expecting another VII (look at the drop in sales between VII and VIII), and then the drop between VIII and IX due to another shift in image.

I think you and I are saying the same thing, that VIII sold so well despite being so different and alienating, and while it may have a bigger share of haters than VII or X, it is still cherished by many fans like you and I.

And this is why I thought it was funny that a VIII fan created this thread. You should know from experience that sometimes going in the opposite direction yields satisfying results.

I didn't know a lot of gamers were turned off by Final Fantasy VIII. The only thing that really changed in the Battle System was the Junctioning (which really wasn't too different from "junctioning" Materia) and the Draw/Magic feature. It took some time to get used to (because I played it as a teenager and skipped the tutorials because I obviously knew everything), but once I understood how it worked it was amazing. I didn't know anyone who was turned off of Final Fantasy because of that game. I may have been different because I played Final Fantasy VIII first, then Final Fantasy IX, and then Final Fantasy VII. I think Final Fantasy VIII was different enough to say, "Whoa. That's interesting," but not so different that you say, "This doesn't feel like Final Fantasy. After Final Fantasy X the feel I got was, "That's not Final Fantasy."

The "Junction" system wasn't the only thing that was different about VIII; it also disposed of the traditional equipment system, how characters learned skills, new leveling up system, and the magic drawing (which you have already mentioned) was something simply unheard of. Add to that the realistic setting that the game had, it was completely different from anything else the franchise had done before (even VII didn't go that far), plus the fact that the story focused primarily on two characters as opposed to the whole cast. I'm saying it alienated many gamers based on the drop in sales as well as the online reaction I see for the game; it gets a lot more hate than the other two PS1 titles.

Anyway, I'm just trying to draw a parrallel between VIII, which was vastly different from its predecessors, and the upcoming XV which also seems to be another pivotal change for the series. All I'm saying is that since you love VIII, you shouldn't just assume XV will be disappointing just because it's different.

By the way, VIII was my first FF too! I loved it so much, and it didn't feel weird for me at all going from one title to another in the franchise... they all felt connected, even XII and XIII. I'm not saying all of them are great games or whatever, but my understanding of what makes Final Fantasy what it is is more flexible I suppose.