Why does everyone hate FF VIII?

[blaydcor]

I don't hate it; it's just not as good as the other FF's of its gen. My reasons:

1)Storyline. It lacks cohesion and direction. You never have a clear villain. Seifer gets sidelined. You keep on thinking there's going to be a BADASS plot twist that Laguna's story has been building up to, but no...he almost seems superfluos.

2)Characters--They're too similar. 17-18 year old white people. Then there's the lame, unwanted ''twist'' where it's revealed they all used to be orphans together. I'd say deus-ex-machina, but it doesn't even really accomplish anything plot wise. It's unwanted and unneccesary.

3)FF VII plus--Too much of it feels like they were trying to ''Up the Ante" from FF VII. THought FF 7's world was futuristic? Try 8's!! Then there's the parables; I.e. Squall is obviously named so because its similar (though presumably cooler) than cloud; Seifer sounds like a bastardization of Sephiroth, SEED seems like a lame shadow of SOLDIER...considering how popular FF VII was, this is understandable, but still.

4) Character building system. It's TOO customizable; the characters are homogenous enough; now they all are basically interchangable stat-wise. It's also REALLY easy to become over-strong early on--just put a bunch of Curaga's on HP and you're good to go.

5)Rinoa

In all, it's mostly the story/characters that got me. Neither were too distinct or memorable. It's a GOOD game, but only a mediocre (sub par) Final Fantasy.

 

Edit by Montana: Not everyone has played the game. Watch out for spoilers!!!