Games you initially did not like, but after a second look enjoyed

[Jumpin]

The Fury said:

Jumpin said:

Final Fantasy 8.
Mostly it’s because I went in with a negative outlook (because the Internet poisoned the well for me on that one and I developed some biases against it) mixed with bad tutorials that emphasized things like the drawing skill, when other skills were superior. When I played it a second time ignoring the biases (I think I might have dropped acid before playing) I enjoyed it a lot more.

What I find telling is when people call it the 'Draw system' instead of the Junction system. Draw is just one aspect of it, and it's how you get magic at first, which is very quickly replaced with GF abilities but the game doesn't fully tell you this, you have to find it out. Beelining for item magic refining skills allows you to stack prefered magic on correctly junctioned slots becoming really powerful. Add Meltdown and Aura and it's game over for most bosses.

Plus, Squall grows so much and changes a lot in the game, more than other protags.

Yeah, you’re right. Drawing is just one skills, and players don’t really have to use it. The only thing I tend to use it for is getting GFs, so I usually only have one character with a draw command.

As for the game, there is a lot I like about it. I think what really attracts me to it is the characters and the science fiction story around time traveling minds. I also love a lot of the side features that exists around the game—like Selphie’s blog that she kept regarding her experiences. Overall, it’s one of the biggest feeling RPGs prior to the rise of open world RPGs. Bigger feeling than FF7, and up there with games like Xenogears and Suikoden.

Magic can be gained multiple ways. Drawing is basically the Steal command, except it works on magic. Refinement is crafting, and is one of the first examples (if not the first example) of a robust crafting system—at least in a major game. Refining items into magic is much faster and doesn’t require repetitive grinding. Another interesting way is to Card enemies and then refine their cards into various items and magics… which is most effective to do in a grindy way, but it’s less monotonous than drawing. You can also play card games for cards, some rules allow for taking the user’s entire hand.

The junction element is like a job class and equipment system. Magic is like equipment: you equip magic to up stats, acquire resistance/absorption, or status effects. GF’s are like the job classes, you can equip one or several to characters and acquire AP to learn unique skills that you can equip to shape your character. Also, later in the game, you can use scrolls and such to customize your GFs.

I suppose the game can be a little overwhelming for FF fans at the time, used to very basic mechanics. At the time, FF8 was probably the most complex and sandboxy RPG around when it came to mechanics. But that has changed in the last 25 years. Particularly with the rise of sandbox games like dwarf fortress where crafting and non-standard equipment systems are normal things. RPGs in general are more complex today than they were: and more modern RPGs, like Witcher 3 and Xenoblade, have elements similar to those introduced in FF8.

So, basically the first time I played the game I had some preconceived ideas about the game and developed some negative biases. Once I broke those, I discovered one of my favourite games of all time.