| Darashiva said: Final Fantasy VIII is one of the best games in the series and one I replay on a fairly frequent basis. |
Agreed. I’m a massive Final Fantasy fan, and in fact, I’ve nearly played through all 10 of the first games. I used to consider it the last great FF game, but after playing the remasters, I really enjoyed Final Fantasy X. This time around, those hangups weren’t there - probably because I’m more accustomed to it now.
In my replay of the first 10 games, my favourites were Final Fantasy 6 and 8. Next tier would be Final Fantasy Tactics, 4, 7, and X. Reasons: FF4 it was the shorter length of the game, being about 40% to half the length of FF6 and 8; FF7 because, while I love most of the game, the bit with the ancient city and ruins is not much to my liking; FFX, I think I still have hangups on the small town sizes, but I’m still playing it, so after I’m done and in reflection this might change. I’m a massive fan of this series overall.
Final Fantasy 8, I loved for a large variety of reasons, but at the core, it’s the substantial size of the world, the sandbox elements in the the gameplay mechanics, and the gripping story and characters.
Characters and Story have two types of FF games - those with rounded characters (FF4, 6-8, Tactics, and X), and those with Mary Sue ensembles (FF1-3, FFMQ, FF5, and 9). The ones with the Mary Sue ensembles are also less unique from one another, using somewhat similar artistic styles. My preference is for the rounded character style, as I like the struggles they have and the conflicts. Final Fantasy 8 was probably the one I liked best of these more rounded character games. They called each other out on their weaknesses and this was also a part of their growth.
The story of FF8 itself is like an expanded reimagining of another FF game I love, FF4. Seifer is Kain, Edea is Golbez, Ultimecia is Zemus, there’s also the deal with the evil coming from the Moon. Edea takes over Galbadia in much the same way Golbez takes over Baron. Although, I find characters like Rinoa to be more rounded than Rosa - Rosa was a bit of a Mary Sue; both played a damsel in distress, but I felt Rinoa’s was more emotionally appealing. With Rinoa, it wasn’t rescuing some perfect noble princess, but a flawed young woman who was trying to get better. Her sacrifice was painted with the light of her feeling inadequate (Squall pointing out her lack of professionalism and such earlier on). It reminds me of one of my favourite episodes of Star Trek TNG called “Lower Decks” and Ensign Sito. Sito is constantly messing up, others are giving her a hard time, and she’s called out by many of the upper staff. In the end, you discover they were hard on Sito because they knew the danger of the mission she was going on - and she died.
The world is probably my favourite of the FF worlds. There is so much to explore just in Balamb Garden alone. The concept of a blog wasn’t really around in 99/2000, yet Selphie has one on the Garden Network if you access the computers. Her blog is updated after various events, and it’s a nice reflection (in Selphie’s voice) of what’s going on in the world. Balamb Garden itself evolves over time based on the events that occur in the game - it reminds me a lot of how New LA in Xenoblade Chronicles X evolved over the course of the game - but in FF games, I can’t think of anything else quite like it. Garden itself is a great reflection of the world around. There’s also something grand scale feeling about the large variety of cities and the various imperial powers and nations. While I compared Galbadia to Baron, it’s also quite a lot like Vector as well given their military presence across multiple cities.
FF8 introduces a major political element not found in FF4 or 6, however, the hyper-advanced Shumi tribe and Empire of Esthar. Esthar is significantly larger than Galbadia, but is closed off from the rest of the world. Anyone who’s seen Babylon 5 might be reminded of the Vorlons in this respect (or like a Fallen Empire from Stellaris) while they have an interest in the world's politics, but they have stopped expanding and taking an active role world to live in their own hyper-advanced Utopia. The game also has a layer of history in it - Laguna’s time period, which forges a B-story that ties back into the A story.
Laguna is a likeable character, but is soft and cowardly. This flaw develops into a strength later on in the story, but early on it makes him endearing. His attempts at dealing with his giant crush on Julia has great emotional payoff when it ends in tragedy. First, because Julia think’s Laguna perished in the war, and so married General Caraway. Then later on Laguna learn of Julia’s death in a car accident. The whole angle is a great contrast to the Squall and Rinoa story and highlights the cost of failure effectively. Squall and Rinoa are a redo of Laguna and Julia; Laguna is Squall’s father (by Raine), and Rinoa is Julia’s daughter (by General Caraway). The bit at the end of the game, when he’s visiting Raine's grave (the other woman in his life), hits like a freight train - and her death was really central to the whole story.
Mechanically, I loved the ability to switch equipment in such a slick manner. It's the first (and perhaps only) Final Fantasy game with a strong crafting system, and maybe the best one from the 1990s. The Junction system is akin to the systems in games like Witcher 3 in how you equip a variety of different magical elements to customize your stats. This combines with the skill system, first introduced in FFT and built on in FF8. In FF8, players gain skills through linear advancement, except linked to Guardian Forces instead of characters; this makes it easy to switch skills between characters with the benefit of not having to worry about under-developing a character. FF8 introduced the customization scrolls allowing players to customize GFs. Scrolls can be crafted as well - this is true about nearly everything in the game. The card game also ties into the crafting system, as you can take your won cards and craft them into magic and items. If you like to tinker a lot (like I do), then you can make some interesting builds that few other people will have explored (given how wide the possibilities are); FFX brought something similar in by allowing customization of the sphere grid. FF8 is my favorite game (probably) because I enjoy intricate mechanics like Dwarf Fortress, Paradox Grand Strategies, and Witcher 3..
Musically, this is also among my favourite FF games, which would also include FF4, FF6, and FF7. There are strong mellow pieces (my favourite town themes in the whole series), strong battle pieces, and themes that play through the developing characters. Eyes on Me was a song written by Julia for Laguna, but themed out through the game to grow into songs relating to Squall and Rinoa.
Here is a good video series that goes into a deep analysis of the game. If you like that, check out their Xenogears one too. This is the first video of the series, it's like a giant book report for the story of the game. You might enjoy this video series quite a lot - I like their channel.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
