i have no idea.

Because Final Fantasy IX that followed it was so much of an improvement.

bull crap, PE 1 & 2 scorced in the seventies as well as Threads of Fate and i believe the Legend of Mana. Those other games got rated high for a good reason

So I'm currently replaying ff8 again and I have to say the problem isn't Squall, it's everyone else, they are absolutely useless, clueless and just general feckless. It's like Squall is the only abled person in the entire game. Everyone else just ticked off an entire catalog of stupidity. I'm amazed Team Squall actually win because EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE bar Squall was shockingly stupid.

Squall_Leonhart said: I think it is one of the best FF games i have ever played, currently playing through it again on my PSP

Same :D

Granted, those games you mention we're given significantly lower scores, but as far as FF's went, the media was in bed with SQUARESOFT, and as a result the reviews those games routinely got were impecable. The same happens with Famitsu in Japan. It's as if the specializaed press had signed a binding contract to glorify everything and anything FF. Vagrant Story did pretty good, too (perfect histerically happy red face score, if I remember correctly), albeit this is a fantastic game.

I like FF8. Still, don't understand the hate for Squall though and FF VIII in general. Just like I won't understand the extreme hate for FF VII.

Thanks for the link; very interesting read. I went through it several times and found his analysis had a very engaging, albeit selective logic; something akin to finding a very specific lock that will be opened by a key.

'Everything fits together in an elaborate but perfectly designed puzzle. Everything connects and everything is related. And yet it still seems absolutely ridiculous.'

I must say that I gained a new perspective and appreciation of the FFVIII lore, but in the end, I reached the same conclusion as the author. It renewed my belief that, if anything, the storytelling is fundamentally flawed.

'I choose to believe that this is how the game was intended to be understood because, to me, the game makes no sense otherwise.'

That makes two of us. If SE ever musters the courage to release a remastered version, I would play it again, though.

Because people are used to the same type of characters over and over. After Squall accepted the fact that he loved Rinoa and that he had to let people into his life, that is when he develops more as a character, but people tend to ignore that because people in this thread see what they want to see. Did these smart individuals forget how emo and retarded Cloud was at times? Or how emo Sephiroth became when he found out where he came from? Or that Cloud was nothing but a pathological liar living Zack's life? FF7 redeemed itself because of Vincent and the rest of the FF compilation (DoC, Crisis Core, Advent Children). Squall not letting people in has to do with him growing up in the orphanage and losing his "sis" which he had come to rely on (something that in real life is very feasible). My only criticism in the game was drawing magic from enemies. Enemies leveling up with you is actually a great thing, or are some of you wanting to be lazy mofo's using the penny with a rubberband trick to level up while you afk? Seriously complain over something worth complaining about. The whole thing about going into space is explained in the story, so learn to pay the f.....k attention! The previous sorceress who controlled Esthar was sealed and sent to space as to not risk Ultimecia synching with her (think name was Adel or something) as in that body, she was extremely powerful and a direct confrontation was too risky for the world. Unfortunately Ultimecia posseses Rinoa to free the sorceress, but luckily she gets beat down before she can realize full power. Afterwards Ultimecia begins Time Compression (will not bother explaining that whole process) and the characters travel through time, ultimately into the future which is Ultimecia's realm, in order to beat her. Under full time compression Ultimecia becomes the ultimate being which is why Squall and the gang travel to kill her in her original realm before all hell breaks lose and she attains godhood in a sense. In that sense it's reminiscent of Chrono Trigger time travel against Lavos.
FF9 was a throwback and an enjoyable game with certain interesting themes, and a different style altogether, but I absolutely hated summoning in that game, i felt very cheated. Odin destroying cities, and Alexander vs Bahamut was awesome though, but the invincible vs Alexander felt cheap and really stupid even if it was for story's sake. I did like Zidane as a character as he had a hero happier type personality similar to Goku from DB.

there was only 4 FF released during the PS1 era and one of them was a spinoff. I'll giv e you Famitsu, they have been screwed up for years. But its not like they give everything with the name Final Fantasy perfect scores, thats simply not true. Dirge of Cerebus, Crisis Core, FF 11. Hell Mystic Quest. IMHO those FF games that did score high derserved it, except for 13, that shouldnt even be in the 80 range 77 the highest