This has been bothering me and I finally figured out why. He is right that certain fights become much more difficult at max level, but not for the reasons he lists. The level cap was 100 as I recal, and there are plenty of monsters (and bosses?) that have level 5 death. No worse than any other level that is a multiple of 5 of course, but stilll more difficult than any level not divisible by 5.

I like it. Well, I've liked all the main FF game's I've played. The Junction magic system was really good.

Do they really cost that much used? I remember I always used to see used copies in EB for really cheap years ago. I still have my original copy that I pre-ordered way back in '97. :) I haven't played FFVII since like 1998, haha.

OT: FFVIII is a terrible game(IMO) and it made me stop playing (new) FF games. It was the beginning of the end for me actually wanting to play FF games. I used to be a big FF fan, too. I still love the older ones though :)

I agree with the statement that FFVIII didn´t meet the expectations of the huge hype, therefore comes the hate. Nonetheless, its a worth playing game. Its music is fantastic, actually in overall better than FFVII.

Like other people stated, The Man with the Machine Gun is not just one the best, but THE best battle theme imo, and its fits superbly to Squall´s dream sequences of Laguna.

 That's what the local store by me is selling it for, they usually have better deals then Gamestop.

I remember seeing it in a bargain bin at Best Buy or something (long ago obviously) for like $14 new. Also I remember Funcoland's list of NES games and most of them were $1 or less. Then it got bought out by Gamestop.

I miss Funcoland.  That was a fun store.  I got so many NES games from Funcolands.  ^_^

Let's face it, Final Fantasy died as a viable art form with FF7, died as viable franchise with FF8, and died as a playable game with FF10.

FF6 was the last of the classic Final Fantasies, I still don't agree it was the best, but it was definitively the end of an era.

FF7, was unique all to itself, while in many respects part of the FF7-FF9 era, it was by itself truly the last viable masterpiece of the Final Fantasy series. While untraditionall it was intensely popular making it at the same time both traitor and savior of Final Fantasy. In the end it would be the harbinger of a new generation in Final Fantasy, but a generation that would never live up to its progenitor.

FF8-FF9 were awkward experiments that would have been forgiveable in hindsight, however with the franchise's failure to create another FF7 following them coupled with its descent into the gaudy emo-androgyny of FF10 and beyond, these two games, by default of their successors, became mere casualties of an era that never was.

FF10 was the begining of the artistic stagnation typical of modern Final Fantasy games, it embraced linear character designs, recycled archetypes and a simplistic yet "hyper glam" art form reminisent of FF8. Experimentation had given way to simplification and streamlining and with each subsequent game the series simply refined aspects and mechanics of the previous. Artistic experimentation in the series now ranged from the timid to the questionable.

As Final Fantasy games continue to emerge, it becomes ever more apparent that the talent lost by Square-Enix to Nintendo and Mistwalker over the years has severly hindered their ability to produce the games they once prided themselves on. Now the extent of their expertese seems limited primarily to cinematics rather than actual gameplay, innovation or story telling. And with the absense of Yoshitaka Amano's art and Nobuo Uematsu's music in the series now, many even question whether these games can be called Final Fantasy anymore.

The first indicator to us that things were going terribly wrong should have been FFX2 followed by the whoring out of FF7 through a meriad of spin-offs and ultimately a departure into an era where nothing was sacred.

I think the biggest reason people cling to Final Fantasy till this day is because there has yet to really be a JRPG to take up the mantle it once so rightfully bore. And as JRPGs seen to descend further and further into niches rather than main stream appeal, Final Fantasy may forever be a dying dream and a lingering remorse.

If we are talking about the music of FFVIII. It is not the FF game with the best music imo but it has some incredible nice songs:

Top 12 FFVIII songs:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzlx60CjwOc