I wouldn't say I hate Final Fantasy VIII - The story for it just came off as a little bit weak.

For one, they fudged having to write any kind of character backstories - we all grew up in the same orphanage, but nobody remembers it, yay - this is so convienient. Let's blame it on the GFs but never elaborate on it again for the rest of the game!

Second, Personally, I thought it was kind of cheap to try and re-capture the drama of haning Aeris die in Final Fantasy VII but having Squall getting speared through the chest at the end of disk 1 - only to completely forget it ever happened at the beginning of disk 2.

I guess that sums it up with the fact that I felt that the reason VIII was weaker than the others was because of story cop-outs.

The battle system and overall game system was great - though ridiculously easy to cheat.

 that's because the game was not meant to make you grind levels like other RPGs at the time

 Had FF7 and FF8 swapped places i bet FF7 would be the hated step child of the series.  FF7 had way more hype to it then just about any RPG ever had, and as such since FF8 wasn't anything like it and tried things new for a FF otuside of just slightly changing stuff.... you had problems.

The draw system was a piece of crap, and Squall is probably the most emo character that has ever existed. Other than that, it was a good game. I enjoyed the story the most, especially Laguna's side of the plot.

let's see... there are too many flaws about the game to lists to i'll just say this instead; its all about your personal tastes in gaming and your perception of what a game should play like. i personally enjoyed the game but couldn't stand the long scene that accompanies each summon. this is the only reason why i can't force myself to play through the game a second time.

FFVII's story is great dude; Reunion, Cetra, Eugenics, cloning, SOLDIER, the philosophy of the Lifestream, Clouds past, Zack, Sephiroth, and others, plus it was so mature with eugenics, cloning, breeding, terrorisme, mass-murder, Aeris death, Zacks death, Dyne's death and his wife, Cloud never becomes happy, nor does Tifa, Vincent's life is ruined, Wutai is destroyed, Midgar get's distroyed, Bbarret's life is ruined and so one, it's one big tragedy actually.. dark and mature, but also full of references to sex, drugs and swearing, but also very comical and light-hearted at times.. you probably didn't get the story Kasz.. like many people didn't.. ;)

I for one hate it.... J/ks It is my fave game. People hate Squall because he was withdrawn (I love that), people thought the way the characters posed was so Beverly Hills 90210. People thought the Junction system was too complicated (anymore thinking outside of placing materia in weapons is really complicated) and people wanted Cloud. Cloud was more f*k'd up than Squall anyways.

FF8 is truly a deep game that many games will would hope to achieve. It's a classic and will always be a game that people either love or hate. I guess it's a game that only a few people get. The rest are just whiners :P and still in love with Cloud or small cutesy characters :P

Chrono Cross, from what I played of it, has a great story(that's my opinion, not yours) and so did FF7 but it was hindered by a horrendous localization effort

Squalls clothing is gay dude.. come on.. all that tight and too short leather stuff..

but like I said before.. it is a good game, eventhough not one of the great rpgs off all time if you ask me, it is good and unique..