I don't hate it. Insofar as I'm concerned there's no such thing as a bad Final Fantasy, at least not in my experience.

But man

I really wish that idea about Ultimecia being Rinoa and Griever being Squall had as much textual basis as I thought it did.

I love FF8! The story was great. Screw the haters. :)

The only problem I have with FF8 is just the drawing that's all. I love the junction and summons. Best theme song out of all the other FFs. What's more to ask?

For the record I've replayed this more than FF7. ;)

FF9 on the other hand great gameplay, interesting characters but.... it had a stupid story.....

Not everyone hates FF8, it's my favourite one (and I've played all of them except II and V).

I think the hate comes from the fact that the love story is the main plot in this one (as opposed to being in the backseat in other FF's), and the characters aren't as likeable to some people (If you can put up with Cloud, you can put up with Squall, but that's my opinion).

Also, the magic system, I personally loved it, not having to worry about MP and all, and I thought the junction system was pretty sweet.

Finally, triple triad is easily the best minigame in FF history (imo). Honestly, there were some parts where I cared more about finding particular character cards then I did the people they portrayed.

Final Fantasy VIII has in my opinion the best story in all of the FF games I have played.  I love almost everything about the game.  I did not like the Guardian System.

It gets too convoluted and self-inflated.

A lot of the game mechanics seem overly contrived.

Aspects of the story that seem to be building up to big revelations (playing as Laguna, Seifer) kind of fizzle. The gunblade is in fact retarded.

All of the characters were too homogeneous; not only were most of them bland, boring, and forgettable, but they were all very similar.

The GF system was too easily manipulated; Junctioning Curaga to HP early in the game = dominance. It is too consciously imitative of FF VII (the name "Squall" is basically the name "Cloud" + bad-assness, SEED just seems too much like a forced parable for SOLDIER).

The story never establishes a clear rhythm; it is wildly uneven and very poorly paced.

Too little "art" and too much "science" went into its design and conception.

Lame, pathetic excuse for an arch-villain (Rinoa parallells aside...even if they were true, that would only add coolness to the CONCEPT of Ultimecia, not her late introduction and shitty character development).

That's why I don't like it as much as the others. I don't hate it, I enjoyed every Final Fantasy. It's just overall kind of meh. Except for the bad-ass, timeless opening movie.

Other people also don't like the uber-sci-fi aspect of it (vs. traditional fantasy), the heavy focus on the romance, and the way enemies levelled up along with you.

The gunblade by far the best weapon is a FF game.

I don't get the hate either, it is my favorite Final Fantasy game, the amazing music (Uematsu was already epic, but with the score he went to another different level), the intro was beyond epic, the characters (life-size for the 1st time, and the personalities, Squall, Rinoa, Ultimecia, etc.), the story, gameplay (I think it's in the junction system where the people have a problem, but i like it), and BTW, THE GUNBLADE!!!

ANd who can forget the phrase "I'll be waiting for you. If you come here, you'll find me... I promise"

What the hell are you talking about? FF VIII is my favorite RPG of all time!

I don't hate it.


I think the most hated title gets awarded to FF7.

FF12 is easily the most hated game in the series nowadays.