I forgot to say I do somewhat like his character, it's just that he somewhat is a bitch.

I agree, when I like a cardboard cutout-like character such as Irvine much more than the lead, something's wrong.  I thought the parts as Laguna were so much better despite not really getting a chance to shine, for me they were the diamonds in the rough....and then I had to play as Squall again....UGH

To whoever posted the intro, FF VIII might have the best intro of any game ever. I watched it so many damn times when I first played it.

And its been well documented that Squalls 'whatever' doctorine was actually a lazy effort by the translation team to translate a myriad of different phrases (all with completely different words such as 'Hey, but you're a teacher' or 'I don't think that's a good idea').   All different phrases from the Japanese that have no coorilation to the pointless 'whatever' stick Squall has been labeled with in the west (see image below).  And its pretty sad that Squall haters make such a big deal about it since he also says it much less frequently than they make it out to be and mostly only in the first quarter of the game.  Heck, the first two instances of it are more than 5-6 HOURS apart (from the fire cave to the Balamb dance).

So I think you guys should really go back and either a) Replay the game to really see how Squalls character pans out or b) Bring up some solid character points besides the things that are brought up in every thread like this.

Hmm...sure looks like more characters than a simple 'Whatever' to me....

Obviously I have neither the time nor inclination to replay a turgid 40+ hour experience littered with unoriginal ideas and flat constructs for characters simply to defend my opinions against a random dude on the internet.

I loved that intro, that's what got me so hyped up for the game after FF7. Then I played it...

To summarize: Squall is garbage, the game is garbage, I never want to play that garbage again...If I could get to my copy of it back home, I'd probably smash it with a hammer to put it out of its misery...

I'm sorry the game system was too complicated for you. Well, not everyone is born intelligent ;)

Squall's attitude does improve towards the end, he is like this, because he is afraid to get close to people, incase he loses someone he loves again.... Personally I love Squall.

Squall seems to have social anxiety disorder.  Which means he's not whiny but he really doesn't understand why people have relationships and friends.  This also lets everyone play the game from an outsider moving in perspective which is easier to empathize with.(kinda like both of the good x-men movies focus on the struggle of someone who isn't even currently an xman and we love them better as we see them turn strangers to friends and lovers.)

Squall is extremely emo imo. More so than Cloud.