Considered something of a curveball to the hugely successful episode seven, Final Fantasy VIII (eight) is more great level-grinding goodness from Japanese dev Gods, Square. This one released in 1999.
A completely different setting and characters to previous instalments, Final Fantasy VIII features six playable protagonists and five temporarily-playable characters, each of whom make their entrance at key points in the story. The main character – who you begin the game with – is called Squall Leonhart – and Squall is a SeeD cadet. “SeeDs” by the way are elite mercenaries who can “junction” Guardian Forces to create a wide range of special offensive and defensive abilities, and these kind of act as a substitute for armour and accessories. In combat, SeeDs can use weapons and cast magic, and create all manner of colourful lightshows with their spells, and can even activate special power moves with “Limit Breaks” – using a meter that builds up and can be unleashed when full. They must also use “Draw Points” to keep their magic points topped-up for battle.
The aim of the game is to use all the powers and resources at your disposal to defeat the sorceress, Ultimecia, who is attempting to destroy the universe by compressing time. This is spectacular, high brow science fiction fantasy… gobbledegook… Gobbledegook of the highest order, nonetheless…
In terms of presentation, Final Fantasy VIII really pushed the original PlayStation to its limits, with amazing animated cut scenes, beautiful 2D backgrounds, lots of special effects during combat, and much more 3D than the previous game. The menu system in this was a big leap forward too. People often forget how good Final Fantasy VIII was for the time, because it was eclipsed by the gigantic presence of its predecessor.
A long-awaited re-mastered edition of Final Fantasy VIII goes on sale on Steam this week. The 3rd of September to be precise. Will it be worth the £15.99 they’re asking for it? Having very much enjoyed the original, my response is: quite possibly.
Note: These screenshots are from the original PlayStation version.
More: Final Fantasy VIII on Wikipedia
Steam: Final Fantasy VIII Remastered on Steam
The King of Grabs 
I honestly struggled with it. Looking back, I’m certain it was the menu system (the whole thing about equipping magic and GF’s was convoluted with little payoff, and just seemed to be complex for the sake of it. A shame as FF7’s materia system worked lovely). I also didn’t like the quicktime elements like hitting a shoulder button with the gunsword on attack for extra points, I know you could toggle it off but it felt like I was handicapping myself.
I returned to it and stuck with it, however, and I found after a fairly messy intro (which again I think is down to introducing too much background, lore, and strange buzzwords – once you strip that back it’s pretty easy to follow), it finds its stride quite nicely, and I was really enjoying exploring the world, the story, and even spending time with sidequests.
Then Disk 1 ended and the game seems to undergo a tone change, and I just never had the heart to return to it. It’s just a bit frankenstein to me, and I think this is what puts others off, it just doesn’t present itself as well as it could and spends time fannying around with elements that really add nothing. If I remember there’s an entire website devoted to explaining the theory that Squall dies at the end of Disk 1, which explains why the plot goes so crazy from thereon out. The fact that theory even exists highlights the tone change is evident to others too.
I get why other people like it, and I don’t think it’s a total write-off. It just feels like a promising script that’s still in its first draft.
LikeLiked by 1 person