Oh yes, this game. This. Freaking. Game. Right. Here. I want to make it known this is MINE AND ONLY MY OPINION of this game, so no one gets the nonsense I am thinking just in line with other gamers and streamers on this game. This is fully my opinion on Final Fantasy 8. So with that out of the way, FF8 is after 7, which is completely obvious. FF7: One of the most popular games in history of gaming.. which still lasts today because of well.. FF7. I don't have a better reason other than it is. FF8: Well.. let's just dive in shall we?
Positives:
1. Squall's character arc- He develops well after disc 1. Let's be honest, I'm not going to sit here unless your name is literally FF7 and say much development happens in disc 1. And yes I will say the same about FF9 as well when I get to it. He does develop into a character that has a decent personality especially in disc 3. Yeah more on that personality in a bit.
2. Rinoa/Squall's relationship arc- Yes they go into a relationship but it feels good to say they have a good relationship arc. However the way there is what I will also discuss below! However I do like how in the end they have the relationship arc and it comes full circle.
3. Music- If there was one surefire positive, it's the music. Uematsu does really, really well for FF8's soundtrack. It would be probably top 5 or 6 for best soundtracks on the Final Fantasy format and that includes the other 91 versions or add-on games from the FF7 series. The music for every area, battles, bosses is absolutely exquisite and done very well by Uematsu overall.
4. Graphics- Sure, let's go graphics. Because Square makes amazing graphics in video games. They are actually really well done and the artwork is fantastic for the most part. There is more on that in a bit as well.
No honorable mentions here, so let's get to the...
Negatives:
1. Squall's personality- Yeah so I am going hard on this. He is about the most lifeless/"I don't care" leader in the world. And that is stupid. With Cloud, it's battling with his past. With Zidane, he exudes confidence. With Bartz, he's calculated but ready to do everything he can for his teammates. For Cecil, it's overcoming his most recent past, and Terra it's wondering about love. For Squall, what is his demeanor? What is what makes him.. him? He doesn't have a personality feature that makes him a great leader. He's just an aloof person who doesn't do anything drastic and he just is a standoffish guy who doesn't seem to have a feature to his personality overall.
2. The Squall/Rinoa Relationship arc- Yes this is a negative because for 2 discs it is incredibly non-existent then it feels forced due to what was going on with Rinoa. I can't sit here and not say this wasn't forced because it looked and felt forced because of past games having a solid relationship feature.
3. Zero character development elsewhere- Selphie doesn't develop or have an arc, neither does Zell, Irvine, or Quistis after 20 minutes. It's absolutely ridiculous that they have only two characters with any sort of arc but literally no one else does. There is enough there from every character that literally everyone of them should have had an arc, but literally not one character does and it is beyond ridiculous they don't. To me, put them all from different areas of the world, not in the same area growing up because that is part of why there is zero development of other characters in this game. In all honesty, it feels cheap and it feels empty without that.
4. Graphics- Yeah they really messed up some details, none more notably than the ball with Squall's face. They tried to get out of the polygonal/pixel age but it badly needed some retuning and better overall look. Most of the graphics are done well though.
5. Junction/Draw- Pick one of the two at least. Personally to me, I despised the draw system. I did not like it, and it is tedious as heck to do. For people that don't like the junction system, I can understand that. Personally I was more in the not as affected by it but if you didn't like it, by all means I understand it.
Overall Rating/Rank
In all honesty, I cannot recommend Final Fantasy 8 to gamers. It took a lot for me to think through this but I just.. I can't recommend this game at all. The thing that does it for me is character development. You can have a garbage sounding/looking game but if the game has really good character development, you will do well with it. Especially in a Final Fantasy game. This game just fell well, well short of expectations and it is no wonder why it is one that people struggle with today to like.
Overall Rating: 5 out of 10.
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