Final Fantasy VIII: Why All the Hate?

Have you ever loved a game that maybe the majority of people either thought was over rated or just plain horrible?

[Donnieboi]

What hate?

[Ranma1]

FF had high standards and FF8 didnt really have the best battle system, and people hated on it.

Then FFX-2 came out and it made FF8 look amazing.

Then FF13 came out and made FFX-2 look like a masterpiece, the standards keep going down.

So you can imagine how good FF8 is considered compared to newer FF's.

[wishingW3L]

that's true. FF8 has the most broken battle system in the entire series. It's so broken you can make the characters powerful enough to beat the game in just the first few hours at the beginning of the game. The last time I played the game I beat almost every boss in 1 turn. XD

Here's a video of Spoony Experiment discussing everything what is wrong with FF8 on 11 parts: http://spoonyexperiment.com...

The conclusion is that FF13 is way worse though.

[KyRo]

FF8 was the only FF I've ever finished. I would of completed 7 but the amount of times my file got corrupt back on the PSone made me give up.

[Shadow Flare]

Try FF7 again, it's worth it. I'm playing it through again at the moment, simply timeless

And I've always rated FF8 as one of the best final fantasys out there. I think the character development of Squall is greats, some of the other characters are really interesting and there's so many really cool scenes in the game. Back in the ps1 days, I got so excited when a cut scene started, and FF8 had some really amazing ones.

FF8 also has some of the best videogame music ever written. The battle music is IMO the best of all FF games, fisherman's horizon, blue fields, the boss music, balamb garden, totally incredible tunes.

Games are like food, what some people enjoy, others won't. And there's little point debating what's better but I've always loved FF8, and it's a gameplay experience that ill never forget.

http://youtu.be/h3ryiSk995Q

http://youtu.be/1orKD1ZG5KU

[Pintheshadows]

Have you played 9. That's really good as well. I played 7, 8 and 9 about a year ago back to back. I still enjoyed them all. 9 is my favourite though.

[Godmars290]

I actually have to same issue with FF9. Get 2/3 done then - bam! - either something in RL gets in the way or the file gets corrupted.

Its a regular curse.

[Shadow Flare]

I got to the final boss in FFX, and my brother saved over my file.

That wasn't my only tragic moment in FFX. To get the Venus Sigil or something you have to go to the thunder plains and dodge 100 lightning strikes. When the screen flashes white, you press square and then dodge it. Dodging 100 took in the region of 30-40 minutes. And my eyes were getting really heavy because it was really repetitive. And bam! I got hit by lightning, cos I'd lost concentration. My face was the look of utter despair, I was counting how many I did so far and it was something around 100. I wasn't sure. So I went to the book in the shop which tells you how many I did. I dodged 99 strikes. 99. I think that ranks as one of the most frustrating gaming experiences I've ever had. But I got the 100 the next day. All in vain of course cos my save file got overwritten just before completing the game

[Final_Aeon]

200 lightning strike dodges for venus sigil. Done it at least 5 times (4 for "perfect" files of my own - beating Penance & maxing stats - and 1 for a friend). Easier if you mute the sound IMO.

Sun sigil (chocobo race) and Saturn Sigil (butterfly hunt), now those could get annoying.

[Shadow Flare]

Was it 200? Geez then it must have been 199 strikes I dodged, that makes it even worse. I know I was just one off.

I had no problem with the chocobo one actually. I seem to remember the butterfly one being a pain in the ass but did that one too. It was just that lightning one. It's gotta be the most boring thing I've ever done in a game. Great game though FFX, really like that one

[Darth Gamer]

No hate from me. I personally liked it the best out of the PS1 Trilogy.

If I was to rank them from 7 on, (and this is just my opinion) it woulds go something like this;

FF 10 tied with FF Tactics
FF 8
FF 7
FF 12
FF 9
FF 10-2
FF 13
FF 13-2

Like I said, only my opinion. Many will disagree and that's fine too.

[user3915800]

FF8 Its the best final fantasy of them all. FF7 was really good, but can not compare with the detail/emphasis,story/boss fights/fluent freedom of ff8, there was so much to do, and the story development was amazing. This is the best RPG i have ever played, and I played 100s of rpg. The only rpg I had the desire to unlock everything on it, cause the draw system, GF, enemies, fluent mapping and looks, were not achievd in any lentgh by any other RPG. FF8, onced you finish disk one just keeps on growing on you. FF8 on PS1 was not a master piece, it isplain and simple the epitome of all RPG to be measured by. There is a ton of rpg and none gave me the satisfaction to finish more than this one. Finish the game 4 different times, just cause I did not wanted the game to ever end... FF8 you are thye greatest RPG I have ever played and yes, I have finished every squaresoft/enix rpg ever made. Althought, the last rpg from square was the last rpg I will play from them, cause they lost the sanity of rpgs soul bound, now we have pure garbage coming from them, sold their soul for money, instead of continuing the great emphasis of quality story lines and playability, for a quick buck. Squareenix its garbage now, ever since the father of rpg was let go, all their products has become lost in a stale of excess manure.

[Linsolv]

I think you forgot to play FF6. Or FF3 on the SNES in the US.

[Root]

Exactly FF8 for me was amazing and in my opinion it was a better FF game then FF7

People only hated on it because the new fans FF7 brought in thought the next FF game was going to be a sequel to FF7 but instead we got a new world, new story, characters etc which happens in every new FF game but obviously they didn't get the memo.

For me it had better music, better characters, graphics, world, missions, story

I mean there were a few things here a there but no FF game is perfect.

I loved Squalls character development though, from a lonely selfish anti social jerk to a brave heroic leader with a ton of friends and the love of his life. You saw his character change in each disc more and more.

People nitpicked it to death it my opinion

They called the draw system yet you never had to use it. I never and had a ton of good magic at the end of the game. Thank You Island Heaven and Hell

Then they said the Junction system was complicated yet in the next breathe say how it's easy to get your character to 9999 health. So what is it easy or complicated, two statements contradicting each other

I could go on

[Hicken]

That's pretty much it. VIII got hate because it wasn't VII.

It's my personal favorite; though one game or another may have it beat in a single aspect, none of them that I've played all the way through (VII-XIII) are better all-around.

It's strange: I can have my favorite without hating on the others, but it seems like most people can't help but hate on VIII, out of all of them.

Oh, well. Screw em. I'm gonna play some more now.

[Pintheshadows]

I don't hate FF8. I thought it was fantastic apart from the bit in the sewer.

[DigitalSmoke]

Its also getting more liniar by the minute.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

More what?

[DigitalSmoke]

linear!

Spend my entire last bubble to correct this for you ;)

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Thank you, sir. That makes me feel warm inside.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

I dont rlly hate any Final fantasy game but, I have a strong dislike for XII. FFVIII I didnt like the whole Rinoa/Squall romance. ALso how u could break the battle system thru card mod pretty early in the game. I felt no challenge playing the game. It was still a pretty kool game tho.

[Root]

The thing is though about that is by the time you actually figure out how to make it easy for yourself the VERY FIRST TIME you play it your half way through the game. It's only in your second/third playthrough or if a friends shows you long after it came out you would do it straight away.

I mean there was no going on the internet back then, we had to rely on monthly magazines.

[Solid_Snake]

I love ff8. One of my favorites. I dont really hear much hate for it. The only thing i can think of is that it followed ff7

[Rynocirator]

8 is one of my favorites...personally I think it is better than 7.

[Kalowest]

I hate it FFVIII. FF Tactics, FFIV, FFVII, FFIX, and FFX are my favorites.

[Chrono]

This game is the reason why I love JRPGs. My first RPG was FF7 but at that time I couldn't get into it. I appreciate FF7 more now, but it was FF8 that made me really get obsessed with RPGs.

[Tetsujin]

The card game in 8 was about as addicting as the game itself; and I liked 8 on the same ranks of 6 (I was 17 back then). Now, I'd probably just do the card game and maybe speedrun through a few bosses, but that's about it.

[koehler83]

I loved Triple Triad. I can't believe Square Enix has still not made that into a mobile game. They put Tetramaster online via PlayOnline (though it's long since been discontinued) but they continue to ignore the much better game that came before it.

[Tetsujin]

I know right, I remember spending more time playing the card game than 8 itself; if SE ever decided to even make it a mobile game I'd purchase it.

[koehler83]

The main narrative is sooo convoluted. I've played the game through 3 or 4 times and I still don't have a complete grip on it. The love story was so damn cheesy and poorly written. A lot of characters just make no sense in the context of the world (Irvine for instance). The battle system is pretty broken. It encourages long, boring stretches of drawing and drawing and drawing. Then it discourages any use of the magic collected as it's allocated in the junction system. Boosting summons gets literally tiresome.

I could go on. There's a lot to pick apart in FFVIII. But, I still enjoy a large portion of the game. It's many faults are still confounding.

[Rai]

no hate from me, its my favorite FF

[-Gespenst-]

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who "hates" VIII, but I'll admit it's not perfect.

I wish the "Squall is Dead" theory was true though. It would make the story so much more ingenious and would resolve it's many weirdnesses.

Still, I love all the diverse locations and the music, and the story is good for all it's convolution.

[calis]

I loved 8 and recently came across the Squall is Dead theory. It's a fascinating theory.

8 seems to be a game that has gotten a lot of appreciation over the years.

[Root]

I kind of wished the Rinoa becomes Ultimecia theory was true since it would kind of make sense in a way and would lead onto a sequel where they would have to stop that from happening.

[Kos-Mos]

Hate? From what kind of kids? The cod,gears,gow,me,killzone,gta, halo,skyrim ones?

[Godmars290]

Because its a bad - good? - example of poorly done narrative and plotting. Sign that Square was going down.

Where Chrono trigger was perfect example of a game using time travel in all regards, the more you learned of FF8's story, the less you understood or made sense.

[contradictory]

i never got into it too much
it was still good game
the only problem i had with it was Squall being a jerk at some points... my personal favorite FF is still IX
also VII and XII are somewhere there...
speaking of jrpg's does anyone remember rogue galaxy?
it was awesome!!....and yet nobody even remembers it...

[isyourhouseonfire]

I think people are just tired of these childish cartoony games. Every year that goes by, as people age, the average age (and maturity) of gamers increases. Games like FF don't have much room anymore in an industry now driven by adults.

[cr33ping_death]

first final fantasy game i beat.... would have been 7 but i went into the Sephiroth battle with low everything :( lesson learned.... but never went back and replayed it.... i love 8

[JoeSchmoh]

FF8 was cool. People was turned off by it because of the complex battle system. It was a very dark and serious game compared to FF7 too. A FF game they need to remake to 3D is FF6. that game was good too.

[ScubaSteve1]

Either it was the junction or how monsters leveled up with you

[clintagious650]

FF8 was my favorite FF Game. I loved FF7 aswell but all my friends and cousins loved cloud and squalls character was just so badazz & I loved the story, music & characters in FF8 & Odin is such a badazz. Square Enix sux donkey ballz nowadays.

[aDDicteD]

so far (in my opinion) the only FF that beats 8 is ff7 and ffX. It is the 3rd or 4th best final fantasy plus it has a kick ass intro lol ^_^