Final Fantasy VIII: The Experimental Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy VIII was halfway between the game in the series that blew everything up, Final Fantasy VII, and the perfect example of how to make a tribute to the rest of the series: Final Fantasy IX.

But why is Final Fantasy VIII not as popular as its other two "brothers" in this PlayStation trilogy? Even today it is the third best selling of the entire series, it was extremely favorable critically, and many were introduced to the series via FFVIII, so it is remarkable that the degree of worship for this game is nowhere near the levels of nostalgia people have for other titles in the series. For what reason? Let us analyze its various aspects.

[alti]

i won't let nostalgia get in the way of FFX being hands down the best FF of them all, but 8 is a VERY close second for me. You don't get more bad ass than a lion heart gun blade. You seriously just do not.

[SoulMikeY]

I think the reason I think X is the start of the downfall is because it was the start of restriction and rehashing characters. I also feel if X is someones favorite, that it was their first. My first was FF1, so everything is based off of, and compared to that. And I don't think X's as good as 1.

OT, VIII is hands down my favorite. Followed by IX, then VII.

[Becuzisaid]

What do you mean rehashing characters? I thought they were all pretty original except maybe Lulu. She was straight up Gothic stereotype.

[Forum_Pirate]

You "feel" wrong. X is the best, but I started at 7 and had played 7/8/9/4 (in that order) before I played 10. There are explinations other than nostalgia for people not agreeing with you.

[SoulMikeY]

Forum_pirate, don't sound so hurt. lol. Whatever I feel is what I feel, and that's a fact. And sales in addition to critics disagree with your statement. X is far from the "best". But in your heart it might be. That's cool.

And rikku is yuffie, khimari is redxiii, wakka is Zell, just things like that.

[Adrian_v01]

Your arguments are the weakest I've ever seen, and that's a fact "lol"

[naruga]

i also agree that FF X was the downfall ...although FF 12 was damn good (far better than simplistic FF X) and very different in feeling ...imo FF 7 is the best of all ...many try to denominate it but in vain ...has the most likable characters and some of the best sci-fi worlds in games ...FF8 is very good but suffers from what i call Tetsuya-Nomura disease (the same as FFX and FF13)...the guy can draw the most beautifull characters in the whole game industry , but his story concepts are gibberish and when he is involved in scenarios or plot , creates ridiculous games (see FF13)

[carlingtat]

Not true I know many people including myself who prefer FFX over the others even though they've played VI-IX before FFX. In terms of story telling and character development FFX and FFVII are up there in the top spots. I think rather than being the start of the downfall it was the game that Squaresoft went out with a bang. For a lot of people VII is their favourite because it was their first and became big when it hit playstation. I dont see that can be true of FFX since the FF series was massive long before X and many many fans would have played others before FFX.

[SoulMikeY]

Adrian_v01, I'm not arguing dog. I'm not 15 with an immature agenda or desire to fight, lol. I'm commenting, I don't care if you agree or not.

I'm not here to "convince" anyone to think what I think. But it is funny how hurt these responses sound, haha. "And that's a fact, lol (the uneasiness really showed here)".

[Adrian_v01]

"don't sound so hurt. lol" - the uneasiness showed here. I was just using your own methods to prove how immature you are. Which you just did.

Also, using arguments doesn't mean you're arguing, it means you're discussing, debating. Are you sure you're not 15?

@naruga, FFVII is claimed to be the best because it was something completely new; however, besides Cloud and Aerith, the characters are forgettable. The story was a mess and needed spin-offs to offer fans a better understanding of what was going on. At least the character development in FFX was solid (Tidus aside), all the party members had their own backstories throughout the game which they've grown and changed through. And wherever did you get the info from that Nomura did FFXIII?

[k2d]

7, 8 & 9 - the Golden Triforce of Final Fantasy. X was good for what it was, and earlier games were masterful. But no other set of games were ever so different from one another, and yet so consistent in the quantity, quality AND presentation, as 7 through 9.

[SoulMikeY]

Totally agree.

[nitus10]

I have never played FF1 through 3 but I have played and enjoyed FF4 through 13 although for some reason I did miss out on FF9 which came out in July 2000. Probably the reason I missed FF9 was that the PS2 came out in March 2000 and I stopped buying PS1 games.

I do think FF8 was a milestone for the FF series in that instead of "super-deformed" characters the characters were more normal human sized and shaped. This was definitely the case when later FF games came out.

As for which FF was the best? IMHO all are good and all have their strengths and weaknesses.

FF10 was the first FF released on the PS2 and graphically is was so much more superior, unfortunately like FF13 it was "on-rails" until close to the end of the game (remember the Omega Dungeon?). In addition, it was turn-based only, however, I really did like the characters.

FF12 on the other hand, was more open world since you could just about go anywhere (with reason) even at the start of the game. It actually did away with random encounters in that you could see the enemy and if you were fast enough you could avoid them and depending on your levels some enemies would not attack you unless you unless you attacked them first. Even the T-Rex at the start of the game would not actually attack although it was a good idea to avoid it. One major feature of FF12 was the removal of the "battle arena" in that when you went into battle you fought in the exact area your party was in and you could manoeuvre your party around the battle area.

[Number-Nine]

I enjoyed the draw system but the story was nonsensical

[Swiftfox]

I'm of the opinion Final Fantasy VIII was one of the weakest in the series.

The story was dribble and incomprehensible at times, the characters of the game were forgettable and underdeveloped, and the junction system was broken. The game is certainly playable and yes people remember it fondly, but the profound weaknesses of its parts destroys it and keeps it from being anything more than a poor to average RPG.

[goldwyncq]

What part of the story was incomprehensible?

[Dasteru]

Pretty much the entire thing after Squall got skewered by Edea. The story became so odd and fantastical that alot of people believe the whole thing to have just been Squall hallucinating prior to his death.

[Adrian_v01]

Just because you didn't understand how to play the game doesn't mean it's bad.

[Swiftfox]

Just because someone criticizes something you enjoy doesn't mean they don't know how to play it. I've played the game several times.

The junction system is broken in the sense it's well too easy to trivialize the game with it by making your characters far too powerful far to fast.

*SPOILERS*
The story is a terrible mess, including a possessed former caretaker of every playable character in the game (convenient) being hunted to find out she's been possessed by a Sorceress from the future who's goal is to merge all of time to rule one plain of existence, and the only way to stop her is to kill her in her own time which requires Rinoa to be possessed so the times would merge, but then purged so the process would stop with our heroes only able to stay on this semi-merged plain thanks to the power of believing in yourself and friendship. All this just to find out it was Ultimicai who went back and time to make the caretaker a sorceress in the first place and it was Squall himself from the future who put the idea in her head for Seed so the events could happen as they transpired. None of what I said is told well in the story. Several players who complete the game aren't even sure what was going on after the parade scene.

[Adrian_v01]

And how exactly is ff8 different than ff7 in that regard? Ff7's materia system was just as easy to break as the junction system in 8, and playing ff7 just as many players didn't understand the connection between Cloud and Zac until it was further explained through movies, spin-offs and an anime series. And yet people claim ff7 to be the best jrpg ever.

[CobraKai]

I love the art style and environments FF8 has.

[-Foxtrot]

Best one of the series

All the complaints were just small nitpicks mostly exaggerated by the new fans of FF brought in by FF7 because FF8 was not a direct FF7 sequel.

Best character development
Alright story
Fantastic Soundtrack
Decent graphics at the time
Summons, Weapons, Limits all good
Lots of memorable moments like the Intro, Garden Battle and the Waltz of the moon dance scene

[Asuka]

When squall and gang steal the train from those galbadian soldiers, and somehow that one soldier was able to keep up with a speeding train xD The game was littered with fun relief moments like that, and it really gave the game world a charm i seldom feel nowadays. Favorite iterations of Biggs and Wedge as well haha

[goldwyncq]

Best character development?

Sure. If you ignore everyone except Squall and Rinoa.

[-Foxtrot]

Pffft please

Squall and Rinoa actually felt like a real teenage couple with their relationship

Plus Squall has the best character development in a main FF game

From an emotional closed lonely selfish jerk, to a brave heroic leader surrounded my friends he can now trust

[goldwyncq]

That's what I said.

Only Squall and Rinoa got any substantial development. The others served only to bolster their development further, but hardly got any themselves.

[Forum_Pirate]

I'd put it at second personally.

It only has the best character development of the series for Squall specifically, the others (including Rinoa) don't really develop much on their own. Most of them that aren't Squall/Rinoa (and arguably Zell) are kinda flat tbh. Quistus is probably the worst example, she begins and ends the game as "hot stern voice of reason" with no change at all except for the relatively minor revelation about her feelings that doesn't really change anything.

Other than that, yeah. If the other characters and overall story were as well executed as FFX, I'd pick 8 hands down.

[Swiftfox]

I understand it's a matter of personal taste but you certainly can't dismiss conflicting opinions and critique with a "FF7 noobs" argument. Saying the story isn't told very well and is a cheap trip of plot convenience is a valid criticism. Saying the characters are all underdeveloped is a valid criticism. Many of the giant set pieces felt out of place as an excuse to shoe-horn in more CGI--a valid criticism. I mean there's a reason why this game prompted the creator of series to make Final Fantasy IX. This game gave us a lot of the world blandness, contrived plots, style over substance characters, and graphics over gameplay trends we are seeing currently in Final Fantasy.

You can love it all you want, but dismissing valid criticism of the game really does do a disservice to the franchise. And before you dismiss what I've said because "FF7 baby", I played FFX first, and my favorite Final Fantasy is Tactics.

[Name Last Name]

I thought the story was great until they came up with that "All of us grew together in an orphanage" BS. But it had a lot of memorable moments. Transforming Balamb Garden into an airship was awesome.

[wolokowoh]

That's because FF8 starts boring and grows into a great game. It starts with one of the biggest lows as far as entertainment value in the entire game and takes its time getting out of it. If you look at FFX it starts strong from introducing new game mechanics and the story hits you right off the bat. It has a few lows but its mostly consistent throughout. In FF9 it is funny as hell right off the bat so you kind of ignore that it doesn't do the best job of introducing itself in other ways. It continues to get better though. In FF7, it starts strong with the story and everything else falls in line pretty well.

[goldwyncq]

I thought the beginning was actually one of the better parts of the game. Everything from Disc 3 onward was a downward spiral, with some few exceptions.

[Pozzle]

The end of FFVIII's story might have been a bit of a mess, but it sure was fun to go into space, explore Esthar (and the area around it), and overcome Ultimecia's castle. They were some of the most interesting locations in the game, imo.

Though it's a bit of a shame that more wasn't done with the Time Compression at the end. It would have been cool to see how the world was affected by a destroyed timeline. Maybe we could have seen the original sorceress Hyne, or Laguna as a soldier, or Adel when she was the leader of Esthar, etc. There was so much build-up to the Time Compression...and it ended up being nothing more than a spooky castle level.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

I loved the Laguna story and how it weaved into the present day story of Squall

[FreddyFazbear]

FFVIII in my opinion guys is the best ff. 7 is just a second then X. But gameplaywise i think all of you will agree with me. FFX is the best. Why? Because its the only ff game where you FULLY CONTROL AEONS/SUMMONS!! they have their own attack magic and overdrive how cool is that? Minus the items of course. And they are not timed!! Imagine yuna just one character but because of all the aeons she is like a one woman army. I took down seymour with yuna alone. All her aeons have full overdrives. But FFVIII still best for me. Dont know why maybe because they are memorable and squall is cool with the gunblade, not that crap lightning is holding.