Final Fantasy X vs. Final Fantasy VIII

[Forsaken Lover]

Years ago I did X-2 vs. VIII because they are both deeply reviled games generally speaking.

But ya know, even X isn't a universally popular game. There are some dissidents who question these truths that VIII is total garbage and X is a good game and they are traitors.

So let's shove them in a pool and just hope they give up and drown.

Or we could do this I guess. It's about as pointless.

Which game do you like more - Final Fantasy 10 or 8? To some I'm sure this is kinda like discussing whether you'd rather be punched in the nuts or kicked in the nuts. But maybe there will be some people who actually like one or both of these games and they have to seriously contemplate which is superior.

I'll start by saying this:
I recently replayed FFVIII a few months ago. I got up to Disk 3. I then sold it to get better games.
However during this replay I noticed something that makes FFVIII stand out above every other JRPG I've ever played. That unique characteristic is the fact you have to literally do everything in your power to NOT break teh game. I wanted to enjoy the awesome boss fights with Seifer and Edea but I couldn't because I actually used junctioning a teensy bit. Oh and if you throw in the Stat+ stuff? Forget about it.
i wasn't even really making full use of the Junction system either. I was only allowing each party member to junction to one or maybe two stats. That way I'd have a Warrior, a Mage and whatever else. No two characters had Attack Junctions or Defense Junctions.

Final Fantasy VIII is by far the most ridiculously easy thing I have ever played.

[Jinx]

I actually really enjoy FFX.


FFVIII is garbage.

[Karifean]

IMHO, both are great games, but FFX wins. I find VIII simply fun to play, X immersing.

Edit: Forgot to mention, I think that VIII has the Shuffle or Boogie, Under Her Control, The Landing, Force Your Way, The Man With the Machine Gun, The Oath, Movin, The Winner, SeeD, Slide Show - Part 2, Overture, A Sacrifice, The Castle, The Legendary Beast, Maybe I'm a Lion, The Extreme, Mods de Chocobo, Ride On, Ami, ...

[NeoCracker]

X wins over VIII by virtue of not having Squall.

Not havign Squall is a pretty big plus.

True, it loses points for Tidus, but that's why it's also a pretty shitty game.

So really I'm the polar opposite of Karifean here. :p

[charliepanayi]

FFX is very good, and I really enjoy the idea of having a religion that has become rotten at the core as part of the storyline. FFVIII is my favourite FF game of all and I love pretty much everything about it, especially its opening and ending. And the music. And the characters. And Ultimecia's Castle. And the fact it's just brilliant. OK, maybe not the Junctioning system, but I'm perfectly fine with that to be honest. It's not a universally reviled FF game but it might be the most divisive.

[Fynn]

FFX has dellusions of grandure. It's a fun game, if you don't think too much about it, yet people seem to think it's the deepest thing ever ;) J/k, it's all just opinion (though I disagree :D)

FFVIII, while flawed, provides IMHO a much more satisfying experience, with Squall's conflicting dialogue and inner monologue really giving much depth into his character.

[Laddy]

VIII and X are not amongst my favorites. However, FFX's battle system and music are amongst the best in the series so I feel it edges it out.

[Futan]

FFX's battle system is probably my favorite of all of the FFs. While VIII's my most hated. So in that regard X wins easily. I liked VIII's setting more and I liked it's story more until the huge plot twists that even disrupt your suspension of disbelief. Characters is a slight win for X. Laguna being the only reason it's close. lol. So overall, X wins for me.

EDIT: Actually, even with the unbelievable plot twists. VIII's story is better. But X still wins overall.

[charliepanayi]

Frankly I don't think FFVIII's plot twists are any more outlandish and convoluted than the ones you get in FFVII and FFX. Maybe I'm just a sucker for plot twists.

[Futan]

Frankly I don't think FFVIII's plot twists are any more outlandish and convoluted than the ones you get in FFVII and FFX. Maybe I'm just a sucker for plot twists.

I think how outlandish they were in combination of the frequency of them. I don't know. Really haven't played it in awhile but I just remember my first play through when I was like 12 or some such going "Oh, this is such bullshit." after the orphanage bit. lol XD

[Formalhaut]

Final Fantasy X seems like a good game, but it's really nothing special. It was a good game sure, but that's really all it was. Meanwhile VIII was just plain complicated. Junctioning took years getting used to, and the characters got zero development sans Squall / Rinoa.

[Shiny]

FFX stills holds as a good game to me that I would replay. FFVIII was a good game at the time. I've been spoiled by amazing graphics, and non-cliche storytelling. I'm not in to the whole damsel in distress thing, the traditional love story, or anti-hero that VIII presents.

[maybee]

I like both, screw all you haters.

[Wolf Kanno]

VIII wins over X by virtue of not having Yuna.

Not having Yuna is a pretty big plus.

True, it loses points for Rinoa, but it's still a pretty good game.

[kotora]

Looking back, FF8 seems completely ridiculous. The plot, setting and characters seem to consist of a bunch of random elements that have been smashed together by a completely desperate development team. But somehow, it works. I think it's the score that does the trick of holding the whole thing together, but I'm not sure about it. It's more like a feeling. It's very hard to tell the mood of the FF8 score as a whole - the musical shifts are all over the place.

FFX? I loved it at the time. Name me one game that conveys the feeling of 'summer and sea' better, because to me that's what defines FFX. The setting is absolutely brilliant. They didn't go overboard with the random crap blending together like with FF8 and the characters fit right in, especially Yuna and Tidus who each seem to embody a separate part of Spira - Yuna the more quiet, traditional and magical part and Tidus the urban and technologically sophisticated part. It just works, but as opposed to FF8, the score just doesn't have that special mystique about it - it goes very well with the world, but that's all.

[Wolf Kanno]

Name me one game that conveys the feeling of 'summer and sea' better,

Chrono Cross :smug:

[kotora]

That's the one that immediately comes in second for me when I think about the theme. But I never got past the part with the mansion, so the game just isn't that firmly rooted in my mind.

[Bolivar]

Despite being, easily, the most polarizing games in the series, I actually like both Final Fantasy VIII and FFX, but I'm one of the rare people who genuinely likes every game in the series. I usually don't bring any of them down that much, but even when I'm disparaging one, I'm still willing to give it its props for what it did well.

This is a tough choice for me, but I'm going with FFX. On FFVIII's side, it automatically has that magic of being made during the PlayStation era and just the overall way the game was put together is awesome. It also has one of the best scores in the series and The Man with the Machine Gun will always be one of my favorite jams. FFVIII is what I call a surround sound game.

FFX takes it for me though just because of its unique place as the first FF of a console generation. Each of these titles shared something special being the first out the gate and leave you with an impression of what they accomplished (with the unfortunate exception of FFXIII). FFX did for me on the PS2 what FFVII did for me on the PS1, kicking off a new era with a huge bang. The fact that I didn't realize how linear it really was is an accomplishment, and the story really gets to me. FFIX is pretty high up for me, but I think this is the game that really rivals FFVII for my personal favorite.


That unique characteristic is the fact you have to literally do everything in your power to NOT break teh game.

This issue has been debated to death, and while I fully acknowledge that you all consider it easy to break the game, I have to disagree with this statement 100%. When I play FFVIII, I don't care about breaking the game at all. I play it at the pace I normally play a Final Fantasy, going along the story as it unfolds and only really drawing every now and then. I don't go for the crazy refining or card abilities right off the bat, I instead focus on different status and ability junctions as well as group and character abilities. I really can't imagine how the junctions and magic I accumulate doing this could possibly break the game as bad as any of you claim you do within minutes of starting a new game.

[pederloo]

I actually really like both. Final Fantasy X was the first in the series that I attempted on my own (I played/watched my friend play Final Fantasy VII...not sure how the gap from VII-X happened, but...yeah). X took me years to finish. I'd start it, start it again, start it again again, and then I finally decided to just blaze through it (but not really) with Tidus deeming the named "Fred" for some reason I am still not sure. I loved dat trout. The battle system was just adorable. I actually smiled when I got to use it to its fullest. The story is very dynamic, but dragged down by dat voice acting. As much as the other Final Fantasys feel like journeys, this game REALLY feels like a journey.

I didn't play Final Fantasy VIII at all until this past Summer (Okay, I got to Dollet like two years ago, but that doesn't count). I pretty much spent all my free time playing it. I was very skeptical at first, looking at the junctioning system like a boob on a butt, but eventually I figured out how easy it was to exploit, and as much as I love a challenging game, I just wanted to enjoy the story...which does kinda decline by its second half, but I still really enjoyed it. Not as good as X, but still a really fun, memorable game.

Oh, and I thought both had AMAZING soundtracks.

[black orb]

>>> Both are good games, but FFX win by far..:luca:

And yeah, screw all the FF8 and FF10 haters..

[maybee]

VIII wins over X by virtue of not having Yuna.


Yeah I'm not a huge fan of Yuna either and she has alot of fans and followers and she's usually apart of Top 5 best Final Fantasy female lists, but I personally found her to be really annoying and I hated how Seymour kept on walking over her like she wasn't a human at all but a carpet. :mad:

Like say

Yuna : I'll summon ! Everybody stand back !

Seymour : You can't !

Yuna : What/ huh/ gasp sound

Seymour : Your powers are still...... too weak...( said in a mocking tone )


Yuna just stood there and looked so flat and useless, I mean come on girl. Prove that smurfer wrong ! At least try and if you failed at least say that she gave it go ! Or tell Seymour to be not so damn smurfing rude, either one would of been fine. Not believe in Seymour Skinner's insult and back away. Yeah let him subliminally tell you that you're weak, good job. Not.

Rinoa while she was a huge damsel in distress and she gets alot of hate for that, she's much happier, much wiser, and wouldn't let anybody walk all over her example kicking Irvine down the stairs when he kept on annoyingly saying that it was all him and his idea to go back to the prison. In fact her "damsel moments " are all just her being in the wrong spot and the wrong time. Yuna's wedding was all because she didn't have the courage to tell Seymour to get smurfed.

If you like Yuna that's fine, but I cannot stand her and I so thought that I was alone on this till I read your post Wolf !

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

I actually really enjoy FFX.


FFVIII is garbage.But I enjoy FFVIII even more! I love this game.

Fixed.

[Faris]

Forgot to mention, I think that VIII has the Shuffle or Boogie, Under Her Control, The Landing, Force Your Way, The Man With the Machine Gun, The Oath, Movin, The Winner, SeeD, Slide Show - Part 2, Overture, A Sacrifice, The Castle, The Legendary Beast, Maybe I'm a Lion, The Extreme, Mods de Chocobo, Ride On, Ami, ...

Compared to FFX, imho FFVIII has better art design as well.

[NeoCracker]

VIII wins over X by virtue of not having Yuna.

Not having Yuna is a pretty big plus.

True, it loses points for Rinoa, but it's still a pretty good game.

You had me amused until this. :colbert:

[Goldenboko]

VIII wins over X by virtue of not having Yuna.


Yeah I'm not a huge fan of Yuna either and she has alot of fans and followers and she's usually apart of Top 5 best Final Fantasy female lists, but I personally found her to be really annoying and I hated how Seymour kept on walking over her like she wasn't a human at all but a carpet. :mad:

Like say

Yuna : I'll summon ! Everybody stand back !

Seymour : You can't !

Yuna : What/ huh/ gasp sound

Seymour : Your powers are still...... too weak...( said in a mocking tone )


Yuna just stood there and looked so flat and useless, I mean come on girl. Prove that smurfer wrong ! At least try and if you failed at least say that she gave it go ! Or tell Seymour to be not so damn smurfing rude, either one would of been fine. Not believe in Seymour Skinner's insult and back away. Yeah let him subliminally tell you that you're weak, good job. Not.

That was not the point of that part of the game at all. That entire segment was a show of Sin's power - not Yuna's inability or even Seymour's wickedness. Although I knew it wouldn't last, I actually liked Seymour at that point of the game.

I don't have the time to go into why I feel that FFX is a beautiful game to me, it wins by a landslide.

[Wolf Kanno]

VIII wins over X by virtue of not having Yuna.

Not having Yuna is a pretty big plus.

True, it loses points for Rinoa, but it's still a pretty good game.

You had me amused until this. :colbert:

I can live with Rinoa, I can't really stand Yuna and her inability to decide if she's useful or baggage. Rinoa at least realizes she's not as useful as the rest of the party.

[Goldenboko]

VIII wins over X by virtue of not having Yuna.

Not having Yuna is a pretty big plus.

True, it loses points for Rinoa, but it's still a pretty good game.

You had me amused until this. :colbert:

I can live with Rinoa, I can't really stand Yuna and her inability to decide if she's useful or baggage. Rinoa at least realizes she's not as useful as the rest of the party.

Could you actually explain what you mean by that? :p

[Forsaken Lover]

Yuna's emotional evolution from doormat to a stronger woman was not as good as Rinoa just realizing she was worthless and accepting it.

I think that's what WK means.

[Wolf Kanno]

Yuna's lack of emotional evolution from doormat to a stronger woman was not as good as Rinoa just realizing she was worthless and accepting it.

I think that's what WK means.

Fixed it for you.

[maybee]

You guys don't realize that Rinoa wasn't a SeeD like the rest same as Irvine and he screwed up hugely during the parade. She's not army trained and she's just a naive seventeen year old girl that wants to be strong and tough like Squall and the others.

Yuna like Wolf said is very wishy washy. One moment she's not letting Seymour marry her, her mission is more important then she's going to marry Seymour because she wants to be selfless and do it for the people, then she's not going to marry Seymour and just ACK !

Then she's not going to give up her mission and then she is and then she's not and she's going to listen to Tidus and then she's going to go to Zanakand and ACK !

Rinoa while it's hugely annoying to save her every five seconds she wasn't army trained and she didn't realize till Selphie's Garden that she was getting way over her head and it wasn't " Let's piss off Daddy anymore " But everybody was so keen on facing Edea that she kept on going only to fall into coma.

Yuna KNEW 100 per cent minus the whole the Yevon thing is a cult what she was getting into. Rinoa while a damsel, she at tries tries to be tough like the SeeD s, Yuna can't decide whether to stand or sit down which is more annoying than a young naive girl who at least tries to be strong and just ends up having bad unfortunate luck. Things like becoming a Sorceress and falling in the Garden cliff was not her fault, just bad luck.

And I could actually picture Rinoa telling Seymour Skinner to get smurfed and get lost unlike Yuna who lets Skinner puppet her.

[charliepanayi]

Yuna is very much a blank slate kind of character in FFX. I like her but she doesn't make as much of an impression as most of the other playable characters do. Rinoa (as much as I like her) is essentially a spoilt, rich girl who forms a rebel group to annoy her father and because she has nothing better to do. But the game never really pretends she's anything otherwise in the early stages. She's a more polarising character than Yuna, but I think she's a more fleshed out one.

[Depression Moon]

It's hard for me to choose. I haven't played X in ages due to my PS2 being dead, so if I would pick it would be unfair considering I would be deciding on something that I've played recently and a game that I don't remember as well.

[Del Murder]

This is an interesting comparison since both games are the ones with a 'love story' as part of the central theme. FFIX is the other one, but it blows both of these out of the water so let's ignore it.

I prefer FFX. It has some flaws with the voice acting, boring villains, and linearity, but I really liked the CTB and the sphere grid was a pretty cool idea the first time they used it (just got played out when XII and XIII/XIII-2 used it). Also Auron is cooler than any FFVIII character.

FFVIII has the GF's which were cool and it was a nice change of pace on how summons worked, but I found the characters overall pretty bland and drawing magic was the worst FF gameplay element since FFII.

[Forsaken Lover]

Okay, I have some 80s pop blasting and I feel like I'm ready to talk more about this.

I've talked in the past about the Most Unlikable FF Cast (don't feel like looking upa nd linking to the thread though) and FFVIII was my choice by a mile. The reason for this is because, despite six games of evolution, FFVIII is more like FFII in terms of its playable characters. You could squish all that useless fluff text they speak into a few text boxes on a NES and you wouldn't lose any vital characterization. Quistis, Zell, Irvine, Selphie - they're all awful stereotypes and they never grow beyond those stereotypes.

But ya know...maybe the writers were onto something. When they actually did try to develop characters, look at the trainwreck they created.

Squall: I'M FLIPPING DA SMURF OUT BECAUSE I'M AFRAID OF BEING FORGOTTEN!
*runs out of room*
Everyone: WHAT THE!?!?!!

And then the story trundles along like nothing at all happened.

FFX at least gave every single character an arc of some kind in which they developed and grew. And unlike FF7, it was usually drawn out. Whereas VII just threw Red into Cosmo Canyon or Yuffie into Wutai and then said "well they're done having any relevancy now", FFX had Wakka and Lulu and the others all grow over the course of the game.

Let's switch onto another note - World vs. World.
FFX goes to great pains to establish its atmosphere. Spira is a craphole. Death, suffering, hopelessness - they run rampant across the globe. The bleak existence is painted quite well.

Now in FFVIII....you have Balamb Garden. You literally have at least two or maybe even three (if you count Selphie) horribly screwed-in-the-head child soldiers who you place a ton of responsibility on. Both Seifer and Squall are suffering the painful effects of having absolutely no therapist or counseling of any kind.
Yet rather than focusing on this and how a military academy of SMURFING CHILD SOLDIERS is monstrous and has a horrific effect on anyone who attends it, it's treated like a super kerwaii high school.

FFVIII had the potential to be damn dark but they chose instead to portray it like some extremely godawful shounen anime.

Now getting back to characters, let's focus on the antagonist side.

FFVIII has...President Deling, NORG, Ultimecia and Seifer.
Now as awesome as NORG and Seifer were, they can't make up for how awful Ultimecia is. All those twats who rage about Seymour being bland and unoriginal? Yeah, I feel the same way about Ultimecia. And what pisses me off to no end is when the apologists try to pretend she was anything but a one-dimensional piece of garbage.

B-B-B-B-B-B-UT SHE WAS TRAUMATIZED AND AFRAID AND SHE WAS JUST TRYIGN TO TAME HER FEAR1111111111

B
No, she was just evil and stupid. She frickin' lives in a Dracula Castle okay?

Her being afraid of being killed or being persecuted or any of that nonsense is based on maybe three lines in the ENTIRE GAME.

I will conclude my raving with this:
http://i.imgur.com/YMEJ4.jpg

Bg Chocoboss does not like FFVIII.

[charliepanayi]

Ultimecia's Castle is great. Just saying. And frankly I'm glad FFVIII isn't 'damn dark', I don't want my FF games to be hideously depressing thanks.

[maybee]

Ultimecia's Castle is great. Just saying. And frankly I'm glad FFVIII isn't 'damn dark', I don't want my FF games to be hideously depressing thanks.

Agree. Ultimecia has a awesome castle with badass music.

And agree about not wanting a Final Fantasy too be extremely dark and depressing because sometimes it's nice to pop into a different world and escape for a while.

About Squall snapping out and then leaving the room I always assumed that they thought that it was best to leave Squall alone and give him some time to chill out. Just speaking to him about Seifer's death would of made things worse. It makes sense.

If you want FF VIII to be dark and depressing of course your going to end up disappointed. Light, comedy and brightness helps attract the player towards the game. Darkness would just end up making the player feel depressed.

Spria is just one straight line with same temple with something slightly different about it like a lame copy and paste.
The only different places are Zanakand, Zanakand Ruins and maybe Mt Gagazet which isn't completely original. We don't even get to see Bevelle for crying out loud, minus a bridge !

FF VIII has a whole universe and awesome airship to explore and discover a huge world with unique places. Like Esthar and that strange underground village in the snow where the Norg like people live.

Ultimecia was badly developed yes and she should of had more time to deepen her character. However at least she didn't try to marry Seifer and wear a lame goofy Harry Potter I rejected hat. :greenie:

[charliepanayi]

Ultimecia is not in the same league as the other major villains of the FFVI-FFX era, it is true. She doesn't have enough direct screentime or great lines like Kefka, Kuja et al do. But she doesn't just pop up at the end, her influence is felt throughout the game and she's always pulling the strings, as she possesses Edea/Rinoa/Adel. Plus as mentioned her castle is great and I love the battle with her at the end. No idea what Time Compression is all about really, but as I always say it's not a proper FF game if you can understand the whole plot.

[maybee]

Ultimecia is not in the same league as the other major villains of the FFVI-FFX era, it is true. She doesn't have enough direct screentime or great lines like Kefka, Kuja et al do. But she doesn't just pop up at the end, her influence is felt throughout the game and she's always pulling the strings, as she possesses Edea/Rinoa/Adel. Plus as mentioned her castle is great and I love the battle with her at the end. No idea what Time Compression is all about really, but as I always say it's not a proper FF game if you can understand the whole plot.

Agree.

Plus that evil speech during the parade that's all Ultimeca
Almost killing Squall with a Ice shaped spear that's Ultimeca
Trying to kill Rinoa with those lizard lions that's Ultimeca
Controlling Seifer during the parade that is Ultimeca

I don't see how people don't get this or see this. Honestly it's pretty damn obvs and out there.

[Forsaken Lover]

Since what I was saying was completely misunderstood, I'll elaborate.

I have a game.
The game's premise is a death camp.
Instead of focusing on the horrific experiments and daily murders, we instead focus on the angst-ridden lives of a teenager who falls in love for no reason.

That's my problem with Final Fantasy VIII. They give us what is essentially a very grim setting - a school where young orphans are brought together to learn to kill for a living while receiving no emotional support so they grow up totally fucked in the head - and they present it like some sort of spiffy teenage fantasy.

"Yeah! I wish my high school was as kewl as Garden!" is the message they want o convey.

That.
Is.
Retarded.

You can almost imagine some poor enterprising Japanese writer coming to a meeting with his eyes full of dreams and hopes about a story where the school is a hellhole run by incompetent jerks who have horribly traumatized all the chilren they have taken in.
Then the director slapped him across the face and told him to stop being so ambitious. Final Fantasy VII was such a megahit that there was no time for proper writing or thinking whatsoever. They had to get this game out NOW. Just take his basic idea of a military school and turn it into a shallow wet dream.

[kotora]

Don't the Balamb students receive their first mission when they're 18? That's old enough to be sent to war in most nations' military forces.

[Forsaken Lover]

Quistis became a SeeD at 15 which presumably meant she could have gone out and done missions if she so wished.

Doesn't really matter though because all of the player characters are horrifically maladjusted because they grew up in a military institute. Battle or no battle, Balamb is a pretty terrible place and it should have been presented as such.

Cid should have been presented as an incompetent oaf who has severely screwed up his impressionable charges and not Robin Williams.

[maybee]

Cid should have been presented as an incompetent oaf who has severely screwed up his impressionable charges and not Robin Williams.

Cid was this though. He was a incompetent oaf who screwed up everything. During the fight with Galbadia he runs and hides like a coward.

I think it's pretty clear that Balamb was corrupted though. Norg and Cid who built the Garden had issues and Cid was a terrible leader.

[Henry Pease]

Final Fantasy all series is indeed great but I have enjoyed much only two of these, the first on is FF VI and X.