How was your first playthrough?

[Ergroilnin]

Hey there,

I kind of wonder how each of you played or get through your first playthrough.

When I first played 8, I was 7 or 8 at a time and played with my dad for most part. I am from Czech (middle Europe) and neither I or my father could really read and understand English at all. We managed to get to 4th disc where we couldn't defeat Adel no matter what, because for most part we used GFs over and over again. We didn't really understand how the whole junction system works. Not to mention like 4/5 of the plot was wasted on us, cause we only could understand what happened from the graphics and FMVs. Yet still it was a fun and for most part, an enjoyable ride.

When I play FF8 now, being 20 years old, pretty decent at English and being able to comprehend the game mechanicx, the whole experience is absolutely different but I still do remember the nostalgia from my first playthrough.

So what are your experiences with your first playthroughs, and now?

[Shorty]

I used a walkthrough my first playthrough, and I managed to get all of the cards in order to refine them into useful items to beat the sorceresses. It took me about 80 hours because I wasted a looooooot of time exporing and leveling up. Didn't really understand the junction system, so I just blindly assigned magic. I was absolutely dazzled by the story and the graphics (probably because I was twelve). Pretty successful playthrough my first go-round due to that walkthrough.

Definitely a lot of nostalgia when I play now as well.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

The first time I played, I didn't really level and I didn't junction anything aside from GF's. This was my first RPG and I wasn't really good at games. It began with me watching my brother play through the end of the Dollet mission and then he just stopped playing. I was in love with the graphics and was entranced by the story and characters. I begged him to play the game and took over where he left off.

I think the Christmas after my brother got the game for his birthday was when my sister got me the strategy guide, so I must have gone through the game pretty slowly. I remember having to use this when going through the sewer section in Deling City. The only other thing I remember is I got through to the boss you fight at the Galbadia Missile Base (BGH251F2) and got stuck. I got him to the point where he used Beam Cannon every move which was an instant kill move due to the max hp of my party being low. Rather than start from the beginning, I went out and bought a Gameshark so I could cheat my way through because I had to know what happened in the rest of the story since that's what I cared about and couldn't care less about the actual gameplay. I did love Triple Triad though

This game is one of the biggest pieces of gaming nostalgia for me now. I also don't suck at games and have no trouble beating it today.

[Ayen]

I ran around a lot not knowing where to go and got as far as disc 2. I also spammed the hell out of GF's.

[Jiro]

My first playthrough went similarly to yours, Ergroilnin. I made it to the beginning of the fourth disk, fighting Adel, and couldn't win. Because I couldn't go back and grind, I simply quit there. It took me many more attempts at the game to understand the Junction system properly and learn how to exploit it properly.

[Psychotic]

I was a dumb kid (maybe 12 or 13?) who borrowed it from my friend after my love for the brilliant FFVII. I bumbled about like an idiot and couldn't beat Ultimecia but lied and said I did when I gave it back :shobon:

For those of you who are worrying, I think I picked it up myself 3 or so years later and beat it properly.

[Kalevala]

My mother bought the game for me when I was around seven or eight years old. I had been playing (read: in love with) Final Fantasy VI on the SNES for years and had just recently received a PlayStation for Christmas. I think VIII was the first of the three PS titles that I played.

I was pretty young and my parents had no interest in gaming, so needless to say my first playthrough attempt was a disaster. I got as far as the T-Rexaur battle and got slaughtered. I tried again a year later until I fought NORG and was slaughtered again. Years later I returned to the game as a teenager and had a much easier time getting through it. Not the best Final Fantasy by any means, but one I have a lot of positive (albeit frustrating) memories of.

tl;dr dinosaurs and humanoids with oversized hands bullied me as a child

[blackmage_nuke]

My first attempt I was stuck at the end of the second disk since I couldnt beat Edea as I barely did any junctioning, was over leveled and had made it through most of the game by summoning GFs.

My first completed playthrough I super cheesed Ultemecia with Rinoa Angel Wing Meteor trick and trying to make Squall do Lionheart, Everyone else only had healing spells and items to support Squall and Rinoa

[Crop]

It was my second FF, after VII and like a lot of people it seems, I couldn't beat Adel due to my overuse of GF's and lack of knowledge regarding the junction system. Even then I wasn't too fussed on the game.

I lost interest for a while after that, and when I give it another go every year or so I can never push myself to get past disk 2. I just don't like the game and so I've never finished it.

[BlueD]

Growing up my babysitter use to make me watch her play VII (I love her for it now) I was kind of young at the time so I didn't really understand the game at all!!! Few years later when I was in my early early teens I played FF IX with my best friend being so young and at the time i don't even think google was around that or I didn't know about it we didn't really have good resources so we struggled it took us a few months to beat the game.. now being older and having a better understanding and access to walkthroughs I just fly through them I can usually finish a ff in a work week and I usually work 50+hour weeks.

[Bubba]

I actually came onto this forum to get a bit of help with FFVIII as I couldn't beat GF Cactuar. Carl the Llama was happy to oblige and I went on to finish it the first month I was here.

I'd started the game a couple of times previously but it didn't hook me quite the way that FFVII had. Third time round though I really got into it and was determined to get to the end. I love Triple Triad! I didn't use a guide but I got lots of tips from the FFVIII forum on here. I've seen people criticise the storyline which I can understand in parts but it's nowhere near as bad as certain people make out.

I thought it was an awesome game.

[Pumpkin]

I first played it at 4 or 5, but I was young and it was my first RPG of that style. I'd only played games like Tekken before with the exception of Zelda: OoT. So I didn't know what I was doing and I couldn't make it past the Fire Cavern because Ifrit scared me and I thought he was a demon or something. That was on top of taking forever to FIND the Fire Cavern.

When I was 9ish? I got FFVII,VIII,IX, and X. I played it after IX and X so I was much better at RPG's at that point. I didn't do great, but I got through. I understood the junction system and the magic and I got the GF's that you either draw or the 3 in the beginning. I tried Diablos but I failed. I really liked it the game though and I still play it regularly!

[Jiro]

Ifrit is a demon :shobon:

[Pumpkin]

I meant in the scary going to eat my soul kind of way, not in the cool summon him as my ally kind of way.




When I was 12ish I wrote a fanfic about Ifrit courting Shiva. True story.

[Jiro]

do you have a copy of that? It would be fun to read :jess:

[Shaibana]

im still bussy with my first playthrough, but im just not feeling it.
after playing VII this game just feels so complicated (Junction, cards, etc etc) i just never have the feeling that i get it.

i had to go to a tomb to get a nr (84) to get passed a guard.. thats where i am now and i just cant get myself to play on :l

[Pumpkin]

do you have a copy of that? It would be fun to read :jess:

I really wish I did :(. It was on fanfiction.net but it has been 10 years and they don't seem to have it anymore.

[Mirage]

I was like 15 and understood most of the english. I just used auto junctioning most of the game because i thought it was too much work to try to micromanage it in any sensible way. Probably spent around 60 hours to reach ulty, was too dumb to identify the gaping plotholes

[black orb]

>>> It was fun..:luca:

[Sephex]

I barley junctioned anything because I really didn't like the system (at first) and spammed my summons even though the average summon animation time was 47 minutes.

[magemasher]

I first played this 10 years ago and only got to TV Station. I got Steam version and I played the game up to the final boss (just cant beat the last part) I'm glad I played it and know the story but it just doesn't have the replay value of the other games like 7,9 and 10. The story is interesting but I was dissapointed that there was no interesting towns in the game.

I liked Squall and Quistis, Zell grew on me I hated him on my first playthrough, Selphie was ok also.

I didn't like Rinoa at all, I found her really hard to like seeing as she only falls for Squall after Seifer buggers off. I forgot the snipers name but I never used him or noticed much about him.

5/10 It's not quite my least favourite FF, that is reserved for FFX-2.

[Jinx]

My first playthrough was my only playthrough. That should tell you how it was.

[magemasher]

I'm guessing you thought it was perfection and couldn't bare to play it again as you didn't want to taint the memory of it.

[Bubba]

Compared to most of the other Final Fantasies... FFVIII was a gem.

People can bitch about it all they want. The fact of the matter is, it is still talked about more than any other barring FFVII.

Its plot was questionable, certain characters were a pain in the arse but... it is still a classic. Brilliant cut scenes, great NPC's, fantastic set pieces, old-school Square humour. When I think on it... I still think of it as a great period that I wish Square Enix could re-connect with.

Also for me, still the greatest intro and ending the series ever produced.

[Ergroilnin]

Compared to most of the other Final Fantasies... FFVIII was a gem.

People can bitch about it all they want. The fact of the matter is, it is still talked about more than any other barring FFVII.

That is sort of "hate is kind of affection too!" thought. Also half of the threads about it are trying to make a little sense of the crazy story, that's more like most people being confused or looking into unclear things way too much than people discussing it out of pure love.

[Jiro]

Final Fantasy VIII copes an unfair rap imo. It isn't perfect but it was certainly a solid FF game.

[Shaibana]

i can not get myself to play this game further :l
its not that the game is horrible, but i think its the story that doesnt seem to interest me

[Mo-Nercy]

From what I remember, my first playthrough was pretty bad. I depended on GFs and didn't really junction properly because I couldn't be arsed drawing or refining enough magic to buff up my characters. And despite depending on GFs, I missed out on a lot of them.

Since everyone else is mini-reviewing it too, I think FFVIII was great. Plotholes and lame characters aside, I really came to like Junction system once I learned how to use/abuse it. Triple Triad is awesome too.

[maybee]

I was 9- 10 years old from memory, and was playing Final Fantasy VII at the same time. My first playthrough was bad, really bad.

I didn't know what to do, during the parade, and couldn't find Rinoa's dad anywhere, after he tells you everything and how to do the mission, didn't know that you had to follow him, and he'll drop off Squall and Irvine at the entrance, letting the whole thing begin.


So it was short and sweet.

[Big D]

FFVIII was only the second RPG I ever played, with FFVII being the first. I was 16 or 17 at the time, but still pretty unfamiliar with RPG mechanics generally, so I didn't grasp the nuances (or even all the basics, for that matter) of the Junction system.

In short: lots of GFs and Limit Breaks during boss battles. Adel didn't give me too much trouble, strangely - I guess I must've used Cerberus pretty effectively for buffs and healing.

Ultimecia gave me some grief, and tended to take around an hour to beat since my 'strategy' was mainly "GFs with maximum boost, then repeat". Not sure if I even had Eden the first time around.

After that, I got a lot better and began exploiting the heck out of the Junction system and the game's levelling mechanics.

[Serapy]

FFVIII was only the second RPG I ever played, with FFVII being the first. I was 16 or 17 at the time, but still pretty unfamiliar with RPG mechanics generally, so I didn't grasp the nuances (or even all the basics, for that matter) of the Junction system.

Same here, VII was my first and true RPG game and VIII being the second.

Post-VII release, I was so exicted for VIII to come out. I had even bought a couple of magazines that have info about the development of VIII.

So when VIII came out, I was pretty disappointed in my first playthrough. At that time, I was reminiscing about how VII was better and how it was the best game ever.

But all of that changed when I forced myself to finish VIII and played my 2nd playthrough to pay better attention. I now consider VIII a better storyline than VII. It's the VIII storyline and backstories of characters that have influenced me so greatly. I.e. the R=U theory and the other luminous mysteries. The atmosphere of VIII felt so true.