What went wrong?

[Pike]

Many people feel that this game was the weakest entry of the PS1 generation. If you hold that view - what do you think went wrong? What could have been changed to make this game better?

[Rez09]

Enemies probably should have had their levels set at a base per area, modified upwards as required based on your characters' stats. That would help one of the big problems the game has in trivial enemy and boss encounters. Character limit damage also needed to be turned way down if Square wanted them triggering as often as they do; conversely, the damage could have been kept the same with reworked trigger conditions.

[Shauna]

It came after FF7.

[Rez09]

It came after FF7.

This statement feels unbelievably accurate.

[ScottNUMBERS]

Enemies probably should have had their levels set at a base per area, modified upwards as required based on your characters' stats. That would help one of the big problems the game has in trivial enemy and boss encounters. Character limit damage also needed to be turned way down if Square wanted them triggering as often as they do; conversely, the damage could have been kept the same with reworked trigger conditions.
^This. I never understood games that had monster level raise with player levels, it doesn't make any sense. The entire point of levels is that you can invest time/effort in order to gain an advantage - or the opposite.

As it happens they smurfed it up so bad in this game that the higher you raise your level, the less of an advantage you will have.

I do love this game though. The world was very unique and interesting. The story got odd at times (like when all the main chars played orphanage snap) but I still cherish it. The music is outstanding.

[Pumpkin]

This is my second favourite in the series so I don't know what people's problem is :colbert:

[Neptunia]

This is probably me 3rd or 4th fave FF, behind X and X-2(barely). its either, oh look I got such high stats I'm invincible or being a high level and coming across something that easily kicks your arse. and beyond a certain point the story-line is about as hard to follow as Evangelion.

[Christmas]

Who are these many people!? Give me their name and location and they shall speak no more. :mad2:

[metagloria]

I love VIII, and I love that it boldly went a different direction after VII. It had to. Square knew better than to try to make VII-2, so they just took their success as an opportunity to try out some crazy ideas. Some worked; others maybe didn't. But it made for an incredibly unique gaming experience, and I adore it.

[Skyblade]

This game is, to me, a lot of brilliant ideas that aren't executed well. The game is full of tons of great moments which don't flow naturally. The Junction system is a neat idea, but could be implemented a lot better. The magic school concept is fantastic, but under-utilized. Etcetera.

It's still a really solid game (and I actually like its mechanics better than those of FFIX), but it could be a lot better with some tweaking.

[Sephex]

Could have had more work on the love story angle they were going for. Squall is a little too dead in the water at times and the way he was behaving totally clashed with the spaceship part when "Eyes on You" played.

Also, the "GFs made us forget" was kind of an ass pull. It would have been better if they hinted at it through a mandatory cutscene, not as optional info found on Balamb Garden's Facebook or whatever. That scene has always rubbed me the wrong way because it just came off as trying to force some drama and awe. Again, the whole scene could have worked if only they showed hints of how the GFs affect people.

[Shorty]

Yeah, the biggest general complaints are the love story, "Squall is emo", and the GF memory loss. I understand why Squall is the way that he is, but I don't believe his character or his development was structured in a way that many people could relate to him. Same for Rinoa, probably.

A common complaint as well is that neither of them are really likable, which I agree with. I don't necessarily hate them, but I can't think of anyone really in the FFVIII cast who stands out as being this great and awesome character. They all had the same story, which is boring as shit.

I mean, it's still my favorite game of the series, though.

[Psychotic]

Junctioning and combat/scaling was the most ridiculous system in a FF game.

Also for the last third of the game it seems the writers just stopped giving a trout. They got to a point, realised "Oh trout wait a minute we don't have a villain" and cobbled together some random wank about time compression.

I also didn't find much to like about the main characters if I'm honest. That being said Squall's surly demeanour - and indeed the development he went through - was, contrary to popular belief, actually enjoyable. Certainly moreso than hot-headed Zell or childish Rinoa.

[Pumpkin]

I really liked most of the characters in VIII. Except Irvine and Quistis was meh for me.

[MJN SEIFER]

FFVIII is my second favorite Final Fantasy (I'm afraid my first is FFVII, sorry) but there are things I would have done to make it better. At the top of my head, added some FFVII-esque mini games (coming straight after FFVII made it look a bit flat in this respect) as long as they can fit in like FFVII, and maybe make the storylines of the other characters less optional.

There are other things, I think, but I mostly love it - it gets a lot of critisism where I don't think it deserves it (Squall's development did make sense, the orphanage was foreshadowed, and I don't mean on Squall's computer etc) that the actual places where it failed gets ignored, in my opinion.


I understand why Squall is the way that he is, but I don't believe his character or his development was structured in a way that many people could relate to him. Same for Rinoa, probably. I could relate to them, they were the easiest characters to relate to for me in the entire series.


Junctioning and combat/scaling was the most ridiculous system in a FF game. I found it pretty straight forward to be honest, maybe playing it straight after FFVII's Materia system made it easier for me.

[Venom65437]

I love this game. :mad2:

[Jessweeee♪]

Nothing, it's perfect :roll:

[Colonel Angus]

Forever this was my favorite FF. I think it might've been usurped by the three PS2 games, but I still love it.

Top V reasons I love VIII
1. It has the best mini-game (Triple Mother Smurfin' Triad)
2. The Best Guardian Forces/Espers/Aeons/Summons of any FF (Diablos, Doom Train, Brothers...)
3. Coolest, if not the least practical weapon, the Gun Blade
4. Junction system
5. Draw Magic

[Venom65437]

Man With The Machine Gun is so groovy too! :D