Would FF8 have been better as a movie?

It may just be a result of how well laid-out this Plot Analysis is or that it's 3:40am, but after reading through it all (yes, I read it ALL), I realized that the "main" characters and plot are incredibly deep when it comes to Laguna, Squall, Rinoa, Julia, Raine etc. Some people may argue that there is virtually no character development for people like Quistis, Zell, and everybody else that was directly related to Edea's orphanage, but they weren't really that important to begin with or their presence was only needed to help steer the direction of the plot. They were pretty much just personalities with the few occasions of wittiness to get you to the next juicy morsel of Laguna and Raine, or Squall and Rinoa. The storyline itself is full of holes but it has spawned endless debates about how everything came to be, what happened, and the symbolic nature of things that happened. There were definitely enough hints elsewhere that would lead you to your logical conclusion however. Personally, I LOVE movies that make a person think and try to figure things out, rationally, on their own. "The Butterfly Effect" comes to mind, although it pretty much summed everything up by the end.

Anyways, I still get chills whenever I play through, read the dialogue, or even just recall how intense the emotions get after Rinoa goes comatose. It doesn't matter HOW many times I see the ending of FF8, I'm ALWAYS hoping and cheering throughout for Squall & Rinoa to finally give in to each other. The two of them, alone, in the Ragnarok, on the way back to Esthar comes to mind as my favourite part of the entire game. That in itself proves, to me anyway, that this storyline is movie material. As much as I love the gameplay aspect of it (Junctioning being #1), it always feels like it gets in the way of what I REALLY want to see: What happens next between Squall & Rinoa? Who knows, maybe the forced patience is what made the emotion level run so high to have the impact it does, and I'm sure we'll probably never really find out. FF8 came out in 1999, which means it was probably in production at about the same time that the ACTUAL Final Fantasy movie was probably just starting production.

If there is already a thread that runs through what I just wrote, forgive me. If not, then great, I'd love to hear opinions about it...THOUGHTFUL opinions only, please.

It definitely could have been made into a movie. I don't know how much I would enjoy it, but I can see where it has the qualities needed to be a movie. I think Square was moving in a "play an interactive movie" direction with this game and that's part of why some people love it and some people hate it.

I think I would have enjoyed it more as a movie. I really hated the battle system, so the game part of the game wasn't really that enjoyable. xD

Is VIII's battle system really that much different from IV-IX, and X-2? :confused:

Or are you referencing the junction system rather than the battle system?

I don't think VIII would have been better as a movie. For one, it'd be longer than the Lord of the Rings movies, and those were pretty long.

I think that if it wasn't a game, I'd prefer a novelization rather than a film. Square has think about bad movies anyway.

Maybe Fabio could be on the cover as Squall.

I think it'd be difficult to make the plot into a movie. There would be too much going on and too many points to be cut. As previously mentioned, it would be too long. If it became a movie, I hope they'd explain more things that remain cloudy in the game itself. For instance, Ultimecia's back story.

I can see it as a miniseries, which would allow room for plot and character development. Make each episode character-centric, with flashbacks/flashforwards like Lost :tongue: (I kid.)

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Originally Posted by Yaridovich

Is VIII's battle system really that much different from IV-IX, and X-2? :confused:

Or are you referencing the junction system rather than the battle system?

I don't think VIII would have been better as a movie. For one, it'd be longer than the Lord of the Rings movies, and those were pretty long.

I think that if it wasn't a game, I'd prefer a novelization rather than a film. Square has think about bad movies anyway.

Maybe Fabio could be on the cover as Squall.

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Junctioning influenced the Battle System. Magic became useless, and even if it was useful, using it would weaken your characters. Skills like "Revive" made life useless. It became "Attack, Limits, Heal" and little else. I found little challenge in any of it because of this, most work was done in Junctioning before the battle.

If it'd be a film I woulnd't enjoy it! :( I loved it as a game.

I think it would be awesome as a movie. It probably would be better, because the characters would have voices and I wouldn't have to fight. Actually, my friends and I were thinking about acting it out once but we didn't have enough money for all the props. Didn't have enough cast members anyway. :(

it would have been good as a tv show. like a miniseries or something. like a season to a disc

or an anime...

Good ending, cool characters, storyline & moments, so definitely.

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Originally Posted by Yaridovich

I don't think VIII would have been better as a movie. For one, it'd be longer than the Lord of the Rings movies, and those were pretty long.

I think that if it wasn't a game, I'd prefer a novelization rather than a film. Square has think about bad movies anyway.

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Originally Posted by the holy meteor

I think it'd be difficult to make the plot into a movie. There would be too much going on and too many points to be cut. As previously mentioned, it would be too long. If it became a movie, I hope they'd explain more things that remain cloudy in the game itself. For instance, Ultimecia's back story.

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Well, let's see how long it might be. Here're a list of the major events that happened during the first 2 discs:
Disc 1 (could be done in probably 30-45 minutes)
Dollet Mission
Timber Mission
Assassination

Disc 2 (this would probably take about an hour)
Prison/Missile Base
Balamb Garden In-fighting (complete with NORG encounter since it's vital to the story)
Fisherman's Horizon & Trabia Garden
Balamb/Galbadia Garden Battle (w/ Sorceress battle)

Disc 3 & 4, if I remember correctly, were VERY short. In fact, I think Disc 4 was the shortest of them all. So Disc 3 & 4, together, would probably take no more than 90 minutes.

Bear in mind, that those times are if every bit of info was included. The ideal way to make a movie around it, would be to base it on what Squall knows, which is very little at the beginning and the first disc and a half could fly by quite quickly, in 45-60mins. Once the story picks up, that's when the details would become important. For the sake of a climax, I'd say have Rinoa releasing Adel at the mid-point, which would probably be around 90 minutes in. Then just keep dialing it in to build up the emotions, and then...time-compression, Ultimecia, and then the end being consistent with the end-of-game FMV(s). All in all, I'd say it'd have a run time of about 2.5 to 3 hours. And considering this would have come out after a popular installment like FFVII, it probably would've gotten a lot of attention.

Besides, even if it WERE as long or longer than LOTR, at least this one would have a story with twists. As for "The Spirits Within", the story itself was ok, but it was the voice-acting that killed it.

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Originally Posted by Namelessfengir

it would have been good as a tv show. like a miniseries or something. like a season to a disc

or an anime...

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well, with the mashing of swords and guns, and how Firefly mashed western and sci-fi...who's got Joss Whedon's number?! LOL

I agree with the list of events above totally but they still would have to develope Squall going from A-social to careing etc Squall/Laguna events would need to be done, all the charactors really had development to a point, etc. Theres so many little events that made this game extraordinary special it honestly is the little things.
The soundtrack
The mood of this game, everything clicks and it seems as though the world of FFVIII is real. Would I love to see a movie done? Sure in a heartbeat. If a movie was made though I unfortunatly think I'd be left happy/ disappointed all at the same time. Disappointed because there's so much going on in the game alot would have to be left out to adapt it to the big screen.

But honestly what makes FFVIII so special is that it is in fact a game and not a movie and everytime I play I find that hard to believe that im playing a game and not watching an incredibly deep emotional/psychological movie. The game is really a movie it's the greatest work of art I personally have ever seen. I consider movies/games to be modern art and FFVIII needs to go down as one of the greatest pieces of art of our time.

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Originally Posted by Goldenboko

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Originally Posted by Yaridovich

Is VIII's battle system really that much different from IV-IX, and X-2? :confused:

Or are you referencing the junction system rather than the battle system?

I don't think VIII would have been better as a movie. For one, it'd be longer than the Lord of the Rings movies, and those were pretty long.

I think that if it wasn't a game, I'd prefer a novelization rather than a film. Square has think about bad movies anyway.

Maybe Fabio could be on the cover as Squall.

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Junctioning influenced the Battle System. Magic became useless, and even if it was useful, using it would weaken your characters. Skills like "Revive" made life useless. It became "Attack, Limits, Heal" and little else. I found little challenge in any of it because of this, most work was done in Junctioning before the battle.

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But you removed the challenge by paying such a lot of attention to the battle system. For example, in the Ratchet & Clank series, you can (threw some serious work, especially in 4) get hold of the R.Y.N.O, which makes the game a breeze (especially in 4). But this doesn't mean Ratchet & Clank has a bad combat system in general. I have chosen to use this weapon that destabilizes gameplay.

So, if you want a challenge in VIII, then don't put in the Heal ability, or Junction as heavily as you have. It's the same thing with people who moan that XII plays itself, because you equip gambits, and then it beats the bosses for you. If that's a problem, don't equip gambits. Although I think that many people find a walkthrough which tells them what gambits to use, because they themselves can't play the game themselves.

I like the idea of VIII as a series. I don't think the game is short enough to make a movie. Here's my estimate.

Disc One:

• Opening Scene
• Infirmary (which is important because it introduces 2 important characters)
• Dollet Mission (no Fire Cavern - use a flashback or something to explain GFs)
• Graduation + Ballroom Dance
• Quistis & the Training Centre
• The Timber train ride + Laguna flashback
• Timber Mission + other important Timber stuff
• Galbadia Garden
• Deling City

Disc Two:

• Escape from Prison
• The Missile Base
• Balamb Garden - Faculty fight, re-activating the shelter, the fight with NORG etc.
• Fisherman's Horizon
• Balamb Town (although this could probably be cut)
• Trabia (this would take a while - you've got Selphie's grief, and "the GF made us forget" scene which would take a while)
• The Gardens Fight (this would take even longer - you've got Squall's "motivate the troops speech", rescuing Rinoa, fighting Edea a couple times, getting knocked out, etc).

Okay, I'm not going to continue, because I think my point is made that the game is way too long to fit adequately into a movie. And, I even forgot half of the flashbacks. But a series would have been awesome.

Too long for a movie...

Maybe an CG anime series, but not a movie. Or maybe they should do an epilogue movie, like x years after Time Compression.

It wouldn't be better as a movie, because as a movie it would need to rely entirely on the story and characters and I don't think either of them are strong enough to carry a movie by themselves.

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Originally Posted by Sir Bahamut

It wouldn't be better as a movie, because as a movie it would need to rely entirely on the story and characters and I don't think either of them are strong enough to carry a movie by themselves.

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After what I've seen in FF7 so far, the story is pretty good, and it's getting to the point where I may actually consider it my favourite FF (de-throning FF8), but the only thing with FF8's story is that it seems to be really complicated, rather than "inconsistent" or whatever argument you can muster against it.

I didn't mean to imply that the plot is inconsistent or whatever, just that I don't find it strong enough to stand on its own. It could be a perfectly "alright" film but I doubt it could ever be more than that. The story is decent, and works great in the game because it is just that, a game, and as a game it doesn't rely 100% on the plot to carry itself. For me one of the big things of FF8 is the atmosphere of the world you get to explore for yourself, just wandering around in Balamb Garden for instance. That would be lost on film.

FF8's plot isn't bad, but I just don't think it was the main reason FF8 is so much fun, and so wouldn't be better on film. FF7 I don't think works on film either because there a lot of the charm of the game came with the wonky looking characters. If the characters get too lifelike I feel ironically like it's harder to take serious because the realism factor makes the silly aspects of the plot stand out much more. The silly factor works great in the game, and ends up enhancing the game a lot (it's my favourite FF) but no, definitely wouldn't be as good as a film.

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Originally Posted by Goldenboko

Junctioning influenced the Battle System. Magic became useless, and even if it was useful, using it would weaken your characters. Skills like "Revive" made life useless. It became "Attack, Limits, Heal" and little else. I found little challenge in any of it because of this, most work was done in Junctioning before the battle.

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Actually, the spell gravity is the best command in the game, because alot of monsters throughout have high amounts of HP that take a while to take down with just attacks, like the flappy black shadow guys in the sewers (you could still be attacking for less than 100 by then) of deling city, or ruby dragons towards the end. For monsters with excessive HP towards the end, you can pull off 30,000 each character by using triple and gravity. Actually it's interesting that Time Magic is so important in this game, considering Time manipulation plays such an important role, probably one of the themes.

So yeah, I don't know what you're on, gobo.

This is a good thread, and a very thoughtful original post, Cyric. While maybe not a movie, they could pull it off in an HBO-like series, and I think that would be pretty good. But personally I wouldn't want to experience VIII in any other way than it is - an RPG. I love playing the battle system, trying new things with my characters, getting to hear the awesome battle music for the Laguna sequences as much as I want. Actually, VIII has always reminded me more of a book than a movie because of how everything in the plot and the setting ties into eachother, like how the shumis/whatever were cool with the dudes at fisherman's horizon, and together they built the gardens. It's crazy because you'd never imagine such isolated places with such distinct people to all be connected to eachother, and the sorceress, and indirectly the protagonists and pretty much everything else.

So yeah, the story is insane, very creative, original, inclusive, and the artwork used as the backdrop is just beautiful, but that's one of the reasons why I love the game, and when it all comes together you have a crazy experience, and a crazy Final Fantasy. One of the best IMO.

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Originally Posted by Bolivar

This is a good thread, and a very thoughtful original post, Cyric. While maybe not a movie, they could pull it off in an HBO-like series, and I think that would be pretty good. But personally I wouldn't want to experience VIII in any other way than it is - an RPG. I love playing the battle system, trying new things with my characters, getting to hear the awesome battle music for the Laguna sequences as much as I want. Actually, VIII has always reminded me more of a book than a movie because of how everything in the plot and the setting ties into eachother, like how the shumis/whatever were cool with the dudes at fisherman's horizon, and together they built the gardens. It's crazy because you'd never imagine such isolated places with such distinct people to all be connected to eachother, and the sorceress, and indirectly the protagonists and pretty much everything else.

So yeah, the story is insane, very creative, original, inclusive, and the artwork used as the backdrop is just beautiful, but that's one of the reasons why I love the game, and when it all comes together you have a crazy experience, and a crazy Final Fantasy. One of the best IMO.

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I agree 100%. I mean a movie or series would be really cool but like you said its all the things you kind of get to experince on your own.

On another note Johnny Rzeznik lead singer from the Goo Goo Dolls looks hell of alot like Squall. What do you guys think?

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Originally Posted by evanak4

On another note Johnny Rzeznik lead singer from the Goo Goo Dolls looks hell of alot like Squall. What do you guys think?

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Lol, yeah he actually does.

I think it's fine as a game. Though I guess it could have used some story tweaking, for you crazy people who actually play games for stories.

For the record, I used magic all the time up until the last disc. I stored extra magic on my three unused party members and just transferred it over now and then.

It would just take too long as a movie, it would need to cut out all the rest just to explain itself so there would not be enought action.