GF forgotten ability

[Yuriev's ghost]

Irvine didn't make a very good impression on Squall and the others when they first met, and he became an outsider for a while. It makes perfect sense to me that Irvine waited until he'd earned their trust before mentioning the orphanage and their brief childhood together.

Revealing pivotal information like that isn't going to ostracized him anymore. Indeed, if there was some animosity between him and the SeeD an ice-breaker like that should improve things. Either way, there isn't an excuse good enough for poor story telling.

Besides, unlikely connections between protagonists/far-fetched plot twists go together with Final Fantasy like brownies go with ice cream! FFVIII was just being a Final Fantasy. =O

I don't think people have a problem with the actual plot twist so much as the way it is revealed.