FFVIII was the first FF game I ever bought (Had borrowed and finished FF7 previously though). To be honest I never finished it until a few years later. I was still too young and the junction system confused me. I didn't really realise the enemies level up with you, so I ended up with an all round level 100 party with crappy junctions so I got my ass handed to me against the final boss.

The overall story is good, and it isn't simply a love story, that part of the game is just 3/4 of the 3rd disc, after fighting Edea, until you get Rinoa back in your party. The rest of the game is about killing Edea, killing Adel and killing Ultimecia however it's spelt. PWN THE SORCERESSES.

The junction system is great. It allows you to Have incredible power right from the start (like, the VERY start, before you do anything serious at ALL) thanks to cardmod. I had 300 tornado's, 300 meltdowns, 300 quakes and stuff - this allowed me to power through the game until getting the ragnarok, where I went and got Ultima and such. I even got The Lion heart before going to Galbadia garden.

The worst thing about the game is teh beginning in my opinion. The first disc is slow and the Laguna scenes annoy me. drawing magic is a pain in the ass, just like getting magic from cardmod/refine. once you have good magic and encounter-none, you can just walk through the storyline and it's incredibly amusing.

So, it's a good game. One of the lesser Final Fantasy's though. You need to dedicate time to it to enjoy it, and there WILL be areas of boredom and annoyance. DEFINATELY worth a play through though.