VIII was doomed to get immense amounts of hate from the start. On one hand you had the prissy little SNES warriors who were infuriated at the popularity of VII, and it spilled over into VIII as well. Then you had the fans of FFVII, which was among many things, a story of revenge, who didn't want to see a story of teenage angst and love. Of course there were alot of people who played the earlier FF's, or FFVII, or even this one first and enjoyed it alot.

Then there was the fact that the gameplay, similar to FFXII, was misunderstood. I've seen alot of people (like spoony) who assume that you have to draw 99 of each spell for each character before moving on. In reality, that's like seeing the number next to "level" for each character in other FF's and assuming you have to get that to 99 before you can advance. You can draw a little here and there as you go and the experience makes for a much better one.

Up until maybe a year-year and a half ago I also thought the game was weak as hell. I thought junctioning was not only tedious but ineffective system for character development, and that Squall's relationship with Rinoa was completely unrealistic.

Well, I adopted the "draw as you go + refine" mentality and it made the game extremely playable. Also, when you take a second to think about the love story, honestly with an open mind, it is actually pretty damn realistic. I think it has one of the best stories in the series and possibly the best ending. The character development is very addictive and allows for you to make different party compositions each time you go back to replay it. As good as it is, I think yeah, it doesn't get enough credit. It's also notable in that the music really made a huge jump from the previous games. Some might not like the songs, but as far as sound quality, it was pretty noteworthy.