One of the many things I loved about Final Fantasy VIII is that despite being set in a fictional world, and having the odd future-ish looking moments (Esther especially), I find the FFVIII world to be the closest the FF series has ever gotten to our own (in ones I've played.)
Not only does ignore the stereotype that all RPGs must be set in old times (VII ignored it aswell), but it also matches our world in more taken for granted ways, the towns and citys are more or less realistically sized with the correct amount of people in them there are even random people walking around (that you sadly can't talk to), that's just like our world in that you can anyone in any part of the town, even though they do have the usual RPG townspeople who just stay in one spot, but that's ok, it is a game.
Another thing I like is how there are real life medias like TV Stations (we don't hear any by name, but they clearly exist) magazines which are used to help us in our adventure, but is written in magazine format, so it fits in as part of the "world" of FFVIII, because, like in our world magazines exist (e.g. "Weapons Monthly" is written as though it is aimed at regular people with an interest in different types of weapons, but the game uses it to help us with how we upgrade to said weapon.)
The computers are interesting too, the most prominant one being the one at Balamb Garden, it (in a sense) has its own internet service (or maybe "intranet", as it seems to include mostly stuff about Balamb it self, not sure if Selphie's site counts as part of Garden's site or not).
One more subtle inclusion is that of regular books, I don't think we ever read one, but books are mentioned, some of which are apparently historical, but some just seem to be regular books, that you can hear people (usally Garden students) discussing, and sharing there opinions on them. If you check the library section on the Study Panel (computer) you will see titles of various books that are never mentioned again (although one I have a theory about, or more to the point it fetures in a theory of mine). Once again this makes it more real, I really think Square did brilliantly here, but this is only a small fraction in what made FFVIII so brilliant in my eyes.
Just felt like sharing that opinion, hope that's ok.