10 Years Later...

[Kyros]

I played the older ones before ps came out. The had references to them here and there in IX oh boy, doesnt make the game any better imo though. All bosses in IX were pushovers, and the card game was bad compared to Triple Triad. I didnt bother pushing to 99 in IX b/c theres no point in trying after 65-70 since everything's a breeze by then, and I didnt even bother maxing out thievery (no point when I had him hitting for 9999 w/o it) and didn't use nearly the best team..

[Bolivar]

This game has aged really well to me. When it came out, I was impressed like everyone else, but eventually I just hated the protagonist, hated the junction system, hated that you're relegated to the final dungeon and a weird no-town world.

Over the years I think my appreciation grew a little bit every time I played it and exploded in the last two years. This is up there with VII, IX, and X for my favorite FF and undoubtedly one of the greatest games I ever played.

I think foremost I would commend the developers on bringing "A Fantasy based on Reality" to life. You have swords, sorceresses, magic, phantom beasts, dragons, and a mysterious Crystal, but you also have presidents, cities, TV stations, internet, popular music, and jazz clubs. It was an amazing vision that doesn't really fit into any of the subgenres of fantasy (i just checked, maybe "Low Fantasy" would be it).

Once I learned I don't need to stock up on 100 of every spell I have, the Junction system revealed its beauty to me. I can draw once or twice with my three party members, then transfer all that to one person who will junction it, and move on. It keeps the pace amazing and keeps the challenge going. In general, the deep customization of the system causes me to play the game a different way each time I tackle it.

So, it has both story/setting and gameplay/battles down just right for me. Those are my two favorite aspects of Final Fantasy, with music as third place, and this game has some of my favorite songs in the series.

As far as failures go, I don't know if I'd change anything. I love the characters, I love the way all the different side stories of the plot are related to each other, I love how it's not explicitly stated what the relationship between Squall and Laguna is, it takes me for a trip every time I play it. I'm still uncovering new endgame sidequests I didn't know about the first time. I also think this game has one of the best final dungeons in the series, its insane to think about a final dungeon with replayability but it's here.

The game's only failure is how misunderstood i think it's been over the years.

[line_genrou]

Some plot holes that kinda weakened the story,IMO.
Such as Ultimecia having no backround and no real motivation for her plan.Creating the whole Ultimecia = Rinoa theory.Because people wanted a reason for her existence.

But I love the characters and love the scenario.I like the junction system,although it did annoy me at the beginning.

[Flying Arrow]

Despite its faults I still think it's one of the better games in the series. Playing it as a 15-year-old I could still see glaring flaws that marred the experience. For every good idea in FFVIII there is a bad one that undermines it. I inexplicably enjoy this game anyway.

Pros:
+ Inventive character customization systems (Junctioning/GFs/weapon building)
+ Interesting and unique setting
+ Fun magic system that, in theory, rewards cleverness and resourcefulness. The Draw system may have turned some off, but I thought it was an interesting concept, even if it wasn't as fun as it could have been.
+ Ultimecia's smurfing castle. Best final dungeon (and maybe best dungeon overall) in the entire series. One of the few parts of the game that actually forces the player to quit slouching and play.
+ Laguna and pals: potentially a better storyline than Squall and SeeD's. What we got was enjoyable enough, but it really felt like so much more of a genuine, heartfelt story than the main plot. I'll take a chronicle of Laguna's life over Squall's introversion any day of the week.
+ Triple Triad. One of the only minigames in any RPG that I can stomach. When the plot and dialogue of FFVIII get tedious (which is often), Triple Triad is the pitch-perfect diversion. I also liked that cards could be refined into items, parts and magic.

Cons:
- Ease in which the Junction system can be manipulated guts a lot of the game's potential strategy in terms of battle
- Plot takes a nosedive once the player boots up disc 3 (The orphanage twist was astonishingly stupid to me even at 15). Until then, it was decent if a little underwhelming.
- Ambitious attempt at writing (how many other games like this try to build around a highschool romance?) completely wrecked by the awful execution of the Squall and Rinoa plot.
- Characters who seem interesting at first (personality-wise) amount to very little by the game's end.
- Ultimecia herself. Awful character. Awful end. May be even stupider and more out of place a villain than FFIX's infamous Necron. Did Square pay their writers up-front or something?

In the end, the gameplay of FFVIII, I think, is solid enough and satisfying if a little flawed. The problems with the game revolve mainly around bad writing. One could argue that, yes, it's just a game, but I would counter that, like gameplay, the time spent going through the story and cut-scenes should culminate in a satisfying and rewarding experience for the player. It's not that Square didn't try, but is seems more likely that they just underestimated the project.

[Heath]

I think FFVIII still retains the charm and appeal it had ten years ago to this very day. I replayed it last year and actually found that when I was an older and more mature person I got more out of it than before. Not simply in terms of gameplay, but also the plot. Still one of the weaker entries in the series, but by no means is it a bad game. I still listen to the piano collection semi-regularly and have always liked the OST itself. Despite the fact I feel it has aged well, the plot after disc two still doesn't sit right with me. I wouldn't exactly crawl over broken glass to play the game, but at the same time I wouldn't stick my nose up at the idea of playing it again.

A good reflection of how good a game FFVIII is and how well it has aged is this very forum. The amount of discussion from this forum is very good relative to the rest of the forums considering its age and that it's a single game (unlike X or VII). People still have fond memories of their first playthrough, of that first cutscene and at playing Triple Triad among other things.

[Bolivar]

I replayed it last year and actually found that when I was an older and more mature person I got more out of it than before.

Yeah I think that's what did it for me.

[Rocket Edge]

It's still without question my favorite all-time game. It makes me think about it even to this day. 10 years? I think it's aged well.

[Slothy]

I'm confused about this. Do you mean you didnt like the junction system b/c it was too good,

Seriously? You really think it was too good? I'm glad you're not a game designer.

and why didnt you like triple triad? At least this game had a good card game instead of the crap IX had. You could actually get good stuff from it too. I'm pretty sure IX was the mistake with its horrific card game, dumb cast, terrible excuse for an extra boss, pushover final battle, and a random bs final boss that came from Zidane's liquid diarrhea. =/

This explains it. Truly great games are apparently lost on you. If characters with some actual depth who develop well throughout the course of the game and in a way that makes sense means they're dumb then give me the dumb cast over FFVIII's thanks. I find it funny that you accuse FFIX of being too easy yet say the Junction system was good (unless I'm misunderstanding you there). The junction system was a great concept but it was ruined by being easily exploitable right off the bat. It was too easy to turn characters into utter powerhouses who never run into anything they can't wipe out in a few turns throughout the entire game. Where's the fun if there's no risk or challenge? Not to mention that magic was useless for anything other than junctioning. You'd have to be stupid to use any when you can easily have characters hitting for crazy damage and walking around with a few thousand hit points in a matter of hours. Great concept, but terrible execution. At least if you found IX too easy it was probably because you were grinding too much.

All that out of the way, I mostly agree with The Abominatrix about VIII. It had it's good moments plot wise and some of the characters are enjoyable if a little two dimensional. If the plot didn't fall apart towards the end and Square had bothered to balance the gameplay at all we'd have one of the better titles in the series on our hands. Instead we got something that's as meh now as it was 10 years ago. Maybe a little moreso since there have been some truly shining examples of story telling since then that make the plot look a little worse then it did then.

[The Last Oath]

Funny to think its 10 years old now. I remember playing it years ago when i was 7 or so. and I couldnt beat elvoret because I didnt know how to junction

My fav FF.

[Marshall Banana]

The good:

• The rewards of Triple Triad make every card game worthwhile
• Laguna and company
• Unique and pretty locations
• Edea and sorceresses in general are cool
• PuPu
• A cute girl who fights with nunchaku

The bad:

• The dialogue is just plain awful!
• Not enough sorceresses
• The world map feels bare
• Boring sidequests

The ugly:

• Zell
• "Chicken-wuss"

[Rantz]

I agree with the above pretty much.

[Jiro]

Funny to think its 10 years old now. I remember playing it years ago when i was 7 or so. and I couldnt beat elvoret because I didnt know how to junction

Yes, Elvoret kicked my kid-ass because I was horrible at junctioning. Hell I was horrible at the whole game to begin with

[Kyros]

This explains it. Truly great games are apparently lost on you. If characters with some actual depth who develop well throughout the course of the game and in a way that makes sense means they're dumb then give me the dumb cast over FFVIII's thanks. I find it funny that you accuse FFIX of being too easy yet say the Junction system was good (unless I'm misunderstanding you there). The junction system was a great concept but it was ruined by being easily exploitable right off the bat. It was too easy to turn characters into utter powerhouses who never run into anything they can't wipe out in a few turns throughout the entire game. Where's the fun if there's no risk or challenge? Not to mention that magic was useless for anything other than junctioning. You'd have to be stupid to use any when you can easily have characters hitting for crazy damage and walking around with a few thousand hit points in a matter of hours. Great concept, but terrible execution. At least if you found IX too easy it was probably because you were grinding too much.

Fully junctioned with crazy stats and whatnot didn't guarantee victories vs the enemies on the islands closest to heaven or hell, vs Omega or Ultima weapon (whichever was stronger forgot which one, think it was Omega), or even vs the final boss. If you messed up vs any of them even with awesome junctioning you were screwed. They also scaled to be even harder once you hit max lv.

I didn't bother grinding much in FFIX. I wasn't anywhere near max lv, was only above 60 b/c I thought Ozma was going to be a challenge, and I didn't use the best team. I ran Zidane w/o using thievery, Vivi only b/c of Flare, Garnett even though Eiko was better, and Steiner. I never bothered with Freya's dragon crest since I didn't use her. Ozma, Kuja and Necron were all easier than Ultemecia, and I didn't even have invincibility in this game.

[Marshall Banana]

Ozma isn't easier than Ultimecia. XD

[Kyros]

You must have faced a different Ozma then everyone else I've talked to b/c he was ridiculously easy, and I didn't do any of the stuff that makes him weaker.