Final Fantasy VIII is Objectively the Worst Final Fantasy

[chionos]

I'll agree it's one of the worst, but its still a good game, and is better than I, II, and III.

The only reason you're not getting perma-banned for this totally unacceptable and blasphemous statement is that you're new and don't know any better.

But now you do, so you'd better start towing the line. Tow it!

[Shorty]

If you've already played this game and hate it, I don't see how asking to be convinced is truly going to convince you or what sort of answers you're hoping to get that will make you change your mind. If you really wanted to be convinced, you'd replay it again with a more open mind.

This is my favorite FF because it's the first that I played and it changed my gaming world.

[chionos]

I would argue, but I always honor peoples' firsts. The first is always something special.

[Gamblet]

I'll agree it's one of the worst, but its still a good game, and is better than I, II, and III.

I can understand II, but first and third? They had the most impact on the series.

[Roogle]

I'll agree it's one of the worst, but its still a good game, and is better than I, II, and III.

I can understand II, but first and third? They had the most impact on the series.

I suppose they offer too much of a dated game experience for some players. I don't think I would like the original Final Fantasy games as much as I do if I had not played them as a child.

[Gamblet]

I'll agree it's one of the worst, but its still a good game, and is better than I, II, and III.

I can understand II, but first and third? They had the most impact on the series.

I suppose they offer too much of a dated game experience for some players. I don't think I would like the original Final Fantasy games as much as I do if I had not played them as a child.

Ironically, one of the last FFs I played was the first. I found it quite satisfying. I am not sure if I would play it again, though.

[Wolf Kanno]

Prove me wrong.

When you can prove to me how FFXIII can possibly be considered mediocre let alone better than VIII, I'll explain to you why VIII is better.

[Forsaken Lover]

The FFXIII party got more development while FFVIII's party were all shallow caricatures apart from Squall and Rinoa.

That's indisputable.

I would argue the character development was better in XIII as well since Rinoa's "development" consisted of saying she hates fighting in one scene and then it never comes up again.
Oh and she got magic powers.

Even XIII can beat that.

I felt XIII's flaws lay in the story more than the characters to be honest.

FFVIII's flaws meanwhile were...well, everything. It did nothing right. Not even Seifer, its most well-developed character, was done right. Can you say anticlimax? It was more unsatisfying than Squall's and Rinoa's first time in which they both broke down crying after five minutes.

And the plot...well, timelines are the bane of a lot of FF's. Like Sin coming back after only a few months in FFX - that's retarded. (The vague implication the Calm lasts ten years is much more sensible.) FFVIII gives us the long-lost Centra civilization taht no one knows about.
It was destroyed less than a hundred years ago.......

[Shorty]

Of all the characters in FFVIII, Seifer is most definitely not the most developed.

[Forsaken Lover]

How do you figure? The number of characters who change in any significant fashion from the start of the game to the end of the game can be counted on one hand.

Seifer is well-characterized in that we know what drives him and why it drives him. We clearly see his fall to temptation as well as his steady degeneration as it becomes clearer and clearer that he's just being used. Seifer starts off the proud knight and he ends up a feeble fool clinging to an illusion while everyone close to him abandons him.

The only emotional connection you can have to any character in the game is pity for Seifer.

But fine, I will rephrase. In terms of characterization, Seifer is the best FFVIII has to offer.

[Wolf Kanno]

The FFXIII party got more development while FFVIII's party were all shallow caricatures apart from Squall and Rinoa.

That's indisputable.

I would argue the character development was better in XIII as well since Rinoa's "development" consisted of saying she hates fighting in one scene and then it never comes up again.
Oh and she got magic powers.

Even XIII can beat that.

I'll counter with the fact Squall gets better character development than all of XIII's cast with the possible exception of Sahz, but even then, Squall's story is the center of the story while Sahz ultimately gets demoted to funny black sidekick halfway through the game. Laguna also had a great story arc and ultimately I feel VIII overall has the more likable cast, and while XIII's cast does have some development only half of them really do anything with it. Lightning has no real development, she just one day realizes she's got anger issues and tries to stop, Hope is a whiny bitch that become Mr. "Friendship is the Best Thing Ever!!!" which was minor improvement from despise to loath. Snow gets the least amount of screen-time development which makes the drama of his scene fall flat, Fang has no development as a character, Vanille gets a few moments and never does anything with it, and Sahz... is like the only decent character in the game. I'll take zero development over bad character development any day. At least I can lie to myself and say VIII was rushed out the door and the scenes were cut.

I felt XIII's flaws lay in the story more than the characters to be honest.


FFVIII's flaws meanwhile were...well, everything. It did nothing right. Not even Seifer, its most well-developed character, was done right. Can you say anticlimax? It was more unsatisfying than Squall's and Rinoa's first time in which they both broke down crying after five minutes.

And the plot...well, timelines are the bane of a lot of FF's. Like Sin coming back after only a few months in FFX - that's retarded. (The vague implication the Calm lasts ten years is much more sensible.) FFVIII gives us the long-lost Centra civilization that no one knows about.
It was destroyed less than a hundred years ago.......

I am going to say they both have a draw in this case, except that VIII doesn't have a noticeably badly done ending. VIII's ending is bad mind you, but its not the left field, literal Deus Ex Machina, that XIII pulls out of its ass at the last minute to save its happy ending.

VIII's time travel was also better utilized than XIII's l'Cie nonsense where the party gets a death warrant, angst about other thing besides the situation they are actually in, remember said situation after all the characters resolve their personal crises, spend the next half of the game trying to find a way out of their predicament, decide to say smurf it and do what the villains asked them to do 40 hours ago after the villains show they can technically wipe out all of Cocoon's populace without relying on the orbital drop plan, and then the party is saved by a goddess figure who is barely mentioned at all in the script. VIII's lot may be ridiculous at times, but at least there re some redeeming elements and novel ideas. XIII's plot is not only a weak concept, its just poorly executed from beginning to end. Don't get me started on the game starting in Median res and then painfully leaking out info about the week leading up to the games start at the slowest possible chance.

VIII also does a better job establishing its world as something that matters whereas XIII never bothers to stop and make the player actually care about it, making the turmoil of the parties choice fall a bit flat for the player since either decision is meaningless to them.

VIII also just has better gameplay, broken as all hell, but at least VIII can be considered a game and not just a George Jetson simulator. The most interactive part of XIII is leveling your characters on the chrysterium.

[maybee]

Of all the characters in FFVIII, Seifer is most definitely not the most developed.

Squall is.

[Loony BoB]

Moombas.

/thread

[Pike]

I'll agree it's one of the worst, but its still a good game, and is better than I, II, and III.

I loved all three of those and II was my favorite.

Anyways, FFVIII is certainly flawed but I think people are much too critical of it. I can think of worse FFs. Which I won't name here as to not derail the thread, because no one will agree with me.

[Zeiferxx]

FFVIII is not the worst, it's on the top.