How was your first playthrough?

[Serapy]

FFVIII was only the second RPG I ever played, with FFVII being the first. I was 16 or 17 at the time, but still pretty unfamiliar with RPG mechanics generally, so I didn't grasp the nuances (or even all the basics, for that matter) of the Junction system.

Same here, VII was my first and true RPG game and VIII being the second.

Post-VII release, I was so exicted for VIII to come out. I had even bought a couple of magazines that have info about the development of VIII.

So when VIII came out, I was pretty disappointed in my first playthrough. At that time, I was reminiscing about how VII was better and how it was the best game ever.

But all of that changed when I forced myself to finish VIII and played my 2nd playthrough to pay better attention. I now consider VIII a better storyline than VII. It's the VIII storyline and backstories of characters that have influenced me so greatly. I.e. the R=U theory and the other luminous mysteries. The atmosphere of VIII felt so true.