Quote Originally Posted by Omni-Odin View Post
I never have anything but good things to say about this game because it gets enough hate. I think it's amazing. A graphical and musical achievement. The game with more balls than any other game in the series because it tried to change things up. Here try this. Ok didn't work for some. That's okay, because FFIX is on the way to throw waves of nostalgic, simplistic leveling and a lighter plot your way.

Btw, I in no way dislike IX or think down upon it. I just thought it was easy and predictable. I respect VIII because I thought it was challenging.

The orphan plot twist....ok I get where people are coming from and I guess it's been a while since I played it, but isn't there more than just the NPC that hints at memory loss? Maybe I'm forgetting, but I thought there was.

Also, was there any need for that twist? Or was it just a way to connect the characters to Edea after she was set free?
It was, in the parlance of storytelling, an ass pull.

It gets all of the characters' backstories out of the way in one neat stroke, to make more room in the story for the romance plot.

T_T Cheap, superficial storytelling does not appeal to me. But I forgive FFVIII because after the insane mindscrew of FFVII, it just wouldn't have been possible to generate something more shocking or insane.

Cuz FFVII is kind of uh...out there. The plot development is overall well done, but the way the plot resolves is complicated and very talky. If you are paying close attention, and can read through the awful awful translation, it is pretty intricately set up and a real "Aha" moment.

FFVIII realized that to try to top something like that would be futile, so it went with a simpler, more down-to-earth story, with less focus on cerebrum and more focus on sensory stimuli. The focus of the characters is much more limited as well. You are mostly watching Squall or Rinoa or some combination of the two for almost the entire game.

That said, FFVIII succeeds in its immersive qualities where FFVII drops off. You do feel like you are in this world, no question. The character proportions are well done, and the free-roaming map is pretty seamless, unlike FFVII's.

And FFVII is missing a little bit of human warmth that FFVIII has in spades.

I really think that was the basic idea: we did a dark one, now let's do something nicer.