Quote Originally Posted by Vincent, Thunder God View Post
The main problem I had with VIII was that I couldn't get into the Junction system and instead of using the Draw function at all just spammed summons, which made the battles long and boring - but you could still win most (if not all) of them that way. If I ever played it again I would try to Draw more - I did enjoy the soundtrack well enough (which is sometimes a complaint) and the story/characters were OK for me, even if I didn't find them as engaging as VII or IX. But unlike those 2 games, which I didn't complete because (at the time) I didn't want them to end, VIII I dropped because I couldn't put up with the battles anymore. I was pretty far into the game - probably disc 3 or 4 - but I just never went back to it. And now when I can't even bring myself to complete the games in the series I enjoy more, I don't know if I'll ever go back.
Honestly, Drawing magic is like the worst way to get magic. It's great for finding new spells and obtaining some of the GFs but the best way to get 100 of a spell is to abuse the refinement abilities GFs teach. In fact, unless you're playing a low level run, I generally suggest you prioritize refinement skills over all other abilities except ones that open up new stats to be junctioned. With a little patience, you can actually have 100 Blizzara spells Junctioned to your weapon for elemental damage to OHKO Ifrit at the beginning of the game by just focusing on refinement skills.

Junctioning feels daunting, not helped by the awful and cluttered tutorial menus, but it's surprisingly straight forward once you get the knack for it.