If you are Greek, why then did you refer to Ulysses (Roman), rather than the classical Greek Odysseus?


As I pointed out, the timing of the GF's appearance in the game is more uncanny than the significance of the tradition itself.

In Quetzalcoatl and shiva, we see the two sides of Knowledge; creative and destructive, respectively, looming over the characters.

Then enters Ifrit, the heart of the battle. Notice that Squall treats the acquisition of Ifrit as a trivial thing... When Quistis asked "Squall have you taken your first test?" Squall answered "no, I forgot". This causes a subconscious reference in the players mind, that myths and mysticism, have been reduced to mundane realms. It is similar to today’s world...we have some knowledge of tradition, yet we prefer to treat it as something primitives relied on.

FF8 presents the modernistic approach, that mysticism is less powerful than technology (Dr. Odines bracelet). This is much like our current world and that of Ancient Greece, Egypt and the Aztec empire, before the time that these cultures encountered the "Armageddon". People become/became enthusiastic about the physical realm and abandon/abandoned the spiritual.

The modern world simply explains these events in terms of "the Romans invaded" or the "Spanish invaded"... Yes they certainly did, but we elevate local phenomena without understanding the movements of the universe.
Both the Greek and Aztec Mystics had foreseen the collapse of their empires generations before it actually occurred. Modernists would call these prophecy (even the precision of Aztec mathematics) mere coincidence!

Another perspective; mystics in the biblical world have foreseen a "holy fire", could this holy fire simply be ancient interpretation of the nuclear holocaust?
If I were a meditative mystic and the inspired image of a world consumed in fire entered my head, I too would be astonished by the revelation. Why is it a holy fire? well the mystics witnessed a world engaged in pursuits of the body, long life, sex and free will. The miserable existence (physical pleasures) the people of the today (the future to the mystics) would be nothing compared with the instantaneous spiritual salvation, that the fires would have appeared to bring. So the mystics interpreted the vision as a blessing from heaven, releasing the men of pleasure from their condemned lives.

Another GF of significance on the first disc is Diabolos.
It is almost as if Cid has staged the whole:

Squall meets Rinoa
Battle with Edea
And the fall of Garden.

By giving Squall the cursed lamp, an object that Squall can open at his leisure (analogous to Pandora’s box). Cid invites Squall to bring the "new wave" by embracing the darkness. While Seifer is off representing the Heavens (sorceress and Great Hyne), Squall is taking his first step in aligning himself with the darkness.

Anyhow, that is a margin of the setting in Disc 1. There are many other themes to explore. If I went "off the track" with the historical examples; this was to justify mystic thought both in FF8 and the "real world".