Quote Originally Posted by Zaphier
The point isn't that there wasn't developement, it's that it happened too rapidly. The point was that he thought of Rinoa as a hindrance and an annoyance, and the second she goes comotose, he's completely and totally head over heels in love with her. It was poorly done.

The game had great potential. I thought the first two discs were awesome. When they brought Ultemecia into the picture, it just got too predictable and boring. They touched a strange topic, time travel. Time travel is always going to get sticky in the end, no matter how well executed it is. Personally, that aspect of FFVIII just irked me.

Like many have mentioned, they completely blew it on the developement of the other characters. They all got to shine for just a moment, but then they just fell into the background again. Had there been more back story behind each of them and something interesting enough to hook a player, it could have been awesome.

FFVIII had great potential, but Squaresoft blew it.
Agreed.

The development was there for Squall, but it was poorly done and rushed, which made it unbelievable. Any talk of subtlety seems silly to me, because you were privy to Squall's thoughts almost constantly.