Fantastic game. My favorite FF, and favorite game of all time. Kicks FFVII's a$$. I by far prefer the junctioning system to materia. There's just too many combinations with Materia, I like getting a somewhat limited choice, but not too limited, which is exactly what the junction system gave me. Plus in FFVII with materia, the more magic you have the weaker your character. In FFVIII, the more magic, the more powerful you are!!

Characters were great, music was great, the Laguna saga was great, Triple Triad is great (though I'm just now learning to appreciate it, hehe), sidequests like Deep Sea Research centre was great, battle system was great, blah blah blah blah............

At the end of the day, its all a matter of preference, I guess. Many prefer FFVII, many prefer FFVIII, many prefer FFIX, etc. I personally prefer FFVIII. Its definitely the most reaslitic, but still has that sci-fi edge, with a guy's sword being more powerful than any piece of machinery.