Dish it out peoples!

[LifeAsABullet]

I haven't purchased this game and have only played it at my friend's house and I'm going to get it regaurdless. I just want to hear about your opinions about this game, good, bad and the ugly.

[rubah]

I think it is a perfectly awesome game.

But then again, it suits me to a T.

The connections I can make with this game are just. . . awesome. I'll focus on the good, because I'm sure there's plenty of people that will complain about junctioning, the characters, and everything else:P

But, I don't really want to sit and come up with stuff, so I'll quote from an lj post I made around new years

#1) So what happened in May? I recieved a benign looking package in the mail that I mistaked for mom's canadian drugs. Inside however, were two boxes, each containing a box of plastic. One of these was FF9.

The other, was Final Fantasy VIII.

A simple decision happened that day. "oh, I don't have ff7 which is considered to be the best ever? Hmm, I guess I'll play ff8 then, since it should be able roughly equal between the two in quality (I, a player of the snes games was worried about quality. hahaha. But it is roughly about halfway between 7 and 9 in quality.)

In goes the game.

On comes Liberi Fatali (well, after I panicked about my memory cards not working).

latin.

LATIN.

one of my repressed loves throughout the ages. and there is a friggin' song. on this friggin' game. almost totally in LATIN. It was destined. And, there was bound to be a romance, since there was a guy and chick hugging in the little icongraphic thing^_^ *is a sucker for romances* good ones anyways. "hey rosa, we're getting married right?" "yes cecil, as soon as we defeat what'shisname" "oh, zeromus?" "If you say so"

Things that bothered me on a first play-- the graphics were pretty bad, having come from ffx[-2]. 'why can't I see squall's eyes all the time?' The jaggedness was a major shock after the intro fmv. ("WHAT THE CRAP!?") Quistis was a bit patronizing (but I didn't know what to do anyways) and seifer and zell were friggin' annoying. but I prevailed. And soon I was to learn of the wonders of junctioning. . . That immortal beast of the ultimate polarizing nature. (huh, this doesn't seem too hard). Mm. Oh, and not to mention, they're at a military school. While I wouldn't want to go to one myself, they hold a fascination for me. Regimens, discipline, and nice unquestioning order (for the time being though) And we got to go on missions! that we were hired for! The entire scene waiting to get to Dollet was interesting. 'professor, who was that girl in the infirmiary?' 'haha, chicken wuss!'

*looks at the clock* oh crap, it's three in the morning.

To shorten: FF8 is awesome because of these: Ragnarok. the first airship I ever loved. Rinoa+Squall. SO FRIGGIN' CUTE (and meant to be). Junctioning The GFs^_^ (they had carbuncle^_^ he's so cute) (SPOILER)THE GARDEN MOVES. (although not very fast, and not very freely. that was a huge turn off-_- so friggin' slow) That was one of those open mouthed moments. ) You can see inside squall's mind As austin well knows, elipsi are fascinating creatures, and he uses so many of them and you get so many decisions on how to act^_^ it's like ffx sort of except darker and more broody. Cards were fun. I'm trying to get dad to play them^_^ Oh, and. . .
Disc three. Just disc three. Space was. . . Dangit, I'm a girl, I started this game, then I went off to friggin' space camp, and I come back and [spoiler]they go to space. and make out. with the main love theme playing ;_; Can you blame me? (if only there was hot hot astronaut sex. . .[/spoiler[ That was also a wonder at space camp-- 'is such a thing possible?') It also has an excellent ending Keeping you in suspense until the last possible moment, when your biggest fears are relieved, and they managed something that (SPOILER)poor tidus and yuna would never be able to in ffx (at least until x-2)

(SPOILER)some stupid crap I said about the few bad sides

but, imho, the good far outweighs the bad.

and I'm going to bed, to think about how cool ff8 is. and stuff)

In short. GET THE FRIGGIN' GAME (and a memory card for the ps1) ALREADY!

<3 ff8.
(and I didn't even mention how it makes me feel so cool to be a child of the nineties, because the stuff in it is *SO* 90s)

[DocFrance]

It's got its ups and downs, and you'll most likely get a wide range of opinions from different people. I really liked FF8's gameplay, but I was never too fond of the plot and character development (or lack thereof).

[Skyblade]

I think it is a perfectly awesome game.

But then again, it suits me to a T.

The connections I can make with this game are just. . . awesome. I'll focus on the good, because I'm sure there's plenty of people that will complain about junctioning, the characters, and everything else:P

But, I don't really want to sit and come up with stuff, so I'll quote from an lj post I made around new years


In short. GET THE FRIGGIN' GAME (and a memory card for the ps1) ALREADY!

<3 ff8.
(and I didn't even mention how it makes me feel so cool to be a child of the nineties, because the stuff in it is *SO* 90s)

...Um, I guess there's not much more for me to say, so I'll just restate some things. I'm also a sucker for romance, and I loved the Squall/Rinoa pairing. Squall was the single video game character that I most identified with. I know exactly how his mind works (since it is very similar to mine own). I didn't have a problem with the graphics, since I started FFVIII after FFVII. I really liked the fact that I no longer had to hold down the cancel button to run. The Ragnarok was awesome, even if it did lack a chocobo stable (one feature that the Highwind from FFVII had over the Ragnarok). The plot was great. Zell was a chicken wuss, Seifer was a self centered psycho, Selphie was a cute little girl with an irresistable urge to blow stuff up (Galbadia missile complex, boarding the Lunatic Pandora...), Irvine was a braggart who cracked under pressure... All of the characters had their flaws, but that just made them more realistic. I really liked most of the characters. The game's music is downright gorgeous (except for the two songs which start out ok, but quickly become annoying as hell). The FMVs are cool. The missions (Dollet, assassinate Edea, destroy the missile base, the Garden War, etc...) were all tremendous fun. And throughout the entire game, you get to see the developing romance between Squall and Rinoa (best video game couple ever, IMHO).

Downsides-
The junctioning system. Yes, it's awesome, and lets you get uber-powerful characters. But it also makes casting spells pretty much useless. Nice idea, but it could have been executed better.
Ultimecia. An excellent villain, but not as good as Sephiroth, IMHO. She is evil, but we never know why (discussions about her motivations led to the R=U theory that I absolutely hate, and do not believe at all). Being evil just for the sake of being evil drags her character down, I believe.
Chocobo World. Great idea, fun game, but the Pocketstation wasn't released in America. >.< If you have the computer version of the game, this is no problem. You can also buy a Japanese Pocketstation for around $50. If not, you miss out on lots of cool items and some excellent summons.

That's it. It's a great game, and well worth the money it costs to buy it. You should definitely pick it up.

[Sepho]

The thing with FF8 is, it's a love it or hate it kind of deal. There's hardly anyone ever firmly in the middle ground. Opinions relating to this game and whether it's any good or often strong.

You simply have to play it for yourself. Hearing many opinions that are on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum will do nothing for you.

[Kamrusepas]

It rocks. Best thing ever. Period.

[Coley]

I agree that it is a game that people seem to either love or hate... I have met a few people (and read about people) that have really disliked every aspect of it; on the otherhand, I love the game... I'd say it's my fav. game in the series.

I mean, after playing FFVII the graphics were above and beyond! When my cousin and I first watched the opening movie for the game when it first came out our jaws dropped cuz it was such a difference from VII. The music is amazing and I really enjoyed the way the plot progressed. And if you are a sucker for romances, then you'll love this game.. Squall and Rinoa are so cute!

[Kamrusepas]

Yeah, but the development of their romance is so tacky and unnatural. Wonder why they left it like that.

[Craig]

It's the Marmite equivalent (sp?) of a Final Fantasy game.

[TheSpoonyBard]

FFVIII is like Marmite. You either love it or hate it. I hate Marmite. I love FFVIII. I don't think it's fair to compare to any of the FF games with the others as they are all different. Each has it's own good, bad and ugly sides and they are all great games. I suggest you buy FFVIII. If you don't like it you've always got the receipt to take it back, or as a last resort you could stick it on eBay. But that will never happen. Trust me, you'll love it.

[Zangan]

FF8 . . . always a source of contention. It's funny - I played 7,8 and 9 in their proper order, so after spending months as a monk playing the wondrous 7, 8 was a totally different experience. After finishing it, I hated it. I really did. Then I came back to it. And now after having played it about 8 times over, I love it.

Someone made a criminal error earlier saying there was a "lack of" character development. Frankly, the change in Squall from a cold, insular little boy, to a caring, (more) open adult is well plotted and accurately executed. I also think Rinoa and Squall's romance was as "real" as it could be in the medium of a video game.

In short, even if you don't initially like FF8, DON'T take it back to the shop - have patience and it shall come to you . . .

[Yuffie514]

i like it . the best Final Fantasy i've played actually . plus, the musical score is incredible .

[Slade]

FF8 is my all time fav FF too...i loved everything about it,story, characters, music, everything.

[Chris]

All I can say is that Final Fantasy VIII is my personal favorite.
I may be biased... but just buy it.

[Nod]

Fantastic game. But even if people say its crap, you should still get it cos its final fantasy which is infinitely better than ANY OTHER GAME!