I suppose ffx-2 was really a more girly game with less of an in depth storyline. Some people liked this but others (like myself) hated the fact that most of the game was based around a bunch girl running around spira solving little problems for people. I feel that the story only started getting good at about chapter 3 where a deeper storyline began to emerge. As for ff8 - it was an alright game however it was probably outclassed by FFIX which was wicked and FFVII which was just an amzement for people. With FFVIII inbetween these titles it was srt of ridiculed for its differences and therefore unaccepted (the junction system was very tedious for me)