Only Fantasy I haven't played...

[crazybayman]

Great game, one of my personal favorites. Definitely give it a playthrough, then give it your own opinion.

The main reason all those FFVII fanboys hate FFVIII is because they played FFVII first, and as mentioned before, are used to the materia system rather than juntioning.

I personally prefer FFVIII to FFVII, probably because I played FFVIII first (due to a considerable amount of years away from gaming), and hence prefer the junction system to the materia. I think the junction system is great because you can boost your stats, and still draw all the spells you need. As well I think that the fact that you're all going to a type of academy/fighting university is great, and the fact that you can boost your stats and gain new abilities with GFs is fabulous.

The side quests like (SPOILER)The Underwater Reasearch Centre are excellent too, much better than stupid chocobo breeding.

The main reason I rather the junction system than the materia system is that I found that you could have too many combinations with materia, and your stats usually (but not always) go down with more materia, especially magic and summon materia. Then I find it hard to give up certain materia when I find new stuff, and my stats wind up going down as a result.

As well, sure some of the VIII characters were annoying, but I personally thought the game presented more background info on them, giving them more depth (easy now FFVII fanboys/fangirls, its just an opinion!). Plus VII was a little more cartoonish, which isn't favorable, while VIII was a little darker, better graphics, and a little more like real life. At least in my opinion, anyway.

At the end of the day, give it a try, it's an awesome game.