i thought my first game on FF8 was quite good actually but :

spent something like 3 or 4 hours in garden at the start of the game because i couldnt find the front gate
i missed out pretty much all of the un-obvious GFs
didnt understand magic junctioning, so asigned random magic to them
used GFs every battle
went card crazy and when i'd got loads just card mod them to hell
oh and died a lot

however:

i knew how to use boost straight away
eventially defeated ultimecia
and actually upgraded some of my weapons