FF8 was the first FF I ever played and the whole game just swept me away. It's brilliant that they made the lead character a little different from the archetypal video game hero. I like the way Squall spends plenty of time in thought which to me is more interesting than a cocky womanising guy like Zidane. With the other two Final Fantasies I've played I got the feeling that the game hero would end up getting the girl in the end anyway but this game is a little different in that respect resulting in the time that you spend on screen talking to other characters and developing relationship more interesting