You know, I used to dislike FFVIII a lot, but I have grown to appriciate it more. It's still not one of my favorite FF games, but I can have fun with it now. I think drawing does suck, but most of the same people who really get hung up on that complaint have no problem level grinding. I don't agree with the article saying that the system couldn't be exploited because if you got the right spell to junction, you were pretty much invincible for most of the game (by then you get another overly-powerful spell to junction). Another thing I don't agree with is people picking in Squall, as usual. Once agian, I used to give ol' Squally a rough time, but the more I thought about it my last playthrough, the more his character made sense to me. People wonder why he is such a downer, but to me it's obvious:

1) He's 17. Of course he would theoreticaly have his own MySpace page.

2) He has an intense fear of abaondoment. His past has made him paranoid to get attached to anyone because of Ellone. Although I am not NEARLY as bad as him, I can somewhat relate to this because of have a different type of fear of abandoment.

3) What most people conviently ignore is that his character does grow, and he opens up. When that happens he becomes a much more friendlier person and a much stronger person, as well.

HOWEVER...

I do understand why people dislike FFVIII. Here are my problems with it: **SPOILERS AHEAD**

1) The plot: The writers really were reaching when the all of a sudden they decided it would be a good idea to have all of the characters suddenly remember that they all grew up in the same orphange (except Rinoa) along with Seifer, Edea, and Ellone. What's the reason for this? The GFs. There is no mention of this at all in the game. The only hint you get is if you go out of your way to check the study pannel and the game hints of the whole memory loss thing. Also, Irvine said that he never used GFs as a kid (which reminds me--when Selphie was like, "Uhhhh...oh yeah, I found one as a kid so that's why my memory is screwed too" I slapped my head the first time I saw it), and only recently started to use them. I know Irvine said he thought they forgot about their time together at the orphanage, but he didn't remember Edea, either. If he was so attached to Edea he would not have wanted to fire on her. Yes, he hesitated...BUT ONLY DUE TO THE PRESSUE HE PUT ON HIMSELF. He did end up tring to kill her at the last second, as you recall. Don't even bother quoting me and saying that he might have remembered Edea and that's why he didn't fire at her at first. I am aware of this. I say if that were the case, he would have told all the characters that during that whole sequence. I don't deny that his memory could have been effected...but that badly in such a short time? No. All in all, the whole plot twist seemed rushed and very poorly written.

2) As the article mentioned, the love story is shoved down your throat and it can get cheesy at times.

3) I believe that Square tried way too hard on making the game a bigger success than FFVII. There's nothing wrong with that, but the way the game feels sometimes is awkward. This is difficult to explain, but some sequences to me were kind of speaking to me subtley, begging for me to "hear", "Look! Look! This is soooo much cooler than anything we have ever done!"

4) At the time, the graphics were top notch. No problem with that. I do have a problem with the overempahsis on them. They overshadowed the gameplay and the story way too much. I feel that some FMVs were written around the story, rather than the other way around, as it should have been.