Final Fantasy VIII or Dragon Quest VIII?

[The Fat Bioware Nerd]

Which game do you prefer Final Fantasy VIII or Dragon Quest VIII? I prefer Dragon Quest VIII because there was only one annoying character in that game. (Princess Medea)

[Karellen]

Dragon Quest VIII is one of the better DQ games and probably the biggest step forward the series has seen since the NES days. Final Fantasy VIII has a clunky, broken battle system and a poorly constructed narrative. DQVIII is leaps and bounds better.

[Iceglow]

On what basis Karellen would you say the FFVIII battle system was broken?

The draw method was tedious it could have been innovative if say spirit had affected the number and the max had not been 9 because it would then reward people who understood the junction system. FFVIII had a similar battle system in many regards to FFIX or FFVII (in FFIX you run around for many hours doing the exact same thing of fighting enemies for hours on end to learn abilities, on FFVII you ran around for hours on end levelling up your materia to master level to make the most of it in the extremely fiendish boss levels, or atleast fiendish for their time same can be said for ALL FF games prior to XI and XII)

The junctioning itself most people will claim is "broken" because they did not understand how to do it because on the main part it was not as simple as "this materia makes this spell target all allies/enemies but only works in a double or joined slot with a spell materia" or they just didn't pay enough attention to the tutorial or even just what was obvious. I have in the past written the technique of junctioning magic and GFs to ALL characters in the party (Rinoa's set is used by Edea when she is in the party for the journey to Esthar) and maximising the potential of the junction system. I won't repeat it here but I can say it provided me with a party selection where it didn't matter who Ultimecia chose to fight against my party won without losses. So I'd like to see you elaborate more on how the fight system is "broken" and "clunky" as you put it.

[Karellen]

It's broken because you can make your characters ridiculously powerful very early on in a relatively short amount of time. It's clunky because standing around drawing magic for about ten minutes each time a new spell comes up is beyond tedious.

[Serapy]

It's broken because you can make your characters ridiculously powerful very early on in a relatively short amount of time.

Not true, but if you spend your time on getting stronger items then you deserve to get them which isn't a crime and plus the level of each enemy will be always in your level's range which makes things not easier (apart from some, I forget which), so I don't see how is that ridiculously powerful? Unless you've used a memory hacking device.

It's clunky because standing around drawing magic for about ten minutes each time a new spell comes up is beyond tedious.

I never pretty much draw off monsters a lot, I only draw off draw points which is enough for me. If I need to draw off monsters, in that case which I did, I didn't see how was that tedious as it only took around 1 min to get full numbers. You don't only have to draw in order to get those magic, you can even convert from stones to draw magics by using GF abilities.

I prefer FF8 not fully because of the battle system but it has got a great story and characters behind the story. The story is very debating which I found very fascinating and more interesting than DQ3.

[Karellen]

Not true, but if you spend your time on getting stronger items then you deserve to get them which isn't a crime and plus the level of each enemy will be always in your level's range which makes things not easier (apart from some, I forget which), so I don't see how is that ridiculously powerful? Unless you've used a memory hacking device.

As soon as you learn the life refinery ability off siren you can load your HP up with Curaga by refining tents. Similarly, once you save Ellone and receive a decent supply of Wizard Stones you can load your strength with level 3 magic via elemental refineries. This pretty much makes the whole game a complete joke, since all you have to do after that is put Squall in critical condition for the whole game and kill bosses with two or three limit breaks. These abilities only require 30 AP each, thus take no time at all to learn. If a game rewards you that much for so little effort, there is a fundamental flaw with the system.

I never pretty much draw off monsters a lot, I only draw off draw points which is enough for me. If I need to draw off monsters, in that case which I did, I didn't see how was that tedious as it only took around 1 min to get full numbers. You don't only have to draw in order to get those magic, you can even convert from stones to draw magics by using GF abilities.

At the very beginning of the game you have no choice but to stand around drawing (and it takes a LOT longer then one minute to stock all three characters). In addition, there are a few bosses thereafter that have decent magic that you can't get abundantly until the very end of the game. You don't have to do it all the time, but when you do end up doing it on occasion it's a tedious, repetitive task completely void of any entertainment value. It's almost as bad as attacking yourself over and over again in FFII. Almost.

[McLovin']

FF8 is the best. DQ8 was just a good game but nothing special.

[LunarWeaver]

Through Refining skills and some items you can indeed make yourself uber-god in Disc 1 if you so choose But you really need to know what you're doing for that, and it's entirely up to you to do it at all. VIII's system is caught between people who know how to exploit it and people who can't figure it out at all.

Except I still like VIII better. It tried something very different and I feel it succeeded enough. I had fun with it and found it more addictive with greater rewards from battle, and its narrative was more enthralling to me than "evil guy wants to do evil stuff" (coincidences included in my assessment). VIII's plot gets picked on a lot, but I guess I bought into it more than most.

DQVIII is still a great game. But as we all know, conceding they're both good isn't really an option. You must CHOOSE OR DIE, and BE KILLED if your choice is not THE CORRECT one. Gamers are fun that way.

[Bolivar]

It's broken because you can make your characters ridiculously powerful very early on in a relatively short amount of time. It's clunky because standing around drawing magic for about ten minutes each time a new spell comes up is beyond tedious.

I disagree, because as you later stated, it's the magic refining abilities which can allow for the game to be easily broken early on. However, there are 20+ abilities for GFs to learn, and any given player may opt to learn other abilities prior. Also, you do get a few stones that refine highly early on, but even then, the magic you refine isn't enough to give your characters overly-exploited attributes.

Also, you don't have to draw to the max everytime a new magic comes out. You should only do as much as you need. That's like seeing the Level # in prior FF's and thinking that it means you have to get it to 99 before proceeding.

For that being, said, I prefer VIII much more because the Junciton system is so open ended that you can get a different experience each time you play. Variation is something almost completely ignored in DQVIII.

That's not to say it's not one of my favorite RPG's. As far as traditional, dragons & princesses RPGs go, it's done about as well as it can be, the game is huge, the amount of side content is massive, and the graphics and music are some of the most breathtaking I've witnessed in a game.

The truth is the Kitase/Nomura/Nojima/Uematsu team took alot more risks and made extremely unique games in their time together. The story in VIII is well directed and there are few gaming expriences like it, to me.

[rubah]

You kinda have to know ahead of time what you're doing to get to the ridiculous stat levels

[Karellen]

I disagree, because as you later stated, it's the magic refining abilities which can allow for the game to be easily broken early on. However, there are 20+ abilities for GFs to learn, and any given player may opt to learn other abilities prior.

Just because there are people who don’t understand the junctioning system well enough to exploit it doesn’t make it less exploitable. Similarly, choosing not to exploit it doesn’t make it any less exploitable either.

Also, you do get a few stones that refine highly early on, but even then, the magic you refine isn't enough to give your characters overly-exploited attributes.

Have you actually tried it? The amount of firagas you can refine out of the wizard stones you get from saving Ellone is more then enough to cause the amount of damage I described.

Also, you don't have to draw to the max everytime a new magic comes out. You should only do as much as you need. That's like seeing the Level # in prior FF's and thinking that it means you have to get it to 99 before proceeding.

It’s more like a game where enemies don’t give you experience unless you’re in a couple of pre-defined areas. Obviously in that situation you’re going to level up as much as is reasonable while you’re able. A game like that would be critically panned because leveling has changed from a parallel process like it is in other games to something that stops the progression of the game. Drawing magic is basically that. Obviously players are going to stock up on as much as they can, because they don’t know when they will next be able to (or do, and realize it’s going to be a while before they get another chance to) stock up on X magic. Only, unlike every other magic/ability system in the series where you just gain AP or whatever as you go (besides II, which is equally bad), you have to stop your progress and dedicate time to one, repetitive cause. Drawing is a hideously designed system with absolutely no redeeming qualities.

[Serapy]

As soon as you learn the life refinery ability off siren you can load your HP up with Curaga by refining tents. Similarly, once you save Ellone and receive a decent supply of Wizard Stones you can load your strength with level 3 magic via elemental refineries. This pretty much makes the whole game a complete joke, since all you have to do after that is put Squall in critical condition for the whole game and kill bosses with two or three limit breaks. These abilities only require 30 AP each, thus take no time at all to learn. If a game rewards you that much for so little effort, there is a fundamental flaw with the system.

If this game was easy for you, then I guess beating Omega Weapon was easy for you as well It wasn't for me anyway.

If the way of how the battle system works as intended by the programmers then it's not supposed to be flawed. You are only saying that because you have played other FF games and apparently have found FF8 the easiest one if I'm wrong. One of each FF battle systems is supposed to be unique in thier own ways and FF8 happen to be on that hand. You're probably a skilled FF player but I don't generally think it was that easy. Maybe not very hard but time-consuming.

[Markus. D]

I prefer the Junction System.

As to this day it's unique, I'd love for it to be built on in a future game.

[ff is da best]

i like final fantasy VIII more better it may be old but its still a pretty awsome game. i like dragonquest is well but i didnt like the part how you mix items in a pot it was annoying.

[The Fat Bioware Nerd]

i like final fantasy VIII more better it may be old but its still a pretty awsome game. i like dragonquest is well but i didnt like the part how you mix items in a pot it was annoying.

I think mixing items in a pot was less annoying than drawing magic from monsters during a battle.