Its not being forced on you. Its being given to Squall. You're just witnessing it from his perspective. That's one of the major differences in the styles. Squall is a character. He's not your avatar like in WRPGs. You don't make him and he doesn't represent you. He's got his own thing going on and Square was trying to tell that story. Just like a movie or a book. JRPGs have constantly been accused of being merely interactive movies since cinematics have gotten ever-more prevalent... But yeah. Much to the ire of most of the posters in here, FF8 wasn't one of my favorites, and I've fallen out of love with linear JRPGs. So I probably could appreciate a FF being made by BioWare. But I don't think I'd ever say I'd want that to happen. I like most of the games BioWare makes already