Fantastic, but not flawless
Written: Nov 21 '99 (Updated Feb 02 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Graphics, Gameplay, Plot
Cons: Music, Dialogue
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| IBC's Full Review: Final Fantasy VIII for PlayStation 1 |
With Final Fantasy VIII Square has put together what is possibly the most visually impressive game ever. The cuts to the incredibly detailed and life-like FMVs are smooth and unobtrusive. From the very beginning I was stunned by the Guardian Force spells. They range from old (yet very much improved) standards like Shiva and Ifrit to the strongest GF, Eden who takes what seems like at least 5 minutes to turn the entire planet into an techno-organic cannon to fire the enemy into a distant supernova. Each GF is more insane than the next. Some would call it overkill, I'm sure, but this is what we expect from the Final Fantasy series.
One might think that the incredible graphics of the FMVs would overshadow the gameplay graphics, but that isn't true. The characters and environments of the worldmap and dungeonmaps are able to hang with the movies very well which creates a seamless storyline.
But back to what we expect from the Final Fantasy series. We really have come to expect nothing but the absolute best from this series. FF is the benchmark against which all other RPGs seem to be measured. FF is the one that raises the bar.
Unfortunately I must therefore disagree with many people by saying that Final Fantasy VIII is not the best RPG ever. In fact, there were many things about it that I thought were pretty weak.
Number one is the music. I hate to say it, but for the most part, the music really sucked. 80% of the score sounded like a 12 year old was playing around with their 2 octave casio laptop keyboard. Not only was the quality of the music substandard, but at times it seemed very inappropriate for the scene. To quote a friend who was watching me play "this music is really dippy". "Dippy" is not a term that should be associated with a boss battle scene.
The dialogue between the characters was also somewhat corny at times. I don't know if this was just a translation issue or if it was the developers trying to create a deeply emotional, involving story in a medium where that is very difficult. I honestly felt that the relationship between Tifa and Cloud in FF7 was more involving than that between Squall and Rinoa.
The Junctioning system, where you can join with GFs and junction different spells onto every possible aspect of a characters statistics, while giving the player a number of options, can be confusing to the beginner and frustrating to the expert. I felt that the previous FF systems of espers, materia and jobs were far superior.
I look at this review and think that it sounds like i am tearing the game down. This is far from the truth. Final Fantasy VIII is a fantastic game. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys RPGs. But, graphics aside, Final Fantasy 7 is a better game.
So, all things accounted for, Final Fantasy VIII is probably the second or third best RPG ever made...leaning at the tape with other games such as Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy III and Xenogears.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
IBC
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Member: Ian Campbell
Location: San Francisco, CA
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 67 members
About Me:
Aspiring Beef Jerky Salesman
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