WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN A FEW SPOILERS HERE AND THERE, BUT NOTHING THAT WILL RUIN THE GAME, SO I DON’T KNOW WHY I AM WRITING THIS, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT IT’S A SHAMELESS EFFORT TO TRY AND MAKE MY EPINION LOOK LONGER THAT IT IS, EVEN KNOW NO ONE WILL READ IT, AND IT WILL END UP BEING JUST ANOTHER DECAYED POOR EXCUSE FOR A REVIEW, ROTTING AWAY IN THE ARCHIVES, NEVER TO BE FOUND AGAIN!!!

Final Fantasy 8. Final Fantasy VIII. Final Fantasy Hachi. Whatever way you want to write it, it’s still the same disappointment to the thousands upon millions of hardcore-Final Fantasy gamers out there. And a disappointment to me. And I’ll tell you why, too…

PLOT (or lack thereof)

This was the only thing that wasn’t average about the game. Oh no, it’s far worst than average. While it isn’t the worst plot out there, it is the worst plot of any Final Fantasy/Squaresoft game I’ve encountered in a long time.

Basically, you’re this loser kid named Squall “Look at me! I’m a loser! Feel pity for me!” Lionheart (cheese), who goes to this military academy called Balamb Garden. Among these people at the garden are SeeD’s (get it? Garden? Seeds?). Yuck. Anyway, these SeeD’s are the elite warriors among the garden people. And you are trying to obtain this ultimate mark of warriorship (huh?). This is where we start out in the story, as Squall is sent out (among others) to free this town from the bad ol’ Galbadia Army. From then on, it’s a poorly developed story of love, more love, and war.

Oh yhea, and before I go to graphics, let me just say that one reason the plot was so bad was because of the build-up. You don’t find out about the ultimate boss lady until the third disc! Now with Kuja from IX, you at least know he existed from the end of the first disc.

3/10 rating.

GRAPHICS

OK, I forgot, there is one thing that’s about average in this game, and that’s the graphics. They are stunning. When you travel through the forest, you can see the lush greenery and the birds flying through the trees. And the cutscenes! Oh, the cutscenes!

The only gripe I have in the graphics area is the amount of FMV cutscenes. There’s too many of them, and it takes away from the gameplay (if you want to call it ‘gameplay’). Half of the second disc is mostly cutscenes. But other than that, the graphics are definitely great. Not quite as good as Final Fantasy IX, but of course, that wasn't out at the time that Final Fantasy Eight was released.

8.5/10 rating. Too many cutscenes, but otherwise good.

CHARACTERS

Squall--The aforementioned main character. He’s totally oblivious to the sub-plot that is developing with him and this babe that really likes, Rinoa. I guess he was made so all the losers who play this game (me being one) can relate with him, but personally I just find him to be a self-centered jerk.

Rinoa--She likes Squall, but of course, he doesn’t return the favor. Spunky and totally opposite from Squall, she tries to change him throughout the course of the game.

Zell--An outgoing guy who goes with Squall on his mission in the beginning of the game. He plays the comic relief when Seifer p*sses him off a lot, and Zell can’t do anything about it.

Seifer--The aforementioned villain guy, he’s Squall archrival and remains that way throughout the game. He’s always trying to get better to crush his competition, whether it be socially or on the battlefield. Not the best villain in the Final Fantasy series, but he’s OK.

Irvine--Suave and the ladies’ man of the game, he isn’t introduced until later. Sporting a trench coat and a shotgun, he’s a memorable character of this game, although you may find out later that he isn’t quite as brave as you might think…maybe.

GUARDIAN FORCES

A significant force in battle, the guardian forces [GF’s] are these spirit things that use powerful magic attacks to hurt your opponent, heal you, or do something else. You can’t go far without them.

Yhea, there’s more characters, but I don’t feel like typing them in.

5/10 rating. If it wasn’t for the a*shole Squall, then this won’t be a bad cast of characters.

GAMEPLAY

World Map: There are some times when you can get confused and not know where to go, but other than that it isn’t bad.

Detailed Maps (forests, cities, I guess they’re called dungeons or something): Not anything revolutionary, but you can find your way around.

The battles

There are four basic options, which you will mostly use until the later course of the game: Draw, Magic, Attack, and GF. Draw is a new option that lets you draw magic from your opponents. This is the main road to getting magic. You can draw until the particular magic you’re drawing reaches a hundred quantity. Magic uses magic [obviously]. Attack is attack [kind of self-explanatory there]. Select GF, and you use any of the GF’s the character has with them.

Another new aspect of this game is the ‘Junction System’. This thing really ticks me off. Basically, you have these vital statistics [HP, Speed, Strength, Luck, to name a few], in which magic can be ‘junctioned’ to. The ‘cure’ magic is good for HP, for example. Finding out what magic do well at certain areas is one of the challenges of the game. This Junction System goes deeper, believe it or not, but that’s the gist of it.

REPLAY VALUE

Not much to go here, but I guess if you like the story [emphasis on if], then you might want to play it again. But personally, after I finished it, I said ‘Screw this’ and put on Final Fantasy 9 (good game I might add. [Cheap plug for me review]).

SUMMARY

I’m going borderline here and saying no to recommending it. Even if it is made by Squaresoft, it still only deserves two-and-a-half stars, three at best. If the story wasn’t lacking, then I probably would recommend it. Hardcore Final Fantasy fans will at least somewhat enjoy this, but I’m not a hardcore Final Fantasy fan, so I didn’t.

Other games I’d recommend:

Parasite Eve
Final Fantasy Nine
Legend of Dragoon



Recommended: No