Final Fantasy VIII Discussion

First off, let me start by saying as of this post I have not completed this game yet. I'm still stuck on Disc 2 when you have to fight Seifer's goons in the hotel in Zell's hometown. But, after listening to the ending theme, it makes me want to play through this game again and try to complete it:



My main problem with the game was the battle system, because although the customization was a nice feature. It was also a hindrance as you needed to make sure you drew the magic you needed + knew where to find the GF's. Not to mention having to sit through the animation of the GF's was really annoying. Pressing square to boost the power of the attack was sometimes fun, yet frustrating. I have many mixed feelings about the game, but I now feel inspired to try and complete it all the way through.

So what is everyone else's fond memories of this game? Or maybe you loathed it? (I can see many reasons to, ha ha).

 

I loved this game so much it's my second favorite final fantasy 7 being the first. The entire story was amazing and beautiful and of course the ending was to die for and a little mind blowing at the time.

Favorite GF was Diablo was so cool. Ff8 introduced so many new and intriguing mechanics into the rpg realm for me ff7 was pretty basic on that front aside from an amazing story. How you had to go about getting the Ragnarok, the payout system for getting gil, GFs in general, Odin and Gilgamesh.

Probably one of the craziest things that still holds a place in my memory is when you first get Gilgamesh. It happened and my whole world turned upside down cause I was super lucky with Odin's appearances.
Irvin was one character that I never really used in battle I played 7 and 8 back to back and he could never replace Vincent. The Laguna parts were a good time a good switch up from the standard party.
I really got into the card game on this one hunted down just about every card and challenged everyone I could.
Well I've went on enough lol moral of story I loved this game and I would love to play it all over again. If you've never beaten the game or seen the ending it is completely worth every minute you put into it

 

Draw!

The blasted draw system drove me nuts the first time through. How I beat the game twice is a mystery. I felt this game was flawed, It wasn't bad, it just seemed weird sometimes. Junctions make you forget the people you grew up with? Game doesn't even try to explain the group dreams about Laguna and company. Also didn't even bother to elaborate on a potential relation between Laguna and Squall. Siefer goes rogue for reasons I can't even remember. What was that stuff about Edea and Cid being married? Ultimecia hating on Seed for some reason or another. Speaking of Ultimecia her guardian force "Griever" is named after the ring that Squall has. If anything I really enjoyed the crazy conspiracy theories that arose afterwards.

Btw how did Squall survive getting stabbed like that at the end of the first part? Who healed him? Why was he even captured? Was it Edea? I thought she wasn't in control at the time.

Why do I get the feeling Square Enix trolled the fanbase with this game?

So many questions, well I guess it was good enough for a second playthrough. Still didn't get it though...

 

so I hope I can clear up a few things for you. I believe most of it is 100% accurate despite claims of different things.
Also far warning if you have not beaten the game this contains a great deal of spoilers and end game spoils

Spoiler

So I'd like to start off by answering your dream sequence and Laguna and Squall parts. So as you know there are sorceresses anyway so Ellone is Laguna's sorta adopted child with Raine (you see this is one of dream sequences) she has the power to send back people's consciences into bodies into the past (as long as they have some type of connection and Ellone knows them) She sends Squall back to be Laguna attempting to change the past as Raine dies (after giving birth to Laguna's child) while Laguna is away saving Ellone. This child was sent off to an orphanage ran by Edea and Cid. Laguna's child is Squall.

Ok so the whole junction thing making you forget things is the huge part of the story because it's basically why all this happens the way it does cause Squall doesn't remember his childhood cause if he did he'd already know what was coming.
To elaborate and finish up here. When you beat Ultimecia and the game all of time is still compressed so what you witness is Ultimecia passing on her powers to Edea head of the orphanage in the past while Squall was still an orphan child there along with most of the others and Ellone. Knowing what was to come in the future Edea and Cid founded Seed to prepare those who would save the world aka Squall and others. I think that covers most of it. If you have any more questions I could do my best to answer those.

Btw Siefer goes "rogue" because he is your basic never grew up child of the orphanage and looks to Edea as his mother still even if she is possessed and Squall is his rival and he always takes that too far. He see him grow up a little in the ending scenes (very little)

 

I remember this was the last Final Fantasy game that I had completed, in fact, I beat Final Fantasy XII before beating Final Fantasy VIII. For the longest time, I was stuck at the very end of the game because of some puzzle and I couldn't figure out where to go. It must have taken me 5 years to beat it, although it wouldn't be 5 years worth of game time. It was probably about a 3 year break before I decided to pop Final Fantasy VIII back into my PS1. I also cheated and used a guide to figure out what to do to move on. Not the most annoying, but it was certainly the most challenging... up until Final Fantasy XIII. I think I'm still only about 17% through, but that's for another topic.

I liked the slightly-more modern theme Final Fantasy VIII introduced into the universe during it's time. I liked the SeeD ranks, but it was annoying to attempt to maintain Rank A. That's about it though; it wasn't the most memorable game for me.

 

Update: I just beat Raijin and Kaijin with ease!! Cannot believe how easy they were to beat!! But, I think I will probably restart the game as I have completely forgotten to story up to that point =/

 

I've restarted it. I've only just finished Dollet. It's hard to find the time to play the game atm.

 

Hey @VeritasOdiumParit and @Sporadic I wouldn't mind hearing an update on your progress from time to time on this game. I don't have much desire to replay the game myself but it would be neat to hear someone else go through all the parts and putting their thoughts on it here.

Who's your party going to be I wonder?

 

Just don't cramp up like Laguna

 

All I have to say so far is, the tutorial in the menu screen is actually better than sitting through letting the game show you. What would be like 10 text boxes, is summed up on one screen which actually made more sense to me when trying to understand the limit breaks. I now realise why I never knew about Limit Breaks. It's because my characters don't normally get down to such low HP before they can attack. I always have someone heal them. Will add more about Dollet later... Need to go as I post this..

 

Oh yeah the limit breaks. I think once it gets easier to control the health of your party (good healing spells and stuff) you could have that designated limit break guy. At least that's what I think I did. I may have been spamming the demi spells (or was it gravity?). I can't believe that spell worked so well in this game. Think I got it from that magic lamp they give you. Well you'll see soon enough.

I think mid-late game is where the limit breaks start to shine. They really do rack up the damage, you might even start to consider letting someone get clobbered just so they can pull one off. Might be faster to revive them then constantly healing them to full health. I remembers Squall's move is almost equivalent of 8-9 rounds of attacking in one limit break? Just a random guess but if you do the math the time it takes to revive or heal him versus the damage he can deal in one turn really makes the whole limit break thing worth considering.

 

I remember this game. I didn't really use magic, just hoarded it for the stat bonuses and stacked as many GFs on my main party as possible. The boss fights can take forever because they are where you can get most of the stronger spells earlier and I wanted all 3 members to have 99 of everything... And I missed only the Crazy train GF. Kinda made it easy to do, but is the worst kind of grind. Drain is very draining. ugh that's ....

even if you don't want to drain as much as I did I recommend trying to get every GF. Which means exploring everywhere. I think getting Crazy Train might be really difficult, but I can't remember...

 

Well, I think I have missed my opportunity for getting all the GF's as I didn't pick up that magazine in Dollet to get Doomtrain or whatever it is called. Never realised that there was a purpose to the magazines... But, I can't be bothered to collect all of them. Too time consuming.. Plus, I doubt I will use Rinoa. She was rubbish last time I played the game. And as for my update on Dollet:

I managed to escape the giant metal spider with ease. Not sure how you kill it, do you have to attack it after it is down? Because, I just ran away every time assuming it would eventually die after the battle on the bridge. But, I guess not... Ah well... Now to continue with the rest of the game...

 

Oh yeahhhh

Completely forgot about that guy. That's the kind of stuff I want to hear. I think I killed that guy on my second playthrough of the game. Barely made it too. I don't think it was really worth it. I'm not even sure if the game awarded me anything.

Besides it was cool watching it follow you through the city.

 

@Doomguy so do you just spam it with Quetzalcoatl after it collapses to kill it? I've passed it now. But, was just wondering. All I did last night was the Promotion Night and now I understand how Atk and Def-J work. Can't believe I never understood it as a kid. I think I had a grasp, but just didn't care as a child. So next it will be the Train Ride to Timber!! Where I will first see Laguna!! Also:

Spoiler

I've no idea who the lady in green and blue is yet.... (don't post about her please, or do it with spoilers as I have genuinely forgotten who she is, I think she is Laguna's lover or something).