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Reader Reviews for Final Fantasy 8

NESS's Review

Fithos...........Lusec...........Wecos.......Venosec. Needless to say I loved this game. The intro was capitvating!! The second I started playing the game I knew I had to own it. The FMVs were what hooked me so rapidly. I watched the intro about 5 times before I started the actual game. I have to admit that the beginning was a tad slow. Unlike most people though I like the junction system and how it works. Drawing a lot in the beginning can be tedious but it pays off. When you junction magic to your stats they go up. So naturally the more you junction the more your stats rise. So drawing in the beginning can be crucial.

Now onto the basic beginning of the story. You start out as Squall. Squall is training to be a SeeD. SeeD is an Elite mercanary force dispatched all over the world where they are needed. Later in the game Squall ends of finishing his training. The basic basic basics is that Squall is a kind of a cruel guy at first then he meets Rinoa who completely changes who he is. While all this is happening everyone is having problems with the Sorceress. The story is great and has many plot twisters.

The battle system hasn't changed much since FF7 but there are some differences. In this games whenever a character is low on HP (i.e. in the yellow numbers) they tend to get their limit breaks. Squall's limit break is similar to OmniSlash only weaker. When you get his best weapon however, he can use the Lionheart. The Lionheart is the best limit in the game. Squall slashes way more than 16 time (slashes in Omnislash) and of course the attack is much more impressive. Unlike the battle setup in FF7 you can only have 4 commands in battle. Attack or Mug is always one of these. Guardian Forces (summons that let you junction and dont use MP) will give you the abilites to junction certain commands. The GFs in the beginning give you the commands GF, Draw, Item, and Magic. Later you can learn commands like Kamikaze or Devour.

Guardian Forces. I'll talk about these in much more detail seeing as I was rather confused when I first played the demo. Why can i use these summons wihtout any restrictions?????Why no MP for the summons!?!?! These question plagued my mind for months until I finally got my grubby hands on the game. GFs are similar to the cherished Espers from FF6. You can summon them more than once per battle and they always do damage, unlike Unicorn or Phantom Espers, and maybe a status. The reason they are similar to Espers is that when junction to a person the GF learns things, instead of the person they are on. Gfs can learn abilites that can let them attack with more power, have more HP, let you junction magic to your stats, and with better GFs even shop from anyplace but a battle. You might think,"Hey isn't that almost like materia?" Well it isn't in the slightest. While you might think it will make your guys rather the same as in you can put the GFs on anyone like materia, its not like that at all. This is where compatibility comes in.

The compatibility determines how fast you can summon your GF. It ranges from 0-1000. Compatibility generally starts at about 550, although it varies. Each time you summon a guardian force the compatibility goes up by 20. This doesn't seem like much at all but items can make it go up by a minute amount too. This seems all nice and dandy until you find out using one GF may lower the compatiblity with another. Ifrit would get kinda mad if you prefer using Shiva's ice power. Trust me trying to summon a GF at 0 compatibility can be quite annoying. Ok, now I've just about said too much about GF. If you want to understand more about the intricacies of summon Guardian Forces then study 'em for yourself.

Now onto the music. Frankly I thought it sucked EXCEPT for the wonderful, wonderful sorceress theme.If you don't believe me go to RPGamer.com and download some the digital music. If you don't puke after the first two or three I admire your gag-suppresion techniques and would like to take lessons. "Eyes On Me" was ok but VERY VERY CHEESY. Not the good dairy product mind you. I loved the graphics though. They were very consistent and looked quite inpressive. Muc better than FF7's "people" who woulda looked better if they were like the characters in FF6. I was disapponited that moogles didn't make a much more frequent appearance. And is it just me or do the chocobos look more like a yellow ostrich/horse then the good ol' original? After what they did with FF8 I can't wait till FF9 comes out. Anyway if you don't already have this game GET IT. Screw Dreamcast!!!! Stick with Sony cause Square ain't changing sides anytime soon!

Graphics: 10% of 10% Sound: 5% out of 10% Gameplay: 29% out of 30% Control: 20% out of 20% Lasting appeal: 10% out of 10% Fun Factor: 19% out of 20% Overall: 93% out of 100%

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Sephiroths's Review

I have to say this is my favorite game out of the Final Fantasy Series. I was instantly hooked when I saw the beginning movie where Squall and Seifer battle it out with gunblades. The human movement was just so real, with the clothes swaying with their movements, and the shadows are perfect. Like many RPGs, including Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy 7, there is an evil corporation trying to rule the world, and making the good guy's lives miserable. You are entered into an epic quest of love, anger, and action. You fight to save a girl, and fight to save the world from doom. Sometimes this game may seem complex from all the twists in the plot, but that just makes it all that better. Why is Squall receiving these weird dreams? And why does everything seem so familiar from his childhood, yet he can't remember one thing?

Graphics: 10% out of 10% Sound: 10% out of 10% Gameplay: 30% out of 30% Control: 19% out of 20% Lasting appeal: 9% out of 10% Fun Factor: 18% out of 20% Overall: 96% out of 100%

Final Fantasy 8 was a disgrace to all Squaresoft games. It was too realistic! Guns, swords, and humans. Barely any magic, no mythical characters, and no cool wepons or items. The game was too easy! The monsters level up with you so you would be able to beat the game on level 1! Whats the point if you can beat it in less that 30 hours? Plus 99% of the game had the worst dialogue and what Squall said didn't make sense, neither did the storyline. If you like realistic games, buy this peice of glitched crap. I prefer 7 and 9 due to their in depth story line, unique characters, ad buitiful magic systems. (Junctioning isn't explained and SUX!)