Amor Vincit Omnia - Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII

Well we know most of the people that would be checking out this site would actually know what Final Fantasy eight is already. But this particular section has been created for those people who have no idea what the game is all about. But beware this section has lots of spoilers.

Final Fantasy VIII is a game that centers around two men, Squall Leonhart and Laguna Loire. But the main bulk of the game is played with Squall. The game opens with an FMV sequence of Squall fighting his main adversary Seifer Almasy, in this sequence the two rivals give each other mirror image scars across the face. The scene cuts to Squall in the medical unit where his instrucutor Quistis Trepe comes to tell him about an exam in the fire cavern he must take to become a SeeD (a member of a mercenary force). He passes this and is then told he has to take the final exam. This takes the form of helping save the dukedom of Dollet from invasion by Galbadian forces. He is then told that he is to be teamed with Seifer and Zell Dincht.

They arrive in Dollet and are told to take the main square. They do this and then Seifer gets bored making his team follow a group of Galbadian soldiers to the telecommunications tower where Seifer runs off. At this point a messanger girl called Selphie Tilmett arrives with an urgent message. The three follow Seifer into the tower where they engage in battle. Selphie then delivers her message that they have to amass at the shore within half an hour. They begin the run to the beach unaware that a homicidal robot is chasing after them. They reach the shore line where Squall stumbles and Quistis uses a mounted submachine gun on the robot chasing them.

They return to Balamb Garden (one of the three SeeD training sites) where Seifer is told he'll never be a SeeD. It is then announced that Squall, Selphie and Zell have become SeeDs and they then go to the SeeD ball. This is where Squall meets and dances with Rinoa Heartilly.

The next day Zell, Selphie and Squall get sent on a mission to Timber, during the train ride they have a dream sequence involving Laguna Loire. When they reach Timber they find their hirer is Rinoa and they are to kidnap the Galbadian presidant from his train. They later find that this is a decoy and the group go up to the television studio where the presidant is making an announcement. The three SeeDs watch as Seifer busts onto the set and takes the presidant hostage with Quistis hot on his tail. The three find the studio and are amazed when they see Sorceress Edea calm down Seifer and take him away somewhere... they all asume he is dead. At this point they all make the decision to go to Galbadia garden where it is safe. At this point another dream sequence involving Laguna occurs where they are fighting Esthar soldiers and they end up jumping off a cliff.

On arriving at Galbadia Garden Squall flips out and he runs into Raijin and Fujin who say they are going to look for Seifer. Then the head of Galbadia garden tell the troop that they are to assassinate sorceress Edea and to do this they are to use a sharpshooter by the name of Irvine Kinneas. They then proceed to Deling city where a porcession is to take place celebrating her. They contact General Caraway who happens to be Rinoa's father. He tells them their mission and they split up into troops Squall and Irvine in one Quistis, Zell and Selphie in the other. Quistis ends up telling Rinoa off and Rinoa runs off to do something useful. But she then ends up getting enchanted by Edea. Edea then kills the president and it's up to Squall and Irvine to save Rinoa. The three then proceed to the clocktower to await the assassination.

It's at this point Irvine begins to crack up and Squall has to calm him down. Edea puts up a force barrier to avoid being shot and then the trio go down to fight her. But to their shock Seifer has become Edea's knight and they have to fight him before her. She then attacks Squall, piercing him with icicles. At this point another section involving Laguna occurs where he is in the village of Winhill. Here we meet Ellone and Raine.

When we meet up with the gang again they are in prison. Seifer is trying to gain knowledge on SeeD by torturing Squall, Rinoa has been gotten to safety by Irvine who she convinces to turn around and help the others. The three that are left end up escaping and run into Squall, Irvine and Rinoa. They then escape in several cars where they all discuss the fact that missiles are being launched at Trabia Garden (Selphie's home) and Balamb Garden. Selphie leads a team to the missile base and Squall one to Balamb.

Selphie manages to get access to their targeting system and mess it up as much as possible. But they end up setting of the self destruct mechanism and they realise they cannot escape. Whilst with Squall Balamb Garden is in uproar, fighting between the students and the SeeDs. Squall gets asked whether he is on the Garden Master's side or Cid's side. He eventually finds Cid to inform him of the missiles on their way to garden, Cid then informs them of a possible salvation lying in the lower reaches of Balamb. Squall and company fight their way down to the basement and turn on an ancient mechanism that allows Balamb Garden to fly. The Garden begins to move barely avoiding the missiles that were being sent after them and they ended up ditching inthe sea.

They then end up crashing into Fisherman's horizon where Squall is assigned to go and see the Mayor who says he will help them rebuild Garden but then he wants them gone straight afterwards. Galbadian troops then invade Fisherman's horizon and Squall fights the machine that Selphie and her crew were fighting at the Galbadian militery base. He is quite surprised when he defeats it and out of it comes Selphie and co. It turns out they hid inside it as the military base blew up. Cid then makes Squall the leader of SeeD during this crisis with the sorceress, Selphie decides that a concert is in order where Rinoa asks Squall to lean on the gang a bit more. Quistis and Xu then suggest heading to Balamb and we find out there that the two remaining posse members, Raijin and Fuijin are there to be defeated. Selphie then asks Squall if they can go back to Trabia to see what has happened to it.

Once they get to Trabia the six main characters gather in the basketball court and Irvine begins to tell them about what he remembers about his childhood. They find out that the Guardian Forces have been stealing their memories and that they all grew up together in the same orphanage, all apart from Rinoa of course. They then remember that they all called Ellone 'Sis' and they remember Sorceress Edea as the person who brought them up as 'Matron'. They discuss whether or not they would have the courage to kill Matron.

Then the gang decide to head to the orphanage they all grew up in. But Galbadia Garden is in the way, they then split up into parties and Squall takes charge of the Garden. Rinoa ends up falling over the side of Balamb and it's up to Squall to save her whilst the rest board Galbadia Garden. After a major fight Squall ends up rescuing Rinoa in the nick of time. Then a battle with Seifer occurs and then one with Edea. After the battle a haze descends, Squall sees Rinoa help up Seifer and then faint.

Next time we meet then Squall will be thinking things over and he will visit Rinoa who is still unconscious. The gang minus Rinoa go to talk to Edea at the orphanage where she speaks of being possessed by a sorceress from the future. Squall goes to the infirmary to talk to Rinoa, but a dream sequence occurs involving Laguna being in a film. It turns out he is looking for the little girl Ellone from the dream sequence before. Ellone begins talking to Squall and tells him she is the one doing this to him and his friends. Squall then makes up his mind to find Ellone to help Rinoa. He talks to Edea again who says she may be on the white SeeD ship but when he gets there he is told she went to Esthar.

And so it's on to Esther. Squall being Squall he decides to do things on his own and take her across the bridge on his own. But when he reaches the other side the gang are already waiting for him. Oh they know him so well. Edea has come to make sure her powers are looked at by Dr Odine. But before they enter the city another Laguna sequence occurs (yes another.... don't blame me). In this one Laguna's crew are prisoners in Esthar. They break out and liberate the country whilst defeating a sorceress and rescuing Ellone (Aren't they clever? Of course we don't see this but we are told about it later.)

They are then all in Esthar and are told that they will all have to go up into outer space because that is where Ellone is. After they reach outer space they are told about a possible lunar cry occuring (where monsters fall from the moon (okay I know far fetched but deal with it) Squall then talks to Ellone and she says she'll try and help. Then alarms go off and Rinoa walks as if she's a zombie she goes out into space and frees the seals on Sorceres Adel. Then the lunar cry happens and we see it engulf Adel and Rinoa. The space station is evacuated and Squall asks Ellone to show him if Rinoa is okay. Ellone send him back into Rinoa's past he then decides to go and save her.

After he rescues her they drift over to the Ragnorak (A big pretty dragon space ship) and they talk about how they feel about each other after they are told that they are being guided into land. We then find out that Edea's powers and possession were passed onto Rinoa. The Estharians take her and put her in 'storage' on landing. The gang then liberate the Ragnorak and use it to go and rescue Rinoa after Selphie figures out how to fly it.

The gang then head to the orphanage where Squall tells Rinoa he'll be here waiting for her here if they ever get seperated. Then you get a transmission from the presidential palace in Esthar from a Kiros. The crew arrive at Esthar to find that Laguna is actually the president of Esthar. He tells them about Ultimecia trying to acheive time compression and that they need to save the world by doing something very complicated involving Ellone's power and defeating Ultimecia. They all board the Ragnorak for the final showdown.

The Ragnorak flies straight at the lunatic pandora and you meet up with Raijin and Fujin who ask for Rinoa because Ultimecia wants the power of Adel and Rinoa joined. After a short battle the pair run off and the crew follow them to where they find Seifer. Raijin and Fujin begin to tell Seifer that what he has been doing is wrong, and that he is Ultimecia's puppet. They then tell him that all they have to rely on for help is Squall, and how sad it makes them that all they have is Squall left. He sends the pair away and proceeds to battle the gang who beat him easily. After the battle Seifer grabs hold of Rinoa and takes her to Adel who wakes up and junctions her power until she is defeated by Squall and Rinoa takes on Adel's power as well. At this point the time compression begins and Laguna arrives with Ellone and he tells her to do her thang... ^_^

The gang are terrified of being split up so they remember the one place where they all feel together, the orphanage. When they arrive in the future they see the orphanage melt away to reveal a foreboading castle. They discover that SeeDs are fighting sorceresses and dying because of them through the ages. They all head up to Ultimecia's castle where their powers are sealed. After many battles (oh come on... I was never gonna describe em all!) Their powers are released and they face Ultimecia in the final battle. She goes through many froms and even goes so far as to summon a Guardian Force called Griever which is Squall's symbol of power. She creates Griever in the hopes to destroy Squall's courage. But then... as always in these things... right prevails.

After Ultimecia is defeated everything goes white and every character apart from Squall begins to question whether it is over and whether they can go home. Squall is someplace else, he can't find anybody and ends up in what appears to be a dry desert. By this time all the others must have made it through to the present day again, because he calls but no one answers. He walks through this wilderness place until he hits a wall... a barrier. He looks around and realises he is on a tiny island floating through space somewhere and he gives up. He lies down and there is much debate as to whether or not he dies at this point... but for arguements sake lets say he doesn't. He stays that way until Rinoa (possibly using her sorcery for the first time) comes through the barrier and holds him close. The pair are suddenly transported to a field of flowers and Squall wakes up.

I would go into the final ending sequence... but that's too beautiful for me to do justice so you lot have to go and play it to find out the end... yeah I'm awful... deal with it ~ Meeky