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MainStory Characters Walkthru Cheat Codes (PSX) Cheat Programs (PC) Other Files Review |
 �����This is my review for FFVIII. I own the PC version, and please bear in mind that some of my opinions stated only pertain to this version of the game.
Story�����(Rating: 9) �����Perhaps the most important part of a game, in my opinion, is it's storyline. Without a good plot, the game just isn't worth playing. I absolutely cannot stand it when the programmers spend so much time on the graphics and the game engine that when it comes time for the story aspect, they just half-ass it so they can quickly get the game on the shelves and pocket their cash. �����With that said, I'm glad to say that Final Fantasy VIII's story did not seem half-assed to me. To basically sum it up, you play as Squall Leonhart, a reclusive sort of individual who is a candidate for a mercenary force called SeeD. The goal is to save the world from a sorceress threatening it. More important than that, it also focuses on Squall's inability to open himself up to others, giving us some good character development too. �����When you begin, you're first introduced with a magnificent looking cutscene, which I'll expand on more in the graphics area of this review. Words like "I'll be waiting here..." "Why?" "For you..." flash at the beginning, and they caused me a bit of confusion at their purpose when I first saw them. They looked like something out of some 8th grade girl's diary or some crap, and didn't seem to have anything to do with the events taking place in this little video. Rest assured, however, that those words make sense to you after you progress further into the game, and they sort of serve as a foreshadowing of something important at the end as well. �����I won't give away too much by saying anymore, but I will say that there are a few twists that will totally catch you off guard too. While I've read some reviews that frown on that sort of thing while claiming that the writers just pulled it out of their ass for lack of better ideas, I happen to enjoy sudden surprises in plots. So it only scored points with me. �����Overall, I enjoyed the plot of the game very much and I think the characters were developed pretty well. I'll give it a rating of 9. Gameplay�����(Rating: 6.5) �����The gameplay of FFVIII was pretty decent, and I progressed through the game fairly smoothly. However, there were some things that bugged me. �����Squaresoft decided it would be pretty innovative of them if they redesigned their magic by introducing the draw system. I hated it with a vengeance. In the previous Final Fantasy games, you had MP that was reduced whenever you used your magic. Once you learned a spell, you didn't have to mess with that spell ever again. Once your MP was drained, all you'd have to do was rest or use one of your items to restore it. Not with FFVIII's draw system. Instead, you drew your magic from your enemies. You'd basically have to sit there during battle and if you wanted your magic you'd have to draw and draw, stocking up on your desired spell before you finally got to kicking the enemy's ass. If you ran out, you had to sit there and stock up on more instead of merely resting. To compound the issue, certain monsters only had certain spells. So a good portion of the game was spent with me wandering around the worldmap hunting down specific monsters to stock up on all my types of magic. �����Another thing I disliked were the GFs. Short for Guardian Forces, GFs have always been in the Final Fantasy series. Only they were called summoned creatures or espers before, depending on which FF game you play. However, they've always been consistent in the series and it wasn't the GFs' presence that annoyed me, but rather the changes that they too had undergone. Squaresoft implemented a new feature with the GFs called the Junction System. Basically, in order to equip the GF to your character, you'd have to junction it to that character in question. While on the plus side this means that everyone in your party already has the summon ability found in the other games, Squaresoft still managed to make it a pain in the ass by having to junction a GF first before your character could have other options in battle like item, magic, etc. And to compound it all, they turned magic, item, draw, etc. into an ability your GF had to learn first before you could junction them. Basically, if you don't go out and equip a GF first and have it learn all that stuff, your character won't be able to do a single thing in battle except use his or her weapon. I found this annoying, because in the past games you didn't have to go out of your way like that for your character to have the item or magic option inside of battle. Those things were present at the very beginning. �����On top of that, watching the GF attacks got tiring after awhile. Don't get me wrong, the graphical animations of the GFs were simply breathtaking, and I'm going to praise them in the graphics section of this review. However, it was essential that you use them in battle if you wanted your attacks to pack some punch, and that meant watching their animations over and over and over again. Those animations were like 30 seconds long and don't get me wrong, I jumped at the chance to see the battle animations of each GF as I acquired them. But those 30 seconds can rack up to tons and tons of minutes when you have to make the GFs attack numerous times in a row. After a while I grew sick of watching them and wished there was some way to skip past them so they could just do their damage and I could get on with the battle. Between that and the draw system, I had some very long battles. �����Also, it didn't seem like there was any real effort on Squaresoft's part to separate the Playstation version from the PC one. When you go to save a game, you have two folders; slot one and slot two. Those of you familiar with Playstation games know that the slot one and slot two come from the two spots in the Playstation where you plug in your memory cards. I found this unnecessary for the PC version. Also, when you enter in the names of characters and GFs, you couldn't simply type the names in. You had to move the cursor over letters and select them, just like in console games. However, I suppose that those two points pale in comparison to my other complaints since they didn't really irk me as much as the Junction and Draw system did. �����Overall, I suppose that the things mentioned above didn't hinder me so much that I wasn't able to sit through the entire game, because I did enjoy this game very much. But since I did have to deal with those things, I'm going to rate the gameplay as a 6.5. Graphics�����(Rating: 11!) �����On a happier note, the graphics were just plain sweet. Squaresoft worked their asses off with the graphics of FFVIII, and it definitely shows. The 3D people running around actually looked like people. They weren't too awkward or boxy. The worldmap was great, too. When you flew vehicles low over the water, a spray would appear behind you. As you passed the train tracks, you might see a train whiz by every now and then. There was fog in the background too, if you had an especially good 3D card. On top of that, I found the GF animations to be utterly dynamic and breathtaking in detail, until I got sick of being forced to repeatedly view them over and over, anyway. Overall, the 3D aspects of this game ruled. �����Another thing I loved were the video animations and cutscenes. They were movie-like in quality, and this game was packed full with them everywhere. The fact that your surroundings in each area were picture-like made the cutscenes blend in very well with the gameplay. This is especially good because it always bothers me when the quality of the cutscenes contrast immensely with the rest of the graphics during gameplay. �����But the beauty of it wasn't just that the cutscene graphics went well with the rest of the game's graphics. When I said they blended in well with each other, they literally were blended in with each other in some areas of the game. One such example is during a little fight you have with a Galbadian soldier. The both of you are hanging from this jetpack suit and you have to punch and kick each other until one of you falls off. In the background is a whole army of Galbadians and SeeDs fighting all out, and I found myself drooling as I watched the splendor of it all. It was indeed an impressive sight, and the mixture of cutscenes during gameplay occurs more times than just that one example. �����Overall, any graphics that make me drool definitely deserves a 10. No, it doesn't deserve a 10. It deserves an 11! I loved the graphics in this game. Music�����(Rating: 10) �����I've read reviews that bag on FF8's music, saying it doesn't compare to the music found in FF7, its predecessor. I don't think it was all that bad, and perhaps it's because I've never played FF7. Granted, FF8's hit song 'Eyes on Me' is a bit soft for my tastes, being someone who enjoys much harder and heavier music. But it was still composed very well (if you ignore that damned pop version they released. However, the orchestral one found in the game was composed very well.), and it fits the theme that the designers of the game were going for. 'Liberi Fatali' and 'Fithos Lusec Fithos Vinosec' were likewise composed really well and fit the game like a glove. My favorite composition from FF8, however, was the Attack on Dollet. Perhaps it's just because the song reminds me of the cutscene it was played at. That cutscene ruled. But anyhow, back to the music now. I have absolutely no complaints about the music, and it contributed very well to FF8's theme. I give it a 10. Replay Value�����(Rating: 7) �����When I think of replay value, I think of games with multiple endings. Unfortunately, FF8 didn't have multiple endings. However, there were a few things that still contributed to its replay value. �����There were a few options in there on how Squall should react to certain things. While they didn't quite affect the outcome of the game, they still affected some minor details and happenings in the story and I found it interesting to see what would happen if I made Squall react differently than I had before. �����Another thing that adds to the replay value is going back and obtaining all the hard-to-get weapons, items, and GFs. If you're the kind of person that likes to go through and complete all the little side quests that aren't important to the story, then you'll still like playing the game again. �����Overall, nothing you do can change the end of the game and for someone like me who focuses on the story the most, it can be detracting the second time around. However, there are obviously still things present that give replaying the game some purpose. I rate the replay value as a 7; average as games go. | |||||||||||||||