The Benny (Macho)

OK, as some of you might be aware I'm currently playing through FFVIII for the second time, to see why exactly people rate a game I was so unimpressed by. I'm currently approaching the end of the second disc (big fight between the two Gardens), and much to my surprise I'm finding myself enjoying it, despite the fact that I had almost nothing positive to say about it the first time I finished the game. It's not as good as VII, but I now like it more than X and IX (but I think I'm going to play IX again after this just to make sure). My thoughts:

• The SeeD Ranking is a silly idea. Having a system in a FF game that penalises you for exploring and talking to people just doesn't make sense.
  
• The whole 'Hey, didn't we all grow up in an orphanage together?' segment is really stupid, the fact that the only reason they could come up with for their memory loss was the flawed 'it must be the GF's fault' excuse makes it seem like even the developers didn't really know how to handle it. Obviously it was supposed to bring another dimension to the battle with Edea, making them all reluctant to fight her but it was just handled badly.
  
• Zell and Quistis have had absolutely zero personality thus far, no story has been specific to them, there's been little or no personal history and no development to their characters. Part of that is of course due to the oprhanage angle, it limited what could be done with the characters but there should still have been something by now.
  
• Selphie (a character I found quite annoying before) is actually pretty cool. The crappy orphanage revelation had made me forget about her behaviour just prior to it, where she was being cheerful and reassuring to all the folks at Trabia even though she was real upset, and basically showing a whole new side to her character.
  
• Laguna, Ward and Kiros are all cooler than most of the party you get to play with, both story-wise (Zell, Quistis, Edea), and with regards to their fighting style (Zell, Quistis, Edea, Selphie). The sense of comradery between the three of them, the whole world-weary 'been around the block' angle was very cool, and it's a shame you don't ever get to integrate them properly into your party.
  
• I'm only near the end of the second disc, but already I have most of the spells that I can remember being in the game. I'm missing Meteor and Holy, and don't yet have 100 of Aura, Ultima or Full-Life. That's it.
  
• Raijin is pretty cool, it's a shame you don't get to play as him. There was a lot of potential to his and Fujin's story, and Raijin's weapon had some groovy possibilities.
  
• The Junction system is fairly good, being able to take a low-level character and transform them into a strong, healthy fighter with a couple of clicks is great, though it does mean there's little need to level up anybody who isn't in your party.

Well those are my thoughts so far, I just thought I'd share them with y'all. I'm not being as negative as my comments suggest, I'm pleasantly surprised by FFVIII and am looking forward to the rest of the game. Reading through my post though I don't think I'm coming across as positively as I intended. Oh well..

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NavySeal

I don't think you are being too negative macho man. Personaly i loved the game. It was my first FF game and i loved every moment of it. But in some cases you are right about the game. the little orphanage thing is a little old. But what can you expect. N e way your insight was just and honest and i applaude that

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protosniper

I loved FFVIII. One of the better RPGs of all time.

I think alot of the people that gave it a bad review had played FFVII before hand and were constantly comparing it to FFVII. FFVII and FFVIII are two completely different games, to compare them is doing both games injustice.

No matter what anyone says, FFVIII will always beat FFIX.

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Sweet Tooth

FFVIII wasn't bad and is still better than most RPGs out there, the game as a whole was mostly enjoyable, but the story was a little weak. FFIX had a strange story as well, but I REALLY enjoyed the game. It was just a "fun" game instead of a serious type of game like FFVIII and to some extent FFVII. I still like FFVII and X better than VIII, but I agree with you.

One more thing and this is to protosniper, do you have the rest of that pic you used for your sig? If so Pm it to me

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Arnold K. (Admin)

Yeah...me too...

Ryan H.

Somebody just walked into my yard.

Let me address your points individually:

1- SeeD Ranking. You are not punished for exploration. You are punished for playing cards too much, for making poor decisions in battle, for being caught when you're not supposed to be, for fleeing from easy battles, etc. I would also point out that at any time you can take tests to level up your rank. As for rank going down, I once spent 110 hours on one play through and my rank dropped once due to me playing cards too much on the Lunar Base during the whole crisis with Rinoa.

2- Memory loss/orphanage. It wasn't just some silly "It's the GF's fault". The explanation is that junctioning to a GF requires you to allow that GF to invade your mind, and by doing so it creates its own place in your brain, which is the part responsible for memory. The reason why Irvine remembered more than anyone is that Galbadia Garden did not use GF as much as Balamb (Irvine himself never used one until he joined your party).

3- Zell/Quistis plot development. You must not have paid attention to Quistis' soliloquy in the 'secret area' during disc one. She talks about her past, her experiences at Garden, and tries to open up to Squall. His refusal of her exacerbates her sense of vulnerability, even in light of her position of great strength in combat, making her a very appealing character. As for Zell, had you stayed at his house during the occupation of Balamb by Galbadia, you would have learned about him, his grandfather, and more.

4- Laguna/Kiros/Ward. I too found them amazingly appealing as a party, and would like to point out that you CAN intergrate them as a party through the use of junction exchanges. They are just as customizable as anyone else in your party. If you mean to say that it sucks that they were not permanent members of your party, then my response is that it would never have worked, and would have, IMO, lessened the excitement of getting to control them in battle.

5- Having all the spells. You don't have close to all the spells. There are certain spells you can't even get until disc late, late in disc three, and I would bet that some of the spells I am about to list you haven't seen in the game. Here goes, the major spells of FFVIII:

Meteor, Triple, Pain, Flare, Meldown, Break, Meltdown, Quake, Tornado, Holy, Death, Regen.

Now, you may have a lot of those, but I would be willing to bet you don't have Pain or Meltdown, because Pain is rare as hell and Meltdown isn't available until you can start drawing it from monsters who are at least at level 50 or so.

6- Junction system. Best system ever implemented in an FF game. You can take weak characters and make them strong, but if you let a character fall too far behind the party, it will show no matter how you junction them. You'll see what I mean if you ever go after the big game in FFVIII, like Ultima or Omega Weapon.

FFVIII is one of the most amazing achievements in the history of gaming, and I have yet to find a valid negative comment on it, except for the character detail- they were pretty grainy in a lot of scenes.

Overall, though, it has some of the best music, cinema, and gameplay I have ever encountered in a game.

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Odin

So true...I loved Laguna; after I played through FFVIII two or three times and got fed up with Squall I started looking at Laguna as the central protagonist and I actually started enjoying the game a great deal more. He's just a cool character.

Not even close. The best thing about the junction scheme was its flexibility, but it was so overdone that if you had half a brain or any kind of experience with the FF series (one or the other) you could make your characters gods really early in the game. FF games aren't supposed to turn into masturbatory character building like that until much later.

We get the background behind the explanation. The point is the development was so bathetic that it stirs no feeling and doesn't alter the gamer's perception of the characters.

You haven't been paying attention.

Edit:
69...hahahaha...I can't believe how much I rule!

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Ryan H.

Yes, it is easier to level up your characters earlier in the game than most installments. No, it is not as easy as you think. Most people who had a problem with VIII said things like 'all you do is summon GF over and over' blah blah blah. Obviously, most people didn't understand the flexibility of the junction system, since they relied so heavily on their GF's attacks, as opposed to their true power, which is the ability to increase your stats.

Secondly, while you can boost stats quickly, anyone with 'half a brain' would also remember that enemies level up with you, keeping things in check.

As for the character development being "bathetic" (and aren't you the one who is constantly tooting your own horn when it comes to grammar and syntax?), how would have preferred they explain it? Perhaps you enjoyed the FFVII character development more- go to a town, find out Sephiroth just left, hear a story; rinse; repeat.

The fact is, compared to most FF games, the character development is far superior. It's no wonder Gamespot said "If FFVII mastered the epic, then FFVIII mastered the personal." At least in FFVIII, there is actually a rationale behind why these people are together, why they mean so much to each other, and why we should give a damn. In most other games, there is no real reason for half the people in your party to ever be there.

I guess you were too busy eating some monkey child's penis, as per your sig, to notice these things. Of course, you are entitled to your opinion that I was the one not paying attention.

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Arnold K. (Admin)

CALL THE ABULANCE! CALL THE FIREMEN! CALL THE COPS! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CALL THE COPS!

*pops the popcorn, kicks back to watch the fireworks*

Odin

I wasn't referring to the process by which you level up; I was referring to how fast you (and by "you" I mean the generic gamer, not you) can build statistics. If you had trouble with the enemies toward the end of FFVIII you've got no business talking about the franchise.

Fact; N. Knowledge or information based on real occurrences: an account based on fact; a blur of fact and fancy

Are we solid there? If we are, we can continue. I never said I had a problem with FFVIII because it engendered dependence on GFs, so I'm troubled that you didn't respond to the points I actually raised. And for the record, it doesn't help your cause to quote the most biased, commercial publication in the entire industry.

Bathetic means anti-climactic or falsely emotional, you idiot. If I meant pathetic I would have written it. Look at your semen-stained keyboard. Are the "P" and the "B" close to each other? The answer is no. Never question my spelling again.

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--Bryan Keers, biggest badass ever