Final Fantasy VIII
- Squall, a member of an elite military team, is mandatory into a conflict beyond imagination
- To survive he must contend with a desperate rival, a powerful sorceress and his own mysterious dreams
- Contains realistic detailed characters and social class graphics
- A breathtaking musical score enhances game play
- Another splendid edition of the Final Fantasy series of sports meeting
Product Description
PendingEditorial Review
SquareSoft has always had a sure-fire hit when releasing any of their Final Fantasy titles, and Final Fantasy VIII should be no exception. The basis of a excellent RPG (role-playing game) has always been the tale; spectacular graphics are secondary. Final Fantasy VIII’s involved and fascinating tale line is filled with splendid twists, well-developed characters, suspense, and romance. As an added bonus, the graphics are gorgeous. Everything–from the low-lit jazz club to the steam-filled railroad tunnels–is gorgeous and perfectly sets the mood and tone of a scene.
The game mechanics are standard fare for an RPG: acquisition of items and spells, turn-based combat, experience points earned in combat allowing advances in levels. From exploration to battles to dialogue, Final Fantasy VIII has it all. But, Final Fantasy VIII cascade to that splendid weakness of RPGs: random battles. While necessary for advancing in levels, the battles occur with such frequency that they can grow irritating, making for a tedious game experience.
The epic storyline spans four discs–over 40 hours of gameplay–and is based around a mercenary military apprentice who finds himself caught up with an underground rebel faction. He winds up in a plot to assassinate the sorceress who has just seized potential from the president.
You could complain of limited replay regard, but this gripe is of no consequence: the game is such a satisfying experience, it doesn’t require replay. Final Fantasy VIII is easily worth both the hype and the wait. You can’t buy a much better game. –John Cocking
Pros:
- A tale to beat all tales
- Characters worth caring about
- Hey–it’s from SquareSoft
- Stunning animations
Cons:
- Too many random battles
- Combat is, as always, turn-based and offers minimal excitement
- Weak souls might give up after two or three discs of play
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I have played and beaten nearly every Final Fantasy game (1,4,6,7,8,9,10,10-2,12, and some of the offshoots like Mystic Quest and Tactics) and I can safely say that FF8 is THE WORST one EVER made. Don’t believe the mass panic which seems to have afflicted these poor people who say it was the BEST. I honestly have no thought where that could be coming from. The characters are terrible (ESPECIALLY Squall) and I didn’t find myself caring who lived or died. The plot was utter nonsense, and all the relevant points were just thrown in at the beginning of Disc 3 without any kind of warning. Leveling up means NOTHING, since the GFs are the only way to get anything DONE in the battles. Magic? Forget it: it’s useless.
I could go on for pages about the flaws in this game, but there’s really not anything I can add that the few sane people who also despised it haven’t said yet. The ONLY redeeming feature is the graphics, which were way ahead of their time. The plus side of having trudged owing to the Long-Line-at-the-DMV that was FF8 is that now, NOTHING Square Enix can do could possibly disappoint me more, so I’ll pretty much give any piece of crap they come up with in the future a huge “thumbs-up” (guess where).
Rating: 1 / 5
It’s way too hard! I’ve tried to get evrything i can, i can’t get Squall’s Lionheart, that stupid Sorceress Adel always kills me (or rinoa) AUGGHHHHHHH! The only thing i like about this game is the music score (thank you Nobuo Uematsu) Everything else sucks. Do not buy this game!!
Rating: 1 / 5
Could have been a lot better. to place it simply, to perhaps the largest final fantasy fan ever,me, i was really diappointed by this game. i despise the whole modern/futuristic look that this game has. even ff7 had this to a point. i want this to be like fantasy..castles, swords, mages, kings, knights, wizards. i despise that there is no armor or accessories, plus i despise that there are no magic points, and magic is not earned. the experience points thing stinks. leveling up/cash mean nothin in this game. my favorite part of RPG is building up wrecking machine armies. ergo my sabin, celes, edgar, and terra army from ff3/6. in this game the enemies level up with you so theres no point in leveling yourself up. this game is soooo dumbed down. the villain or lack thereof is horrible. BRING BACK KEFKA! the gf’s take like 20 years to end making battles so irritating, instead of fun like in ff6 and chrono cross. the storyline is terrible and the characters are too real looking. plus every character is essentially the same, each character does not have unique abilities except for the limit breaks. maybe if square had released this game under a different title not final fantasy 8 i woulnt have been disappointed. this ruins the only ff game ever that i havent finished, i bunged playing on disc 3. if u want a excellent RPG to play, get FF9 which goes back to hardcore fantasy and the original ways that made final fantasy so splendid. also i recommend ff3/6 which is undoubtable the best FF game ever, and arguably the best game ever. i also recommened chrono trigger and chrono cross which are really awesome sports meeting. dont dissipate your time or cash with final fantasy 8.
Rating: 1 / 5
Though I admit this game title is ancient, that does not mean the product should be hurt. 1 of the discs were probably hurt in storage and the game system is having distress reading the disc. This was my second attempt at getting the game; the first time all the discs were broken so I returned them. But this time only 1 was broken and I found that out too late. Final Fantasy VIII is a splendid game but if only the discs were not broken.
Rating: 3 / 5
I’m a huge Final Fantasy fan, but this ain’t no FF VII
Rating: 1 / 5