A personal favorite of mine, despite popular rejections.
Well, firstly, I'll talk about the storyline. Final Fantasy VIII stars Squall, who is initially a very depressing, extremely anti-social teenager, not too unlike Cloud from FF7. As in Final Fantasy VII, all the characters start out seeming very simple and shallow, but as the plot develops, so do their personalities and back-stories.
This game also removed a lot of overused cliches of the fantasy genre. Like it's predecessor, there are no castles, kings, and princesses in this installment, but it still takes an even more futuristic advancement than FF7 did, giving the game a modern-day to sci-fi feel, depending on the plot progression. In all, Final Fantasy VII is an amazingly done masterpiece.
The graphics are also a big step up in the series. The characters are all no longer short, stubby people with only their eyes visible. Now, they are all full-sized and realistic looking, and their facial features are almost perfectly intact, with only the pixelated effect ruining it. The same enhancement is given to the look of the enemies, making them seem like something out of real life than a video game. Much of the scenery is also amazing, with this game's final dungeon taking the cake. Finally, the FMVs are the best of the series so far, and are almost up to par with the graphics of the Final Fantasy movie, The Spirits Within.
The battle system of FF8 is basically the same. Each character has their unique weapon type, the options of using magic, items, summons, and other various abilities. The ATB system is used here, so quick thinking will often be required.
The biggest problem that people have with FF8 is the leveling and magic systems, which are intertwined. Now, leveling up by defeating enemies will net you VERY minimal stat boosts. What's more, the enemies and bosses will become stronger as you level up, so even if you maxed out to Level 100, you could end up setting yourself up to a quick defeat.
So how do you level up your stats so that you don't get creamed? By using the Junction system. What this is, is a system where you equip your magic spells to your stats. Magic is "drawn" and stocked from enemies and various other methods, rather than being used with MP. You can have a maximum of 99 of each spell stocked. The power and quantity of the spell you have Junctioned to a stat determines how much it will be raised. So basically, the basic Fire spell that's available from the start of the game will increase your attack by very little, but the Ultima spell nearing the end of the game will cause it to shoot up like a rocket.
And that right there is the problem that people have with Final Fantasy VIII. It can take quite a while to stock up the recommended 99 of every spell to give yourself a good stat-boost. If you have patience and the right ambition, then you really shouldn't have a problem, since the spells aren't going to have to be gained all at once. It's not entirely necessary to get 99 of every spell anyway. However, I'll be completely honest. If you max out your Junctions as much as possible from the very beginning of the game (which doesn't really take TOO long) this game becomes VERY easy, especially if you don't actually level up during random encounters, which would level up your foes. (Bosses do not give away EXP.) On the other hand, if you're a player who prefers to not take the time away from a straight fighting expedition, and hacking your way all the way, then this might not be the best game for you.
There are a number of minigames in FF8, though. The biggest of which is the Triple Triad game, which is a game of cards. Not numbered cards, that you would play solitaire with, but something like Pokemon cards, except they're not Pokemon, they're your enemies and allies. (Good enough example?) I won't explain the rules here, but they're rather simple to learn, providing you don't spread the insane bonus-rules from region to region. Through the card games, you can win many valuable cards which you can convert into magic using the Card-Mod ability. Sound useful? Yup, this is one of the main ways to max out your stats quickly, believe it or not. While it sounds tedious, again, if you have the patience, you should be fine. (You may want to mute your television, though. The music for the card game gets MADDENING!)
There's also the Chocobo Forest game, which is essentially a game of Hide-and-Seek with baby chocobos. Completing this minigame at all possible locations is actually quite important for later prizes to make the game easier.
So, all in all, this is a good game for the patient player. Even if you're not one, it's still worth playing through to experience the fantastic storyline.