Reminds you of the days when Squaresoft reigned supreme.
Just like all final fantasy games this one does well at drawing you in early and keeping you there till the end. The graphical improvement over 7 also makes it an easier title to come back to after a number of years for people who dislike the basic 3D models in VII. The idea of your summons (GF) having a more important role than just attacking is great, the abilities they learn and the compatibility that grows between the GF and its user is great.
The game was less accessible to me at the age I was when I first picked it up (was probably 11-12 or something?) with a drastically different system called the 'Junction' system to what I was familiar with in IX which was the first title I played. Coming back to play it again at the age of 18+ I still had my old save from way back and my first thoughts were "WTF!? man did I suck at this game".
Playing through VIII properly was awesome, I played for at least 120+ hours doing as much in the game as I could (no uber perfect playthrough but still did a fair bit :P).
Long story short I had an awesome experience, I thoroughly enjoy the romance between Squall and Rinoa and to me it feels as though it is a bit easier to relate to compared to others in the series, when most of the main characters are students who carry out 'typical' teenage style lives etc. Sort of hard to explain.