the end of final fantasy VIII SPOILERS!!

donovanx85

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#1 donovanx85

Member since 2006 • 363 Posts

I just finished final fantasy VIII for the first time ( needs less to say it was an amazing game). my friend watched me beat the game and we are currently trying to figure out what the overall message or theme of the game was, we both have our ideas but i was wondering what other fans thoght of this and i was also wondering what lessions ,themes or message you interprited from this game

17 years ago

gamerrgurrl9

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#2 gamerrgurrl9

Member since 2005 • 1982 Posts

Well you could think about alot of themes but one theme that comes to mind is that you shouldn't cast out your friends. The only reason Squall was a loner was because he was afraid of getting hurt.

17 years ago

Coolius

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#3 Coolius

Member since 2003 • 121 Posts

Main theme: Friendship

Sub themes:

- death

- the relationship between a knight and the one he protects.

- (definately more)

Although the setting of FF VIII is quite high tech, the soul of the game is reminiscent of early FF's, and it has an almost medieval feel to it. Knights, sorcoresses, castles, medieval music (especially at Ultimecia's castle). All this is what makes the game almost as good as FF VII

17 years ago

varmintx

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#4 varmintx

Member since 2003 • 575 Posts

First of all, you have no idea how happy I am to find someone created a topic that could actually lead to some intellectual conversation. The game has so much content that could be interpreted in so many ways that we can have a healthy exchange of ideas.

Time and memory are a major part of the story. The necessary-for-winning GF's forcing the characters to lose their memories is symbolic of the way people trudge along their lives in an ever-forward effort to become "whole" while believing "the past is in the past" and is no longer necessary. Squall comments negatively about an older man who is reminiscing about the past. However, he and the rest of the characters discover the past cannot be left behind so easily, this is done in a literal sense in the story by having the past, present and future overlap one another. It is only after the group discovers their past that they can devise a plan for the future. This theme is synonymous with another: maturity.

As the game opens, Squall is an introvert. He talks to himself rather than with others, often using "whatever" to get out of having to explain himself. The truth is, Squall is still immature, he recognizes this and tries to hide it. He is ashamed of his feelings and constantly reflects on his childhood and the fear and sadness he felt when Ellone left. At critical points in the story, Squall drops his guard; the best example I can give is when he panics as the party discusses Seifer's rumored death. Squall believes Laguna's infatuation with Julia is silly. He of course ends up doing some extremely illogical things of his own for the sake of love.

Which brings us to another major theme that, very intelligently, is connected to the rest. Squall is literally swept off his feet by Rinoa, but cannot bring himself to acknowledge it. Again, this is because he is still immature. Rinoa is the catalyst for his growth as an adult. It is for her that he moves ahead and does irresponsible things such as going after her in space and freeing her from the Esthar delegates. It should also be noted that the rest of his friends are important to this theme as well. In the story, it is their friendship that serves as their bond to reality during Time Compression.

There is of course the theme involving fate as well. As I don't care about that sort of thing, because if fate exists then there is nothing you can do about it anyway, I will not go into it as much. The opening song "Liberi Fatali" translates to "Fated Children." The feather motif (Rinoa's wings and Squall's jacket) was popularized a few years earlier by Forrest Gump as symbolic of the way we are swept along by the wind of fate. All of the events are predertmined by Ultimecia passing on her powers to Edea at the end of the story.

These themes, and others, are interconnected through the characters and how they relate to each other. Seifer and Squall start as a pair of cadets, but in the opening, their opposite paths are carved out on each others faces. The connections between Laguna, Julia, Rinoa and Squall are very complicated. The fact that if Julia and Laguna had fallen in love would have lead to Squall and Rinoa never having existed and why Laguna had to leave further illustrate the theme of fate. Edea is very important throughout the story as she is the antagonist early on, the "mother" and finally savior in that she willingly takes Ultimecia's powers to protect the children (our very own heroes).

Please feel free to comment, add examples (as there are many I have omitted for the sake of brevity) or argue against any of my interpretations.

17 years ago

GMAN32X

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#5 GMAN32X

Member since 2004 • 1815 Posts

Technically, a theme is more than one word such as love, friendship etc. From my POV, one of the main themes in FFVIII is "Love can overcome any obstacle," as evidenced by the relationship between Squall and Rinoa. Furthermore, love is what helped Squall break free of the captive walls that he built around himself.

Love, Death, Friendship...those would be considered motifs (at least I think so...someone help me out here, I was not an English major in college).

BTW: DonovanX, I would amend the title of this topic to include FFVIII, just so everyone knows exactly which one we are discussing. Great idea for a video game discourse though! :D

17 years ago

varmintx

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#6 varmintx

Member since 2003 • 575 Posts

From Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

Theme: subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation <guilt and punishment is the theme of the story> b: a specific and distinctive quality, characteristic, or concern

Motif: a usually recurring salient thematic element (as in the arts); especially: a dominant idea or central theme

This is to ensure there isn't an off-topic argument and everyone who wants to contribute knows what we are talking about.

17 years ago

ff-leader

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#8 ff-leader

Member since 2006 • 2400 Posts