A masterpiece or a failure? Decide for yourselves.
User Rating: 9.1 | Final Fantasy VIII (Platinum) PS
Final Fantasy VIII – some people love it, some people hate it. It’s claimed to be both a masterpiece and a disgrace. In my humble opinion, this epic Squaresoft RPG, although flawed, remains as great and powerful as any RPG in its time. A little background- this was my second Playstation title, and one I’ve possibly spent the most time enjoying. Naturally, I no longer play it because of the graphical and interface limitations of the game, in comparison to games on the PS2. Just for this review, I’ve booted it up any was in shock at the game’s visuals. Still, I must judge FFVIII according to its day and age… A brief synopsis – FFVIII is the story of a group of mercenaries: the loner Squall, energetic and hotheaded Zell, calm and rational Quistis, cheerful and happy-go-lucky Selphie, and the stud Irving, joined by the emotional Rinoa, on their quest to save the world against an evil sorceress. Along the way, they explore cities, towns, caverns, forests, and even their dreams and fantasies. You know, pretty straightforward RPG stuff, right? ;-) Without giving away too much, the obvious main theme is love… Gameplay: FFVIII is Squaresoft’s conscious attempt at a Final Fantasy that’s different. Many things that are tradition to the Final Fantasy series (Purchasing weapons and armor, Magic Points, Ability points, getting money in Enemy Battles, etc.) have been done away with in favor of new ideas. It all revolves around the new Junction system. In FFVIII, every character by himself is a weakling, only able to physically attack enemies. To make a character stronger, a Junction between that Character and a Guardian Force (GF for short) must be made. Then, that character will have access to other commands: Items, Magic, Summon (a GF equipped), and Draw, among others learned throughout the journey. (A GF is a one-time summoned spirit, which comes and damages all enemies, or causes some other effect to occur.) Also, Junctioning a GF will allow powerful magic to be added to one of the character’s stats, dramatically increasing it. Like I’ve said before, Magic is handled very differently. All characters can use all magic with about the same proficiency. Magic is more like a physical commodity that can be stocked and used up, spell after spell. How is magic obtained? “Drawing” the magic out of enemy monsters, or “Draw points” throughout the world does this. Then that magic can be used to junction with a character’s stats, or be used in battle, or both. Magic can be transferred between characters as well, but not in battle. That’s really about it for the basics, but this system gets very deep and can make for a breathtaking amount of customization, especially since different GFs junctioned to a character open up different Stats to enhance with magic. It’s difficult to compare FFVIII’s Junctioning system to other RPG’s, since it’s so different from the standard fare. As I’ve mentioned, there is no longer a need to buy pricey Weapons and Armor. Thus, the whole money system takes a backseat in this Final Fantasy. All it’s really needed for is common items like Potions and Antidotes, etc. sold in stores. No longer is money awarded from fighting monsters. Instead, Squall and the party get a steady salary, which depends upon their conduct in the game. Help the people in the World? More money. Be cowardly? Less Money. The game takes place in a (spherical!) 3D, traversable world. Mostly, this view is used to get around between interest points on the map: cities, dungeons, etc. In this mode, it’s possible to travel by foot, in a car, in an airship-like flying thing (spoilers…can’t tell ;-), in a spaceship, and even on Chocobo. That’s right; Chocobos make a cameo appearance in FFVIII, mostly through complicated puzzles in “Chocobo Forests” throughout the world. I never really understood how to play, sadly. FFVIII offers a plethora of mini-games and side quests along the journey, the most notable being the Triple Triad card game. This game is great fun and can actually have an impact on your real game, because the cards you collect can be refined into rare items. Also, most side-quests, especially towards the end of the game, reap great benefits. So, what can I say about FFVIII’s Gameplay? It’s different. It lacks something in comparison to a traditional RPG, such as the equipment collecting that never seems to get old. It’s not perfect, but it my view it’s a great system, and deserves a 9 score. Graphics: Sure it looks hideous now to those of us spoiled by 256-bit systems, but at its 1998 release date this game was gorgeous. The game-world, combat view, and town sequences are in high-quality 3D. What makes this game shine are the hundreds of painstakingly pre-rendered town, dungeon, etc. background screens, each one with great production values. Most have some sort of animation playing as well. Since most of the game takes place here, it’s great that these are impressive. Another cornerstone of FFVIII’s graphics is the CG integrated into the game. There’s over an hour of this awesome-looking video, mostly salvaged for dramatic sequences the in-game graphics couldn’t handle. To be fair, the game world does look pretty choppy, and character models are pretty angular, although they’re much better than FFVII’s. I’m tempted to give the graphics a 10 anyways, for the lovely CG. Sound: The sound in FFVIII is well balanced. Too bad you won’t hear a human voice from the opening cinematic to the closing (although that’s really something); because the whole game is dubbed in “Speech Bubble”. As for the music, it’s dramatic and appropriate, if nothing special. Sound bytes are nothing special, but they’re nice. Overall I’d give the musical score a 7. It’s really nothing extraordinary. Value: Production values for FFVIII are about as high as can be expected; the game has been lovingly put together by the nice folks at Squaresoft. Although it’s story-oriented, realizing your mistakes from the first time around makes playing FFVIII over again lots of fun, especially if you start by planning out the ideal party, and Junction GF’s appropriately. There are a number of situations where the player doesn’t realize what to do, and playing the game a second time takes away any aggravation. Still, I’d recommend the excellent Brady Books strategy guide (written by David Cassidy) if you’re going to invest in FVIII. It masterfully covers all of the content you’ll ever need. (Assuming you’ll find it in your antique books store, ha-ha). I would give the value an 8 score. Tilt: Hah! I love this game! 10. I hope I’ve influenced someone to look into FFVIII, and see for themselves whether it’s a masterpiece!
