Sorry folks, I used up all my superlatives in the review.

User Rating: 9.7 | Final Fantasy VIII (Platinum) PS
Before I begin, let me make one thing clear: nothing I write here can do justice to such a massive game. Think San Andreas is big? This game is set over an entire planet (and yes you get to explore all of it). We're talking 60 hours minimum- and that's without doing any of the optional (and cool) sidequests like GF-hunting and those extremely nasty optional bosses (move over Emerald Weapon!). Bearing in mind that this is a PS1 game from the late 90s, don't expect awe-inspiring graphics, at least by today's standards. Some of the character models are noticeably blocky, especially the faces (which are bad even by PS1 standard- I swear Squall's is made up of 4 polys). Although FFIX is widely regarded as the benchmark for PS1 graphical wizardry, Final Fantasy VIII is (apart from the aforementioned ugly mugs) indistinguishable from some games on later consoles, especially in terms of the in-battle special effects and FMVs (Full Motion Videos)- more on them later. Just wait until you see Quezacotl's summoning sequence. Not that everyone regards the summoning as perfect. Most of Final Fantasy VIII's detractors (well, the ones that haven't been confined to poor taste clinics) cite two quirks of the summoning system- the apparent lack of penalty for using summons on a constant basis, and the game's unique 'junctioning' system. Let me settle one of these inaccuracies right now: YOU CANNOT USE SUMMONS WITH IMPUNITY. 'Kidnap'-type missions (for want of a more useful term)- where the enemy you are fighting is holding an ally prisoner- are actually more common than you might expect, so any 'affects all opponents' move (which apart from one or two limit breaks basically means Summons) will kill the person you are trying to save (GAME OVER obviously!). Since many of these are found in the trickier boss battles, anyone who relies solely on summons when fighting ordinary minions (come on, give Ifrit a break, ITS A BITE BUG FOR CRYING OUT LOUD) will suddenly find themselves hitting a brick wall when their characters actually have to fight properly. Also present is the 'SeeD rank' system- as you complete missions, kill more monsters and generally be a good merc, your SeeD rank (and consequently your regular salary) will increase significantly. However, monster kills made by a summon (or GF as they are called) don't count towards this, so over-use of them can actually cause your SeeD rank to fall significantly. So if you cant use GFs in battle all that much, what's the point of having them? Your answer: junctioning. This is a system totally unique to Final Fantasy VIII. As your GF gains experience (which it does whenever the character it is attached to gains experience, whether the GF itself was used or not) and AP (same idea except AP doesn't power up the character) it will gradually learn more Junction abilities. These can be stat-altering, elemental or status. The stat junctions allow you to link a particular magic you have stocked to a stat of your choice (provided you have the appropriate Junction ability of course). It's not just how good the spell is, or how many of it you have (although both help), because different spells are better for each stat. This allows ease of use for newbies- it doesn't take much to work out that Cure is a good spell to junction to your HP at the start of the game- but at the same time gives repeat-play veterans the ability to tinker and tweak to their hearts' content, and adding immensely to replay value that is often an unknown quantity in Final Fantasy games. The elemental junctions are just as simple- junctioning Blizzard to your Elem-Atk-J (elemental attack junction) will give ice element power to your normal weapon attack, while junctioning Fire to your Elem-Def-J (elemental defense junction) reduces the damage you take from that element. The more effort you put in to acquiring different spells (and as many of each spell as you can) the better able you will be to arrange your Elemental junctions to fight a boss that sticks to a single magic element (again there are more of these than you would think). Hey, the game thoughtfully tells you this in the middle of disc 2, but it can come in handy long before then so use it as soon as a GF learns it. Status junctions are the least exciting of the three- in act, many people may have played through the game without using it at all, since you are only told about it if you complete an optional sidequest after the qualifying mission (hint: do NOT go after the T-Rexaur, it will kick your ass), and status magic itself is actually pretty rare in Final Fantasy VIII (although for all you series fanboys out there, yes Marlboros do exist and yes they are vicious creatures). It works in much the same way as the Elemental junctions- junctioning Sleep to St-Atk-J (Status Attack Junction) will give a certain percentage chance of putting the enemy to sleep, and junctioning Silence to St-Def-J (Status Defence Junction) will give you a better-than-zero chance of avoiding Silence attacks. For PS2 owners, the Elemental and Status junctions function much the same way as Customising Firetouch or Sleep Ward on to an equipment in Final Fantasy X, although in Final Fantasy VIII it is much easier, and above all free. So although Final Fantasy VIII doesn't have character classes as such (any GF can be given to any character), a combination of good junctioning and noticing the natural stat strengths of each character will allow you to create a powerful dedicated battler. But just remember that unlike Final Fantasy X you cannot switch characters in battle, so your well-tuned Physical Attack specialist (*cough* Squall) may turn out to be useless against a boss that retaliates against any physical attack with a 9,999 minimum damage pounding. Some claim that the whole junctioning system makes Final Fantasy VIII too nit-picky. If you have the intellectual capacity of a three-year old (not that there's anything wrong with that) then perhaps, but otherwise just watching the game's built-in tutorials should be enough to make it a valuable part of your arsenal. The story is sublime. Yes, it's the same as all the other Final Fantasy games: outcast boy meets dream girl and together they battle against powerful magic to save the very fabric of time and space. But it's done better than it ever was, or ever has been since. This is the one and only time that I almost cried for a game character (and no I wasn't even moved when *it happened* in Final Fantasy VII). I guarantee you will find a character who you can identify with. That is, I think, the achivement of Final Fantasy VIII- the characters just seem so human (yes, even the giant slug-man). There hasn't been another game, never mind another RPG, that can even clean the boots of such incredible quality. In fact, I can think of a lot of big-budget movies that have done a lot worse. Which is a coincidence because the cinematics in this game are breathtaking. Even better than the ones in Final Fantasy X, these just ooze technical quality and storytelling prowess. How about the rise of the FMPrerender? Actually I made that up, but using a FMV as an ingame background is an achivement in itself, never mind on a console that is now ten years old. Yes, some of them are tame and barely distracting, but picture yourself running across a field (ingame and fully controllable, not scripted) while hundreds of people fight with swords, guns and magic on either side of you. The FMVs even have full in-game collision detection for crying out loud. As if responding to the gauntlet thrown down by Squaresoft's video team, Nobuo Uematsu has truly outdone himself this time round. Text cannot explain how perfect the soundtrack is (please, please, please go listen to some on a fansite). I have over 100 games in my collection. 8 out of my 10 favourite game music tracks are in this game. Think about it- they beat off six other Final Fantasy games, along with countless other classics with great music in their own right (check my collection if you want an impression of this). The music really summarises everything that is perfect about this game. If you don't already have it, go and get a copy now! If you have a PS2, yes it is one of the PS2-compatible PS1 games (don't forget the PS1 memcard folks). If you have to, go out and buy a PS1 console, because trust me, your life is poorer without this game. Magazines say this a lot but I don't (bear in mind that I had a 6.7 average review score before I did this game): BEST. GAME. EVER.