Final Fantasy VIII Review

noreply@blogger.com (Number XIII) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:43:00 +0000

Well, given the fact that this is the first ~~real~~ content-including post, I decided to start with a review of one of my favorite games: Final Fantasy VIII.

To be honest, I had been gravely spoiled by a friend long before I actually played the game. In fact, I asked him to tell me the whole story, while swimming in a sea of ~~idiocy~~ innocence, thinking I'd never get to play it. I bet he enjoyed those, I don't know, 2+ hours (?) while spoiling every single bit of data the story has to offer. You know, there's nothing better for a vgame fan than speaking about his/her/its favorite game, even if that kills someone's ability to be surprised.

Anyway, to my own surprise, I was quite amused by the absolutely massive 2+hours-long spoiler. To such extent that I even felt a desire to give it a try. He lent me his PSX and his FFVIII, though for some evil design by unknown forces (thank you) none of the discs worked on his psx, which led me to regretfully break his beloved console ~~while playing technician~~ by accident. And so, it wasn't until this year, 2010, that I was ever able to get my hands on this elusive game. ~~Well, virtually that is. God bless emus.~~

I won't spoil the story; I enjoyed it even when I had been told almost every detail, so I suppose most people can enjoy it even more. For short, it is a quite cliche quirky-girl-meets-emo-boy love story. And yet, despite all the cheesy-corn scent one might imagine a story can produce, it moved emotions within me like not many things have done. For those who think it's too cliche for them, give it a try, I, a cliche-hater, recommends it.

The characters have a plethora of personalities. From a death-serious and almost depressive emo boy/mercenary, to an almost annoying-but-too-sweet/insane-to-hate girl with gravity-defying hair, to a sexy blonde glasses-wearing teacher dressed in orange/brown leather (my, that sounds too kinky for FF xD), to a strange yet lovely lady with an exquisite sense of fashion, and so on. You name it, we have it. Even ~~Elton John~~ Cid is in it!

Also, most of them are quite deeply explored, which leads the player to identify him/her/itself with at least one of them. In my case, I totally identified with Squall, the protagonist. But I bet girls can identify themselves with Rinoa, the sweet, beautiful princess-like umm... anarchist/revolutionary (?)

Yeah, that's how the story starts, like an oppressed country awaiting salvation, but, like most Final Fantasies, it becomes something of global proportions. Hell, it even involves different timelines. Now that's complex.

Despite the story being great, no videogame can survive without what defines it: gameplay. Similar to FFVII's Materia System, FFVIII features the Guardian Force System. This system fuses the materia's stat growth/modding, the Summon Monster's apocalyptic/flashy power and the weapons, armor and accessory customization. Also, there is no MP. Yep, the only way to cast magic is by "Drawing" it from the enemies or from special.... things called Draw Points.

To make it up for totally purging ethers from this FF, the spells that had been drawn can be "junctioned" (equipped) onto different stats depending on the equipped GF. For example, if you junctioned 50 Curagas to HP, your total HP grows significantly, but if you junctioned 100 (max) Full-Lifes to HP, then it would most likely sky-rocket to 9999 (max) HP. This sounds messy, I know, but it is so useful, it can grant access to high stats quite early in the game just by getting enough spells from an enemy (warning: requires patience, as you may draw a max of 9 spells per Draw, but come on, no Final Fantasy fan really has trouble with that.)

The music, well, it was made by Mr. His Musical Highness Nobuo Uematsu himself (if you don't know him ~~then throw yourself into a pit~~ he is the guy who composed the whole soundtracks of FF I to IX, along with many other games, a band of his own, etc.

The graphics are quite good for their time. Today they might make you puke or cry (depending on your psychological status), but they are quite enjoyable. The cinematics are beautiful, even today. (Really, Squaresoft, now Square-Enix, simply excels at it. Even games like Deus-Ex have decided to be published by SE just for their amazing talent at FMVs. Along with many other rea$ons I suppose).

Now, not all is great in this game. For example, the GF's massive attacks may raze the battlefield and end the battle in a couple of turns, but each of the mysterious creature's moves takes at least about 40 seconds to finally show just how many damn damage it caused. At first one simply loves to abuse this power and watch Shiva pop from beneath and freeze everyone's asses, or Quezacotl's greeness rain havoc upon your enemies over and over again ~~(just what the hell IS Quezacotl anyway? A bird, hallucinogen gas, a big, green blanket?!)~~, but after you have watched it about a couple hundred of times, it is simply better to send your guys to slay them manually, than having Ifrit throw his damn meteor one freaking more time.

Also, the limit system can get somewhat annoying. You see, in this FF, you remodel your weapons, and only through that, you can achieve better limits. Sounds good huh, well, what sucks is that when the limit command is available (when your character has almost no HP left), and you tell your dying buddy to kick someone's ass, a completely out-of-place "minigame" begins, and you have to actually DO something to ensure the limit kicks ass. Some are simple, like Quistis having to use specific items on her (prior to battle) to get new limits and just choosing which one to use, but some are simply nonsense, like Zell's, which needs to f*cking be good at making fast button combinations to trigger the limits (Jeez! It's a turn-based RPG, not Mortal Combat!).

Also, a finishing move is sometimes executed after the basic limit, but what really makes it suck sometimes is that most of the time it is a random move, so yeah, you spent hours hunting down the materials to get Squall's best weapon, just so that in that crucial moment, he does his first, weakest finishing move, merely tickling the huge evil boss. (Don't take me wrong though; it's a minor thing and they all are very cool).

Despite its flaws, Final Fantasy VIII, released in 1999, is still an awesome game, full of emotional moments, thrilling scenes, interesting concepts, action-packed battles, beautiful music, lovable characters and, of course, a very nice story worth telling your friends. If you haven't played it, go NOW and do so.

Birth

noreply@blogger.com (Number XIII) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:48:00 +0000

It is the XIIIth time. A new rising.

«~『XIIIth Exile』~»

Final Fantasy VIII Review

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