Final Fantasy 8 Review |
When FF8 was being talked about, there was a lot of hype behind the game. Many magazines reviewed the game, and gave it some good reviews. I bought FF8 the day after it was released in the UK, and was playing it none stop, even though I had some exams not long after I bought the game. But is it really as good as magazines have said? Well, No. So, is it rubbish? No. Does it beat FF7? No. You see the problem is, that it is an OK game. It isn't the best RPG on the PS as many mags have said it is. But that doesn't mean it sucks. I think the main problem is, that the game has loads of little problems, which eventually add up to topple the game. Firstly, the game has excellent graphics. I'm not the type of person, who gives a game 100% just because it has good graphics. I don't even review graphics, as to me it is pointless, but FF8's graphics are good. FF8's story is weak. Very weak. With FF7, the story really focuses on two main plots: Stopping Shinra and stopping Sephiroth. FF8 doesn't have a main plot, like FF7 until later in the game. Sure, it starts off about the SeeD exam, which I think is a good section, and the Laguna scenes, which I think are the best, but they don't last long. There is also the fact you need to defeat Edea is good, becuase your chasing after her. However, this only lasts for the first two disks. Then the plot really starts to become weak. The character's backgrounds are weak. They knew each other as kids, only forgot because of the GFs. Riiiggght. It doesn't beat FF7's character background if you ask me. Then, this sorceress from the future wants to compress time, so she can rule. Doesn't beat Sephy's mad idea about hitting the planet with Meteor, then absorbing the lifestream to become a God. OK, that's a bit strange, but not as strange as FF8's story. Weapon Upgrades are an excellent idea, but don't work. To upgrade, you need to roam the world, finding the right items. Once you do, you can upgrade. Nothing wrong with that. True, but there is nothing more annoying, then almost dying to get the last item, only to find out you didn't get it. Sure, some would say it is a challenge, but I just find it annoying. Magic in FF8 is also weak. In FF7, Fire3 would do about say 2000 - 3000 damage. In FF8, Firaga (Fire3) does 200 - 300 damage - if you're lucky. What the Hell!!!!! I mean, that's OK for early in the game say disk 1 or 2, but in disk 3 or 4, you want something a little it stronger. Sure, some spells are OK, but there just not as strong as the FF7 spells. And I mean what the hell is wrong with those names? Fira and Firaga? What the hell is that?!?! What is wrong with Fire2 and Fire3? I know those are the Japanese names (I think), but why can't they make the names a little better for the US and UK, like with FF7? Battles in FF8 aren't as involved as FF7's. You can face the opponent(s), have them attack you back, or attack their back (I think). That's it. There are not magic users, like Aeris, Vivi, Garnet etc., there is not front and back row, like with FF7 and 9. They just stand there!!! And why can you only use four commands at a time? In FF7, you could have as many commands as you have materia slots in your weapon for, and in FF9, characters only have four commands, but FF8 has about as many commands as FF7, in fact, I think it's more, so why only four (three if you count the fact that Attack is always there). And seeing as I feel that magic (even though most spells are weak), and GF. That leaves one space left. One space left!!! GF's also make Boss battles too easy. You see, most have this move called Boost, which lets them do extra damage. Sure, some of the early GFs don't give you much time to boost, but all GFs after and including (I think) Leviathan give you loads of time to Boost - just as long as you don't mess it up. And seeing as their is no limit to the amount times you can summon a GF just as long as it's alive, well, those bosses won't be living long. Another option is to have Squall use Leonheart. This hits about 20 times, doing 9999 damage. It will kill a boss. Luckly it is rare, so it don't always get it. Now if you ask me, I enjoy boss battles in FF7. They can become a real challenge. Because summons can only be summoned a limited number of times, you'll need to find other attacks to kill a boss, e.g. Limit Breaks or Magic. Infact, if you don't know what your doing, you'll lose. And I enjoy that - well, not the dying part. Finally, there is FF8's Limit Breaks. They work like this: 1. You need to be near death to be given the option of using them, or 2. You can use the Aura spell. Either way, you need to wait for an arrow to appear to the right of the attack option, and that doesn't always appear. So, while your flicking around, trying to get the arrow, you're an easy target for the opponent. Great!!!! However, when they do (finally) appear, they are great, and I mean it. They can be just the thing in a boss battle, especially against tough bosses, like Ultimate Weapon (and believe me, he is tough). But FF8 isn't all bad. The card game is quite a lot of fun. Sure, if you ask me it has one rule to many, especially that "Random" rule. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!! But it can be fun at times (when random isn't used). And, yes I know I said they were bad, but once they get going, Limit Breaks are excellent. They really do dish out the damage. I mean, getting a perfect will Squalls limit break, followed by Lionheart is defently tasty, and Zells are also cool. And then, there is Laguna, Kiros and Ward - FF8's top characters. The Laguna scenes are the best in FF8. I don't know why, but they are. His battle music is great, he isn't cold hearted, Kiros and Ward are also cool, and he gets on well with Moombas - weird creatures alot like Red XIII. But Laguna is only playable 5 times. 5 TIMES!!!!!!!!!!! WWWWWHHHHHHHYYYYY!!!!!! Why give us Squall, when we can have Laguna? It just doesn't meak sense If FF8 had Laguna as the main character, with Kiros, Ward, a Moomba and a bunch of other characers as the main group, then it would be much better. Oh well. Yes, I know. I was being very cruel to FF8, but if you look past it, it is OK. Sure, it sucks at times, especially when all of this comes into play, but hey. You may think the opposite to what I've just said. All I'm saying, is that I don't feel that it is as good as FF7 or FF9. Shame. It could have been so good. So, out of five, I am going to give FF8 4/5 (even though my review would make it seem that I hate it - which I don't). It's good, but don't expect it to be the best game ever, especially if you're a die-hard FF7 fan like me (which is why I was so brutal). Do you agree with this review? Do you think I was to kind or to cruel? Have I missed something out? Then e-mail me by using the button found at the top of this page. Who knows, if your review is good enough, I may even add it to the website. ________________________________________________________________________________ Browsing around the excellent site Shinra Online, I found two comments By two of its members -Tseng of the Turks (one of the people who own this wonderful site) and KnightsErrand. I think they are good so I have decided to past it in here. I have to say, that I agree with most of these views: KnightsErrand: All the humor in the game was so dull, you could use it as a mace...Jeez. Irvine hit on all the chicks...he sounded like an idiot too. "Oh I love you! I want to be with you forever!" WTF!? Yeah, that's just stupid. And somehow Seplphie didn't understand what he was saying...How the fuck did she not understand!? Squall was an asshole through the whole game. He had no leadership skills, so I have no idea why the hell he was chosen to lead Balamb Garden. Im sorry, but when your given a leadership position, you don't look up to a guy who is too pussy to give orders and can't make up his mind...The way his personality was, you don't really see him as warrior...Seifer was a fighter, the way he acted, the way he spoke...You just know he's gonna whoop some ass. Squall...he's just a wuss. "...Whatever" "Shut up!". Yeah, we're all shaken Squall... Selphie was annoying. She had no humor at all. Quistis was the only good character in there, fleshed out somewhat, but not as good as FFVII. The GF story was thrown in there last minute, and all of a sudden they know each other, but it does nothing to the overall effect of the story. It's like saying "Yay! We all grew up with each other but forgot. Oh well..." WTF!? That wasn't followed up at all. Squall's rivalry with Seifer was retarded. Apparently Seifer wasn't gonna put up with Squall's pussy attitude and decided to kill him. I dunno, but it just seemed ridiculous. Zell was okay, but he didn't really seem like much of a tough guy like Seifer. Zell seemed to get mad about the stupidest damn thing. Only good Character in the game was Laguna, Kiros, and Ward. They were cool. The only thing I didn't like is how they jumped from the thing in Laguna's hometown to the thing in Esthar. How the hell did they get there? Why the f**k did they go there? Square jumped a s**tload, and did nothing to explain it. The Lunar cry was never explained fully (which was nothing but a rip off of Meteor), it just happens because monsters happen to live on the moon. How they got there? Who knows, no one ever explained it. Why the f**k was the Ragnarok infested with aliens? Why were their ships their when the space station never reported anything wrong, or in need of ships...There are too many gaps, and Ultimecia wasn't really mentioned untill the end of Disc 3 with Edea explaining it to Laguna and Rinoa went all trance like to take the Sorceress spirit. Why the hell did Ultimecia want to destroy the world? WHY!? She never said why, and it really seemed pointless. Seifer helped her because he was under her control, but he didn't really notice, because he already hated that b***h Squall to begin with. The love story was pathtetic...and there was barely anything fun to do in the game like there was in FFVII and FFIX. That's all Im saying right now... Tseng of the Turks: One thing that really pissed me off more then anything was that Square was a commercial whore and went after the teenage audience. " Hey look! We made a game about teenagers saving the world. And Squall looks like a pop-star...he's so dreamy, but he doesn't take any s**t from anyone! He says whatever, but deep inside, he's sensitive! And Rinoa loves him. Awwwww". That's so f*****g gay. This is not a love story. It's TRYING to be a love story, just like Pearl Harbor tried to be a love story. That's what I hate...when movies or games try to appeal to everyone, and stops focusing on the basics. What is Final Fantasy 8 trying to be? A love story? A sci-fi story? A story about competition? What? Again, the all teenage cast sucked. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. Selphie was the most annoying character I've ever seen. She's "trying" to be cute. I know girls in real life like that...they "try" to be cute. You know what I'm talking about? That's Selphie. I think we all basically got it covered with Squall. I just want to add that the fact that all the girls wanted him made the story even more unconceivable in terms of character development. That's it for the story. If you want my take on the junction system and all that, I could go on hours and hours saying c**p about it... I myself would like to here more of Tseng's views, so I'm gona ask him to send me some when he next gets the chance. Watch this space... I also asked a few other members to give me there own opinion on FF7 and FF8 (go to FF7 Review for the FF7 uh... reviews) DayFul: I think it lacks the longlivety of the other FF games mainly becuse there aren't as many plyable characters and it's kinda repetetive. The junction system is something I have mixed feelings on yea customising characters is great but it makes the game so easy it's insane. Squall must rate as one of the msot sickeningly anoying characters in any game sorry but there's just a aura of geekness about him i'll leave it at that. Selpihe and Irvine are cool as hell and without them the game would be completely lacking in houmor. Zell is kinda cool but mainly comes over as the butt of everyones jokes but it's funny anyway. It's not as bad as some people make it out to be but FF7 and 9 are far better. FF Warrior: (Please note that this is all IMO) I found that FF8 was a good game, with amazing graphics a few cool characters (Laguna, Seifer and Zell) but I thought the storyline was pathetic. Squall really depressed me with his negative and gay personality and this put me off the storyline and the game slightly. The junctioning system was ok but I found it quite annoying that if you wanted your stats to stay high, you couldn't use any of the magic junctioned to your stats. I much prefered the materia system in FF7. Also the lack of mini-games annoyed me, since there were only about one or two. The card game, Triple Triad, was very addictive and collecting the cards was actually quite fun. The_Illusion: IMO, FF8 was just as good as FF7. Sure, things were different now that my standards were higher for Squaresoft RPGs(I had never completed one before FF7), but I still treated FF8 the same as FF7. To me, they were both fresh RPGs with great game-enhancing features. FF8 was no worse than FF7. I loved the fact that the characters looked like humans, instead of the way FF7 made the characters look short during the game. The cinemas were better, graphic-wise and meaning-wise, and the in-game graphics also increased. Plus, FF8 had great character development. We saw Squall learn to love and lighten up. We were able to feel how the characters felt. The final fmv was, IMO, better than FF7's final fmv. It touched me to see the people in this game care for others. That was the first game that ever did that to me. I was a little disappointed when I learned there were no mini-games besides the card game, but when I played the card game, I was hooked. It was better than all the other mini-games from FF7 comibined. The battle system was also suberb. I was confused about why they would abandon materia, but when I saw the draw system in use, I felt that they had something going there. Overall, I feel that this is definitely one of my top five all time games. Squall Leonhart: I liked FF8 a lot, but I liked FF7 more. I liked the FF8 battle system, with the enemies up on your level, that makes it a challenge, and it's fun. There's pro's and con's with both games, I just lost the fun when I leveled up so far ahead of the bosses and it lost it's challenge. But, since the enemies in FF8 are up on your level, it was easier to level up. I had all my people on lv. 100 in no time fighting on the Islands closest to Heaven/Hell. That was cool, but I wish it lasted longer. Another thing, you lose ALL chances of completing side quests on the 4th disc of FF8, everything is limited, with the exception of the Chocobo and Card sidequests. I liked the card system in FF8, but the chocobo thing completely sucked. Squall rocked, so f**k off! Loners are cool! The Great Sephiroth: Personally found "Final Fantasy" VIII very dissapointing. It really wasn't too bad a game, if it was under a different name. The graphics were superb, and the FMVs were jaw-dropping, but it just didn't strike me as belonging to the Final Fantasy series. Where were the beloved moogles? If you didn't look REALLY hard, you would never find chocobo! I didn't much care for most of the music either, it was very bland most of the time (Man with the Machine Gun and The Legendary Beast were pretty good tho). While the gameplay was fairly good (not that I don't have alot of problems with it) the story was rather boring. It was like Square just stopped trying, I mean none or the characters had their own background (with the exception of minor characters like Laguna and, uh....Laguna, and..you get the picture. even then his background wasn't really developed either) they all basically came from the same place! I just couldn't find myself caring for these people. Squall wasn't exactly very likeable nor was he a very competent leader, Selphie and Rinoa were downright annoying, Irvine's attempts at flirting were just pathetic, Zell and Quistis were the only two with any redeming qualities (Quistis more so). Your ultimate enemy (Ultimecia) was a joke, you never even see her untill just before you fight her at the very end and she really has no motives for what she's doing. But then nor do Squall and company, they really had no reason for fighting other than the fact that it's just thier job, nothing personal, at least Cloud had a reason for hating Sephiroth (FFVII). I found things in the world seemed out of place as well - "I use a sword and drive a convertable!" Uh, o...k....I was incredibly dissapointed with the character design as well, I just can't believe the designer was the same man (Tetsuya Nomura) who brought us Cloud Stryfe and Sephiroth..... Lastly, everything seemed to be reversed. You have better luck finshing the game by keeping your levels around 30 and playing cards, which becomes old after awhile, to make powerful magic from them (and drawing, ugh) to junction than boosting your levels to 100 and doing the same, due to the fact that the enemies level up as you do yet you can have a lv 20 character with 9999HP! It's like you want to stay away from gaining exp. and only earn AP. GFs seem to do a hell of alot more damage that a regular attack from one of your characters and you can summon them all you want with no penalty! Oooh! Challenging! (extreme sarcasm) What's the point? Also, most of the battles consist only of continuously drawing magic while just standing there to get your butt kicked, this gets boring real quick and honestly makes no sense, but "whatever"... Well, I've said my peace...out I also asked some of the people at Rubicant's excellent site: FF8Sucks to give me sme of their views of FF8: FF Fan said: "FF8, to those new to the series or genre, it's a magnificent game. No one can disagree when I say it's got amazing graphics. Characters are beautifully designed, in fact, so is the entire setting of the game. See for yourself, you'll know what I mean. The battle system is complicated if you don't understand it. But once you have the idea, it becomes easier. However, once you totally understand it, it becomes too easy, with the exception of some high level monsters and bosses. Everything I just listed is probably something hardcore RPGers despise in a game. I dunno, I think FF8's an above average game." Trent Kattastrofik said: "Final Fantasy 8. Such a prestigious game. Such an attractive facade. Yet, what lies underneath is a disappointment beyond disappointments. The game was overambitious, trying to combine millions of extremed concepts and convulating the game in the process. The characters were not only badly developed, but opportunities to show different dimensions of them DID show up but weren't seized, which is doubly annoying. The music was jaunty and annoying. The world was badly realized, with none of the intrigue or appeal that kept me exploring the previous FF worlds. The style lacked focus; it tried to reach everything from gothic fantasy to anti-gravity modules, and forced in recurrent FF themes into a realistic world forming one of the most awkward experiences ever. The battles showed yet another example of over-convulation, possessing so much complexity and complements to it's detrimental factors that it loopholes itself, making for battles that are disconcertingly easy when the battle system is understood, or horribly frustrating if the player doesn't quite have a firm grasp, and either way insipid and boring as hell. The theme of love wasn't conveyed at all, perceived only by the weak minded in the story's infatuated and cliched romances. The game's only redeeming factors were it's wonderful FMVs and graphics, and a well developed but not entirely likeable main character." The Brain Wizard said: Final Fantasy 8: A Review A simpleton's game. The epitome of ease. Quite possibly the most assinine game ever programmed. In what was hyped has one of them most "suspenseful" games ever, I found little reason to bat an eyelash at the paper-thin plot. The characters were so under-developed, I found myself yawning uncontrollably. Lucky Selphie never had to be burdened with the hardships of what most of us refer to as "personality," nor did Quistis. I found myself caring even less for the hero of the tale, Squall, who is completely antisocial. His only charming aspect is that he carries Squaresoft's ideal debonaire hairstyle, which is merely a clone of Cloud Strife's and Sion Barzahd. This game suffered in battle as none of the characters desplayed any unique qualities for confrontations. On top of that, enemies level-up with you, making the point of leveling-up totally irrelevant. It also didn't help that the draw system made battle annoyingly tedious by forcing you to stop battling to collect the useless magic spells. You didn't need them anyway. All you had to do was blast the enemies with the Guardian Forces and victory was easily yours. The GF animations themselves were way too long. I think I got the point of Doom Train the first 100 times I saw it. Don't get me started on Eden. My recommendation is that you purchase an older Final Fantasy before playing this game. If you're new to the RPG scene and play this game first you will be spoiled rotten and miss out on a lot of cool games, because you'll expect every RPG to stand up to the graphic quality that Final Fantasy 8 portrays. |
Tune: FF8 - Man with a Machine Gun/Laguna's Theme |
Laguna, Kiros, Ward and a Moomba - why couldn't FF8 be about them? If ot was set when Laguna went to Esthar to defate Adel, it would ahve been much better IMO. Lagna was an interesting charcater, who was under developed. Square could have also included Seifer, Zell and Quisits (plus some new character) as I liked them. |
Tune: FF8 - The Salt Flats |