So, here's how I feel about FF8.
Final Fantasy 8 is the 8th in the Final Fantasy series, though like every other installment in the series, it has nothing to do with previous or future titles. (If they have anything to do with each other, they have the same number slapped on them, hence 10-2 and 13-3, along with FF7: Crisis Core.) BUT, regardless of that, I'm not here to do a history lesson on Final Fantasy, or on FF8 either.
I'm just here to talk about why enjoyed playing it.
I started playing it for research purposes, actually. FtPverse, being a Kingdom Hearts fanfic (KH is a crossover between Final Fantasy and Disney, in case, you weren't aware of that either), already features the main character of FF8, Squall. Er, Leon. Y'know, this guy:
This was not my first time playing FF8, actually. My older sister (magik) had played FF8 shortly after I'd finished FF7, and I'd watched her play it from start to finish. I'd started to play it myself, but got as far as the part where a giant robot spider chases you through Dollet. I got interrupted for a phonecall, and by the time I was done on the phone, I decided "I never want to deal with that spider again", turned the system off, and didn't touch the game once after that.
That was four years ago.
This time around, between wanting to go through it for research purposes, flat out still owning a copy and why watch a walkthrough when you own the game, and knowing that stopping because of a giant spider at the beginning of the game was kind of dumb, I picked it back up again.
And it was a lot of fun!!! Having my sister (a huge FF8 fan) watch over my shoulder for half of it, and then tweeting about it to friends (one of whom is also a huge FF8 fan) definitely made it twice as enjoyable.
It's also, the first Final Fantasy game I've beaten since FF7 (well, and Crisis Core, but that counts as FF7). I started 10 and 12 and 13, and though I got halfway through the latter two, I just!! Lost interest. I don't know if the fact FF8's the only Final Fantasy that's been able to keep my attention since FF7 should tell you anything, but, I'm just, tossing it out there.
Anyway!! The actual "how I felt about this game" section!!
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It was a lot of fun. The battle style was definitely a huge plus for me, actually. "Oh, I should attack and take 5 turns of battle? Well, why do that when I CAN SUMMON SHIVA!" "Oh, I have to fight this boss battle and worry about their elemental defense? Why do that when I CAN SUMMON EDEN!!"
Definitely a lot of fun, and by the time we were at the end of disc 3, thanks to Encounter-None, I could decide "I don't want to face any more enemies, I just want to muscle through the plot" and, I could. It was great.
I know the magic system isn't considered "the best" but I didn't find it too much of a chore, and I was having too much fun with the "summon things repeatedly with absolutely no repercussions" to really care.
Story wise, it's great, it's interesting, and while it gets a little Convoluted at points, well, so does.... every other.... Final Fantasy. (And Kingdom Hearts.) I was a huge fan of the sorceresses, and I think the whole cast of characters was really interesting? Sure, it's a Literal Soap Opera at times, but, it's fun. It's good. It's well written. Is it perfect? Nah! But nothing is.
And, here I'm gonna get into spoilers, so, stop reading if you don't want those.
The games been out for like, 16 years now.
But still. Spoilers. Watch out.
I think it's really cool and interesting how real of a character Rinoa is, how human she is. She makes mistakes, she's childish, she's flawed. But she's likeable. She's loveable. And I'm also just a huge fan of girls with Literally Infinite Power in their veins. Ha.
But Rinoa felt real well written, and so did Squall, and I can't fully articulate how I feel about their narratives, but man, it felt good. And I'm not a huge fan of Romance Plots lately, but, Squall/Rinoa felt good. It didn't feel too rushed. There was never a point where Squall stopped being extremely awkward because Wow, He's In Love! Even after it became clear to him and the players what he felt for Rinoa he was still sooooo bad at interacting in any sort of ~romantic~ way and it was really good. It was really refreshing.
Also, there's this:
So, yeah!!! I really enjoyed FF8.
I loved it's gameplay, I loved it's story, I loved it's characters, and most of all I loved joking about it with my sister / friends. It was a lot of fun.
