Post by Eric T. Jones on Jul 7, 2008 22:41:01 GMT -5
At least from my cinematic standpoint, "Final Fantasy VIII" is the best video game ever made. It has an epic, expansive storyline revolving around none other than a futuristic military academy, a tyrannical sorceress (but before you get anywhere, there's a LOT more than meets the eye), and our characters-- none other than a few 17-year-olds graduating to combat class, some of them transfer students, and one of them being the story's love interest.
Our main character, Squall, is a "lone wolf" type, but don't mistake that for "emo". He's a little twist on the RPG cliche of silent protagonists; Squall certainly does talk, and he has quite the personality (especially when he's coldly telling people off), but far less than the other characters. We do, however, get to delve into his inner thoughts, epitomizing the rich character development contained within FFVIII.
In stark contrast is our buddy, Zell, who pretty much has fists of steel and with a similar impatience as Squall. The difference is, Zell is quite vocal, and quite loud, therefore the funniest of the characters. We also have "ladies' man" Irvine, who in combat is the cowboy with the shotgun (in later years I'd say this would be the Sam Elliot character, if he were 40 years younger).
Then our very likable, very lively set of female characters, who would appear to be great magic users (their limit breaks emphasize this), but manage to have some pretty badass weapons themselves. So we have the transfer student, event organizer Selphie (giggly and definitely not the one whose buttons you want to push... although she's so delightful when she wants to destroy the base that attacked her home), "older sister" figure to Squall and instructor Quistis (weapon of choice: whip), and the love interest Rinoa.
Now, why am I going out of my way to mention the epic story and expansive list of characters, other than the reason that the game certainly has many precious bits of humor (all while maintaining a consistently serious tone-- actually, if you've seen "The Spirits Within", that's exactly what you have here)?
That's where we get to gameplay. You WANT to play, constantly, to advance the story and get more of those precious character moments. I've played many games where it got so monotonous that I eventually put them down in frustration. FFVIII never takes that long, moving lightning fast, especially in the context of its RPG genre.
I'll even tell you why, even though RPGs are infamous to players outside the genre for long, tedious sections of leveling up. You still have to do that here, yes. But at the same time, constantly battling monsters isn't going to make you that much more powerful against your enemies. You might get this hint when bosses DON'T give any experience points, and you'll move on to a little thing called AP (Ability Points).
Thus, the heart of your characters in combat: the infamous Junction system, which while in the story your characters are clearly defined and fleshed out, in battles makes their abilities more ambiguous than usual. Magic powers, for instance, are just like items; you can get them from various stations, or steal them from your enemies. These spells are thus "junctioned" to whatever stat (Strength/Magic/Spirit/Speed/etc...) is available to you. What determines it?
The abilities of your junctioned Guardian Force (or GF; I'm sure you've got a joke of your own for this). GFs are summoned creatures which can unleash massive havoc, and for beginners, this is the way to go in combat... at the risk of repeating the same long, drawn-out animation again and again. More traditional combat like simple Attacking and Drawing your enemies' magic to use against them are ideal if you want to get more money in this world...
...oh yeah... another element I forgot... you don't get money by killing monsters. Back to the whole military academy thing, you eventually graduate to combat class (SeeD), and every 30 minutes or so you get your salary, depending on what your rank is. Whether it goes up or down depends on your conduct in combat and in the decisions you make.
Its battle system is also a slight compromise for the turn-based genre. Active Time Battle (putting it into "real-time") has been there since the fourth installment, but you'll find more and more buttons to mash as you make your moves- including the most basic "trigger" button which you pull at a certain part of the attack animation, almost doubling the strength of the blows you make. If you're thinking "Paper Mario", you have the right idea, but in a far more complex setting.
In no way is "Final Fantasy VIII" your traditional RPG. Even within the context of its namesake, it's been widely derided by fans for its eccentricities and innovations... and to an extent, the love story. As for being excessively complicated, this point is moot when the true difficulty level is realized.
As I said, it moves lightning fast. Unless you've never played RPGs before (this was actually one of my very first), the complex system is easy to learn, and battles flow by without much difficulty so you're free to experiment.
With an exquisite epic-level story, lively characters and intricate character development, along with a complex-in-design but simple-in-execution mode of gameplay going hand-in-hand in turning this from a game into an addiction, there's no doubt this is a great game.
Being as I haven't played a zillion video games like I have seen a zillion movies, I am of little authority to say "Final Fantasy VIII" is the greatest game of all time. I will say I have tried many others, but none have won me over as much as this one. And I will say it is one of the best games I've ever played, with the best story and characters created for a game. A strange hybrid between interactive novel, interactive movie and RPG. It's why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. It's been out for 9 years, so it may be difficult to locate (or play on today's hardware), but it you can find it, definitely play.
Our main character, Squall, is a "lone wolf" type, but don't mistake that for "emo". He's a little twist on the RPG cliche of silent protagonists; Squall certainly does talk, and he has quite the personality (especially when he's coldly telling people off), but far less than the other characters. We do, however, get to delve into his inner thoughts, epitomizing the rich character development contained within FFVIII.
In stark contrast is our buddy, Zell, who pretty much has fists of steel and with a similar impatience as Squall. The difference is, Zell is quite vocal, and quite loud, therefore the funniest of the characters. We also have "ladies' man" Irvine, who in combat is the cowboy with the shotgun (in later years I'd say this would be the Sam Elliot character, if he were 40 years younger).
Then our very likable, very lively set of female characters, who would appear to be great magic users (their limit breaks emphasize this), but manage to have some pretty badass weapons themselves. So we have the transfer student, event organizer Selphie (giggly and definitely not the one whose buttons you want to push... although she's so delightful when she wants to destroy the base that attacked her home), "older sister" figure to Squall and instructor Quistis (weapon of choice: whip), and the love interest Rinoa.
Now, why am I going out of my way to mention the epic story and expansive list of characters, other than the reason that the game certainly has many precious bits of humor (all while maintaining a consistently serious tone-- actually, if you've seen "The Spirits Within", that's exactly what you have here)?
That's where we get to gameplay. You WANT to play, constantly, to advance the story and get more of those precious character moments. I've played many games where it got so monotonous that I eventually put them down in frustration. FFVIII never takes that long, moving lightning fast, especially in the context of its RPG genre.
I'll even tell you why, even though RPGs are infamous to players outside the genre for long, tedious sections of leveling up. You still have to do that here, yes. But at the same time, constantly battling monsters isn't going to make you that much more powerful against your enemies. You might get this hint when bosses DON'T give any experience points, and you'll move on to a little thing called AP (Ability Points).
Thus, the heart of your characters in combat: the infamous Junction system, which while in the story your characters are clearly defined and fleshed out, in battles makes their abilities more ambiguous than usual. Magic powers, for instance, are just like items; you can get them from various stations, or steal them from your enemies. These spells are thus "junctioned" to whatever stat (Strength/Magic/Spirit/Speed/etc...) is available to you. What determines it?
The abilities of your junctioned Guardian Force (or GF; I'm sure you've got a joke of your own for this). GFs are summoned creatures which can unleash massive havoc, and for beginners, this is the way to go in combat... at the risk of repeating the same long, drawn-out animation again and again. More traditional combat like simple Attacking and Drawing your enemies' magic to use against them are ideal if you want to get more money in this world...
...oh yeah... another element I forgot... you don't get money by killing monsters. Back to the whole military academy thing, you eventually graduate to combat class (SeeD), and every 30 minutes or so you get your salary, depending on what your rank is. Whether it goes up or down depends on your conduct in combat and in the decisions you make.
Its battle system is also a slight compromise for the turn-based genre. Active Time Battle (putting it into "real-time") has been there since the fourth installment, but you'll find more and more buttons to mash as you make your moves- including the most basic "trigger" button which you pull at a certain part of the attack animation, almost doubling the strength of the blows you make. If you're thinking "Paper Mario", you have the right idea, but in a far more complex setting.
In no way is "Final Fantasy VIII" your traditional RPG. Even within the context of its namesake, it's been widely derided by fans for its eccentricities and innovations... and to an extent, the love story. As for being excessively complicated, this point is moot when the true difficulty level is realized.
As I said, it moves lightning fast. Unless you've never played RPGs before (this was actually one of my very first), the complex system is easy to learn, and battles flow by without much difficulty so you're free to experiment.
With an exquisite epic-level story, lively characters and intricate character development, along with a complex-in-design but simple-in-execution mode of gameplay going hand-in-hand in turning this from a game into an addiction, there's no doubt this is a great game.
Being as I haven't played a zillion video games like I have seen a zillion movies, I am of little authority to say "Final Fantasy VIII" is the greatest game of all time. I will say I have tried many others, but none have won me over as much as this one. And I will say it is one of the best games I've ever played, with the best story and characters created for a game. A strange hybrid between interactive novel, interactive movie and RPG. It's why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. It's been out for 9 years, so it may be difficult to locate (or play on today's hardware), but it you can find it, definitely play.