Final Fantasy VIII is even more of a departure from the traditional Final Fantasys than the previous entry. Focusing on a core of young heroes, the narrative is allowed to be constructed in a way that showcases the struggles young men and women face as they come into adulthood.
The cast of Final Fantasy VIII are unique within the series, all of the main six are all teens within only a year apart in age. The modern and academia tone established early on is really refreshing from the gloomy and depressing Midgar that opened Final Fantasy VII. The main cast and even NPCs function within school factions: Loners, cliques, the administrators, and characters behave accordingly. The main character often vocalizes his internal frustrations and commentary regarding all manner of situations, making him to be believable as a character. We get to witness events that radically change the main character, as well as the other members, into more rounded and importantly "real" characters. The other playable and secondary characters also carry weight and bear meaning into the story.
While I enjoy the first half of Final Fantasy VIII's story, the second half of the game overcomplicates the narrative. Given the elements that were already present in Final Fantasy VIII's lore up until the point, it seems like an unnecessary inclusion; or it was the intended endpoint that they had little concept of reaching. While the story does suffer immensely from narrative haphazardness, the lead character literally carries the burden and emotional weight of the story, so while the events are jumbled, the emotional strength is still poignant until the game's conclusion.
Where Final Fantasy VIII struggles is the mechanics regarding gameplay. The junction system is an expanded Esper equip from Final Fantasy VI, but taken to a degree that actually dissuades the player from utilizing spells outright. The junction system runs COUNTER to the design of the game, where enemy levels scale to that of the player party; meaning you can junction in significantly higher powers without the need of scaling level, making battles insanely trivial.
Triple Triad is perhaps the best side content in a videogame. As stated before it is very easy to break the gameplay, and Triple Triad not only provides fantastical rewards for playing, but can be done so extremely early in the game. The other side content also serves to enrich the overall lore and story of the game, with only a few exceptions that are arbitrary filler that is also easily missed.
In context of its primary core of characters, Final Fantasy VIII is relatable to the experiences of a youth struggling to make sense of the world as it's forced upon them. The card game is fun to use as a means of breaking the gameplay apart. But it's shortcomings and really haphazard second half make it an experience I couldn't recommend more than once.
The cast of Final Fantasy VIII are unique within the series, all of the main six are all teens within only a year apart in age. The modern and academia tone established early on is really refreshing from the gloomy and depressing Midgar that opened Final Fantasy VII. The main cast and even NPCs function within school factions: Loners, cliques, the administrators, and characters behave accordingly. The main character often vocalizes his internal frustrations and commentary regarding all manner of situations, making him to be believable as a character. We get to witness events that radically change the main character, as well as the other members, into more rounded and importantly "real" characters. The other playable and secondary characters also carry weight and bear meaning into the story.
While I enjoy the first half of Final Fantasy VIII's story, the second half of the game overcomplicates the narrative. Given the elements that were already present in Final Fantasy VIII's lore up until the point, it seems like an unnecessary inclusion; or it was the intended endpoint that they had little concept of reaching. While the story does suffer immensely from narrative haphazardness, the lead character literally carries the burden and emotional weight of the story, so while the events are jumbled, the emotional strength is still poignant until the game's conclusion.
Where Final Fantasy VIII struggles is the mechanics regarding gameplay. The junction system is an expanded Esper equip from Final Fantasy VI, but taken to a degree that actually dissuades the player from utilizing spells outright. The junction system runs COUNTER to the design of the game, where enemy levels scale to that of the player party; meaning you can junction in significantly higher powers without the need of scaling level, making battles insanely trivial.
Triple Triad is perhaps the best side content in a videogame. As stated before it is very easy to break the gameplay, and Triple Triad not only provides fantastical rewards for playing, but can be done so extremely early in the game. The other side content also serves to enrich the overall lore and story of the game, with only a few exceptions that are arbitrary filler that is also easily missed.
In context of its primary core of characters, Final Fantasy VIII is relatable to the experiences of a youth struggling to make sense of the world as it's forced upon them. The card game is fun to use as a means of breaking the gameplay apart. But it's shortcomings and really haphazard second half make it an experience I couldn't recommend more than once.