Final Fantasy 8 Review

"This game is really pretty to look at, and not half bad to play!"

As I powered up my Playstation I remembered that faithful day, the day I first began Final Fantasy VII. My palms became moist as I looked on at the Squaresoft logo pop up, I didn't press a button and already Uematsu's masterful compositions had begun. "The Overture" by Nobuo Uematsu, it was an opening credit type movie, very common in a Final Fantasy; there were pictures flashing along with the text, pictures of characters that I've yet to know, yet to love. I quickly hit start and was prompted to begin a new game... New Game, those words they beckoned my spirit relive the mystery and intrigue that was Final Fantasy VII, it had been about a year... No, I'm positive it had been two years, yes to years ago. As I selected "New Game," I had no idea what I was getting into... My eyes would never feel the same, nor look at a game in the same light.

The Intro

God... It's incredible, Uematsu's soulful Liberi Fatali combined with Sakaguchi-san's vision of a war between love and chaos came alive in my eyes. The beach scene is one of the most beautiful CGI movies that I've ever witness on any platform. Squall and Seifer's battle in the dark valley was just mind bending, and at the end of it - the feeling I had watching Aeris walk from out of her alley way and into the dark cruel streets of Midgar, had been reborn.

The Beginning

I had to stop myself, well my controller had hit my carpet and the drool was just about ready to do the same. I picked up my controller and closed my mouth, I sat there and noticed that the graphics were quite similar to Parasite Eve's. Dr. Kadowaki was the first character I met, she asked me how I was feeling. After a couple of brief quick question's I selected the main character's name; Squall. Squall Leonhart, the hero or was he? As I went on with the lecture, the good doctor summoned Quistis, my instructor - but what? I also was met by a strange young woman who was glad to see me again.

The Graphics

This is a good time to discuss and rate the graphics in Final Fantasy VIII. They've come a very long way from the 2D sprite images, to Popeye looking polygon creations, and now to fully life-like 3D models. The ingame graphics are similar to VII, pre-rendered backgrounds with fluently animated scenes, the characters have good movement and don't become an eyesore at later levels of play. The FMVs (Full Motion Video) are just thee best movies ever to be put into a video game, and the FMAs (Full Motion Action Events) such as the train scene and the parade scene are done quite well indeed. I could spend a couple paragraphs just on the FMVs but that would just force me to stop writing and start playing. If you played VII, you'll find it easy to become adjusted to the look of things, they are much brighter in this game and more colorful then VII's lighting and coloring were. All in all, the graphics are top-notch. The uniforms and costumes that the character's wear (from Squall's black leather jacket, with fur lining to Rinoa's sky blue tight woven sweat-jacket with angel wings on the back), are very detailed and well animated throughout the game. The scenery is just pretty to look at and can catch you off guard at numerous times. Speaking of FMAs, the first you will have to deal with is the gorgeous walk into Balamb Garden, home of the SeeD (Pronounced "Seed") trainees. You are taken from a walk with Quistis, to a pan of the school, and then finally into a complete aerial view of the building. All the while Uematsu's "Blue Fields" is adding something special to the cutscene.

The Music

Famed composer Nobuo Uematsu returns once again to deliever the soundtrack of the year. Although in my opinion not as well composed as Yasunori's Xenogears OST (Original Sound Track), but it is fantastic in it's own right. From the start of Liberi Fatali to the ending Overture, the soundtrack has a great feel to it. Faye Wong's "Eyes On Me" is a very heart warming song about love and goes nicely with the game's theme torwards the ending. My personal favorite tracks are probably "Maybe I'm a Lion" Squall's theme song and one of the most hardcore songs composed by Uematsu. Another great addition to the soundtrack is the simply inspiring, "The Landing," this track maybe just thee best track on this album. It starts off with such power and then ingame it is accompanied by one of the greatest FMVs you will ever see in a game, the landing of the SeeD seacruisers on the shore's of Dollet. Many of the tracks mesmerize you, but the biggest one in my opinion is "Ride On" it takes "Highwind" to a whole new level and is infact the theme song of the space cruiser known as the Ragnarok in VIII. The sound effects also play quite nicely, and you can hear birds singing and the cold wind inside caverns hitting the dark dry walls.

The Gameplay

I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy I through VII and VIII is a big step backwards to me in the sense of gameplay. This is the first and last Final Fantasy that your comrades walk behind you and not go inside you, leaving you the main character alone, which was extremely spooky to see in VII. THe new "Conjunction" system is rather annoying as well, inside of buying magic or materia from shops, you can drain spells from "Draw Points" to aid you in your quest. You may draw anywhere from 1 to 10 "casts" into your inventory. Monsters and other enemies also have spells you can draw from them, some boss creatures go so far as to have rare spells and Guardian Forces to drain. Speaking of Guardian Forces... remember the summons from Final Fantasy? Well they've returned in a somewhat better way. This time around look for Shiva, Ifrit, Carbunkle, and other's to have there very own set of HP and levels. Inside of starting off with commands such as "Item" or "Magic" you will have to equip the Guardian Forces to your characters, and "learn" the commands, while learning many other useful spells and abilities. My favorite ability that i believe all Final Fantasies should use is the abiltity that Diablo gives, which stops all enemy encounters while equiped. Along with the change in the magic system and the summon system comes a new change in the Linit Break system, although Limit Breaks were first introduced in FF7, they've become one of the most popular parts of Final Fantasy gameplay, this time around your character's will not have a break meter that gradually fills when they receive damage from an enemy. Instead you must be extremely low on HP to use the breaks, although they are well worth it at the higher levels, and of course you will get a spell that instantly boosts you into Limit Break mode called "Aura."

Something you notice fast is the fact that Squall's Gunblade is not just a sword, but infact has an added command called "Gunfire" where hitting the R1 shoulder button at the right time will fire the gun and inflict even more damage on the enemy. At first this was really stupid to me but after a while I could do it without thinking at all. If anything the weak points of the battle system are probably Zell's Limit Break, Quistis' Limit Break, the "Draw" system, and the Conjunction system. Other then that the battle system is fine. The gameplay has suffered a bit, but it's all in good taste and will seem less important as you get farther into the game.

The mini-quests and new card game also add much variety to VIII, the card game is just plain exciting to get into at higher levels and will have you question all over to get the highest level of cards, the chocobo quests are fun also but fail in comparison to FF7's chocobo raiser.

In the End

In closing really this game is pretty to look at, and not half bad to play! It is not Final Fantasy I through VII and is worse in my opinion then VII, the story line is definitely not for everyone and the main character fails to make you want to know his past. If you are a diehard Final Fantasy fan, this game will be for you. This isn't for a casual gamer seeing as it takes up to 65 hours to beat the entire game and get all the secrets. If you are looking for Final Fantasy 7 part 2, you aern't going to find it, Sakaguchi-san has said it time and time again, each Fantasy is a new and ever changing one. The graphics are the best for any RPG and the gameplay suffers a bit but in all it is worth your money and time.

I give it a 4.5 out of 5.