Imagine being in the unenviable position in which Square Enix found itself following the release of Final Fantasy VII in 1997. The studio had just put out a genre-defining game that many still say they haven’t topped and had catapulted itself to a position that invited unrealistically high expectations. Gamers are a notoriously fickle bunch to please, and anything less than an equally groundbreaking game as Final Fantasy VII would be met with waves of disappointment and complaining. Bearing this enormous pressure in mind, it’s no wonder that Final Fantasy VIII turned out as… well, weird as it did.
The only answer to the impossible question of “what’s next?” was to take things in such a preposterous direction that fans would just be left baffled by the final product, unsure of whether they loved or hated it. Indeed, now that Final Fantasy VIII Remastered has finally arrived on modern consoles, it’s rather fascinating to see how time has treated this one. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered certainly isn’t the best release in this treasured series, but it also proves to be one of the most memorable and innovative instalments.
Where to begin with this story? After the heady, brooding tone of the narrative in Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII was certainly… fascinating. The narrative follows Squall, a cringy and angst-filled ‘lone wolf’ teen who is needlessly irritated by just about everyone in his life. Squall lives at a military school called Balamb Garden as a member of a special organization called SeeD and spends his time going out on missions for the organization in a mercenary-like role, occasionally accompanied by his longtime rival Seifer. After his graduation ceremony, he falls in love with a kindhearted girl named Rinoa, but things quickly go awry when the plot turns and begins to focus on the eclectic mixture of antagonists. Final Fantasy VIII features not one, not two, but three evil witches, each of which seems less planned by the writers than last.
See, Final Fantasy VIII has the sort of story that’s a complete dumpster fire if you try to take it seriously, but it becomes extremely enjoyable if you take a step back and enjoy it for all its ridiculousness. Case in point, a completely left-field revelation partway through the game reveals how several of the main characters – including one of their teachers – all grew up in the same orphanage when they were young, but they forgot because the Guardian Forces (summonable entities) that live in their brains made them lose their memories. Or, in another memorable example, the primary financier of Balamb Gardens is revealed to be a miserly goblin creature named NORG, who lives in the basement of the school and eventually gets in a fight with Squall and his gang. Once defeated, ol’ NORG simply retreats into a cocoon and is scarcely referenced again.
Long lost, time-manipulating sisters being chased by witches? Check. Hordes of monsters living on the moon that inexplicably fall to the world? Check. Final Fantasy games have always had some rather meandering plots, but even by series’ standards, Final Fantasy VIII plays out like a bizarre fever dream that just keeps upping the ante as it slowly descends further into madness. And yet, it’s a story that you can’t help but love. Final Fantasy VIII features a plot that’s very much an example of ‘so bad it’s good’, offering up a thoroughly gripping (if mostly incoherent) tale that’s truly unforgettable.
The strangeness of the story extends to the gameplay systems, too, which drop series’ convention by eliminating the MP bar and introducing the ‘Draw’ mechanic. With this, you can spend a character’s turn in battle to siphon magic away from enemies, either casting it in that same turn or storing it in your inventory for later use. Magic is a basically a consumable item here, and it’s critical to character growth and development. See, Final Fantasy VIII doesn’t feature equippable accessories and items as a standard JRPG would; instead, you essentially ‘wear’ magic spells to bolster stats. It’s certainly an interesting idea, but unfortunately, the Draw mechanic just serves to be a tedious time sink that punishes you for using magic and encourages you to do the same repetitive actions ad infinitum.
You can stack up to one hundred of a given spell at a time, and the more spells you have, the more they’ll bolster the stat that you’ve attached them to. So, it’s in your best interest to spend battles not actually fighting the enemies, but repeatedly spamming Draw to suck out as much of the magic that you need from them. The amount of magic drawn out each time is random – you get anywhere from one to nine spells at a time – which means that battles can take close to ten minutes if you’re starting from scratch with a given spell’s stock. If you choose not to do this, or you actually cast your magic in combat, your stats will inevitably suffer and later enemy encounters and boss fights will be made immeasurably harder. You still level up like in past games, but the main stat increases will come from the spells you equip. The idea behind this whole Draw system is interesting, but it forces you to play the game in a very limited, time-consuming manner that rapidly becomes a bore.
Though the jobs system is still nowhere to be found, it finds something of a replacement with the new Guardian Forces system. As you progress the story, you’ll collect a series of monsters and deities (Ifrit, Shiva, Cactuar, etc.) which can be equipped to characters and summoned in battle for super attacks. After each victory, Guardian Forces receive experience and level-up independently of your characters and can unlock new passives and abilities which can be transferred to other characters with that Guardian Force. It’s a cool system that encourages experimentation while also giving you the flexibility to swap up team compositions at will, and it smartly brings summons back to the forefront of combat after their relative obscurity in Final Fantasy VII.
Aside from the tried and tested loop of ATB combat and dungeon crawling, Final Fantasy VIII also introduces a rather fascinating and surprisingly addictive ongoing minigame called Triple Triad, which more or less works as an in-universe equivalent to Magic: The Gathering. The rules of the game are simple enough to pick up, but they have quite a bit of depth once you get into it, and this is only further exacerbated by a huge amount of collectable cards and an ever-changing ruleset depending on what region of the world you’re in. Aside from offering up a nice break from the usual gameplay, Triple Triad is also integrated into the main game mechanics in how you can transmute cards into spells, which lets you cut down on the Draw grind while also giving you access to some unusually powerful spells early in the game if you know what you’re doing. It’s not often that a minigame receives this level of TLC in a several-dozen-hour epic such as Final Fantasy VIII, but Triple Triad stands as a great example of how introducing a completely unrelated yet well-developed gameplay concept alongside the core gameplay loop of a game can bolster the value of the overall product by a significant margin.
This being a remaster of the original Final Fantasy VIII, certain quality of life features that have been included in most of the other Final Fantasy remasters are all present and accounted for. Unlike the original PSX release, you can opt to triple the game’s speed, buff up your party members to max health and unlimited limit breaks, or completely disable random encounters, all at the click of a stick. For the most part, Final Fantasy VIII holds up reasonably well in terms of overall pacing and difficulty curve, but having the ability to gloss over the uglier parts of gameplay proves to be an absolute godsend that dramatically raises your overall enjoyment.
For example, summon attacks are fun to use, but also feature some almost comically long animations when casting their attacks. Though a minigame can allow you to bolster the attacks’ damage during these animations, it’s nice that you can breeze right through them if you’d like. Our only real complaint in this area is that Square didn’t include a slew of other quality of life buffs that were included in the PC re-release, such as maxing Guardian Forces levels and enabling all Triple Triad cards. Considering that the console and PC ports are effectively the same game and that there isn’t any rational reason for why those features couldn’t also feature in the console port, it just comes off as feeling like a cheap way to encourage more sales of the PC version.
From a presentation standpoint, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered certainly stands as the best-looking version of the classic, although its age as a PSX title is all too apparent. The new, redesigned character models and UI are a welcome inclusion that bring much more clarity to the blocky and aged look of the original, but the pre-rendered backgrounds, unfortunately, haven’t been shown the same love. Next to the enhanced models, the backgrounds look painfully flat and low-res, creating a stark divide between the old and new. It’s understandable why this is the case – evidently, Square lost the original files to the backgrounds a long time ago – but that does little to soften the harshness of these antiquated relics. That being said, you do grow more accustomed to the backgrounds after putting enough hours in, and the battle animations are still top-notch.
Conclusion
Nearly twenty years later, Final Fantasy VIII proves to be just as weird and polarizing a release as it was when it first came out. Cool new ideas like Guardian Forces and Triple Triad are hamstrung by an absolutely wack story and the tedium of the Draw system, making for an experience that’s great in some regards and not so great in others. Taken as a whole, however, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered proves to be a fun and enjoyable romp through the weirder side of the Final Fantasy series, notably bolstered by the new HD presentation and the inclusion of helpful quality of life features. This is easily the most skippable entry of all the mainline Final Fantasy games on the Switch right now, but if you find yourself to be a fan of either the Final Fantasy series or the JRPG genre, Final Fantasy VIII Remastered proves to be a release that’s certainly worth your time.
Comments (138)
Still want it to complete my Switch collection! Now give me IV and VI!
Do you still get a full GAME OVER and are sent back to the start screen if the timer hits 00:00 on Squall's exam?
I think FFVIII gets a bad rep. It is probably my least favorite of the PSX titles but I don’t think the main plot is any more “insane” than FFVII’s. I think it’s got a lot going for it, including the best final dungeon in the series. I’m excited to play it again on my Switch!
"The story is utterly insane"
I don't get this "con". The plot is pretty crazy for sure, but it centers around a cast of quite convincing characters. Something like Xenoblade feels just as insane to me, and less sincere.
How much magic between 1-9 you can draw at a time is not completely random as it is based on you MAG stat.
Ah, the first JRPG I ever played. I remember being blown away by the scope of it, it was a whole new thing to me.
Till I got stuck in a battle I couldn't win at the start of disc 4, rage quit and never went back.
Can't remember the draw system - I'm tempted to buy it again but I wonder if time and exposure to other JRPGs won't be kind to my memory of it.
Sorry this is a 9 my favourite of the ps1 games. Once again it just seems another case of the site trying to generate extra clicks and be "different" .
How's the story being insane a bad thing?also it's not as bad as most of the other games.
Just signed up for this:
1st: Review doesnt seem neutral, but thats just my cup of tea. Game should be a 9, instead of a 7.
2nd: DONT SPOIL THE PLOT in a review.. even if its an old game.
I have to agree with this review. FF VIII is definitely bogged down by it's plot and the junction system (which you can break so easily). That said, it definitely still rocks. I wish there were more scenes with Laguna and crew. I'd play FF IX or VI over this any day though.
This game can burn in hell. It is by far the worst in the series (well I never played ff2 but this at least runs it's money with it for worst gameplay and leveling)
yeah Im a bit surprised about how many spoilers are spilled in this review. I have to say I cant really remember this game that well but I do plan on buying it. I do remember getting stuck fairly early on in the game and never going back to it. This is one game I would like to finish. Im nearly finished with 9 and have already finished 7
Also as others have said ,why all the spoilers ? It's an old game but still no need for it very unprofessional!
Some of us might not of played for sometime and want to enjoy it all over again, well that out of the window thanks to the review
It seems to be a trend to spoil games just because they're old. It appears that if you didn't play them back in their time, you don't deserve to enjoy them for the first time now. But what are the remakes, remasters and rereleases for, then?
Anyway, I didn't like to read about that dull combat system, so I think I'll buy VII when its price drops and decide from there. I've never played a single Final Fantasy game before. I'm a Dragon Quest huge fan, though.
I like that the card game is noted as the first positive in the review, people really do like that huh? Never got the appeal myself (Aside from how utterly broken the rewards you get from it are).
And yeah... I have to agree that that's some questionable use of story spoilers in what's supposed to be a professional review.
Anyway... FF8 is far from my favorite entry in the series with all its weird mechanics, but it has been quite some time since I last played it so I'm actually kind of excited to have this opportunity to replay it again, for all its faults the soundtrack in this game is just phenomenal, best in the series I'd argue and that's no small feat.
Weirdest game? 7/10? Utter nonsense.
There might be an argument for editing this review to at least give more of a warning about spoilers. I don't get bothered much by spoilers, but it's a reasonable thing to be bothered by, and a review is aimed at an audience who hasn't played the game. I don't want to sound upset because I'm pretty neutral on Final Fantasy and on spoilers, but I think the author could have said something like "the plot takes some insane twists and shouldn't be taken too seriously. There's way too many villains and most aren't written well. But if you let it be goofy nonsense, it can be a good time." Something like that would communicate the point without any real spoilers.
Woof. This looks like an emulated game on PC with a fan made texture pack. $5 PSone Classic collection at best.
SE milking nostalgia.
If being utterly insane, or strange, or weird is considered a negative, we would not discover new frontiers. And this doesn’t just apply to video games.
I give this review a 2 out of 10. Wack.
@Moroboshi876 The game doesn't have a dull combat system. The reviewer made a ridiculous statement in saying that the Junction Systems pushes you away from using magic and forces you into repetitive gameplay.
You start this game being able to junction one spell out of the hundred or so spells in the game. By the end of the game you can junction about 16.
Regardless, if you spammed a junctioned spell through your fights, the impact on your stats would be modest to insignificant and then you can just refill them when you feel like its getting noticeable. You can pull 15 to 20 spells per draw most of the time and the game is specifically designed to let you refill your magic easily without having to use the draw mechanic.
I played through 7 and half of 8 as a kid, loved 7, indifferent to 8.
This year I played through 9, which is a much more coherent story, the 10 which has the best gameplay and story, then I started 7 again which I’m finding is slightly obtuse and confusing in where to go next and it’s easy to lose the story by not paying attention to the text whizzing past.
Not sure if I want to attempt 8 again, but I know it can wait for now.
P.S: what is it with people sulking on the internet because a reviewer has a different opinion to them? It used to be a thing, but now it’s on par with insulting their Mother and killing their pets. Everyone is entitled to their opinion!
I'm on the big tank thingy at the missile base on the OG Steam version but I kinda want to double-dip and start again as those textures are way nicer. I really can't be bothered getting back to where I am though, the first few hours are really quite linear and annoying imo.
@MrGawain Can't speak to all reviews on the internet, but this one in particular reads like someone who fell in love with Final Fantasy VII then didn't like that VIII was different and then wrote a review based on their 20 year old memories.
Day one for me! I can't wait midnight to take it!!
@KcebEnyaw Just a slight correction. You can get a maximum of 9 spells per draw. But your point still stands, especially the fact that the game allows you different ways to restock your magic without drawing (i.e.: converting cards to magic, upgrading weaker magic to stronger ones, etc.).
Personally, I love the junction system. It requires you to think a little bit (even though there is an “Auto” option!) on how you want to build your character. No one character is pigeonholed as healer only, tank only, etc. I like that flexibility.
I'm gonna join the band wagon of most people here and say if youre on the fence, don't use this shoddy review to judge by. I was equally surprised by the spoilers, and how much the reviewer dragged the games story and mechanics through the mud. It's got a great story, great battle system, and Triple Triad is worth 20 bucks by itself. Lol. I'll be the first to admit that I'm wearing rose tinted glasses here but seriously...judging from the things said above, this reviewer's credibility is questionable. CANNOT WAIT to play this gem again tomorrow! I like it far more than 7 to be honest and WAY more than that joke FF10.
What made FF VIII gorgeous :
1. Six gorgeous looking top models (Squall, Rinoa, Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine) in search for Sorcerer (Ultimecia)
2. Magics treated like items, can be stacked into 100 units, represent number of procentage when being used for Junction.
3. The music, the Roman vibes, the Arc de Triumph vibes from Dollect city, All Majestic 10/10
4. Guradian Force will cover your HP when being called.
5. No MP used that means you are freely to use Magics as item.
This is a great RPG-and despite what others may say, in my opinion it’s much better than 7. The story is great, the battle system is great, and the characters are great!
@KcebEnyaw Spot on.
@KcebEnyaw That's good to know, thanks. If it were like the reviewer said, that would have been extremely boring.
@Franz Thanks for the correction. I haven't played the game in years, but I certainly remember using Magic not being a problem.
Fanboys. Salty fanboys everywhere.
Sooo, the writer of this review thought, know what, I'll just spoil the bejeezus out of everything, it's a remaster right, everyone has played the 20 year old game 20 years ago. Forgetting that 14 year olds also read this site and want to know if this classic is any good... Shouldn't there be a spoiler alert somewhere????
@mattesdude Preach it!
I also feel the need to call out this Reviewer for not mentioning the fact that this game has one of, if not, the best sound tracks in the entire Final Fantasy Series and arguably all of video games.
FF8 was my first real RPG and I loved it. I told myself I probably wouldn't buy it again but... The nostalgia is starting to hit me hard. Those hours as a kid I spent playing the game are coming back to me...
Why is not on the European eshop yet? Seems to becoming more and more common that games aren't seen on the store until release day
Definitely better than a 7. The reviewer didn't understand how drawing magic is supposed to work, if he thinks you're supposed to repeat it "ad infinitum." To be fair, the mechanics in this game are pretty weird, but if you don't learn them then you come away thinking this is a worse game than it is.
I guess this confirms that Nintendolife has never watched JoJo's.
@-Juice-
Could see the reviewer given it a -100, their brain would probably explode with all the weirdness
no mention of butchered Squall? he doesnt look like the real Squall anymore!
..the story is fantastic, the music is fantastic, the gameplay is fantastic, but this remaster is utter garbage
I have actually been waiting for this as I never beat it back when it came out. Made it half way through.
"Our only real complaint in this area is that Square didn’t include a slew of other quality of life buffs that were included in the PC re-release, such as maxing Guardian Forces levels and enabling all Triple Triad cards. "
WHATS WRONG WITH YOU? Dont you want a direct button for an immediate jump to the ending credits so you couldnt be bothered with actual gameplay?
Those backgrounds stick out like a sore thumb. I guess it'll be up to fans to mod the PC version with AI enhanced backgrounds.
Still on the fence between this or Blasphemous. I’ve got every FF game on Switch so far but never played VIII. Which one would you recommend?
@Ccc85 the game itself yes, as the remaster definitely not
@Orpheus79V so we have been waiting for this remaster just to wait further till modders fix it? ...What an amazing example of the remaster.
I prefer this to VII if I'm honest, I love the story, don't mind the draw system and really like how the GF's work, its certainly much better than 15's cross your fingers and hope for a summon system. Who cares if I don't have a button to max out all of my GF stats and have all the triple triad cards, maybe I'll just play the game and earn them. So yes this is my favourite in the series and I'm really looking forward to playing it again, this is a definite 9 from me
I loved 8, so I will check it out.
@Moroboshi876 I've played them all and 8 is great and different. But I would start with 7. It is great and look forward to playing on switch again. Played this 10 times through my life and one of my fave games of all time
@ryobi85 Thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely play VII first, but I've never played an RPG twice, let alone 10 times! And now with my backlog and a 2 year old at home it's even worse.
Yeah it was over 15 years am 34 but seriously a amazing game and the story and twists oh it is just great.
Hm I played this on psp, but it kinda bored me and never got past the first sections of the game.
It’s possible I was also tired of PS1 final fantasies from playing VII and IX first though.
Glad I came for the comments, I don't want to be spoiled.
First time I played ff8 I got sick of t rexes in the garden and decided to take one out at a low level. I don't know how I did it but I was mega chuffed. Also maxing out all of the gfs and 100% ( minus the cards). This was the day prior the net for me. This plus silent hill 1 were my favourite ps1 games. Problem is now though i don't think I could play through it again. Will probs wait for a sale. 7 and 9 had a sale a month after release or so
Yer, I can't wait to jump back into this, and viii's plot is significantly less messed up then x's (x-2 is actually a good game), cough insert giant dead daddy joke cough.
Viii has its flaws but it wears them with an epic pride. The cast is also by far the best of any final fantasy, and Squall gets a bad rap, he's no more brooding then sullen Cloud.
Can't believe they did nothing to update the world map model. It looks hideous.
@BlackenedHalo Dude it's a game, if people want an easy button then whatever. Some folks just want to turn their brain off and mess around. I get like that every once in a while.
I actually can't wait to get into the game and try triple triad again.
@Mii_duck
Maybe you were a bit over leveled? This game notoriously levels up all the enemies along with your party. The final boss is a living hell if you manage to level past a certain level (50?) .
I can't wait to finally play this! I love an insane story, the aesthetic is 100% my thing. And this game ties with x as favourite video game soundtrack of all time!
@garfreek - it was a looooooong time ago and my memory isn't what it was (not that I can remember what it was) but I think there was a boss battle at the start of disc 4 where you can't use physical attacks, or they have hardly any effect?
I think I'd just ignored the whole magic side of the game till then.
I really like the story in FF8, it's all over the place but nevertheless something that I absolutely would not count as a Con..
It's worth investing in the card game early on. The Quistis fan having lunch in the cafeteria occasionally plays the Quistis card. You can refine this into 3 items that can further be refined into 180 'Triple' spells which when junctioned into Strength will have you doing 3000+ damage on most enemies early on.
The Zell card won from Zell's mum in balamb can be refined into 3 power wrists which grant a GF the passive ability '+60% Strength'. Equip 3 GF's to Zell including siren (which lets you equip 3x support abilities) and all 3 +60%s as well as 100 Triples and you can 9999 anything before disk 3.
You can do all this 2 hours in just after graduating as a Seed. Grab the exam cheats online for the seed exam and you're looking at 30,000 salary every half an hour or so. Buy 100 tents, refine them into Curagas and junction to HP.
Someone should make a site that just reviews game reviews, I bet it would be a humongous hit.
Oh great they had to pick a FF8 hater to review this. Great.
Like many of the other mainline FF games, I'll be getting this at some point as its polarity among FF fans has piqued my curiosity. Honestly, if not for the QoL improvements, I'm not sure I'd bother with it otherwise. It may just be the review, but battles in this game appear to be a bit of a long chore.
This is a pretty honest review. I know Final Fantasy has some crazy fans who are obsessive but to any outsider the story is complete nonsense.
@Barbara001 To be fair I don't think they are re-releasing games like this for kids. I mean yeah I am sure there is bound to be some kids getting this out of curiosity, but by far the biggest audience for this is aging nostalgic fanboys. These kind of games are huge with the same audience that they have always been huge with, there is a reason why everyone who has been responding negatively to this review is the type of person who has played this game multiple times already.
@KcebEnyaw Max draw number per turn is 9 per character.
@JayJ Sure I get that, but for the gamers who have played it, they already know the story, so you don't have to be so detailed about it and for the newcomers, they want to play the story, so you don't have to be so detailed about it. At the very least, add a spoiler warning at the top.
@Crono1973 Yeah, I was corrected. I was thinking of the Draw Points on the Map, where you can get more from a single draw.
@Barbara001 Fair enough.
7/10
Nintendolife is forever in my mortal enemies list.
@RadioHedgeFund Holy crap all of that brings back so many memories! Haha
@RazumikhinPG It sounds like the fans would only be happy if this game were reviewed by some Final Fantasy fanboy that would give it a 10/10 while saying nothing negative about it because of how big of a fan they are.
Sorry but while that kind of stuff is very pleasing to fans who just want to support each-other and look at reviews as reassurance of their gaming preferences, it does nothing for people who are looking for an honest review or something that they could relate to. This review comes off as being honest and it's the way most newcomers would approach this game. You can't expect everyone to be some fan who has beat this game multiple times, and those type of people are not the type of people who need to read a review for this kind of game. It kind of annoys me when I see fans making demands on how people can review their precious video game.
The most skippable entry in the series?? Hardly. Not a very a fair review.
I hate the way quality of life is used in reviews of older games to mean cheats. Why not just call them that?
You'd think with how anti-pc comments are here someone would have already called it. /s
To be honest reading this review I was expecting an even lower score than a 7!
Personally I'd of given this game at least an 8.I absolutely loved it back in the day and I'm thrilled to be given the chance to replay it.But 'Insane story' as a bad thing?? And most skippable entry?seriously?
@JayJ yes Jay one review beats the opinion and recommendation of thousands of people who love this game.
It's crazy to me that people care that reviewers (other people) don't like a game they like as much as they do. Anyway, I love this game. I love that you can break it early on.
Tip: Teach Quezacotl the Card ability first, then go to the beach outside the academy and card those fish things. Learn the skills necessary to change cards into items/magic and items into magic then junction the magic. Try not to kill anything, draw what you want, then either card them or run away.
I am not good at Triple Triad but I hear that you can get good rewards there too, if you are good at it.
@RazumikhinPG I think that's the problem, insecurity. You go around throwing the praise of franchise fanboys around like it means everything, but the reality is that if you are already a big fan of this game you should have no need to read a review about it. It seems like you feel a need to have every critic praise this game with the highest scores as some form of reassurance. You also seem like you are clearly entrenched in your way of viewing the game and while that is fine for you it is not the kind of perspective that everyone needs to have forced upon them.
I think the thing that the fan community for this game needs to do is to step back and realize how not everyone is a massive Final Fantasy fan. While it needs to be said that people shouldn't be taking issue with what you are a fan of, it also needs to be said that you shouldn't be taking issue with what people are not a fan of. If someone loves this game more power to them, but if someone doesn't love this game they should still be allowed to have a voice.
When you talk about the fans praising this game you seem to imply that everyone should feel the same way they do simply because they have a rather large dedicated community. That is a real hive mind sort of mentality and that is not the way journalists and critics should be approaching articles and reviews. You need to remember how these sites are trying to reach a broad audience and that they need to relate to people outside of fanboy circles.
@JayJ it's a divisive game for sure and easy to see why many disdain it for dropping a lot of series conventions.
Me? I love the world building that goes on. You really get a flavour for these huge nations at war with each other. The backgrounds are full of little details that bring the game world alive. They feel full of millions of people.
Conversely I love VII but there are no nations and the only backdrop was between a facsimile of japan and a less evil version of British Gas that had its own super soldier program. Beyond this no governments, empires, politics or world leaders of any sorts. It's actually a game full of holes.
@RadioHedgeFund Yeah I think it's great for people to be sharing what they like about it, but I am really opposed to this mentality that every critic needs to highly praise this game because Final Fantasy.
This is the best mainline FF game, but these "remasters" are lazy. Give it the full remake treatment or just release the emulated version that has been on Vita for nearly a decade.
@FarkyValentine Give it the full remake treatment
How long would you like to wait for it and are you willing to pay $60 for it?
I would wait as long as it takes so knowing square... 12 years?
@Kalmaro but then turn-based RPGs arent for them and I dont see any reason why such games should adjusted for such players
@BlackenedHalo So they can play the game, why else? It's an option, since when are options a bad thing?
@JayJ you write a lot of nonsense dude. Please leave me alone thanks.
@RazumikhinPG That sounds like a projection so please don't project yourself onto me. Thanks.
Am I the only one who can’t download this game? It says it was released today but I go to the eshop and there’s no buy button :/
@JayJ as someone whose first final fantasy as of last year was 8, this reviews a load of bunk
i will NEVER understand calling the story unapproachable and nonsense, seemed pretty straightforward
@somebread Different strokes. Glad you enjoyed it though, clearly a lot of people do so I don't know why you would get caught up on this review.
@JayJ it just seems like a weird thing to list as a con
like, i can get stuff like "junctioning is weird/grindy" to some extent because a lot of people aren't used to anything but straightforward level grinding to get their stats and whatnot in jrpgs but the story isnt that far off the beaten path on the whole
i'd certainly put "wack" over FF12 which im playing through now and in 50 or so hours it feels like barely anythings happened
@somebread I think it's all on what you enjoy, sorta like how some people can really get into fantasy novels that other people don't find interesting. Personally I could never get into the stories in Final Fantasy games but I can see how some people might enjoy them.
How has this been up for hours, with multiple comments complaining about the spoilers, yet somehow still doesn't have a simple spoiler warning near the top?? It's an astonishingly easy task to do, and will buy at least a little extra appreciation from the people reading this.
Thank GOD I actually read the comments to this first instead of reading the article itself... I appreciate y'all who called em out on this very, very much! ♥
should be a higher rating
but it will get there
Sheesh glad I don’t read the entire body of the review; just the synopsis at the end. I seem to have combat rolled around the spoilers thankfully. As someone who never played 8, I’m very happy to have dodged those.
That being said I’m probably going to buy this on sale in the future. Had September not have been so disgustingly bursting with titles I’d have gotten this already. I have Astral Chain and Terraria waiting for me and here we come with Zelda, WRC, Snake and Link amiibo, Ni No Kuni, and I’m not going to lie, I forget a lot of the others. So many titles coming in September! I cancelled Daemon X because my wallet just can’t handle the brute force intrusion. I absolutely plan on getting it though; FF8 along with Daemon X.
Guys, they haven't spoiled the plot because it's literally impossible to spoil. If he typed up a detailed synopsis of the entire story in painstaking detail, it would still fail to spoil anything. It's like saying you can spoil Twin Peaks. This game is that completely bonkers from top to bottom.
As to the score, it's a subjective quantification of the reviewer's overall feelings. It is no more or less valid than your own, but to imply that it's a bad review because it disagrees with you is ludicrous. We may as well do away with reviews entirely.
I remember the ice rink bit where you fight the hockey players and you can level up so quick there after a 2 hour grind you can almost hit top level. Tip there for anyone who cares 👍it is a 8 at least though really is a good game. Ff7 my fave though. Need to start it on switch for the 10th time even though its been 8 year since last played so let's go 😂👍
I agree with the reviewer. This entry is by far the weakest.
People complaining about backgrounds don't realize 320 x 240 backgrounds really don't scale well to 1080p that well. 720p sure, but 1080p would look like crap.
@JayJ With all due respect, there is a big difference between fanboys rallying around a game they blindly love and calling out a factually inaccurate, spoiler filled, outlier of a review, that also happens to be the only review associated with an entire console, the lowest reviewed score the game recieved and from a widely known, if not respectable, news site for that particular console.
It's fine to be critical of a game, but you have to be accurate, and preferably respectful to your readers, at the very least.
I remember watching my friends play this when it was new. Since I hadn't seen any other Final Fantasy at the time I thought it was amazing and overwhelming. But I have long since played many many JRPGs and I doubt that if I go back to this it will live up to my memories.
That said, I will probably still grab it at some point. Got a bunch of FF in my backlog now.
To be honest, VIII is my fave FF game next to VI and XII, and 2 of the 3 games listed are often cited as being one of the worst in the series. I either have bad taste in games, or my tastes are different than everyone else's. I don't need remasters. I have it on PC already.
Also, it's just poor taste to fill a review with spoilers. You should never assume that because it's old, 'everyone' has already played/seen it.
9/10
One of the best ff series on the psx back then. Story can't be insane!!! B'cos this game is a fantasy game what do you expect.
Ugh...7/10... people really have the lanest tastes. FFVIII is easily the best (alongside V). Guess a lot of people began playing FF with VII.
This little old lady never played it, as I couldn't play anything on the PS1. Gave me wicked headaches.
Our K8 was about 12 when it came out and commandeered her brother's copy and played it all the time. She loved the story and Squall was her first crush. I'll be getting this in memory of her.
Square Enix didnt release FF VII or this game, it was Squaresoft.
A funny tit-bit, if you ever watch Charlies Angels, two kids are playing this when Drew Barrymore turns up naked at their door. Problem is it's not a two player game.
Stupid story + stupid magic system = I'll pass.
@Fulgor_Astral If the review's description of the story and the magic system are in any way accurate, it deserves that score at the very best. Your tastes may find the story more acceptable than mine (I like some kinds of weird stories, but this just sounds utterly stupid and poorly written.), but I can't understand how anyone could enjoy such a terrible gameplay mechanic like this game's magic system. It might work if it was just drawing power to act as an MP replacement, but also turning it into the main method for stat growth is an absolutely horrible idea! Consumables should never be used as the primary means for power growth!
EDIT: Now I read in the comments that leveling up too much is a bad thing?! Wow, that's like a huge crime against JRPGs in general! If you want to be radical about increasing the difficulty level by eliminating the option to grind your way through the game, then just don't include a level system at all (and come up with an alternate system for judging when to grant new attacks and abilities, maybe make it completely story-based?), but this is an absolutely moronic way to go! Such a major flaw should've been mentioned in the review.
Finally my favorite game of all time is here again . Can´t to wait to get home and spend the night in this world i love so much again.
WTF is up with writing spoilers in a review. This will be a lot of people's first time playing this. That's the kinda crap that will make not want to open up yalls reviews and read them.
"The story is utterly insane"
Sounds like a 'pro' to me, not a con
The nostalgia goggles are strong in these comments lol
@Xelha you're bonkers if you think that VIII is better than IX
@Xelha To each his/her own. But I def stand by my bonkers comment for sure now! That said, Quistis is the hottest character in the series....so thats something.
Such an absolutely terrible game, terrible JRPG, terrible story, with terrible characters, and a terrible battle system.
I've been waiting for it's re-release for so long!!!
@Xelha Wow, you hate FFIX and P4? Are you secretly one of those people review bombing FE:3H and Astral Chain, too?
As a teen, Final Fantasy VIII's plot incoherence just made me think I was witnessing something deeper than my own ability to comprehend. Its school-days setting hit home like nothing else before it; as did Squall's emo-before-emo-even-existed character. And its focus on the romantic relationships was catnip to burgeoning hormones.
I unapologetically love FFVIII. In a way it will always be my favourite. Having this, VII and X altogether on my portable Switch is a "life complete" moment.
Oh, I will also say: when I got my first girlfriend I forced her to play FFVIII from start to finish with me (not in one sitting of course).
Not too many good memories left from that relationship, but that one still makes me smile.
@N64-ROX I think we figured out what happened to that relationship....
@NEStalgia
Let's just say, if you want to ask a girl if you can call her Rinoa, you have to pick your moment carefully...
@N64-ROX That would be fairly disastrous no matter the circumstance. But it's much, much, much worse if she's actually played the game.
definitely feel the score was a little low, and the cons especially story aren't a con to me. Also I kind of liked the draw system, though it is quirky.
I haven't played this game since I was...fifteen? Never finished it (wasn't a huge fan of Squall), but I'm definitely planning to pick this up from the eShop tomorrow. Of the PS1 era, IX was definitely my favorite, didn't much care for VII and barely remember this one.
So I'm definitely interested in giving it another try, since there's a lot to genuinely like about this entry. Triple Triad (obviously), I actually liked the draw system (boosting stats was cool and felt ahead of its time, imo), and even though she was shamefully underdeveloped and underused, Quistis was my girl. <3 <3 <3
Really late for this party...I actually tried getting into an old copy of this I had for my PS1 earlier this year and had an epiphany: I think the only part of Final Fantasy games I like is the music.
Never played the game for more than an hour but always wanted to. Sadly, things were going on in my life at the time where I couldn't get to a lot of games that I wanted to. But, thanks for ruining some of the story for me. Worst. Review. Ever. 1/10
@Pod Yep, you sure do! You can easily beat Ifrit with at least a couple minutes to spare if you just run straight to him.
@Keldorek
Yeah, I know it ain't hard, it just always struck me as a very brutal way to fail an exam, though. A player could easily have spent a few hours already, still thinking nothing is an actual threat at that point, only to have to start all over from the beginning, if they didn't save, and chose the short time limit. ^^
This game deserves a review by someone that knows how to play it.
"You can stack up to one hundred of a given spell at a time, and the more spells you have, the more they’ll bolster the stat that you’ve attached them to. So, it’s in your best interest to spend battles not actually fighting the enemies, but repeatedly spamming Draw to suck out as much of the magic that you need from them. The amount of magic drawn out each time is random – you get anywhere from one to nine spells at a time – which means that battles can take close to ten minutes if you’re starting from scratch with a given spell’s stock."
Um, no. Most of your magic should be coming from item refinement skills you get from the summons. If you spend a bunch of time drawing magic in battle you only have yourself to blame for wasting your time.
Squall: "......"
Final Fantasy VIII is vastly underrated. It's probably my favorite game in the series, and I've played all the numbered entries except 3 and 5 (both of which I will get to eventually!!)
As @Farseli noted you can refine items into spells to avoid drawing, but even manual drawing isn't bad at 3x speed. I like the mechanic of spellcasting making you weaker as the battle progresses unless you replenish.
"The story is utterly insane" - is that really a con for a Final Fantasy game?
It's hard to explain some of the greatest bits without spoiling it, but suffice it to say that Final Fantasy VIII has interesting explanations for some traditional RPG tropes, and an amazing range of environments.I am particularly fond of Esthar city. FF8 also has pretty good public transportation, and SeeD pays reasonably well. And unlike many FF games, your whole party is visible on screen!
And two words: Angelo Cannon.
@Xelha I think you are right - the games have different features and flavors which may appeal more or less to different people. But I really liked Vivi's story in FFIX, as well as the fantasy world and character designs.
@NEStalgia Hahaha. Persona and Final Fantasy are my favorite JRPG series, but not everyone likes JRPGs or those series. If you can't stand various recurring aspects of the series (or genre) then you are probably not going to enjoy them.
@Bunkerneath They might have been trading off control of the game. It's a nice way to enjoy a single-player RPG (or other game) with a friend.
That being said, I do like the way FF4 and FF6 (at least?) allow you to use multiple controllers so that two players can control different characters in combat.
@Moroboshi876 If you like Dragon Quest, I'd suggest giving Final Fantasy a try! Having just played DQXI myself, I might suggest FFIX, or XII maybe? If you like the 2D Dragon Quest games then obviously Final Fantasy VI. I also like IV quite a bit.
Personally, I highly, highly recommend that people give this game a pass if they haven't played it yet. I played it for the first time about two years ago, and while I did beat it, I thought it was one of the worst games I had played in a long time. It has, in my opinion, almost no redeeming qualities. The story is absolutely terrible in every conceivable way. Not only does it not make a lick of sense, it also has incredibly annoying characters that you will most likely not feel any connection to. Many of the plot points are so bafflingly bad and incompetently written that it's ALMOST worth playing the game just to witness it. Almost.
On top of that the gameplay is godawful. It combines all the worst elements of the classic Final Fantasies into a single game and then adds the terrible, terrible draw system on top of it. The result in an extremely boring and tedious game.
To make matters even worse, this is a really poor port.
IMO: Avoid at all costs.
Triple Triad still rules, though.
I adore FF8 - it’s wasn’t my first FF and I really loved 7 but 8 was so cool back then .. Edea gives me chills still ... and the Soundtrack ... it’s glorious ... surely one of the best jrpg soundtracks of all time! I LOVE the remastered character models - oh my god they look so good ... but seriously guys - those backgrounds !!! God damn !! My eyes start bleeding I mean seriously ? Washed out af!!! It looks so lowres Jesus ... the ps1 og looked better! Square - what the fish? How can they remaster the characters with so much detail and leave the backgrounds behind completely??? It’s immersion braking! Still , I love FF8. The soundtrack alone is a 10/10. Great review tho , the score is acceptable for this fanboy haha! Oh and this time I’ll beat Omega!!!
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