Having only played Final Fantasy VII and barely finishing the Final Fantasy IX on the Switch, wanting to play Final Fantasy VIII seemed like such an inconveniencing dream for me as the only way I could play it was on a PS1 which I did not have or playing it on steam which I could have but my gaming laptop was practically inaccessible at the time. So I figured I'd have to keep on dreaming.

Luckily, that dream came reality when Nintendo announced a remaster of Final Fantasy VIII! The excitement I felt knowing that I'd be able to finally play the mystical Final Fantasy VIII after all these years. Unfortunately, that excitement died down as I started playing the game.

While Final Fantasy VIII is no way near a bad game functionally speaking, it really is an acquired taste of a game. The gameplay is really solid and is one of my favorite things about the game, and is quite honestly my favorite of the entire franchise, but the story and characters really fall flat for me. I tried really hard to like the story and characters, but every time I did I'd just cringe or get irritable. I am aware though that this is probably just a matter of taste, but even I hesitate to agree with this sentiment and this is coming from someone who has thoroughly enjoyed playing all the Kingdom Hearts games and is aware of the inconsistencies and improper story telling the series has. The only difference between the two though is that I ended up being a Kingdom Hearts fan instead of a Final Fantasy VIII fan. My main problem with the game is the many important plot heavy details ending up being VERY contrived coincidences, and their explanations as to why they're explained so last minute does not make it any better. (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER) Like for example, the entire party finding out they all came from the SAME. ORPHANAGE???? AND ENDED UP FORGETTING??? AND THE EXPLANATION IS THAT THE USING SUMMONS DRAINS THEM OF THEIR MEMORIES???????? (End of Spoiler) The idea is admittedly cool, but the execution is just so bad.

Bad stories aside, I love the junction system as the game's battle system. It's a shame we don't see more of that in JRPGs as I really like how exploitable it is. Being able to harvest enough resources to boost my stats to max and building my resistances to max feels like a really cool and innovative way of grinding your characters. I feel like if Square had not gone this route with the battle system I probably would not have gotten far with this game, although I really don't know if I want to beat this game ever but we'll see how that goes. Never say never right?

I know most would say that because of the huge success of Final Fantasy VII it made Final Fantasy VIII's chances of success all the more intimidating, but I really feel like it's unfair to compare the two. It's not like Square hasn't been making Final Fantasy games one after another consecutively. I know massive mainstream success can play as a significant factor, but I feel like it's used as a cop out for this game way more often than it should be. I think it's okay to admit a game is bad but still being able to enjoy certain aspects of it. Even despite the hate I give for it I still absolutely love the junction system and if anything wished it had continued on in later titles or even influenced other developers to follow this system. I think this game is a perfect example of "it could have been worse."


Also, those who judged XIII and XV for being bad clearly did not pay attention when playing VIII, and that is assuming those same fans played VIII because... yeah.

Anyways, I'd recommend the following:
-Final Fantasy fans
-JRPG fans
-Looking for a fun and innovative combat system in a video game