There are a number of long-running media series out there that inevitably have that entry that sets a new bar. The big blockbuster that is so earth-shattering, you have to wonder how the creators could possibly follow it up. Putting my own feelings of FFVII aside, no one could possibly deny that FFVIII had a herculean task to follow that up. The new shift in focus and mechanics featured in FFVIII would not be for everybody, but boy were they for me.
FF8 focuses on a group of teenage soldiers who are being raised and trained to become "SeeD"s, highly elite soldiers for their respective "Garden"s to go off and fight in whatever contracts their Garden chooses to take. They make use of Guardian Forces (GFs) which serve as their summons, and slowly over time learn more about the world around them. There are a lot of parallels here to another more recent game I care very dearly for, and fans of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 should probably be giving this game a go.
As you may have guessed, FF8 does lay out the anti-war sentiment as many of their games do, but here it serves as more of a backdrop for a much more personal message. More so than (most) other FF games, FF8 is highly centred around its main character. Squall is a distant, awkward kid who ends up having a lot of trust and responsibility thrust upon him. Over the course of the game, he learns more and more about himself and how he handles a lot of difficult situations. It is not an exaggeration for me to say that Squall's whole story arc is a big driving factor behind my 5-star rating here. He is very much a love-him-or-hate-him type of MC, but he REALLY hit that note for me.
As for locations, the game has a ton of really varied and expansive towns and cities to explore. The dungeons are all really unique and varied (you go into a cave like once), and the final dungeon in particular is one of the coolest I have ever played through in an RPG.
Another big divisive part of FF8 and its core identifying feature is the Junctioning system. To equip skills, you "Junction" a GF to that party member, and that allows them to not only choose if they can use items, magic, summon, etc. but also attach magic to their stats to buff them up. There's quite a few little nuances to this that can easily turn someone off if they don't fully understand it, but I thought it was VERY satisfying once it clicks and you're able to do all sorts of broken shit to your liking. Enemy weak to ice? Then junction blizzaga to your elemental attack and go to town. Enemy deals a ton of AOE physical damage? Then junction Blind to your status attack and make it so just hitting them will apply the debuff. There really is a lot you can do with it, and there's no shortage of items and optional content you can go crazy with. In particular, FF8 also introduced my beloved Triple Triad card game which allows you to collect (or lose) cards of all the monsters and bosses in the game. It's pretty addicting, and there are a ton of rule modifiers to mix it up. The cards can even be refined into items, so they are worth collecting from a gameplay standpoint too.
FF8 also just might be the best looking game to come out for the PS1. The gorgeous hand-painted backgrounds (like in FF7) are now populated with realistic-looking character models, and the detail is staggering. There are a number of moments where the game transitions into pre-rendered cutscenes while you are playing some of the more cinematic moments, and it's really really impressive the amount of detail and animation quality they were able to get out of PS1 hardware.
One last thing I would like to mention, in a series of amazing OSTs, FF8 is one of the best. The mix of chill, strange, and hype themes for different locations and moments makes for the perfect atmosphere to drive home the messages of the game. I really can't speak highly enough of Final Fantasy VIII here, and it definitely sits among my favourites.
FF8 focuses on a group of teenage soldiers who are being raised and trained to become "SeeD"s, highly elite soldiers for their respective "Garden"s to go off and fight in whatever contracts their Garden chooses to take. They make use of Guardian Forces (GFs) which serve as their summons, and slowly over time learn more about the world around them. There are a lot of parallels here to another more recent game I care very dearly for, and fans of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 should probably be giving this game a go.
As you may have guessed, FF8 does lay out the anti-war sentiment as many of their games do, but here it serves as more of a backdrop for a much more personal message. More so than (most) other FF games, FF8 is highly centred around its main character. Squall is a distant, awkward kid who ends up having a lot of trust and responsibility thrust upon him. Over the course of the game, he learns more and more about himself and how he handles a lot of difficult situations. It is not an exaggeration for me to say that Squall's whole story arc is a big driving factor behind my 5-star rating here. He is very much a love-him-or-hate-him type of MC, but he REALLY hit that note for me.
As for locations, the game has a ton of really varied and expansive towns and cities to explore. The dungeons are all really unique and varied (you go into a cave like once), and the final dungeon in particular is one of the coolest I have ever played through in an RPG.
Another big divisive part of FF8 and its core identifying feature is the Junctioning system. To equip skills, you "Junction" a GF to that party member, and that allows them to not only choose if they can use items, magic, summon, etc. but also attach magic to their stats to buff them up. There's quite a few little nuances to this that can easily turn someone off if they don't fully understand it, but I thought it was VERY satisfying once it clicks and you're able to do all sorts of broken shit to your liking. Enemy weak to ice? Then junction blizzaga to your elemental attack and go to town. Enemy deals a ton of AOE physical damage? Then junction Blind to your status attack and make it so just hitting them will apply the debuff. There really is a lot you can do with it, and there's no shortage of items and optional content you can go crazy with. In particular, FF8 also introduced my beloved Triple Triad card game which allows you to collect (or lose) cards of all the monsters and bosses in the game. It's pretty addicting, and there are a ton of rule modifiers to mix it up. The cards can even be refined into items, so they are worth collecting from a gameplay standpoint too.
FF8 also just might be the best looking game to come out for the PS1. The gorgeous hand-painted backgrounds (like in FF7) are now populated with realistic-looking character models, and the detail is staggering. There are a number of moments where the game transitions into pre-rendered cutscenes while you are playing some of the more cinematic moments, and it's really really impressive the amount of detail and animation quality they were able to get out of PS1 hardware.
One last thing I would like to mention, in a series of amazing OSTs, FF8 is one of the best. The mix of chill, strange, and hype themes for different locations and moments makes for the perfect atmosphere to drive home the messages of the game. I really can't speak highly enough of Final Fantasy VIII here, and it definitely sits among my favourites.