After months and months of agonizing wait,
Final Fantasy VIII has finally arrived on Australian shores. However, has
the wait really been worth it? Well let me cast all doubt out of your mind...this
truly is the greatest Final Fantasy ever...
In the beginning...
The story in Final Fantasy VIII revolves
around a 17 year old SeeD candidate named Squall Leonhart. SeeD is an elite
military regiment which allows only the best and most capable to join,
and after passing the final exams held in Dollet, Squall is inducted into
SeeD along with two of his classmates, Selphie and Zell. A dinner party
is held to celebrate the successful graduates, and it is there that Squall
meets Rinoa. Squall's cold nature and Rinoa's upfront personality clash
and heated arguments result between them throughout the game. However the
inevitable attraction between the two eventually blooms, and from there
springs the beginning of a passionate love. The threat of an invasion by
Galbadia, the ancient powers of a beautiful sorceress, and a man somehow
connected to Squall called Laguna Loire, draw Squall and you as a gamer
into a thick plot filled with intrigue, betrayal, and plenty of depth.
The Power of CG Graphics
The enthralling plot of FFVIII is only one
factor of its immense grandeur. From the beginning intro scene to the escape
of Dollet, you'll find that FFVIII's graphics are some of the most stunning
ever seen on the playstation. Gone are the super deformed characters used
in FF7, replaced instead by proportionate, life like models that convey
the characters emotions almost as well as the text does. Stunning backdrops
have been applied to this game as well, each one displaying graphical prowess
that rivals any FMV scenes used in any other game. In battle graphics display
an array of impressive looking spells and attack sequences, and you'll
be absolutely shocked by how good the Guardian Force animation's are in
comparison to any summon in FF7. The most amazing graphical displays though
are shown in the FMV sequences. Each character and object is rendered and
detailed in these scenes incredibly well, ensuring that you will be completely
stunned everytime a new one pops on screen. There is over an hours worth
of FMV throughout the 4 discs, from the tense moments of the intro battle
between Squall and Seifer to the romantic dance between Squall and Rinoa,
and each one destined to make your jaw drop each time. Squaresoft spent
millions perfecting the imagery in this game and it shows. The graphics
have come a long way since FF7 and have been so well done that they can
almost be described as 'cinematic'. Final Fantasy VIII is indeed the best
looking game on the playstation thus far. But wait. There's more...
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The Hills Are Alive With The
Sound Of Music...
When your playing through a game as big as
FFVIII, you'd be hoping for a decent soundtrack to listen to along the
way. Luckily with Final Fantasy VIII, that's all been prepared...
The music in FFVIII would have to be in my
opinion, one of the best game tracks ever. From the haunting vocals of
Liberi Fatali to the heart warming sounds of Eyes On Me, you will be constantly
entertained by the sheer brilliance of it all. All the ingame tracks have
been polished off nicely to fit each different scene well in FFVIII, and
their is never a moment where you are tempted to reach over to your remote
control and stick it on mute. The sounds and occasional voice bytes of
the creatures and GF's have been refined well too. Some tunes are catchy,
some are sad, and all of them have touched by Square brilliance. Fans of
good game music rejoice!
Screwed Up Main Character,
Chocobos, and Turn Based Combat... Yep this is a Final Fantasy Game
alright...
Graphics, storyline, and sound aside, FFVIII
would be nothing without good gameplay. Don't worry though cause FFVIII's
got plenty of good gaming hours in store for you. However, if you disliked
past RPG's of FF7, you won't find this game style to appealing either...
Like FF7, Final Fantasy VIII is jam packed
with random encounters and numerous locales to explore. Battles that take
place are still turn based, but Square has added a few innovative features
to encourage more player involvement. Firstly, Squall's attacks can give
double damage each time with the press of a button before each swing of
his gunblade. Guardian Forces can also be powered up by rapid button presses,
and some of the new limit breaks such as Renzokuken and Zell's Duel , allow
players to pull of different attacks, depending on the sequence and timing
of certain button presses. These certainly do not give you the amount of
freedom an adventure game would, but it is innovative enough to keep the
gamers attention during combat.
Another change in FFVIII is the inclusion
of the junction and draw system. To junction a character, you must first
equip them with a Guardian Force. Afterwards, you can learn new abilities
and skills with that particular G.F, by acquiring AP. Each ability on the
skill list requires a certain amount of AP to learn, and once it has been
adepted you can choose another to master. G.F's also allow you to change
the stats of a character by junctioning magic with one. For example, by
equipping thunder to your strength or hp, it can raise it. The amount of
magic you have stocked of that particular type also affects how much stat
gain you get. In time, you will also be able to learn abilities where you
can junction magic to your attack and defense. For example, just say you
equip Sleep magic to your attack. Now everytime you attack, you will
have the chance of putting your enemy asleep. The amount of Sleep spells
you have in stock will also affect how often it works. 7 Sleeps for example,
will give you a 7% chance of causing sleep to an enemy, while 99 Sleeps
will give you a 99% success rate. By combining different G.F's and magic
to your characters, you can totally customize them. This is one of the
biggest, and probably most welcomed changes in the Final Fantasy magic
system.
Gaining magic is no problem either. Once
you have equipped yourself with a Guardian Force, all you need to do is
enable the draw ability, and then get into a fight. Every monster in FFVIII
has different spells which you can draw. When you have selected a spell
you want to draw from an enemy, you will be give the option of either stocking
or casting it. Stocking the spell will put it away for later use, while
casting it will allow you to take and use it straight off. By acquiring
a variety of magic from around the world, you can quickly use them to improve
your stats by junctioning them. This provides even more depth to the already
extremely customizable junction system.
Enemies in FFVIII come in a variety of shapes
and forms, ranging from insect like creatures to huge dragons. Bosses in
FFVIII include a number of monsters and people as well, giving Squall and
his party a variety of characters to do battle with. All the enemies level
like Squall does as well, and as they level they gain new, more powerful
abilities and spells. This provides the game with a little more of a challenge,
and is another interesting addition.
Surprisingly, FFVIII has hardly any emphasis
on equipment and weapons. About 6 weapons for each character can be acquired,
and all of them need special items to do so. The items can be gained by
killing enemies and by using the refine skill to make them. Needless to
say, finding the parts for the weapons can be a chore, yet it is necessary
if you wish to increase your characters attacking power further. No armour
can be worn in FFVIII, and instead of killing monsters for cash, you get
a salary. The amount you get paid varies depending on your SeeD level.
This can be raised by taking written tests which can be accessed in the
tutorial section of the menu.
Card Battles: I Choose You
Pikachu!
For those of you who expected FFVIII to include
a great deal of minigames as FF7 did, you'll be disappointed. Only one
minigame is included in the entire four discs of Final Fantasy VIII. However,
it is more addictive, and better than any of the previous mini games available
in FF7.
The card game, known as Triple Triad is a
distracting factor of FFVIII that will constantly draw you in. To start
off, you must choose 5 cards from your immediate inventory. Your opponent
will also choose 5 cards and from there, you duel it out on a 9 card board
split into 3x3 rectangles. Every card has four numbers on it for every
side it has. By placing a card with a higher value next to one with a lower
value facing that side, you can 'conquer' that card and it will turn blue.
The cards your opponent conquers turn red, and the winner in the end is
the one who has the most cards of their colour on the board. The winner
can then choose any card from the opponent's hand to keep. There is actually
a number of other tactics and rules for this game, but they can all be
found in the menu tutorial. You can play cards against almost anyone by
pressing the square button instead of the X button to talk to them. Cards
can also be converted to different items by using the card refine skill,
giving them more use then just as collectors items. This addictive little
game is a clever innovation by Square, which should be applauded.
The ALMOST Perfect Game...
Although Final Fantasy VIIII is no doubt
one of the best games ever, it does contain a few flaws. Firstly, in my
opinion I feel that the new limit break system is worse than that of FF7's.
Sure being able to use them constantly when in critical condition is cool,
but to get that low on HP you would most likely be in a fight with a really
tough creature. So what are you more likely to do? Unless you want that
guy dead on the enemies next turn you will be most likely to heal them.
But as soon as there HP goes up, no more limit breaks can be used until
it drops back down. Now some people may think that the new limit system
is cool (it can be easily exploited), but I believe the limit bar in FFVII
was a better design.
Another thing which I find a little annoying
is that G.F's do way more damage then normal attacks. At times, you will
find yourself constantly relying on them. While this isn't really a bad
thing, having to watch the same G.F animation again and again is. Make
no mistake, they certainly look very cool, but you kinda get sick of it
after 100 or so summons. Square should have implemented a way to skip the
animation during battle, so you can save time against those bosses.
Drawing magic time and time again can also
become a tedious affair, and I was a little disappointed that you couldn't
name all the characters. Being able to name all the characters was one
of the coolest things about the previous Final Fantasy's. This allowed
you to become more in touch with the characters and at times it could be
just plain fun.
Final Fantasy VIII- King of
RPGS
You may consider the flaws I picked out in
FFVIII to be minor. I agree wholeheartedly. That's all they are, MINOR.
Although it would have been nice to have those flaws tweaked before the
game was released, they are really very insignificant. On the whole, Final
Fantasy VIII is absolutely incredible. So much detail and manpower has
gone into this game, and it easily can be crowned the King of RPG's, perhaps
even the game of the year. Perfect graphics, perfect music, perfect characters,
a perfect storyline- FFVIII is pretty much perfect. In comparison to FF7,
Final Fantasy VIII pretty much outshines it in almost every aspect and
leaves it out to dry. This is indeed a bold statement, considering how
good FF7 actually is.
To sum it all up, Final Fantasy VIII combines
a great storyline, jaw dropping visuals, hauntingly beautiful music, and
blends it all in together with an innovative junction system to create
one of the best RPG's of all time. If you haven't yet got FFVIII, I advise
you to drop everything your doing now, run out and get it. Just make sure
your prepared to give your life away for weeks as you play through something
that borders so close to perfection it's scary.
Final Fantasy VIII is the undisputed best
RPG and game of all time in my opinion. It will change your perspective
of video games forever. Get it now!
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