• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Final Fantasy VIII 15th Anniversary Thread

A

AgentLampshade

Member
What a coincidence this happened during my new playthrough. My old PS3 died so I had to start from scratch.

Just finished the
Garden Master NORG
fight and having so much fun. I've more or less forgotten what magics to junction to what attribute, so I'm having fun experimenting. My main party is Squall, Rinoa and Quistis this time, as opposed to my Squall-Rinoa-Zell triad of overpoweredness.
 
C

Crimsonsky

Member
Such a fantastic entry and well done on the OP. I know a lot of people had problems with it, but honestly after FF7's angst and non-romance I was ready for a good love story and FF8 delivered. Ragnarok is also an awesome ship name and it's design was superb. From the ballroom scene, to the band scene, I was hooked from the beginning and it was a good ride. The main story was a little cliche, but that didn't matter quite as much to me, since I liked the characters and I think the main story took a backseat to the love story.

I still have Eyes on Me in my regular playlist. It's a great song and Faye Wong nails it.
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
pound for pound my favorite Final Fantasy... and I still vividly remember the various reveals/updates for this game leading up to release.

Following the world-wide phenomenon that was FFVII was an impossible task- and I will always have the utmost respect for Sakaguchi and the execs at Squaresoft for allowing Kitase & Nojima to make a very different and very passionate game. You can tell a lot of love went into FFVIII. So many years after release I'm still uncovering new tiny details that help flesh out the world.

The PS1 trifecta of FFVII, VIII, and IX is just a perfect trio to me, as all three games attempt to do completely different things with their themes, settings, and overall approach. Just a wonderful time to be a fan of FF and Squaresoft in general.
 
L

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion
I liked the game.

Story got a bit weird, though as I've learned over the years, most of the stories in FF games get "weird."

Thing I liked the most, was that you could just break the game early by overdrawing. It's tedious, and you're probably not supposed to do it, but the game doesn't stop you from doing it.
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
Jazz-ism said:
people that hate on this game are fucking plebs

game owned. sucked that north america never even got access to the full game though. (no pocketstation)

music was great....fmvs were par/nice for the time....story was good/interesting
cast was the biggest weakness and even that isnt bad at all
Click to expand...

North America did get access to it via PC version (original Eidos release) and just got confirmation earlier in the thread that the steam release has support as well. It's through an "emulated" pocket station.
 
SilverArrow20XX

SilverArrow20XX

Walks in the Light of the Crystal
Love the game overall. I like the characters, the story, the settings, the art, and the music. Triple Triad is probably the best minigame in the series. It has a great presentation all the way through too. Not a big fan of the junctioning system, but it's not terrible.

There was one particular point in the story that was really stupid. You guys know what I'm talking about.
The orphanage scene. Growing up in Edea's orphanage was really only significant to Seifer and Squall. There really was no need for the whole "Everyone grew up there together but forgot" thing. Wouldn't have changed the reveal that Edea used to be a kind matron of an orphanage. Could've just made it be Squall and Seifer that grew up there without the memory wipe thing and just have Squall not realize that Edea is the matron at first. The memory thing never really even comes up again.

The whole enemy level scaling thing is also one of the stupidest gameplay mechanics ever conceived.
 
K

Kain

Member
The game is awesome, I'm doing a rerun in the Vita and still owns.

Screw the haters, I love to break systems in games and this one was meant to be broken all the way. No encounters in CD1? Check. Fight boss fights with an inch of life just to spam limits? Check. Transform cards into items and get all the weapons early? Check. Don't use magic EVER and junction everything to get insane stats at level 10? Double check.

They should make another game like this, that just let's fuck with everything and have fun. I'm serious, I really dislike hand holding and controlled growth in games (I'm looking at you, FFXIII). XII was very similar in that sense.
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
Kain said:
The game is awesome, I'm doing a rerun in the Vita and still owns.

Screw the haters, I love to break systems in games and this one was meant to be broken all the way. No encounters in CD1? Check. Fight boss fights with an inch of life just to spam limits? Check. Transform cards into items and get all the weapons early? Check. Don't use magic EVER and junction everything to get insane stats at level 10? Double check.

They should make another game like this, that just let's fuck with everything and have fun. I'm serious, I really dislike hand holding and controlled growth in games (I'm looking at you, FFXIII). XII was very similar in that sense.
Click to expand...



Of course the correct way to handle that was to get the mid and high magic abilities as early as possible. Sure it was grindy, but having 100 Thundaga magic junctioned to strength before even tackling the story is amazingly fun.
 
H

Haeralis The BRave

Banned
Meh. Its a mediocre FF, and without a doubt the worst PS1 FF game.

Amazing soundtrack though. The story was just awful, and the gameplay was easily exploitable.
 
P

-Pyromaniac-

Member
Will always love this game. Good gameplay, had a lot of fun finding out ways to work the junction system. Loved Triple Triad, like I keep saying that mini-game alone is better than a lot of actual games. The OST is also one of the best in gaming.
 
G

GoodMorningPluto

Member
DrROBschiz said:
I barely remember a lot of this game since I only played it once

Probably one of the worst games mechanically (next to FF2)

Liked the world/Graphics. Was a nice visual step up from 7.

Story/Characters were all over the place. Triple Triad rocked.

If ever a game would benefit from a MOD/Romhack I would nominate this one
Click to expand...
But there is one. http://www.insanedifficulty.com/board/index.php?/files/file/27-final-fantasy-viii-requiem/
Bosses have fixed levels (so you won't stand a chance with a lvl7 Squall against lvl 100 Ultimecia), Aura removed (no easy limit spam), Meltdown isn't working and enemies are a lot tougher and stronger.
You will need your best junctions since they are severely nerfed too.
Game becomes much more exciting and you will need every ability game has to make progress (I don't think I even knew about the existence of Kamikaze command before this patch).
 
Muffdraul

Muffdraul

Member
I vividly remember the day FFVIIIj landed. Hyper Game Action called me on a Saturday morning to tell me it had arrived and to come pick it up. I raced over to their shop in West LA on Sepulveda/Olympic... only to find that they weren't there. It was still a video game import shop, but a completely different one. A very Twilight Zone moment. I found a pay phone and rang them, "Where the hell are you guys?!" "Oh, I forgot to tell you! We moved to Torrance a few weeks ago." So I jumped back in the car and made the 20 mile trek over there. Picked up my game w/ free complimentary FFVIII cell phone strap (which is still hanging from the light switch in my living room) and drove home on the freeway listening to Hüsker Dü's New Day Rising and looking at the case and manual when I should have been watching traffic.

Will always be one of my favorite FFs. I loved it that FFVII was such a sharp left turn, and I loved it even more that FFVIII made three hard lefts, then made a bunch of spirals into the heavens. My favorite FF world and visual design style. I could never get enough of Baroque-Futurism-Gothic-Whatever.
 
H

H3xum

Member
15 years old.....wow....I was 13

I remember going to EB at the mall and getting this for PC. It was the first game I installed on the first computer I ever built.

Thoroughly depressed now
 
L

Lumpy Onion

Member
My favorite game of all time. Played through over 10 times since JP release and am still finding new stuff. Currently playing on PC and am almost to the point where I can do the pocketstation chocobo game I have always wanted to try. Happy 15th you amazing game!
 
N

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Zabant said:
Wow, could you be any more dismissive of short people?
Click to expand...
I was only kidding, relax he's still my fave

You can't tell me tho, Seifer is the only one that is 6'2 and the rest are under 5"10? You can't even pull an argument (like age or different location) as to why they are that height cause Seifer totally invalidates it, if they made everything more even it would've been better design
 
R

Rinoa

Member
Don't got nothing interesting but this random fact: if you brighten up the contrast on the last shot of the Garden in FF8's ending you can see the broken quad.

TgPrIbX.jpg


Brazil said:
People keep talking about the 15th anniversary of Final Fantasy 8, but it's way cooler that 2014 marks the 8th anniversary of Final Fantasy 15!
Click to expand...

552.gif
 
Z

ZenTzen

Member
One of my favorite FFs, still remember the day i got it, my dad knew i was crazy about FF and the day this game came out he came home with this paper bag and handed it to me, you can imagine how hyped i got the moment i opened it and saw the FFVIII special edition right there in front of my face
 
N

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
KojiKnight said:
You know what's bad? My wife of 5 years laid this nugget on me... "If you were my height or shorter I'd never have married you."

Ouch. Talk about being a short-a-phobe.
Click to expand...
I've had a girl diss me like this even when I was at least 15cm her height
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
Nemo said:
I was only kidding, relax he's still my fave

You can't tell me tho, Seifer is the only one that is 6'2 and the rest are under 5"10? You can't even pull an argument (like age or different location) as to why they are that height cause Seifer totally invalidates it, if they made everything more even it would've been better design
Click to expand...

It's clear that tall people are evil. Duh. :)
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
Nemo said:
You can't tell me tho, Seifer is the only one that is 6'2 and the rest are under 5"10? You can't even pull an argument (like age or different location) as to why they are that height cause Seifer totally invalidates it, if they made everything more even it would've been better design
Click to expand...

Zell is the only outlier. The rest are 5'10 or above.
 
B

badscooter

Member
Love this game, it's my second favorite FF after FFIV (which came out at just the right time to blow a young boy's impressionable mind).

Triple Triad is awesome, breaking the junction system is hilarious, and the music is timeless. I remember being so worried that I wouldn't catch Rinoa in the space scene.

What's really funny to me is that I'm still learning what the plot was, even to this day. :)
 
M

Mr_Antimatter

Member
Love the game myself, even if it is really easy to break nowadays. Best minigame ever as well. The music was absolutely iconic, and interestingly, The piano version of Eyes on me was the first dance at my wedding. My Wife had been a fan of the song from the pop scene in china, and had actually never played the game.

Really wish we could revisit the world setting, but given S-E's recent track record, i'm not sure I want to see what they woudl do to it.
 
C

Cjdamon042

Member
VIII was my first Final Fantasy, so it'll always have a special place in my heart for that reason.

It may not have the best characters, the best story or the best battle system, but man does it have an amazing soundtrack, great locales (with beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds), an amazing atmosphere and memorable set pieces that make it one hell of a ride.

I remember the first day I played it. I was around a mate's house after school (I was 10 years old) and he got the game out. At first I didn't want to play it as it didn't look interesting to me, but I eventually gave in and he gave me the PS1 controller. And I'm really glad I did give in as I got hooked straight away. Never before I had felt so sucked into a game's world. From the opening cutscene to exploring Balamb Garden and heading into the 3D world to go into the Fire Cavern to obtain Ifrit. It was one thing after another and I was upset when I had to go home. Luckily my mate allowed me to borrow the game for a while and about 2 weeks later I bought the game for myself. Great game. Great Final Fantasy.

Thanks for making this thread; it brought back a lot of memories.

<3
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Jazz-ism said:
people that hate on this game are fucking plebs

game owned. sucked that north america never even got access to the full game though. (no pocketstation)

music was great....fmvs were par/nice for the time....story was good/interesting
cast was the biggest weakness and even that isnt bad at all
Click to expand...

At least they didn't program it out of the Western release, which was nice. If you have a PocketStation imported from Japan, it will work.
 
T

TheJollyCorner

Member
Muffdraul said:
I vividly remember the day FFVIIIj landed. Hyper Game Action called me on a Saturday morning to tell me it had arrived and to come pick it up. I raced over to their shop in West LA on Sepulveda/Olympic... only to find that they weren't there. It was still a video game import shop, but a completely different one. A very Twilight Zone moment. I found a pay phone and rang them, "Where the hell are you guys?!" "Oh, I forgot to tell you! We moved to Torrance a few weeks ago." So I jumped back in the car and made the 20 mile trek over there. Picked up my game w/ free complimentary FFVIII cell phone strap (which is still hanging from the light switch in my living room) and drove home on the freeway listening to Hüsker Dü's New Day Rising and looking at the case and manual when I should have been watching traffic.

Will always be one of my favorite FFs. I loved it that FFVII was such a sharp left turn, and I loved it even more that FFVIII made three hard lefts, then made a bunch of spirals into the heavens. My favorite FF world and visual design style. I could never get enough of Baroque-Futurism-Gothic-Whatever.
Click to expand...

Great little story, Muffdraul. Love it.
 
W

Wazzy

Banned
Chake said:
I never noticed that Zell was short.
Click to expand...
Honestly, I think the heights are a little off. Zell is definitely short but I don't think he's 5'5. If I were to estimate each characters height I would put Zell at 5'8, Quistis 5'9, Squall 5'11, Seifer 6'1, Rinoa 5'6, Selphie 5'4 and Irvine at 6'2.
Ourobolus said:
Was anyone else pissed that Fujin and Raijin weren't hidden characters? :(
Click to expand...
I was. Seifer, Fuujin, Raijin, Laguna and Edea should have all become playable at the end. Especially Seifer with the way his arc ends.
DiipuSurotu said:
Please add this to the OP:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197343-final-fantasy-viii/68548821

This is a full translation of the development staff interviews included in the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania guide. That's 14 printed pages worth of content. The Ultimania guide was released in Japan in 1999 and these interviews were not translated in English until 2013 (the in-universe info in the OP was translated, but not these developer interviews). I have specifically collected many other Ultimania guides that contain development staff interviews never translated in English, neither by Square nor by fans. It's a shame I don't speak Japanese.
Click to expand...

Ahhh yes thank you! I was looking for this. Will add now.
 
M

muteki

Member
I'm back and forth over which is my favorite, 7 or 8. Contrary to popular opinion I loved the Draw/Junction system, but not so much Triple Triad. I could only enjoy TT when grossly overpowering the competition with character cards, and once the rules got complex I gave up.

That intro is probably my all-time favorite.
 
Y

Yazuka

Member
Love this game! It is my favorite Final Fantasy. The music, the world, the awesome gunblades! I like almost everything about this game, I love the love that blooms between Squall and Rinoa.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
DiipuSurotu said:
Please add this to the OP:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197343-final-fantasy-viii/68548821

This is a full translation of the development staff interviews included in the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania guide. That's 14 printed pages worth of content. The Ultimania guide was released in Japan in 1999 and these interviews were not translated in English until 2013 (the in-universe info in the OP was translated, but not these developer interviews). I have specifically collected many other Ultimania guides that contain development staff interviews never translated in English, neither by Square nor by fans. It's a shame I don't speak Japanese.
Click to expand...


Interviewer: Did you plan on using Faye Wong (a very popular female musician in Asia) for that song?

Uematsu: I didn't know anything about her apart from her name. We planned on including a song [with vocals] in this game and I composed the melody on its own early in the process. When we got to the point where we neded to find out who we'd hire to sing it for us, everyone on the staff sat down and listened to CDs from various singers. Celine Dion, Mariah Carrey, and so on. Among those, (Scenario writer) Nojima lost himself in Faye Wong's CD, and when I listened to it, it was the one that made the biggest impression, and we decided to go with this person.
Click to expand...


In some alternate world there is an FF game with a Celine Dion or Mariah Carey track @_@
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
GoodCoffeeJoey said:
A harbinger of things to come for the series. The beginning of the end.
Click to expand...
I feel like I've warped back in time to Final Fantasy VII's original release and I'm reading this on a Usenet Group.

This ain't the thread or time for this.

Either way, all FFs brought something interesting to the table, including this one.

When will we see a final dungeon that's Ultimecia's Castle-calibre again?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | Review Thread
Rumor Community 8 9 10 11 12
597
49K
sncvsrtoip replied
A New Trailer for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has been released
News 2 3
110
8K
Lethal01 replied
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is 100 hours long
News 2 3
135
11K
TrebleShot replied
  • Poll
Final Fantasy XVI | Review Thread
Analysis Review Hype 24 25 26 27 28
1K
94K
Brigandier replied
  • Locked
Final Fantasy XVI Intense Boss Fights Reportedly Causing PS5 Consoles To Overheat
2 3 4 5
227
16K
damidu replied
Top Bottom