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How did Final Fantasy VIII become so hated ?

Rat Rage

Member
Huh. I came into this thread wanting go "who the hell hated the game?", but after remembering how the second half was - I can understand why.

It did hit the "excuse me, what now?" in the story department at the third quarter of the game.

But, to me though, I really loved the game and despite the weird plot twist, the ending really legit made my stupid kid eyes cry with the song they used.

Until now, it's one of my favourite songs to guilty pleasure listen to.

It was a beautiful ending despite the odd storybeat.

Final Fantasy VIII is still a real "Final Fantasy" game at heart. It was made with a lot of passion and soul. My "major" problem with the game isn't even the story, but, like it said, the draw/junctioning system. It breaks the gameplay - and this is one of the worst things that can happen to any game.
 
It has one of the most beautiful romances in all video game history depicting the evolving relationship between an autistic guy with crippling depression and a warmhearted yet mentally challenged young woman.
It would be a hit in this day and age if it was re-made.
The romance development is pretty bad and forced. Squal never really seems interested and then out of nowhere falls in love with her.
 

Fuz

Banned
Can't remember anything, but I loved it at the time.
And Triple Triad is the best FF minigame ever.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Hurrrr a JRPG where you get weaker by fighting battles and get stronger by grinding a card game. Yeah not stupid at all, just stupid gamers who played it wrong.
 

Birdo

Banned
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Aldynes

Member
It's already been discussed in detail (including in older threads) it's near impossible not to break the game during your playtrough unless you are totally new to the RPG genre, who else here on GAF just figured out how to exploit the junction system and got overpowered not even halfway to CD1 ? This alone completely deterred me from replaying the game more than 2 times, I've revisited other FF (not to mention plenty of other RPG) multiple times during the years, FFVIII I've never touched it again since 1999~2000, the story was cool in my opinion, the OST is a marvel, but the stupid twists and dumbness of certain moments were so bad, it ruined the experience I was thrown off of the story multiple times...

I've enjoyed my very first playtrough at the time, mind you I was 11 and it was my second RPG game after FFVII.
 
My first and favourite FF, loved the music, Faye Wong song, and emo Squall. Forget the haters, after 9 I never played another FF again. Now I’m waiting for the remake after 7 is done. Fuck the haters, fuck’ em! :)
 

Arsic

Gold Member
Keep in mind when it came out. Most players then were very young, and this game was right after the highly regarded FF7.

The plot for this game is pretty thick and for most of the young youth went over their head. This was before the internet was rocking YT lore explanation videos in case you had no clue.

On top of that there is some issues with the plot as there always is when time travel gets thrown in.

Add in being forced to do the card game to get certain ultima weapons, and a particularly grindy end game for best weapons items to craft them.

It has those things going against it and that's about it. The game, like every mainline FF, varies from good to incredible depending on your tastes.

8 for me landed on the great side of the spectrum.

Also, another reason is influencers on YT years later started to meme/dog pile on the game to help cultivate this "its shit" mindset that people spew.
 
Final Fantasy VIII is still a real "Final Fantasy" game at heart. It was made with a lot of passion and soul. My "major" problem with the game isn't even the story, but, like it said, the draw/junctioning system. It breaks the gameplay - and this is one of the worst things that can happen to any game.
Yeah, I recall being frustrated by the draw and junctioning system, but again, I was a really young lad when I played it - and so I guess that didn't impact me as much as the story over the course of time.

Most I can recollect from my time playing and the frustration with it is "huh. Yeah, that was pretty stupid" but can't specifically remember why besides not being able to enjoy using magic as much because of the system, thus missing out one some of the magic/abilities 😅

I'm sure it's a frustrating thing, but it's been so long for me feel it.

I guess time heals all wounds?
 

TheContact

Member
I love 8. It’s a very good game but it has a lot of flaws. If you exploit the game it becomes its own little meta game and makes it more interesting, but I hate the level scaling. The draw system is forgiveable since the alternative is more efficient
 
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fersnake

Member
the GF summoning it's a pain in the ass, FFIX fix it. but to me? t i'm still think it's the best FF ever made.

bought that game with my savings (first psone game i had) in my teens, used an english to spanish dictionary to understand like 50% what was on the screen, shared it with my bff that experience an alot of things happen in that time and yeah nostalgia beats everything :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Why even give enemies unlimited supply of spells to draw if doing so is the “wrong” way to play? That’s what I call stupid gameplay design.

Its an option to do so and some enemies, like bosses, have exclusive draws. But if you just want 99 spells, then you're better off modding items. You'll find you have a shit ton of spoils (items and cards) converting into 20-100 of spells of all tiers. But you can also mod a bunch of low tier spells into higher tiers. You can become a powerhouse without drawing at all. I had a level 100 kind of min maxed party that easily took down Omega legit and I barely drew from enemies. Just from the map, and converted items.

Though if you have a high stat, I think its spirit? Then you can easily draw 10+ spells from an enemy, which could make drawing a few times in fights a feasible option.
 
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DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I loved it. I don't think it's as good if I'm being a critic as VII, IX, VI, IV and others, but I loved it. I think it's gotten super underrated and IMO has the best soundtrack in the series. Nobuo was brilliant with his work in this. I've thought about playing it again sometime. Probably wouldn't hold up, but definitely major nostalgia there.
 

ZehDon

Member
My general rule of thumb for Final Fantasy is your favourite FF is almost always your first FF. I don't think VIII is a bad game, it's just not a great one... and had the bad luck of following FFVII, a lot of people's first FF and also a pretty great FF. Loved the soundtrack, though.
 

Moonjt9

Member
Going from godtier materia system in 7 to wtf is this draw/junction system in 8 was like someone putting a stick in your bike wheel as you’re having fun riding down the road of final fantasy.

8’s soundtrack is stellar though, I’ll give it that.
 

sephiroth7x

Member
I think most of the hate stems from the fact that in the late 90's it was sandwiched between FFVII and FFIX which were two of the best FF games as well as being two of the best games on the PS1 in general.

It also took a drastically different approach to the Final Fantasy game that a major amount of people had become associated with, FFVII. When it sat in a school setting, with very different characters and themes as well as a different levelling system etc. people baulked.

As we look back in time now, many people state how good FFVIII really was. Its soundtrack is a phenom. Its story is generally well written but does lose itself mid-way through Disc 3 and for all the issues with junctioning, it was a really good idea to try something new and worked well for the most part. Yes it can be broken but it can be kind of fun.

Personally - I feel it is a great game and would prefer to play it over most of the new or old FF games.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Going from godtier materia system in 7 to wtf is this draw/junction system in 8 was like someone putting a stick in your bike wheel as you’re having fun riding down the road of final fantasy.

8’s soundtrack is stellar though, I’ll give it that.

Materia system was good but I never really bothered with builds since the game was so easy. In the Remake good setups are more of a requirement since its a tougher game. I experimented much more with it in Remake.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
I'd say 15 gets this reputation more than 8. Despite both being great.

You’re forgetting XIII. :p

If anything, it’s XIII that’s the black sheep and the fans are mostly divided on that game.
 
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German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
You’re forgetting XIII. :p

If anything, it’s XIII that’s the black sheep and the fans are mostly divided on that game.
You know, looking back at this franchise's great history barring FF2, it's honestly hard to believe FF13 exists.

It really is a horrible fucking corridor simulator mangled with overly long, cheesy cutscenes and its second half that can be described as a long series of imbalanced battles with an illusion of exploration through a barren overworld that exists for nothing but to get you to more fights.

Honestly there's nothing good that can be said about the game other than some of its music. When you look at almost every other FF game, namely 14 and 15 with how hard SE works to salvage them now, FF13 can't just be called a disgrace to the franchise name, it might as well be one of the worst games ever based on its total lack of redeeming qualities.
 

wa600

Member
Was listening to a podcast from someone going through all final fantasies and sharing his views. VIII he played once as a kid. Hated it back then and maybe even hated it more now. Then he shared how he played it: For every single random encounter he decided to draw 100 spells for each character before killing the enemy. Apparently he did this the for whole game, even in the final dungeon.
A few days later ProJared uploaded his review on this game. Looked like he decided to go for the same playstyle?
Blows my mind that some folks decide to play a game in the most unefficient way. If I played it the same tedious way (never even crossed my mind as a kid), it would probably make me super critical to anything the game offers.

I think there is a lot of stuff the developers could have improved on, but at the same time I feel like details get blown out of proportion. Personally I always appreciated how much freedom the game gives you on how you want to tackle everything. Even back in the day I discovered the Encounter-half ability super early and went through the whole game that way. When you got stuck somewhere in a dungeon, you could even disable encounters and didnt have to go crazy getting interrupted every few steps while trying to figure out what to do.
 

Lady Bird

Matsuno's Goebbels
FFVIII has one the most broken gameplay systems in the entire series. And that will either strip out the fun for any player (draw 100 spells per battle, spam overly long GFs with no risk nor strategy, avoid using magic to not nerf your characters), or make it highly addicting for more perfectionist players (keep your characters' health low and spam limit breaks; learn card mod and become super broken whenever you want; collect all optional GFs, magic, mag-junctions and mag-refinements, etc.).

It's a broken game that only gets fun if you're willing to break it further.
 
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ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Was listening to a podcast from someone going through all final fantasies and sharing his views. VIII he played once as a kid. Hated it back then and maybe even hated it more now. Then he shared how he played it: For every single random encounter he decided to draw 100 spells for each character before killing the enemy. Apparently he did this the for whole game, even in the final dungeon.
A few days later ProJared uploaded his review on this game. Looked like he decided to go for the same playstyle?
Blows my mind that some folks decide to play a game in the most unefficient way. If I played it the same tedious way (never even crossed my mind as a kid), it would probably make me super critical to anything the game offers.

I think there is a lot of stuff the developers could have improved on, but at the same time I feel like details get blown out of proportion. Personally I always appreciated how much freedom the game gives you on how you want to tackle everything. Even back in the day I discovered the Encounter-half ability super early and went through the whole game that way. When you got stuck somewhere in a dungeon, you could even disable encounters and didnt have to go crazy getting interrupted every few steps while trying to figure out what to do.

Honestly, I think FFXIII would have been received better if it was released in 2007-2008 so the hype wouldn’t be through the roof. Also better if they could have:

- Added a small town where you can interact with the NPCs instead of the floating shop thing
- You can go back to said places
 

M.T.S

Neo Member
I finished the remastered version with battlebacks texture mods along with some other mods and it was much better than the original. It felt more like a PS2 version. I liked the game myself, but many were probably confused by the battle system back in the days.

Here is a comparison between them with mods and original. I suggest getting them for the PC version. You can turn the framerate up on PC with Special K software(not in battles).

 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
I know im hijacking the thread but I wanna play a FF title I havent played before on the Switch. What should I go for first, FF12 or FF 9?
Both awesome. FF IX is a very charming homage to old school FF games. FF XII is my personal favorite of the post-PSX era, less shounen anime melodrama and more “Star Wars meets Game of Thrones”. It takes place in the same world as FF Tactics and has a god-tier soundtrack and a cool battle system where you program/automate your characters.
 
I remember buying it and having to go through battles extracting blue balls from the enemies for what seems to be hours, that's why.
 

NahaNago

Member
I personally think it had one of the best soundtracks in the series. The orchestrated version of 'Fragments of Memories' is hauntingly beautiful, it doesn't hurt that I'm a string junkie when it comes to classical music.

I don't remember this song but this song is amazing.
 
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T4rz4

Member
Autoleveling doesn't work for me. If I spond a lot of time leveling is because i want to be the fucking overpowered god, not the same as a peasant at endgame.
Slow battles
Magic system, being pressing button everywhere to find hidden magic spots
Use magic to attack-> stats get lowered...
 
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