I’ve been thinking about getting this game. I really enjoyed Final Fantasy 7 and I liked some of the other FFs, but I never got this one. My main worry is that I read that the battles get really repetitive with the long summons and all. I’ve also read that the story is good so I think I’m going to give this game a shot. But before I do, I would like to hear your opinions on the game.
I really liked Final Fantasy 8. It’s pretty funny, has some cool twists, and some interesting characters. You can adjust the settings so the summon sequences are shorter, too. There’s also a pretty neat in-game card trading/playing game.
Hades, where are you when we need you? 
Play it dangerously for extra lulz. Have 2 characters in the 20% HP and don’t bother summoning crap, just spam limits.
It goes fast.
I hated FF8 my first playthrough; my 2nd playthrough it wasn’t as bad. The story is anticlimatic, the music has a few highs but mostly lows. The combat system is crap, don’t worry about draws too much.
FF8 is a mixed bag. Overall I thought it was okay, but you may feel differently. The dance CMV in the beginning is still my favorite scene out of all the FF games 
Yes, limit breaking is a good way to go. After a point in the game, you can bind Ultimas to Squall’s sword and do as much damage as a summon, without the waiting time. Though after you’ve junctioned the best spells, leveling up will make the battles more difficult for you.
FF8 has its pacing issues and a few grave doh story moments, but overall it’s a nice game.
edit: Yes, the music, with a few exceptions, isn’t anything special.
Ergh, I hated the GF/junction/draw system. I got the hand of it eventually, but still it struck me as being a pain in the arse. Story wasn’t bad though, and characters were interesting if a little 2-dimensional at times.
Oddly enough, my experience was the opposite of Sin’s: I liked the game quite a bit the first time through, but a third of the way through my second playthrough I gave up in disgust. The gameplay does drag in areas. But there are some quite nice parts to it.
To answer Cid’s point, I’m not contesting it. I just want to say that the way I play games is how I work through life. I observe how it works and then when I have a handle on it, I maximize what I can get out of it to push forward. FFT is a good example of what I do to video games. I can finish the game with characters in their late 20s / early 30s. FF8 was easier and less frustrating once I understood what was going on and how to get the system to work in my favor. And definitely, the game drags in a few places.
In my opinion there were several aspects of the game I never really liked, but out of all the minor irritations there were two things I’ve never really forgave it for. The first was during the final boss fight when I finally realized that the game never wanted you to use GFs in combat (not that the thought of abusing limit breaks never crossed my mind beforehand I just had no desire to break the game that badly), and the second was the dreaded ‘Point of No-Return’ (which pissed me off since I couldn’t collect the rest of the cards (easily the best part of the game) it along with FFs IX & T also reinforced the habit of never saving after any major story event unless I know that I can backtrack afterwards).
Also for the record I did try to play through it again recently but I couldn’t even make it to Dollet.
All I can say about the game:
Quistis Trepe!
I loved it when It first came out. I didnt really grasp the draw system until the very end (how drawing more spells raised the stat it’s junctioned to), and it was really there I found the glaring error of it. You essentially can’t use that spell since it makes you weaker (though you can get more). The second time through, I couldnt stand it.
There are several pretty cool sequences in the game. The one that stands out for me the most is the final area (the futureish place and the orphange) and the scene where you try to assassinate the sorceress at the end of the first disk (in Galbadia? I can’t believe I remember that).
The games pretty cool. I enjoyed the junctioning system, although once you discover the islands with all the draw points it becomes really easy to abuse. Characters are sort of lame though. Squall’s the first Final Fantasy character with an internal monologue, and there are parts of the game where you play as other, mysterious characters that interrupts the regular game.
In the end, I remember it being long and yes, sort of draggy. I think I only played through it two or three times but after that first time it did take some time for me to play through it the other times.
I never could get into Final Fantasy VIII. I think the biggest problem with the game was indeed the drawing/Junctioning system. Drawing your magic out of an enemy is one thing, but having to actually junction it to a stat to increase it makes that magic off limits to actually use in battle, otherwise that stat will just decrease.
I also did like the idea of enemies leveling with you, though, which didn’t really make the game a huge grind fest, but you’d have to spend an obscene amount of time in Triple Triad in order to refine cards into certain magic to get your stats high enough early in the game.
The soundtrack was pretty decent, but I still think it’s one of the weakest in the series.
Being serious about it, I enjoyed the game but not as much as some others. Triple Triad was a lot of fun unless you ended up screwing yourself with the rules, and the drawing system was a pain. Spell junctions were not a pain at all (in fact, I thought that part of nifty), the actual drawing of the spells was.
Plot-wise, there were two point in particular that really left me wanting (the one about the GFs, and the one leading to the Point of No Return).
I did enjoy abusing the SeeD quizzes and finally having a game where I never had to worry about income ever again. 
As a side note, this game generated an astounding amount of fan fiction. It wouldn’t be a stretch to claim that FFVIII fanfic is amongst the most popular (exceeded only by FFVII) in the series. And just browsing this site, you can see how trendy FFVIII fanfic is/was.
http://www.rpgclassics.com/fanfics/ffviii.shtml
I can only speculate about rationale of the game’s popularity: cool story, cool characters etc?
Or the plot has so many holes, that only aspiring Grishams and Rowlings could fix this monstrosity?
Oh, and it looks like there is a bunch of users here (past and present) whoidentify/sympathize with FFVIII characters. Did I ever mention that I named my dogs Fujin and Raijin?
:hahaha;
Oh, and Liberi Fatali is one of the greatest pieces of music Uematsu ever wrote.
People identified with the characters more, I think. They were generally closer to the age of those playing the games, and fitted stereotypes that most people have seen in high school in general (the loner, the strappy buzz-saw, the bully, the ladies’ man, the bubbly optimistic girl, the cool responsible type. etc.).
Going backward from FF8, every game gets less realistic, more “mythological.” It’s also the last Final Fantasy about a lonely protagonist’s inward journey. FF4 and 6-8 fall in this category. These arguably form the pinnacle of FF, reaching its height at FF6-7. But of these, FF8 was the most realistic.
FF4 and 6-8 also get more tender and less martial, and FF8 is the tenderest. Squall and Rinoa have the most sentimental relationship in the series. The relationships in general are a little high-schooley (again, sentimental) but convincing. What was delicately understated in FF7 (Cloud-Sephiroth, Cloud-Aeris-Tifa), is a bit overstated in FF8 (Squall-Seifer, Squall-Quistis-Rinoa).
FF8 also takes time to do subtle things. The little gestures of characters, their little exchanges that reflect their inward development, and so forth. This method peaks in the rescue the Squall from the prison and the concert for Squall. The downside is that it gets <i>slow</i>, and sometimes you wish they’d get to the fucking point like FF4 characters did.
In brief, the masculine spirit of FF4 transitioned to the feminine spirit of FF8 over the course of four games. FF8 is absolutely worth a play. Don’t let the wishy-washiness of discs 2-3 discourage you; disc 4 is a masterpiece. If you’re worried about long summons, use the limit break strategy that others are recommending. It’s actually a fun way to play.