FF8 was a great game i dunno what the rest of the world thinks but y do u say sucks? :enguard:
-Battle system wise, there’s no difference except limit breaks and the weapons they use. You could use anyone and beat all the monsters’ asses down.
-Plot seemed contrived
-Characters seem taken right out of an high-school based sitcom.
-Fixed XP limit to go up levels in a traditional RPG.
Need I go on?
Gosh I always loved FF8 for that reason that your character was only as strong as you wanted them to be… making it all the more challenging for yourself if you wanted to try it with little to no junctioning at all…
not that I ever bothered with that seriously… I loved to kick ass early on and keep kicking it until I hit Ultie’s door
I guess if I had to pick something wrong with it… it would have to be the plot… I liked it don’t get me wrong… but there were so many things awkward about it… 1/2 way through the game
~BOOM~ Ultimecia appears as a major character… and suddenly you’re talking about time travel and the only way to get back was to love each other and think of home…
O_O’ and while I loved Laguna with much passion… I found him to be nearly pointless… but I loved him if nothing else than the fact that Kiros said his leg cramping was a minus 3 on the manliness scale cracks up 
but even with that… I still love FF8… it’s one of my faves
FFVIII was amazing in terms of side quests. the battle system could have been better though. the story, i found, one of the best.
and the junction system was a really cool idea.
over all i really found FFVIII very good.
The junction system wasn’t perfect, I agree, but it was perfect for people who like customisation and was simple enough to do if you were a beginner.
FFVIII’s my favourite game ever. I fell in love with the characters, the plot and the scenario, and I replay it frequently just for kicks. As with any other game, I don’t have a problem with people who don’t like it - I can understand why it wouldn’t be suited to some people’s tastes. But people who go about yelling “8 SUCKS 7 IS TEH ROXORZ” annoy me intensely, because they don’t seem to have given it a chance or are just following the hype that suffocated VII.
If you’re going to criticise VIII, by all means feel free, but at least have a mature reason for doing so.
[/rant]
The major flaw of the game is the Draw system. In the beginning of the game you have to spend ridiculous amounts of time in easy battles drawing to stock up on basic spells. And every time you get a new character, they start with nothing, so you have to do it all over again. Refining items into spells isn’t that helpful until late in the game, since most items early in the game only give you a few low level spells.
If I could change it, I would have monsters drop spells instead of having to waste time drawing them, or better yet, have a magic shop that you could buy low and medium level spells.
FF8 is by far one of the worst games out there. The battle system sucked, you could only have a limited amount of magic, and, here’s one of the STUPIDEST things I ever heard.
“I dreamt I was a moron…”
NO. YOU ARE A MORON! And, basicly everthing else is what Igatona said. The best part of the game?
“Great. I’ve got chicken-wuss and a guy who just hit puberty on my squad.”
You couldn’t be more true.
Originally posted by DanteCole
FF8 is by far one of the worst games out there.
Oh, come on, I can understand people saying they don’t like in the context of Final Fantasy, but it kicks ass when compared to most run-of-the-mill games.
The battle system sucked, you could only have a limited amount of magic . . .[/QUOTE}
Magic/Mana Points limit your use of magic in other FFs. Square was just trying something new. And why exactly did the battle system ‘suck’?
[QUOTE][b]and, here’s one of the STUPIDEST things I ever heard.
“I dreamt I was a moron…”
NO. YOU ARE A MORON![/b]
Why is that so stupid? Not only is your reaction to that horribly cliche and immature, but there’s no reason for it. It’s part of the script. Squall dreamt he was Laguna, who can be a very big moron.
I think everyone who dislikes the game tends to exaggerate, personally. But, since I love it, my perceptions might be skewed 
I didn’t really think there was much wrong with FF8 at all.
I thought that the junction system was fine, not the best, but fine, although it was a bit limiting. I got my GF’s to learn all their abilities, but didn’t use half of them because it would mean replacing ones like ‘Magic’, ‘GF’ or ‘Item’.
However, I agree with MrNuke999 about the Draw system, I found it irritating having to spend a lot of time drawing. But it becomes a more irrelevant problem once you get abilities to refine magic.
I disagree with people who say that “the battle system sucked”, however I will not bitch about it because they are entitled to their own opinion. Although a little bit of evidence would probably help explain your point of view.
All in all, I thought it was a great game. :thud: -phew
For whatever reason, people tend to feel strongly one way or the other about FF8. Those who like it really like it. Those who don’t REALLY don’t.
It’s critics call the plot contrived. Given, but, then again, I challenge you to point out ONE installment in the FF series where the plot is NOT contrived (they pick up the black materia and all of a sudden Sephiroth has mind control powers over Cloud to make him give up the materia? Oh COME ON. That defines contrived.)
Which is not to say that FF8 doesn’t have its plot weaknesses that irk me. (No need for Ultimecia at all [in fact, I think her inclusion and the necessary plot adjustments to accomodate her weaken the story]; Edea and Seifer were functioning just fine as primary villains on their own, thank you. And if you needed another sorceress to be manipulating things from beyond, you already had Adel. Cripes.)
And while I understand why the story focuses on Squall and Rinoa, I still feel that the other characters should’ve been given a chance to be developed and fleshed out more because, on the superficial level, as Igatona said, they do come off as archtypes/stereotypes of high school dramas and/or comedies. There is more to them than that, but this is largely unexplored territory in the game.
“That’s General Leo. He could be my friend, if he weren’t my enemy.” Sabin, FF6; probably the most idiotic line in the history of the series. Does it detract from FF6? Does it make it less of a game? Hell no. So lay off “I dreamt I was a moron.” Especially since it’s not a bad line. It’s a very good one. Squall has a dream in which he’s Laguna. Laguna is a moron. Ergo, Squall dreamt he was a moron. Even if you think Squall is one himself, then at least there’s the clueless irony factor going on (vintage sitcom writing device), which should draw a laugh.
I like the Junctioning system, too. Though I find the whole Draw process to be rather tedious.
But hey, at least Rinoa didn’t use a damn staff/cane as a weapon like every other FF female lead love interst ever. Gotta give FF8 points for that. 
FF8 had it’s moments, I just wished hey had put in more laguna dreams… they were so funny.
One of the things I disliked most was that hole draw magic stuff, jez that was no good. I mean the Junction system was kinda cool, but not the magic drawing part…
And also the weapon upgrade system wasn’t that good.
But that card gamed was extremely cool, and a bit better than FF9’s
EDIT: Rinoa’s weapon was the crummiest weapon ever
Originally posted by KaiserVonAlmasy
But hey, at least Rinoa didn’t use a damn staff/cane as a weapon like every other FF female lead love interst ever. Gotta give FF8 points for that.
Well, Rosa from FF4 used a bow. And in FFX-2, Yuna ditches the staff for a pair of pistols (which reminds me, I MUST get a set of those custom controllers)
Thatz the only flaw i find in FF8 is taht Riona’s weapon did suck, other than that i thought everything else was great.:enguard:
I don’t like FF8 because of the characters. They didn’t me in a good way, which is better than FF9 in a way since they didn’t interest me at all. I found battling to be kind of fun, though drawing was tedious. I liked the timed hits with Squall even though that gave him an edge over everyone.
I thought that the weapons were kind of lame since each character only had about 6 or so. The limit breaks weren’t my favorite either. I liked FF7 in that each character had a series of limit breaks and you kind of knew what to expect. In FF8 each person had a totally different kind of limit break and that irritated me especially when Squall didn’t do the Lionheart even though I needed him to in a few occasions.
SO I think that FF8 is fun, but there are quite a few things that irritate me about it.
It’s all been said before, But i’d like to touch up a little bit with my opinion of it. I really like the game, it was fun to play, and still is every once in a while. Since 10, i have a hard time playing games without voices. The draw system was a downside, and that you could get the next strongest weapon in Disc one.
The customization is both it’s strong point and it’s weakness. I like giving my characters their own skills. Like I would give Squall Mug, Zell Darkside, Selphie Recover, or Revive… or both. Quistis Drain… I’d just do weird stuff like that to make it more fun. And it does. I did enjoy the storyline, It always intrested me how Fate played a huge roll in the game, but they made an effort to make it appear not to. How Laguna and Julia werent meant to be together, but their kids were.
Statistically Rinoa and Squall are the strongest characters in the game. I even like the randomness of Rinoa’s limitbreaks. I made good use of Zell’s limitbreak by simply pausing the game. Irvine’s isnt bad if you have a turbo controller (wich i dont)…
I thought it was rather awkward that just suddenly Squall falls for Rinoa… I mean we all knew he was the tenderhearted little chic magnet under it all… but… I mean…
just… suddenly… BOOM!
he went from thinking she was uber annoying to
I lub her swoon
I wonder if I become a sorceress if I can do that??
ponders
I thought FFVIII was great (wow, a poet and didn’t know it). I kinda liked the Draw/Junction and GF systems (though I’m not a lover of stock magic).
But the most important thing about any Final Fantasy to me is the storyline. FFVIII had a kickass story, (like all of the others) so, I liked it.
I don’t know whyso many people hate FFVIII. It was a great game. Yes the draw system was annoying. Yes the junction system sort of limited your charaters. And yes the story could use some work. All in all it’s a great game in the FF seris. I like most of the game. The drawing wasn’t so bad. I had more fun playing the card game in 8 than any other FF. So people should lay off! If you have nothing good to say than don’t say anything at all!!:fungah:
Amen!
i’m sorry Mako, but although the card game was very good, the battle system was cooler (since it actually had better interaction with allowing you to control Squall’s critical hits, and limits the same way), and the story was accpetable (since it continues my FF game-link theory) , everything else was a disadvantage for a couple reasons…
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the Draw/Junction system had many flaws, like decrasing stats when you had to attack with magic, you could’nt draw very well after a while, and the game made it so you had to junction.
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In order to completely beat the game, you had to play the card game to change the greater cards into items to make you invincible! and the Card game was also impossible to play in the early stages, and you had to save beforehand so many times to make sure you win, and the changing rules made it even more impossible.
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the money system SUCKS! i’d rather fight my enemies for cash thank you very much! and besides, there is nothing worth buying anyway since there is no armor and you gain all the meterials to make your weapons.
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weak monsters got stronger as you did, so that made things much harder.
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you could beat the game easily just by using your GFs! since it required no type of point to use, you could use them infintely as long as you had GF-potions and retruners
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this might seem weird, but there were too MANY side quests! I thought most of them were too hard anyway, even for 99ers.
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all you needed to do to get a limit is to press the tringle button when your character’s health was low, taking all diffcultly out of getting a limit.
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and finally, I think the alimighty creator of FF lost his original premise of the original foundation of the story of his game in FF8, a foundation that all the FFs followed before and after it. FFXI and FFX followed this foundation, and they were great games, hell, even the movie followed that premise, and I know many people who loved it (myself inculded)