Reinbach
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Raijin and Rinoa
🕑 Added 2016-09-27 09:50:22 +0000 UTC I'm just going to say this here, Final Fantasy 8 is my favorite Final Fantasy game. That's right, Reinbach tells it like it is, hot and hard.I'm aware FF8 has it's detractors and that they have excellent points. Yes the battle system is the most broken of any since FF2, yes protagonist Squall is pretty much a slight revision of Cloud, the hero of the previous game. And it certainly was the first game to throw some beloved FF staples out the window, such as it did with it's borderline modern real world setting. Sure it had magic floating schools but I could also rent a car to get around? What the hell man?!
But for me the game had a lot going for it, the first of which was quite superficial I'll admit. See, my first RPG was a game called Chrono Trigger, arguably one of the best games of the genre to this day. So my standards for RPGs were through the roof by default. When I played Final Fantasy 7 and found that your party members didn't follow you in real time as you explored like in Chrono Trigger, but instead magically popped out of your hero's back when needed, it really hurt the immersion for me.
FF8 not only fixed that but added more stuff I liked. For example while Cloud was an asshole because of his twisted past, Squall was a jerk because he simply wasn't a people person, which was something I could relate to at the time. (And kind of still can.) And while at first I was skeptical about a full party of characters that were...well, all teenage humans, (no genetic wolf experiments or talking plush toys?! Bo-ring!) I eventually appreciated how much a unified front made the team just make sense within the context of its world.
And lastly, I appreciated how personally connected the hero was to the story, it was his childhood rival that was the enemy, his love interest that drove the plot, and his fellow students whose lives were on the line. Too often in RPGs your hero is just along for the ride, doing his job but not personally invested. (I'm looking at you FF12.)
But hey that's just me, I'd love to know what you guys think! I'm a huge fan of the series and don't think I've ever played a bad one, even if FF13 did take about 20 hours to get good I'll still defend it. Feel free to let me know what your favorite Final Fantasy is and why! :D
Comments
Reinbach
I was a big fan of 10 myself, guess I just got a thing for the Tetsuya Nomura designs. I'm surprised I haven't drawn Lulu yet, I love black mages and busty brunettes. She's win-win! :D
Walter L.
7, 8 and 10 are my favourites. I think I prefer 10 to the other two, probably because I like the tragic love story a lot. And Lulu and Rikku are among my favourite FF characters ever. But I like 8 a lot and tbh I found Squall way less annoying than Cloud.
Reinbach
I am indeed a console man, I'd look forward to DQ11. :)
schtickle
If you have a DS, consider looking up those games. DQ5 is a strong point, as is 7 on 3DS. If you're a console man, 11 comes out next year.
Reinbach
You know the only game in that series I beat? The original. And it wasn't when it first came out either it was like ten years later. I just wanted to beat it as a badge of pride because it was so friggin' hard. And I can tell you, when I read the words "Thou hast done well in defeating the Dragonlord" I stood up and yelled like my team had won the Super Bowl, assuming I lived in some alternate reality where I gave a shit about sports. Other than that I played DQ8 and enjoyed it, but it was a loan and I had to give it back before I finished it. I'd still like to track it down on PS2 and give it another go. I really liked Yangus and especially Jessica.
schtickle
Played any Dragon Quest games? They're the darling of RPGs in Japan. They've been trickling out western releases for the past 9 years. They've got they're own tropes, feel and set of monsters. My personal favourite.
Reinbach
Yeah both 7 and especially 8 had needlessly complex battle systems I agree. I thought 9's was nice a and simple when it came along, but I also remember it being a total grind-fest compared to the previous two games.
Reinbach
Thanks! It sounds like we're on the same page. I played a lot of lackluster RPGs after FF7 as well, and 8's level of polish was much appreciated when it came out. :)
Lux
I loved FF8 because it was, in my opinion, an upgrade to FF7. I was introduced to JRPGs in Midgar, but went on to a bunch of excellent (and terrible) other games afterwards. FF8 made me fell like I was playing FF7 for the first time again, and loved how much easier it was for me to get behind the characters and settings. Keep up the good work.
Skink
I've always been a bit of a fence sitter on FF8. On the one hand I liked the plot and characters (and the setting in so far as they got the genre wrong), but the mechanics always seemed poor. I didn't mind the draw system so much, what bothered me was that the junction system implied no one actually knew how to do a damn thing on their own. "Well, I don't have Ifrit equipped, so I can't drink my potions, oh well." I had much the same issue with FF7 though. They could use items, but they still needed to equip items for skills as basic as throwing shit or stealing, even in the case of a character who is a thief and manages to rob the party blind.
Reinbach
Thanks! :D
Reinbach
Yeah it was pretty bad lol. A magic system that lowers your stats every time you cast a spell is about the most counter-intuitive thing I ever heard of as a gameplay mechanic. >
Michael Wright
I love FF8 as well. Though when I first played it back in middle school I thought it was hard because of the draw mechanic. When I figured it out I broke the game in the first 3 hours.
Bob Fink
So awesome, very well done!
