Flashback Friday: Final Fantasy 8

Welcome to the first ever Flashback Friday! We are hoping to have this segment every Friday where we review a classics game on its merits. We won't however, review a game that you can't get a hold of without selling your kidney on the black market. All Flashback Friday games will be easy to obtain and reasonably priced. So without further ado, I present the first Flashback Friday review of Final Fantasy 8!

"I'll be here..."
"Why...?"
"I'll be waiting here..."
"For what...?"
"I'll be waiting here so if you come here, you'll find me..."
And so begins one of the greatest adventures in RPG gaming history. The introduction starts with words floating on screen above a beautiful scene of waves gently lapping the shore. You don't know it yet, but these words will hold great significance in your adventure. Enter Squall, a young and proud trainee warrior who belongs to SEED, a special mercenary force used to quell unrest throughout the kingdom. Squall takes after previous heroes in the series, mainly Cloud, and at first it's hard to like the mainly silent protagonist as he rebels against his trainer Questis. This doesn't last long however, as Squall is thrust into a story that promises intrigue, political unrest and love. Does it deliver on these promises?

The answer is yes. After the initial introduction to a character you can't really be attached to, you are trust into political turmoil as you support an uprising of rebels called "The Forest Owls." Squall doesn't initially fight for a cause, the sole motivation for a SEED operative is money. During the development of Squall's story, the player starts to understand his faults and reasoning which leads to the player caring about his plight. Character development is handled well and instead of going for the typical emo kid routine, Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) develop the stereotype by adding depth and internal conflict into the fray.

Without giving too much away it is a joy to watch the bonds between a team motivated by money change into a group of friends. Love is the main theme amidst the civil war and even in times of conflict, love blossoms between Squall and Rinoa.

The graphics were very advanced for its time which featured high polygon count models vastly improving its engine over FFVII. Spells and summons where the highlight with what seemed to be pre-rendered movies behind in game battles. Speaking of pre-rendered, FFVIII pulls you in to a beautiful world of fantasy architecture that mixes both medieval and futuristic locales. Full motion video seamlessly blends into in game graphics an whilst it's very noticeable these days, in its heyday it was something you could not believe.

Gameplay follows the traditional Final Fantasy archetypes with the exception of a new junction ing system. This allows the player to customize their fighting style to how they want to play. The game originally spanned 4 discs which is something you don't have to worry about anymore as the digital release on Playstation Network handles disc swapping easily. It's easy to see why it spanned 4 discs as the game features several locations to explore and over 100 hours of gameplay (40 if you rush it.)

In conclusion, it's clear to see that Square struck while the iron was hot following FFVII. They took a great game and made it better to result in something familiar yet different at the same time. Many gamers say FFVII is the best Final Fantasy ever made but I disagree. Final Fantasy VIII is a game that will stay with you for a long time after you have finished playing.

So What's It Like?

I would say its would be something like this... Traditional JRPG + Epic Story + FF Gameplay = FFVIII
I give it 9/10

Final Fantasy 8 is available on Playstation Network as a PS1 Classic for $15.99 AUD.

-Sarge