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Thoughts on Final Fantasy VIII
Feb. 15th, 2022 11:09 pmSo FINALLY after way too many months, I completed - for the very first time - Final Fantasy VIII: Remastered for the PS4. It was a long time coming only because I was in the process of a move among other issues that plagued my life in the mid-to-latter half of 2021, but last month I finally hunkered down and finished it.
Coming into the game, I only vaguely knew a few of the characters, but very little about their actual roles, personalities, or abilities. My introduction to the Final Fantasy franchise was through Kingdom Hearts, so I was vaguely acquainted with Squall, Selfie, and Seifer through their incarnations in those games. I have also been exposed to some of the lore of the game via some Final Fantasy trivia type videos, but other than that - I didn't have any clue about the overarching story or gameplay mechanics. Totally fresh, 100% a first impression.
And even after having some time to really think about and process it all, I still have very mixed feelings about the game. On one hand, I did really appreciate the general themes, and I thought a lot of the characters were memorable and their stories compelling. Squall's journey from depressed, apathetic loner to confident hero who learns to protect and cherish his comrades is not a unique narrative, but I enjoyed seeing the growth nonetheless. Admittedly, there were many times I felt myself somewhat relating to his struggles as an older teen dealing with the heavy expectations of clueless adults, trying to involve him in their conflicts and the consequences of their collective fuck-ups. Although there were times when his reticence and broodiness got under my skin, I could easily see why he was the way he was and didn't blame him for being frustrated about expressing himself, being vulnerable, or trusting people.
Zell, surprisingly, grew to be my favorite of the bunch. While in the beginning, he mostly appears to fit the clueless or comedy-relief sidekick trope, as the story progresses, he seems to have these remarkably mature and reliable moments, which illustrate why he was able to supersede someone like Seifer at becoming SeeD. Laguna was runner up for my next favorite for similar reasons. He's fun-loving, goofy guy, but is deadly serious about his convictions and goals. I also have a think for long/dark-haired pretty boys, but that goes without saying. This is a Final Fantasy game so there's bound to be at least one or two hot people.
Rinoa was yet another character I grew attached to over time. At first, I thought she came on a little strong with trying to get Squall to "let his hair down" and be open about his feelings, but when it came to the greater issues at stake, it was good to see someone seriously challenge his apathy and cynicism. I enjoyed the slow burn romance between she and Squall, and yes - I admit that I DID cry during the "Eyes on Me" scene in the Ragnorak. Something about struggling through some of the most frustrating enemies in the game, going through an emotional space rescue mission, and then finally reuniting - only to hear that the person you've grown to love so much may never see you again, is devastating on many levels.
That being said, there were some aspects of the story I felt were written and structured poorly. While I normally can enjoy a game despite a convoluted mind-fuck, time warping/time-hopping plot (I played all the KH games after all), it was hard keeping up with some aspects of the story during the end-game events and feeling everything come together. If stories are too complicated due to too many metaphysical aspects, it can muddy the emotional weight for me - even if the story is a fantasy. Final Fantasy VIII isn't Kingdom Hearts - it's not an absurd cross-over game built on a ridiculous premise, it's supposed to be somewhat grounded and realistic, and I felt like a lot of loose ends were left hanging once our attention shifted from warfare and political conflict to otherworldy time-compressing space witches.
The gameplay is another aspect that is hard to really love. While eventually I did learn how to use junctions at the end of the game, I would much rather have preferred collecting accessories and stat buff equipment vs. the tedious act of constantly drawing spells or collecting items and cards to eventually refine into more spells. While I'm sure it is entirely possible to beat the game without magic mining and junctioning until you have the highest stats possible, it is immensely difficult to survive Ultimecia and other end-stage bosses without them - even if you grind for the highest levels for your party and gather all the most powerful weapons and Guardian Forces. After the sixth time Ultimecia had wiped the floor with my ass, I realized I needed to go back to the world map and grind for spells for three more hours before I could finally be successful at surviving past the third stage. And even then, by the time I was on the final stage, I was down to only two characters: Squall and Zell - with Zell mostly providing back up with Elixers while Squall parried away at the boss.
Another aspect that I've seen criticized in fan circles is, aside from weapons and Limit Breaks, all party characters are essentially blank slates to be junctioned upon. Unlike FFVII where you had characters of different classes having different specialties, strengths, and weaknesses - the FFVIII characters are essentially interchangeable. For some people, this may give more ease and freedom to develop a favorite character or party set-up, but for me it wasn't as fun to just be able to hit a button, switch out some junctions, and not have to think carefully about developing each character for their specific attributes.
Visuals for the remaster were also so-so, but I was less concerned with this knowing there's only so much that can really be restored from a PS1 game. The cut scenes were gorgeous as ever, but sadly, the new HD models clashed horribly with the pixelated, low-resolution backgrounds. While on the PC, I know you can get mods and texture packs to make the backgrounds look more tolerable, I don't know if it's possible with a PS4 to do the same. That's not to say the backgrounds were ugly - it was just jarring to see a crisp, clean Dissidia NT Squall walking around in blurry PS1 Balamb or Trabia.
Overall, despite its flaws, I would still recommend people at least try out FFVIII if they're fans of other FF games and want to try out a classic. I know for some people, it's a close favorite - either due to nostalgia, or favoring the different game play system, or a combination of reasons. Sadly, I would still have to place it as the lowest so far in my ranking of the FF series thus far. Maybe after some time has passed I can revisit it with a new perspective and maybe I'll change my mind about some of aspects I considered flaws. Sometimes my first impressions of things aren't always stellar - especially when there's a lot of new things for me to take in and digest before I start analyzing it further for pros and cons.
Anyway, I've already begun Final Fantasy IX this week and so far I'm really enjoying that game! But more on that to come.
My Ranking List:
1) FFVII
2) FFVII: Crisis Core
3) FFVIII
Coming into the game, I only vaguely knew a few of the characters, but very little about their actual roles, personalities, or abilities. My introduction to the Final Fantasy franchise was through Kingdom Hearts, so I was vaguely acquainted with Squall, Selfie, and Seifer through their incarnations in those games. I have also been exposed to some of the lore of the game via some Final Fantasy trivia type videos, but other than that - I didn't have any clue about the overarching story or gameplay mechanics. Totally fresh, 100% a first impression.
And even after having some time to really think about and process it all, I still have very mixed feelings about the game. On one hand, I did really appreciate the general themes, and I thought a lot of the characters were memorable and their stories compelling. Squall's journey from depressed, apathetic loner to confident hero who learns to protect and cherish his comrades is not a unique narrative, but I enjoyed seeing the growth nonetheless. Admittedly, there were many times I felt myself somewhat relating to his struggles as an older teen dealing with the heavy expectations of clueless adults, trying to involve him in their conflicts and the consequences of their collective fuck-ups. Although there were times when his reticence and broodiness got under my skin, I could easily see why he was the way he was and didn't blame him for being frustrated about expressing himself, being vulnerable, or trusting people.
Zell, surprisingly, grew to be my favorite of the bunch. While in the beginning, he mostly appears to fit the clueless or comedy-relief sidekick trope, as the story progresses, he seems to have these remarkably mature and reliable moments, which illustrate why he was able to supersede someone like Seifer at becoming SeeD. Laguna was runner up for my next favorite for similar reasons. He's fun-loving, goofy guy, but is deadly serious about his convictions and goals. I also have a think for long/dark-haired pretty boys, but that goes without saying. This is a Final Fantasy game so there's bound to be at least one or two hot people.
Rinoa was yet another character I grew attached to over time. At first, I thought she came on a little strong with trying to get Squall to "let his hair down" and be open about his feelings, but when it came to the greater issues at stake, it was good to see someone seriously challenge his apathy and cynicism. I enjoyed the slow burn romance between she and Squall, and yes - I admit that I DID cry during the "Eyes on Me" scene in the Ragnorak. Something about struggling through some of the most frustrating enemies in the game, going through an emotional space rescue mission, and then finally reuniting - only to hear that the person you've grown to love so much may never see you again, is devastating on many levels.
That being said, there were some aspects of the story I felt were written and structured poorly. While I normally can enjoy a game despite a convoluted mind-fuck, time warping/time-hopping plot (I played all the KH games after all), it was hard keeping up with some aspects of the story during the end-game events and feeling everything come together. If stories are too complicated due to too many metaphysical aspects, it can muddy the emotional weight for me - even if the story is a fantasy. Final Fantasy VIII isn't Kingdom Hearts - it's not an absurd cross-over game built on a ridiculous premise, it's supposed to be somewhat grounded and realistic, and I felt like a lot of loose ends were left hanging once our attention shifted from warfare and political conflict to otherworldy time-compressing space witches.
The gameplay is another aspect that is hard to really love. While eventually I did learn how to use junctions at the end of the game, I would much rather have preferred collecting accessories and stat buff equipment vs. the tedious act of constantly drawing spells or collecting items and cards to eventually refine into more spells. While I'm sure it is entirely possible to beat the game without magic mining and junctioning until you have the highest stats possible, it is immensely difficult to survive Ultimecia and other end-stage bosses without them - even if you grind for the highest levels for your party and gather all the most powerful weapons and Guardian Forces. After the sixth time Ultimecia had wiped the floor with my ass, I realized I needed to go back to the world map and grind for spells for three more hours before I could finally be successful at surviving past the third stage. And even then, by the time I was on the final stage, I was down to only two characters: Squall and Zell - with Zell mostly providing back up with Elixers while Squall parried away at the boss.
Another aspect that I've seen criticized in fan circles is, aside from weapons and Limit Breaks, all party characters are essentially blank slates to be junctioned upon. Unlike FFVII where you had characters of different classes having different specialties, strengths, and weaknesses - the FFVIII characters are essentially interchangeable. For some people, this may give more ease and freedom to develop a favorite character or party set-up, but for me it wasn't as fun to just be able to hit a button, switch out some junctions, and not have to think carefully about developing each character for their specific attributes.
Visuals for the remaster were also so-so, but I was less concerned with this knowing there's only so much that can really be restored from a PS1 game. The cut scenes were gorgeous as ever, but sadly, the new HD models clashed horribly with the pixelated, low-resolution backgrounds. While on the PC, I know you can get mods and texture packs to make the backgrounds look more tolerable, I don't know if it's possible with a PS4 to do the same. That's not to say the backgrounds were ugly - it was just jarring to see a crisp, clean Dissidia NT Squall walking around in blurry PS1 Balamb or Trabia.
Overall, despite its flaws, I would still recommend people at least try out FFVIII if they're fans of other FF games and want to try out a classic. I know for some people, it's a close favorite - either due to nostalgia, or favoring the different game play system, or a combination of reasons. Sadly, I would still have to place it as the lowest so far in my ranking of the FF series thus far. Maybe after some time has passed I can revisit it with a new perspective and maybe I'll change my mind about some of aspects I considered flaws. Sometimes my first impressions of things aren't always stellar - especially when there's a lot of new things for me to take in and digest before I start analyzing it further for pros and cons.
Anyway, I've already begun Final Fantasy IX this week and so far I'm really enjoying that game! But more on that to come.
My Ranking List:
1) FFVII
2) FFVII: Crisis Core
3) FFVIII
