Final Fantasy VIII review - PC and PS1

Forgive me dear Blogger, it´s been six months since my last blogging.

These past months have been hectic due to my work with web animation and my daily chores, but still there was time to continue my quest to explore my latest obsession, and enjoy as much JRPG´s as possible, in the quixotesc task of trying to "catch up".

After enjoying "Final Fantasy X","Final Fantasy X-2", "Kingdom Hearts 1", "Kingdom Hearts 2" and "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" i downloaded the much discussed "Final Fantasy VIII" from a brazilian Final Fantasy web community. One that has a hilarious thread on how "Final Fantasy VIII" destroyed the series, mostly filled with humorous fake (or not) reasons on how it accomplished such a task.

Really, it´s hard to be immune to this 1998 game. Like it was said, it´s a love-hate relationship, but love certainly prevails. It happens in a traditional completely fantasy world, it tells the story of a group of mercenaries, from a military academy set out to battle an evil sorceress, complete with a love story in it. In short, I started to play for the battles, and continued to play for the pulp and soapy love story which got me hooked like a helpless little fish.

Reasons to love it: It has a gigantic world, lots of places to visit, gorgeous cutscenes, very decent graphics for it´s time (1998), characters with humans proportions all the time, unlike it´s predecessor which relied on super deformed caricatured characters, lots of humour. Loved the soundtrack by composer Nobuo Uematsu ( i listen to it everyday now) and the theme song: "Eyes on me" leaves me teary eyed everytime.

Reasons to hate it: well, "hate" is a strong word, and i have no problem if the villain´s reasons vague or incoherent. Not every story has to detail the villain´s side all that much. The truth
is that i´m very forgiving about such things. After all, the writers all only humans, and still, this is just a game, which is already offering too much.

But still, i have one BIG COMPLAIN about "Final Fantasy VIII", and about most JRPGs i´m becoming aware of: the fact that to acquire certain itens, you have to know BEFOREHAND KNOWLEDGE.

In Final Fantasy X-2, it was impossible to know that to save Tidus soul you have to whistle while you were in the Farplane. how the hell would anyone know that before reading the answers in the walkthrough? It was not something you could learn IN GAME.

I´m having this very same problem with another Square Enix title, the "VALKYRIE PROFILE: SILMERIA", so why don´t they divulge this information in the instructions manual at least?

So, in order to get some summons (mystical creatures that help you) in FFVIII, you need to have ingredients, itens, refined itens impossible to know if it wasn´t spoiled to you beforehand. So most point plots are already ruined to you if you are to get those itens.

And that is made, so they can sell the "Gamer´s strategy book". Ok, i love game magazines, and game´s strategies guides and GameFAQs is only three clicks away to give you all the answers, but still, those answers could be given to you IN GAME. :P

But still (i love to use "but still´s") i have just bought the original of this game in PS1 and i´ll cherish it as another treasure in my collection.

Can´t help but heartily love it and i´ll play it all over again. :)