Introduction

Have you ever had the experience when you've been really getting into something, whether it be a video game series, a collection of books, or a collection and you've experienced some of the highest peaks the series had offered up until this point, and you've wondered to yourself, how and where do we go from here? It can be quite polarizing to see an experience take a tonal shift in a completely different direction, one great example that I can feel turns off some is the shift in storytelling in works such as Attack on Titan where many pre-established conceptions and overall central themes change to something much grander, and deviate from what was the initial pull for many to enjoy the show. For me, with Final Fantasy 8, as a video game, I would say that it considered to be one of the most polarizing releases in the series, and I'm here to discuss why, and overall why I do believe there is a lot of beauty to Final Fantasy 8, despite its many undeniable and inescapable flaws.

A Polarizing, Flawed, Yet Misunderstood Adventure

So before we dive into the heart of this video, there's an important place that I'd like to start when discussing Final Fantasy 8, and that is the question as to why it is such a polarizing experience, and in some ways a misunderstood one.

An Immediate observation this is inescapable is how much Final Fantasy 8 deviates from the winning formula of Final Fantasy 6 and more notably Final Fantasy 7. In a previous video in the past, I made a video talking about the monumental weight and influence that FF7 carried with it, and with Final Fantasy 8 it had the task of following up the game that was one of the juggernauts on the PS1 era, and it's crazy Square's approach to FF8 feels like a adverse direction in terms of its approach, from the way its story unfolds, the pacing, and most notably the gameplay systems introduced.

Final Fantasy VIII is one that can be enjoyed when you accept and play it on its terms. It is a much more slower game that is crafting a world of conflict, and the full implications of that said conflict that doesn't immediately become apparent until about the midway point. It is a game that is structured in a way that feels dream-like and purposefully leaves out details, and later details or eludes to particular conclusions. This is one aspect of Final Fantasy 8, that I find both frustrating and weirdly charming. It's so weird, I love seeing many of the conclusions that many have discussed over the years, but at the same time, I do feel like some of its twists do feel a little cheap, and contrived. It is easy to see why this game is one of those "you'll love it or hate it" games.

This rings doubly true when you look at it through the lens that Final Fantasy 8 in many ways does feel like the antithesis of 7 having a much more slowly paced story that takes hours to unfold, a much more robust, yet convoluted Junction system, and a resource management style system with how spells are drawn and casted. It was no wonder why people weren't a fan of this back in 1999 when they picked up Final Fantasy 8 after having experienced the cinematic highs, robust and flexible materia system, and action packed adventure about saving the planet that they were a bit blindsided to see a game that was much different on many of the fronts. The slower paced daily lives of the students of SeeD and their eventually quests into stopping war and politically conflicts in the broader world. I think time has been kind to Final Fantasy 8, and overall I think the game has many worthy criticism but it is also a game that is misunderstood and has developed a reputation that scares people off before giving it a chance.

Development

Now I'd like to briefly touch on the development of FF8 which began in 1997 when Final Fantasy 7 was going through its translation stage. It was said by Yoshinori Kitase that since the early stages of development, the core principle and objective with Final Fantasy 8 was to tell a story that revolved characters Squall and Rinoa. The individual character arcs of each side character that was established in previous entries, took a backseat in Final Fantasy 8, to set more of a center stage for Final Fantasy 8's Hero and Heroine, and with that in mind we'd see the iconic dance scene being a suggestion by Nomura to introduce these two characters to one another and but this love story, the core driver in motion.

As you'll notice throughout this segment discussing development, it is worth mentioning that Final Fantasy 8 was a game that was left in full control of Kitase, as Hironobu Sakaguchi was working as the executive producer on the at the time, upcoming Final Fantasy: The Sprits Within film. There were also changes made to improve communications between Square's localization teams in both Japan and the US following the turbulent development release of Final Fantasy 7, and it's rough initial translation.

It's worth mentioning early on that Nomura also had a conclusion thought out for the two stories of both Laguna and Squall and how the connect to one another, and later it was dropped, and ultimately altered to what we have in the final game. It's also worth mentioning that Nomura also proposed the concept of Gardens and academies to provide a brighter introduction into the world, opposed to the more dark and bleaker introduction locale of Final Fantasy 7's Sector Slums. At the same time he didn't want the school segments to require the player to take on mundane tasks, and wanted to preserve the fantasy aspect of the game, providing the player with futuristic looking locales and vehicles.

The parade scene from the early stages of development was emphasized as one of the pivotal scenes where the antagonist would make there appearance known, and Kitase stated it was from its conception meant to serve as an important moment to the story. Kitase's reason for believing this is due to the idea that the player's excitement and engagement with the story would be heavily influenced by how this scene landed and was perceived by the player.

This is definitely a point that I feel still to this day, holds a lot of merit. As this scene in particular really does set both the stage, and the tone for the story going forward and depending on how this directional shift makes you feel, will determine, more or less how you probably would end up feeling later. There's really two moments for me personally that I feel have this directional shift that I think can turn off the player from a narrative perspective. But more on that later.

Lastly, one of the major changes to Final Fantasy 8, was the introduction to the new and contentious Junction System. It was stated that the gameplay systems for Final Fantasy 8, required a lot of trial and error, with a lot of the efforts being geared towards customization.

Story

Narrative Synopsis

The Story for Final Fantasy 8 is an interesting one to me where like I've discussed in the earlier section of this video and is a reoccurring point that will be underpinned in this video is that it provides a much slower start and setting contrasted to its predecessor. Final Fantasy 8 kicks off placing you in the shoes of Squall a member of a school of militia soldiers called SeeD and him and his comrades become SeeD's and initially set out on mission's assisting the people of the world. As I mentioned in the the development section the true nature of Final Fantasy 8 begin to take form when the team is tasked with taking on a mission to assassinate a Sorceress. So now before diving into the themes, I wanna talk about about how I feel Final Fantasy 8 handles some of its big reveals, which of course means that I will be discussing spoilers. So I'll have timestamps below but now we'll be getting into the spoilers for Final Fantasy 8.

So the first big spoiler that I will be talking about is one of the most contentious ones amongst fans and that is the memory loss twist that comes towards the end of Disc 2. Honestly, I don't think in concept that this twist was bad, but the execution, much like many moments in Final Fantasy 8, feels muddled and mishandled in a way where this twist ends up feeling contrived, more than something where the writing was on the wall. I feel like the art of the reveal, or a good plot twist, is being able to see it in retrospect. I think the Guardian Forces erasing memories or having that capacity, is something that should have been further hinted or eluded to prior to this reveal, but is something that is mentioned, but is never really talked about again.

Next I'd like to discuss the party members, and many of the supporting characters in this game, because I do feel like many of the party members in this game felt a little hit or miss to me personally, and some of these characters are key to how receptive you'll be to the story beats of Final Fantasy 8. The main two characters that are the focus and will dictate your enjoyment are of course the games protagonist Squall, and then there is Rinoa who is the love interest and heroine of this story. Sadly outside of these two central characters, I feel that the other party members really don't get much of an arc, and end up feeling like the change they undergo in throughout the journey is minimal. This was a real weak point for me, because I feel like at the core a lot of compelling Final Fantasy entries have a focus around arcs or compelling character moments, I think of both FF6 or FF7, or hell even more recently I feel like FF13 despite its many shortcomings has more development of its side cast than FF8.

Thankfully Final Fantasy 8 makes up for this with one of its best characters, and that is the living chad himself Laguna. Whilst the dream sequences can feel like they impact the narrative pacing of FF8, it does eventually all click into place, and make subsequent playthroughs feel more meaningful, looking through a retrospective lens. Laguna's theme too is also a bop.

But despite these narrative gripes that I have with the game, I do believe that Final Fantasy 8 serves a wealth of substance in its storytelling, the deeper meaning, and the characters and themes that the game does choose to focus on, ultimately work in the games favor.

Themes and Threads

Time, Fate, Altered Memories and the Predestination

So the first theme we'll be discussing is one of the underlying themes in Final Fantasy 8, and many RPG's which is how it handles fate. It's no surprise to anyone who has played FF8 that especially from Disc 3 onwards the game really starts to take full force with the concepts of time, with Ultimecia's ultimate goal being time compression. But were this ending for Final Fantasy 8 to me really does fully paint the picture is in its final moments when everything comes full-circle creating a paradox with its ending where Squall finds himself in the past, having a conversation with Edea and is the origin of how she becomes a sorceress. It feels like many JRPG's tackle the concept of fate, and often lead to mortals felling a deity and deterring their destiny, and don't get me wrong Final Fantasy 8 on its surface does have this it the forefront with the main cast wanting to change the future and defeat the sorceress.

But upon a more closer inspection you can see Final Fantasy 8's story tells a story explores the acceptance and embrace of fate through concept of predestination, but also one that finds free will and transcends fate through love. There is always an interesting discussion that I have with a friend of mine when discussing the concepts of free will vs fate or determinism I often think that can an individual in the moment have the free will to act, but fate or some higher power have the answer to how the character will react being all knowing, and here's how I feel Final Fantasy 8 paradoxily skirts that line. Throughout the story and especially towards its ending it shows how the story of FF8 is this closed loop paradox of events meaning Squall himself, predetermined his own future when communicating it to Eda what needed to be done for the sake of the future. However, it is also through this act of love where Squall and Rinoa are able to act freely and find one another in the ending scene of the game.

It's decided and destined that Squall and his comrades will fight Ultimecia, but at the same time, will also lead Ultimecia back in time to posses Edea, and cause the events of Final Fantasy 8 to unfold as they are. It's a closed time-loop that intertwines cleverly and asks of you can free-will exist in the embrace of fate that and answers with the the answer of love and the act of will reuniting our companions.

War, SeeD, Grief and Trauma

One of the core themes that Final Fantasy 8 bases itself around, and early on serves as the stories core focus is the geopolitical between Balamb and Galbadia. The story asserts this early on with Squall and his comrades being the latest additions to SeeD, a student military that has been dispatched as a special task force to undergo various tasks, that serve the allies Balamb. Squall is appointed to the leader of this team, and many have complained about Squall's downer demeaner, referring to him as edgy and the like. But I think as you see this story unfold, it depicts the feelings of doubt, uncertainty, and these moments are conveyed through the moments when Squall is on his own, or in thought. When you think about it these are teenage soldiers fighting a war, that they don't even fully understand, and it is mechanism of indifference and isolation that Squall tries to remove himself from feelings of grief, trauma, and ultimately loneliness.

There is also an interesting side note that I feel was intentionally placed in this game and it is how Final Fantasy 8 contrasts the stories between Squall and Laguna. From how their characters that develop to the people that the keep as company. The story shows one party of teen mercenaries and experienced older soldiers on an adventure. It showcases throughout Laguna's story in particular that Laguna's duty as a solider prevented him from pursuing his first love, and ultimately caused him to have to set out to Ester and not see the birth of his child and the passing of his lover Raine. To peel back another layer on this, the game does indirectly imply that this baby that Raine gave birth to was Squall, and if we do agree on this, it would leave Squall as a causality in a sense, on top of that it would be a generational grief, as Laguna lives with the loss of his wife, and Squall lives with the absence of a parent.

Love & Relationships

The one central theme that I feel many takeaway from Final Fantasy 8 is the underlying love story that forms throughout the story. But more importantly the exploration of relationships. There are many different relationships that are explored throughout the story of FF8 whether it is headmaster Cid and Edea, Laguna's original infatuation with Julia, and eventual relationship with Raine. Hell Rinoa early on in this story talks about Seifer in a way that implies she loves him, before and as we all know this leads to the central relationship that accentuates the theme of love and that is the relationship between Squall and Rinoa.

I think the way Final Fantasy 8 tackles love can in many ways feel like it comes out of nowhere and to me the first time around, I really felt that. But the theme of love is at the core of this experience, and is delivered and examined through the previous theme of grief and trauma which we've explored. What do I mean by this well, Final Fantasy 8 explores the relationships of many different characters, particularly the romantic ones. But it isn't exclusively told through the romance and perseverance of said relationships, but throughout the story is often a tale of a relationship that has broken down, fallen apart, or never been able to be expressed. It is this somber and shattering angle of love and a more grounded depiction, that not everything works out. It on the flipside especially from Disc 3 onwards is what makes you want to see Squall and Rinoa's relationship succeed. Most Final Fantasy's have an undertone of perseverance, where for example FF7's is one centered around identity, and overcoming the doubt in the minds, FF8's form of perseverance is focused around love, and how it transcends all. It can be seen how Raine is still loved and remembered by Laguna, it can be seen through, Edea's love for her orphan children, and ultimately can be seen through Squall traversing time-periods to save the one that he loves.

Combat

Drawing & Magic, Guardian Forces

So now I'd like to dive into the combat for Final Fantasy 8, which has a very interesting and unique system to many other RPG's and is the most wild iteration that I feel Square have experimented with. So here in Final Fantasy 8, you still have your regular attacks, and magic, however the way magic works in this game is that it is used and consumed as a resource.

So in Final Fantasy games we usually acquire our abilities through our roles, equippible items like materia, or unlocks like the Sphere grid where you have skill to master. This allows the party members to be proficient in different facets of these jobs.

Drawing

Here in Final Fantasy VIII the approach is much different, where the way to obtain abilities has been adopted into more of a resource management formula, where any party member can use any particular ability, if they're able to extract it from an enemy using a skill that every party member has known a a "Draw".

Drawing feels like a great mechanic on paper, and does make moments where you encounter new enemies feel fruitful, with it being a lucky dip on what new abilities you acquire. However, it is the acquisition of these abilities, how drawn out it becomes, and also how the Draw mechanic the stock of your spells interlocks with the overarching Junction system which we'll get into, in the next section.

So with this in mind and the resource economy of your abilities, it replaces the use of things like MP, but instead makes every spell feel finite. So I guess the question, now is when do I use these abilities and do I save these abilities on this enemy, and it's crazy because it feels like in many ways, Final Fantasy 8 feels unrestrictive with what it allows you to hold, in terms of abilities. However, it ends up making you become a hoarder of particular abilities for a multitude of reasons, and the unpredictability of knowing if you'll be able to get these hard to come by spells again.

This ebb and flow of drawing abilities and attacking enemies, becomes a core component of the FFVIII experience and makes the player carefully consider when to use a particular spell.

Guardian Forces (GF)

Another mechanic that is introduced into Final Fantasy 8 is how it handles the use of summons which are referred to as Guardian Forces. This mechanic allows you to call out various different summons that you'll acquire throughout your journey and they'll have their own health number along with a timer until they'll attack your enemy. What I think is cool about the Guardian Forces in Final Fantasy 8, is how you acquire many of these Guardian Forces, so a lot of the time, it'll tie in with the Draw mechanic, and you'll find various bosses that you face in the story have a Summon that can be drawn from them, and honestly it was always a nice surprise and added reward for using the mechanic, and defeating many different bosses.

Progression

Junction System

There has been many different systems and iterations within Final Fantasy as to how we build our party members. Whether it is set classes, the job system, Sphere Grids or Gambits, there are tons of different frameworks that Square have crafted over the years to delve a fresh take on the Progression and build crafting of the Final Fantasy experience.

But none feel as ambitious conceptually as the Junction System that was introduced in Final Fantasy 8. It's a system that takes the various abilities that you draw throughout your travels and has the player assigning a particular ability, to a particular stat such as HP, Vitality, Luck and the like. Applying different abilities such as Cure or Esuna to HP will increase your party members HP, unlike in other RPG's and Final Fantasy games.

The next big catch that caught me out the first time playing Final Fantasy 8, is how it handles levelling. So in most RPG's and Final Fantasy games you'll want to fight and defeat every enemy you face, and naturally level up and progress alongside the game, maybe you grind an extra level or two so you can fight the upcoming boss with ease. Well Final Fantasy 8, works differently here, as the way you become overpowered lies more in the abilities that you draw from enemies, and the abilities that can be pulled from Triple Triad cards, meaning seasoned players with this game have tons of was to break this game to a crazy level, making it easy to become overpowered. But if you're someone who grinds and fights in the more traditional sense, well your efforts are futile. Because in Final Fantasy 8, the enemies that you face aren't relegated to a particular level for the area they appear in, more they appear anywhere within a particular level bracket and the enemies you face throughout the game, scale alongside the player, making grinding your worst enemy.

The main two components that function in tandem with one another in Final Fantasy 8 is the Draw system, and the different abilities that you draw that are Junctioned to your various stats. This also complicates things because as I mentioned in the section when discussing how the draw mechanic works, every ability in FF8 is a resource, meaning that you can draw up to 100 of every ability that an enemy carries, and when Junctioning an ability to a particular stat, the higher the stack of that particular spell you have, the bigger the boost to the particular stat.

So it is great, and sparks a sense of wonder whenever you're fighting any enemy that you face, because each encounter becomes almost like a lucky dip, trying to figure out what ability they will draw. But the downside is, that if this is a valuable asset to your Junctioned stats, then it becomes a matter of hoarding and preserving your Junctioned abilities so you don't take a statistical loss. It's crazy just how deep the rabbit hole of the Junction system goes, and throughout my first playthrough, whilst I did play around with it, the finer complexities flew over my head. I don't think mastering the system is necessary to enjoy the game, but to get the full effect of Final Fantasy 8, I'll loop back to a point that I made earlier, and that is that you'll need to accept and play it, on its terms.

I personally feel like whilst it isn't my favorite system, or method of levelling and progressing characters, I do have a lot of respect for the Junctioning system. It provides a level of flexibility and does allow those skilled enough to break the game, and in many ways feel like the took the inverse approach to the Materia System that they previously introduced with Final Fantasy 7.

Visuals and Sound

Now I'd like to dive into the overall sound and presentation for Final Fantasy 8 and overall this is step up and is a clear testament to how much of a juggernaut that Square were at this point in time, deliver stellar cinematics, a captivating soundtrack, that would capture the mood and locale of every place you visited. In this department, Final Fantasy 8 was undeniably a step forward, for both the series and video games.

With all that said about the game, I'd also like to add for my first playthrough I was playing the remastered version of the game, which provided more detailed facial models, as well as a visual uplift, and some convenience features, like 3x speed, and turning off random encounters.

Final Fantasy VIII uses and pulls a lot of architectural Influence from Europe, that is heavily contrasted with the futuristic cityscapes of Esthar, which was such a insane revelation and change from the rest of the world of Final Fantasy 8.

The soundtrack as well further excels at showing of the excellence of Nobuo Uematsu's musical compositions with a large variety of tracks that shine, and the first song in a Final Fantasy game to contain lyrics with Eyes on Me, which plays during one of the games peaks in disc 3. In the department of FMV's, visual uplifts and musical score, Final Fantasy 8, in every way did what it could to push the series forward, and double down on the highs and successful cinematic formula that was established with Final Fantasy 7.

The Beauty in Final Fantasy VIII

There is this strange beauty I can't help but think about when thinking back on my time with Final Fantasy 8, there are moments in my playthrough where I was like "yes this game is really doing it for me" and other times where I questioned if I even liked this game. It really did pull me at both times throughout my experience, and yet, weirdly, I can't stop thinking about it. The thing about Final Fantasy 8 is to me is that it really does feel like a game that doesn't immediately scream out for your attention and but it is one that you ponder on long after the journey has concluded. There are some narrative flaws, the junction system and drawing mechanics may not be your favorite, but here you are still thinking about the time you had in this world, the twists and turns, humming the tune of Fisherman's Horizon or Laguna's theme and thinking to yourself, "yeah Final Fantasy 8 was a good game". The rabbit hole of theories and interpretations people have made about this game, to me, only adds another level to many of the strengths of Final Fantasy 8's dream-like writing, and honestly after the success Square had with FF7 I'm surprised and ultimately respect the different approach that they took when creating Final Fantasy 8. There is something beautiful about the whole experience that FF8 offers from it's soundtrack, it's world, and whilst it's cast may not be as eclectic as FF7 or FF6 the journey that these characters set out on is one I don't feel I'll forget.

Final Fantasy 8 feels like one of the most ambitious entries in the series, and whilst it does fall short in some areas, I honestly do believe strongly that this game should be the first in line for a remake. Because if they were to touch up and refine the Junction system, and Draw system, alongside addressing and fixing some of the narrative issues, I do genuinely believe that we'd all look at Final Fantasy 8 as an incredible experience all round. Because there are does feel like there is a lot to love here.

Conclusion

So to bring all the components of this review together into one clear and concise manner, I'd describe Final Fantasy 8 as the most experimental mainline Final Fantasy that Square has developed, and in turn is one of the most polarizing experiences Square has developed. It is an experience that feels like the antithesis of the critical darling that was Final Fantasy 7, providing the Junction system that when you whilst a deeper system than the materia system, served as a more convoluted system, and one that relies more heavily on how you interact and enjoy drawing abilities.

It presents itself as a love story told through the themes of trauma and the predestination, and despite fumbling some of its major reveals, tells a story full of heart, and a very adverse approach to the concepts of fate that many mainline entries choose to tackle. Final Fantasy 8, is a game that despite its polarizing and divisive standing amongst the Final Fantasy fandom, is one where I can see the magic that those who love this game see, whilst simultaneously understanding the many missteps that turn off the detractors of this game.

Final Fantasy 8 for me personally is an interesting one, where I feel like I haven't really had an experience quite like it, at least for a while. I find the world, its story, and many aspects of the Junction system fascinating, whilst simultaneously feeling like the story makes a few missteps in how it handles certain narrative beats, I don't like the draw system and I don't like how reliant the Junction system ends up being on the draw system.

But if you were to ask me if I enjoyed my time with the game, and if I'd ever play it again, I can tell you right now, it would undeniably be a yes, because overall when you get over the bumps in the road, Final Fantasy 8 is a unique and charming experience, that is sure to leave an impression and it might even surprise you, because despite its shortcomings I've listed, it is one I'm glad I've played and one that I feel I'll remember for years to come.

Thanks for watching.

Reference

Thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/s/xyqwNAl8cw https://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-8-remake-combat-change-ff8/ https://nicollelamerichs.com/2018/01/29/game-theory-in-defense-of-final-fantasy-viii/ https://shmuplations.com/ff8/