Final Fantasy 8 Review

Storyline

Three new recruits (your party) from Balamb Garden, a military academy that trains mercenaries known as SeeDs, are sent to deal with a battle between neighboring nations Galbadia and Dollet. Led by Squall Leonhart they discover Galbadia has fallen under the power of a mysterious Sorceress named Edea.

Final Fantasy 8 is more than sorceresses and warring countries. It's about people. Your journey takes you across continents but also deep into the main character's history. Squall, the classic shy and aloof hero, is slowly lured out of his shell by Rinoa. But it seems Rinoa has a connection with the evil sorceresses that are controlling Galbadia and igniting wars. And their friends, what is their connection to all of this? Who is Laguna and why does Squall see visions of him? And Seifer, Squall's long-time enemy seen in the opening cinema, what is his role? So begins the intricate story of Final Fantasy 8.

Draw and Junction?

In a huge departure from the classic "gain MP to cast spells" and "equip armor to protect yourself" formula, Final Fantasy 8 introduces two loved/hated ideas: drawing and junctioning.

Characters in Final Fantasy 8 do not learn spells. You don't have to level up and find the secret scroll of Meteo high atop Mt. Highplace in order to cast that spell. All you have to do is draw it. No, not with a pencil, more like drawing water from a well. Your well in this case is every enemy in the game (and a few places around the game), and your water is an infinite supply of magic spells to use at your leisure. Draw up to 99 of each spell, from healing to status altering to damage spells. Each unit you draw is one use, each time you cast the spell you effectively lose it and have to draw it again. It gets cumbersome with some spells you use often, such as Cure. But on the whole the draw system is a great new idea, especially when combined with junctioning.

Guardian Forces (GFs) are spirits you can equip and summon during battle. No GF, no magic or special abilities, just raw attacking. With a GF equipped you can junction spells onto your character's stats, thereby increasing your strength, speed, luck, etc. The higher number of those spells you have, the more that stat is increased. Casting spells becomes a strategic maneuver when losing a number also makes your character a bit weaker. Get ready to introduce a little more thinking into your button-mashing.

The Game

Differences aside, Final Fantasy 8 is a fantastic game. You are immediately drawn into the rich but troubled world. The characters are alive with emotion and their own histories. You can't help but become a part of the story.

The junctioning system takes some time to get used to. After your first few mini-missions, you'll have the basics down pat. Then it's highly recommended to draw a TON of magic from enemies. I grabbed a rubber band and secured the button on my controller for a few hours while my characters constantly sucked magic out of a helpless critter. Afterwards, I junctioned away and was ready to roll.

The popular cut-scenes started in Final Fantasy 7 are back in Final Fantasy 8. There are many more of them to see, however, and they're all of a much better quality. Graphics as a whole in Final Fantasy 8 are much better than the previous game. Characters are realistic and not blocky sets of polygons. Sometimes things look a little blurry and lack detail, especially in battles.

Boss battles are epic and wandering the world map is just as exciting as in any Final Fantasy game. Also introduced in Final Fantasy 8 is the in-game card game, Triple Triad. The game deserves a review of its own, as finding card players and battling decks from town to town can be pursued regardless of the main story. Trust me when I say it adds to the depth of this already deep game.

Final Fantasy, Final Word

I cannot recommend Final Fantasy 8 enough. It's a completely new experience in role-playing, especially for the somewhat stale Final Fantasy series. If you have the patience to cross the learning curve of junctioning and drawing, you can settle in for a cinematic experience. The music, the characters, the story, the cinemas, the battles, the drama. Wow. Just wow.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go play through the game one more time.