When I saw the previous, bash-like review, I knew there would be a counter sooner or later. XD
My sister and I have been working through as many Final Fantasies as we can get our hands on recently, so far that has been XII, X, X-2, VII, and VII Of all of these, we can both agree that we've had the most fun in Final Fantasy VIII. The characters were great, and the gameplay had less annoying mini-games than VII, it was much less of a pretty line plot than X, and it had more form and was more consistently interesting than XII.
Yea, call me predictable, but I like me some counterbalance.
Least I gave Spoony a shout out even I don't find him funny.
"Instead of recycling the same character building mechanics from the previous seven entries,"
I just wanted to point out that, unless you're talking purely about stat growth, very few Final Fantasy games have shared the same character-building mechanics. II is different from I, IV is different from III and V, VI changed again, and while VII was similar to VI, it was most definitely not the same. Nor was IX. The sphere grid and licence board sicked, though.
Anyways, back to VIII, I prefer having characters who actually differ in battle - it makes them feel a bit more unique (hence why I don't like the sphere grid or licence board). VIII didn't have that. I didn't think that the characters' personalities were engaging enough to overcome that, either, so I've never really liked it that much.
Final Fantasy VIII is, however, a much better game than Final Fantasy XII.
Why has no one commented on how much longer battles take? In VII, a fight with a typical mook could be over and done with in practically no time at all, but in VIII there is so much waiting around, many fights becomes annoying diversions that delay progress. I suppose the summons looked prettier though.
I think it's because a lot of us remember the length of battles in VIII being about standard for other RP Gs at the time. I didn't mention it because of that, but I definitely felt the lag when I was playing it again earlier this year.
But that is NOTHING on the battle lag in IX. I don't know how Square managed to make the lag worse, but it suddenly made me appreciate the speedier battles in X.
How weird, I always felt that killing enemies took way too long in FF7.
If you want a game where foes fall like leaves, pick one of the SNES era games. In them, most monsters die from one hit, but they come in greater quantities.
It's less about the enemies taking too long as it is there's a lot of lag between you inputting an action and the game actually doing it. In IX, the lag was long enough that I was getting all three members actions inputted well before any of them actually took one.
There's also time spent on things like camera angles and death animations, though those are a bit more subjective.
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Underrated Classic
Final Fantasy VIII could have easily aped everything about it's wildly successful predecessor and simply been Final Fantasy VII-2. Instead, Square decided to get ballsy. Instead of loading the game with Mind Screw after Mind Screw, they told a story about characters. Instead of recycling the same character building mechanics from the previous seven entries, they replaced it with Junctions and Drawing. And after the extremely villain-centric plots of the previous two games, featuring a scene-stealing Mad Clown in one and a pretty boy with a god complex, they introduced a villain that worked with subtlety behind the scenes.
Whether all of this works or not really depends on how open you are to a very different type of game. It's not a return to the SNES era of yore, and it's not a direct copy of Final Fantasy VII. This is a game that expects the player to think more about its plot instead of telling you what to think. It's central romance, despite being a Foregone Conclusion, is developed slowly over time and hence feels more realistic than other games in its genre. Even the battle system asks you to put a little thought into it. While you could spam summons over and over for random fights, they lose effectiveness the further you get into the game and you fail to gain any of the benefits from actually using abilities and Junctioning magic to stats. Actually utilizing the game's mechanics gives you unprecedented control over your characters growths, though this does come at the cost of character specialization - characters quickly become defined only by their limit breaks and nothing else.
The main character, instead of being the traditional happy-go-lucky adventurer, is someone who questions everything. Unlike your average Emo Teen, he legitimately attempts to understand the world around him and define and accomplish his goals. As a character study, Squall is extremely compelling, and as a reflection of the impulsive and less introspective Rinoa (who has an unfortunate habit of being imperiled at an alarming rate). The supporting cast has an intriguing and entertaining chemistry, though the lush subplots of some of the other games are sadly absent.
It's a game that every Final Fantasy fan should play with an open mind. You might just love it the way a lot of other folks do. And if not, there's always The Spoony Experiment.