Advantages: brilliant graphics, characters and storyline Disadvantages: none
...Buying The Game ==
Final Fantasy VIII is considered as a rare game and so is not often found in shops, you may get lucky and find it in the pre-owned section or at a market or car boot sale. The best place to find it is online at places such as ebay and amazon. The price of the game varies but is generally between £10 and £15 which is very reasonable considering how good the game is. The strategy guides however are more widely available in the shops ... ...About The Game ==
Final Fantasy VIII has the same concept as the previous Final Fantasy games but is better in alot of ways. For a start the graphics are alot better and the way the weapons and magic works is done in a better way. You now have Guardian Forces (GF's) rather than summon materia, infact you don't have materia now you just have spells which you must draw either from enemies or special draw points. You also have more in depth ways of ...
buggsy2008 08.06.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: 4 CD's, great gameplay, worthy episode Disadvantages: long summoning sequences
...terrific PS1 - Start of Final Fantasy 7 role-playing games (=RPG's) became more than just niche genres but got more and more popular and extravagant. In 1999 Square Enix published the 8th episode of the world-famous RPG - series. I bought the game then at my usual game shop as US - Version at a price about 899 Austrian shillings (~66€). I was positively surprised because this masterpiece had some special bonuses, see further down for more. Interesting ... ...he can participate in the final exam of the Balamb SEED school. Only if he is able to end it successfully he may lead a small group later as elite mercenary. Think you, he will do? What surprised me that Square drew blood for the first time. 3) The most important characters:>
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HEROES:
a) You can name the main character CHRIS (as X Leonhart) as you want. He is 17 and quite taciturn. He sometimes seems selfish or team-shy. ...
Ultima9999 22.01.2006 (27.07.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Deep and meaningful story, addictive and engaging gameplay; Final Fantasy VIII simply has it all Disadvantages: Some features a little complicated, even for seasoned RPG fans
Final Fantasy VIII is a game that has sparked a large amount of controversy. From those that consider it the sparkling pinnacle of the established series, to those that loathe it intently, it is clear that a game of this ilk must have some strong characteristics at the heart of it.
Arguably the core component of the role-playing genre, a good story has been a staple tradition of the series, and FFVIII doesn't disappoint. Through the eyes of protagonist ... ...deal of lesser RPGs. In Final Fantasy VIII you are never unsure of where you are going, or what you are setting out to achieve. The story is fused so tightly with the gameplay; play for a couple of hours and you can't help but feel some attachment towards it. It draws the gamer in and connects with them on multiple levels, absorbing them into the action in the true Final Fantasy fashion.
Because the characters develop as you play the game (you are ...
southy787 16.03.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Stunning graphics, great soundtrack, imaginative environments, addictive and absorbing, 4 discs of play, plenty of replay value Disadvantages: Hit and miss new ideas, initially quite daunting, over-complicated 'Junction' system, not a patch on FFVII
When Squaresoft decided to release Final Fantasy VII (the first 32-bit instalment of their enduring RPG series) on a global scale, it is unlikely that even the most optimistic of developers could have predicted the success that would follow.
30,000,000 sales, two-and-a-half years and a mass of expectancy later, the brave souls at Square released a follow up. Brave being the operative word; Final Fantasy VIII was not only very different to its immediate ... ...altered, the basic premise of Final Fantasy VIII remains true to its earlier siblings – travel the world slaying a myriad of monsters, completing set tasks, exploring towns and dungeons and having a good old natter with anyone who’ll give you the time of day.
As is now customary with all Final Fantasy games, things begin on a relatively small scale. The player is introduced to the 17 year-old, reclusive loner that is Squall Leonheart, whom it soon ...
tom1clare 15.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Introduces a number of new systems Disadvantages: Not easy to stop playing
...another great addition to the Final Fantasy Series, Final Fantasy VIII was developed and published, at the time, by Square Soft (now Square Enix) and was released in 1999 for the Sony Playstation console. Hironobu Sakaguchi is the executive producer for this game and it was the fastest selling Final Fantasy of the series with with sales in excess of $50million in the first three months of release.
One of the reasons why the game was such a hit was ... ...as good as its predecessor, Final Fantasy VII, but players can be the judges of that. The plot follows the main protagonist Squall Leonhart, an aloof and cold seventeen year old through his endeavours to become the best. To become the best, Squall must first pass his field exam (to resolve the conflict between the warring nations of Dollet and Galbadia) to become a SeeD. SeeD is a name for the mercenary forces training under Balamb Garden. There ...
JWarner88 08.07.2008 (09.07.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Great game to play Disadvantages: Hard to learn at first
...playstation. My favorite games are Final Fantasy games and the one I love the most is Final Fantasy V111. The begining of the game is a graphic animation of two young men fighting with gunblades and clips of the characters which you will encounter throughout the game, the ending of the fight leaves one of the young men hurt and in hospital. This is where you start to play the game. As you lie in hospital, hurt and waiting for your tutor who's name ... ...remember your name, here is your chance to pick your own name for your character or stick to the one the computer game has given you. Then as you lie there you will be spoken to by an unknown young woman who says hello and then go's away, you will meet her later on in the game. After your instructor comes to get you at the hospital, you then have to go to the classroom where all the other students are. Here you are told you have to complete your ...
Aquarian 21.02.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: 2nd BEST GAME EVER Disadvantages: not as good as FF7
Final Fantasy 8 delivers everything that could be expected in its succession to what may be an insurmountable achievement.
The only way in which FF8 is inferior to its predecessor is, in my opinion, the storyline. Perhaps it's just the fact that the game concentrates more on the "good guys" than the all of the characters as a whole, and that the sorceress isn't nearly as chilling or classic a character as Sephiroth. It just isn't as dark. Having ... ...in comparison to any other Final Fantasies. In truth it may be difficult to tangibly demonstrate which is the better storyline, although I, and most of the gamers I know, prefer FF7 but still admire greatly FF8. The new battle system has taken just as bold a leap as the storyline, which (again) admittedly has mixed results, depending on exactly what you want out of the game. Perhaps better known as the junction system, the complexity of the system ...
easier 28.12.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: great game | great graphics | good gameplay Disadvantages: could of been better
...review is about the game Final Fantasy 8, as some people say, this is not the best final fantasy, and I agree, this game could have been better if it had a better storyline, I don’t know why I think the storyline was not the best, but I know that it could have been better. The game has many characters that you meet along the way on your journey, and many different bosses that you encounter within your journey. The battling is good, as the graphics ... ...and the whole world of Final Fantasy, and that would be a shame. You start off on an island, and your school is called Balmb Garden, it is a school that keeps the world in order, like many of ‘Gardens’. Squall had to take a field test, which he is taken by Quistis (his teacher) to this fire cave, where the legendary Ifrit is. The fire god, and you have to beat him, and once done, he becomes your GF (GF means Garden Fighter), once summoned he will ...
DBZKing 02.07.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Immense gameplay, superb graphics Disadvantages: plot kind of weak, junction system tricky
...of their introductory Playstation title Final Fantasy 7, the good people at Squaresoft must have had many sleepless nights, all of them worrying, thinking the same thing:
How the hell are we going to top this one?
With the technology available to them advancing at almost the blink of an eye, it would be fairly easy for them to create a game that graphically and technically surpassed it’s predecessor. However, this alone would not suffice. It needed ... ...easy task.
When Final Fantasy 7 was released back in 1997, it completely redefined the term “Role playing game”. However, from its unrivalled success, Squaresoft knew that people liked this new type of game, and it gave them a very good base to work with. By taking the defining elements and basics out of it, and combining them with a new plot, new locations and a fresh cast of characters, they were able to create a game which would play exactly ...
TheGuru 07.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Great graphics, reasonable storyline Disadvantages: JUNCTIONNING
Having played Final Fantasy VIII (FFVIII)'s predecessor, FFVII, I was expecting greater-than-great things, I suppose, when FFVIII was released. And having played it, my feelings about it are mixed, to say the least.
Graphically, this game is overwhelmingly superior (by-and-large) to FFVII, and indeed to most other games on PlayStation. Square have made the FMV's even more seamlessly integrated than before -- but as everybody's always said, graphics ... ...most definitely the case.
Final Fantasy VIII starts well; the storyline seems intriguing. Five hours down the line, however, things start to look less good. The controlling of the characters is easier, what with the Analog controls and everything, and the larger, more realistic-looking characters also help. The first time you really notice that something's wrong with this game, really, is when you start having to Junction magic. Presumably Square ...
nickjordan 19.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Two years ago, Final Fantasy VII broke the stereotypical RPG , combining the rich storyline and detailed narrative and lush CGI animation, all with and a cinema-quality soundtrack. Hard to follow, but Squaresoft met that challenge with the release of Final Fantasy VIII, a sequel on four CDs. It improves upon its predecessor in almost every way.
Players take on the role of Squall Leonhart, a student at training school for mercenaries. Harboring a ... ...to finish his training before being swept into a plot involving a powerful sorceress, a tiny band of revolutionaries, and... Ah, but that would be telling. FF8's story is like a roller-coaster ride in the dark, constantly twisting and turning when you least expect it, with enough plot and characters to fill a trilogy of novels. The story may not always make sense -- at least, not at first -- but it is always entertaining.
Of course, a plot this ...
marciie 06.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Beautiful FMV sequences, graphics Disadvantages: Unbalanced, flawed game system
...everything has changed in Square’s Final Fantasy VIII. Gone are the deformed characters, replaced with more realistic true life ones. Also gone is the classic blue colour of the menu bars that have been kept since Final Fantasy III (black coloured for the first two) replaced with a horrible silver-grey colour. The most important thing that has been lost is the classic Square touch to the game: this is just sorely disappointing.
One of the ... ...to the duller and darker Final Fantasy VII. The characters themselves are highly detailed and look impressive, although the character design is poor: face it. You cannot really call Squall a ‘man’ can you?
Although this game has took very long to make, it feels as though Square got carried away with the FMV sequences, the in-game graphics and even the theme of ‘love’ which they said wasn’t really evident in Final Fantasy ...
tsuyoshi 23.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Everything. Disadvantages: Not as good as 7...
...After writing an opinion on Final Fantasy 9 and rating it very highly, and one of Final Fantasy 7 (rewrite, soon?) I thought I should fill us all in with the middle part of the series. This be this here, the eigth installment. -BACKGROUND- Square. That company that made that film. Or, that company that made the tastiest game on the planet. Final Fantasy Seven. And then, just as tradition stipulates, they make another one. Will it be any good? Will ... ...-MENUS/INTERFACE- Unlike Final Fantasy 7, the summoning and magic system of FF8 is very closely interlinked. Throughout the plot you get various monsters who come and help you. These very handy, chummy buddy people come down and do a nasty big fat attack on your enemy. You have to add them to your inventory by 'junctioning' each of these Guardian Forces (GF's) to your character. Each GF has abilities which when junctioned to a character will be given ...
bigbtommy 22.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: An all round superb game - it has kept me occupied for many many many hours. Disadvantages: Um, not alot - I suppose the music becomes annoying after a while.
Final Fantasy VIII, sequel to the amazingly successful Final Fantasy VII, is the second of the monster RPG series to hit the Playstation. The title is a bit misleading though, the latest game is number 9 and number 10 is being made to be released on the PS2. As with its predecessors the game is completely separate from its past - you have a new world to explore and a whole new cast to control. You get to play with a varying compilation of characters, ... ...resistance movement, The Forest Owls. Final Fantasy VIII's female lead, Rinoa, is both angelic and bubbly. She loves to speak her mind, and has the habit of acting on impulse. Her limit break involves her dog Angelo.
Irvine -- he is full of confidence of himself and his shooting skills are unmatched by none. He hails from Galbadia Garden, and calls himself 'Garden's Elite Sharpshooter'. Easy-going and humorous, Irvine's also a big flirt.
The Dream ...
mmuk 07.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
Advantages: Good story line, and very nice graphics to go with the game Disadvantages: None
The Final Fantasy series of gmaes has become very popular. Since the success of Final Fantasy VII, this was the long awaited follow up. Final Fantasy VIII is a brilliant game, taking up 4 discs, you may think this will be a long game, but infact when your playing it, you will not notice how quick the game is actually going sbecause your having so much fun. FF8 is similar to FF7 in the way how characters are to be discovered and their background has ... ...usual Final Fantasy plots, Squall will go on and save the world. You may find this a boring plot to use over and over again, but there is lots of twists in the story here so i recommend you play this game as it is very well made and enjoyable. ...
Kinny 23.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
SquareSoft has always had a surefire hit when releasing any of their Final Fantasy titles, ... more
andFinal Fantasy VIIIshould be no exception. The basis of a good RPG (role-playing game) has always been the story; spectacular graphics are secondary.Final Fantasy VIII's involved and interesting storyline is filled with great twists, well-developed characters, suspense, and romance. As an added bonus, the graphics are beautiful. Everything--from the low-lit jazz club to the steam-filled railroad tunnels--is gorgeous and perfectly sets the mood and tone of a scene.The game mechanics are standard fare for an RPG: acquisition of items and spells, turn-based combat, experience points earned in combat allowing advances in levels. From exploration to battles to dialogue,Final Fantasy VIIIhas it all. However,Final Fantasy VIIIfalls to that great weakness of RPGs: random battles. While necessary for advancing in levels, the battles occur with such frequency that they can grow annoying, making for a tedious game experience.The epic storyline spans four discs--over 40 hours of gameplay--and is based around a mercenary cadet who finds himself caught up with an underground rebel faction. He winds up in a plot to assassinate the sorceress who has just seized power from the president.You could complain of limited replay value, but this gripe is of no consequence: the game is such a satisfying experience, it doesn't require replay.Final Fantasy VIIIis easily worth both the hype and the wait. You can't buy a much better game.--John Cocking
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