setzergab's Full Review: Final Fantasy VIII for PlayStation 1
First off I'd like to say that I do like the game... I'm a big fan of the final fantasy series and Squaresoft in general. However I'm not going pull any punches in this review because I have to admit that I was disappointed with it after the initial "ooh-ahhhh" factor had wore off.
Graphically it was an obvious improvement to it's 16 bit precedessors, with textured polygons replacing the sprites from the other installments. Looking back at it now, especially comparing it with the new efforts 8 & 9, it does look a little dated. I just put it down to the development team getting to grips with the new opportunities presented by the playstation... and anyway... as I always say... as long as the gameplay is there, the graphics are of little importance. The game features FMV movies sprinkled at moments of great drama etc. They work quite well as something to pretty the game up... and I remember all the rave reviews they got when the game first came out focusing on these as one of the strong points.
The sound is sets the mood well, closely following the action. It ranges from action packed battle themes, to moments of quiet reflection when the team faces a major setback.
However my quibbles with the game lie within the gameplay and lack of a sense of each character being different. The character classes that had been a key part of the previous games were gone... there was really nothing to differentiate between using one character or another. You might as well have been controlling 3 blocks of tofu (Sorry that was unfair... Tofu has more personality ;O)). I can hear you hardcore FF7 fans shouting all the characters had different weapons and limit breaks! Paah.. are you telling me that they really made that much difference??? With the sole exception of Aeris with her defensive breaks and low strength/high materia slot weapons, all the other characters had pretty much identical weapons and limit breaks. Also none of the character's backgrounds are really developed to any detail at all... they felt just like wooden actors going through the motions.
The fact is that the game is just far too easy (even though I know one of my friends will beg to differ ;O)). The materia system allows all of your character to be insanely powerful with relatively little effort on your part. I will draw your attention to the major unbalancing point of the the game: The Knights of The Round Summon, with it's 13X 9999 damage potential (which incidently is more HP than any of the final boss's forms have). Admittedly you have to spend time and money on the chocobo breeding subgame, but once you have this mythical materia there's nothing in the game that can touch you. Even the two "extra hard" monsters placed in the American/European release, Ruby & Emerald Weapon, are jokes when you go at them with this little toy... Also this whole materia thing adds to the lack of differentiation between characters... none of the character skills like steal, throw or manipulate are actually character based. Instead they are materia, free to be swapped from character to character.
The storyline for the most part was acceptable, it gripped me well enough when I was playing for the first time. I was however sorely disappointed by the ending. Imagine....The final FMV is rolling... your team has defeated the evil threatening the world... and your hanging on the edge of your seat to find out what happened to your favourite character (if you can actually tell which is which ;O))... and... and... you're left on a cliffhanger while the credits roll... and roll... but you hang on... because you know that Square can't just leave it like that... and finally the credits end.... and.... hmm.... a vision of the future... I guess we managed to save the world then... er... and well Red XIII's still alive... but what about the others??? I guess Square was trying to leave it open as a kind of thought-provoking discussion point... however I don't know about you, but I like to have the security of knowing all my people made it home safely ("The happy ending"). As the starfield came up to the sounds of "The Prelude" I was left saying "There must be more..." but I waited... and waited...
In all, despite all my complaints, it is a good game. Afterall, it was the game that brought Final Fantasy into the next generation, as well as being the first episode to be released in Europe. It was, and still is one of the very best RPGs on the playstation, and as it is a budget title now, you really can't lose much by checking it out.
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