Mini-review: Final Fantasy VIII
Will you kill me if I tell you this game is better than Final Fantasy VII? I don't mean that categorically, of course. From a strict gameplay standpoint I think 7 beats 8, and it's very rare that I decide on any other basis, but hear me out.
Let's not focus on the things 8 does wrong. I think we all know about those, generally, though I'll touch on a few coming along here. Instead, let me highlight a few things it does very right.
Final Fantasy VIII has a visual style distinct from the rest of the series, and in fact from pretty well any other game. Of especial note is the fact that no two townspeople look alike and they all have interesting visual designs. In fact, the main characters are dull by comparison -- not duller than the NPCs, just not as distinct from them as they should be. Take a stroll through Timber and pay attention to the residents. This fascinates me.
NPCs aside, what we have here is a near-future fantasy setting, a rare setting for anything but also unique to the series. The locations and the people wouldn't be out of place in the real world. Projected onto that is standard fantasy fare -- one of my favorite cutscenes shows a war between the two Gardens, where in the background you see uniformed soldiers swinging swords and casting spells at each other.
Also of note is that this features the first realistic art style in the series. I'm not sure how I feel about this, actually. The game doesn't feel fantastic enough on the whole. The fantasy elements in general don't mesh with the rest, though the rare moments where they do are very satisfying.
Complementing the nice visuals is some of Uematsu's best work. There isn't a single battle theme that isn't fantastic, and there are many of them: regular, boss, sorceress, and the three final battle themes. Who knows what they were thinking when they arranged the overworld music, but it's hard to say that the song itself is bad if you've heard the piano collections rendition.
Now about the game. There is surprising depth to the GF system, especially when it comes to the refinement abilities. The unfortunate letdown is that it ends up mattering very little because the game is so insultingly easy. You are actually punished for leveling up unless you do it with the stat bonus abilities, so a perfect game will require you to gain no experience until the third disk, resulting in some extremely tedious gameplay. Even so, there is only one monster in the entire game that poses any significant threat if you know what you're doing, and that is not Omega Weapon but the Malboro. (I near-maxed everyone's stats and took on Omega. He dealt a total of around 1000 damage after whiffing a lot of physicals and casting Meteor once.)
I blame FFVII for introducing the concept that 9999 is not a lot of damage. FFVIII perpetuates this, and so we have abilities like Lionheart and Wishing Star designed to deal 9999 damage very many times. Let's not forget our new friend invincibility. In my final boss run, I was dealt Selphie, Zell, and Rinoa, but only Zell was junctioned. I beat the boss without losing anyone because Rinoa only knew Invincible Moon and Angelo Cannon, so she'd throw out Invincible Moon half the time. I spent a large chunk of the last battle invincible. If I had the inclination to bust out Zell's limit break, it would've been a very short battle.
What I'm getting at here is that the junctioning and refinement systems were fantastic ideas, but the game was so horribly implemented that everyone hated them anyway. It is a bad idea that I have to sit there Drawing from an enemy for ten minutes so that my stats will be decent. The customization and strategy that the junction system brings are excellent, but never fully exploited.
Another "feature" for which I feel FFVII is to blame is the forced romance. Did you like Tifa? Too bad! It's obvious that Quistis is hotter, right? Sorry! Did you treat Rinoa like the ditz she is for the first two discs? Me too, but that doesn't stop Squall from falling for her. Honestly, game designers, if you're going to force two characters to fall in love, don't make the player pretend he has any say in the decision.
Maybe 7 is the better game, when it comes down to it. Maybe I just want 8 to be the better game because I see so much wasted potential in it. Conceptually, I see better gameplay in 8. The characters are more differentiated from a gameplay perspective, the system is more engaging -- but it's wasted by the actual implementation. (9 is still the best PSX FF, of course.)
Let's not focus on the things 8 does wrong. I think we all know about those, generally, though I'll touch on a few coming along here. Instead, let me highlight a few things it does very right.
Final Fantasy VIII has a visual style distinct from the rest of the series, and in fact from pretty well any other game. Of especial note is the fact that no two townspeople look alike and they all have interesting visual designs. In fact, the main characters are dull by comparison -- not duller than the NPCs, just not as distinct from them as they should be. Take a stroll through Timber and pay attention to the residents. This fascinates me.
NPCs aside, what we have here is a near-future fantasy setting, a rare setting for anything but also unique to the series. The locations and the people wouldn't be out of place in the real world. Projected onto that is standard fantasy fare -- one of my favorite cutscenes shows a war between the two Gardens, where in the background you see uniformed soldiers swinging swords and casting spells at each other.
Also of note is that this features the first realistic art style in the series. I'm not sure how I feel about this, actually. The game doesn't feel fantastic enough on the whole. The fantasy elements in general don't mesh with the rest, though the rare moments where they do are very satisfying.
Complementing the nice visuals is some of Uematsu's best work. There isn't a single battle theme that isn't fantastic, and there are many of them: regular, boss, sorceress, and the three final battle themes. Who knows what they were thinking when they arranged the overworld music, but it's hard to say that the song itself is bad if you've heard the piano collections rendition.
Now about the game. There is surprising depth to the GF system, especially when it comes to the refinement abilities. The unfortunate letdown is that it ends up mattering very little because the game is so insultingly easy. You are actually punished for leveling up unless you do it with the stat bonus abilities, so a perfect game will require you to gain no experience until the third disk, resulting in some extremely tedious gameplay. Even so, there is only one monster in the entire game that poses any significant threat if you know what you're doing, and that is not Omega Weapon but the Malboro. (I near-maxed everyone's stats and took on Omega. He dealt a total of around 1000 damage after whiffing a lot of physicals and casting Meteor once.)
I blame FFVII for introducing the concept that 9999 is not a lot of damage. FFVIII perpetuates this, and so we have abilities like Lionheart and Wishing Star designed to deal 9999 damage very many times. Let's not forget our new friend invincibility. In my final boss run, I was dealt Selphie, Zell, and Rinoa, but only Zell was junctioned. I beat the boss without losing anyone because Rinoa only knew Invincible Moon and Angelo Cannon, so she'd throw out Invincible Moon half the time. I spent a large chunk of the last battle invincible. If I had the inclination to bust out Zell's limit break, it would've been a very short battle.
What I'm getting at here is that the junctioning and refinement systems were fantastic ideas, but the game was so horribly implemented that everyone hated them anyway. It is a bad idea that I have to sit there Drawing from an enemy for ten minutes so that my stats will be decent. The customization and strategy that the junction system brings are excellent, but never fully exploited.
Another "feature" for which I feel FFVII is to blame is the forced romance. Did you like Tifa? Too bad! It's obvious that Quistis is hotter, right? Sorry! Did you treat Rinoa like the ditz she is for the first two discs? Me too, but that doesn't stop Squall from falling for her. Honestly, game designers, if you're going to force two characters to fall in love, don't make the player pretend he has any say in the decision.
Maybe 7 is the better game, when it comes down to it. Maybe I just want 8 to be the better game because I see so much wasted potential in it. Conceptually, I see better gameplay in 8. The characters are more differentiated from a gameplay perspective, the system is more engaging -- but it's wasted by the actual implementation. (9 is still the best PSX FF, of course.)