FF8 Is Like a Bad Opera...
So, having not played it since...junior high(?) and as part of my FF replaying mission, I finished up Final Fantasy VIII.
And, whereas the first time I played it I was incredibly disappointed (I did play it after FF7, though...), I think my opinion is a bit more mature this time. The game could have been a lot better had it done some actual questioning of a few of the premises that it took for granted.
Here be spoilers. And dragons. Okay, not really dragons.
Actually, the core of it is very interesting, but there are some massive holes in both the emotional texture of the story and plain plot level explanations to make much of the action comprehensible. I'm all for subtlety, but certain aspects needed to not be taken just as matter of fact instances.
The first weakness in the story is that, with the exception of Squall and Rinoa (and even they are a bit flimsy), there is not a lot of character development or even background knowledge. In VII, IX, and X you have whole sections devoted to rounding out characters, but most of the characters don't really have anything else other than a few characteristics to make a fairly developed caricature (Quistis is the Instructor, Selphie is your genki girl, Zell is hyper and impulsive, and Irvine is a ladies man with a nervous streak). But, add this to a central protagonist that is fairly remote, you don't really care about the characters of the game.
As for Squall and Rinoa...in thinking about it more, I don't think Squall translates well culturally in his game--he is the cool, competent type that people look up to despite his remoteness. Also, he's traumatized by his life in the orphanage...which is a kind of slap dash way of explaining him without actually probing it (FF7 did this so well with Cloud that I found this surprising). But to me, he just is kind of boring. Kingdom Hearts did his character correctly--he's taciturn and standoffish, yes, but he is also cool and absolutely heroic.
Moreover, except for the infamous GF "OMG WE FORGOT WE KNEW EACH OTHER IN OUR CHILDHOOD" scene, none of the central premise is questioned: the fact that they are raised to kill a sorceress from childhood is never touched upon. Some have argued that the very nature of Seifer and Squall is a critique of what happens to these child soldiers and how screwed up they get, but the game wants you to believe that Squall is more affected by Ellone's loss, so I don't think this interpretation is borne out. Also--THE GFS EAT THEIR MEMORIES AND THIS IS BLOWN OFF IN A COUPLE PLATITUDES. Think about plumbing the possibilities of either of those two aspects, rather than simply taking them for granted.
And the main bad guy reveal--ZOMG ULTIMECIA! is simply not well done and lacks dramatic tension. Edea is awesome, but Ultimecia seemingly has no motive or explanation for her actions other than the fact that she is TEH EVIL. Boring narratively. Boring boring boring. And the way they set her up is like "Ask President Laguna and he will explain the plot to you in recitativo fashion aren't actually going to let the narrative unfold naturally."
But they did handle time travel well. (Even though SeeDs still have to fight up until that point...maybe...). That I was impressed with.
The major criticism, however, is that the major plot threads don't ever really connect to one another in a narratively or emotionally meaningful way--because all of them are off stage, after the game, explained in a deeply slapdash manner, or merely implied.
For example, what the heck is Griever anyways? Why is Squall's ring now a GF hellbent on world domination and ugly fashion choices? What the heck is their connection? What is a GF anyways??? This, of course, goes back to the theory that Ultimecia is Rinoa on crack. Which means her past self would have killed her future self in a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. But I want an explanation!
And here we come to Laguna. You get to be this guy. You get to understand him. But except for a throw away line from an NPC, you don't get to understand why. That's somewhere between stupid and incredibly sloppy. You know that Ellone sends Squall back in order to make Laguna stay there with him and for him to have the life she thinks he deserved. This should have been devastating and nuanced and touching on so many levels.
And when you meet Laguna in the present, something should have come of it, especially considering Squall's character. In terms of story pay off, you should have put Ellone, Squall, and Laguna in a room somewhere and had some understanding and sharing. The problem is, to do you have to actually answer the question of what the heck Laguna has been doing in the intervening years--if he knows about Squall you make him from a likable guy (especially when compared to his son) into an utter douche bag. If he doesn't, I don't buy that after tracking Ellone down to Esthar, the man never went to Winhill and touched base with the people there. His wife got buried somehow. And this should have some impact on Squall. I wonder if they wrote themselves into a corner regarding his character...so they omitted the explanation.
Really, all the sorceresses and such are dressing if you truly want a character driven story.
This is personal preference, but although I thought the realism elements were well done and actually imaginative (the monsters don't give you money! You don't randomly rob some guys house and get absolutely no response! You need fuel for cars! You don't randomly find weapons everywhere...you have to modify the one you start out with!) I missed a lot of the more fantasy elements. But I do like how your characters don't get ridiculously powerful a la FFX. No 43,000 regular hit damage...and the junction system is interesting, even if it leads me to horde magic like there is no tomorrow.
In all, the game could have been great...had they allowed some latitude for story and character development and not cannibalized the emotional elements in favor of slap dash explanations.
Also, I love Laguna. So there.
And, whereas the first time I played it I was incredibly disappointed (I did play it after FF7, though...), I think my opinion is a bit more mature this time. The game could have been a lot better had it done some actual questioning of a few of the premises that it took for granted.
Here be spoilers. And dragons. Okay, not really dragons.
Actually, the core of it is very interesting, but there are some massive holes in both the emotional texture of the story and plain plot level explanations to make much of the action comprehensible. I'm all for subtlety, but certain aspects needed to not be taken just as matter of fact instances.
The first weakness in the story is that, with the exception of Squall and Rinoa (and even they are a bit flimsy), there is not a lot of character development or even background knowledge. In VII, IX, and X you have whole sections devoted to rounding out characters, but most of the characters don't really have anything else other than a few characteristics to make a fairly developed caricature (Quistis is the Instructor, Selphie is your genki girl, Zell is hyper and impulsive, and Irvine is a ladies man with a nervous streak). But, add this to a central protagonist that is fairly remote, you don't really care about the characters of the game.
As for Squall and Rinoa...in thinking about it more, I don't think Squall translates well culturally in his game--he is the cool, competent type that people look up to despite his remoteness. Also, he's traumatized by his life in the orphanage...which is a kind of slap dash way of explaining him without actually probing it (FF7 did this so well with Cloud that I found this surprising). But to me, he just is kind of boring. Kingdom Hearts did his character correctly--he's taciturn and standoffish, yes, but he is also cool and absolutely heroic.
Moreover, except for the infamous GF "OMG WE FORGOT WE KNEW EACH OTHER IN OUR CHILDHOOD" scene, none of the central premise is questioned: the fact that they are raised to kill a sorceress from childhood is never touched upon. Some have argued that the very nature of Seifer and Squall is a critique of what happens to these child soldiers and how screwed up they get, but the game wants you to believe that Squall is more affected by Ellone's loss, so I don't think this interpretation is borne out. Also--THE GFS EAT THEIR MEMORIES AND THIS IS BLOWN OFF IN A COUPLE PLATITUDES. Think about plumbing the possibilities of either of those two aspects, rather than simply taking them for granted.
And the main bad guy reveal--ZOMG ULTIMECIA! is simply not well done and lacks dramatic tension. Edea is awesome, but Ultimecia seemingly has no motive or explanation for her actions other than the fact that she is TEH EVIL. Boring narratively. Boring boring boring. And the way they set her up is like "Ask President Laguna and he will explain the plot to you in recitativo fashion aren't actually going to let the narrative unfold naturally."
But they did handle time travel well. (Even though SeeDs still have to fight up until that point...maybe...). That I was impressed with.
The major criticism, however, is that the major plot threads don't ever really connect to one another in a narratively or emotionally meaningful way--because all of them are off stage, after the game, explained in a deeply slapdash manner, or merely implied.
For example, what the heck is Griever anyways? Why is Squall's ring now a GF hellbent on world domination and ugly fashion choices? What the heck is their connection? What is a GF anyways??? This, of course, goes back to the theory that Ultimecia is Rinoa on crack. Which means her past self would have killed her future self in a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. But I want an explanation!
And here we come to Laguna. You get to be this guy. You get to understand him. But except for a throw away line from an NPC, you don't get to understand why. That's somewhere between stupid and incredibly sloppy. You know that Ellone sends Squall back in order to make Laguna stay there with him and for him to have the life she thinks he deserved. This should have been devastating and nuanced and touching on so many levels.
And when you meet Laguna in the present, something should have come of it, especially considering Squall's character. In terms of story pay off, you should have put Ellone, Squall, and Laguna in a room somewhere and had some understanding and sharing. The problem is, to do you have to actually answer the question of what the heck Laguna has been doing in the intervening years--if he knows about Squall you make him from a likable guy (especially when compared to his son) into an utter douche bag. If he doesn't, I don't buy that after tracking Ellone down to Esthar, the man never went to Winhill and touched base with the people there. His wife got buried somehow. And this should have some impact on Squall. I wonder if they wrote themselves into a corner regarding his character...so they omitted the explanation.
Really, all the sorceresses and such are dressing if you truly want a character driven story.
This is personal preference, but although I thought the realism elements were well done and actually imaginative (the monsters don't give you money! You don't randomly rob some guys house and get absolutely no response! You need fuel for cars! You don't randomly find weapons everywhere...you have to modify the one you start out with!) I missed a lot of the more fantasy elements. But I do like how your characters don't get ridiculously powerful a la FFX. No 43,000 regular hit damage...and the junction system is interesting, even if it leads me to horde magic like there is no tomorrow.
In all, the game could have been great...had they allowed some latitude for story and character development and not cannibalized the emotional elements in favor of slap dash explanations.
Also, I love Laguna. So there.