Ok I’ll bite. 8 is the only one of the first 10 games that I genuinely dislike.
The junction system encourages grinding for spells for a huge chunk of the game, and then encourages the hoarding of those spells instead of actually using them so your stats don’t lower. It’s the only FF with level scaling which always sucks but is especially bad here: the optimal way to play it is to get Diabolos as soon as possible and get access to his No Encounters ability, and then you spend the rest of the game not fighting anything but bosses. The GF summon animations are absurdly long, but skipping them is a bad idea because you need to mindlessly mash the Square button through them during their entirety to boost their power. Horrible equipment system with only about 5-6 weapons for each character to get. A limit break system that forces you to manipulate your characters to be as close to death as possible, and limit breaks are vital due to how magic is way too valuable to waste. Storywise, it’s uniquely bad. The main big bad is a nonentity, the orphanage twist is moronic, and Squall is a creepy incel who barely talks.
I’ll bite back, then.
The junction system, while quite easily broken, is the most honestly creative gameplay system that’s been featured in any Final Fantasy game and the best realized other than the job system. It encourages the player to think about how to build his party, and while it’s simple enough to abuse, it’s also quite flexible for someone who doesn’t want to think too much about it. In comparison, every other FF gameplay gimmick (again, excluding the job system) has been essentially nothing but braindead grinding.
The level scaling in FF8 is some of the best implemented in any game I’ve played. I’ve played FF8 casually and as a minmaxing munchkin, and I’ve had satisfying experiences both ways. Playing casually, I never felt the need to grind, simply going through the game fighting things as they came and spending a little time here and there drawing extra magic. I never felt like the challenge became draining, nor that I wasn’t becoming gradually more powerful. If it ever felt like I wasn’t breezing through early enemies fast enough in combat, I could use the half- or no-encounter abilities to avoid fighting them altogether. Playing to minmax, I enjoyed the initial challenge of trying to survive at minimum level with few junctions to boost my stats, and then the challenge of avoiding killing the things I needed to fight, adjusting my level very precisely, and seeking new and unusual ways to increase my strength. It does get a bit grindy, but what minmaxing playthrough in any RPG doesn’t? And in FF8, at least you’re not always grinding combat—almost as often you’re grinding triple triads, which many seem to consider the best minigame in any FF.
GFs are a bit of a problem, I’ll admit. The lengthy animations (and Tetsuya Nomura being pretty much at the top of his design game back then) means they have a ton of personality, but they do get repetitive, and some of them (Eden) are absurdly long. The real problem is that they do so little damage compared to minmaxed attacks and limit breaks that there’s not much point in using them in any such run, even with boosting. Definitely one of the worst thought out features in the game.
You’re gonna have to explain how the equipment system is horrible. Because it demands you look for the crafting components? I’m not saying it particularly stands out beyond the gimmick of upgrading weapons rather than buying new ones, mind you, but what exactly is there to hate about it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen this complaint before. I feel like there’s not enough there to hate. Or is the absence of more equipment the problem? I mean, I do believe in the power of stuff, but JRPG equipment tends to just be “exchange (money) points for (attack/defense) points,” or “go through every square inch of this maze and get a slightly increased attack/defense stat.” I don’t feel particularly robbed not getting that experience.
The limit break system is far better implemented than FF7’s or the Trance system that replaced it, demanding a risk-reward style of gameplay—as your risk becomes progressively higher, you gain easier access to progressively more powerful attacks. And you don’t need to take any risk at all to access limit breaks in general, since the aura spell exists. Unlike FF7 and the Trance system, many of the limit breaks also feature player interaction, instead of forcing you to just sit and watch the animations, and unlike summons, that interaction is often more than button mashing. I’ll grant that the animations are lengthy, like summons.
Casting junctioned magic is another sacrifice system—the player is encouraged to be strategic about using their powerful spells, due to those spells serving another function. You’re not overly penalized for casting (even the best junction spells don’t drop your stats all that much for losing five or so per battle), and since your inactive party members can store extra magic (and you can refine most magic from items), a reasonably prepared player rarely has to worry about running low. The real problem with magic is that, like GFs, it just isn’t powerful enough compared to minmaxed attacking and limits, so in any such run there’s rarely any point to using anything other than support magic.
The story is unfinished—not bad. It feels like the third act was rushed out the door before they had a chance to flesh anything out. The lead up to it is one of the best in the core series, there are intriguing hints here and there of where it might have been going, and the game has perhaps the best realized world of any FF—the towns feel lived in and distinct without being exaggerated or cliched, the NPCs have a ton of personality, even down to the dialogue and animations of the nameless mob characters, and it feels like there are things going on and history outside the main quest.
I’ve heard a lot of complaints about Squall, but never that he’s an incel. He’s a brooding teenager who feels disconnected from everything, and I can see how that might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but incel? Also, while brooding loner teen protagonist has become a hugely overused trope since FF8’s release, I still think that Squall—and the rest of the main cast, for that matter—are examples of well written adolescent characters. They have dumb adolescent problems, and do dumb adolescent things, but I think they’re written believably enough to be relatable to anyone who’s been a dumb adolescent. Which should be anyone over 11, really. Also they have actual character arcs—for example, Squall goes from brooding loner who doesn’t want to rely on anybody to learning he can rely on others, and to be somebody others can rely on. That’s more than can be said for most adolescent characters.
FFVIII has some major flaws—the balance is wonky, the creators tried to go too cinematic with stuff like summon and limit animations, the system can be broken wide open for minmaxing, and the story is at best two thirds finished (and lets be honest, may be closer to half). At the same time, it’s not hard to see how the seeds (heh) of a truly great game were germinating here. The gameplay systems encourage strategic planning over mindless grinding and a greater degree of player interaction than almost any other JRPG of its era or earlier. There’s a ton of care that’s been put into crafting the world and characters. Monster and environmental design is perhaps some of the best in the series. The presentation is excellent—as annoying as those long summon and limit animations can be when watching for the hundredth time, on their own merits they’re mostly great. The interactions between gameplay and pre-rendered cutscenes are easily the best of any game that had come out at the time, and honestly I feel like there still aren’t a ton of games that do cutscene integration better. The story clearly needed more time in the oven, but even as is, there’s something really enjoyable there.
FF8 is gr8. I said it. I sort of regret typing it that way, but I’m not taking it back, so nyeh.
that we never got the DQ one. Did you know all its DLC was free? Like, come on.
