heyjoe16's Full Review: Final Fantasy VIII for PlayStation 1
What a brilliant game. I was captivated every moment while playing this game. This game has so many likeable characters, sidequests, enemies. This game is almost as good as its predecessor, Final Fantasty 3(6), it just lacks a couple of things. Here are my reasons.
1. Story. This story was very thought out. There are no low points in the story, unless you decide to just fight all the time and level up materia. The villians all have likeable features, bad or good. The characters are all likeable and have awesome unique limit breaks. The story really makes you feel good when you beat the game. Even if you play the game again, you might find new things about the story. The game has a lot of replay value to find things you missed. I give the story a A- because it has all the right elements. It has a good introduction, but it is kind of cramped. You want to get out of midgar because there is nothing to do there. It took me 4 hours to finish midgar going as fast as I could. The game itself is lots of buildup. It also resolves all the characters problems. The climax is superb and the ending is magical. The story may be confusing at parts, but by the end of the story, you will understand everything. Just be patient.
2. Graphics. Yes I know that Cloud's hand looks like a box, and not all the polygons are finished to where you can not see the seamline, but this was a first attempt of 3d graphics. This was a breakthrough. Nowadays, the graphics in the game aren't fantastic, but it was the new idea and way the game was played that made this game great. I give the graphics an A because of all the reasons I have stated. Plus graphics do not have to be awesome to make a good game.
3. Battle System. The battle system could have been a little better. The problem I have is that materia can be leveled up and then exchanged amoung the characters. This means that once a skill is learned, everyone can use it as long as they have the materia equipped. My favorite way of learning skills was the magicite way in the previous final fantasy. In that game everyone learned skills that they only could keep forever and not have to have an accessory attached to be able to use the spell. Depending on what spells a person should learn depended on the magicite you made him equip. Anyway, another thing I liked was the limit breaks. If an end level guy was wailing on me and my meter was full, it was time for me to kick butt with my limit break. This is not the first game to use limit breaks. The previous game had limit breaks, but they were rarely seen. There was no meter. Once and awhile when your character got weak, he would do some amazing move. I saw this happen once. There are two problems that I have with the battle system. One, the number of players used, I hate only controlling 3 people at a time, I want 4 or 5. Two, Materia took away the individuality of the skills a character had. In the previous final fantasy, everyone had their own class and only they could use the skill for it. The only difference for the characters is that they had different weapons and stats. I give the battle system a B-.
4. Minigames. This feature in the game is really fun. Weather you are raising chocobos to race, or fighting monsters in the battle arena of the golden saucer, you are having fun. If you get tired of playing the story, have a break and talk to the chocobo sage and find out how to breed a chocobo just as good as an airship. Go snowboarding on gaea's cliff, or in the video arcade. Race motorcycles down midgars freeway. Play submarine battles. Arm wrestle with a sumo wrestler. Try to find all the accessories to dress cloud up as a beautiful girl. Dig for buried treasure in the boneyard. Try to find out the vualt combination in the huanted mansion. Play a guessing game with the mayor of midgar. Many of these games are avaliable only once. Others you can play over and over in the golden saucer to win cool hidden items. These games are more fun than a barrel of moogles.
5. Music. Ahh, this music really sets the tone for certain parts of the story. I felt really scared in the huanted mansion. I felt like taking on the world while in the airship. Midgar felt mysterious and poor. Seperoth scared me because of the music. The boss battle music was awesome with the electric guitar playing. The golden suacer felt like Disneyland. This music is Grade A+ Quality music that set all the right moods throughout the award winning story.
The conclusion is that I give the game a B++. I do not feel that the game is an A or an A- because the battle system had a few things that I did not like. The battle system plays a major part in RPGs. Everything else was great. I really reccomend this game. You can buy it for playstation or PC.
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