Final Fantasy VIII is not all that bad.

[Mysterious Saturn]

Ever since I started playing Final Fantasy, I have heard so many people say, basically, that FFVIII is the worst in the series. Well, I'm playing it right now. I must, I really like! Sure, something are whacked out, such as the way gaining gil. The juntioning did take some getting used to, but now, it's not so bad anymore.

Also, there are some little things that make it interesting. Such as the whole switching from Squal to Laguna thing. It's like, playing two games in one actually.

Also, some of the little things really make it stand out. Such as when fighting with Ward in your party, when he throws his spear, he has to run back up to the enemy to get it bak, as apposed to previous game when a person would throw a weopon and "magically" it would appear back in their hands! And, no more of the weird characters walking into the leader, and walking out of him. Now they follow you around, which is much more interesting.

And, the FMV's are really great, and it isn't as if it is just one FMV after another, with no game play (whoever says that about any of the FF's actually, I don't think even played the game).

So I would have to say, I don't think this game is as bad as everyone makes it out to be. In my opinion, it's way better than that bull crap game they called Final Fantasy V.

[Sheamon]

I thought that outside of the Drawing and the insanely long GF animations, the gameplay was extremely good. Loved Triple Triad :) Graphics were great obviously. Music kicked ass. The character development for Squall and Rinoa was good, as was the maturity of the plot, but the biggest beef I had with it, and what is probably the biggest reason why people bash it so much is the total abscense of an interesting plot and the lame, cliche, over-used sorceress thing.

[Spooky05]

i've been deprived of getting to play any of the FF games, but i trust my rayray's view on it. if he says its good, its probably good, and if he says it sucks, its probably good anyway. i have learned to trust his opinions as such, and am now pestering any and all friends i have to loan me their FF games. :D woo for friends!

[Mysterious Saturn]

Well, the plot isn't the best in the series, but (in my opinion at least) it isn't as if it is the worst ever to be created. And sure, the sorceress thing may be played out, but at least Edea has a cool character design. :p

[Djm912]

I always enjoyed FF8. I never really understood why so many people didn't like it, either. My guess is that because it was soooooooooooooooooo different from any other FF game, but aren't all FF games different, anyway? People can't deal with change I guess.

My one complaint was the replay value. After finishing the game, I was spent. I didn't play it again for close to a year. It was a ride that was well, and I do mean well, worth the ending. When you finish that game, you know that you earned it cause after a while that game does start to draw on a little, but it's still fun. ;)

Quick Edit: I loved Edea. The Sorceress thing could've been a lot more interesting if it went into a bit more detail when it came to the 3 soreceress Edea, Ultimecia, and especially Adel.

[Jowy Blight]

I hated FF8 itself, I might of liked FF8 more if the attitude's of Squall and some of the other characters wern't so annoying. Also, if we had actually had an interesting story in there somewhere. It would of been better if they didn't mess with the battle system so much too (The Drawing bored me to no end). I STILL feel a bit screwed due to the crappy ending (Or was that FF7? Naw, FF8 too). Other then that, it was pretty okay. I LOVED some of the music they used on it, as well as the graphics.

I don't know if FF8 is the worst in the series anymore, now that FF10 is out. :D

[Barb Gordon]

I haven't played any of the other FF games, yes, I know I'm deprived of incredible experiences, but I have a few friends who have played them all....numerous times. Of the FF series, FF8 doesn't have the best story line or fighting of the others, so they say. But most, if not all agreed that it had awesome music and graphics and characters. And that's what I love about it. I'd like to be a video game type person, but I'm not. I've never even finished a game, and I don't own that many, I just don't have the time to devote to endless hours of playing. But as far as graphics and music went, FF8 is awesome.

Barb^-^

[Zorakfan]

I hated FF8. Seemed like square was trying to hard to sell the game to a larger base audience. You could honestly go through this game in 10 hours or less. The monsters level up with you, defeating the purpose of leveling up, you automatically recieve gil, and GF overuse was the way to go. (although FF10's Aeons are also subject to overuse, and I will give them credit for the junctioning system) You didn't learn magic, you 'drew' it in single-shot portions, making them more like items than anythingl.The story and plot was pretty bad. (Come on, all the characters grew up at the same orphanage? Time collapsed world? Sounds more like 'cheap plot device' to me. That's only my opinion though. I know a lot of people liked it, but god, I prefer FF1 over it, and anyone who's played FF1 should know (http://zanyvg.overclocked.org/finalfantasy/ff1marshproblems.gif) ...*shudder*

[Clayface]

FF8 is, almost, my favorite of the series (and I've been playing them since their Nintendo days). The only thing I disliked about the game was the magic drawing - very tedious. But I absolutely loved the atmosphere - the whole sci-fi touch to it was fantastic and just what the series needed, IMO. Its the only one in the series (well, besides FF7) that got a genuine emotional response out of me. Had they not had the whole magic draw thing, and had they shortened the summoning spells a bit, FF8 would have, hands down, been my favorite of them all.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

I don't agree that VIII is the BEST of the series, but I do think it's a darn sight better than V. V was quite a disappointment for me. You're better off with IV, IMO, the BEST FF EVER! (Well, according to my biased, non-logical opinion)

[Zorakfan]

Yeah, V is a wee bit disappointing, but the job class system is my favorite. IV is great, but I think VI and VII are...god. In cartridge (and disc) form. With chocobos.

[Web Head]

I'm actually in the middle of FF8 right now, so I thought I'd add my two cents.

It's basically been hit on the head already. It's a very different game, and if I didn't know better I wouldn't think it was Final Fantasy. I've been playing the series since the original, and have gotten up to FF8 (just got my PS2, last system I had was SNES) and I like this game a lot. So....

Pros:
-junction magic to skills (lets you customize characters)
-Squall and Rinoa's development (very well handled)
-relatively easy (by FF standards)
-original idea (hey, give the Square boys credit, they've got guts messing with such a loved franchise)

Cons:
-steep learning curve for newbies
-too much GF reliance
-not as much character development for support character as I'd like
-I've been to busy lately to sit down and beat the game already (more of a personal thing I know:))

Still, it was an original idea, and a good game. I think what a lot of people forget when they compare FF's to each other is that even a bad Final Fantasy game is better than most everything else out there. A least I think so.

[AlphaPrime]

Yeah its not that bad at all*yeah i thought it would be too but i was wrong hehe* the only problem i have with it is the long GF summoning, my favorite thing about FFVIII is that it only takes 1k exp to level every level :) Though in my book FFVII will always be the best, but i also like FFV yeah thats right i like it :p in fact i like it better the IV*just didn't really like this one to much even after beating it* or VI*though i do like the Sabin character alot*job system is my second fav system*of course Materia is favorite :D * I also like FFIX and of course i like FFT. I don't have FFX yet so i can't pass full jugdement on it, but i don't like the idea of voices in my rpgs.

[DaphHime]

At first didn't like FFVIII eather, but I decided to give it a secound chance. It's not too bad. I like the charcters, I haven't seen much devlopment yet (tough I'm still on disk one), so far my favorite character is Quistis. I see a little bit of me in her. The card game is fun though I suck at it. (I've always liked the mini-games better than the main plot.) I really don't like the battle system that much though. The one in FFVII was better though it took a long time to max out the Miteria.

Not a bad game, though FFVII is better IMO.

[James]

It's not awful, just compared to the others, it was lacking gameplay. It suffered from having to come after Final Fantasy VII.

Yeah, the GF's were tedious and way to relevant to the battle. I prefered the fact that it would be over 6 hours in VII until you even encountered a summon materia! That gave the game far more growth.

Saying that, FFVIII was beautiful, had a lovely ending too and some great music.

It was a pity Squall took lead as Laguna was far more interesting and comical. Some of the plot line was a little ludicrous. Especially the nursery. That was a ridiculous turn in the plot... I'll say no more..! ;)

Still a great game and I will happily start it again for the 4th time!

[Carnage]

FF8 was my least favorite of the Final Fantasys. I disliked the junctioning system, the drawing of magic, the lack of weapons (and the stupid ways of getting them), the complete lack of armor altogether, the lack of a good storyline. Other than that, it wasn't bad, it had good graphics, music was okay. My favorite part was the beginning intro to the game. My favorite Final Fantasy is still FFII, or IV (for the Japanese version). It's characters are awesome, the magic system is ideal. Characters have their own special abilities that nobody else has, as they should, each character should be an individual, not a clone that can be a master of everything. Only one person could summon. A great storyline, and the best music in the series. Of course this is just all my opinion, and I know many people don't agree with it, so feel free to think whatever you want.

Carnage