Guardian Forces can be summoned during a battle, but an extra meter will appear during the summoning process. Experience points help raise the GF's power and HP when summoned during a battle, and AP can be used to learn special skills that can increase stats or teach your character special moves. Other nifty additions include a new Limit Break system (everyone's is completely different and they're automatically activated when your HP is low enough) and 'Guardian Forces.' Guardian Forces are attached to your characters, and earn experience points and AP through battles. You can then cast them much like you would use an item. Instead of MP, you must 'Draw' spells from your enemies. The gameplay in FF8 is really quite original. The battle with Galbadia Garden is one of the most memorable scenes in video game history, and there are quite a few others too, like the train hijacking, the space launch, the dance, the execution attempt, the Ragnarok landing (Eyes On Me). In fact, it's never even resolved at all! Fortunately, most of the plot isn't so bad. Unlike FF7, the 'world devastation' theme doesn't come in until the very end, which might be a good thing, since it is rather lame. By the end of Disc 1 you'll be addicted quite extensively, though I don't know who's brilliant idea it was to throw in the most boring maze ever (the sewers in Deling City) right in the middle of one of the best parts of the game.ĭisc 1 isn't much to brag about (except for the train hijacking), but the rest of the plot is rather cool. From then on, the game starts off rather slowly. Nope, you get to take a school test while listening to Quistis give a lecture and showing Selphie around campus! Hurray! Seriously though, the beginning hour or so to FF8 undoubtedly left millions of gamers disappointed. But then what? Are you thrust into the bombing of a Mako reactor? Do you fight off soldiers with a Magitek machine? Do you battle an enemy army trying to kidnap the princess? It starts out with one of the most stunning opening sequences of all time (and I thought FFT's was great.). Is the article going to start soon? Maybe.įinal Fantasy 8 begins like no other game I've ever played. Is it deserving of the Final Fantasy title? Sure. Does it rank among the best Final Fantasy titles? Nope. It was no secret that I had extremely high expectations of the title, especially considering that FF7 continued to be my favorite game of all time.īut does FF8 rank among the best RPG's? Absolutely.

Months before that fateful day of September 7th, I had already been using my 'Greg Loire' AOL screen name for quite some time (Greg Kisaragi wouldn't fit at the time, but now I have it). After the infinite wait after FF7, FF8 finally arrived to the US.

Final fantasy viii review