Final Fantasy VIII

The Good
There are lots of original concepts to be found. It gets rid of a lot of RPG cliches such as gathering gold, armors and weapons. Armor is virtually nonexistent, your starting weapon is the standard 1 for your character throughout the whole game. You get paid regualrly so gold is no longer a big reason for killing random enemies. The graphics on the Guardian Forces are impressive the first couple of times you see them, but they get very repetitive.

The Bad
You can't skip the animations on the Guardian Force attacks. The grphics are sub par, they're left in the original playstation resolution which makes them low-res on todays PC's. A lot of the original concepts are poorly implimented.The sounds sound tinny and distant.

The Bottom Line
If you're a Final fantasy fanatic is the only way i can recomend this game. A console port that squaresoft put no effort into. They didn't take advantage of the computers superior performance.

The Good
Final Fantasy 8 is one of the very few J-RPG's ever to hit the PC platform, and it happens to be one of the best RPG's overall to hit the PC. Although I have played PC games like Diablo and Baldur's Gate, this gave me the best RPG experience ever. Final Fantasy 7 was also great, but it can't compare to the greatness of Final Fantasy 8. The Storyline, the game's plot (an unusual time-travel story) is about some sorceress in the distant future who wants to "compress time", as in there is no future, there is no past, simply she wants to control time itself, and its up to the game's protagonists to stop her. There is also a very touching romantic subplot to the game. Every J-RPG I have played has a breathtaking storyline, and this is no exception. Great graphics, the game was the first of the series to use realistic character models (which I enjoyed very much), and the background blended well with them. This was also the only game in the series to feature an all-human playable character cast.

Cinematics, they are gorgeous to look at, console-style cinematics to the PC at their best. Original game play, I found the Junctioning thing fun to play around with, one can consider several combinations or strategies that best fit you're particular character, and even though the MP thing was gone (the only J-RPG game of it's kind) I found using a particular spell 99 times a huge advantage. The drawback about the no MP thing is one has to gather particular magic spells from several monsters and locations, lots of traveling and exploring. Fortunately, that's what I like about the game, traveling and exploring. Outstanding music score, every J-RPG like a Final Fantasy has a great music score regardless. Final Fantasy 8 is obviously the best Final Fantasy title ever to hit the PC platform. I only wish that more J-RPG's like this would come to the PC. An absolutely wonderful game!

The Bad
One of the downsides of this game is the exiting part. I have to press ALT+F4 to exit the game. I found that earning money depends on your SEED rank, not killing random enemies, which takes a long while to gather. Money after all is the key to any J-RPG game. The Gameplay can be quite confusing at first, but once you get over it, you're in for the thrill of a lifetime.

The Bottom Line
This is the game that will convince people that J-RPG's have a place in the PC platform. I still don't understand why the PC has very little games like this, I feel games like Final Fantasy 8 have shown they can make smooth transition to another platform, especially to the PC.

The Good
If there was one game series that was worthy enough to go on the hall of legends for ANY platform, Final Fantasy would be it.

Final Fantasy VIII took a reality check from by providing more 'realistic' or 'human' graphics. An upgrade to my opinion, although I can't objectively say its better - each Final Fantasy series (well most of them anyway) present there own unique style.

Final Fantasy VIII would be the Playstation version of the PC's "Diablo" (of is it the other way around) -- Introducing 2-5 minute cut-scenes that are better than a lot of 2 hour movies.

The character's in the game represent different aspects of human personality. Obviously, the main hero - Squall usually represents the hero-rebel that most of us went through during our teenage years. The "secondary" game plot revolves around these personalities. The developers made a great detailed job of opening the mysteries of each character - their emotions, dreams, fears and personal lives making Final Fantasy VIII a whole bunch of little stories into one great big scenario of story telling.

This game is indeed a product of a master storyteller.

The Bad
Well, you can read about the more good stuff in other reviews. However, l'd like to focus mine on the bad stuff.

Although as much as I love Final Fantasy VIII, the process of loving it was a long and hard rough journey. As seen in the One-line Summary, it took me 4 times to play this game to completely appreciate the game. If it weren't because of Final Fantasy VII, I doubt I'd be as patient in trying out the game 4 times.

There are many features that were difficult to understand for players familiar with the Final Fantasy concept, much less for those unfamiliar with it. I would rate user-friendliness a low mark on that area, honestly. This game can be also frustrating if your a perfectionist-style player. I've re-played this game 5 times, and each time I've found-out something new. This would be one of those games where you'd better buy the clue book unless you miss something.

In relation to that, there are a lot of events that without the clue book/walkthrough, I'm sure you'll miss out on. I don't quite enjoy the fact that when you reach the final battle, someone tells you you've missed a couple of GI's. Such inputs can be very frustrating and annoying. This game is a good example that sometimes "too much freedom of choice" can have its drawbacks.

The Bottom Line
Get this game like your life depended on it.