Final Fantasy VIII
Description official descriptions
Squall Leonhart is a young man in training to become of member of SeeD - a mercenary organization and the goal of all young students in Balamb Garden. Squall is not a particularly friendly guy and has troubles with his fellow students and teachers. On the eve of his graduation hostilities break out between the city-states of Galbadia and Dollet. As their final test, Squall and three other students are sent on a mission to assist in the fight against Galbadia. In the process they discover that there are other characters pulling strings from behind the stage, and eventually uncover a mystery that involves two decades of secrets hidden both from the world and from themselves.
Final Fantasy VIII is set in a "retro" environment reminiscent in some ways of the 1960's, with a few sci-fi and plenty of supernatural elements mixed in. The basic system resembles those of its predecessors: the player navigates a party of characters over a world map, accessing various locations and fighting randomly appearing enemies in turn-based combat of the series' trademark ATB (active time battle) variety. However, character development system has been re-designed.
Player-controlled characters in the game have no defined character classes. They can be customized by equipping magic spells, which can be "drawn" from enemies in battles. When used in combat, spells act like expendable items; there are no MP (magic points) in the game. When equipped, they act like armor, raising or lowering character parameters, including resistances to various kinds of magic (elemental, status-changing, etc.).
Monster summons (called Guardian Forces in the game) play a very important role in the customization process. They can be "junctioned" to to the characters, acquire ability points (AP) earned from battles along with experience, learn and "teach" characters new abilities, and can also be summoned in battles. Each character can also execute unique powerful attacks or support actions when his or her hit points are low. Many of these attacks require the player to press specific buttons at the right moment to increase their power.
New weapons are constructed by collecting materials and bringing them to a blacksmith. The player does not acquire money from random enemies, but instead receives paychecks over time based on the player character's SeeD rank. This rank increases when the characters defeat enemies in battles without summoning Guardian Forces; when the player takes SeeD tests within the game; or, occasionally, when the player chooses a correspondent action or decision for the protagonist during some of the missions. Payments are regular and are calculated by the amount of steps the characters make.
Visually, the game resembles its predecessor, featuring 3D graphics for battles and world map exploration, and pre-rendered backgrounds for individual locations. The game's 3D character models are realistically proportioned (as opposed to the "super-deformed" character graphics of the previous game), and the influence of anime art is less noticeable.
Like the previous installment, Final Fantasy VIII features several mini-games, the most prominent of which is the card game Triple Triad. Cards can be won in matches or acquired through side quests or by transforming enemy monsters. Many characters in the game can be challenged to a game of Triple Triad, so it is always possible to take a break from saving the world to play cards with the locals.
Spellings
- Финальная Фантазия 8 - Russian spelling
- ファイナルファンタジーVIII - Japanese spelling
- 太空戰士 8 - Traditional Chinese spelling
- 最终幻想8 - Simplified Chinese spelling
Groups +
- Console Generation Exclusives: PlayStation
- Fantasy creatures: Dragons
- Final Fantasy games
- Final Fantasy series
- Game feature: Original theme song
- Games referenced in movies
- Games with post-credits scene or gameplay
- Middleware: Bink Video
- PlayStation Greatest Hits releases
- PlayStation Platinum Range releases
- Video games turned into board / card games
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (PlayStation version)
113 People (107 developers, 6 thanks) · View all
| Executive Producer | |
| Director | |
| Music | |
| Main Programmer | |
| Battle System Designer | |
| Character Design / Battle Visual Director | |
| Art Director | |
| Scenario Writer | |
| Image Ilustration | |
| Movie Director | |
| Movie Character Director | |
| Character Modeling Director | |
| Real-Time Polygon Director | |
| Battle Effect Director | |
| Motion Director | |
| Card Game Director / Battle Camera Director | |
| Lead Field Designer | |
| Event Script Programmer | |
| Battle Programmer | |
| Event Director | |
| Map Director | |
| [ full credits ] | |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 88% (based on 68 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 347 ratings with 26 reviews)
The fantasy to start with and it didn't disappoint
The Good
It surely have revolutionize the game standard and expectation to match the fantastic storyline. The setting is what i loved the most, then the clip's graphic, battling system, character development and summoning. You may find that i have quite a low expectation, but it was the first and best game i ever played at that time, it was a work of a flawless piece of art.
The Bad
Although i am not a good critic, the fourth disc rather confuse and disappoint me. i say the game is getting a bit too serious for that the plots and events in the previous discs did not have enough information to sustain it. Or rather, there is too many events in the third disc as compare to the first.
The Bottom Line
It's the fantasy that leave people wondering.
PlayStation · by Mike Wazoski (7) · 2005
The Good
Almost everything was great. The graphics are CRAP - YES CRAP! Happy now Final Fantasy 8 haters? But, consider this; Final Fantasy 8 had the best graphics at the time on the PlayStation, especially compared with other RPG titles what had blocks for limbs (Final Fantasy 7) and is thus CRAP, but super FANTASTIC compared to other titles of the time. The music was fantastic. Simply fantastic. And i've got real proof of that - the game's theme tune "Eyes On Me" is currently the second-best ever video-game music released in Japan to date! (source: Wikipedia). The plot is extensive, with great back-story, history, plot and character development. The card game is possibly the best mini game on the for the early PlayStation, and the Full motion movies were just lovely. Even if you don't like the game, you just have to admit the movie quality was awesome, especially for PlayStation 1 titles.
However, the PC graphics for this game are very ugly, and repetitive of play and stay away - stick with the original PlayStation version! In my opinion, the music (which I just adore) and plot are the highlights of this game.
The Bad
Of course, hardly anyone liked the new Junction system, which was just plain stupid and hard to understand, even with help of the tutorial. The "chocobo world" minigame was included in the game, but no way to access it due to the Pocket Station device never being released out of Japan, and the over-world graphics. In Final Fantasy 7, towns looked smooth and sleak, but Final Fantasy 8 has locations that look like weird-looking lego blocks when viewed from the map. This is quite ironic, considering that Final Fantasy 7 was the one that, despite having detailed towns, had "block" limbs - whilst Final Fantasy had detailed limbs, but now "block" towns.
The Bottom Line
In a sense, Final Fantasy 8 is like marmalade - either you love it forever, or hate it. Simple. Due to the low availability of this game today, you've simply missed the opportunity to decide if the answer was "hate" or "love". No doubt most people hate Final Fantasy 8, but it's just misunderstood (listen to me, I'm acting like if this game was a person!) and terribly under-rated. If you have the opportunity to play, have a go, but don't bother running around hoping to find it in stores.
If you're in the mood for a RPG, you're probably better off with Final Fantasy 10 (rated game of the year once for the PlayStation 2, and hardly any haters for that game!) or the upcoming Final Fantasy 12 (one of the legendary few considered "perfect" by the Famitsu magazine).
PlayStation · by Reborn_Demon (127) · 2006
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
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.
PlayStation · by Indra was here (20755) · 2004
Discussion
| Subject | By | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Game with downloadable sounds soundbank | MerlynKing | Oct 24, 2016 |
| A question-spoilers! | GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) | Apr 24, 2011 |
| OMG!!! TEH DEVIL!!! | The Fabulous King (1332) | Jul 24, 2007 |
Trivia
1001 Video Games
The PS1 version of Final Famtasy VIII appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Development
- During production of the game, there were plans to originally call the Rinoa character "Lenore".
- Parasite Eve was the 'testing ground' for the cinematic graphics used in FFVIII.
Innovations
As of 2013, Final Fantasy VIII is the first and the only Final Fantasy game where the playable characters don't equip any armor.
Music
The music in this game was originally composed and recorded as Dolby Digital 5.1, then "dumbed down" to normal stereo for the actual release. The original DD 5.1 score was rumored to be the one to be used in a PlayStation 2 re-release.
Ratings
When it was first released as a demo, it was rated M for strong language but was later toned down to a T rating.
References
- Some names of the Guardian Forces (monsters you can summon in Final Fantasy VIII) are taken from mythologies of different nations. Quetzalcoatl is one of the main gods in the mythology of Central America's Indians; Shiva is God in Hinduism (he appears as a feminine incarnation in the game, although he is normally regarded as male); Diabolos is Greek for "devil"; Cerberus is a three-headed dog which guards the gates of Hades in Greek mythology; Siren is a beautiful and dangerous demi-goddess, also from the Greek mythology; Leviathan is Hebrew for "whale", this word is used to describe the sea monster that swallowed the prophet Jonas in Old Testament.
- The game's most poweful GF is called Eden. This is actually the name of the paradise, "Garden of Eden" (Hebrew "Gan Eden"), from where Adam and Eve were expelled, according to the first book of Moses from the Old Testament. Why is the most powerful GF a garden? Because the universities where the heroes of the game study and train are called gardens. It is logical the most powerful garden is also the most powerful weapon.
- In Esthar there is a shop called Cloud's Shop, a reference to Final Fantasy VII.
- You can spot UFOs during battles in four areas of the world. The sightings are used in the 'Pupu card' sidequest, and can only be seen from the second disk onwards.
References to the game
- In the 2004 Olympics, one of the American synchronized swimming teams chose to use a piece of music from Final Fantasy VIII as their background music . They used the song Liberi Fatali, the game's main theme
- The game is featured in the movie Charlie's Angels. It's the game the two kids are playing in the scene where Drew Barrymore drops naked from Knox's house. Interestingly enough both kids seem to be playing it at the same time, apparently nobody figured to tell the production team that the game was single-player only.
Summonings
When the game came out, the #1 complaint everyone had was that there was no way of skipping the summoning animations - which were essential for making it through the early stages of the game. The creators claimed this was entirely intentional, and that it was somehow vital to the plot that the players be forced to sit through the same minute-long animations hundreds of times. They never changed it in FFVIII (even the later PC adaptation) but oddly, all subsequent Final Fantasy games with summonings include the option to shorten the animation...
Tech demo
The ballroom dance scene was used as the basis for a PlayStation 2 tech demo, showing that the PS2 was powerful enough to render the scene in real-time.
Version differences
- The PC version includes a mini-game called Chocobo World. Previously, this was only available with the Japanese PSX version through the Dex Drive.
- Seifer and Zell, two important characters of Final Fantasy VIII, were renamed to Cifer and Xell, respectively, in the German version, probably because the original names are common German family names and might have possibly offended their innocent bearers.
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Disc 3 of the Windows version (US release) has a hidden audio track. It contains the song Eyes On Me, sung by Faye Wong. This song was released in Japan as a CD single and was part of the original soundtrack.
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The original Playstation release included a Chocobo World minigame which required access to a PocketStation, a console that was only released in Japan. Gamers in other territories could only access that by importing a PocketStation from Japan. This was the only way to access some rare items in the game.
Information also contributed by Alan Chan, Foxhack, j. jones, NightKid32, Rey Mysterio, Tiago Jacques, YID YANG, WizardX and Zovni
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Related Sites +
-
FF-Fan
A fansite that offers all kinds of information on the entire Final Fantasy franchise, including walkthroughs, game media, discussion boards and fan art. -
FF8 Hints
Final Fantasy VIII hints and solutions -
Final Fantasy Extreme
Site that contains movies, wallpaper, codes, guides, walkthroughs, and general information on the Final Fantasy series. -
GameFaqs Files
Comprehensive links to numerous Final Fantasy VIII files on GameFaqs -
OC ReMix Game Profile
Fan remixes of music from Final Fantasy VIII. -
Wikipedia: Final Fantasy VIII
Information about Final Fantasy VIII at Wikipedia
Identifiers +
Contribute
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Matthew Bailey.
PlayStation 3, PSP added by Charly2.0. PS Vita added by GTramp. PlayStation added by Grant McLellan.
Additional contributors: MAT, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Silverblade, DarkDante, DreinIX, —-, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, Thomas Thompson, Lain Crowley, Rik Hideto, FatherJack, 64er.
Game added March 26, 2000. Last modified March 18, 2024.