QuickNavigation - FF Odyssey Final Fantasy VIII (Last updated on 06/20/2011)

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By: wsim

     In the time after the whole Final Fantasy VII craze which completely rejuvenated the state of the RPG games market in North America, the RPG market in North America became flooded with plenty of great RPG games which pleased many RPG gamers. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Xenogears and Vandal Hearts to name a few, were quite popular among the RPG gaming crowd and many gamers who have played those RPG thought they were excellent as well. Indeed, during this time period, the RPG market in North America was really blooming and before this time, never before have RPG games generated this much hype and positive fan response as it was between FFVII's release and the release of Final Fantasy VIII. Before FFVIII was even released in North America, there was plenty of hype surrounding it and many FFVII fanatics were looking very forward to the release of FFVIII since FFVII was a massive hit across North America. When Final Fantasy VIII was finally released in North America in September 1999, it sold extremely well in North America and it on launch day, it managed to sell very well and it still holds current North America records as the biggest launch day in the history of RPG games in North America. With some absolutely outstanding FMV cinematics and detailed character models, many gamers were extremely impressed with the game's graphics and many gamers hoped that FF8 would be as good, if not better than FF7. Does FF8 live up to it's hype? Is it better than FF7, or was the hype just a bust? Don't worry, my FF8 review will answer those questions and it will cover more than just that, so if you want to find out if FF8 really was good or not, read on.......

 -Disc 1
 -Disc 2
 -Disc 3
 -Disc 4

     The game first starts out inside the medical clinic in Balamb Garden, a training academy and school for people training to become mercenaries in the future. Squall Leonheart, a member of the academy and a student in the Garden, wakes up and after being in a fight with Seifer Almasy earlier on. Seifer Almasy is another student at the Garden and is Squall's rival and Seifer is a well-known troublemaker in the Garden. Squall then meets up with his instructor, Quistis Trepe and then they head to the classroom section of the Garden.

     Shortly afterwards, Squall then gains access to his study panel in the classroom and then gains access to use the GF's Shiva and Quezacotl. GF's are Guardian Forces and during the course of the game, you will learn how to junction magic and learn how to use some GF abilities to your advantage as well as summoning some powerful GF monsters in battle. After Squall meets up with his instructor Quistis again, Quistis then instructs Squall to meet her at the Front Gate of Balamb Garden to go on a mission to the Fire Cavern to try and obtain the GF Ifrit. After meeting up with Quistis at the Front Gate of Balamb Garden, Quistis then teaches Squall how to use the junction system and also teaches Squall how to time his gunblade attack as well as equipping GFs as well. After leaving the Garden, Quistis and Squall then head east to the Fire Cavern to obtain the GF Ifrit.

     Before entering the cavern, Squall has a choice of 3 different time limits and he can only select one before heading into the cave. After selecting his preferred time limit, Squall then follows Quistis inside the Fire Cavern as they make their way through the cavern, defeating monsters along the way. Finally, they both manage to reach Ifrit and then Ifrit challenges them to do battle with him to see if they are worthy enough for him to join them in battle. After a tough battle against Ifrit, Squall and Quistis manage to defeat him and then Ifrit decides to join Squall and Quistis to help them in battle in the future. They then head back to Balamb Garden and then once inside the Garden, Quistis reminds Squall about the SeeD Test mission coming up later on as well. After Squall changes into his Garden Uniform, he then heads to the 1st floor lobby area of the Garden and meets up with Zell Dincht, another member of Balamb Garden and also a member of Squall's team during the upcoming SeeD Training Mission. Squall finds out from Quistis that Seifer will be the team leader and then Quistis and Headmaster Cid, who is the head of Balamb Garden, outlines the objectives of the mission to Seifer and the rest of his team. Quistis and Seifer's team then board on a boat which is headed to the Dollet Communication Tower, which is the location of the SeeD Test Mission.

     After landing on a beach nearby, Seifer gathers up his team members and then Squall and Zell follow Seifer to the Central Square area. After reaching the Central Square area, Seifer and the rest of the team are supposed to keep a close eye on their surroundings and kill any Galabadian Soldiers if they see any. After getting rid of the surrounding soldiers, Seifer decides to go against orders and along the way, Seifer and the rest of the team end up fighting monsters along the way. After reaching the Dollet Communication Tower, Seifer then backs out on his team and goes on ahead, trying to kill every Galabadian Soldier in sight and then wrecks havoc around the Tower area, leaving Zell and Squall to fend for themselves. Outside of the Communication Tower, Selphie, the girl whom Squall helped out at the beginning of the game, meets up with Squall and Zell and then they decide to go around a cliff to enter the Communication Tower. Squall and the others eventually reach the top of the tower and then they bump into Biggs and Wedge, who are high-ranking officers of the Galabadian Army. Squall and the others then manage to defeat Biggs and Wedge and then another monster appears out of nowhere to fight Squall and the others at the top of the tower. Eventually, after a very tough boss battle, Squall and the others then have 30 minutes to escape the tower and reach the beach area to end the SeeD Training Mission. After a scene where Biggs and Wedge send out a crawling crab-like robot after Squall and the others, it appears that Squall and the others have to try to escape from the robot before time runs out on them. After running away from the robot several times, Squall and the others finally make it back to the beach where they all board on a ship again. Quistis then shoots down the robotic crab with a machine gun cannon on board the ship and then they all head back to Balamb Garden. After reaching the town of Balamb, Squall talks to Quistis on the deck of the ship and then Squall then heads back to Balamb Garden with the others to find out the results of their SeeD Test.

     Inside Balamb Garden, Squall talks with Seifer for a bit near the library area of the Garden and then Squall and the others head to the 2nd Floor of the Garden and they are told by the Garden Faculty to wait in the hallway until the test results are in. During this time period, many members of the Garden wait in the hallway, anxiously awaiting to see if they passed the test to become full-fledged SeeD's. After the Faculty reveal the test marks, it is apparent that Squall, Zell and Selphie passed the test along with another member of the Garden and Seifer is told that he failed the test. Seifer trash talks Squall and the others as Seifer then leaves the hallway in disgust with his friends, Raijin and Fujin. After speaking with Cid Kramer, headmaster of Balamb Garden, Squall and the others then receive their SeeD rank and Cid explains to them all about the purpose of SeeD and so on. Later on that night, it appears that Balamb Garden is holding a big party to honor the newest members of SeeD, which are the most elite members of Balamb Garden. Squall then changes to his new SeeD uniform and then heads to the party where a mysterious girl whom he had never seen before asks him to dance with her. Squall is reluctant to dance with her but she makes him go along anyways and after she leaves the dance floor, Squall then speaks with Quistis and then Quistis then tells Squall to get changed again and meet her in the Training Center. After meeting up with Quistis in the Training Center, Squall then talks to Quistis again and then Squall follows Quistis to the secret area, which has a nice view as well. Quistis then tells Squall that she is not longer his instructor anymore and she tells Squall that the Garden Faculty told her that she had failed as an instructor. Quistis tells Squall that from now on, she is now a member of SeeD, just like Squall and that the reason why she failed as an instructor is because she lacked "leadership qualities". After Quistis finishes talking with Squall, both of them then plan on leaving the Training Center but at the entrance, they help a women in danger and after saving her, she is taken in by some mysterious white SeeDs. Squall then heads back to his dorm room and then Zell tells him that Squall has a new room now that he's a SeeD. Squall then goes to bed in his now room and then after waking up the next day, Squall heads to the front gate of the Garden to meet Zell and Selphie as well as headmaster Cid. Cid then explains to Squall and the others about their first mission briefing and he explains the purpose of their first SeeD mission in detail. He tells Squall that he and the others are to help out a resistance faction in Timber against Galbadia and Cid then gives Squall a special item: "The Magical Lamp". Squall and the others then head to the town of Balamb again where they catch a train which is headed for Timber.
Once inside the train, Squall and the others head to their own private SeeD cabin on board the train and shortly afterwards, Squall and the others suddenly start to feel woozy and then they all fall to sleep. All of a sudden, the screen blacks out and then you start to control Laguna, Kiros and Ward who are all soldiers of the Galbadian army. This is what I call "Dream Sequence" and there will be several more following the adventures of Laguna and his friends throughout the course of the game. Laguna, Kiros and Ward then pass through a forest and then they hop on a car to Deling City. Inside Deling City, Laguna and his friends then enter the Galbadia Hotel to watch a performance inside the hotel and then after Julia, who is the girl whom Laguna likes, leaves the room, Laguna speaks with the hotel clerk and then heads off to Julia's room. After talking to Julia for awhile, Laguna then gets called away by Kiros and then the Dream Sequence comes to an end. After their arrival in Timber, Squall and the others then tell the right password to a person in Timber and then they head off to meet the "Forest Owls", a resistance faction against Galbadia. After meeting Rinoa, the girl who Squall danced with earlier in the game, Squall and the others head to another room where the SeeDs and the Forest Owls then discuss about the upcoming mission and strategy as well. After speaking with Watts, a member of the Owls, Squall and the others, along with Rinoa then decide to start the mission as they try to catch the President's train car to begin negotiations with the President over the state of Timber's independence from Galbadia. After finally reaching the President's Car, Squall and the others then find out that the President is a fake and they end up fighting him. After defeating the fake President, Squall and the others along with the "Forest Owls" decide to discuss about what they plan to do next and then they all head back to Timber. After using a window inside a house in Timber, Squall and the others then pass through a narrow alleyway in the town as they battle some Galbadian Soldiers along the way. Squall and the others then reach a TV Station and then after a scene involving the real President of Galbadia, Vinzer Deling, it is revealed that Seifer then holds the President hostage and then a series of events occur. Squall and the others decide that it's not exactly the best idea to head back to Balamb Garden at this time so they head to the nearest Garden from Timber, which is Galbadia Garden. After receiving some train tickets from Zone, Squall and the others then board on the last train which is headed for the East Academy station. Squall and the others then head northwest from the station and they enter a forest, which is the only way to reach Galbadia Garden at this time.

     After entering the forest, Squall and the others then fall asleep again as the next Dream Sequence begins. Laguna, Kiros and Ward fight through some Esthar soldiers along the way through a maze and along the way, and then Laguna and the others find themselves cornered by Esthar soldiers on top of a mountain and after fighting through 3 waves of Esthar soldiers, Laguna and the others then manage to see several ships at the base of the mountain and they then all jump off the cliff to reach the ships so they can be rescued. Squall and the others then wake up again as they find themselves in the forest and they then head out from the forest to Galbadia Garden nearby. Inside Galbadia Garden, Squall and the others then head to the reception room which is located on the 2nd Floor as Quistis then plans to speak with headmaster Martine, the headmaster of Galbadia Garden about their current situation. Squall the speaks with the others inside the reception room and then leaves the room shortly afterwards and then Squall returns to the center hall of the Garden and he then meets up with Raijin and Fujin. After talking with them, Squall heads back to the front gate and finds Quistis and they both meet up with the others at the gate. After headmaster Martine discusses about the current situation, it is decided that they are to assassinate the sorceress of Galbadia, sorceress Edea and Martine then sends Irvine Kinneas, a sniper from Galbadia Garden, to help Squall and the others with the mission. They then use a train to reach Deling City to carry out the assassination mission.
After riding on a bus to reach General Caraway's Mansion in Deling City, Squall and the others speak with the guards outside the Mansion and they tell Squall and the others to recover an ID # from the Tomb of the Unknown King to prove if they are worthy or not. Squall and the others then head northeast of Deling to reach the Tomb of the Unknown King to retrieve the ID number from a sword lying inside the tomb. After finding the ID number from the sword in the tomb, Squall and the others then head back to Deling City to report the ID # to the guard outside Caraway's Mansion. The guard then gives Squall and the others permission to enter the Mansion to speak with General Caraway. After discussing about the plan to assassinate the sorceress to General Caraway, Squall and the others then decide to split into two teams to carry out the operation. Squall and Irvine are to make up the Sniper Team while Quistis, Zell and Selphie are to make up the other team which is supposed to close the gate on Edea when the time is right, during the parade. The Sniper team is now in position and the Gateway team then heads back to the Mansion to get Rinoa but then Quistis upsets Rinoa and then Rinoa runs away from the Mansion. The Gateway team tries to escape the Mansion but they find themselves locked in the Mansion. Rinoa then heads into the Presidential Residence and meets Edea and overhears her speech to the people of Deling City.

     Shortly afterwards, the Gateway team then manages to use a statue in the Mansion to reveal another passageway as they all head past the sewers back to the switch area which controls the gate. After pulling the switch, the gate then closes on Edea, temporarily trapping her and holding up the rest of the parade as well, enabling enough time for Squall and Irvine to carry out the assassination operation. Squall and Irvine head to the Presidential Mansion and they find Rinoa being attacked by a couple of Lizard-like monsters. After saving Rinoa from the Lizards, Squall and Irvine then head to their spot to attempt to assassinate Edea. Unfortunately, Irvine is very hesistant to shoot Edea and then after awhile, he finally gathers up his nerves and then shoots a bullent at Edea. But then Edea then manages to cast a barrier which destroys the bullet and then Squall hops onto Edea's parade float and then he finds out that Seifer is protecting Edea for some reason. Seifer then proclaims that his dream was to become the "sorceress' knight" and then he confronts Squall and they both do battle. After defeating Seifer for the time being, Squall, Rinoa and Irvine then confront Edea and they all fight her to attempt to kill her. The battle is a long and tough one but then at the end of the battle, Edea then uses her magic to form an icicle that is shaped like a long blade and thrusts it right into Squall and then Squall appears to fall a long ways down as Rinoa looks on in concern. After this event is over, disc 1 is now concluded with some uncertainty surrounding Squall which leads up to the events that will occur in disc 2.

     While not very long, disc 1 mainly just introduces the storyline and characters to the gamer but don't worry, disc 2 and 3 will unfold more of the story and stuff like that as well. Personally, disc 1 in FF8 isn't really meant to be dramatic, but the ending of disc 1 sets the tone of the game quite well but it's a far cry from the overall greatness and excitement and emotion found in disc 1 in FF7 though. The first disc in FF8 is still quite good, which is a good start for the game itself. Now on to disc 2, which of course is longer and it's more dramatic than disc 1 which will really set the emotion and tone of the rest of the game.

     During the very beginning of disc 2, another "Dream Sequence" involving Laguna again occurs and this time, it is set in the town of Winhill. Laguna is now taken care of and he then meets up with Kiros at a nearby pub in the town. It is revealed that both Laguna's and Kiro's mission is to protect the town from monsters and after talking to a women named Raine, Laguna and Kiros then get a mission briefing and then they go out and patrol the town, battling any monsters that get in their way. It is also revealed that Laguna has a niece named Ellone which will be an important character when the game progresses. After successfully defeating the monsters around town, Laguna and Kiros head back to the pub to speak with Raine again and Laguna tells Raine that he wants to become a journalist in the future. Laguna then takes a nap in his room and then the "Dream Sequence" comes to an end. The game then goes back the D-District Prison where Squall is then tortured by Seifer and Seifer tries to force Squall into revealing the true meaning of SeeD.

     Shortly after that, Zell, Quistis and Selphie find themselves locked up in a cell inside the prison with their weapons confiscated as well. Zell manages to escape from the cell and after reaching the 8th floor, Zell fights a couple of Galbadian Soldiers and manages to retrieve his party's weapons back and then he heads back to the cell to meet up with Quistis and Selphie. After meeting up with them, Zell and the others encounter Biggs and Wedge again and they fight each other. Zell and the others defeat Biggs and Wedge and they then head up to the 13th floor to rescue Squall and after rescuing him, Zell goes on ahead and gets attacked by some guards. Squall and the others manage to rescue Zell and along the way, they meet up with Rinoa and Irvine. Squall and the others decide to split into two parties and Squall's party then heads to the top of the District Prison. After reaching the top of the prison, Squall gets caught on a sinking bridge and he makes it across safely, but just barely. After escaping from the prison, Squall and the others meet up in the middle of a desert and they find out that Galbadia Garden will launch missiles straight at Balamb Garden. Squall and the others decide to split into two parties: One to warn the students of the Garden about the missiles, the other party is to head to the missile base to try and stop the missiles before it destroys Balamb Garden.

     Meanwhile, Squall's party is already headed to Balamb Garden to warn the others about the missiles so the game then reverts to the other party in the missile base. The missile base party then disguises themselves as Galbadian Soldiers using the old uniforms found inside the car before entering the base. Once inside the missile base, they then act cool and they manage to fool the guards for the time being and eventually, they manage to change some settings on the control panel and they set the Error Ratios to maximum to try and alter the direction of the missiles. After uploading the new changes, they head to the control room they deal with some Galbadian Soldiers and they defeat some officers as well and they then attempt to disable the missiles. They then set the self-destruction switch on and they eventually reach the parking lot of the base and they end up fighting a large machine. They defeat the machine and then it appears that they are stuck and it seems all is lost but it isn't. Shortly afterwards, the game goes back to Squall's party as they have finally reached Balamb Garden.

     After arriving in the Garden, Squall and the others find out that Balamb Garden is under attack and is now headed by a guy named headmaster NORG. Squall and the others end up defeating all of the enemies and then after meeting Xu, Squall and the others head up to see Cid. After finding Cid, Squall gets orders from Cid to head to the underground area of the Garden to uncover a secret which might help them avoid the missiles. Once underground, Squall and the others then turn the valve wheel which opens a door that leads to the next room and after hitting the lever which opens a door on the other side of a bridge, Squall and the others encounter a couple of monsters and they fight them. After defeating them, Squall and the others head through the door and after pressing several buttons, the Garden is then transformed into a mobile structure! After reaching the 2nd floor to check out the new view, Squall and the others then head down to the basement of the Garden to meet and confront headmaster NORG. After defeating NORG, Squall and the others head to the infirmary and they speak with Cid. Squall and the others learn more about headmaster NORG and more about the Garden's past and then Cid tells Squall and the others some shocking information: Cid is married to Sorceress Edea. Cid then clears up with Squall and the others about this issue and Squall and the others meet up with Xu shortly afterwards. After speaking with her, Squall and the others later find a ship and later on, a bunch of white SeeDs then ask for Ellone, the girl in the last Laguna dream sequence. Squall finds Ellone in the library and then talks to her for awhile and later on, a scene occurs where Balamb Garden crashes into Fisherman's Horizon.

     Squall and the others get orders from Cid to meet the mayor of FH to try and apologize for the mess the Garden caused to their village. After speaking to the mayor of FH, Galbadian Soldiers then enter the village and then attack the village as well. Squall and the others then follow the train tracks and after defeating the same robot boss from the missile base again, Squall and the others meet up with the other party again as they all now head back to Balamb Garden again. Later on, Squall speaks with the mayor of FH again as the others then plan a little surprise party for Squall later on that night at FH. During the party, Rinoa meets up with Squall and they get to know each other better as the others play some music for Squall for the party. After the party is over, Squall is now in charge of piloting the Garden and after talking with Xu again, Squall gets orders to then pilot the Garden to Balamb. Once arriving in Balamb, Squall and the others then find that the town is under Galbadian occupation for the time being. Squall and the others find out that there is a "captain" and a "commander" that is in charge of the Galbadian occupation of Balamb. After getting some clues from the people, Squall and the others manage to find the captain and they follow him to Balamb Hotel, where they fight each other. Turns out that the captain is none other than Raijin himself, one of Seifer's friends! After defeating Raijin, he then runs inside the hotel and then Squall and the others enter the hotel to try and find him. Once inside Balamb Hotel, Squall and the others then fight both Raijin and Fujin and they manage to defeat them for the time being. After returning to Balamb Garden, Squall and the others then learn how to control the Garden in mobile mode and later on, they all agree to head to Trabia Garden, which was the Garden that Selphie used to go to before transferring to Balamb Garden.

     They all manage to arrive in Trabia Garden and later on, they all meet at a basketball court and then a flashback sequence occurs. It is revealed that Quistis, Zell, Irvine, Selphie and Squall were once part of an orphanage and in which a women named Matron used to take care of them when they were all little. Also, it is revealed that Matron was actually Sorceress Edea, before she became an evil sorceress. After the flashback sequence is over, Squall and the others then make the decision to head back to Balamb Garden again. Squall then pilots the Garden to Edea's House and then after turning the Garden around, Squall sees the mobile version of Galbadia Garden. After splitting up into two separate parties, Squall eventually meets up with Zell and the others after Zell tries to save Rinoa but to no avail. They all eventually manage to fight of the invading Galbadian Soldiers and after going through an emergency exit, Squall and the others then enter Galbadia Garden and they manage to save Rinoa beforehand.

     Once inside Galbadia Garden, Squall and the others then head off to find 3 Card Keys and then they all eventually manage to find Seifer after fighting through some monsters along the way. Squall and the others then fight Seifer and after defeating him, Squall and the others head to the Auditorium area of Galbadia Garden to fight Edea and Seifer together. Once they defeat both Seifer and Edea, a scene shortly occurs and then Rinoa disappears and the screen blacks out as disc 2 comes to an end. This is the end of disc 2, it's not that long but anyways, time to move on with the storyline of the game.

     Squall and the others head to Edea's house as they talk to both Edea and Cid and you learn more about Edea's past as Matron and shortly after this, Edea is no longer evil anymore as her powers have weakened and she is no longer under the control of another sorceress. It is revealed that there is another sorceress named Sorceress Ultimecia and that she is another sorceress from the future who once controlled Edea. Squall and the others return back to Balamb Garden shortly afterwards and then Squall falls asleep and he gets transported to Laguna's "Dream World" again. It appears that this time Laguna is at a movie studio, playing the lead role as a knight with Kiros playing a Dragon. But it turns out that there is a real Dragon on the set and after running away from it for awhile, Laguna and Kiros then confront and battle the Dragon. After defeating the Dragon, the sequence ends and Squall then wakes up again. Squall heads back to Edea's House to get her letter and then after finding a White SeeD ship nearby, Squall and the others board the ship and they talk to Zone and Watts on the ship for awhile. After speaking to the leader of the ship, Squall then heads back to Balamb Garden and checks up on Rinoa inside the Infirmary. Squall then returns to Edea's House to talk some more with her and then after passing through some train tracks in Fisherman's Horizon, Squall and the others reach the Great Salt Lake. At this point, Edea temporarily joins Squall's party for awhile and after passing through some pathways, Squall and the others then reach the futuristic city of Esthar.

     In Esthar, Squall ends up falling asleep and then another Laguna sequence occurs, which is, by the way, the very last Laguna sequence in FF8! Laguna finds himself as a prisoner in Esthar and after fighting several guards, he then goes on an elevator and he speaks to Dr. Odine and then rides an elevator to the control room. From there, Laguna then manages to unlock some doors and he eventually finds Ellone and as he leaves the room, the "Dream Sequence" comes to an end. Squall and the others head to the center of the city to find Dr. Odine's lab and they speak with him for a bit. After leaving Esthar and reaching the Lunar Gate nearby, Squall and another character end up getting shot into outer space and then Zell, back in Esthar then learns that his party must catch the Lunatic Pandora before it's too late. Zell then manages to catch the Lunatic Pandora in time and then the game reverts back into space with Squall and the others. Squall takes Rinoa to the medical lab on board the spaceship to check on her ailing medical condition and after Squall finds Ellone, who is revealed to be Squall's sister as the alarm sounds and Squall runs back to check on Rinoa. An FMV sequence occurs in which monsters from the moon are now headed for Earth, infesting the world as well. It appears that Rinoa is drifting away into outer space and Squall decides to put on a spacesuit to try and save her. After saving her in space eventually, Squall then manages to reach the Ragnarok, along with Rinoa. The Ragnarok is a spaceship and Squall and Rinoa find that the ship is infested with some aliens and after wiping them out, Squall and Rinoa then manage to fly the Ragnarok back to Earth. After landing on Earth again, Rinoa then gets imprisoned shortly afterwards and Squall and the others head to the Sorceress Memorial to free Rinoa and later on, they all decide to head back to Edea's House and after following Angelo across the flower field, more storyline is revealed and beforehand, it is revealed that Rinoa is a sorceress, that Edea has given up her powers to her for the time being. Zell then interrupts and then they head back to Esthar to speak with the president, which is Laguna! Squall and the others then find Kiros and Ward with Laguna, acting as his highest government ministers of Esthar as well. They then all agree to head to the Lunatic Pandora and after breaking through, Squall and the others enter the Lunatic Pandora and they fight Raijin and Fujin for the last time. After going though the Lunatic Pandora, Squall and the others fight Seifer for the last time and they manage to defeat him. Seifer manages to merge Rinoa and the evil Sorceress Adel, brought back to life again from long ago into one as disc 3 comes to an end. Pretty dramatic turn of events there, anyways, now comes disc 4, the last disc in FF8.

     Squall and the others manage to defeat Adel and rescue Rinoa and then Ellone manages to send Rinoa into the past, allowing Sorceress Ultimecia to achieve "Time Compression". Squall and the others then find themselves in the world of "Time Compression" and along the way, they defeat several sorceress-type bosses, Squall and the others then head to Ultimecia's Castle by going through Edea's House. Once entering the castle, Squall and the others find out that all their abilities have been sealed by Ultimecia's servants and they have to defeat Ultimecia's servants to unseal their lost abilities. Squall and the others split into two different parties and eventually, they manage to unseal their abilities and they head down the clock tower of the castle and after passing through a long pathway, they find a large door. After entering the door, Squall and the others finally encounter Ultimecia, the final boss of the game and Ultimecia randomly picks the characters she wants to fight and the battle begins. After defeating the first form of Ultimecia, she then summons the strongest GF, Griever and sends it to fight the others. After defeating Griever, Ultimecia then fuses with Griever to fight the others and after defeating this form of Ultimecia, she then reveals her true form to fight, which is her final form. Squall and the others manage to defeat her once and for all and then the ending sequence occurs. In the ending, it appears that Squall is weakened by the effects of "Time Compression" and eventually, he does meet up with Rinoa but it appears that Squall has died out on her. But shortly afterwards, Rinoa manages to revive Squall again, once the flower field replaces the dark, murky world of "Time Compression", removing and destroying it entirely. Then the game shows Laguna, visiting the grave of Raine, his wife and Ellone then waves to him with Kiros and Ward lurking in the background. The ending also shows Seifer having a good laugh with his buddies, Raijin and Fujin and then during the credits, a camera zooms into a Garden party with all the characters and all at the very end, Rinoa and Squall look on the balcony of the Garden as they kiss under the moonlight of the sky as the game finally ends. The ending is pretty good in my opinion, during the ending, you are treated to the full version of "Eyes on Me" by Faye Wong, which is quite good though. This concludes FF8 and FF8 has one of the best endings in any FF game to date, anyways, FF8 is still a solid game, I hope you enjoyed it.

     Final Fantasy 8 has some of the best graphics and FMVs found in any RPG game to date which very realistic-looking character models as well as some beautifully animated backgrounds as well. The FMV quality in FF8 is very good and the FMVs are just wonderful-looking which pleases even the most casual gamer. FF8 definitely seems to push the power of the Playstation even more so than FF7, by quite a large amount and FF8 is one of the best-looking PSX games of all-time. The big difference in graphics style this time is that FF8 seems to take a more realistic approach than previous FF games, abandoning the super-deformed style found in the FF games before FF8 and going with a new, realistic look to appeal to casual gamers as well as RPG gamers too. The summon animations look quite splendid as well and some limit break animations are very well done as well. Squall's Lionheart limit break is very flashy and most of the spell effects in FF8 are well animated, just like the rest of the game, for the most part. There's nothing that I can really fault about the graphics, except for the fact that no game is perfect when it comes to graphics really but FF8 definitely comes pretty damn close, no doubt about that. The graphics in FF8 are definitely something special and it's probably one of the game's most strongest points in my opinion.

     The gameplay in FF8 is not bad, above-average in fact but the junction system in FF8 can be controversial at times. Some gamers either love the junction system or they just hate it but I personally think it's ok but there are quite a number of faults in the actual gameplay of FF8 as well as the junction system too. First of all, once you understand how to junction magic properly, levelling up is pretty much pointless since if you refine magic and junction strong magic to your stats properly, since it raises your HP and Strength by quite a large amount as well as raising some of your other stats as well. The fact that enemies level up as you do also provides a good challenge for most RPG gamers but for me, it just doesn't seem right fighting enemies that you once viewed as scrubs and then when you fight them later on as you level up, some of them could either still be pretty easy while others can be pretty tough as well. One problem with many people who played FF8 is the fact that the game relies way too much on GFs, which are summons in the game, by the way. The main reason why so many gamers hate summoning GFs so much is that the GFs take WAY too long to finish their attack and the bad thing is that you can't skip the GF animations or shorten them either. Throughout the game, you will have to use GFs quite a bit and that means having to see stuff like Ifrit's Hellfire or Shiva's Diamond Dust way too many times, maybe 500 times perhaps? Unfortunately, these aren't the only faults in FF8's gameplay, there are several other problems with the gameplay as well. The weapon remodeling concept in FF8 can be pretty creative if executed properly which in fact that is apparently wasn't in FF8. Remodeling weapons can be a real pain in the ass, no joke about that one, mainly because your regular attacks are not that strong to begin with and because finding the right parts to remodel is very difficult and tedious as well. You have to literally fight many different enemies to get the parts needed to remodel your weapons and while some weapons at the beginning aren't that difficult to remodel, the later ones are extremely difficult to remodel as you sometimes have to steal from some enemies to get the right parts too. The battle system is not that bad but the junction system has it's up and downs in my opinion, sure it's creative and it's something different and all but it has it's faults since you have to rely on GFs and stuff like that. Finally, the "drawing magic" aspect of the game is not bad, since it's easy to use and all but the bad thing is that you can only draw certain spells from certain enemies and sometimes trying to find spells like Ultima or some rare spells from enemies can be very tedious if you are low on magic. I still prefer stuff like buying or learning magic rather than drawing and stocking various magic from various enemies which is tedious, nuff said. With all that set aside, the gameplay in FF8 is above-average but it lacks in quite a few areas which prevents the gameplay in FF8 to be as good as the gameplay found in some other FF games.

     In Final Fantasy 8, while the sound isn't that great and the gameplay lacks polish, the storyline is solid and pretty well-written for the most part. The storyline is also fairly easy to understand, if you paid any attention to the details of the game, that is. FF8's storyline is a lot different than the ones found in most RPG games but some of the usual themes still manage to be present in the game such as love as well as several others too. The setting for example, isn't your typical Medieval theme found in most RPG games and the setting in FF8 takes place in a more futuristic setting than FF7 as well. The game goes into significant detail with the main character of the game and over the course of the game, his attitude changes dramatically which changes the gamers feelings toward him. Unfortunately, what FF8 really lacks is a dominant villain as FF8 tinkers around with a variety of villains but none of them became dominant villains throughout the game. For example, games like FF6 had a dominant villain in Kefka, FF7 had Sephiroth and FF9 had Kuja but FF8 doesn't have a main bad guy in it though. While the storyline is a solid production overall, sometimes the storyline does tend to slow or drag on a bit during parts of disc 2 and 3 but the game still has it's moments that make the game pretty good and more interesting as well. Also, another fault in FF8's storyline is that a couple of characters don't have much of a backstory at all so you don't know anything about their past really which is too bad, since the other characters have interesting stories about their past which some interesting events are revealed which link most of the characters together. The plot has several twists and turns throughout the game, while maybe not as much as other FF games, they are still quite dramatic and they leave you wondering what's going to happen next at times as well, which is a good thing. But overall, the storyline is solid and pretty good in FF8 but what prevents it from scoring a higher rating is the fact that there is no dominant villain in the game and the storyline tends to slow down a bit during parts of disc 2 and 3 but the storyline is still a solid production though.

     True, FF8 has some great sounding music tracks like "Eyes on Me", FF8's regular battle theme as well as Laguna's battle theme but besides those tracks, the music in FF8 is quite bland overall and it's nothing really spectacular as well. The music in FF8 is still 16-bit quality although only a few tracks in FF8 are of that quality, unlike in FF9 where most of the music is still 16-bit. The sound effects in FF8 are quite well done and sound very clear in my mind which is nice to have in any RPG game. The sound effects for the summon animations, magic spells and limit breaks are fluid, clear and they add another layer of realism in the game, other than the graphics of course. Most of the tracks in FF8 don't really fit the mood and emotion of certain situations that well, stuff like Ultimecia's castle and most of the battle themes in FF8 really fit well but stuff like Galbadia Garden, Timber and Deling City are not that great and they don't have a good sense of emotion which doesn't help the sound rating for this game though. There are a lot of mediocre sounding tracks in FF8 too which kind of balance the rating a bit but the good thing is that the ending music in FF8 is simply amazing and the opening FMV theme is great too. But if you look at all the music tracks in FF8 overall, the music isn't too great and it's only above-average as well. In my opinion, FF8 has some of the weakest tracks found in any FF game and the music, while good at times, can be simply horrid for the most part. The music in FF8 isn't as really typical Uematsu-like greatness, unlike the golden days of Uematsu's genius found in the days of FF6. In fact, FF8 has some of the worst music ever found in an FF game, not sound effects wise but background music wise though. Honestly, most tracks in FF8 are just plain bland and kind of dull, unlike the tracks found in the other FF games which have a better sense of emotion and feeling that fit well with the game. The music, while not great, is still above-average though which is still not that bad but don't expect too much out of the music in FF8 though.

     The storyline and the graphics in FF8 can really impress you and keep you interested for the first couple of times through the game but after that, the game really starts to lack in terms of replay value. There are several sidequests in FF8 but they aren't as enjoyable as FF7's and there is a severe lack of mini-games in FF8 which kind of affects the replay value of the game too. In FF8, there is only one mini-game, that is the Triple Triad card game which takes quite a while to master. Most of the game's good items can only be won by winning Triple Triad games and there are a few sidequests which involve them as well. There are a few sidequests that involve you to fight Guardian Forces like Bahamut and Odin but they can be tedious, especially the Bahamut one. The game is still fun but after playing FF8 through a couple of times and seeing the same GF animations over and over again, FF8 gets kind of dull and boring after awhile but the sidequests can prove challenging, even though they aren't entirely all that fun though. Finally, for the gamers who really want a challenge, try finding Omega Weapon and try beating it, since Omega Weapon is as tough, if not tougher than the Weapons found in FF7. Other than that, there really isn't anything else in FF8 that increases the fun factor of the game due to the lack of mini-games and fun sidequests in the game as well. Overall, FF8 has an above-average replay value but besides the few sidequests and Triple Triad, the game really doesn't have too much to offer so don't expect a high replay value out of this game.

     Final Fantasy 8 is a solid RPG game with some of the best FMVs ever seen on the Playstation as well as a decent storyline to go along with the outstanding graphics too. Due to the mass success of FF7, many people would think that FF8 would be as great, if not better than FF7 but the truth is that FF8 doesn't quite live up to it's hype due to faults in gameplay and faults in some minor areas as well. Many gamers who have played through FF8 can honestly agree that the game simply doesn't live up to it's hype, even though the graphics and FMVs are simply superb and the storyline is decent. Why is that? That's because FF8 was over-hyped in my opinion and gamers kind of dissed FF8 because the gameplay is so different and it doesn't seem like Final Fantasy in the minds and hearts of many old-school RPG veterans. After playing through the game, FF8 is still a solid game but I still think FF8 doesn't live up to it's hype and while the game is solid, it's still a far cry from the brilliance and excellence that was found in previous Final Fantasy games such as FF6 and FF7. For one thing, the gameplay in FF8 needs a lot of work and it's one of the major reasons why FF8 isn't as good as previous FF games since the gameplay in FF games has always been so great. But in FF8, the junction system is creative but it makes leveling up practically pointless once you master it and the junction system is quite controversial in my mind since many people who played FF8 either seem to love it or hate it. The remodeling concept is plain brutal, since finding the parts to remodel your weapons is tedious and is a real pain as well and you have to fight various enemies to find the parts too. The sound in FF8 is ok but not that great neither with it's fair share of stinkers as well and the sound just isn't typical Uematsu greatness in my mind as well. Sure, FF8 has some excellent tracks like "Eyes on Me" and Laguna's battle theme but otherwise, the music in FF8 is mediocre overall but there's nothing too special about the music in the game though. Overall, I think that FF8 is still a decent RPG game with some amazing graphics and FMVs to die for as well as a solid storyline to boast also. But stuff like poor gameplay, low replay value and mediocre sound are what hurt FF8 the most, since they have a pretty large impact on the game's overall impressions and they seem to take away most of the good things in the game though. Which is too bad, since Final Fantasy 8 almost had all the aspects it needed to fully live up to it's hype and if it wasn't for the mediocre music, poor gameplay and low replay value, FF8 would have been as good, if not better than FF7.

The Art of Triple Triad – The mini card game

In FF VIII there is a great treat for all poker card game fans out there. The mini game Triple Triad, designed by the guy who also did the battle design, is a really great mini game, but not an essential part of the game itself. Each player get 5 cards and the person who wins the coin-flip will be able to play a card on the board and then the next player will have to measure up the value and use strategy to outsmart the counterpart.  Quite a easy match for anyone use to the hardboiled action of on line poker and games like that.