Everytime I replay this game, my opinion changes. At first, FF8 used to be one of the worst games I've ever played but now I've grown to enjoy its existence. The story is way too convoluted and exposition heavy, many plot twists in which are really explained in an arbitrary set of novels in the menu, making some of the twists to come out of left field. After finally learning the lore, that was when I've grown with the game.

A major problem I have with this game is how they handled the main character himself: Squall (I'll never refer to him as Leon...). I do genuinely like Squall's character and how relatable he is since I too am an intorvert but I found how Square enix executed his mean demeanor to be poorly done and the JRPG choice element in this story made his sudden love for Rinoa to be sudden and not in character. I like the concept of Squall's character but don't like how it was handled.

Now, the biggest criticism I have with FF8 is how utterly pointless battles are. Why battle when you can get paid from basically walking for 5 minutes, get overpowered early on with a card mini game and when the monsters are scaled to your level. The junction system ruined this game for me. Atleast the card minigame was optional.

This is a game where it had great concepts but just didn't execute them properly. I don't hate the game but I also don't like it; it's a conflicting opinion.