I can understand the ire this game generates, but a lot of the things folks hate about this game I ended up finding a lot of value in. It's a cake walk compared to other FF games, and while this is the biggest knock against it for me personally, it didn't bother me all that much. The game's difficulty is balanced around the player drawing a lot of spells from enemies mid fight.

Speaking of, the junction and drawing system is crackheaded. But once you familiarize yourself with it you get into this groove with junctioning magic. As much as the game tried it still took me a while to comprehend, but once I got it down it all just clicked. It was nice to be able to have every spell at my disposal with every character.

The cast is another point of contention. I'll admit the supporting cast is weak compared to say FF7, but I think Squall really carries this game. His entire presentation with his inner monologue really puts you firmly in his shoes. I've seen it argued that he's kinda just an emo kid, and yeah, that's kind of the point. He is very much not equipped to be this protagonist, and he is fighting that every step of the way. It rules.

The last dungeon was pretty miserable, but aside from that the ending was just superb. I won't go into detail, but it's safe to say that for me personally, the whole ending sequence is probably my favorite moment across the whole franchise so far. The games FMV sequences hold up in general. It's no surprise that Square has been the one to beat in that department for this entire industry's lifetime.

The music is great. Triple triad kicks so much ass. I just left this game with a lot of positive feelings. I don't begrudge anyone who didn't vibe with this game, but for me it's looking like it's up there with FF7.