A Fantasy About Love, Succession, Fate... and TRIPLE TRIAD
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered is a fun school romp about the best-looking guy in Balamb Garden named Squall. He suffers from childhood trauma, is anti-social, very lonely... and has a sick habit of taking valuable cards. The game is a heavily contentious title among the fandom and I'm here to give my honest thoughts and feelings after finishing the game in 2023
Pros:
+ Story... well requires a lot of paying attention and it can easily derail your understanding of the narrative. I love that about FF8. It gets convoluted for sure, but there's just a ton of subtext and ambiguity that once you think about or notice, can explain some of the characters' decisions, how it relates to the overall theme/message or events that came out of nowhere/hard to understand. It can be a double-edged sword for sure but I appreciate having to piece out the mysteries and the payoff was cathartic, especially the ending.
+ Junction, Draw, and Card Mod is broken af. It scratches that itch to collect everything and it's fun to feel powerful throughout the game.
+ Characters are charming as hell and feels alive. Talking to the NPCs are fun, they're very animated and I took all their cards. The same can be said about our main party. They all have an interesting backstory (IYKYK) which puts focus on in-the-moment interaction and reaction for character development. It works in making them feel like a real group of friends. Lastly, Laguna. That's enough of a reason to make this journey worth it. How can a fictional character be so likable?!
+ The humor is on point. Zell and his hotdog arc, Laguna getting the cramps, Rinoa's handmade train model, Squall's serious tone in contrast to every hijinks going around him, (... ya know) etc. So many memorable moments that made me laugh and enjoy the vibe of the game.
+ OST is, as always, amazing. Nobuo Uematsu doesn't miss.
+ TRIPLE TRIAD. More than half of my playtime is burnt on Triple Triad. I collected everything and grinded for the good items. This is just Tetra Master w/o the bs RNG. 10/10. I'm so glad I played this game.
+ Boosters actually helps tremendously with the slog of the Draw system (and a certain airship being way too slow). Without the boosters, I would probably hate the combat because collecting magic is a huge part of the junction. Also, I always lose HP when switching junctions so the God Mode booster is a God send.
Cons:
- Some of the convoluted plot and world-building are hinged on talking to the right NPCs and reading the "tutorials" section. I wish they're implemented on the plot rather than around it. Thankfully I enjoy talking to everybody but also not knowing which is important muddles the info.
- Summons and Magic are kinda useless for most of the game. With the right junction, you can just hold the attack button and watch Squall one-hit 90% of the enemies. Using Magic reduces the stat as well so there's barely any use for it in my playthrough outside of something like Aura or Meltdown. Summons, I personally just use for status effects like reflect/triple etc. Most cases, junctioning elem/stat-atk beats summoning.
- Character dynamic seems to take a backseat due to the plot and focuses more on Squall and Rinoa's relationship. A bit SaaaD because I love Quistis in the first disc and Irvine has potential with his relationship to Edea and us. But nah he's just the plot guy. After he served his role to the story, there's nothing outside of generic lines when they're in the party during scenes. His relationship with Selphie is an afterthought as well. We barely saw development outside of the Festival and the credits iirc.
- Oh Garden is being attacked and many are dying? B-but Rinoa needs to get together with Squall guys! Rinoa is unconscious? Let's joke around each other etc. Those moments just bothered me a bit and makes the tone all over the place in some big story moments.
- The reason why it took me this long to play the game was the fact that people say "grinding is bad and will mess you up". I love grinding in RPGs. Well, It wasn't THAT bad but for most of the game I was tiptoeing around because Squall doesn't leave your party, making grinding a hassle for other underleveled party members. I'm just the type that gets bothered when someone is 5 levels ahead or something so this is on me.
- HP doesn't adjust when junctioning. Using Auto will fuck you over sometimes. Just in general navigating through the magic/junction/item is a hassle especially in a game where there's a lot of items/magic being made.
- World Map and its traversal pre-Ragnarok is pretty disappointing. There's barely anything interesting on the world map. I guess it makes sense lore-wise but I wish there's more to do and places to go.
- I wish we delve more into Ultimecia as a character. Sure we can assume her tragic story of being ostracized as a sorceress and her effort to break away from her fate from the lore, her dialog, and through the sorceresses by proxy but wish we got some actual scenes from her time. Her final scene at the orphanage would've hit more.
- I wish the story was segmented better. I don't mind the convoluted story as much but I wish we get more of the school and mission-based stuff on the first disc. I just enjoy the unique vibe of it and being graded at the end. Also more Laguna sections. There's some confusion for me at the start with his timeline because most of it gets skipped around.
All in all, I think Final Fantasy VIII is an excellent RPG and Final Fantasy game. It has its ups and downs but overall, a positive experience. It helps that I play each title and look at them as a separate entity rather than a sequel/prequel to this and that. I think Final Fantasy VIII deserves a second look and consider me a new fan.
82 hours (40+ of which was spent playing Triple Triad) and 100% Achievement later, I giveTriple Triad Final Fantasy VII Remastered a 4/5
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered is a fun school romp about the best-looking guy in Balamb Garden named Squall. He suffers from childhood trauma, is anti-social, very lonely... and has a sick habit of taking valuable cards. The game is a heavily contentious title among the fandom and I'm here to give my honest thoughts and feelings after finishing the game in 2023
Pros:
+ Story... well requires a lot of paying attention and it can easily derail your understanding of the narrative. I love that about FF8. It gets convoluted for sure, but there's just a ton of subtext and ambiguity that once you think about or notice, can explain some of the characters' decisions, how it relates to the overall theme/message or events that came out of nowhere/hard to understand. It can be a double-edged sword for sure but I appreciate having to piece out the mysteries and the payoff was cathartic, especially the ending.
+ Junction, Draw, and Card Mod is broken af. It scratches that itch to collect everything and it's fun to feel powerful throughout the game.
+ Characters are charming as hell and feels alive. Talking to the NPCs are fun, they're very animated and I took all their cards. The same can be said about our main party. They all have an interesting backstory (IYKYK) which puts focus on in-the-moment interaction and reaction for character development. It works in making them feel like a real group of friends. Lastly, Laguna. That's enough of a reason to make this journey worth it. How can a fictional character be so likable?!
+ The humor is on point. Zell and his hotdog arc, Laguna getting the cramps, Rinoa's handmade train model, Squall's serious tone in contrast to every hijinks going around him, (... ya know) etc. So many memorable moments that made me laugh and enjoy the vibe of the game.
+ OST is, as always, amazing. Nobuo Uematsu doesn't miss.
+ TRIPLE TRIAD. More than half of my playtime is burnt on Triple Triad. I collected everything and grinded for the good items. This is just Tetra Master w/o the bs RNG. 10/10. I'm so glad I played this game.
+ Boosters actually helps tremendously with the slog of the Draw system (and a certain airship being way too slow). Without the boosters, I would probably hate the combat because collecting magic is a huge part of the junction. Also, I always lose HP when switching junctions so the God Mode booster is a God send.
Cons:
- Some of the convoluted plot and world-building are hinged on talking to the right NPCs and reading the "tutorials" section. I wish they're implemented on the plot rather than around it. Thankfully I enjoy talking to everybody but also not knowing which is important muddles the info.
- Summons and Magic are kinda useless for most of the game. With the right junction, you can just hold the attack button and watch Squall one-hit 90% of the enemies. Using Magic reduces the stat as well so there's barely any use for it in my playthrough outside of something like Aura or Meltdown. Summons, I personally just use for status effects like reflect/triple etc. Most cases, junctioning elem/stat-atk beats summoning.
- Character dynamic seems to take a backseat due to the plot and focuses more on Squall and Rinoa's relationship. A bit SaaaD because I love Quistis in the first disc and Irvine has potential with his relationship to Edea and us. But nah he's just the plot guy. After he served his role to the story, there's nothing outside of generic lines when they're in the party during scenes. His relationship with Selphie is an afterthought as well. We barely saw development outside of the Festival and the credits iirc.
- Oh Garden is being attacked and many are dying? B-but Rinoa needs to get together with Squall guys! Rinoa is unconscious? Let's joke around each other etc. Those moments just bothered me a bit and makes the tone all over the place in some big story moments.
- The reason why it took me this long to play the game was the fact that people say "grinding is bad and will mess you up". I love grinding in RPGs. Well, It wasn't THAT bad but for most of the game I was tiptoeing around because Squall doesn't leave your party, making grinding a hassle for other underleveled party members. I'm just the type that gets bothered when someone is 5 levels ahead or something so this is on me.
- HP doesn't adjust when junctioning. Using Auto will fuck you over sometimes. Just in general navigating through the magic/junction/item is a hassle especially in a game where there's a lot of items/magic being made.
- World Map and its traversal pre-Ragnarok is pretty disappointing. There's barely anything interesting on the world map. I guess it makes sense lore-wise but I wish there's more to do and places to go.
- I wish we delve more into Ultimecia as a character. Sure we can assume her tragic story of being ostracized as a sorceress and her effort to break away from her fate from the lore, her dialog, and through the sorceresses by proxy but wish we got some actual scenes from her time. Her final scene at the orphanage would've hit more.
- I wish the story was segmented better. I don't mind the convoluted story as much but I wish we get more of the school and mission-based stuff on the first disc. I just enjoy the unique vibe of it and being graded at the end. Also more Laguna sections. There's some confusion for me at the start with his timeline because most of it gets skipped around.
All in all, I think Final Fantasy VIII is an excellent RPG and Final Fantasy game. It has its ups and downs but overall, a positive experience. It helps that I play each title and look at them as a separate entity rather than a sequel/prequel to this and that. I think Final Fantasy VIII deserves a second look and consider me a new fan.
82 hours (40+ of which was spent playing Triple Triad) and 100% Achievement later, I give