Final Fantasy VI was great and Final Fantasy VII was a huge success that exposed many people to the franchise for the first time. The expectations for Final Fantasy VIII were high but unfortunately, it fell short in many different ways. The story is extremely messy and convoluted, the GF and junctioning system are commendable for being different but are also too underdeveloped and imperfect, the characters range from cliché knock-offs to disappointingly simple and underutilized, the villain isn't interesting, and overall this is just an imperfect game. There are a lot of good ideas that weren't executed properly. The Final Fantasy series was constantly improving on the story and gameplay mechanics but this is the first entry that feels like a major downgrade: the graphics weren't improved enough, the limit break system is way worse than VII, the setting/world isn't good, Triple Triad isn't fun, and overall this game is just fell short of all its potential and hype. This isn't a bad game but it is definitely one of the worst in the series.