I consider it a C tier Final Fantasy. I find the gameplay loop of finding new ways to make your party more broken to be fun, but nothing about it is well designed. What really brings the game down though is the incoherent story and flat characters.
I started he Remaster today after having played the original ages ago on PSx. I'm 4 hours in and am done with Dollet. If I had just played the game, I'd be probably on the train, trying to assassinate Deling's Double. And I'm only doing this because I suddenly remembered the OST. But yes, Final Fantasy VIII. Aside from the Junction System, the game is easily exploitable if you know how. Of course, this again requires grinding like crazy. Teach Quetzacotl the Card ability ASAP and you can turn enemies into cards. Turned enemies do not drop XP, but you still get AP. These cards can then be turned into items or spells. Or you go play Triple Triad and win even better cards that you then turn into powerful spells. I never did it, sinc eTT is a waste of my time but I heard you can get endgame spells that way. Of course, you can also get Tier 2 spells even before you enter the first dungeon and beat Ifritm, the first boss of the game. Qutzal learns an ability to turn T1 spells into T2 spells. A stack of 100 Fire spells can be turned into 20 Fira spells. No strings attached. You can beat Ifrit with Icra if you're willing to do that. Or just get Shiva's junction that adds magic effects to your weapon attack. Instead of Ice with a +50, you can do a whopping +80. Oh, and if you get I Mag-Ref, you can turn five Fish Fins into 100 stacks of Water and it'S giving an enormous boost if junctioned to the strength stat. And I'm positive this isn't even the best junction you can do at the start of the game. I still remember my first time, I was severly lacking in good spells, since at one point I stopped bothering to draw spells and heavily relied on using summons to kill enemies. This made Artemisia aka Ultimecia the hardest Final Boss I ever had to deal with in a Final Fantasy. No idea how long I'll last in this game. But hey, at least I can use some cheats to make it more bearable.
man… Nobuo is a living legend.. straight up genius. im pretty far into ff8 and feel i’ve been giving it too much of my time at this point. as a hardcore FF fan, i just want to beat it and understand why so many ppl claim it to be their favorite installment in the franchise. But im not really feeling this game nearly as much as the other FF’s out there.
FF8 was the one I've played the most.... Not because it's my favorite cause it is not! It's because I wanted to beat them all and this one took the most amount of NG restarts..
@@xCorzo650x Just how many times I started playing that game without finishing it... Didn't know how to word it lol I played FF7 and FF9 fewer times overall because I liked them enough to finish them more often than not.
Its way more boring than most 3d FF games, I did beat it a long time ago, but it's one of those games you beat once, and unlike more fun FF games you don't want to beat it again, because it is mainly super boring filler with a weak storyline for Four discs. Plus a stupid draw system, enemies that get stronger, and you have to draw better magic constantly to not be too weak in general. Another big gripe is having to use the menus so damn much, in FFVII it was easy, you get a summon, and it will level up everything for you unlike VIIIs micro managing crap where you are in a menu to much, along with having to swap peoples magic between characters. Great video! It pointed out alot of problems with the game.
My absolute "favorite" thing was Ultimecia sealing away your magic - that boss battle ended up being almost 2 hours for me because she took away ALL the high-tier magic I could bear grinding for. Ugh. Thank you for reminding me why this is the only Final Fantasy game I've never been able to replay. Props to them for trying something different, but it's just not very fun.
Ive just physically 9999ed her from start to end and took me less than 10 minutes. The combat mechanics are asking to be exploited since the t-rex fight at the beginning.
11:40 you forgot something very insidious about the level system. If you take a fairly normal JRPG stance of "I will beeline to my objective + maybe a sidequest, and fight every single battle on the way so that I will be on the proper level curve for the game," FF8 becomes unmanagable. Squall cannot leave your main party slot, but everyone else constantly leaves, and there's no exp curve. If you try to rotate characters properly instead of just ALWAYS using the same exact party each time, Squall winds up at level 40, while everyone else is level 20. I was not man enough to complete the game like this, and because I couldn't take Squall out, I couldn't fix it either. I HAD to grind up a party set to level 100 just to make the game fair again.
theres a sulution on that, used card ability of quezacotl for you not to gain exp. and minimize squall's exploding level as you prgress. i maintaine squall in level 8 to 10 in end game without escaping any normal enemy encunters. its a matter of adjusting to the system. FFVIII is not your typical JRPG's its fexibility it what makes its a good game and i liked it better than FFVIII that i get bored for its straightforward system and leveling.
@JoeyJoverAgbayani That only works if you have foreknowledge of the enemies matching your level. That's not adjusting to the game, that's playing it through a second time or playing it with a walkthrough open.
@@kaitengiri well its easy cuz the system tells you its openworld.not to rely some late game progression to get stronger. as i pleyd it back in 1999 when it was release i never had guide. i just played it, experimenting. some trial and errors. i love it flexibilities. as im not able to understand the games mechanic. and yes you should play it many times to actually learned the system and abuse it. felt sorry for those played it once they never understand is that flexibility is the key to replayability. mediocre system like FFVII makes me played it twice cus its not bring any replayability just same old convetional JRPG's. FFVIII is not for people who always whines and narrow minded people. i prefer substance games over hyped and overrated games like FFVII.
My entire life, I have had an issue playing RPGs. In recent months, I played and finished the original FF7 and it's remake. I had a fantastic time! I decided, hey, FF8 is going to be awesome! I'm almost 10 hours in and have barely explored the actual storyline. I'm too busy trying to figure out what's happening with the micromanaging lists, as well as the silly card game! I'm so happy you made this video because this game is wack! The leveling up, the summing system, it's all upside down from what I got accustomed to in FF7. Now I'm worried the next FF games I have lined up to play are going to be a mess like FF8. This game has left a bad taste in my mouth, and is a reminder why I have stayed away from RPG games my entire life!!!
glad to hear you enjoyed 7 and 7R! both incredible games.. my friend, don’t worry: ff8 doesn’t come close to how great the other final fantasy’s are.. check out FFX, FF Tactics, and while you’re at it, give FF7 crisis core a go.
if they told me the entire reason for the flashbacks was because they had some awesome battle song they needed to use i would support it but instead they tried to make the whole thing part of the.... uhhh...."story"....
The junction was good if you were smart about it .. the story was trash Rinoa and squall were annoying I recently play all they way to the lunar mission and that sappy love song grossed me out
The hell dude. It's final fantasy. There isn't a single final fantasy that doesn't have a soppy love story. Squall and Rinoa are two iconic FF characters and their story arcs were brilliant. You should play COD if you just want mindless violence. I agree with you that the junction system was excellent though once you figure it out. You can become OP so quickly once you sus it. Although it's very time consuming.
@@Phoenix1664 dont argue with these meddling closeminded people. they dont understand the deepness of the FFVIII story and its systems they just whiny people who wants an easy and caveman level of thinking. FFVIII is not for lazy people as that my only advise to those played the game and not understands its junction systems. as me i played it many many times with different playhtroughs like, only magic game, on GF summon game. etc. its a fun game and my favorite on series as it makes you think and figure things out. only intelligent gamers love these games and not these commenting here thats whiny closeminded.👍👍👍👍👍👍
@@JoeyJoverAgbayani I agree. You can complete the game in so many different ways, with different teams and strategies. I bet half of these people don't realise that you get additional dialogues depending on what characters you use or decisions you make. For example how the Squall and Rinoa scene at the concert goes depends on what instruments you chose, taking Zell to the Deep Sea Research Centre with allow for more steam pressure to be activated, or that there is different dialogue for each characters depending who you take into Zell's Room during the occupation of Balamb. I bet most people didn't know half this stuff. Only people who've completed the game x5+ times will know these things.
@@Phoenix1664 yes definitely. All they do is spoon feed game that dont require experimentation as FFVIII is encourage you to have fun and tweak and abuse the system as its not some FF games thats straightforward. And so boring you will not wanna play more cuz same old routine. Thats how FFVIII differs. It has replayability. It makes tha game wanna make you play more and try different things. Basic things these people hate FFVIII is not the game itself. Its their narrow minded that dont understand it and whine on the internet. I know FFVIII Is not a good story i admit that but it the system that makes it unique and i love it. Most fave games in the series. I will never compare them to FFVII or FFIX cuz these 2 games are mediocre and it has nothing to offer replayability as FFVIII gives.
I too tried to finish it again this week. Can't bring myself to do it, I quit again just after you try saving Garden on disc 2. This game fucking sucks.
First time I played I just went outside to grind for hours and hours and hours Then all of the sudden I couldn't beat a monster no matter how hard I tried I gave up back then Now All these years later I'm 40% into a second attempt. I still don't fully understand everything, but maybe that is a good thing. If I understood it completely probably would not be able to resist breaking the game. Now I'm just hoping I understand enough to make it through
As someone who loves this game dearly and an important game of my childhood, wait till you learn to card and enemy. At that point the game becomes so much of a cakewalk that I barely have to do any work.
Glad to see I’m not someone with bad taste. The Steam reviews for this game make it sound like one of the best FF to play lol I’ve almost beaten this game once before and couldn’t finish it because I really disliked everything about it and couldn’t force myself to finish.
@@ge0metr1xx Definitely FF8 that is rancid garbage juice with shit main character and ehh level character arcs. FF9 while not a masterpiece to me, definitely leagues better than 8
@@PaulSmith-nb6md FF8 is my favorite. I love the depth of the story. So many emotionally intricate subtleties the other FF's are too afraid to even approach. FF9 is unbearable to me
@@ge0metr1xx Hahaha the fact you believe there is anything unique in FF8 aside from aesthetic choices is hilarious. Especially since you are objectively wrong. FF8 tackles no subject that the others haven't already done and done better. I am sorry you have such shit taste.
Do NOT draw every magic spell for every character!! There are not enough slots to hold all of the spells! You can't sell them, you can't drop them, you only have one option if you make the mistake I did.... You've got to cast them all, one by one! (Unless you cast double/triple or summon Cerberus) It takes forever! I gave up on that save file after (what felt like) weeks of casting spells on those goat/ram monsters outside Esther!
You can remove spells in the same menu where you use them outside of battle lol. It removes all instances of the spell you chosen from that character. You just press square over it.
I hate this game with every fiber of my being. I felt lied to playing it after falling in love with 7. I thought it would be the greatest game ever.....this game is garbage and every time I ask do some why this is their favorite it is always "It was my first one." Why did so many people start on such a trash game!
Because games are built off the legacy of the last game(s). (Red Dead..Elden Ring...Resident Evil?) That's why I hate when developers 'develop' bad habits thinking people really liked a game that would never have sold as many copies without the word of mouth built up by the legacy of the previous game(s).
ff8 was easy of course i didn’t beat it until i was an adult, but if you card monsters and use gf abilities to turn them into magic you can skip all that, and you can give magic to each character so if you have to change characters to won’t be without magic
I realize I'm commenting on a video on a (seemingly) dead channel but here's the tl;dw for the guy's video. "I made choices that made the game feel grindy and was punished for not paying attention." Here's my lengthier response. You can not like the game mechanics, the characters, the story, etc., but the people in the comments calling the game incoherent and convoluted is just baffling to me. The entire franchise has had convoluted story telling since its inception. As far as incoherent I just flat out disagree. It's a causal loop. Unless you're not paying attention or didn't finish the game, every main point in the story is explained without the need to talk to NPCs or read side content. The game doesn't immediately play all of its narrative cards in the beginning (pun intended I suppose) but once you get to the point in the story where it shows you that things in the future are dictating things in the present then things fall into place. If you're expecting JRPGs to spell everything out for you right at the beginning, Final Fantasy games in particular, then you're in for a rough experience and maybe the genre/franchise isn't for you. This guy who made the video seems to like having a dedicated class system and I would assume feels burdened by overchoice. If that's the case and you feel similarly then I suggest you avoid Final Fantasy II, VII, X, XII (not the Zodiac Age) and XIII as well. That's because outside of some beginning stats the only delimiter between characters is the limit breaks and weapons. Some people just want to walk back and forth/run in a circle, hold the Accept (X or O on PlayStation) buttons to knock out some random encounters until you've met a threshold to be strong enough to progress the story. That's perfectly valid. I would say that FF VIII isn't going to work out for you then but with the Remaster you can literally enable God Mode and 3X speed and just cruise through the game at a leisurely pace.
Same omg. I can never finish it because I end up stopping. I have beaten final fantasy 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12 countless times but this one I just can’t seem to beat
I think any GF that was missed can be obtained in like the final area. I always liked the game although I didn't like the whole draw-junction system as much as those in other FF's. I still need to beat this game -- never could get past the top half of Griever.
I played this game 2 years ago and it was so unbearable, dropped it during disc 2. Replayed the opening a month ago and god it's frustrating how much I love the characters and environment design, but the gameplay is such a bore compared to FFVII's materia system that really kept you moving.
This game actually aged really well with the addition of a turbo function so you can quickly and mindlessly grind everything up to 100. I can't imagine the grinding on a ps1 back in the day. Had they reworked the draw system to essentially only function as a way of unlocking magic, and then made that magic a permanent usable for all the other systems in the game (ie just hardcode every magic to be equivalent to like 50x or something) the rest of the mechanics really would shine. Idk how this wasn't ever brought up in playtesting, it would have been such an easy bandaid on a game with a ton of potential.
How little do I understand the system? Well let's put it this way. I'm 40% of the way through the game and I've been playing for over 70 hours I'd say 40 of those hours have been spent on DRAW
If a game is punishing you for fighting and "gaining levels", why the fuck am i playing it. That's why i loved IX, i'm not gonna say is perfect, but the return to form was much needed after this train wreck. I truly don't know how people actually have fun with VIII. To each their own i guess
I totally agree with the points made in this video. I recently replayed it to completion and it's by far one of the worst in terms of the gameplay and even the story.
Maybe the best video game soundtrack of all time. Just hit after hit. The story is okay, but definitely falls off at the end. Characters are up and down. I love the setting of the gardens, but they need to focus more on that. Probably the worst battle system in the franchise. The game means more to me, because it's the game I was playing through when my dad passed away. Hearing Fisherman's Horizon nearly makes me cry.
I am 30 hours in and left it right at the final boss. I'm sorry because the game has some very interesting stuff going on but I just didn't care enough for the characters and the gameplay just made it absolutely joyless and annoying to play. I have played ten Final Fantasy games and this is the first one that has left me with a "meh" impression; it was bound to happen someday. It's not a terrible game but just not my cup of tea, and very weak compared to others like VII, X or XII
The junction system is yes godly, but also not beginner friendly with those bad explanation. I tried to like the story but it's just a jumbled mess. I can't stand a lot of the stupid dialogue. The storytelling also gets worse later. I haven't play 1-6 and didn't play the online ones, but I would say 8 is the only FF I didn't enjoy playing. FF13 looks and feels neat, although it failed to disrupt the linearity like FFX masterfully did. FF12 has conflicting POV but the all other aspect's just beautiful. I just don't get FF8, only good parts are Laguna's story and that's it.. For a game which logo is a romantic theme, they failed to sold that to me.. The love story felt forced unlike other FF's I've played. 5/10
Bruh I played this game for 5 hours recently before i deleted it off my switch.. this shit just puts me too sleep the story is boring.. Squall the MC is not that interesting.. your weapons attacks barely do any damage too monsters at all as you progress so its like you are force too spam GF... I just beat the original FF7 for the first time recently I had great time with it.. something told me too skip this one and go straight too FF9 smh but i wanted too give it a fair shot first
Update.... I finished ff9 for the first time and FF9 is wayyyy better then FF8.. I have over 90 hours in FF9.. FF9 is definitely amazing.. FF8 is trash though.
See this is the mistake with 8 and its not your fault because everyone does it, you played it wrong. If you're Junctioning magic and unlocking the ability list you basically shouldn't ever have to use a gf and should be ine shot killing most enemies
I played it again and even finished it. And oh my is that Draw System some Trash. But the worst is the Story: Is this Story falling apart after Disc 2. I know it's already debunked, but i like the Theroy that Squall is dying after Disc 1. This would explain why everything was this crazy and sensless. It was like they diden't even cared after FF7 anymore here. But to say something good about the Game: Nobuo Uematsu is simple a God. Once again the Soundtrack was a 10/10. Like always from this Legend.❤
I both love AND HATE this game so much. lol This video is great! The part where you draw spells from Biggs and Wedge in the prison brought back INFURIATING memories! I remember sitting there from probably midnight until 4am with a fucking rubber band tied to the controller draw/draw/draw/draw for HOURS AND HOURS. I was 14. Good (and bad) times. lol 7:07 you did it the hard way. A friend showed me how to set the “curser” settings to “memory” then you just hold the X button down. I wish I had known that from the start. lol
well FFVIII is not for lazy people that been immerse into character skill sets. its flexible system that i like it. its an openworld. as i am nerdy i easily figure it out. and guess what i abuse it early in the game with an ease. even i played some speedrun with magic only game, weapon only game, GF summon only game etc.
@@SunBunz yes you need patience not just whine on the game has to offer. well i like flexibility so it suits my taste. i dont need to wait late game to be stronger if i will get it early on.
@@SunBunz me too.. its still my fave FF games.1st played in 1999 on PSone. with no guide and intenet. learn to experiment the system, then abuse it as i learn how to navigate its mechanic. like i said i love flexibility it makes us think and experiments. its not that hard. like these people whining about how confusing the system. well its not. they just dont know how to play a game thats not straightforward like they pleyed FFVII materia system is easy for me. but its not flexible. they complain characters of FFVIII is blank slate. well i can explain. in FFVIII lore. magic can be learn by ordinary people its called para magic. only balamb garden has the ability to draw magic with help of a GF. thats why magics from enemies tend weaker than you cast with your character.
I have said this before - at the time of the original release, I’m convinced people hated it because it wasn’t Final Fantasy VII-2. I liked it, but it definitely has some reeeeaaally tedious parts.
8 was a piece of crap. The amount of bad design decisions, the laughable plot full of giant holes and missing bits, flat characters and bad pacing yet being considered a masterpiece is baffling. It signalled how bad the games would become with ones like 10-2, 13 trilogy and 15. It was surrounded by 6 and 7 and 9 and 10 which were actually good so perhaps it confuses people into thinking it’s good.
It's gotta nice plot with a neat world and great atmosphere. It's got that Squaresoft charm to it that later games in the series don't have. It has good merits, it just gets dusted by a first time playthrough because of the bad design. It's really a game you have to force yourself to invest in, and only once you "figure it out" that it becomes a fun and enjoyable experience. It really is the "anti RPG" of the series in a weird way. Only once you become a master of the game does it become fun, but if you don't know what you're doing, which will be EVERYONE, it won't be. It's an inverse experience, all or nothing kind of game. With the only thing holding your attention being what happens next in the story, which might not even be for you at the end of the day.
By contrast, FF8 is the only Final Fantasy game I always play all the way through. Also I felt that 13's gameplay was way more complicated than 8. Here's my review, of your review ;) You say that the gameplay in 8 promotes grinding, but that's misleading. *Every* FF game promotes grinding, in that you realize early on you can just mindlessly run around in a field holding the confirm button to level up. But in FF8, you are given more *alternatives* to grinding, than other FFs to date. You have to actually apply your mind, making the game far more engaging. You can grind for spells, which is fundamentally the same thing as what I described earlier, featured in every other RPG, or you can just refine items you get into the spells you want. You can also obtain cards through Triple Triad and refine those. But you seem to personally favor the more "grindy" and mindless approach, as also evidenced by your complaints later about having to "keep up" with what your GFs are learning. I take it you never played FF6? As for junctioning being inconvenient, it's not, really. You can simply auto-equip spells to your preferences (attack, defense, and magic if memory serves). You complain that the customization which comes with junctioning "destroys character themes", but all it really does is allow you to choose those themes for yourself. One might think it's "not like a FF game" in that sense, until they realize the very first FF game allowed you to completely choose which jobs each character had. And of course, even in more well-liked games like FF6 you can eventually teach everyone magic. You claim that the tutorials are unskippable, but you can literally skip all of the tutorials in the game by pressing B (or circle, depending on your console). You also say that Triple Triad is important from a practical perspective, but it isn't. It's a great mini-game that I always play on each playthrough, but you never have to refine any of the cards to make it through this game. As said before, you can play through the whole thing without playing the card game or ever drawing a single spell. I'll grant you the flaw that GFs shouldn't have been missable, or at least there should've been more of a reminder to draw from bosses that would have them. And it's also a flaw that the game will throw you into a Laguna dream sequence (though I think this only happens once or twice) without giving you the option to assign builds to Laguna and co.). But overall, this review contains more errors in it than what it exposes in the game.
duh! card modding is the easiest way to get magic. as i played for the 1st time i knew its much easier to just card mod than to draw and draw only with boss that has GF or unique magic, and my drawer will have high magic stats thats is the way you can cap to 9 magics per draw. like in GF as how it used in battle and learned abilities. every battle must checked. FFVIII is not for lazy people and loves the one way street and conventional skill sets thats most mediocre RPG's. like FFVII.
What babies we have today. Grinding? It's called leveling up. When I was 15 in 1998 it was easy to do this in this game. I also had a job where I stocked groceries at the local grocery store. And I saved my for my education. And yes, I am a millennial who had it harder. Quit complaining about how hard it was to play a video game. Chin up buttercup.
same story, tried before on ps1 and today trying on PC, I quit, this game sucks
_I FORGOT JUST HOW BAD IT IS_
I consider it a C tier Final Fantasy. I find the gameplay loop of finding new ways to make your party more broken to be fun, but nothing about it is well designed. What really brings the game down though is the incoherent story and flat characters.
Never finished the game either.
Yeah same. I’ve come close to beating it I think, but the game is honestly really boring.
It took the most restarts but I finally did it! The ending was worth it to me... But prob not worth replaying 15 times!!
Sorry - this is my Favourite final fantasy … replayed it again this year , still love it !
Best soundtrack - story - character and effects design !
I'm noticing there's no middle ground with fans for this game. People either absolutely hate it or absolutely love it. I love the hell out of it
I started he Remaster today after having played the original ages ago on PSx. I'm 4 hours in and am done with Dollet. If I had just played the game, I'd be probably on the train, trying to assassinate Deling's Double. And I'm only doing this because I suddenly remembered the OST.
But yes, Final Fantasy VIII. Aside from the Junction System, the game is easily exploitable if you know how. Of course, this again requires grinding like crazy.
Teach Quetzacotl the Card ability ASAP and you can turn enemies into cards. Turned enemies do not drop XP, but you still get AP. These cards can then be turned into items or spells. Or you go play Triple Triad and win even better cards that you then turn into powerful spells. I never did it, sinc eTT is a waste of my time but I heard you can get endgame spells that way.
Of course, you can also get Tier 2 spells even before you enter the first dungeon and beat Ifritm, the first boss of the game. Qutzal learns an ability to turn T1 spells into T2 spells. A stack of 100 Fire spells can be turned into 20 Fira spells. No strings attached. You can beat Ifrit with Icra if you're willing to do that. Or just get Shiva's junction that adds magic effects to your weapon attack. Instead of Ice with a +50, you can do a whopping +80.
Oh, and if you get I Mag-Ref, you can turn five Fish Fins into 100 stacks of Water and it'S giving an enormous boost if junctioned to the strength stat. And I'm positive this isn't even the best junction you can do at the start of the game.
I still remember my first time, I was severly lacking in good spells, since at one point I stopped bothering to draw spells and heavily relied on using summons to kill enemies. This made Artemisia aka Ultimecia the hardest Final Boss I ever had to deal with in a Final Fantasy.
No idea how long I'll last in this game. But hey, at least I can use some cheats to make it more bearable.
man… Nobuo is a living legend.. straight up genius.
im pretty far into ff8 and feel i’ve been giving it too much of my time at this point.
as a hardcore FF fan, i just want to beat it and understand why so many ppl claim it to be their favorite installment in the franchise. But im not really feeling this game nearly as much as the other FF’s out there.
FF8 was the one I've played the most....
Not because it's my favorite cause it is not!
It's because I wanted to beat them all and
this one took the most amount of NG restarts..
@@trufreedom what is this NG restart?
@@xCorzo650x Just how many times I started playing that game without finishing it... Didn't know how to word it lol
I played FF7 and FF9 fewer times overall because I liked them enough to finish them more often than not.
Its way more boring than most 3d FF games, I did beat it a long time ago, but it's one of those games you beat once, and unlike more fun FF games you don't want to beat it again, because it is mainly super boring filler with a weak storyline for Four discs. Plus a stupid draw system, enemies that get stronger, and you have to draw better magic constantly to not be too weak in general.
Another big gripe is having to use the menus so damn much, in FFVII it was easy, you get a summon, and it will level up everything for you unlike VIIIs micro managing crap where you are in a menu to much, along with having to swap peoples magic between characters. Great video! It pointed out alot of problems with the game.
My absolute "favorite" thing was Ultimecia sealing away your magic - that boss battle ended up being almost 2 hours for me because she took away ALL the high-tier magic I could bear grinding for. Ugh.
Thank you for reminding me why this is the only Final Fantasy game I've never been able to replay. Props to them for trying something different, but it's just not very fun.
Ive just physically 9999ed her from start to end and took me less than 10 minutes.
The combat mechanics are asking to be exploited since the t-rex fight at the beginning.
@@scaccu When you're 12 it's sometimes hard to take advantage of convoluted magic systems, haha.
Glad you had a good time of it!
11:40 you forgot something very insidious about the level system. If you take a fairly normal JRPG stance of "I will beeline to my objective + maybe a sidequest, and fight every single battle on the way so that I will be on the proper level curve for the game," FF8 becomes unmanagable. Squall cannot leave your main party slot, but everyone else constantly leaves, and there's no exp curve. If you try to rotate characters properly instead of just ALWAYS using the same exact party each time, Squall winds up at level 40, while everyone else is level 20.
I was not man enough to complete the game like this, and because I couldn't take Squall out, I couldn't fix it either. I HAD to grind up a party set to level 100 just to make the game fair again.
theres a sulution on that, used card ability of quezacotl for you not to gain exp. and minimize squall's exploding level as you prgress. i maintaine squall in level 8 to 10 in end game without escaping any normal enemy encunters.
its a matter of adjusting to the system. FFVIII is not your typical JRPG's its fexibility it what makes its a good game and i liked it better than FFVIII that i get bored for its straightforward system and leveling.
@JoeyJoverAgbayani That only works if you have foreknowledge of the enemies matching your level. That's not adjusting to the game, that's playing it through a second time or playing it with a walkthrough open.
@@kaitengiri well its easy cuz the system tells you its openworld.not to rely some late game progression to get stronger. as i pleyd it back in 1999 when it was release i never had guide. i just played it, experimenting. some trial and errors. i love it flexibilities. as im not able to understand the games mechanic. and yes you should play it many times to actually learned the system and abuse it. felt sorry for those played it once they never understand is that flexibility is the key to replayability. mediocre system like FFVII makes me played it twice cus its not bring any replayability just same old convetional JRPG's. FFVIII is not for people who always whines and narrow minded people. i prefer substance games over hyped and overrated games like FFVII.
My entire life, I have had an issue playing RPGs. In recent months, I played and finished the original FF7 and it's remake. I had a fantastic time!
I decided, hey, FF8 is going to be awesome! I'm almost 10 hours in and have barely explored the actual storyline. I'm too busy trying to figure out what's happening with the micromanaging lists, as well as the silly card game!
I'm so happy you made this video because this game is wack! The leveling up, the summing system, it's all upside down from what I got accustomed to in FF7.
Now I'm worried the next FF games I have lined up to play are going to be a mess like FF8. This game has left a bad taste in my mouth, and is a reminder why I have stayed away from RPG games my entire life!!!
glad to hear you enjoyed 7 and 7R!
both incredible games.. my friend, don’t worry: ff8 doesn’t come close to how great the other final fantasy’s are..
check out FFX,
FF Tactics, and while you’re at it, give FF7 crisis core a go.
FF9 is definetely better than the 8th and its combat is more similar to the 7th.
Litterally no other game has taken design choices from FFVIII.
Did you beat the game in the end?
if they told me the entire reason for the flashbacks was because they had some awesome battle song they needed to use i would support it but instead they tried to make the whole thing part of the.... uhhh...."story"....
That looks harder than civilization 5 with the brave new world expansion pack.
This is the only final fantasy game…no THE ONLY RPG where you are actively discouraged from using magic. Let that sink in.
The junction was good if you were smart about it .. the story was trash Rinoa and squall were annoying I recently play all they way to the lunar mission and that sappy love song grossed me out
The hell dude. It's final fantasy. There isn't a single final fantasy that doesn't have a soppy love story. Squall and Rinoa are two iconic FF characters and their story arcs were brilliant. You should play COD if you just want mindless violence. I agree with you that the junction system was excellent though once you figure it out. You can become OP so quickly once you sus it. Although it's very time consuming.
@@Phoenix1664 dont argue with these meddling closeminded people. they dont understand the deepness of the FFVIII story and its systems they just whiny people who wants an easy and caveman level of thinking. FFVIII is not for lazy people as that my only advise to those played the game and not understands its junction systems. as me i played it many many times with different playhtroughs like, only magic game, on GF summon game. etc.
its a fun game and my favorite on series as it makes you think and figure things out. only intelligent gamers love these games and not these commenting here thats whiny closeminded.👍👍👍👍👍👍
@@JoeyJoverAgbayani I agree. You can complete the game in so many different ways, with different teams and strategies. I bet half of these people don't realise that you get additional dialogues depending on what characters you use or decisions you make. For example how the Squall and Rinoa scene at the concert goes depends on what instruments you chose, taking Zell to the Deep Sea Research Centre with allow for more steam pressure to be activated, or that there is different dialogue for each characters depending who you take into Zell's Room during the occupation of Balamb. I bet most people didn't know half this stuff. Only people who've completed the game x5+ times will know these things.
@@Phoenix1664 yes definitely. All they do is spoon feed game that dont require experimentation as FFVIII is encourage you to have fun and tweak and abuse the system as its not some FF games thats straightforward. And so boring you will not wanna play more cuz same old routine. Thats how FFVIII differs. It has replayability. It makes tha game wanna make you play more and try different things. Basic things these people hate FFVIII is not the game itself. Its their narrow minded that dont understand it and whine on the internet. I know FFVIII Is not a good story i admit that but it the system that makes it unique and i love it. Most fave games in the series. I will never compare them to FFVII or FFIX cuz these 2 games are mediocre and it has nothing to offer replayability as FFVIII gives.
Eyes on Me is amazing, what are you on lol
I too tried to finish it again this week. Can't bring myself to do it, I quit again just after you try saving Garden on disc 2. This game fucking sucks.
VIII is a great game but Final Fantasy VII is better
First time I played I just went outside to grind for hours and hours and hours
Then all of the sudden I couldn't beat a monster no matter how hard I tried
I gave up back then
Now All these years later I'm 40% into a second attempt.
I still don't fully understand everything, but maybe that is a good thing.
If I understood it completely probably would not be able to resist breaking the game.
Now I'm just hoping I understand enough to make it through
Video starts around 4:00
As someone who loves this game dearly and an important game of my childhood, wait till you learn to card and enemy. At that point the game becomes so much of a cakewalk that I barely have to do any work.
It's a shit fest. I played it a s a teen and thought it was great but never finished it. 2023 comes I want to finish it and realized it sucks ass
Currently TRYING to play it again.
The amount of time i had to spend on blindly running around to find the next location with these strange 2D Maps was very high
Glad to see I’m not someone with bad taste. The Steam reviews for this game make it sound like one of the best FF to play lol I’ve almost beaten this game once before and couldn’t finish it because I really disliked everything about it and couldn’t force myself to finish.
This is the one game me and my best friend fight about. I recognize this as the piece of garbage it is. He calls it his favorite.
@@PaulSmith-nb6mdNah it's ff9 that is garbage. Ff9 is chibi-chomo-garbo. FF8 is a masterpiece with a deep narrative and awesome character arcs.
@@ge0metr1xx Definitely FF8 that is rancid garbage juice with shit main character and ehh level character arcs. FF9 while not a masterpiece to me, definitely leagues better than 8
@@PaulSmith-nb6md FF8 is my favorite. I love the depth of the story. So many emotionally intricate subtleties the other FF's are too afraid to even approach. FF9 is unbearable to me
@@ge0metr1xx Hahaha the fact you believe there is anything unique in FF8 aside from aesthetic choices is hilarious. Especially since you are objectively wrong. FF8 tackles no subject that the others haven't already done and done better. I am sorry you have such shit taste.
Do NOT draw every magic spell for every character!!
There are not enough slots to hold all of the spells! You can't sell them, you can't drop them, you only have one option if you make the mistake I did....
You've got to cast them all, one by one! (Unless you cast double/triple or summon Cerberus) It takes forever! I gave up on that save file after (what felt like) weeks of casting spells on those goat/ram monsters outside Esther!
You can remove spells in the same menu where you use them outside of battle lol. It removes all instances of the spell you chosen from that character. You just press square over it.
Clicks on video about ff8, immediately tricked into watching a video about ff13
I hate this game with every fiber of my being. I felt lied to playing it after falling in love with 7. I thought it would be the greatest game ever.....this game is garbage and every time I ask do some why this is their favorite it is always "It was my first one." Why did so many people start on such a trash game!
Because games are built off the legacy of the last game(s). (Red Dead..Elden Ring...Resident Evil?)
That's why I hate when developers 'develop' bad habits thinking people really liked a game that would never have sold as many copies without the word of mouth built up by the legacy of the previous game(s).
ff8 was easy of course i didn’t beat it until i was an adult, but if you card monsters and use gf abilities to turn them into magic you can skip all that, and you can give magic to each character so if you have to change characters to won’t be without magic
Literally have no idea where the f*** I'm going in the game
I realize I'm commenting on a video on a (seemingly) dead channel but here's the tl;dw for the guy's video. "I made choices that made the game feel grindy and was punished for not paying attention."
Here's my lengthier response.
You can not like the game mechanics, the characters, the story, etc., but the people in the comments calling the game incoherent and convoluted is just baffling to me.
The entire franchise has had convoluted story telling since its inception. As far as incoherent I just flat out disagree. It's a causal loop. Unless you're not paying attention or didn't finish the game, every main point in the story is explained without the need to talk to NPCs or read side content. The game doesn't immediately play all of its narrative cards in the beginning (pun intended I suppose) but once you get to the point in the story where it shows you that things in the future are dictating things in the present then things fall into place. If you're expecting JRPGs to spell everything out for you right at the beginning, Final Fantasy games in particular, then you're in for a rough experience and maybe the genre/franchise isn't for you.
This guy who made the video seems to like having a dedicated class system and I would assume feels burdened by overchoice. If that's the case and you feel similarly then I suggest you avoid Final Fantasy II, VII, X, XII (not the Zodiac Age) and XIII as well. That's because outside of some beginning stats the only delimiter between characters is the limit breaks and weapons. Some people just want to walk back and forth/run in a circle, hold the Accept (X or O on PlayStation) buttons to knock out some random encounters until you've met a threshold to be strong enough to progress the story. That's perfectly valid. I would say that FF VIII isn't going to work out for you then but with the Remaster you can literally enable God Mode and 3X speed and just cruise through the game at a leisurely pace.
Same omg. I can never finish it because I end up stopping. I have beaten final fantasy 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12 countless times but this one I just can’t seem to beat
I think any GF that was missed can be obtained in like the final area. I always liked the game although I didn't like the whole draw-junction system as much as those in other FF's. I still need to beat this game -- never could get past the top half of Griever.
I played this game 2 years ago and it was so unbearable, dropped it during disc 2.
Replayed the opening a month ago and god it's frustrating how much I love the characters and environment design, but the gameplay is such a bore compared to FFVII's materia system that really kept you moving.
I just want to point out that this game was directed by kitase
This game actually aged really well with the addition of a turbo function so you can quickly and mindlessly grind everything up to 100. I can't imagine the grinding on a ps1 back in the day. Had they reworked the draw system to essentially only function as a way of unlocking magic, and then made that magic a permanent usable for all the other systems in the game (ie just hardcode every magic to be equivalent to like 50x or something) the rest of the mechanics really would shine. Idk how this wasn't ever brought up in playtesting, it would have been such an easy bandaid on a game with a ton of potential.
How little do I understand the system?
Well let's put it this way. I'm 40% of the way through the game and I've been playing for over 70 hours
I'd say 40 of those hours have been spent on DRAW
first one I beat this game is lit and if you dont understand these systems after a few hours you are a goofball.
This
Sakaguchi was too hands off on this one
Fight me /s
I'm now returning to my save from 2012 where I'm only 9 hours in. F it. I'll just use the cheats/boosts.
If a game is punishing you for fighting and "gaining levels", why the fuck am i playing it.
That's why i loved IX, i'm not gonna say is perfect, but the return to form was much needed after this train wreck.
I truly don't know how people actually have fun with VIII. To each their own i guess
I totally agree with the points made in this video. I recently replayed it to completion and it's by far one of the worst in terms of the gameplay and even the story.
Maybe the best video game soundtrack of all time. Just hit after hit.
The story is okay, but definitely falls off at the end. Characters are up and down.
I love the setting of the gardens, but they need to focus more on that.
Probably the worst battle system in the franchise.
The game means more to me, because it's the game I was playing through when my dad passed away. Hearing Fisherman's Horizon nearly makes me cry.
This game sucks.
Only ff game i never beat it was such a let down as a teen after 7 luckily 9 made up for it
I am 30 hours in and left it right at the final boss. I'm sorry because the game has some very interesting stuff going on but I just didn't care enough for the characters and the gameplay just made it absolutely joyless and annoying to play. I have played ten Final Fantasy games and this is the first one that has left me with a "meh" impression; it was bound to happen someday. It's not a terrible game but just not my cup of tea, and very weak compared to others like VII, X or XII
No hes right. Sparkly poo
The junction system is yes godly, but also not beginner friendly with those bad explanation. I tried to like the story but it's just a jumbled mess. I can't stand a lot of the stupid dialogue. The storytelling also gets worse later. I haven't play 1-6 and didn't play the online ones, but I would say 8 is the only FF I didn't enjoy playing. FF13 looks and feels neat, although it failed to disrupt the linearity like FFX masterfully did. FF12 has conflicting POV but the all other aspect's just beautiful. I just don't get FF8, only good parts are Laguna's story and that's it.. For a game which logo is a romantic theme, they failed to sold that to me.. The love story felt forced unlike other FF's I've played. 5/10
Bruh I played this game for 5 hours recently before i deleted it off my switch.. this shit just puts me too sleep the story is boring.. Squall the MC is not that interesting.. your weapons attacks barely do any damage too monsters at all as you progress so its like you are force too spam GF... I just beat the original FF7 for the first time recently I had great time with it.. something told me too skip this one and go straight too FF9 smh but i wanted too give it a fair shot first
Update.... I finished ff9 for the first time and FF9 is wayyyy better then FF8.. I have over 90 hours in FF9.. FF9 is definitely amazing.. FF8 is trash though.
@@DIRTYSOUTHSHINOBI FFVIII is not for lazy people that wants very mediocre straightforward JRPG's
@@JoeyJoverAgbayani FF8 sucks bruh its okay.. you have yo opinion I have mine..
@@DIRTYSOUTHSHINOBI Nah it's ff9 that is garbage. Ff9 is chibi-chomo-garbo. FF8 is a masterpiece with a deep narrative and awesome character arcs.
See this is the mistake with 8 and its not your fault because everyone does it, you played it wrong. If you're Junctioning magic and unlocking the ability list you basically shouldn't ever have to use a gf and should be ine shot killing most enemies
I played it again and even finished it.
And oh my is that Draw System some Trash.
But the worst is the Story: Is this Story falling apart after Disc 2. I know it's already debunked, but i like the Theroy that Squall is dying after Disc 1. This would explain why everything was this crazy and sensless. It was like they diden't even cared after FF7 anymore here.
But to say something good about the Game:
Nobuo Uematsu is simple a God. Once again the Soundtrack was a 10/10. Like always from this Legend.❤
I played this 7 hours and drop it. This games just really sucks
I'd hate this game too if I played it wrong and had to draw all my magic.
I both love AND HATE this game so much. lol This video is great! The part where you draw spells from Biggs and Wedge in the prison brought back INFURIATING memories!
I remember sitting there from probably midnight until 4am with a fucking rubber band tied to the controller draw/draw/draw/draw for HOURS AND HOURS. I was 14. Good (and bad) times. lol
7:07 you did it the hard way. A friend showed me how to set the “curser” settings to “memory” then you just hold the X button down. I wish I had known that from the start. lol
well FFVIII is not for lazy people that been immerse into character skill sets. its flexible system that i like it. its an openworld. as i am nerdy i easily figure it out. and guess what i abuse it early in the game with an ease. even i played some speedrun with magic only game, weapon only game, GF summon only game etc.
@@JoeyJoverAgbayani wow. That. Requires a LOT of patience. 😳
@@SunBunz yes you need patience not just whine on the game has to offer. well i like flexibility so it suits my taste. i dont need to wait late game to be stronger if i will get it early on.
@@JoeyJoverAgbayani it was the only game I owned for over a year when I was a kid. I can relate. I still love it.
@@SunBunz me too.. its still my fave FF games.1st played in 1999 on PSone. with no guide and intenet.
learn to experiment the system, then abuse it as i learn how to navigate its mechanic. like i said i love flexibility
it makes us think and experiments. its not that hard. like these people whining about how confusing the system. well its not. they just dont know how to play a game thats not straightforward like they pleyed FFVII materia system is easy for me. but its not flexible. they complain characters of FFVIII is blank slate. well i can explain. in FFVIII lore. magic can be learn by ordinary people its called para magic. only balamb garden has the ability to draw magic with help of a GF. thats why magics from enemies tend weaker than you cast with your character.
so this is where the stoopid haters gather... hmmm
I have said this before - at the time of the original release, I’m convinced people hated it because it wasn’t Final Fantasy VII-2.
I liked it, but it definitely has some reeeeaaally tedious parts.
People would have loved it if it actually improved upon what FF7 did instead of through it all out the window.
I beat FFVII like six times, and only beat FFVIII once, thats how boring the game is.
The card game is the only thing fun about this otherwise boring af game with a crappy story and waste of good character designs.
8 was a piece of crap. The amount of bad design decisions, the laughable plot full of giant holes and missing bits, flat characters and bad pacing yet being considered a masterpiece is baffling. It signalled how bad the games would become with ones like 10-2, 13 trilogy and 15. It was surrounded by 6 and 7 and 9 and 10 which were actually good so perhaps it confuses people into thinking it’s good.
It's gotta nice plot with a neat world and great atmosphere. It's got that Squaresoft charm to it that later games in the series don't have. It has good merits, it just gets dusted by a first time playthrough because of the bad design. It's really a game you have to force yourself to invest in, and only once you "figure it out" that it becomes a fun and enjoyable experience. It really is the "anti RPG" of the series in a weird way.
Only once you become a master of the game does it become fun, but if you don't know what you're doing, which will be EVERYONE, it won't be. It's an inverse experience, all or nothing kind of game. With the only thing holding your attention being what happens next in the story, which might not even be for you at the end of the day.
Wait, who considers 8 a masterpiece?
The story is amazing but the gameplay is complex
FF8 is my absolute favorite. Dont care about the haters who dont get it. I start a new run every year and l love it more every time
By contrast, FF8 is the only Final Fantasy game I always play all the way through. Also I felt that 13's gameplay was way more complicated than 8. Here's my review, of your review ;)
You say that the gameplay in 8 promotes grinding, but that's misleading. *Every* FF game promotes grinding, in that you realize early on you can just mindlessly run around in a field holding the confirm button to level up. But in FF8, you are given more *alternatives* to grinding, than other FFs to date. You have to actually apply your mind, making the game far more engaging. You can grind for spells, which is fundamentally the same thing as what I described earlier, featured in every other RPG, or you can just refine items you get into the spells you want. You can also obtain cards through Triple Triad and refine those. But you seem to personally favor the more "grindy" and mindless approach, as also evidenced by your complaints later about having to "keep up" with what your GFs are learning. I take it you never played FF6?
As for junctioning being inconvenient, it's not, really. You can simply auto-equip spells to your preferences (attack, defense, and magic if memory serves). You complain that the customization which comes with junctioning "destroys character themes", but all it really does is allow you to choose those themes for yourself. One might think it's "not like a FF game" in that sense, until they realize the very first FF game allowed you to completely choose which jobs each character had. And of course, even in more well-liked games like FF6 you can eventually teach everyone magic.
You claim that the tutorials are unskippable, but you can literally skip all of the tutorials in the game by pressing B (or circle, depending on your console). You also say that Triple Triad is important from a practical perspective, but it isn't. It's a great mini-game that I always play on each playthrough, but you never have to refine any of the cards to make it through this game. As said before, you can play through the whole thing without playing the card game or ever drawing a single spell.
I'll grant you the flaw that GFs shouldn't have been missable, or at least there should've been more of a reminder to draw from bosses that would have them. And it's also a flaw that the game will throw you into a Laguna dream sequence (though I think this only happens once or twice) without giving you the option to assign builds to Laguna and co.). But overall, this review contains more errors in it than what it exposes in the game.
Good job buddy. You proved his point now back to your hole.
Ff8 has some of the worst design decisions out of every ff game
nope. ff8 is deep and fantastic. hater dont get but thats ok if you dont understand it@@farmsalot1233
duh! card modding is the easiest way to get magic. as i played for the 1st time i knew its much easier to just card mod than to draw and draw only with boss that has GF or unique magic, and my drawer will have high magic stats thats is the way you can cap to 9 magics per draw. like in GF as how it used in battle and learned abilities. every battle must checked. FFVIII is not for lazy people and loves the one way street and conventional skill sets thats most mediocre RPG's. like FFVII.
So what you're telling me is that you weren't smart enough to really figure out the systems in FF8...
exactly, this guy isnt too smart and ff8 went over his head. ff8 is deep and beautiful
What babies we have today. Grinding? It's called leveling up. When I was 15 in 1998 it was easy to do this in this game. I also had a job where I stocked groceries at the local grocery store. And I saved my for my education. And yes, I am a millennial who had it harder. Quit complaining about how hard it was to play a video game. Chin up buttercup.
You’re just wrong. Ffviii is the best.