I've recently replayed all of the main Final Fantasy titles for the 100% and have made my way through all of the sequels and prequels except Lightning Returns (which I do intend to play, but not the point), and I have to ask myself -- if I wanted to replay any FF title right now, which would it be?

The answer is undoubtedly Final Fantasy VIII.


This game gets a lot of ♥♥♥♥, and some of it is justified. The gameplay doesn't come across as intuitive, and the best way to improve your characters in this game is not to fight and engage in random battles like it is for other FF--nay, other JRPG--titles from a similar time frame, but rather to play... Cards?

But that, therein, holds the appeal and value in replayability. The first time I played FFVIII on release for PlayStation, I probably figured out the junction system before the last boss on Disc 1, and that's to say that the game is pretty forgiving if you don't "get it" at first. I probably had no spells junctioned on my characters by that point, only really drew from draw points, and used spells normally. The game still functioned just fine until that Disc 1 boss, and then I had to actually learn the mechanics.

The second time I played, I spent hours drawing from monsters manually and barely touched the card game. My characters still got insanely strong and breezed through.

Playing it again more recently, this game absolutely knew who the boss was (it was me, just to clarify).

Spending hours on cards in the first area, refining random items for stat maxing in optional dungeons, and making sure you don't kill anyone early so that you don't level up normally (using the handy Remaster no random encounters feature makes this way easier) are all ways you can break the ever loving hell out of this game. Is a game really fun if you can't break it? Don't answer that question.

When I think about playing it again, I think about making it as hard as possible: level early, restrict yourself to not playing cards, only junction certain stats, don't junction, etc.,. There are so many ways to play this game, far more ways to play this game, arguably, than any other Final Fantasy title.

I get that the entry level player experience is dautning. I recently watched a friend of mine stream the start of his first blind playthrough, and he closed the game after the first dungeon and resolved to never touch it again because he "didn't want to have to sit through tutorials to know what to do," and I think part of the difficulty of playing FFVIII for the first time in the 2020's comes from the fact that sitting through tutorials is so far from the current expectation of game design. The junction system could have been explained way more intuitively, anyway, and the original writers decided to overload the complexity like a Youtuber making 30 minutes of advanced analogies to media you haven't watched to make himself sound smarter.

But if you skip most of the tutorials and play through the game semi-casually figuring things out, you don't get punished that hard anyway, so the mechanics are intuitive, actually.

I have way more fun playing FFVIII than running around in circles, fighting random battles and getting an arbitrary quantity of battles fought progression reward to leveling up (which should beg the question, why do I play old JRPGs, but that's for my therapist). I hope Square revives at least some of the elements of VIII's gameplay in future titles (at least give us monsters leveling up as we do again, please).


Warning: Spoilers hidden in spoiler tags. Everything else is fine to read.

Yes, I am indeed one of those "FFVII's story is unparalleled" snobs, and when I went and replayed VII, I felt the same nuances that I remembered so well and came away satisfied that yes, it is that good. But VIII hit me unexpectedly. As the ending closed, I actually cried. The resolution and progression made me ask "Is the VII story really that much better?"

Now, there is aplot twist that everyone justifiably complains about. The problem with that plot twist is not the plot twist itself, but that it has no payoff. If it didn't exist, the story is actually better. You don't need the main cast to not remember growing up together for the story to have an impact. In fact, imagine how much better the story would be if everyone had the memories from the orphanage in mind and had a built in relationship and dynamic together already. Squall gets nothing from not remembering his abandonment and loner childhood because it already affects his character. They can still not realize that The Sorceress is Edea because her getup is frankly insane, and they were kids. If only Irvine recognizes her still, I don't think that comes off as implausible.

My frustration with the plot twist comes from the fact that the story could have so many more rich character moments without it, and it has absolutely no meaningful bearing on the plot in any way. But if you ignore the plot twist, there's so much to meaningfully unpack in FFVIII. There's a reason that players have come up with countless interpretations of the story. So many hints exist that invite you to engage with the on a personal level, and struggling with human connection at its core should be an engaging and relatable subject matter for most people.

I could talk about the nuances of this story for many hours, and yes, it does not have the best story in in the Final Fantasy franchise, but I was surprised that, by the end of my playthrough, I had it in my top three.


When VIII came out in 1998, it was very easy to be cool and say that the game was too confusing, the plot was too stupid. But having recently replayed every main FF title to 100% completion, I would play VIII again right now tomorrow (but I still have to play Lightning Returns), and I can't say that as easily about the others. Part of that could come from the impressions I had of it the first time contrasted with the impressions I had of it the most recent time I played it, but I already considered VIII pretty underrated when I went into it for the third time. Perhaps I also just like being the snob who said "Oh, well, actually, when you figure out the junction system it's really"--pushes up glasses--"quite sophisticated and rewarding."

Or maybe I just like media that requires you to immerse yourself, that wants you to come away with a feeling of "I definitely missed something, I'm going to go back and play it again."

If you play VIII once, it's fine if you hate it. But if you play it a second time, you won't regret it.

No good characters

I've given this a thumbs down however if you, like me, played this when it first came out on PS1 then it is a great nostalgia trip. I played the game from start to finish on Steam Deck and encountered no issues. Overall I had a decent time reliving memories of first playing this but the game doesn't hold up.

As a game, FF8 is one of the weakest in the series. It's Junction system where you assign "Guardian Forces" and Magic ("GFs" - FF8 version of a summon) can be broken so much that it makes the game a cake walk before the end of disc 1 without much work. This remaster has updated a few things, especially the in-game character models but I would have liked to see more polish from a remaster.

Aside from Squall who has become iconic with his cool Gunblade, the other characters fail to make a mark on FF history and are largely forgetful (I had a actually forgotten Irvine was in this when I started my recent playthrough). The romance between Rinoa and Squall feels incredible forced. The story also takes some "convenient" turns that use concepts such as "memory loss" to push the plot along. The big bad in the game is also forgettable and you don't really get much time to understand her reasons or motivations. Gunblade aside, Seifer is also super lame.

Overall, this is still a decent JRPG and isn't the worst FF game, however when put alongside its other PS titles like 7 and 9, it really is a thorn between two roses.

I wanted to like this but I'm not a fan of the new combat, the characters are annoying or forgettable and the story is so dumb and crazy, 10/10 soundtrack though.

It's all about love, friendship and courage.

It's a good game with some very weird design choices but its still fun. The characters are very good and carry the story quite a bit, and the story has a bit to be desired but its fine.

Port is Ok, new models and boosts are great but having locked FPS and blurry backgrounds isnt really that great. Hopefully theres a mod like mugori for FF8 one day.

Yeah, it's a remastered version of Final Fantasy 8, with some game boosters. Those make it a better game. Enjoy.

Remake this!

This version is very good, but it is one of the best stories ever and deserves more than a remaster.

I just finished Final Fantasy VII and went into Final Fantasy VIII bro where the ♥♥♥♥ is Cloud

I played the original back on PS1 and wanted to play again on PC. This game comes with three boosters ATB/Limit/HP Assist for battles, encounter none (which functions the same as diablos), and triple speed. I enjoyed playing through this game and experiencing the story again, but there are a few caveats you should know before purchasing:
- They really only updated the graphics (such as character models) to make the game look nicer
- There doesn't seem to be wide screen support so I played the whole game in 4:3
- It seems to be missing features exclusive to the JP PS1 version, but tries to make up for it via angelo search.
Other than these three things if you're looking to experience for the first time or want to play it again, this may be the best way to play it. This is among my favorite FF games, so I am a little biased giving it a thumbs up.