The story: Meet Squall, a stoic mercenary who seems to hate everyone in his life, particularly himself. If you thought Cloud was angsty, then my friend, just wait until you see Squall. It was a game with style, subtlety, and surprisingly intricate character development, which could also sometimes result in characters who seem insufferable. The magic system punished players for casting spells and rewarded them for taking an extra 5-10 minutes to draw magic from every enemy, a tedious mechanic that pushed many players away from the game. Some of Final Fantasy VIII‘s innovations didn’t quite hit, though. Instead of collecting money from the corpses of your enemies, you’d get a regular salary from your mercenary group, based on your rank - a neat way to link gameplay and story. Square’s drastic overhauls sometimes succeeded. The protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII used a sword GUN.įinal Fantasy VIII was the rebellious teen of JRPGs, angrily shaking its fist at older family members in the series. Put another way, the main heroes of the first seven Final Fantasys mostly used swords. On the spectrum from Tolkien to Asimov, you could place it far closer to the latter. Other Final Fantasy games had included sci-fi elements, sure, but Final Fantasy VIII felt a little different. Those strange ideas were delivered alongside the most modern Final Fantasy world we’d ever seen, a land full of massive robots, warring armies, and student mercenaries. Instead of having blocks for hands, the characters all had real bodies. ![]() Instead of gaining those spells through books or magical crystals, you’d steal them from enemies. ![]() Instead of powering up your characters through levels, you’d boost your stats by equipping magical spells. ![]() Instead of buying weapons from stores, you’d craft them through recipes you’d find in magazines. It tore apart and reimagined the series’ mechanics to a degree we hadn’t seen since Final Fantasy II. How do you follow the biggest role-playing game of all time? How do you look at Final Fantasy VII and make something even better? If you’re Square in the 1990s, the answer is simple: You break everything.įinal Fantasy VIII, released in 1999, wasn’t just a sequel to FFVII.
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