You must play this game...
The Final Fantasy series has been a legendary one. With each one having their own defining storyline, music, characters and combat systems. Final Fantasy VIII came out for the original PlayStation, but is still has far more depth and original gameplay than most of modern day RPGs.
The game opens with a breathtaking cinematic, the music playing beautifully. We see the iconic scene where Squall (The player the character takes control of throughout most of the game) and Seifer give each other an almost identical scar across their face.
The game of course continues to deliver amazing cinematic cutscenes throughout the game, and even though the characters don't have voice actors at this time, the player still feels incredibly attached to the characters.
The combat still remains to this day a very enjoyable experience for me. Leveling my characters, and GFs is incredibly rewarding and the Junction feature and all the moves you have to assign to each GF works very well. I especially love the unique moves you can do in the game. For example turning monsters into cards is something you don't see in every game.
One of the features of Final Fantasy VIII that is truly amazing is the card game minigame! Some of my best experiences in playing FF VIII is collecting the most powerful cards, spending quite a bit of time in doing so. Other Final Fantasy's have tried to recreate the card game, or introduce new minigames, but I think I'm safe in saying that this is the best minigame in the series. I loved the cards so much to the point that I made my little brother help me in recreate the cards and play them with me, yes you may call me obsessed.
I cannot possibly write a review for this game and not talk about the Squall and Riona romance. In a sense this is what the game is truly all about, a brooding Seed member falling in love with the daughter of General Carway of the Galbanian army, in the most beautiful way possible. Don't know if this would apply to the opposite sex but it's certainly a selling point for mine.
Final Fantasy VIII shows us that video games can be compelling, smart but also fantastic fun to play. With an array of believable characters, an original story and a fantastic score, I believe this is what all modern RPGs should aspire to.
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