September 9, 1999. This was the only day in my life when I bought a video game right at the release date. I hadn't read a single review nor played a single preview of Final Fantasy VIII. Other than the Squaresoft trademark and the Final Fantasy brand, I had no idea was I was getting into. Fortunately, this was money very, very well-spent.

Graphics: 10/10
Final Fantasys have this habit to always improve the graphs from the previous episode. VIII did it wonderfully compared to VII with human-shaped characters on the overworld map and in villages rather than, to quote another review, pixelized Lego blocks. The CGI movies, at least back in 1999, almost looked alive. I'm still in awe with the opening CGI with the waves and the fight between Squall and Seifer

The world map has smooth graphs with rounded mountains rather than mountain-colored cones. Esthar, a futuristic city you encounter later in the game, is HUGE, even on the world map. You can actually walk its modern streets on the world map.

Finally, battle graphs are also an incredible improvement from VII. The "victory dance" is more elaborate for every character, you can see their faces and details (Squall's scar) and their movements are much more fluid. Summon monsters (Guardian Force) have much smoother and shorter animations - at least for the weaker ones; Eden' CGI lasts about one minute. Finally, monsters are very-well drawn and their attacks look very realistic; you can almost feel choked by Malboro's bad breath.

Sound: 10/10
Had it been possible, I would have put more than 10 to music. To this day, Final Fantasy VIII is still my all-time favorite soundtrack. I stated earlier that I'm still in awe with the opening movie; it wouldn't be half as impressive without the music accompanying it, Liberi Fatali, which boasts a realistic orchestration coupled with live-sounding voices. Speaking of voices, there is even a real singer (Faye Wong) performing Eyes on Me. Finally, the end CGI has a pretty epic track with very realistic orchestration that translates the varying mood very well.

The realism is present in many tracks like Slideshow Part I and II (the better one), where one of the character is playing in a 1920s-style movie. You can hear the antique camera in Part I, and Part II has a lively ragtime style. Ami also has realistic piano music and the mood is right to tell Squall (hidden) joy to get back together with his friends. The piano intro to The Extreme (the last part of the final battle) is smooth and relaxing (before it explodes), as is The Successor.

Even the more electronic tracks are awesome. The Man with the Machine Gun (Laguna's battle theme) sounds better than the regular battle theme, and Mod de Chocobo has a 1960's style that almost make you see hippies dancing to it.

Addictiveness: 10/10
Once you learn to love Final Fantasy VIII, you can never get enough of it. Triple Triad, a card game, is one of the most addictive sidequests there is. Although some of the rules (ESPECIALLY "random", where you can't choose your cards) can be frustrating, mastering the game is fairly easy. There are tons or rare cards which you can later "refine" into rare objects.

Trying to get al the GF's is also addicting. One of them, Doomtrain, will keep you busy if you don't consult FAQs, as the clues to get it are very well hidden. Others like Eden are hidden deep inside sidequests that require lots of brain to resolve.

Story: 6/10
OK, I admit that Final Fantasy VIII is not a perfect game and story is its main weakness

The game starts normally, with Squall finishing his training at the SeeD Academy of Balamb. After fighting Ifrit the Guardian Force, he embarks on a mission to deliver Dollet from the forces of the Galbadia Army. It didn't succeed well, as they were able to redeploy a gigantic telecommunication dish. Nevertheless, he succeeded in becoming a SeeD.

His first mission is to help the Timber Owls kidnap Delling, the Galbadia President. Unfortunately, they catch his double and nearly die trying to kill him. Soon afterwards, they learn the purpose of the Dollet antenna: the real President wanted to introduce a peace offer with the Owls. He nominates Edea the Sorceress for the talks, but little did he know that she had other goals in mind...

It is at that point that the story gets confusing. Sure, your goal is to kill the sorceress, but who she is and why she acts the way she does doesn't get explained until the third disk.

The same thing goes for the link between Laguna and the main party. You start getting some clues in the second disk, but the true link is only discovered in the 3rd disk. If anything, Laguna's story is rather distracting and doesn't bring much to the main story.

Depth: 8/10
Despite a confusing storyline that goes left and right, it is nevertheless very detailed, and not just because it goes over the span of four disks. Squall's story is revealed in details, and so is his relationship with other characters. Laguna's story is also well-detailed, and you learn how he ends up in the position he's in when the party finally meets him. You even get to learn Edea's story.

Difficulty: 4/10
This rating only applies to those who master the junction system. Once you do, you can make your characters immune to most elemental and status-inducing spells, along with making them invincible by boosting their stats to 255 with the proper junctions. Also, all characters gain a level after 1000 experience points. Furthermore, if you manage to defeat Diablo, he has the ability to make you avoid random fights. Finally, if your precision is right, you can destroy any boss with a Squall at 255 strength and always on Aura (which prompts his special attack).

If not, it would at least be a 7. Drawing this magic for monsters (of draw points) is very, very time consuming. Plus, some GFs can only be obtained that way, so if you miss them, tough luck. Even when you can refine magic to higher-level magic, you'll have to draw and "run in circles" for hours before getting enough magic to be refined. The first two encounters with the Sorceress are very difficult as the AI is very  intelligent - if you cast wall, he will cast dispel.

In conclusion, Final Fantasy VIII is a must-try for any RPG geek out there. Despite a sometimes confusing story line, it has everything else to hook you up: epic music, nice graphs and addictive sidequests

janus : A pretty good review.  I think having your baseline difficulty as "those who master the junction system" is a bit skewed, I think I would have left with a 7 for general audience. I believe this game also had the monsters always at your players level also, so its not like you can go back to earlier areas and clean up. I do agree Triple Triad was a lot of fun for me, as was seeing who all the members were. They tried to recreate its success in FF 9, but truly, Triple Triad is superior.

endings : Weren't the "monsters at your level" mainly on the Island Closest to Heaven/Hell? I rarely leveled around Balamb in the late game, so I don't really remember.

janus : Upon looking it up, it seems all battles take the monster level at an average between your party member's levels.

This is a really good review that you have here, it has a ton of detail, it's a very good length, and I really like how you decided to break the categories into multiple paragrpahs to make it easier to read, which is why I really like this review. As for the game, I never played it, the only Final Fantasy game I ever played is x, but I do plan on playing others so I might give this one a shot when I have the time.

zanderlex : I'm honestly still torn between VIII and X. The former had a much better soundtrack (although X comes in close second), but X had a much better plot with better twists.

janus : For x, I only played the remastered version on the PS Vita, so I know the music for this one was a lot better than the original, and yeah, the story is cool.