/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.2235969]

I'm really on the fence with this game.

It's by no means a bad game but something irks me. I think it has many good ideas. I like many locations, many enemy designs and the soundtrack, while not among my favorites, has some really good tunes.

But overall I didn't enjoy it as much as FF titles before or after it.

Anyone shares my sentiments?

FF8 thread I guess.

[Anonymous No.2236052]

>>2235969

I just flat out hated it. Because it was stupid.

[Anonymous No.2236089]

>>2235969
Not the worst FF but not one I care to play again. Hated Squall. Had some good sequences. Flashbacks, train robbery, good atmosphere.

Mostly shitty grindfest tho.

>fkn draw system

[Anonymous No.2236096]

POS overrated typical Squeenix grindfest with pathetic weeaboo story and retarded gameplay choices in abundance which all work together to weight down what would otherwise be a damn good game. Most of Squeenix' games are great games with a mountain of retarded shit weighing them down to the point of mediocrity. IMO ofc. FF9 is the only FF I personally like, but not sure how much of that is just nostalgia.

[Anonymous No.2236105]

>>2236052
What trenchant criticism. Move aside, Voltaire. Step back in the shadows, H. L. Mencken. There's a new kid in town. One can only wonder how many hours anon sat in the glow of his computer screen before his trembling fingers sprang to life and pecked out this chef d'oeuvre: "It... was... stupid."

[Anonymous No.2236113]

>>2236105

Damn, I saw the smoke from the catalog.

[Anonymous No.2236117]

It reminds me of a Compile Heart game. A bunch of shitty "unique" systems that are at first confounding and overwhelming, but eventually reveal themselves to actually be both bizarrely shallow and ultimately uninteresting

If they put all the effort they did into all the weird shit going on in the game like the limit break system and junctioning and the card game, etc and instead used it to improve the core gameplay and story, you might actually have a good game

[Anonymous No.2236128]

>>2236096
>>2236089
>Grinding

lol what? FF8 requires practically zero grinding. Grinding isn't even worth it since enemies scale with your level. You barely even have to Draw once you learn modding skills.

[Anonymous No.2236129]

FF8 is pathetic really.
Card game the only thing supposed to be a gamesaver yet ruined by ridiculous ruleset changes per region.
It's not even worth grinding. Oh and don't mention how many hours more do I need to wait for that goddamn SeeD salary. Pathetic Junction system. If it wasn't for Rinoa's cosplay costume this game would flop.Overrated crap.Full of story, Full of cinematics. Actual enjoyment: 1/16 of the total 4 discs. Pic related: Emo Squall facepalming out of nowhere.

[Anonymous No.2236140]

Oh and don't even mention that gunblade that doesn't fire when you hit the enemy and only goes "ka-chink".

[Anonymous No.2236165]

>>2236140

It vibrates for added damage. It's like wielding a trigger powered chainsaw.

[Anonymous No.2236169]

>>2235969
The thing about FFVIII is that it's kinda meh if you only play through it once but if you play through it again later on you are going to have a much better time with it as you find out things you missed out on the first time both gameplay- and storywise. I honestly recommend people who didn't like FFVIII when they played through it when they were younger to try playing it again now that they are old enough to understand the gameplay mechanics and certain aspects of story. I did this and now FFVIII is one of my favorites. However the "romance" between Squall and Rinoa gets worse on each playthrough.

>>2236089
>Mostly shitty grindfest tho.
>>fkn draw system
This is exactly what I'm talking about many people played through FFVIII Drawing 100s of magic from every enemy in every battle when FFVIII can easily be played through without ever Drawing or grinding for anything making it a much more enjoyable experience.

I keep saying this in FFVIII threads but here it is again: refine the useless ITEMS in your inventory to magic instead of Drawing or playing the card game for card for ages, this way you get all the magic you'll ever need without ever having to grind for anything.

[Anonymous No.2236175]

My opinion about FFVIII? It's a brilliant but in many ways flawed game.

In my OPINION it also gets a lot of undeserved hate where the players are blaming the game for their own shortcomings. Some examples of this include people complaining about drawing when they simply could have just refined the useless shit in their inventory to magic instead, whining battles being nothing but summoning GFs over and over again when you are much better of fighting with your physical attacks and/or limit breaks instead, complaining about how easy/broken FFVIII is when playing through it using a guide or complaining the GF amnesia coming out of nowhere when it's constantly foreshadowed all the way up to the orphanage scene.

Also if people played the other FFs with the same mentality they seem to play FFVIII they'd complain about how you absolutely cannot gain a single level in FFVI until you get the +2 espers, how you absolutely must be at level 99 before leaving Midgar in FFVII or how it's an absolute necessary to get Excalibur II in FFIX.
No one is forcing you to Draw for 100 of every magic in every battle. No one is forcing you to fight by summoning GFs over and over again. No one is forcing you to spend ages playing the card game to get Lionheart on disc 1. No one is forcing you to break the junction system. Etc... all of those are things YOU did voluntarily did yourself to make your game less fun.

That said FFVIII really is an OK game if you just play through it normally (like you'd do with any other FF game).

[Anonymous No.2236182]

>>2236105

someone sounds rustled.

[Anonymous No.2236192]

>>2236140
I've thought about the retardation of the gunblade for a very long time, and the only thing I can guess is that it uses pressure from small pores in various places in the blade to create an explosive effect similar to those anti-shark knives that blow compressed air into the wound tract.

[Anonymous No.2236202]

I like the game but it does that THE WORST PLOT I HAVE SEEN IN ANYTHING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous No.2236210]

The very first time I played FF8 as a teenager I thought graduating from mercenary school was super cool and then I was really disappointed to immediately be shackled to Rinoa's dipshit rebel squad.

The setting is really cool and unique for the series and I like the attempt at new character personalities and relationships. Seifer the coolest.

The pacing is weird and a few elements of the story just stick out really badly. It is very hard to clear to the end of Disc 2 and the Orphanage reveal without losing a lot of suspension of disbelief.

I guess the best summary of FF8 is "a lot of cool ideas realized in a clunky way."

[Anonymous No.2236212]

>>2236202
You need to play more games try Star Ocean 3, Bionic Commando (the 2009 one) and the Metal Gear Solid 2 and 4 for starters. All of them have just as shitty (if not worse) plots than FFVIII. At least the plot of FFVIII somewhat makes sense within the concepts of the game even if it's a bit stupid.

[Anonymous No.2236215]

>>2236210
>I guess the best summary of FF8 is "a lot of cool ideas realized in a clunky way."

"unintentional comedy of JRPGs" and "so bad it's good" also works.

[Anonymous No.2236235]

>>2235969
If you find numbers really fun, like you breed for max IVs on everything in Pokemon, this game is great for you because of all the micromanagement with the junction system.

I almost dropped this thing because of the douche protag. He gets better but FFIX handled the romance better. Which is pretty funny because this is supposed to be a love story. It has some pretty cool art and interesting ideas plus the card game is fun, but I probably won't play VIII again.

[Anonymous No.2236242]

>>2236215
This, I hated FFVIII until I started looking at it like a low budget B movie. The plot becomes a lot more enjoyable if you don't take it seriously.

I mean the super terrifying military power programmed a "miss percentage" into their missile guidance system.

[Anonymous No.2236258]

I liked how the game starts off however it gets tedious really quick. The story is not that great. FF8 easily becomes a chore if you wish to beat the game.

Other than that the game is visually good, I don't like the cartoon look of FF9.

[Anonymous No.2236346]

>>2235969
I play it every so often. I dont know why though. the junction system is broken as fuck, but it was a neat idea. junction curaga to hp and quake to strength, str+20 and str+40 to ability. then just walk to the end. yea.. its not very fun or challenging in any way.

[NESfag No.2236358]

>>2236175
This. If you play the game the normal way on your first playthrough and do a bit of everything, the game is perfectly balanced.

Then it gets broken once you know the game, but which FF doesn't. The magic to FF8's system though is that it has a LOT to it, and if you like the game you'll never stop learning something new about its gameplay and story. I swear on my 10th playthrough I was still learning small things about story AND gameplay.

[Anonymous No.2236528]

>>2236212
>You need to play more games try Star Ocean 3,

Star Ocean 3 at least had some much cooler characters to grab on too.

A lot of FF8's problems could have been avoided if they developed the characters beyond "I like trains"

[Anonymous No.2236542]

>>2236528
This, aside from Squall, Rinoa, and Laguna the rest of the cast are just a unique character design with a catch phrase. And of those three only Laguna is interesting.

[Anonymous No.2236552]

>>2235969
I can't stand any of the characters except Squall. Everyone acts like a total fucking idiot, but the game still expects me to take it seriously. The whole game is just really bizarre, and I honestly don't know if it's just poorly written or done on purpose.

The gameplay I don't really have a problem with, I like that you can totally break shit if you want to.

Overall, I don't hate it, but I can't say I like it either.

[Anonymous No.2236579]

The art direction is really strange. Everything is covered in tribal tattoo patterns and all the fonts are gothic script. All the cars are strange looking hot rods. It sounds so dumb but it kind of works. It's pretty comfy all around.

>>2236089
>>2236096
The game actively discourages you from grinding.

[Anonymous No.2236581]

>>2236552
>I can't stand any of the characters except Squall. Everyone acts like a total fucking idiot,

Id take an Idiot over a fucking prick any day of the week. Squall can't even give a guy a handshake and instead just averts his gaze like he thinks he's better than basic manners.

The worst part is the lengths these people go to because they can tell Squalls good. He's treating everyone like shit and they all line up for more

[Anonymous No.2236590]

>>2236581
Well that's kind of what I'm talking about. Squall is a dick to pretty much everyone, and they all just act like he's their best friend. It's fucking weird. Squall seems like the only character who acts like a normal person. Sure he's an asshole, but still.

[Anonymous No.2236595]

>>2235969
I do. Its like a big pile of interesting ideas with no order or balance.

Manaless combat was interesting, but could be tedious yet easy to manipulate.

Some very deep themes in the story, but many go nowhere and most of the characters don't match well or go far into them.

Designs were neat, but fuck GF animations. Graphics were good for PS1, even had depth of field, but lacked atmosphere or consistency.

It is a whole lot of this stuff is cool, but meh.

[Anonymous No.2236601]

>>2236590
That's because he's awesome and good looking. People forgive a lot to those who are awesome and good looking - of course except for other awesome and good looking people, like Seifer.

[Anonymous No.2236605]

>>2236579
Grinding can mean more then just killing mobs kiddo.

In FF8 you grind card games or drawing, its still grinding.

[Anonymous No.2236607]

>In fact, this horrible little game is the only way to get those precious "Friendship"s and transfer them over to FF8 to gain the very cute (and just as strong) Moomba- mini- GF, and the MiniMog- mini- GF. Aside from that, there are Malboro tentacles, Stat boosting items and other goodies to gain. And what's even better: you can CHEAT! Isn't that lovely! So what are you waiting for?

No thanks. I'll just play FF9 and have a nice Moogle everytime.

[Anonymous No.2236624]

>>2236129
you can abolish card rules if you try hard enough, even playing with default rules can set you ridiculously well for rest of the game due to card -> item -> weapons/quistis skills or card -> item -> better item -> magic -> junction abuse.

> Oh and don't mention how many hours more do I need to wait for that goddamn SeeD salary.

if you need money in this game, you are doing it wrong. abuse the shit out of draw magic, carding enemies and mug command to produce item surplus.


you want rank ups and better payments, though - do as many battles as possible with very low hp and see them go up quickly.

[Anonymous No.2236652]

>This whole thread
>Grinding
>Drawing
>in FFVIII

Never would have thought that /vr/ of all places could get so fucking bitchy and narrow minded, aaaaahhh who am I kidding.
FFVIII did have many problems, shitty writing, questionable characters, but the gameplay was fucking solid and a good attempt at making a grindless and quirky game system.

That alone makes it a good mainstream JRPG, and it's fucking disgusting that there's people who bitch over grinding in FFVIII but say that FFIX who was a shitty grindfest like all the others was better.
I'll tell you what, if they removed the shitty romance and time travel shenanigans it would be one of the most if not the most replayable FF due to how much you can customize characters and play with party members.

Also the OST is GOAT and all the towns are comfy as hell, it did the sci-fi thing much better than most JRPGs of its time.

[Anonymous No.2236670]

>>2236652
Grinding makes gameplay more rewarding. You can actually "feel" your character as they grow stronger, acquire more abilities. Unlike in FF8 the only "feel" is feeling sick from squall's emo-ness. I know that feel

[Anonymous No.2236681]

>>2236670
So because you like grinding you're going to ignore every single other quality of the game?

Might as well just play MMOs, those are grindfests.

[Anonymous No.2237001]

FVIII is a pretty good game, just not brilliant. It has a lot of promise in the beginning but gets more convoluted and less enjoyable as time passes. I liked the card game, but the junction system isn't as good as materia imho. Still, I liked it more than FF9.

[Anonymous No.2237023]

>>2236235
Are you me?

This game is neat in an experimental sort of way, but it definitely is not for me. I didn't like Materia either.

[Anonymous No.2237039]

>>2236169
See, everyone says "refine, refine, refine", but did I know that at 16 starting the fame? No. All that is presented is the draw system, and after coming from 6 and 7, it was an instant turn off combined with the tone and design.

[NESfag No.2237043]

>>2237039
>All that is presented is the draw system

Not true. All the possibilities are presented to you.
And even if it wasn't the case, it's an RPG, you're supposed to be looking into menus for the possibitilies.

You can't blame the game on this one.

Age isn't an excuse either, I first played the game at the age of 11-12, it was my first real RPG (after Pokémon) and I had no trouble finding out how to turn items into magic, and how to turn cards into items and then into magics

[Anonymous No.2237067]

>>2237039
>this game is bad because I was bad at RPGs when I played it

[Anonymous No.2237123]

>>2237039
I didn't have any trouble finding the refine skills, but that's probably because I actually looked around for mechanics and customization. Even so though, the tutorials presented at the start of the game (Not even the ones in the Garden's student tutorial pane) explain how GFs acquire abilities and such anyway, so from there it'd be easy to find refining.

[Anonymous No.2237153]

>>2237123
What the fuck are you talking about, the tutorial on GF abilities is given directly after you get Ifrit, and may even be unskippable. Did you never wonder what AP were for when you got them?

[Anonymous No.2237156]

>>2237153
Disregard, saw a "didn't" in your post that wasn't there. My bad.

[Anonymous No.2237157]

>>2237039
Both the game itself and the instruction manual tell you that there are other ways of getting magic than Drawing, latter even mention refining items.

[Anonymous No.2237263]

>>2236113
>>2236182
It's a Frasier reference.

[Anonymous No.2237424]

>>2236681
>So because you like grinding you're going to ignore every single other quality of the game?

The thing is grinding is at least something to do. In 8 battles are so meaningless you're basically just run from point A to point B to watch what passes for a story

[Anonymous No.2237435]

>>2237424
>In 8 battles are so meaningless you're basically just run from point A to point B to watch what passes for a story
How is this any different from 7 or 9 or most JRPGs in general?

[Anonymous No.2237437]

>>2237424
So your only reason for playing games is to grind.

[Anonymous No.2237492]

I liked it because I'm somewhat of a romantic and found the development between Squall and Rinoa enjoyable.
I didn't really like any of the party members except Quistis though.

[Anonymous No.2237527]

I felt 8 failed at an overarching story but nailed the nuances of idealized yet complex teenage love.

I thought this when I played it on release and I think it now. The combat system is simple enough to ignore mostly but I never played JRPGs for the gameplay. The lack of interesting stories and characters is why I rarely play them now.

[Anonymous No.2237565]

It's my favorite game and I think it's just a game you'll either love or hate.
I know a lot of people don't like Squall, but he has a lot of fans too. I think it depends on if you are a quiet person yourself and can relate to him. I'm a pretty quiet person myself, but even if I don't always say whatever is on my mind doesn't mean I'm not thinking all sorts of thoughts. And that I really liked about Squall, he does the same thing. Cloud was cool too, but he just seemed kinda quiet and aloof, and you didn't really know what was going on in his head. Which is fine too, then you can make him into whatever character you want. But I prefer Squall though, just because I can relate to a lot of things. Not his personal story or life, but the way he acts etc. I also don't think he was that much of a jerk as a lot of people seem to think.

[Anonymous No.2237667]

>>2237435
>FF9
>run from battles because theyre meaningless
>get to gizamaluke
>get your shit pushed in

yeah maybe in 8 but in 9 you better fucking fight those battles.

[Anonymous No.2237738]

>>2237435
Try beating FFVII without fighting any random battles asshole. I dare you.
You won't even make it out of Midgar.

[Anonymous No.2237786]

>>2236652
>FFIX who was a shitty grindfest like all the others was better.
IX was awful to grind in, only cause it takes ages for the battle to start, ages to execute attacks, ages to actually attack. You could go for a bathroom break in between characters turns.

[Anonymous No.2237816]

>>2237738
Having to grind doesn't make the activity any less meaningless.

[Anonymous No.2237843]

>>2237786
>ages to execute attacks, ages to actually attack
Here's the remedy for that which I'm using. FFIX grinding is s0o0o0o much more enjoyable now

[Anonymous No.2237845]

>>2235969
It's the only Final Fantasy on the PlayStation that I never finished.

I made it as far as the Lunatic Pandora, and I just stopped playing.

The problem was that at the time, I had no clue that enemies leveled with you, and I wasn't properly using the junction system, so enemies were kicking my ass.

I also didn't like too many of the characters. Squall was edgy, and Zell was a buffoon, and everyone else was forgettable. Quistis ias the only character I liked, because hot teacher as party member.

But what pissed me off the most about this game was upgrading weapons, because it was always a chore. I had a hell of a time trying to get Squall's final weapon, and I wasn't even going to try for everyone else's.

The world itself was about the only thing I liked about it really.

[Anonymous No.2237850]

>>2237845
>But what pissed me off the most about this game was upgrading weapons, because it was always a chore. I had a hell of a time trying to get Squall's final weapon, and I wasn't even going to try for everyone else's.

Agreed. It was also a thing that REALLY pissed me off about FF13... among other things. But FF13 isn't retro so let's not go there.

[Anonymous No.2237873]

FF8 is an example of nice concept but poor execution. Miyamoto is saddened by this game. Probably rushed to meat deadlines. Meh/10

[Anonymous No.2237968]

Everyone says don't draw, but I like to draw maybe once or twice each battle. It's too easy to break the game with refining. I had a lot more fun playing it when I just used draw sparingly and actually used magic.

[Anonymous No.2237989]

VI > VIII > VII

[Anonymous No.2237998]

>>2237989
I strongly disagree.

[Anonymous No.2238012]

>>2237989
Not sure if troll

[Anonymous No.2238101]

>>2237873

Miyamoto is saddened by any game that doesn't look like someone threw up skittles on a beetles ablum

[Anonymous No.2238104]

>>2237437
>So your only reason for playing games is to grind.

tell me something to do in the game that isn't watch the movies

[Anonymous No.2238137]

>>2236652
>all the towns are comfy as hell
The problem with FF8 towns is that you can only enter a few houses in it. Most of the doors are just decorations. In FFIX almost all doors inside the towns can be entered, explored, find hidden chests, lively people, etc. makes you feel rejuvenated.

[Anonymous No.2238213]

>>2238137
I don't think you should compare Dollet to Alexandria. I'd think Balamb Garden would be a more apt comparison.

[Anonymous No.2238218]

>>2238104
>>2238104

The card game, the many side quests, the actual game, witch includes features such as: dungeons, puzzles, the exact same elements as every other FF

Stop trolling so fucking hard. If you don't like the game, then just say so and leave it at that. There's no reason to lie and act like a child about it.

[Anonymous No.2238274]

>>2236052
>well I flat out hate you because you are stupid.

>>2236096
>Grinding
lolwut

>>2236105
Made me kek. Good job sir

>>2236117
Nah, it's more like they took fairly standard RPG elements, altered them JUST enough to confuse morons like you, then laughed all the way to the bank.

>>2236129
You're doing it wrong you moron:

>you DO grind, but by carding enemies and spending time refining magic. It's just quicker than standard RPG grinding, because you get actual stat gains within a reasonable time
>Sell things for bank
>the "pathetic" junction system is how you get stronger. It's like a combined leveling and equipment system. If it confuses you, then don't fucking use spells during battle or don't junction spells that you do use
>you are a moron

>>2236169
This guy gets it.

>>2236175
This. Exactly THIS.

>>2236202
Somebody's new...

>>2236235
If you spend more than 3 minutes tweaking junctions at a time, you are retarded. It's not THAT complicated...

>>2236346
Then why don't you... Oh, maybe NOT DO THOSE THINGS!
If breaking the game makes it not fun, then do a challenge run or just don't fucking break the game..

>>2236358
This guys gets it too

>>2236528
>>2236542
>>2236552
The game has a more focused narrative than your standard JRPG. It's basically Squall's view of the world and characters. So if someone seems shallow, it's because Squall sees them that way. Derp.

>>2236579
>Everything is covered in tribal tattoo patterns
Welcome to the 90's

>>2236581
He's a teenager and most people have the ability to tell when a guy is shy and needs friends to DRAG him out of his shell.
You are literally autistic if you can't see Squall as a sympathetic character...

>>2236652
I don't agree with you r assessment of the plot, but you are otherwise on the money.

>>2237039
So, because you didn't pay attention past the first hour, the GAME is to blame?

>>2237873
Miyamoto hasn't designed a game in YEARS and has never programmed one, so fuck him and his entire self.

[Anonymous No.2238278]

>>2237816

>combat is a main function of the game
>literally have to do it to progress through the game
>everything from customization, to items to equipment ALL lead back tp combat mechanics
>"LOLIT'S MEANINGLESS!!!"

You are a moron. You may not like that part of RPGs, but calling battles (grinding or no) meaningless shows that you have no idea what the fuck you are on about in the slightest.

[Anonymous No.2238281]

I always felt like I was gimping myself if I didn't have 100 of each spell for junctioning, so I was constantly spend 15+ minutes in fights drawing as much as I could whenever I found a new spell on an enemy. That said I still rather enjoyed 8. It wasn't anything amazing, but it was hardly as horrible as people make it out to be.

I also didn't see Squall say "Whatever" nearly as much as people claim he does. Most of the "Whatever" lines were just one of two options for what he could say. I guess if you pick "whatever" every time then, yeah, he'd say it a lot.

[Anonymous No.2238304]

>>2237039
>be 16 year old me in 1999
>play FFVIII for the first time without any guides or a change of check stuff out on internets
>like anyone else I Drawed for magic at the beginning of the game
>learn one of the Refine abilitites
>go to the menu to try it out (I seriously can't be the only who did this?)
>sweet, I can get the same magic this way instead of spending all my time Drawing for it
>from that moment on I played through the entire game using nothing but the Refine abilities and as a result missed all the Drawable GF apart from Siren

[Anonymous No.2238347]

>>2236096
>Squeenix

[Anonymous No.2238354]

>>2237845
>The problem was that at the time, I had no clue that enemies leveled with you, and I wasn't properly using the junction system, so enemies were kicking my ass.
I see that yet another "RPG expert" was exposed being bad at RPGs because he lost the ability just to grind levels to win and instead of actually paying attention to the junction system and thinks that the game punished him for leveling up. Seriously the game doesn't exactly punish you for leveling up as higher level enemies also have better stuff for you to get by Drawing, stealing or as drops after beating them. Even at level 100, the enemies in the game are pushovers if you understand the Junction system and use it correctly. My first time through, with no guides or help, I didn't prevent myself from leveling normally, and still had no issues.

Also
>People complain about FFVIII being broken and having level scaling.
>They also say FFT is the best FF game.
>They also know FFT's balance was broken as fuck and it's random encounters has level scaling.
Dat double standard

>But what pissed me off the most about this game was upgrading weapons, because it was always a chore. I had a hell of a time trying to get Squall's final weapon, and I wasn't even going to try for everyone else's.
This however I agree with and what makes it worse is that you only get a ridiculously small attack boost for getting the best weapons for everyone, the boost here is so small that you can easily get more by junctioning shit tier magic to your attack stat. There literally isn't point in getting the weapon upgrades apart from Squall best weapon (for the Lionheart limit break) and possibly Selphie's (for the 255% hit rate).

[Anonymous No.2238457]

>>2238354

why are you putting words in that guy's mouth, he didn't call himself a RPG expert, he admitted what he did wrong

>didn't even mention FFT

bro you kind of have to wait for people to bring up a point before you respond to it? you are winning an argument with yourself here.

[NESfag No.2238489]

>>2238354
>Seriously the game doesn't exactly punish you for leveling up as higher level enemies also have better stuff for you to get by Drawing

Leveling up also gives you access to better item drops, therefore easier access to strong magics.

Not to mention that leveling up gives you stats boosts, especially you have unlocked stats boots abilities.

Seriously, people ITT pretend that it's a punishment to lvl up. It's not, you have to lvl up, and unless you play like a retard and ignore the entire system, you will become stronger more quickly than the enemies.

If you don't lvl up, the only way to become real strong is to spend COUNTLESS hours playing the card game. By countless I mean an insane amount of time, like maybe 100 hours. Like, to get 10 quakes you need 10 rare cards. Imagine if you want 100 quake on each character. If you lvl up you'll get item drops that will be able to teach you quake when you're only at Deiling for the first time.

The people who bitch and say you "shouldn't" lvl up either didn't undesrtand anything about the system, or at the kind of people who think they should always be as strong as possible.

Now though, do these people bitch about how in FF9 you SHOULDN'T lvl up until you get certain gear items in order to have the bests stats boosts, or how in FF6 you shouldn't lvl up until you get espers, and the bests espers too ?
Of course they don't. They only bitch about this kind of bullshit concerning FF8.

[NESfag No.2238498]

I mean FF games are the kings of casuals rpgs.

With FF8, for once they made a game system AND a story that requires the player to be involved and to think a little.

That's why some people don't like it. They're not used to be asked to think in a FF game. And instead of starting to think, they play stupid and blame the game.

And due to all this kind of criticism, Square stopped making FF games in which the player has to think, and then we get corridor "press X to win" RPGs like X or XIII.

I believe these players are responsible for what the series became, FF8 was a step in the right direction, but because of all the bitching and crying they took a step back afterwards.

[Anonymous No.2238517]

>>2238498
Hyperbole much?

[Anonymous No.2238527]

>>2238489
>bitch about how in FF9 you SHOULDN'T lvl up until you get certain gear
Hey namefag!
It's not about not leveling up. It's about not changing equipment if the ability is not yet fully learned. But the player can equip it if he wanted to. Tsk... namefags... pretending they know everything about a game... *facepalm*

[Anonymous No.2238578]

>>2238527
You amuse me.

[Anonymous No.2238668]

>>2238527
It's because you get bonuses to stats when leveling with equipment that boosts a stat. So endgame equipment provides bigger stat boosts, and thus will give better bonuses when leveling.

So people found out how to go through all of FF9 at minimum level while still getting all items and sidequests to maximize their stats, too. I think there's even a guide someone wrote for getting Excalibur 2, all sidequests, AND maximizing stat bonuses while leveling using endgame stuff.

[Anonymous No.2238842]

>>2238498
For me, it's Kefka - Intelligent, nihilistic and with a wicked sense of humor.

[Anonymous No.2238874]

>>2236175
What is that about Rinoa's chest size?

[Razz No.2238896]

>>2238874
Perhaps it's a reference that Rinoa doesn't have a huge rack like Tifa did.

[Anonymous No.2238905]

worst thing about it is the hamfisted romance

[Anonymous No.2238917]

>>2236175
>it's constantly foreshadowed all the way up to the orphanage scene.

You mind giving examples please?

[Razz No.2238927]

>>2238917
The school computer flat out says "Don't believe the rumours that GFs cause memory loss!" This is within the first minute of actual gameplay.

Later on, the mechanics of GF junctioning are explained as having the GF take residence inside the wielder's brain. There's a followup to this where a student at the Garden is hesitant to let GFs live in his mind because he's afraid of what it'll do to him.

You have to do a small amount of digging to find these facts but that's in line with Garden's policy of misleading its students. It's a bit of an interesting narrative trick to parallel the player's experience with the characters - if you don't do your homework you may have been surprised that memory loss is a side effect.

[Anonymous No.2238940]

>>2238304
You're me and I was so mad I didn't get Carbuncle I jumped to an early save. I never had to grind for anything besides SeeD salary until I tried to fight the Omega Weapon superboss.

I remember shitting myself when I first fought him and I was afraid I needed to beat him to beat the game. After I beat the game I grinded a while and realized I could refine cards for 99 Aura.

[NESfag No.2238952]

>>2238527
See >>2238668

[Anonymous No.2239045]

Can anyone tell me how to fix the 'controls won't work when dialogue boxes are up' problem when emulating this game? I know I fixed it before but I can't remember how and now I can't find any info on it.

[Anonymous No.2239156]

>>2238489
>you have to lvl up
I beat Omega Weapon at barely level 18, eat shit NESfag.
>Like, to get 10 quakes you need 10 rare cards. Imagine if you want 100 quake on each character.
>Needing Quake
>For junction
You have no idea how Junction can be exploited.

[Anonymous No.2239162]

>>2238489
Wow how retarded are you? Seriously I knew you were a dumbass but common.

You don't need to level to grind for drops when you can just get the card refine and all the appropriate element refines and get everything you need from cards.

You can beat the game, and all the optional content at an insanely low level and be maxed out. Which makes the game easier.

[Anonymous No.2239173]

>>2235969
I like everything about VIII except for its gameplay, which is a shame since it is a video game.

[Anonymous No.2239176]

The game did have some really relaxing and comfy music though. Gotta give it that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdLF5TNm0z0

[Anonymous No.2239182]

>>2236175
Your post reminded me how much I hated sprite comics. Even back when they were really popular.

Christ.

[Anonymous No.2239183]

>>2238917

[NESfag No.2239185]

>>2239156
It was a random example. I do know, I have spent literaly more than a THOUSAND years of my life in FF8 (I play it once a year, since it came out; though when i was a teen i used to play it 2 or 3 times per year), and I did among other things a no lvl up run, so I beat Omega Weapon at the lowest lvl.

Quake is actually really good, at the VERY beginning of the game. At the VERY beginning of the game Quake is the strongest magic you can get from cards.

What I'm talking about is a normal playthrough.

Bitching about how one "shouldn't lvl" up is like bitching one shouldn't lvl up in FF6 until you get strong espers. Except noone does that for FF6.
No lvl up is only good for masochism playthrough in which you absolutely want to break the game. There is no fucking way you shouldn't lvl up in a normal playthrough; ESPECIALLY because that means you're going to turn enemies into cards for each battle if you want AP until the end of disc2 when you can meet cactuars (AP from bosses alone isn't enough to really break the game).

[NESfag No.2239186]

>>2239156
It was a random example. I do know, I have spent literaly more than a THOUSAND hours of my life in FF8 (I play it once a year, since it came out; though when i was a teen i used to play it 2 or 3 times per year), and I did among other things a no lvl up run, so I beat Omega Weapon at the lowest lvl.

Quake is actually really good, at the VERY beginning of the game. At the VERY beginning of the game Quake is the strongest magic you can get from cards.

What I'm talking about is a normal playthrough.

Bitching about how one "shouldn't lvl" up is like bitching one shouldn't lvl up in FF6 until you get strong espers. Except noone does that for FF6.
No lvl up is only good for masochism playthrough in which you absolutely want to break the game. There is no fucking way you shouldn't lvl up in a normal playthrough; ESPECIALLY because that means you're going to turn enemies into cards for each battle if you want AP until the end of disc2 when you can meet cactuars (AP from bosses alone isn't enough to really break the game).

[Anonymous No.2239197]

>>2235969
It's a weird game. Most people seem to hate it for the strange combat and leveling mechanics, but that's the part I actually enjoy about the game. It's the plot and the characters I can't stand and are the reason I can't go back to it.

I'd love to see the systems of FFVIII in another game though.

[Anonymous No.2239209]

>>2239186
>What I'm talking about is a normal playthrough.
You do understand you can't ever talk about "normal playthroughs" when we're talking about metagame?

Normal playthroughs aren't even worth considering when you're talking about game mechanics because the only normal playthrough you can get is either your first couple of playthroughs, when you don't know much about the system, or a carefree playthrough which you do just for fun.
Normal playthrough itself is a concept that stops existing the very moment you finish a game for the first time and as such it's pointless to bring it up as every game can be even mildly challenging when you don't know how to interact with the system and you can't plan ahead.

Not to mention that no one except complete morons would say that you shouldn't level up, not to mention that the way FFVIII works in that regard is flawed as well and it's not nearly as threatening as other games such as SaGa games for instance, it's just that you don't need to do it like every other game in the series, it "might" be actually counterproductive if you're a moron who can't into basic RPG mechanics or a newbie.

And Quake is worthless, you can just slap Firaga on ATK for that, Shell, Protect and Haste to everything else and you're good to go for the first 2 discs without ever having problems.
By the time Quake begins to get relevant you should have already access to Flare or enemies from which you can draw it so you don't even need to farm cards, FFVIII does not give a shit about minmaxing unless you're talking about the last disc, and that too is debatable when I can just synthesize hero's medals all day and be literally fucking invincible.

[Anonymous No.2239215]

>>2239183
Wait, people were actually surprised by the whole amnesia thing? Made perfect sense to me.

Although I always thought the "We passed the SeeD exam together" guy was just a running gag because he wasn't part of the main cast.

[Anonymous No.2239230]

>>2239209
Leveling makes the game harder -if- you don't understand junction, and have no magic to junction.

Otherwise its fine. You get more effectiveness out of junction at lower levels then you do at higher levels (relative stats), which in conjunction with enemy scaling means that your strength to enemy strength ratio has the potential to be much higher. That being said my "first" playthrough I think I ended up getting everyone to level 99 just because I was having fun and trying to max my GF and Ultimecia was definitely a lot tougher then normal.

You don't even need to grind that much though, you don't need to junction 100 to every stat, you can just get the easy to get magic like Curaga to your health and Tornado's (which you can get 20 from Abyss Worm cards, which are fairly common) to your strength and be in good shape.

No level is -a lot- harder then Low level, but its commonly accepted that once you get Diablos you should get Enc-None asap and you should utilize it to avoid extraneous battles, and progress the story until you can get to enemies that give higher ap to exp ratio's then normal to get access to more skills.

That or you just get disc 1 Lionheart (which does not take that long, probably a few hours of cards if you're unlucky) and turn Squall into a beast.

[Anonymous No.2239235]

>>2239209
Why I like the FFVIII system is that in many RPGs, especially Final Fantasies, playing the game and trying to find everything makes you so crazy powerful that the game becomes completely mindless.

I remember my second time through FFVII wanting to see Sephiroth use Supernova because I killed him too quick the first time. But this time I had crazy counter attacks built up which I forgot to take off. So the whole final battle was my guys throwing Megalixers at Sephiroth to keep him alive long enough to be able to cast it.

In FFVIII though, leveling and finding everything makes things more challenging in a way and to me that's awesome.

[Anonymous No.2239259]

>>2239230
>but its commonly accepted that once you get Diablos you should get Enc-None asap and you should utilize it to avoid extraneous battles, and progress the story until you can get to enemies that give higher ap to exp ratio's then normal to get access to more skills.

This is why whenever I'm playing a game for the first time, especially an old game I avoid any discussion at all as much as possible. I hate knowing the "commonly accepted" strategies people use to beat games. After I've played it, if I liked it then I'll sometimes go and look into that stuff, but seeing it before hand ruins a lot of the experience for me.

[Anonymous No.2239281]

>>2239259
The thing about that is its counter-intuitive to everything you know or have seen from previous games of the same genre. Leveling is good in any other final fantasy game straight up because it makes you stronger. Where as in FF8 it makes you -and- the enemies stronger meaning the power spike from a level up is negated.

You can play FF8 the same way as other JRPG's its just the effect of a level isn't as strong.

[Anonymous No.2239305]

>>2239281
Yeah, but you can figure that out just playing it. Which is kind of more my point. It's more that hearing the most optimal way that most people do things is kind of a spoiler because to me the fun of playing a game is figuring it out.

To this day I think people who slap encounter none on as soon as they get it are kind of lame. It helps that when I played FFVIII it was new to all of us so there wasn't this notion about how you SHOULD play it, we were all just figuring it out.

[Anonymous No.2239952]

>>2239215
>Wait, people were actually surprised by the whole amnesia thing? Made perfect sense to me.

Not surprised. Just disappointed. And honestly it was really more the whole "we lived in the same orphanage" part that got under everyone's skin.

really there's no reason that had to be a secret. Hell revealing it early might help explain why all the other characters put up with Squall's BS

Unrelated.

this shit? so fucking gay.

[Anonymous No.2240342]

I frequently see people mock the idea that all of the children at the orphanage miraculously ended up coming back together again. It's constantly labeled as a plothole, yet it makes quite a lot of sense in retrospect. At the time of Edea's possession, Cid is in the process of establishing the three gardens out of the unused Cetra shelters. After Edea is possessed, Cid is left with an orphanage of children that he knows he cannot care for by himself, so he takes them along with him to his new project, the Gardens, until such time as he can find a more suitable home for them. Squall, Seifer and Zell are taken to Balamb with Cid. Zell is adopted to the Dincht Family, while Quistis is sent off to a new home, but after problems, Cid decides to bring her back to the Garden with the others, who have at this point forgotten her. The reason Squall and Seifer weren't adopted was probably because they were the two most unlikeable children. Squall, withdrawn and miserable, Seifer a bully. This does not go on to explain why exactly Selphie and Irvine were sent to different Gardens, though.

Also let's take a look on this from Cid's point of view:
>Your wife gets possessed by a sorceress from future and leaves you with children you cannot care for by yourself
>At the time you are also in middle of process of building the Gardens with some guy called NORG giving you funds for your project
>The main purpose of Gardens is to train mercenaries to fight sorceresses but due to NORG's idea it also takes up other missions in order to fund itself
>You just happen to have some orphans no one gives a fuck about at your disposal so using them with your Garden project makes sense for various reasons
>You make them use GFs so they'd forget about their past and become less emotional just in case they end up fighting your wife in future
You are now aware that Cid planned everything out and it mostly went according his plan

[Anonymous No.2240586]

>>2240342

It's not a plot hole. It's just lame. The game treats it like this huge as Empire Strikes Back reveal and it's just... nothing.

[Anonymous No.2240589]

I tend to think its the best-worst FF, or worst-best FF. Like it truly had the potential to be the best, but so much stupid shit prevented it from reaching it's true potential, and a lot of that stupid shit was REALLY stupid.

[Anonymous No.2240596]

>>2240342
It's been forever, so I can't remember shit.

Doesn't the sorceress stab squall? Does she have memory loss too? Does she allude to him being her son in the fight?

[Anonymous No.2240648]

>>2240596

with an icicle

[Anonymous No.2240662]

I enjoyed the game more than 7.

7 had a better story and characters, but 8 had a more entertaining world and battle system.

[Anonymous No.2240709]

>>2240662
>and battle system.

it's literally the same battle system. FF hasn't rocked that boat for year

[Anonymous No.2240748]

I really like FFVIII. The OST is my favorite in the series, the world is really cool, and there's a lot of totally awesome sequences. Unfortunately, there's also a ton of problems with the game: it's way too easy, the story is very dumb, the romance between squall and rinoa is terrible, and the battle system is way too easy to break.

How do you make FFVIII's gameplay interesting? No refining items? No junctioning magic to increase stats? I'm pretty sure you could beat the game without using GFs at all just by spamming limit breaks.

[NESfag No.2241048]

>>2239209
>Normal playthrough itself is a concept that stops existing the very moment you finish a game for the first time and as such it's pointless to bring it up as every game can be even mildly challenging when you don't know how to interact with the system and you can't plan ahead.

Not really, nothing's forcing not to play the game the normal way. Nothing is forcing you not to lvl up, to "kill" enemies with the card ability and to spend countless hours playing the card game just to exploit the game.

>Not to mention that no one except complete morons would say that you shouldn't level up

Yet it's brought up all the time in those kind of threads.

As for Quake again it was a random example, and i'm telling IIRC it is the strongest magic you can get OUT OF CARDs at the VERY beginning of the game, and I do mean very very beginning.

[NESfag No.2241053]

>>2239281
> Where as in FF8 it makes you -and- the enemies stronger meaning the power spike from a level up is negated.

I keep hearing that all the time but it's not true either. Lvling up will make it a LOT easier to be strong than not lvling up.
After you lvl up it will a lot easier to acquire strong magics, because they will be avalaible for draw while they wouldn't be at a low lvl; or because you get better and more item drops at higher lvls, items which you can use or turn into magics.
Also, lvling up will make it quicker to draw magic. You're more likely to draw 9 of a magic each time at a high lvl than at the beginning.

Also, logically speaking and in normal (non exploit) game conditions, the more you lvl up, the more AP you get and therefore the more usefull skills you learn, and the more stats you can junction magic to, which makes you strogn more easily as well. That is unless you're exploiting the game to get AP without getting XP, but noone should take into account exploit strategies when talking about the game in such a way; because, again, it would be like saying that in FF6, lvling up before you get good espers is counter productive and makes the game harder.

So lvling up isn't negated, you should become stronger a lot quicker than enemies due to all the possibilities the game offer you if you lvl up.

That is unless you play like a retard and ignore most of what gameplay offers; and then go blame the game for it, which is what people seem to be doing.
The problem doesn't come from the game. The problem is that the game asks of the player to do more than in other FF games, and a lot of those players won't accept it and expect of the game to be able to just "spam X button" all the way through like in all their other FF games.

[NESfag No.2241054]

>>2241053
It's actually the same for the story, which requires of the player to look for information and to think by himself (to put 2 and 2 together to understand stuff) a lot more than other FF games.

In my opinion that doesn't make the game bad, that only makes it a lot better, and it only shows what some players are. They'd rather have a streamlined mouth-feeding story and gameplay, that doesn't require them to think and to look around too much.
The funny thing is that Square listened to those people, and they made FFX and FF13; and I bet it's those same people who complained how those games were straightline corridor and how the games played themselves.

[Anonymous No.2241097]

>>2241053
I guess I played like a retard back when I was 8 years old, since I thought refining tents into curagas (for example) was obvious and I used card mod occasionally, which completely trivialized the game's difficulty. The only thing keeping FFVIII from being "spam X button" is the fact that junctioning is so ridiculously powerful that you only need to attack most bosses a couple times to win.

Could you explain how to play the game "normally"? It seems to be very unintuitive. I take it you ignore all sorts of item refining skills, ignore all cards, but what else? Can you draw spells from enemies?

[Anonymous No.2241126]

>>2239182
Agreed. B^U looks and reads downright professional in comparison to most of that autistic crap.

[Anonymous No.2241252]

>>2239045
I'm not quite sure exactly what you're asking about but I remember there were one or 2 points in the game where, if you had switched the X and O buttons' functions, you would have to switch it back to the normal functions because some events where it told you to press X or O wouldn't work with the customized controller functions

[Anonymous No.2242765]

I didn't really like it when I was younger because it became impossible when your grinded (i.e. how I played all games). When I came back as an adult, I knew all the tricks like staying a low level, high AP enemies and not ever fighting apart from bosses.

It was just boring.

[Anonymous No.2242802]

>>2235969
No, renzokuken was the shit

[NESfag No.2242813]

>>2241097
I don't see how this goes against anything I said.
BTW I don't believe you found out about refining tents into curaga at the age of 8, or if you did, it was either not on your first playthrough, or it wasn't at the beginning of the game and at a point where it became fair for you to do so.

>>2242765
>either grind like hell or don't lvl up at all
Why can't you just play a game the normal way?
But anyway, what you're saying is you didn't like the game at first because you couldn't do stupid mindless grinding like in other FF games; and then you found out grinding in FF8 meant doing tasks which are a lot more than just turning in round in the world map looking for battles and spamming X; yet you found that boring.
Grinding in FF8 is everything except boring because it requires you to learn a more complicated system and to look around everywhere for all the possibilities and to try them all to find which are the bests.
That is unless you used a guide to ruin the game to yourself, which seems to be what happened (by the sound of your sentence, when you came back to the game you "magically" knew all the tricks all of a sudden)

[NESfag No.2242824]

>>2242813
What I mean is, I'm trying to show you the problem isn't the game, but it's how you play.

Instead of trying to learn the game system, you complain it's not like others.
So, for you every game play exactly the same? Especially when that same way is flawed and can mean the possibility of mindless grinding that ruin any challenge a game can have?

Then you complain the game is boring once you find out all the tricks. If you're told all the secrets of the game, and if you're told all the exploits, of course it's going to be boring. Any game would be.

The great thing about FF8 is exactly learning its deep system. If you're willing to do so, the possibilities are incredible, and you can make 10 playthroughs, and each time you'll learn something more about the system, new better ways to go at it. No other FF game does that.
Now, if you look around for all the best ways or are told about it, it ruins the whole point of it. It would be the same for any game.
You can't blame the game for that, either.

[Anonymous No.2242913]

>>2242824
>What I mean is, I'm trying to show you the problem isn't the game, but it's how you play.

okay. Shut up. It's not my job to learn the game system. So fuck off right there. That's retarded.

If the game doesn't convey it's systems properly then its the games fault.

[NESfag No.2242918]

>>2242913
>It's not my job to learn the game system

It is at soon as you start playing the game.
This is just as if you're used to playing Mario, then play Sonic and blame the game because getting 100rings doesn't give you an extra life and because there is no flower power up.

>If the game doesn't convey it's systems properly then its the games fault.

At the beginning the game explains all the important basics little by little (not everything at once) in a clear way; and if you don't understand you can check menu and you'll find everything there is to know and more.

Honestly with this post you're just showing it's exactly like I said. You want the game to be exactly the same as the others, and say it's shit just because it's different and you were too lazy to even try to understand the system.
Or in other words:
>what's all this?! don't care...
>baawwww i can't spam just X to grind mindlessly to pretend i'm strong and good at the game, this game is shit!

[Anonymous No.2242919]

>>2242802
Holy god.
I forgot.
That game is so fucking great.

[Anonymous No.2243115]

>>2242918
Getting 100 rings does give you an extra life. Have you played Sonic?

[Anonymous No.2243153]

>>2240748

The romance between Rinoa & Squall was fine and made complete sense if, like the other anon said, you actually think about the story instead of just auto-piloting your way through the game.

Sorceresses are shown to be incredibly dangerous and brought the world to the brink of disaster. They could also bring anyone to their heel, just go back to when Edea kills the president of Galbadia and everyone keeps on cheering. They can basically make anyone do their bidding, although this is probably happening on an unconscious level considering Rinoa doesn't intentionally make anyone follow her lead.

As soon as Rinoa takes on Edea's powers, Squalls attitude completely changes and he completely ignores all his own self-preservation instincts so Rinoa can survive; he tries walking to Esthar on foot, nearly kills himself in space, etc. Same thing happened to Seifer, even Raijin & Fujin could tell, Fujin explicitly says that he's completely changed and is just being manipulated, even if Seifer himself can't see it.

You might also say that the same thing happens with Cid, he abandons the orphanage to create SeeD so he can save his wife. Doesn't have a problem forcing orphans to work as mercenaries, as long as it's going to help his wife in the future.

As for people saying FF8 was too easy... ALL Final Fantasy games are easy. Maybe the pre-FF6 ones required a bit more dull grinding, but when a 10 year old has no problem finishing them, then singling one of them out is silly.

[Anonymous No.2243223]

>>2243153
>Fujin dropping robot sentences

I've never felt so much goosebumps before.

[Anonymous No.2243228]

>>2236105
Voltaire was a hack that was jealous his country wasn't in the cool kids club because France never is

[Anonymous No.2243237]

>>2236175
man I miss Bob and George

[Anonymous No.2243243]

>>2243228
Nigger, France was raping Europe from Clovis 1 until Waterloo.

[Anonymous No.2243261]

what has the worst combat

FFVIII or Chrono Cross

[Anonymous No.2243275]

>>2243243
The Franks were German and Napoleon was Italian.

[Anonymous No.2243306]

>>2243261
Since FFVIII uses the exact same battle system that all FFs from IV to IX use and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it in IV, V, VI, VII and IX; Chrono Cross.

[Anonymous No.2243317]

In every FF8 thread there are several people who say they hate Squall because he's an emo fag that can't be liked.
I'm not really font of that misconception. I also regret that I didn't save some anon's post who pointed all the things about Squall which actually make him a great human being.
I'll talk about a few of them.

1) Squall gets shit done. He's not whining about orders, he's just there to see them through. He even accepts that he has to work under Seifer during his graduation mission and you know what? He gets shit done. When he gets sent to help Timber Owls, he accepts their retarded train robbery plan and sees it through. Squall makes a great leader and he just gets shit done.
2) He cares about others - no need to say much about this. I'm just gonna remind you all of the part when he carried Rinoa.
3) He's actually the most sensible and reasonable person in the entire FF8 world. Holy shit, just think about that ADHD-ridden Zell, or Teen-Crush Quistis, or completely character-less Selphie or that faggot Irvine, who thought keeping quiet about their common past was an okay thing to do. Squall may have his doubts and sometimes acts like a insufferable cunt, but still he's makes sense. He actually acts like someone trained at a mercanery school and tries to makes good decisions.

You may not like Squall for being introverted and overly not really nice to people on the first approach, but he gets better as a human being towards the end of the game and this was one of the most pleasant progressions in the game.

[Anonymous No.2243329]

>>2243261
Maybe you can come to your own conclusion instead of trying to fit in with the cool kids. Because you sound like an indecisive suckup with a post like that.

[Anonymous No.2243739]

>>2243153
>The romance between Rinoa & Squall was fine and made complete sense if, like the other anon said, you actually think about the story instead of just auto-piloting your way through the game.

I find the more you think about the story the less things make sense

[Anonymous No.2243758]

>>2243275
>Napoleon was Italian.
Confirmed retard

[Anonymous No.2243791]

>>2243758
>The Bonaparte (originally Buonaparte) family were from minor Italian nobility who held most of their property in the hill town of San Miniato near Florence, Italy. The name derives from Italian, buona, "good" and parte, "part" or "side".

[Anonymous No.2244439]

>>2243739

well, go into detail about what you didn't get then

[Anonymous No.2244442]

>>2243791
>Napoleon Bonaparta
>family lineage is italian
>Napoleon born in Corsica
>island belonging to France

>nah he's an italian pizza, look at all my greentext

Double retard confirmed.

[Anonymous No.2244460]

I like it much more than the average /vr/ poster. I don't bother with explaining why anymore though because people really just don't want to like the game so making points is useless.

[NESfag No.2245297]

>>2243791
This is like saying all Americans are actually not Americans because their families are originally from Europe or Africa.

[Anonymous No.2245325]

>Squall is one of the shittiest main characters to exist, evar. His last name is Leonhart, meaning "Lion Heart," meaning "fucking furfag." The player is supposed to think he's an cool, enigmatic hero, but he just comes off as a whiny bitch. At least 100 lines of his dialogue consists of an ellipsis; Sometimes two if he's feeling especially Jewish. Squall is basically Cloud from Final Fantasy 9000 (in which Aeris dies), but with brown hair and a scar on his face from being a total pussy. The reason he has this is because he sucks with his "gunblade" in one of the intro FMV's and gets cut in the face by a baby-eating superhero named Seifer. Of course, every woman loves a guy who loses a fight so this azn whore named Rinoa gets fucking wet every time she's around Squall, making the 13-year-old player masturbate every time she makes the slightest pass at him.

[Anonymous No.2245418]

>>2235969

I felt that my second playthrough was much more enjoyable. In my first time I ended up abusing summons, didn't quite get the junction system and how the GF abilities could affect my char, so I kinda fucked up. 2nd time was way better.

Also, best soundtrack in the series to me.

[Anonymous No.2245776]

>>2242913

This is what modern gamers actually believe.

[Anonymous No.2246621]

Its my third favorite final fantast behind 10 and 9

[Anonymous No.2246628]

>>2245776
You, sir, are the developers' bitch.

[Anonymous No.2246740]

>>2245776
They believe that games should clearly explain how their features and systems work? I agree.

That said FFVIII does OK explaining itself.

[Anonymous No.2247006]

[Anonymous No.2249762]

>>2237039
What? The game has a Tutorial section that explains everything. I was around 9 and I figured this shit on my own all you ever need to draw is 20 scan on each character and maybe 10 blizzard on the character that has quezacolt and by 10 I don't mean 10 time but 10 of the magic spell.

[Anonymous No.2249765]

>This whole fucking thread
Jesus fucking Christ /vr/. This entire thread is like somebody blew an airhorn in a fucking parrot sanctuary.

I liked FF8 and I would be willing to defend my stance but I'm not going to scream and shout at somebody that doesn't like it and likewise I would expect people that don't like it to grant me the same courtesy. I guess /vr/ isn't as above /v/ as it thinks it is.

[Anonymous No.2249786]

>>2242802
Every character can have a broken limit break I think Zell may be the most broken one since it's possible to do a million damage in one limit.

Just cast meltdown on every enemy to do max damage and have a good luck stat with a good str stat. Also you can buy stats up here is how it goes.

Buy tent and cottage. refine them to mega potion sell them for 375 000 profits. Buy the crown and other stuff at esthar shop. refine them to stats up. If you're too lazy just have a high luck stat on selphie and get good at using her limit break.

Nobody in the game is immune to meltdown which make the vit stat to 0 or the end selphie limit break which is an instant win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeS7otRgXHY

[Anonymous No.2249792]

>>2235969
It combined a well executed romantic plot and an innovative atmosphere. It made me actually care about its' characters on a personal level when I was like 17. Therefore, it is a good game. I wouldn't dare replaying it though.

[Anonymous No.2249794]

>>2243317
Anyone that thinks Squall is an emo is just projecting. Literally every single screenshot of Squall being emo is a moment where the game gives you multiple options and they chose the emo option.

[Anonymous No.2249809]

>>2243317
Anyone who uses the word "emo" doesn't even know what the word means anyway. And most likely didn't even play the game properly.

[Anonymous No.2249815]

>>2249794
I think it's poking fun of the fact he's the top student of his school, popular as fuck with the girls, surrounded by friends but still chooses to be a recluse for no seemingly reason.
He's saske before saske was saske.

[Anonymous No.2249818]

>>2249815
He's a fucking normal dude, I don't know how people missed that. Just because somebody is popular doesn't mean they are going to be extroverted and outgoing. Squall was spaghetti as fuck and I found it endearing.

[Anonymous No.2249828]

>>2249815
He explains it himself on disc 3 that he was like this on purpose because he's scared to get close to people and them going away or dying. He's scared of being alone because of the trauma in his childhood with his sister leaving.
He even mention he dislike that aspect of himself.

Honestly I really liked Squall as a character.
Also dat goofy Laguna going from random peon in the army to planetary hero. Just going to save Ellone who he wasn't even related to felt really awesome. I like character like him who do character relief and are the hero type. His friends were great too.

[Anonymous No.2249834]

>>2249815
>top student of his school
Probably because he focuses entirely on his studies rather than gi-
>popular as fuck with the girls
The whole Quistis thing is funny as the moment he rejects her is the moment most people came to dislike him for not taking the quick sex route.

[Anonymous No.2249842]

[Anonymous No.2249852]

I wanted to like this game too, because I like sappy romantic storylines. Sadly, this theme is utterly killed by completely unlikable characters. I really hated the combat system too.

[Anonymous No.2249880]

>>2249852
>I really hated the combat system too.
FFVIII uses the exact same combat system as all FFs from IV to IX use how come it's only bad in VIII?

[Anonymous No.2249886]

>>2249828
that's cool and all but it's still p. emo
>>2249818
a normal dude who happens to be talented at everything and loved by everyone, yeah, right

[Anonymous No.2249897]

>>2249886
He wasn't though.

[Anonymous No.2249928]

>>2249897
....
whatever...

[Anonymous No.2250174]

>>2249828
>He explains it himself on disc 3 that he was like this on purpose because he's scared to get close to people and them going away or dying

you men the sister he didn't even remember he had because LOLAMENSIA?

[Anonymous No.2250181]

right at the beginning he gets all the chicks in class swoon over him, then quists at the dinosaur garden, then rinoa at the ball, and yet he rejects everyone because being a SeeD is suffering

I appreciate you guys giving a fresh positive look on the game but I just will never relate to his character.

[Anonymous No.2250184]

Right at the beginning he gets all the chicks in classroom swoon over him for passing the seed examination, then quistis at the dinosaur garden, then rinoa at the ball, and yet he rejects everyone because being a SeeD is suffering.

I appreciate you guys giving a fresh positive look on the game but I just can't relate to his character.

[Anonymous No.2250190]

>>2250184
Not just women, he's also good at making male friends too. Zell keeps asking to see his gunblade. Irvine is buddy buddy withing seconds of meeting him.

[Anonymous No.2250195]

You guys keep pushing your're fanfic about him being just a normal dude but the game makes clear that he and seifer are the top seed graduates in the school. Cid even gives you a "special mission" to protect the president right off the bat.

[Anonymous No.2250210]

>Squall is emo
>implying

[Anonymous No.2250219]

>>2250195

how bout the fact that he makes him leader of all of Garden for no reason beyond DESTINY when he has at best experience leading 3-6 idiots and never mind the fact that there are people more qualified right before them like Xu and Qui...Xu. There's Xu

[Anonymous No.2250243]

>>2250190
That's because Zell is a chickenwuss with no friends and Irvine is sexual predator that didn't care who he dipped his wick into but also didn't want any senseless competition..

[Anonymous No.2250249]

>>2250210
Ch-cherry picking!

[Anonymous No.2250284]

>the word "emo" comes from genre of softcore punk music and have later on has been used to describe overly sensitive and emotional people
>show zero interest in music and little to no emotion
>get shit done and go out of your way to avoid bothering people with your bullshit
>people still constantly call you emo
>mfw

[Anonymous No.2250295]

>>2250284
He literally only acts emo if you make him act emo, see >>2250210

People that call him emo are projecting their own insecurities.

[Anonymous No.2250436]

>>2250295

there are plenty of times when he's outright cuntish without you having to do anything.

for instance he refuses to give Zell so much as a handshake

[Anonymous No.2250440]

>>2250436
To be fair, Zell is a weenie.

[Anonymous No.2250449]

>>2250284
yeah that's exactly what people mean

[Anonymous No.2250451]

>>2250295
I'll never get over him being a dick to quistis for no apparent reason
he's also a dick to rinoa

to each its own, man
...
...
whatever

[Anonymous No.2251102]

>>2250451
....
whatever

[Anonymous No.2251107]

>>2250440

to be fair, basic manners. I mean Jesus Christ really. There's no reason to be rude.

[Anonymous No.2251206]

Dashboard Confessional once wrote in an interview that they were influenced by FF8 Squall the emo

[Anonymous No.2251231]

I stopped somewhere in the 2nd disc because I got so fucking bored.

FF7's materia system was better than Junctioning, and I didn't really care for any of the characters or story. Triple Triad was pretty fun though, but not nearly as some people make it out to be.

[Anonymous No.2251271]

>>2236129
I thought the different rulesets made it more interesting actually.

[Anonymous No.2251275]

>>2251271

a trainwreck is interesting that doesn't make it not horrific. A lot of those rules could make the game unplayable.

[Anonymous No.2251290]

>>2250451
Christ, he's afraid to make attachments to anyone because of the abandonment issues from his past. Even if he doesn't remember Ellone he remembers being all alone. Being a dick is his way of keeping people away, because if you don't get close to anyone they can't abandon you later.

[Anonymous No.2251303]

>>2238489
I know this was from way back in the thread, but this has been bothering me for a while, and I needed to elaborate on it.

I really hate when RPGs attach stat gains to weapons, armor, or anything else that you can't get until later progression, though that's partially because I'm more used to games like Baldur's Gate where there's actually hard encounters (Or were, before figuring out magic missile spam). It causes me to worry about possible late game fights that I won't be able to handle unless I gain stats efficiently, and while of course this isn't true with Final Fantasy games usually, it still causes me to stay lower level than I should be to save them for better gains. I just feel like its a really poor system to use, because even if the game doesn't require you to have high stats later on, you have no way of knowing until later on.

[Anonymous No.2251304]

>>2251290

see here's where you seem to be having a problem.

Just because we know WHY he's dick doesn't mean he's suddenly not a dick. At the end of the day he's still a stick.

here's one other problem.

HE WAS NEVER FUCKING ALONE! EVER! He was raised in an orphanage surrounded by people who love him. He didn't want for anything, he never went cold or hungry. Edea was there for him. Cid was there for him. The other kids where there for him.

So don't feed me this sob story BS because that's all it is. BS.

[NESfag No.2251826]

>>2251304
I'm sure you know what it feels to be an oprhan who never knew his parents, and who the only person he truely loves at a young age.

Everything about Squall's personality, atitude, and the change of it during the course of the game is realistic.

But you know, maybe that's the problem. It's probably too realistic for you guys to believe it within a "final fantasy" world.

I have never, ever, ever, seen anyone complain about Cloud and the way he takes himself for someone else.

I have never either seen anyone complain about how in FF7 the game lies to the player about the story, and the plot twist consists in "oh btw, we lied to you! Gotcha ha ha !"

To me all of these are much bigger bullshit than anything ever done in FF8.

I've also never seen anyone complain about Tifa knowing that Cloud lies, yet won't tell anything until the end of the game.
Yet, everyone complains about how Irvine remembers the orphanage and how they all grew up together but doesn't tell anyone. Both cases are very similar, and imo Tifa's one is more bullshit.

[NESfag No.2251827]

>>2251304
I'm sure you know what it feels to be an oprhan who never knew his parents, and then to lose the only person you truely love at a young age.

Everything about Squall's personality, atitude, and the change of it during the course of the game is realistic.

But you know, maybe that's the problem. It's probably too realistic for you guys to believe it within a "final fantasy" world.

I have never, ever, ever, seen anyone complain about Cloud and the way he takes himself for someone else.

I have never either seen anyone complain about how in FF7 the game lies to the player about the story, and the plot twist consists in "oh btw, we lied to you! Gotcha ha ha !"

To me all of these are much bigger bullshit than anything ever done in FF8.

I've also never seen anyone complain about Tifa knowing that Cloud lies, yet won't tell anything until the end of the game.
Yet, everyone complains about how Irvine remembers the orphanage and how they all grew up together but doesn't tell anyone. Both cases are very similar, and imo Tifa's one is more bullshit.

[Anonymous No.2252148]

>>2251827
The key difference is, Cloud's not a whiny bitch who runs around acting like he's better than everyone when he's really just a idiotic Holden Caulfield esque twat.


>I've also never seen
anyone complain about Tifa knowing that Cloud lies, yet won't tell anything until the end of the game.

You must not go to many FF7 threads. People constantly comment on what a shallow vapid useless bimbo Tifa is.

[Anonymous No.2252283]

>>2252148
>The key difference is, Cloud's not a whiny bitch who runs around acting like he's better than everyone when he's really just a idiotic Holden Caulfield esque twat.

Read the thread, twat.

[Anonymous No.2252304]

>>2251275
>A lot of those rules could make the game unplayable.

Like? While I found same wall to be annoying I did not exactly found it hard to play the game even with it.

[Anonymous No.2252320]

>>2251827
>I have never either seen anyone complain about how in FF7 the game lies to the player about the story, and the plot twist consists in "oh btw, we lied to you! Gotcha ha ha !"

I hated that actually. It's hamfisted writing. I think they changed the story midway due to time constraints and budget.

[Anonymous No.2252329]

It lacks a clear direction, it lacks coherency.
Most of its individual elements are brilliant, the art design, some of the game mechanics and what is arguably Nobuo Uematsu's greatest score, but It's pretty clear that both Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Ito got lost on the cubicle farm as they walked amongst their army of individual artists and asset makers eager to prove themselves to them. It was the first Final Fantasy that feels like it was designed by a comity instead of a tightly directed team.

[Anonymous No.2252409]

>>2239952
frankly it was shoehorned in because of all those shitty predestination paradox

the only way they could happen is if everyone literally forgot what the fuck everything was about

[Anonymous No.2253047]

>>2251304
It only takes one traumatic event to psychologically scar a kid for life. You can be surrounded by people and still feel like the lonliest kid in the world.

[Anonymous No.2253610]

>>2250219
Xu was the glue that kept Garden together. She never slobbers of Squalls like the rest, and she and and whatshisface ran a good ship.

[Anonymous No.2253617]

It's funny when people hate on Squall and call him emo just because they can't relate.
Squall is like the only FF hero I can actually relate too, so I really enjoy FFVIII. Still though, I enjoy the other FFs too, even if a lot of the characters make a lot of weird choices and act very different than I would ever do. I'm hoping there will be more Squall like characters in future FFs!

[Anonymous No.2253630]

>>2253617
>I'm hoping there will be more Squall like characters in future FFs!

Nooooooooooo...

[Anonymous No.2253635]

<-------------------
Squall IRL

[Anonymous No.2253667]

Why did Seifer replaced my Odin with that useless Gilgamesh? I exploited a bug that makes Odin appear every enemy encounter and now he's no more. No more Zantetsuken. wtf?

Then after a grueling 54 minutes of killing 20 tonberrys my brainless little bro decided to unplug the ps1 adaptor from the outlet as a prank. I ain't even mad

[Anonymous No.2253683]

>>2253667
Serves you right for cheating.

Seriously though, there is a way to not have Seifer kill him (which he always does). That way is to obtain him after that Seifer fight.

[Anonymous No.2253707]

>>2253667
Gilgamesh can appear and instakill (or not) even bossfights though, unlike Odin.

>Gilgamesh oneshots Ultimecia
>Das grin

[Anonymous No.2253729]

>>2253630
Squall was a pretty good character though.

He's this sad guy who has no real goals and can't make friends, and people worry about him and try to talk to him cause he's like, not that bad a dude, but he just can't figure any shit out. He gets pulled back and forth by life's bullshit in a world that doesn't make a lot of fucking sense and gets manipulated by his school administrator and by pretty girls and gets pushed around by some narcissistic douchebag, and then some all powerful sorceress bitch stabs him through the chest with a block of ice and he spends the next three discs learning to feel gratitude and appreciation for his life before he gets swallowed by the void.

And you know what

that's pretty alright.

It's not like most real people are any less of a sad sack or selfish twit. Most real people are faking it too.

[NESfag No.2253741]

>>2253667
>Why did Seifer replaced my Odin with that useless Gilgamesh?

I'm sorry, what? Seifer didn't "replace" anyone.