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Developer:
Squaresoft
Publisher: Squaresoft-Electronic
Arts
System Requirements: Playstation,
Memory Card (Also available for the PC)
I Recommend: Playstation
2 with Smoothing ON, Duel Shock Controller, Plenty of spare
time. |
Crazyface Award! |
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Ah ha! Final Fantasy...
on of the most successful game series in history that is to
some people more like a religion than a game (who I won't
mention in fear of getting my ass kicked). Squaresoft amazed
the game community in late 1997 with Final Fantasy 7. When
News broke out that FF8 was in Development, every one have
extremely high expectations. Some where afraid that FF8 would
not live up to the Final Fantasy Legacy.
You can put those
fears aside because Final Fantasy 8 rocks. Just starting up
the game rewards you with one of the most exciting game intros
ever to grace your TV screen. You play the Role of Squall
Lionheart, a shy and antisocial student who is attending Balamb
Garden. A school dedicated to training students to become
SeeDs, hired mercenaries. Later Squall bumps in to a women
named Riona, and his adventures begin henceforth. During his
adventures more characters fall into play. Squall's Instructor
Qunitinis Trepe. The bubbly pop girl Selphine Tilmitt. The
impulsive Zell Dincht. The sensitive lady's man Irvine Kinneas.
Lastly the annoyingly confident Seifer Almasy, Squall rival.
All characters contribute to a epic drama.
What makes Final
Fantasy so different than other Console RPGs is the Junction
system. When you acquire a Guardian Force (or GF) you can
link it's abilities to your characters, giving that character
certain powers. GFs gain experience with the party and you
can select which ability a GF can learn. There is no MP in
this game, instead you 'draw' magic out of you enemies, which
you can cast or save to Junction with you GF. With a GF junctioned,
you can summon the GF to do massive damage to your enemies.
Unfortunately the animations, while breutifly animated take
forever to finish. Your only option in most boss battles is
to use GF summons, and seeing the same animation 100's of
times is redundant. You can't skip them no matter how much
you want to.
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Squall
attacking the enemy
The Draw
and Junctions features are innovative compared to the Materia
systems in FF7
Summon
spells are sure pretty... too bad they take so damn long!
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The Graphics themselves
are very well done and push the Playstation to its limits. There
is no slowdown, even on graphic intensive GF summons, FF8 never
skips a beat. The pre rendered backgrounds that make up the world
are detailed and gorgeous. You can tell Square has put allot of
effort to make everything look perfect. Many FMV sequences await
to advance the story and some are even interactive (kindof)! I like
how the characters are not Deformed, they look more realistic. I
also like how the entire party is shown on the screen and not just
the main character. I tired of sauser-plate eyed girls in CRPGs,
I'm glad Square did something different.
Music, a important aspect
of any game, stands out, but is not as good as in previous FF games
(FF6 comes to mind, it has the most familiar tunes) The Battle songs
can get annoying after a while, but most of the field music is excellent.
My only gripe is the sound effects, which out like they came out
of a Atari 2600 game. Cutting blade edges sound like tin dings,
call me picky but I would enjoy real sound effects, thank you.
Story is dramatic as
I said earlier, but I wish Squall wasn't such a ass to everyone,
he's like that the first half of the game. There where times when
I wanted to grab Squall by his hair and slap some sense into him.
The game translation is well done. There is a few grammatical errors
(Like when NORG said "Those pathfectic wedding couple's".)
but they are few and far between.
Final Fantasy is a great
game, with a involving story and a intricate battle system with
plenty of play time. Go get it.
-Chip
Scheppel
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Good
Press
+Junction
and Draw System
+Nice
fluent animations
+Heartening
Story
+Memorable
Characters
+Long
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BaaaaD
Press
+GF
animations are long and unstoppable
+Squall
is a bastard (until the end of disk 2)
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Total
9.2 out of 10
FF8 may not be
as epic as FF7, or have memorable music like FF6, but the
awesome Junction system and terrific story makes Final Fantasy
a worthy addition to any gamer's library.
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