I found VIII to be my narrow favorite of the three at the time, with it’s colorful graphics, interesting weapons (I’m another Gunblade fan), characters that you could almost relate to, and incredible musical score (I used to always say that VIII’s OST didn’t need as many revisions of it as VII did because they got it right the first time).

I also enjoyed the battle system, since drawing and junctioning magic along with more accessible limit breaks allowed for more of a character-centric fighting experience, versus depending almost solely on summons for the more difficult battles. I was especially a fan of Zell’s Duel, since you could mix his combinations up, or be really evil and spam them terribly depending on the circumstances.

The overall story took a bit of warming up to, but I found that there was a good blend of action and suspense to keep me in it. Squall and Laguna’s “story within a story” was also a nice touch. Though I was a bit confused by it at first, I liked how it all came together in the end.

While I feel that LoD has held up better over the years and is more deserving of a story continuation, if VIII pops up on the PSN, I’d definitely buy it again, even with a “Square-Tax”.

Squall is really cool character and I like how some of the dialogue sequences play out (although some of them are a little cheesy). One the things I distinctly remember liking about Squall is that for nearly every one of his conversation replies one of the choices is almost always “…” Like as in “I don’t care enough about what you’re saying to warrant a response.”

I’ve heard people complain about the Draw/Junction magic system, but it’s still my favorite battle system. The reason is that it allows your characters to get really powerful, really fast if you know what you’re doing. The thing about this game is the enemies level up WITH your characters. So you actually want to stay as low level as possible and then raise your stats through the roof by junctioning drawn magic.

I’ve beat this game several times and each time it becomes easy and funner to play.

Gameplay-wise I can see why some people don’t like it. I admit I like summons being more than a powerful spell like in VII, but I think they were too crucial in battle. The fact you had to watch animation constantly got tedious. On other hand, I loved limit break system. The risk reward of staying in low HP in an active time battle system was a great combination. Also made the limit breaks seem like a last ditch act of desperation. The leveling system was interesting the way you only needed 1000 points for every level and enemies leveled with you. It kept the game from feeling too grindy level wise and rather you grinded for ability points for your guardian forces. Finally, The inner-child in me will always love gunblades. I mean come on, it’s a gun AND a sword, and you press R1 to fire it as you slash an enemy…so rad.

Put it all together with a pretty and consistent presentation, including a great soundtrack and it is one of favorite games.

…Oh and Triple Triad…need I say more?

I dropped FF8 at the same time as you Mike lol. I eventually picked it up again and beat it (with some Gameshark help, because I was a cheater back then lol) and it took me two copies to get through skipping FMV’s. As of right now, FF6 and FF12 are the only ones I haven’t beaten (I don’t count FF11), and out of all of those FF8 is probably the second to worst in my opinion. Worst FF being FF2 lol.

I have to ask though. How come you dropped FF6 Mike? I always hear that it’s the best one of the series. I personally wanted to beat the first 6 in order, and that’s why I haven’t gotten to it yet. But if you don’t plan on getting back to it, I’ll take it off of your hands If I recall correctly, you were playing the GBA version, right?

I still have a soft spot for the game, and I always have to jump to its defense when no one else around me will. I still don’t get how it turned out to be the “black sheep” of the series. Squall gets bashed for being “emo” (yeah, I know), and I feel like asking those people if they paid attention to his character after the first few hours. Sure, he starts out kind of cold and brooding, but I would say he turns out to be a capable leader by the end. As for the gameplay complaints, I think people just weren’t used to the junction and drawing systems, which is fine but I really enjoyed using them.

Overall, I’m a proud member of the FFVIII defense force.

That said, I can remember how little I cared about getting this game compared to getting my Dreamcast. It was a second thought for a long time. Then I borrowed a copy of the game from a friend, who borrowed it from HIS friend. All I can remember was my utter disdain for the draw system and the fact that my friend had a falling out with his friend, so somehow, that gave my friend permission to “give” me that copy of FF VIII, which I still have to this day. Don’t really feel too proud of that considering, but, hey…

Sadly, by the time my true favorite–IX–came out I believe it was only I and another who were playing the games feverously. I’ve got a tale to tell for IX myself, but let’s just say it was a memorable Christmas I got it.