The Quest to Finish Final Fantasy 8: Disc 1

Seifer in the intro cutscene of Final Fantasy 8

Months ago, I told readers that I was going to try to finally finish Final Fantasy 8. It's September now, but I'm already hooked on playing through disc two.

As much as I hated the first part, I really can't help but fall in love with the post-collegiate group of magical knights in this game.

I almost quit the game from the start. The first part was more like a boring, tedious session of collecting magic. Unlike every other Final Fantasy, this one requires characters to collect their magic from other enemies by using the draw command in battle. Sometimes battles turn into extremely long draw-fests, in which players must draw for a half hour just to collect the maximum amount of magic.

Don't worry, this will only take an hour or so...

I stuck with it, because the atmosphere of Final Fantasy 8 is more stunning than many other RPGs. This time, I was living in a beautiful academy that resembled my years in college. Compared to the dark, dingy wasteland of Fallout 3, this place is like a virtual heaven.

The story also plays out differently than any other Final Fantasy game. Instead of an overly epic storyline, Final Fantasy 8 is more like a slice-of-life game. It takes people into the day-to-day life of a magical knight squad. I grew more attached to Squall, as he moved up the ranks. Near the end of the first disc, he courageously led his team in an attempt to assassinate a sorceress in an epic parade sequence.

The outfits of the main characters impressed me the most. Squall has a smooth space cowboy uniform, with two belts, a rugged leather jacket and a gunblade. Selphie sports a chic one-piece dress. Rinoa looks especially beautiful in her blue sleeveless jacket, as long you try to ignore those cute wings on the back.

I still have a few gripes about the magic micromanagement system throughout the game. I spent more time figuring out the best way to properly distribute my magic amongst my characters. Each individual character can only hold up to 32 different spells at once.

However, the weird minigames and collectible magic quests actually grew on me as I wandered through the city of Timber. I always discovered at least one noteworthy magic spell or card to collect. Even after collecting the maximum amount of magic, I could convert my lower-level magic into mid-level magic, as long as my guardian force summon monsters learned the proper abilities. The card game was also a fun diversion from all the random battles.

Technically, Final Fantasy 8 doesn't have the best graphics anymore. It looks more like a glorified version of King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow. The old CGI graphics and polygon character models didn't age very gracefully over the years. The charming story is really what sets this epic game apart from many of the fantasy games in the FMV era. Instead of using the graphics to make everything look real, Squaresoft used the CGI cutscenes to emphasize the heavy emotions of the storyline.

By the time I finished the last fight at the end of disc one, I was glad that I had spent so much copious time. I don't think I've ever had this much fun leveling up my characters and building up a super-powerful collection of monster cards. I'd probably spent too much time oogling over my card collection and all the beautiful girls in my party, but I loved every second of it.

I'm already working on disc two. Be sure to read my article on it once I'm finished with part two.

What were your first impressions of Final Fantasy 8? More importantly, will Jonathan ever complete his endless challenge to finally finish the game? Feel free to write your thoughts in the comments below.

Tags: Final Fantasy 13, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 8, Dungeons and Dragons

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Danny Concepcion

October 12, 2011

Final Fantasy 8 was my first RPG, which caused me to believe all the other RPG's were the oddballs. I liked the "trigger" system and that I didn't have to equip armor and weapons. To this day I still get bored of looking at weapon stats. Oh, and be sure to draw from every single boss, just to be safe.

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Jonathan Oyama

FF8 really had that effect on me. After that game, I really couldn't look at RPGs the same way, until Persona 3 and 4 came around. The make-your-own-weapon system made equipment much less of a hassle. FF13 tried to implement that, but it had the silly idea of making weapons out of items dropped from monsters, rather than from monster card transformations.

It's a good idea to draw from bosses. Whenever I reach the end of disc one, I always forget to draw Carbuncle from the lizard monsters. Man, I hated myself after that mistake. I had to start over, because I only kept two or three save games at the time.

But I've learned from those days. Heck, I even know the infinite money technique. I love breaking the system in this game.

Layton Shumway

To be sure, FF8 is a broken-ass game, but it's my favorite of the PS1 era -- maybe my favorite post-FF6. Good stuff, Jonathan.

Dan Cox

I blazed my way through the first disc of Final Fantasy VIII when I originally borrowed it from a friend. Within a few days and a couple sesisons of gaming, I had made it up to the assassination attempt you mentioned. I was ready for the next disc. But my friend was working at a slower pace. He would not give me the second disc, the one he was still on, until he was done.

Months later, I had managed to play through those same sections two more times, each time taking more and more time to stretch out the experience. For years afterward, I was burned out on first disc of Final Fantasy VIII and, after losing my save file, refused to ever play it again. Thankfully, I was lent a copy for the PC and finally finsihed it. It's now one of my favorite RPGs.

It does get better. Keep going, Jonathan.

October 13, 2011

I will. Thanks Dan.

Believe it or not, I also have a tough time getting past the second disc. The disc starts on a strange note with that Laguna flashback and the cute xylophone-ish music. It certainly gets better near the end of the section, but I still feel weird whenever I enter into those Laguna sequences.

But I'm on a roll with my current party. I'll see how quickly I can progress through the Fisherman's Horizon section.

John Michael

October 14, 2011

I must have played the game three times when I was a teenager. Having lost my copy a few years ago, I bought it off of PSN 4 months ago, though I have yet to replay it. Too many games on my pile of shame to revisit old favourites right now.

In many ways it's my least favourite of the psone sequels, but in other ways, it stands as my favourite of the series. If I were to rate the games in order of best to worst, I have no idea where I would put FF8. I mean, there are moments where, from a gameplay standpoint, the game is gangbusters. But there are other times when it is extremely tedious and, quite frankly, boring.

Still, I have some great memories associated with the game.

October 15, 2011

It's a weird game, because it forces people to take more time than usual. The second disc literally spends a lot of time in a tower dungeon. I used to hate that tower.

Nowadays, I just take as much time as I want. It's a great diversion from work at my desk. I can just fight a bit, pause, work, then return to the game. It's much more convenient, compared to an intense shooter-RPG like Mass Effect.

I think I have a greater appreciation for long JRPGs today. I wish that today's RPGs wouldn't get me so frustrated. Man, I hated my first big boss fight in Mass Effect. I probably chose the wrong planet to begin with, but at least I finally realized that I could upgrade my weapons and armor. That made my life a little easier. Lol.