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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmE4fKHKXy8&hd=1 22 years ago, I opened the jewel case to the brand new copy of Final Fantasy VIII, inserted the disc into my original Playstation Entertainment System, selected "New Game" and watched the best introduction sequence to an RPG I have seen to this day (I may have restarted the game just to watch it again after the first time I saw it). 20-something years later and I am still in love with this beautiful and broken game.  wikipedia posted:Final Fantasy VIII is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation console. Released in 1999, it is the eighth main installment in the Final Fantasy series. Set on an unnamed fantasy world with science fiction elements, the game follows a group of young mercenaries, led by Squall Leonhart, as they are drawn into a conflict sparked by Ultimecia, a sorceress from the future who wishes to compress time. During the quest to defeat Ultimecia, Squall struggles with his role as leader and develops a romance with one of his comrades, Rinoa Heartilly. Released after the acclaimed 7th chapter of the Final Fantasy series, it was destined to become somewhat of a shadow to its predecessor. But I assure you, this game has it all:
The story follows Squall, a closed-off nihilistic-seeming student at Balamb Garden (School For Teenage Soldiers!), working his way towards become a member of the infamous SeeD force, who are dispatched on missions on behalf of the Garden's upper-echelon. Shortly after his initial acceptance into SeeD, Squall is ordered to lead a team in a handful of missions, the second of which he is sent to link up with a resistance group in a particularly small town close to full-blown occupation by an outside force. It is within this mission where he meets Rinoa, the love interest of the story. From here we wind into several other character reveals, plot revelations, as well as a number of daunting twists, and end up into a full-blow prophecy involving events as overwhelming as time/space-manipulation.  It often feels as if there isn't too wide of a spectrum beyond love/hate for this particular entry in the series, which I think has to do with the narrative structure as well as the deviation from certain elements of the earlier series. I do believe a lot of the frustration with the game can be traced back to an arguably poor English translation of the dialogue, but others will argue that this just encourages interesting theory and general thoughts on some of the ambiguity here (see later sections).  While the battles within FFVIII remain quite traditionally turn-based, the game presented players with a new character configuration system known as Junctioning. This involved using magic obtained (in one way or another) by a character to "junction" to different attributes, and eventually in a way where they could affect attack/defense.  This system can be busted in pretty glaring ways, leading to carrying you through parts of the game with ease, but it also offers a way to explore different configurations with the underlying elements and different challenges alternative to normal linear gameplay. Players can easily go down a very long and laborious rabbit hole of playing Triple Triad (FFVIII's Card mini-game) for hours upon hours in order to convert cards to powerful magic for junctioning purposes, for example.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o5UEudTJ1U&hd=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRujQkxQ4MM&hd=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryjEzpIDyAE&hd=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5OsMJUVXYA&hd=1   SPOILERS ABOUND
 (Credit to forums user Electromax)  zedprime posted:FF8 has a transoceanic rail line and a continent that was destroyed by the moon in the ancient prehistoric times of 50 years ago. Barudak posted:FFVIII has a closed time loop and conscious transitioning through time and space and villainesses plan to delete the parts of time she doesn't care for that has been ongoing before you find out she exists and the god of their setting got their rear end kicked by human beings and ran away. https://twitter.com/RooneyMcNibNug/status/1407723367638130691 So go ahead, post what you love about FFVIII! Post what you hate about FFVIII! Post your arguably rational and/or absolutely-unhinged theories! Post music! Post videos! But please do use spoiler tags when necessary. Rooney McNibnug fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Feb 16, 2022 |
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Dec 10, 2021 02:36
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Also, please post memes.
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Dec 10, 2021 02:44
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SetsunaMeioh posted:I've grown to like Squall a lot as an adult. When I first played the game in my early teens, he just kinda...existed. I didn't feel any real connection to him, but I also didn't realize the level of abandonment issues he has until I was an adult. I feel this. I used to make fun of his character a bit, but it really sunk in during a replay just what makes someone get that way.
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Dec 10, 2021 03:01
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NikkolasKing posted:Pictured: A random encounter in FFVIII. Another thing I love about this game. You get goofy-rear end enemies like this, but at the same time you have, in my opinion, some of the scariest versions of classic FF enemies. Take FFVIII's Marlboro, for instance:   Huge. And smiling, because they know you are in as much trouble as you know you are in right now.
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Dec 10, 2021 19:24
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Electromax posted:Gonna spam my FF8 stuff in here as well because I just did a big project about it recently and this thread didn't exist yet and I fully support it. This is all _really_ good, thank you for sharing - I will definitely credit you for the map I included in the OP as well 
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Dec 15, 2021 06:01
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Yes, there is a lot of awesome random and non-conventional quests you can take in this game, as well as some item-driven ones. One of my favorite goofy example is Zell's Love Quest: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Combat_King_(Final_Fantasy_VIII)#Combat_King_003_sidequest 
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Dec 15, 2021 19:45
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I will die on that stupid hill.
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Dec 16, 2021 19:25
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It's canon. I hear his voice when I read the dialogue.
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Dec 16, 2021 19:25
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you can use fuel for: a.) gas for your car b.) bullets for your gun
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Dec 17, 2021 20:33
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I don't know if its worth adding a section for Speedruns and LPs in the OP, but this is the only FFVIII Speedrun I have watched all the way through so far. It's pretty good, and they even all sing Eyes on Me together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSF9-3KdauA
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Dec 22, 2021 19:48
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I said come in! posted:One of my friends is going to be playing Final Fantasy VIII for the first time ever, and streaming it on Twitch https://twitch.tv/karkalla if anyone is interested in seeing someone play the original PS1 release completely blind. They stream every weekday at 10am pacific time, so will be live in the next hour. Going to watch this from the start, thanks for sharing.
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Dec 22, 2021 20:05
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Shoehead posted:Luzbelheim is a gross transphobe GDQ keep having on for some reason Gah that loving sucks... I don't really know about anyone in that video :/
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Dec 22, 2021 20:38
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lol at this (we've all been there): https://clips.twitch.tv/KitschyCheerfulWolverineGivePLZ-CbLUE12AFBI5GBGq
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Dec 30, 2021 18:34
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https://twitter.com/MOOMANiBE/status/1259618332333891585
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Dec 30, 2021 19:56
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Bongo Bill posted:I seem to recall seeing some flavor text to the effect that they negotiated an armistice whereby the Galbadians would retain control of the antenna tower but not keep an armed presence in the city proper. However, it's possible that I just made that up. Dollet has a pretty interesting story, imo: https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Dollet “wikia” posted:Together with Esthar, Dollet was founded by the Centra civilization, which controlled the entire southern continent. When Lunar Cry destroyed the Centra civilization, Dollet carried on as the Holy Dollet Empire, and eventually controlled the entire Galbadian continent as well as Balamb. During a military conflict, Balamb declared independence and seceded from the empire.[1] 80 years ago, Galbadia and Timber gained independence, while Dollet was reduced to a small duchy in the northeastern corner of the Galbadian continent.
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Dec 31, 2021 16:54
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https://i.imgur.com/8fPdgMy.mp4 e: audio on
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Jan 3, 2022 17:40
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I said come in! posted:Karkalla got a PocketStation, so she is playing the Chocobo mini-game that comes with Final Fantasy VIII. Those things are pretty cute. iirc the Steam version of FFVIII (both original and "remastered" comes with a digital version of this mini-game? I have them but have never tried it yet.
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Jan 4, 2022 19:42
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Sally Sprodgkin posted:i love ff8 There are some slightly up-tempo piano versions of this track I really like too. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOJPDjfZ4Vc
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Jan 11, 2022 21:37
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https://twitter.com/mcguinnessjohn/status/1492277653998505985
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Feb 14, 2022 03:43
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jiggerypokery posted:I got completely stuck with the boss at the end of the missile base on my first playthrough when I was 9 or 10 years old. This was me then as well.
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Feb 16, 2022 20:13
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Dark_Swordmaster posted:I had forgotten that one. Even the parade was kind of fun. VIII has "Squall! punch and block the Galbadian paratrooper!" and "Laguna! Block and slash at the very real dragon with this prop sword!"
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Feb 17, 2022 02:13
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Dark_Swordmaster posted:Boy do I literally not remember these events. They are forgettable!
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Feb 17, 2022 17:26
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How have I not noticed the great Galbadia Team Mascot this whole time...
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Feb 24, 2022 02:06
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Spent the last weekend ripping the tracks off of this, so that I could have uncompressed quality files, since I am a mega-dork:   No direct character themes, but having some that are thematic of multiple relationships (especially romances). Truly "living in the moment" compositions from Uematsu.
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Nov 1, 2023 20:17
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