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How did Final Fantasy VIII become so hated ?

Because the story got really crazy at the end and the draw/junction system broke/made it too easy to break the game.

Huh. I came into this thread wanting go "who the hell hated the game?", but after remembering how the second half was - I can understand why.

It did hit the "excuse me, what now?" in the story department at the third quarter of the game.

But, to me though, I really loved the game and despite the weird plot twist, the ending really legit made my stupid kid eyes cry with the song they used.

Until now, it's one of my favourite songs to guilty pleasure listen to.

It was a beautiful ending despite the odd storybeat.
 

Numenorean

Member
I played back when was released. The problem was
A) it wasnt VII
B) it bacame very tedious after the first half or so. I remember that the junction system was so overwhelming for me back then and the story became so weird that I lost interest totally.
 

OsirisBlack

Banned
Because the story got really crazy at the end and the draw/junction system broke/made it too easy to break the game.
I mean there is literally a way to win FFVII without touching the controller if you know how to abuse the Materia system.
The story got a bit weird but I actually liked VIII more than VII when they first released. Intergrade has done a lot to change that but I still like original VIII more than VII.

Also who the hell hates VIII?
 
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Somoza

Member
I loved the story, but the junction/pairing summon stuff was trash for me and keeps me from re-playing it again after 2 decades because i still remember it was a headache to deal with. At least for young me.
 
I find the story very lame and I hate Laguna and that whole arc, but I still prefer FFVIII over IX ( yes, the characters in 9 are even worse, except for Vivi). That's my personal take anyway. I think FF8 Gameplay and world is better than 9, 13, and 15.
 
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Kev Kev

Member
7 was bad too. People just realizing FF was never that great
Angry Work GIF
 
Was literally about to post this but if anyone has t listened to this, it’s a fantastic podcast that goes really deep into every aspect of the game.

Something is wrong with this guy, he has no filter for himself. These 8 parts of talking about the game are almost as long as the game itself lol. Who in their right mind is going to listen to 15 hours of a guy talking about a game.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
People like ProJared and Spoony damaged this games reputation beyond repair.

Do yourself a favour and don't watch ProJared's FF VIII or IX videos they're both fucking GARBAGE. Dude doesn't understand how FF VIII works and barely touches upon anything on what makes IX such a landmark then claims its the best one. Absolute moron.

I think it's a great game personally, it has a lot of charm and a sense of wonder. My only criticism for the game is the world lacks locations on the world map, feels a bit barren like Trabia Garden should have a town next to it and the continent with Odin on it is desolate.

Taking Rinoa with you in disc 2 and seeing this extra bonus cutscene is my favourite moment in the game. After a lot of chaos and avoiding complete annihilation you get a moment of respite.

 

clem84

Gold Member
Did it really become hated? It's always been very divisive. I fall in the group that didn't enjoy it too much. Back in the day I played the PSX version 10 hours and never went back. I've been meaning to play the remaster to finally play through it.
 

Von Hugh

Member
Objectively bad characters, story and gameplay (I guess junctioning mainly).

I love the game nevertheless, the atmosphere and music are great.
 

Knightime_X

Member
Enemy scaling ruins the feel of power progression esp in a random encounter jrpg.

It feels like you're constantly not making any progress despite going up hill.

And the fact you need to use a work around to make it serviceable further destroys any chance of the game being good.
 

Beelzebubs

Member
I don't hate the game, I think it's decent enough (not a fan of the draw system) but it's unfortunate that it was the game inbetween FF7 and FF9 which are among the best in the series.
 

LordCBH

Member
I hated it when it came out. The only redeeming factor was the story. I hated the gameplay. I abhorred the stupid level scaling. Wasn’t a fan of the junction system or the draw system. It was a bad experiment and I’m glad we didn’t see those systems ever return.
 
Because it was not FF7.
In many ways, FF8 is doing everything it can to distance itself from FF7.
I've played FF8 two years ago for the first time and I was very positively surprised at how much the game was different from its predecessor: combat, world, story progression, etc. SquareSoft could have just rehashed everything from FF7, yet they chose to do something unique (they'll do it again with FF9).

FF7 was and still is my favorite game and I was always kind of hesitant to play FF8 because of all the negative talks that were happening around it. It's only 2 years ago (almost 20 years too late) that I decided to play it thanks to the remaster release. I enjoyed my time and at the end of it, I legit had a tear in my eye because my brain could not comprehend why I had not played it earlier, to the point where my brain would try to forge fake memories of me playing it back in the day.

To me, FF8 is a very good Final Fantasy title and a very strong PS1 tech showcase (end of disk 1 stunned me, even in 2019).
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
What makes FF8 so special is how surreal and uncompromising it is. It's like if David Lynch made a Final Fantasy game.

I wouldn't call it surreal, its just very symbolic. I mean the big-bad of the story (the original sorceress that inhabits different hosts across time) is essentially destiny and the fears of adulthood. Same deal with the GF's consuming memories, its just a simple metaphor for the freedoms and abilities we gain as grown-ups costing the innocence of childhood.

The whole thing is basically a fantasy representation of a high-school coming of age story. Its easy getting lost into the weeds of the minutia of lore when all you really need to understand is its simple warm-hearted sentimentality.
 

kingkaiser

Member
It has one of the most beautiful romances in all video game history depicting the evolving relationship between an autistic guy with crippling depression and a warmhearted yet mentally challenged young woman.
It would be a hit in this day and age if it was re-made.
 

Pejo

Member
7 was bad too. People just realizing FF was never that great
Not Funny No GIF

Pejo Pejo , what's your opinion on FF8?
cookiemonster.gif
Didn't hate it, didn't love it. It's been years and years since I played it but a lot of the problems that I had at the time with it were already stated in the thread.

Stuff like spells as items, the junctioning system in general, and the whole "leveling up makes you weaker" thing really stunk. Especially since at that point in my gaming life I loved grinding levels (and still do a bit to this day). It's a relaxing activity for me to just wander around and fight RNG battles and slowly get stronger, I dunno why.

Anyways, unlike a lot of people in this thread, I liked the cast, and the edgy relationship between Squall/Seifer. I also can appreciate that even though the quality of storytelling fell off hard in disk 3, it opened up all sorts of wacky fan theories about Rinoa being Ultimecia. I do in general hate time travel mechanics in stories though, as it makes everything that happened possibly worthless and takes away any gravity of deaths/events that happened up until that point.

I'm currently doing a full Classic Final Fantasy replay, and am about 3/4s of the way through FF1 (PSP), so I'll get back to 8 eventually. There are a few mods that I would mess with if I were a bigger fan of 8, that change not only the battle system balance (Martial Law mod) but there's also a story change one (Succession mod) if you trust fans to make a better story.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Because
1) it wasn’t 7.
2) the Junction system is meant to be the way you power up your characters instead of blindly leveling up, but the game does a poor job of explaining it and 90% of people trudged on summoning GFs and mashing Square to win battles while leveling up enemies to a point where your party can’t keep up.
3) the plot twist everyone is talking about comes pretty late, and people were already shitting on the game before most of them could realistically have gotten to the plot twist. I guess a bigger reason was that the main cast went from cool, brave, larger-than-life wannabe terrorists fighting against a demi-god armed with a 10-foot katana, to a bunch of college kids acting all emo or fighting for bread during lunch break. And PS1 was all about mature games crushing every young gamer’s Nintendo past in the dirt. Now the follow up to Square’s revolutionary JRPG starts and your main characters are a bunch of angsty teenagers. You can guess why so many didn’t get this too well.

FF8 is great.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
I honestly had no real idea about that. I thought people loved it for the most part. That, IX and X. I was one that loved III/V and VII. I know over the years a lot of people hated on VII saying it received too much attention then it deserves, etc. But I just really enjoyed the characters, music, well, everything. That being said, I never really gave the other ones a shot. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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KiteGr

Member
Where to start:
  • The magic that doubles as upgrade resource might have been a neat idea, but having it function as items and having them infinitely collected from a single enemy is retarded and asking for abuse and hoard that makes the game boring.
  • Levelling is pointless, and some times it even works against you. With the exception of the final castle (where the leveling reaches a whole new level of retardation), you are playing better if you finish the game at level 1.
  • The economy is bad, as it employs a salary system where you have to take literal exams (oh, the fun!).
  • The game is very breakable, as you can destroy any semblance of balance by turning cards and items into ultra powerful spells and junction them into a monster build (especially since you and your enemies will be lvl1).
  • The music, with the exception of a few pieces is much less memorable than ff7.
  • The story falls apart after disk 2.
 
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squallheart

Member
It's always been my favorite as i connected with it more. I enjoyed exploring the world and wish there was more to do. I understand why others don't like it and how ff7 is seen as the best but this will be my top game in the series followed by 10, 9 and then 7.
 
I've never understood the complaint about enemies leveling up.....it's literally one of the easiest FFs to beat, I never noticed until someone told me and I've beaten the game like 5 times. You're so powerful in this game it is ridiculous.
 
Yeah I don't get it. I loved ff8, more than 7, wha!! Yeah you heard that right, although it was close. Both are classics now and stellar. The characters are what do it for me.

On ff game I don't understand the love for and can never get into more than an hour or two is ff9. I couldn't stand the weird looking characters and more childish draw style. I have played every mainline ff game starting with ff1 on the Nes in 1990. Ff5 was my fav 2d ff game. Ff 9 is the only one I haven't completed and people say they love it.
 

PhaseJump

Banned
It's my favorite one, and I bought them since FF1 on NES launched. I liked the Junction system requiring me to equip spells on stats. I liked having to stockpile spells by converting cards. It also still retained the basics of the ATB, leveling, etc. so it wasn't a complete trainwreck if you wanted to traditionally power level and deal with OP enemies. The limit breaks were cool and more interactive.

Most of the hatred comes from the point that most of the characters are blank slates that you equip GFs to, and people were stupid enough to "Draw" spells for hours rather than fuck around with the abilities and tools you unlock.

The plot in almost all JRPGs are dumpster fires. FF8 is no exception, but it wasn't bad. The characters were unique enough.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
It's my favorite one, and I bought them since FF1 on NES launched. I liked the Junction system requiring me to equip spells on stats. I liked having to stockpile spells by converting cards. It also still retained the basics of the ATB, leveling, etc. so it wasn't a complete trainwreck if you wanted to traditionally power level and deal with OP enemies. The limit breaks were cool and more interactive.

Most of the hatred comes from the point that most of the characters are blank slates that you equip GFs to, and people were stupid enough to "Draw" spells for hours rather than fuck around with the abilities and tools you unlock.

The plot in almost all JRPGs are dumpster fires. FF8 is no exception, but it wasn't bad. The characters were unique enough.
Drawing spells is how you build your stats, and enemies have an unlimited supply to draw from. Gamers aren’t stupid for playing that way, the game mechanics are stupid for rewarding it.
 

Raonak

Banned
It's the best final fantasy game. It's got the amazing character & world design, amazing music, a grandiose story. The gameplay systems are really damn flexable because of the perfect synergy of the junction, refining, and card systems. it can be broken if you know what you're doing, which makes replaying the game a lot of fun.
Summon animations were fucking mindbogglingly good.

People hated 8 because FF7 was most people's first RPG, and they probably expected 8 to be more similar to it.
 

PhaseJump

Banned
Drawing spells is how you build your stats, and enemies have an unlimited supply to draw from. Gamers aren’t stupid for playing that way, the game mechanics are stupid for rewarding it.

That is no reward though, and the point I was making. It's why a lot of people hated the game back then. Drawing spells to max them out and make them useful for stats is slow and time consuming.

You just need to level up the GFs stats, unlock their abilities, then using the abilities you convert cards and items into magic by a shit-load.

Gamers aren't stupid for playing it wrong? No, they just like punishing themselves and refusing to learn the easy way of getting set up properly in the new experimental system.
 
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DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
That is no reward though, and the point I was making. It's why a lot of people hated the game back then. Drawing spells to max them out and make them useful for stats is slow and time consuming.

You just need to level up the GFs stats, unlock their abilities, then using the abilities you convert cards and items into magic by a shit-load.

Gamers aren't stupid for playing it wrong? No, they just like punishing themselves and refusing to learn the easy way of getting set up properly in the new experimental system.
Why even give enemies unlimited supply of spells to draw if doing so is the “wrong” way to play? That’s what I call stupid gameplay design.
 

Rat Rage

Member
I mean there is literally a way to win FFVII without touching the controller if you know how to abuse the Materia system.
The story got a bit weird but I actually liked VIII more than VII when they first released. Intergrade has done a lot to change that but I still like original VIII more than VII.

Also who the hell hates VIII?

This is news to me. When I played and finished it back in the day, I was somewhat informed (of course there was no internet), but in no magazine/guide a way like this was mentioned. Also, even after the Internet became "a thing", I have literally never heard anyone complain about Final Fantasy 7 being too easily exploited.

With Final Fantasy VIII, however, it is the complete opposite: If you just play the game in a normal way, without extra knowledge of anything, just by progressively using the game's mechanics, you will come to a point where the massive, exploitable issues with the junctioning system completely break the game and make magic and everything else useless. Many, many people experienced this and thus this major "flaw" of the game became a consensus.
 

PhaseJump

Banned
Why even give enemies unlimited supply of spells to draw if doing so is the “wrong” way to play? That’s what I call stupid gameplay design.

Converting items into magic using the tools you unlock is easier. The "wrong" way to play is to disregard unlocking and using those abilities, and continue to waste time drawing to farm spells, then complain about how much the junction system sucks. Like most of the whiners did when the game was new and too different for them.
 
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