Compress THIS!
Yay! Another Final Fantasy is Finished!This is going a lot quicker than I imagined, which, strangely enough, cannot be said about my thesis or those other reports I have to finish before the end of the academic year. How odd...
It's a good thing our PC sucks, or I would have to be immersed in the World of Warcraft as well. Huzzah for out of date PC's!
Anyway, Final Fantasy 8, right?
Well, I really dunno what to think of this one, it's really a kind of Love-Hate affair I have with this game. You see, on the one hand, you have this game that is obviously made with the utmost of skill and experience. It still looks stunning to this day (well, the CG does at least, I mean, some of these movies still give me goosebumps, they're just so fucking AWESOME), and you can tell that there's a team of people behind this game who have a long history of creating succesful RPG's, cos it's professional, it has loads of stuff to do, it's definitely original and it spans four CD's adding up to a little under 40 hours of gameplay.
And on the other hand, you have an experience system that just doesn't seem well thought out, a story FULL of plotholes, implausible and stupid plot twists, a world that doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever, and the originality factor means they've just basically thrown out everything that makes RPG's cool. I mean, it's like they never stopped to think 'does this make sense?' and just did it, because they thought it sounded or looked cool. I have rarely played an RPG that is so insulting to one's intelligence. And really, really really, the plot twist are really really stupid. Really.
I was going to make a list of all the things that don't make sense about this game, but then I decided the Internet doesn't have enough storage space.
So instead, I'll make a list of stuff that is simply not good:
1. The Experience system. You see, you only need to earn 1000 points to level up, every time. Suikoden also has a system like that, only the creators of that particular series actually spent some thought on it. For, in Suikoden, the amount of experience you get depends on your level. If you're low level, you get a lot, if you're high, you get very little. This makes it very easy for new characters to get up to standard. Not here though. You see, in FF8, the enemy level depends on yours. And that IS a good idea, that was actually handled very well in Final Fantasy Tactics. Not here. The higher an enemy level, the more exp. you get. So this means, the higher YOUR level, the more experience you get, the faster you will level up! I mean, that's just STUPID. This means that in the beginning of the game, everything will be going slowly, but towards the end, you'll level up after almost every battle.
I've never played an RPG where level 99 was so easy to reach. Stupid.
2. No treasure chests. I mean, what the FUCK? WHAT were they thinking!? but I guess it's okay, cos we also get:
3. No Equipment. Okay, everyone has a weapon, which can be upgraded at a Junk Shop if you have the right items, but nothing can be bought, and you don't get protective gear or anything. Stupid.
4. Too much stress on Summons, or GF as they are known here. You have to equip summons to be able to do anything. Every summon monster can learn skills, which can then be used by the person equipping them, and I have to admit, I do like this system, it also means that you don't have to worry when an under-leveled character is forced into your party, and there are a lot of really cool and useful skills, but the most important thing is that GF's allow you to 'junction', as it is called, magic on your stats to improve strength and defense, thus taking the place of armor etc. Which brings us to problem 5.
5. No Magic Points. Instead, you just get an amount of magic that is consumed when you use it. So you need to make sure you have enough magic with you always. Which is where the Draw system comes into play. Magic has to be drawn from enemies. Drawn magic can be put on your status to make you stronger. So using magic makes you weaker. And since you're usually pretty weak to begin with, you are often FORCED to use your summons to wipe out enemies. And the Summons are VERY long, which is the point this game has been criticized for most. They do have a 'support' option, where you have to time button presses to increase damage, so at least that keeps you busy during animations.
So is there another way to get magic, without spending battle turn after battle turn drawing? Yes. The Card game. Yes you read right. The CARD game. Some of the skills of GF's allow you to change items into magic (at very favorable rates), and these items will be dropped by enemies usually, but another way to get these items is by winning cards in the card game and using the Card Morph skills to create items, which in turn can be changed into magic.
So basically, if you don't want to get screwed you NEED to play the Card game, extensively. Unique, but very weird, and rather stupid. Fortunately, I rather liked the Card game, but I can see how much trouble this game would be if you don't.
So all of the above indicates that originality is often a way of completely destroying the integrity of a game.
But you see, the game somehow manages to be FUN. I don't know why, but I find myself greatly enjoying it every time I play it, and I've played it a LOT already.
WHY!? WHY GOD WHY!? Well, I'm sure God doesn't understand himself either, cos I think the Japanese are the only people who've escaped his supervision. Damn those little bastards!
I guess one of the points is that, with that whole item system, getting items, especially rare ones, feels very good, and makes the game exciting, but you're always subject to fate/luck, there's very little you can do to influence the outcome, so you're not really rewarded for effort, just randomly get presents.
It's like you get raise from your boss, not because you've done a great job, but because it's Monday 13th. June. and the weather outside is cloudy
Secondly, although the story is stupid, the events themselves are GREAT. There's a lot of action and spectacularity....ness? And some of the scenes really KICK ASS. The bit where Balamb Garden is attacked by Galbadia Garden is SO awesome to behold, but there is always this nagging feeling that what is happening is actually really stupid. I mean, these Gardens are a kind of Military Academy Buildings, but they can FLY. Nobody knew this, but it is discovered by accident, and it just so happens that the other gardens discover it at exactly the same time. And......oh, shit I could go on all day about this.
So the big question is, is this game worth playing?
YES.
Like I said, there's a good possibility you'll end up enjoying this game very much, despite it all, since it's rather easy, and the whole levelling system at least means you can never be under-levelled, so there's very little stress. And if there is some kind of stress, there's a good chance the game offers you something to relieve it or avoid it all together.
But foremostly, the Ending IS GOD.
That's right. The Ending is an Ethereal Existence. This is by far and away the BEST and most beautiful ending I have ever seen in my entire life, and I've played hundreds and HUNDREDS of video games. Maybe it's because I was just glad the damn game was over....
No, it ROCKS, and it even makes it worth to struggle through the whole 40 hour ordeal. DO IT NOW. If you have FF8 lying around somewhere, and you haven't played it for awhile. DO IT NOW. SEE THE ENDING. It will make you feel good in ways you've never thought possible.
9.0, provided you can get over all the oddities this game offers, and don't take the story too seriously.
Samples!
The Man with the Machine Gun
Compression of Time
The Legendary Beast
posted by Ingen! @ 11:20 AM
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