#FINAL FANTASY VIII REVIEW SERIES#

One thatвЂ™s willing to confuse players and ask them for a second play through in order to fully appreciate the thematic point of the game. Of the three that were released on the PlayStation, where Final Fantasy VII struggled to maintain its deeper themes through the entire game, and where Final Fantasy IX actively kept trying to re-focus players on its 'traditional Final Fantasy' elements, Final Fantasy VIII remained committed to a difficult, dense, and intense narrative from start to finish. Final Fantasy VIIIвЂ™s strengths вЂ“ the characters, the narrative and that incredible soundtrack, are all brought to the fore, and when you look at that stuff, Final Fantasy VIII really is a special work. When youвЂ™re more comfortable with the leisurely pace through, that draw system is an enjoyable way to get the most out of the gorgeous variety of enemies.ДЇinal Fantasy VIIIвЂ™s irritations stop being irritations, or even become positives. But when you play Final Fantasy VIII now, youвЂ™re not looking to power through the game to get to the next plot highlight. Yes, the draw system in combat is still cumbersome in the way that it can turn a single battle into a 10-minute affair, as you dutifully suck the magic power out of the monsters before, once theyвЂ™re finally tapped out, actually starting to fight them. The nonsense idea of a gunblade (I'm sure in hindsight the developers realised that was a silly idea), stops being something to fixate on.

SquallвЂ™s initial aloofness, which is irritating for apparently being an attempt to one-up Cloud, makes sense once you know the context of the whole narrative. The deep, rich, existentialist story of Squall, Rinoa, Selphie and the rest of the crew, once it has taken centre stage, is powerful and emotive. The Final Fantasy fan buys into it again, and this time around discovers that, removed from the expectations that they no longer have, the narrative, characters, and everything that is actually important to Final Fantasy, becomes the focus, and the overall game comes across as far better than remembered. But then you fast forward a fair few years and the game is re-released. They don't check off the list of expectations that players have going in, and so they must therefore be 'bad', as the logic train goes. So, with their initial releases, many of these newer Final Fantasies donвЂ™t fare too well. Sadly for the series, if thereвЂ™s one thing you can always expect from video games, itвЂ™s that the community will not take change or experimentation particularly well. However, while Square Enix has kept its other major JRPG property, Dragon Quest, traditional, Final Fantasy has always been approached in the spirit of experimentation and risk-taking.

#FINAL FANTASY VIII REVIEW SERIES#

Final Fantasy is a series of such long heritage and prestige that fans have certain expectations of the kind of experience 'their' Final Fantasy should offer. What I chalk this effect up to is expectations. I fully expect VIII to be too after this release, and I canвЂ™t wait for XIII to get a re-release and for people to realise that it, too, is brilliant. And yet each time, when Square Enix pushes out a re-release on modern platforms, people are re-evaluating their initial impressions.

Many of the titles in the PlayStation series onwards are derided at launch вЂ“ Final Fantasy VIII, X, XII, XIII and XV especially. It seems that the modern Final Fantasy series has something of a reverse halo effect going on. I look at some of the discussion around it now, and the good news is that things seemed to have changed, and I see a much more positive conversation around it now that people are focusing more on its themes and storytelling than when it was new. I do remember Final Fantasy VIII being broadly criticised on release, and for many years afterwards. The improved resolution on the characters is used to great effect, and while this is obviously still an old game, itвЂ™s one with some stunning art direction and it has lost none of its confident, bold vision. Now itвЂ™s back, and the work done on it by retro touch-up specialists, DotEmu, is masterful. This game, which looked like it was in danger of being actually lost for a while after Square Enix apparently lost the base code, weaves a masterful tale of five of the best heroes in the franchiseвЂ™s history (thereвЂ™s also Zell, but no one likes Zell). If Final Fantasy VIII isnвЂ™t my favourite in the whole series, itвЂ™s not far behind.

Final fantasy viii review