I originally started playing Final Fantasy VIII in the 1990s on the PC. I had the original 5-disc set and ran the game on Windows 98. Unfortunately, I lost my save files twice when I forgot to back them up during operating system reinstalls. In one game, I even got to the final dungeon. Twenty years later, I’ve decided to pick up this classic again, and I finally finished the 2019 PS4 edition. This remaster has some amazing improvements, which really make the game a lot less boring. Even though the story is about average, I enjoyed my final playthrough of FF8.

Story

Even though it has been two decades since I first played this game, I remembered all the major story beats. The characters are certainly memorable. The music by Nobuo Uematsu is incredibly well scored. Despite the length of the game, the massive variety of music fit well throughout all the major battles and transitions. The characters are somewhat basic, yet still lovable.

Early on, the player is introduced to story jumps where your party plays the roles of mysterious soldiers in dream sequences. There is a lot of interesting world building around the nature of your characters’ roles and the history of the world your party lives in. The discovery never feels forced or expositional, even though the story is overall fairly basic.

Final Fantasy VIII is the first game in the franchise that advertised itself as a true love story. For better and worse, I think it does a good job of hitting all those beats. The main character of Squall really is an interesting timepiece of the 1990s emo goth kid. His stoic nature and story arc is one of growth and finding people to care for in spite of, maybe even due to, his troubled past.

Gameplay

The remastered edition adds in the ability to speed up the game by 3x by pressing down L3. One big criticism of both Final Fantasy VIII and VII was the set of incredibly long animation sequences, especially during summons. FF8 is a summon-intense game where guardian forces are junctioned to each character, allowing the player to assign abilities to each party member. Magic is drawn from enemies or from points in various areas. Stored magic can be junctioned to enhance stats, and cast in attacks.

The user interface is fairly clunky. It gives the player the ability to switch the entire junction assignment between characters when switching one’s party, but the UI doesn’t indicate what guardian forces everyone is currently connected to. It can be all too easy to end up in a battle where basic controls like magic and items are entirely missing because of a misplaced junction switch.

Like a lot of role-playing games, FF8 tries to force players to balance the use of attacks, magic, draws, items and summons. The 3x speed enhancement is a welcome addition, but can lead to the game being more summon-heavy. Guardian forces replace the characters’ health bars for the time they are waiting to be summoned, adding a really interesting dynamic to selecting battle actions.

The Remaster

I’m glad I played through most of the original version on the PC. As remasters go, FF8 really feels like it gets everything right. The game is displayed in the classic 4:3 aspect ratio of old TV screens. The models are slightly enhanced, but the game still consists of 3D overlayed on 2D drawn scenes. The full-motion videos are slightly upscaled, but they still capture the classic look of the original game. The audio has been enhanced with full surround sound. If you have a decent home theater setup, you get a few treats of hearing footsteps panning and moving behind you as your characters traverse various areas.

Everything else has been kept true to the original. The save screen even shows you which disc you are on, even though there is no more CD swapping. The 3x speed ability makes so many of the more boring moments considerably more tolerable, even though it makes the game slightly easier (especially during timed sequences where the countdown clock does not move at a faster rate).

Overall, I’m impressed by the way this remaster was done. There is also an enhancement that makes battles easier, essentially adding a story mode. Although I didn’t use the battle enhancement until the very last boss, I was thankful it was present for those who want to experience the story without endless churning.

Overall

I never felt like Final Fantasy VIII was a game where I had to grind. Even in my original playthroughs, I sought out a lot of the additional missions. Still, there are a lot of secrets in this game that require looking up hints. A lot of the more complex puzzles are not at all intuitive.

What really set apart FF7 and FF8 during the 90s was the amazing animation. FF7 also had an incredible story. FF8 is memorable and has great characters, but the story doesn’t approach FF7’s magic. Squall’s character arc is well written, but the love story feels expected. The summon animations were quite amazing for their time, but today they just feel like filler that drags down the entire experience.

The story is fun and playful, yet it doesn’t encompass a lot of depth. The characters are warm and memorable, but the narrative isn’t extraordinary. The final dungeon is honestly aggravating, and I feel like several of the battles towards the end could have been simplified or cut out. I only used the remaster’s battle enhancement in the very last fight, and I was thankful for it.

For the majority of the game, I never felt I had to grind to move on or invest in uninteresting side quests. The early game was never really hard. I had leveled up nearly every one of my party members past 50 and had all but one of the guardian forces, but the ending battles still felt unbalanced even with spending time to get all the party’s abilities unlocked.

My final game timer was just under 30 hours. With deaths and continues, I likely spent around 35 hours total on this game, which would have easily been 50 to 60 if I had played the original without the 3x speedup enhancements. My score is reflective of the remaster. Even though it’s very close to the original game, I don’t think I would have had as positive an experience without the speedup ability.

Overall, Final Fantasy VIII is a fun game. It doesn’t compare to its immediate predecessor or to its successor, Final Fantasy IX. Still, I’m glad I finally finished this game. It’s a fun love story, with memorable characters and decent but somewhat exaggerated gameplay. It’s a great mid-tier game in the Final Fantasy franchise and is a great look at RPGs from the late 90s.