Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII is the eighth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was the second Final Fantasy that was developed for both PlayStation and PC.

Story
The game opens with a duel between the two arch-rivals Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy. Squall and Seifer are both students at Balamb Garden, an academy training SeeDs, an elite mercenary force that helps people all around the world. Squall loses the duel, although both men end up with scars across their faces. Squall wakes up a few hours later, on the day of his SeeD field exam. He goes with his instructor Quistis Trepe to retrieve a Guardian Force (GF), that enables normal humans to use magic. The final test Squall must pass to become a SeeD, is to go the the occupied city of Dollet, together with his squad members Zell Dincht and Seifer. They quickly uncover the reason for the Galbadian Army's occupation; to reactivate an old radio tower. Seifer leaves his teammates behind, and disobeys Garden orders. A spunky young girl, Selphie Tilmitt, joins the party at this time, and after defeating a monster at the top of the tower, the tower is reactivated, and they are chased back to the beach by a mechanical war machine.

Back at Garden, Squall finally has passed the final test to become a SeeD, as have Zell and Selphie. Seifer, however, having disobeyed a direct order, failed. That night, during the SeeD Graduation Ceremony, Squall is asked for a dance by a girl. The introverted Squall is forced out onto the dance floor. The day after, they receive their first mission as SeeDs; to aid a resistance faction known as the Forest Owls, in their quest to retain the independence of a small nation called Timber. On the train trip to Timber, the SeeDs strangely pass out, and have a dream about a man called Laguna Loire, and his two friends Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac. Upon waking up, they meet up with the Forest Owls, only to find out that the leader is the girl who danced with Squall, Rinoa Heartilly. The Forest Owls' plan is to kidnap Vinzer Deling, the tyrannic president of Galbadia, and force him to withdraw his soldiers from Timber. However, once they manage to hijack the president's train, they find out it is an impostor.

After defeating the impostor, they learn that the real President Deling is going to the Timber TV Station to broadcast something. He announces that the new diplomat for Galbadia is the Sorceress, Edea. However, Seifer somehow goes there and holds the President hostage. He is, however, lead to following the Sorceress, and is officially announced executed.

The SeeDs are then hired by Galbadia Garden, to kill the Sorceress, with the help of the master sharpshooter Irvine Kinneas, under her inauguration parade in Deling City. Rinoa, however, comes up with a plan of her own; to suppress the Sorceress' power with an Odine Brand item. She is struck down by the Sorceress, who then kills President Deling. Running through the parade, Squall is surprised to see Seifer, standing at the Sorceress' side. Squall and Irvine eventually reach Rinoa, Zell, Selphie and Quistis, and trap the Sorceress inside a gate. However, Irvine seems to lose it just before he is supposed to shoot her, but with a little help from Squall, he fires at the Sorceress. Edea blocks the shot with a magical barrier. Squall must then fight the Sorceress, but has to go through Seifer, who has now become Edea's protective Knight. Edea uses her ice limit break, which pierces Squall's chest and renders him unconscious.

Squall wakes up in the D-District Prison, where he is tortured by Seifer, who demands to know the true purpose of SeeD. Squall is knocked unconscious by the pain, but is rescued by Moombas. His friends manage to escape as well, but upon escaping, they see that the Galbadians have launched missiles against Trabia Garden, and are planning to launch some at Balamb Garden as well. They split into two teams, one with Selphie as the leader, who try to stop the missile launch, and one with Squall, who go to warn Balamb Garden. Selphie's party fails to stop the missile launch in time, and barely escapes the self-destructing missile launch base inside a machine. Squall arrives to find Balamb Garden in an uproar; students are fighting each other, one side siding with the Headmaster Cid, and one with the Garden Master NORG. They eventually stop NORG, and find out that the Garden is mobile, and moves the Garden just in time before the missiles hit.

However, Balamb Garden isn't controllable, and they crash into Fisherman's Horizon. The crafty technicians help restore the Garden into full functionality. When they go to Balamb town, they find that the Galbadians, under supervision by Seifer's friends Fujin and Raijin, are searching for a woman named Ellone. They decide to go to Trabia Garden, Selphie's original Garden, where they suddenly remember that as children, they all, except Rinoa, lived in an orphanage together, cared for by a woman named Edea. They had forgotten all about their past because of the memory loss that using the GFs bring. They decide to go back to the orphanage, only to find Galbadia Garden. They prepare for an assault on the Garden, which is now under the control of Edea and Seifer. The many brave SeeDs show their skill, and they finally reach Edea, but are stopped by Seifer. Seifer is defeated once again, but appears again in the subsequent battle. When they finally defeat Edea, she returns to her normal state of mind; she has been possessed by a Sorceress called Ultimecia, who is said to be from the future. However, Rinoa becomes possessed by Ultimecia now, and manipulates Seifer, who is now merely Ultimecia's puppet. Rinoa then falls into a coma.

Squall is overcome by emotions, and understands that he is in love with Rinoa. He will do anything to bring her back, and they go to the hidden nation of Esthar, to speak with Dr. Odine, the inventor of Guardian Forces, and specialist on Sorceresses. Edea joins the party to Esthar, and Squall carries Rinoa with him. In Esthar, Dr. Odine tells him where he can find Ellone, who might be able to help Squall find out what happened to Rinoa. They are launched into outer space, to Esthar's Lunar Base, where they are keeping the Sorceress Adel, who once ruled Esthar, confined. However, Rinoa wakes up and forces her way through those who might stop her. Back on the ground, Zell's party is shocked to see the Lunatic Pandora, a mighty pillar, that was used long ago to destroy the Centra continent by summoning monsters from the Moon, rise again from the ocean, due to Seifer. Rinoa goes out into outer space and destroys the seal upon Adel, who returns to the Lunatic Pandora. Squall goes after her, and rescues her from a death in outer space. They escape on the lost spaceship Ragnarok. However, Rinoa is now deemed a Sorceress, and Esthar demands that she be handed over to them, as she poses a threat to the world. Rinoa agrees to go with him, but Squall can't bear it, and rescues her. They then go to the Lunatic Pandora, where Seifer fights them one last time. After his defeat, he takes Rinoa, and offers her to Adel, who junctions Rinoa to herself. Squall fights Adel, and after her defeat, they travel forward in time with the help of Ultimecia's Time Compression, and reach Ultimecia Castle. After grueling fights, in which they must reclaim their sealed abilities, they reach Ultimecia, and finally defeat her. Squall goes back into his past, and the land is now free from the tyranny of Sorceresses.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Final Fantasy VIII is vastly different from previous titles. Gaining magic and the Junction System are the most notable changes. Instead of levelling up in order to learn new spells and abilities via weapons or a job class, you must "Draw" your magic and spells from enemies and "draw-points", hotspots scattered throughout the game containing random numbers of a specific spell. This eliminated the convention of magic/mana points, but encouraged players to hoard and conserve spells both for direct use and for 'junctioning' them to different stats associated with Guardian Forces, who also held the learning of new abilities.

Guardian Forces
Summon monsters in Final Fantasy VIII are known as Guardian Forces, often abbreviated to GF. They require Junctioning to characters in order to use them, as well as their inherent abilities.

Unlike previous games, GF take time to be summoned, the time taken depends on the character/GF combination. When selected, the ATB gauge begins to run backwards and the character's name and HP is replaced by the GF's name and HP. Like the Aeons used later in Final Fantasy X, the GF have HP and can take damage, shielding party members while being summoned. During the summoning, if the GF's HP reaches 0, they stop protecting the summoning character and do not get summoned. They are also unable to be summoned until they are revived. On the flip side, if the ATB gauge for the GF reaches zero, the GF is summoned, and attacks in a similar fashion to Final Fantasy VII. If the GF summoned has learnt the ability "Boost", the player can attempt to boost the GF's attack power by up to 250%, although the boost may end up being anywhere between 75%-250% of the GF's normal attack power.

Guardian Forces can also gain Ability points to learn abilities. Each GF has unique abilities, though rare items allow customization of each GF's unique skill set. Most abilities at least require junctioning the GF to a character, but some abilities also require junctioning to the character to take effect.

Some Guardian Forces are only obtainable through battle. For instance Diablos must be defeated before you can summon him. Many GF's requires various objectives before you can acquire them.

Junctioning
The Junction System is the system used for boosting stats and give elemental/status effects to weapon and armor in Final Fantasy VIII. The player must Junction, or equip, a Guardian Force to enable the use of battle commands other than Attack. Boosting stats require characters to obtain magic, usually by Drawing magic from enemies. The player can then Junction a magic to stats such as Strength, Defense, Evasion and Hit-Rate. What can be customized depends on the Guardian Force that is currently junctioned. The Guardian Force can learn to unlock more statistics to junction magic to with Ability Points.

Experience and Levelling
As with most games of the RPG genre, Experience Points are awarded following defeat of randomly encountered enemies. Final Fantasy VIII's system of levelling is unique for two reasons: each playable character only requires 1,000 exp points to advance to the next level, whereas other games require progressively more points as the levels are gained. The statistic increases granted by a level-up are miniscule, as major stat growth is relegated to the Junction system.

The other feature is that enemies and bosses have no set level, they increase in Hit-points, statistics and abilities alongside the player party. Higher-level enemies are capable of inflicting and withstanding significantly more damage, and may have additional special attacks. They also possess better magic to draw and items to steal as their level rises. The benefits of this system are that by keeping characters at low levels, enemies and bosses at the later stages of the game can be significantly weaker, resulting in "No-Levelling Challenge" games of Final Fantasy VIII. Also, due to most locations being visited several times during the storyline and for side-quests, enemies encountered early will grow with the party and can still pose a threat late in the game.

Limit Breaks
Limit Break abilities returned in Final Fantasy VIII and once again received an overhaul from previous incarnations. The system is similar to the Desperation Attacks in Final Fantasy VI, but the player has more control over when and which Limit to use. A Limit is triggered by low health, however the spell Aura increases the chance a Limit will be available even at full health. Each playable character has their own unique Limit Break, attune to their character style, and are accompanied by an interactive element which, when performed correctly, can increase the potency of the attack. Squall's Renzokuken and Irvine's Shot can be considered amongst the strongest Limit Breaks in the entire series.

Playable characters

 * Squall Leonhart - The main character, who becomes a SeeD. While taciturn and silent, he's a born leader. He wields the mighty Gunblade in battle.
 * Rinoa Heartilly - A member of the Forest Owls resistance group, working to free Timber. She fires projectiles in battle.
 * Quistis Trepe - A child prodigy and an instructor at Balamb Garden. She uses a whip in battle.
 * Zell Dincht - A hot-headed martial arts expert who loves hot dogs. Also a machinery wiz. He depends on his fists in battle.
 * Irvine Kinneas - A lone wolf sharpshooter who enjoys the company of women. He utilizes his shotgun in battle.
 * Selphie Tilmitt - A spunky young girl who always wants to have fun. She uses nunchaku and other chain weapons in battle.

Temporary playable characters

 * Seifer Almasy - Squall's rival, who is always picking fights with him. He has a romantic dream about becoming a Sorceress' Knight. Like Squall, he also uses a Gunblade in battle. Seifer is available in the Dollet mission.
 * Edea Kramer - A mysterious Sorceress. She uses her mighty magic in battle. Edea is available at the beginning of Disc 3 leading up to Esther City.
 * Laguna Loire - A happy-go-lucky former Galbadian soldier, who is often on adventures with his friends Kiros and Ward. His weapon of choice is the Machine Gun. Laguna is available in the dreams that the characters have.
 * Kiros Seagill - One of Laguna's friends and former army buddy. He's the thinker of the three. He wields two Katal in battle. Kiros is available in the dreams that the characters have.
 * Ward Zabac - Ward is a big man, but is still a caring individual. Wields a heavy Harpoon in battle. Ward is available in the dreams that the characters have.

Other major characters

 * Ultimecia - A mysterious Sorceress from the future.
 * Adel - A frightening Sorceress who threatened the world a long time ago.
 * Ellone - A girl with the power to make people re-experience the past.
 * Fujin - One of Seifer's posse. She is not much of a talker, and often has to keep Raijin in line.
 * Raijin - One of Seifer's posse. He is big, but lacking in the intelligence department, and depends on others for orders.
 * Cid Kramer - The Headmaster of Balamb Garden.
 * Dr. Odine - A scientific genius who will let nothing get in the way of his science.

Minor characters

 * Vinzer Deling
 * Biggs
 * Wedge
 * General Caraway
 * Julia Heartilly
 * Martine
 * Nida
 * Piet
 * NORG
 * PuPu
 * Queen of Cards
 * Raine Loire
 * Xu

Triple Triad
A trading card game featured in Final Fantasy VIII. This was later followed up by Final Fantasy IX's Tetra Master card game. Triple Triad varies from a very simple easy-to-play game to one that is incredibly complicated. If you were to play Triple Triad throughout the entire game, you'll find that more rules and variations of other rules come into play depending on what area you are playing in. And to complicate things further, rules you play with in one area are carried by you to other areas. So you'll want to be careful what rules you pick up while playing.

Cards won from monsters or by playing NPCs can be turned into various items using Quetzalcoatl's Card Mod ability ranging from Screws to items capable of being refined into the most powerful magics in the game. It isn't advised for anyone to pass up playing Triple Triad.

Returning Boss
In Ultimecia's castle the player is allowed to fight numerous bosses in order to get the characters' stolen abilities back. One of the bosses is a returning enemy named Omega Weapon.

External Link

 * Official page for the European version
 * Wikipedia's entry on Final Fantasy VIII

Cover Art
Final Fantasy VIII