The more mature plots of recent titles seemed at odds with the quirky, cartoony look with which the series began. With Final Fantasy VIII, Square has taken the series fully non-SD, and it's all for the better. Final Fantasy VII was a hodgepodge of conflicting graphical styles the field models were SD, the battle models were non-SD, the FMV was mostly non-SD (with a few SD exceptions almost humorously juxtaposed). The first Final Fantasy through the sixth featured super-deformed, or SD, heroes: squat body, huge head, saucer-plate eyes.
A great deal of credit for the story's attractiveness must go to the graphic design. The twists and turns the story takes will leave you reeling at the end of disc four, you'll laugh at the misconceptions you had about the plot with which you first began. While the plot may begin at an academy, it eventually spans the entire globe - and beyond. Don't worry that the schoolyard trappings make Final Fantasy VIII seem like "Teen Beat RPG," though these engaging characters experience some of the most epic, grandiose events imaginable. This alliance is not with any faction or nation, but with a powerful sorceress named Edea. Their first mission: assisting a rebel organization in the capture of Galbadian president Deling, who is set to announce a new alliance that will bring Galbadia glory and triumph over its opponents. After a successful training mission, Squall, Selphie, and Zell are all inducted into the elite combat-unit-for-hire, SeeD. His classmates are a motley bunch: the brash but good-natured Zell Dincht the brash but ill-natured Seifer Almasy the childlike Selphie Tilmitt the precocious Quistis Trepe and the personable Rinoa Heartilly. Squall Leonheart is a student at Garden, the world's foremost military academy. The characters don't seem like base archetypes or generic "heroes," but like actual people. The decision to eschew a cast of dozens and focus on a central cast of six major characters appears to have been a wise one. The characters and their relationships are all extremely believable and complex moreover, the core romance holds up even under the most pessimistic scrutiny. With Final Fantasy VII, Square showed that it had mastered the epic with VIII, it shows that it has mastered the personal.
The core of any Final Fantasy game has always been its story, and Final Fantasy VIII's story is the best the series - and likely the genre - has ever seen.
It was with some trepidation that I awaited Final Fantasy VIII's release: Would it be a return to the series' roots or a further digression into flash and brashness? In the end, any qualms I had were for naught Square has finally understood how to use the power of the CD properly. Some sections seemed like they were straight out of a Hollywood summer blockbuster: flashy, impressive, but ultimately unsatisfying. Final Fantasy VII was an excellent title, to be sure but with a Final Fantasy game, "excellent" is never good enough. Each of the English games has been analyzed, replayed, and studied as if it were a sacred text - and I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge the Final Fantasy series as the primary impetus behind my Japanese studies.īut after the seventh game, my seemingly limitless faith in the series began to falter. And ever since I vanquished Chaos, I've been hooked. Heroes and villains, magic and mystery, epic quests and noble causes were all waiting to unfurl before my eyes. Poring over the pages, I just knew that I had to play this game, to live in this other world. I've been a Final Fantasy fan ever since the day the Nintendo Power strategy guide first arrived in my mailbox.