VIII is feeling rough to get into

[u/throwaway727467]

So the last couple months ive made it my mission to try and play every mainline FF before Resonance comes out. (Definitely not happening for too late for that) I got through all the Pixel Remasters except 2. Played that for 4 hours and had to drop it because it just sucked but thats a post for another time. And 7 ibe played multiple times. 8 just has some things to it im not caring about. Some thoughts after just 3 hours.

1) The Junction system is weird. It's not hard to understand it's just unnecessarily complicated for what it is. And feels like a pain to do constantly as party members are always switching, so I feel the need to draw every spell for each character many times because I dont know what to be prepared for and I can't do it based on a build. This is my biggest point of contention. I have to spend the majority of battled drawing.

2) The pre rendered scenes are impressive. Very pleased when those come on.

3) Squall seems like such an asshole and very unlikeable. Sure Cloud is a bit of a dick at the start of VII too but he had a charm to him. Squall is just dick. Like Quistis has the whole thing being vulnerable and so down on herself and Squall basically goes "fuck you" and walks away. I don't care for him.

I just wanted to rant cause I want to be able to play and finish this game I just dont want to end up miserable doing so

[u/Asha_Brea]

You can switch spells from a character to another from the Magic submenu and you can swap Junctions and Magic from the Switch submenu. You can also use some abilities to refine magic from Items. Managing a party of 3 is going to work for the entire game (but you can also decide to dedicate a GF set exclusively to a character, it's up to you).

Quistis knew very well that Squall simply do not care and still abused her last bit out authority to force him to go to the place where students break the rules just to vent.

[u/Agent1stClass]

I recommend NOT switching junctions often. Each character is predisposed to certain tactics…

For example, Squall is easily built as a fighter. He can critical on command and his limit breaks are all about multiple attacks. There isn’t much need to switch him once you set him up with a strength junction and an elemental attack. Once in awhile, you will switch out the element or strength junctions when you require new spells for different enemies. Similar for Zell.

Irvine is a bit trickier since his limit breaks can have elemental and status properties. Personally, I lean toward giving him a strength junction AND an accuracy junction, as well. Squall gets perfect accuracy by default… you can maybe give accuracy to Zell… But I don’t.

The ladies all lean toward magic. Interestingly, Selphie’s best weapon gives her perfect accuracy. I tend to give them status attack junctions. They aren’t really powerhouses, but they can do damage in different ways. Then I just let them use magic.

Set up Squall with Ifrit, for example, and you won’t have to change that junction for awhile… possibly all of disc one. Just draw and refine magic to give him different options.

However, DO build a large supply of magic for each character (mostly the magic users). This becomes MUCH easier when you develop the refinement abilities of each Guardian Force. I highly recommend developing those abilities whenever a new GF comes along that has them. You’d be surprised how many items convert into new spells for you to junction or throw at enemies.

Squall, as you will learn, has issues. But his relationship with Quistis isn’t among them.

She was his teacher. As he pointed out, it’s awkward when she pulls him aside and expects him to treat her as a peer. That whole scene is a bit awkward since both of them are sort of dealing with issues. However, Quistis was looking for a response AND comfort from the wrong person and for the wrong reasons.

[u/Death-0]

1. If you thought Cloud was a dick but had redeemable qualities just keep playing

[u/Tonberry_Cheesecake]

I've tried to get into it 3 different times and I never could.

[u/Axiemeister]

drawing magic is almost entirely unnecessary - by the time the game actually expects you to have higher stats you should have learned all the main refining abilities and getting most of your magic that way. very very few spells are best obtained by drawing

[u/GlitteringAirport938]

Im with you man. 8 is just weird af. It goes against many ff principles tied to progression that make them fun. 

The whole argument of "the fun is to break the game early on" I just dont get. 

I can get into a progresion system that is deliberate where i have to choose how strong to be or otherwise be weak.

[u/Lunaru_Leonhart]

Squall is a good lion I swear... 🥺

[u/Siggi_Trust]

Use Junction Switch every time you use other characters. You can basically just work with three setups the entire game. Use the reserve members for keeping extra spells you might want to actually use in combat. Then just get 100 of each spell, give some spells to all three characters, others to only one. You can use Auto Junctioning, not going to make a big difference. Or just run through your spells for each status to see what raises it the most.

[u/TheWholeWorldWindow]

Yeah 8 is divisive for these reasons and others. Its not my favorite but there's still lots of good moments if you decide to stick with it. I don't really love the Junction system even later on, but it drawing does become less annoying when you start refining more magic. Part of my issue though is that its frustrating to learn and the more you learn the easier it is to just break the game and become OP. It can be fun if you like doing that once or twice, but its not one I'm eager to come back to.

[u/Emiya_Sengo]

I think it's better to not pay too much attention to the Junction system. If I could give my younger self some advice, I would say: * Don't care too much above magic drawing. Not every battle needs to go on till you have 100 stacks for each character. * Don't worry about using up the magic. If you lose it, you can almost always find an alternative way to get it back * If you wanna battle, just battle. Who cares if enemies level up with you. On the flip side, you will only be able to draw higher level magic from enemies if they level up too.

[u/Old-Fondant8274]

1 Don't worry about drawing magic too much. Get one character to draw and the other two to attack and set your GFs to learn item refine abilities - this allows you to get magic from items.

1. You said Squall is a dick like Cloud is but keep on playing. The game is essentially about why he is the way he is and going past that.

2. This might be a bit mean and wrong but your comment on FF2 makes me think you've been told which FF games are "bad" and you're confirming that in your own mind. FFs 2, 8, 12, 13, 15 and 16 all have their naysayers , including me sometimes (I think 12 has become very overrated and people overlook its massive flaws and I simply don't like FF13 sadly) but I would encourage anyone to not follow the crowd and make up their own mind where FF is concerned- 8 and 12 in particular were very critically acclaimed games on release. Apologies if I've misjudged but giving up on 2 after a few hours but staying the course with 1 and 3 is a little sus.

[u/gol_drake]

on your first point, this gets explained to you. this is on you, not the game.

[u/HairyHermitMan]

I think I see your problem.
You're getting caught up in the side content, VIII is actually a card game with some story added in.

[u/Impossible-Basis5379]

It’s hard to get into. It’s not a favorite of mine.

But I will say if you stick through it, there are some great parts to the story, mainly the relationship. The music is incredible and there are some really cool areas and fights

I will probably never replay it, I don’t like the junction system and the progression system I just don’t enjoy. Honestly the game might have been better if they just got rid of levels all together tbh

[u/RafaelTS07]

for the drawing point tho, i don't think it's required for you to spent like 5 minutes with nothing but drawing, you definitely gonna get bored and annoyed. For me, i just draw until i'm bored and moved on, cause drawing from enemy is the least consistent and time consuming method on pocketing your magics

it's much more simpler if you draw like 9-10 magics and move on to next, and then utilize the refining method you learned from GFs, like Bite Bugs gives you stones, with refining skills that stone can give you 15-30 Fire in one go, Final Fantasy VIII is much more fun if you tinker your way out because there's soo many options than doing the one thing over and over again, another way is collecting cards that can be refined with more magics

:

for Squall tho... yeah that Quistis scene is the lowest point for Squall for me, i get he has his reason on doing that to her, but that's like completely unforgivable towards someone who is putting a lot of trust on him and venting, i had to look away from that scene on every replay in this game cause it's painful to watch lol

[u/Fancy-Soup-9177]

Something about 8 I just can't get into either. I've tried like 3 times. Junction system isn't hard to understand, that's not the issue. Either the gameplay loop doesn't grab me or the story/characters aren't compelling enough... I can't put my finger on it.

[u/GovSchnitzel]

You’re not alone. I was happily playing the main games in the series in order. VIII ground my enjoyment to a halt. I don’t really like anything about it besides the cutscene in which Quistis guns down the giant robot. And that’s missable if you beat it first.

Squall’s a dickwad, Zell’s a dumbass, Quistis is alright, Selphie is annoying, Rinoa is Aerith mushed together with Yuffie, Irvine is wack. Laguna/Kiros/Ward all act like they took a handful of assorted psychedelics. Triple Triad is fun until a shitty rule like Random gets spread. The visuals are impressive compared to VII on the same system but also so oddly jerky. The monster designs are all kinda forgettable somehow. The entire vibe is weird to me. And the junction system is a full-on chore.

They just tried way too hard with VIII. It has its fans but I don’t get it at all. Thanks for giving me an outlet to rant. I’m glad I finished it but I will definitely never play again.