FFVIII: Bad Romance

Final Fantasy VIII started with a bang. Right after you choose the "New Game" option, a breathtaking FMV opening ensues. Accompanied by what might be the best OST in the series, I didn't expect this game to get any better. 

But unfortunately, it didn't. It actually got worse.

"The Orphanage Scene"

My reaction after watching the flashback.

I'm not sure where to begin with this. Basically, after Galbadia destroys Trabia Garden with missiles, the party decides to pay Trabia a visit by Selphie's request, since she was a student there before she transferred. While they were there, they gathered to chat and talk a bit. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Irvine comes and reveals to everybody that ALL OF THEM WERE IN THE SAME ORPHANAGE WHEN THEY WERE KIDS. Okay okay, give me a minute...what? 

They all knew each other once upon a time? Where did that come from? Square just went full lazy with this one and decided to give all the characters the same bloody backstory, which kills the interest in any of them. But, why did all of them forget and Mister Cowboy-head here didn't? Because they junctioned GFs. I'm sorry but I find this reason ridiculous. The GFs are usually uninvolved during the story, and it was never explained to what extent this memory loss is. I mean, Selphie had junctioned a GF since childhood, so how much does she forget? And This whole amnesia thing just appeared for a moment and then was never spoken of again. 

Finally, when they realised that Matron is Sorceress Edea, they were all like "oh lol". If that was me I'd flip.

Gameplay

I'M COMING TO STEAL YO MAGIC!

Here comes the most unbalanced gameplay system in the series; even more broken than FFII and way easier than everybody's darling, FFVII. Limit breaks is the catch here. Whenever a character's health is low, you can use a super-duper special ability for each character. It does sound like a decent trade-off, but it isn't. A "critical health" situation isn't as dangerous as it sounds, and getting a limit break is not like FFVI where you use the Attack command while hoping that you might get lucky and nail a "Desperation Attack", you just keep hitting the switch turn button until you get your overpowered ability. 

Also, even without the limits, you can be still powerful throughout the game. Junctioning magic and acquiring higher-level magic early is very easy. Heck, you can even get Squall's ultimate weapon in Disc 1. Finally, enemies level up as you do, and that makes levelling counterproductive and useless when it comes to stat-raising. Magic is also very useless. Even the most powerful magic, Ultima, has little use outside of junctioning.

It feels like it was made to be more cinematic than challenging. The Limit Breaks are all handsome and dynamic, the GF's summon sequence is lengthy for the sake of Boosting, and there's no real need for a strategy to get out of a battle. You just watch your party slaughter what stands before them.

Did I mention that Drawing magic from enemies is boring?

Love Story

Yes please.

This is where the game truly shines (or not). Squall is a lonely boy who doesn't really like interacting with people, and his love interest is a very friendly Rinoa. Throughout the game, Squall was so..."Squall" to her just like how he is with everybody. He did show very little signs of improvement with time, but nothing too worthy of notice. When she lost consciousness after fighting Edea, Squall just turned upside-down from a guy who barely speaks a word, to an absolute Romeo in a matter of minutes! He learned all the pickup lines and all the sweet talk when he wasn't bothered to save her from falling some hours ago. When did this happen? When did Squall fall in love with Rinoa? Throughout the game, he showed little affection and desire to talk to her. A sentence here and there but that's it. They never even gave us a hint! It's not like Squall was at one point thinking to himself "Thank you Rinoa. You make me feel special" or something like that. It's like on-off. At one moment he wasn't in love, then a switch turned on somewhere, and now he is.

From Disc 3 and beyond, Squall's friends start to fade, and the development becomes more focused on the Squall-Rinoa relationship. Actually, it almost takes over the story. The whole game feels awkward at some points. When Squall saves Rinoa in space, after they get rid of their spacesuits, they just stand like 10 feet away from each other and Rinoa asks for a hug, rather than just run at the flipping guy who almost sacrificed his life to save her from certain death. Squall goes to remind her of "Our current situation". WHAT CURRENT SITUATION? You turned into one of the most cringeworthy characters in the game moments after she passed out and now you can't even give her a hug? 

Squall's lovey-dovey moments stayed bumping up and falling down all the time. When their ship landed, Rinoa was taken by Esthar because the Sorceress was inside of her, and Squall left her because it was her decision. Moments after Quistis called him a fool (and rightly so), he started acting like Rinoa was stolen from him, and he'll get it back even if it costs him his life. He just left her to her fate moments ago! I don't even...

The beginning part of the game was excellent. You get to know everyone and watch their personalities develop, you start to learn more about your enemy and how to act as a SeeD, and then partake epic missions and huge battles. Then, characters lose relevance, the whole story is focused on keeping a rather badly-executed romance, and when you discover that all characters have the same past, it just becomes stodgy. You can have a love story going while still keeping the main storyline going. It's not rocket science.