Current Events > Why doesn't FF8 get as much love as FF7?

(+) Yeah! (+)

7 has a bunch of spinoff games, some movies and even a full on remake. 8 gets none of that. Squall appears in a couple Kingdom Hearts games but that's basically it. What happened?

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Because it's not as good

Because FF7 is a good game and FF8 is not.
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Because the GF's made people forget about FF8.

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Because FF7 FF8 FF9.

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FFVIII was awful. It deserves nothing but distain.

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boo at the haters boo
and on topic you should be happy square didn't milk this entry like 7 while flawed i still liked the game and the way it ended even tho if they do a remake part of me wants to see some of the cut content's but no. i don't want current SE touching it they will screw it up

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If they remake FF8 they should cut more content. There's a lot of bad things to choose from.
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I loved FF8 but it was a really messy game, from the battle system to the story, so it makes sense.

I loved 8 as a kid. Wouldnt mind seeing a remake of that.

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argonautweakend posted...

I loved FF8 but it was a really messy game, from the battle system to the story, so it makes sense.

disagree on the battle system i loved enemy's lving up along with me which forced me to play with the game mechanic's pros and cons but i get why pure rpg fans weren't happy about it and as for the story this was square soft still being clunky with their english translation plus the game being rushed (just like chrono cross and xenogears)

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DeadBankerDream posted...

If they remake FF8 they should cut more content. There's a lot of bad things to choose from.

Cut everything that's not Triple Triad.

fan357 posted...

I loved 8 as a kid. Wouldnt mind seeing a remake of that.

don't man. don't wish for this, not after what happened with FF7R
last thing we need is current SE screwing it the story even more even tho it does deal with time travel

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its not really enemies leveling up with you. the junction system is cool but also flawed: using spells is pointless after a while.

Nevermind things like a successful strategy is getting lionheart disk 1, keeping squall at 25% health and "re-rolling" for limit breaks every turn.

You can break the game six ways from sunday pretty much from the start.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Cut everything that's not Triple Triad.

Hey now. You can keep Quistis too, and the soundtrack.

Real talk, FFVIII would benefit a bit from the FF7R approach, but even more intensely. An entire game centered around disc one.

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Why doesn't FF8 get as much love as FF7?

One issue was the infamous Junction System.

Many fans of the series voiced how much they disliked junctioning for multiple reasons.
You liked it? Congrats on being the minority...

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argonautweakend posted...

its not really enemies leveling up with you. the junction system is cool but also flawed: using spells is pointless after a while.

Nevermind things like a successful strategy is getting lionheart disk 1, keeping squall at 25% health and "re-rolling" for limit breaks every turn.

You can break the game six ways from sunday pretty much from the start.

i mean you can do that to a lot of games it's not like it's just 8 where you can be broken
and again while it's system is flawed i still found it fun and as for the enemies lvling up with was the most point i saw people complain about for years on the FF8 board back in the day

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As someone who loves customizing, and collecting, the draw/junction system was awesome.

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Unlikable characters
Junctioning confuses some people, breaks the game for others
Junctioning makes magic more valuable if you never use it
Earn money via salary
Drawing magic
GFs ruined our memories

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FF8 was a mess for sure but I feel like people in here are being too light on FF7 and its flaws.

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The Popo posted...

Unlikable characters
Junctioning confuses some people, breaks the game for others
Junctioning makes magic more valuable if you never use it
Earn money via salary
Drawing magic
GFs ruined our memories

God damn the fucking orphanage thing just feels stupider and stupider the more I think about it.

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I beat it when it first came out back in the day. Back then I liked it, but when I think about it the game was just...ok. Squall is in the running for the most boring protagonist in any game that I've ever played. And the orphanage stuff and 'time kompression' is just...wtf.

The music was fucking amazing though. The opening FMV of Liberi Fatali was so damn good, and arguably still the best of any mainline FF game that followed.

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The only good thing to come out of FF8 was Quistis please whip me harder mommy Trepe

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Dorfmann_ posted...

Because it's not as good

By a lot.

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First impressions are everything so they say...

FF7 had a simple battle system that people understood without much explaining with an explosive opening that just had you in the action straight away.

FF8 had a more complicated battle system that people didn't understand even after the whole first part of the game explaining it. It starts with you at school having some lessons. Very slow to get going.

Personally I like 8 more, imo it's far less tedious to play than 7 (first part excepted) and the story is good (ok it's a bit silly at times but that's not unique for an FF is it?). The drawing magic and using GFs criticisms are overstated or just wrong. The music is very strong too, felt a bit more refined in a way (I guess because the instrument samples were better?).

Overall I can see why people love 7 so much over 8, I think it has such a grand sense of scale, it felt epic. I'm not sure 8 conjures up that same feeling but it's still fantastic.

because draw system worst system and materia system best system. Not to mention sephiroth being a better villian. Tifa's triangles. A more interesting story. And no group amnesia.

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While I actually liked FF8, it clearly wasn't as good as FF7.

The gameplay, story, characters, & world/lore were all worse. The draw/junction system was awful. The lack of a central villain was also a problem-- especially coming after Sephiroth was such a hit.

As positives, the music was really good (Uematsu in top form), Triple Triad was a great minigame, and the graphics for the time were seen as a step forward. But none of those things was enough to make up for the negatives.

FF7 is the most overrated game of all time imho, but it's still a damn good game and far better that FF8, also imho. It pretty rightfully gets more love.

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I liked 8 but it just didn't feel as epic as 7. Sephiroth was a much more compelling villain than time traveling witch or whatever so him trying to destroy the world felt like a massive event you had to stop, where Ultimecia just felt like another boss to beat.
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The cast was fucking horrible.

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Veggeta X posted...

The cast was fucking horrible.

Not as terrible as Blue Dragon, but at least that game was ambiguously fun to play.

Veggeta X posted...

The cast was fucking horrible.

You're thinking of 10

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10 has at least one likeable character in the cast.

Therefore it has a better cast than 8.
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VII's plot was ambitious and large in scope. Characters were fleshed out. Locations were good and memorable.

VIII's plot was, what exactly? A love story? What else? Something something monstrous sorcereress from the future. Oh and something about the moon.

The towns and locations were small and forgettable besides Balamb Garden.

Characters were one dimensional as hell. None of them besides Squall do anything at all. Dezigns were good and personalities were there, but they did nothing with them.

The whole world was empty, but they still went to space for some reason. Esthar was designed by some guy on acid. I could go on forever 'cause it's so frustrating.

Battle system was fine. Soundtrack was great. A remake would be pointless, but a sequel might work.

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Not sure. Both are among the worst FFs.

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VIII's only real advantages over VII were the bomb ass opening cinematic that it had and Triple Triad. Beyond that, VIII is pretty forgettable other than how laughably bad that the amnesia plot twist was.

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ff8 was the best ff game

ff7 just hapoened to be many baby's first

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Because it's by far the least popular ff game from the golden era.

I liked 8, but it just is what it is

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ModLogic posted...

ff8 was the best ff game

ff7 just happened to be many baby's first

this i love how most here cry about Junctioning system while praising the material system even tho by the end of the game outside of Kotr summon most of the magic is meh and the fights can be over with just clouds final limit break lol

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Nostalgia

because ff8 is a garbage game in every aspect sans its soundtrack

gikos posted...

even tho by the end of the game outside of Kotr summon most of the magic is meh and the fights can be over with just clouds final limit break lol

And with ff8, instead of endgame that's when you get to ifirit.

Did you think you were making a point or that anyone plays final fantasy for it's difficulty?

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Have you played it?

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Card game is prolly the best thing about the game. Making OP magic out of items and cards to junction to make yourself OP is pretty fun. Always fun making yourself OP.

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They needed an an even edgier protagonist than a guy with anime hair with a huge sword so they went for the emo guy whose catchphrase is "whatever" with a GUNBLADE.

Seriously though, the gameplay is nothing special. For all the "junction is complicated" is this topic, it's pretty much draw all the magic you can then see which make the numbers the biggest. So level grinding is replaced by magic grinding. Whoop dee doo.

So you're left with bad characters and story. At least the music was great.

Squall isn't emo. He's an anti-social loner. An emo is a person who is always sad over dumb shit.

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Veggeta X posted...

Squall isn't emo. He's an anti-social loner. An emo is a person who is always sad over dumb shit.

Been too long since I played to remember the specifics. Back then emo was everywhere so that might have colored my perception.

That and Spoony's review of FF8 where he named him Emo Git.