07-17-2014, 02:58 PM
My thoughts on FF8:
The first time I played the game, I started off excited about the story, but after the big Garden fight, I felt that the story started to go downhill fast. The moment that everyone found out they grew up together but lost their memories - that felt like such a rushed plot to me and it really soured the game experience. From that point on, I had a lot of problems with getting into the story. The fact that my game bugged out (PC version) and after making it to disc 4 once but not saving, I could never again go back into the lunatic pandora from the previous save, and I was not able to get to disc 4 again without starting over (which meant having to go through the story again).
Now in response to that, years later I watched a video walkthrough of the game (not quite an LP but close, I guess) which did all grinding off screen after getting Diabolos so it was all story and boss fights on screen. I wanted to finally see how it ends, I guess. I found that the second time through, the "big twist" wasn't as irritating - perhaps because the different pacing of watching the game without battles gave me a chance to see it unfold with better flow. I don't know.
As for the magic and GF systems.
I liked the GF system itself. I like that the summons were interactive with boost, and I liked that there were affinities and customization. I hated the magic system. I felt that the whole Draw system meant that you would find the easiest battle with the magic you want, and then draw up to 100 and junction it to the best stat it affects, and bob's your uncle. It made magic feel less special. And speaking of special, I hated that due to certain spells being better with certain stats, everyone had the same magic pool by the end of the game. There was no really reason to vary it up. I recognize that a similar argument can be made for FF7, but at least in that one, you had to master most of the good materia before you could get a second one. FF8 (and FF6 and FF10 and FF12), in my opinion, all suffer from all the characters having one unique move and then, other than that, being clones of each other by end game. I guess I never really had that problem with FF5 and FFT because you don't end up being the sum of EVERYTHING you've learned, so I'd still load out everyone differently - I'd have my dedicated healers and my dedicated attackers and my dedicated mages. But there is no real dedication in those other games (by end game at least), so I find myself disappointed towards the end.
Finally, regarding monsters leveling. Honestly, I didn't really care. I mean, I know the feeling of having a monster that is hard and then grinding a bit and then wrecking its face. And I know the feeling of finding a foe that is hard and then beating it by having the right loadouts and winning by the skin of your teeth because you fought well. Type A may be satisfying, but Type B is more engaging by far. But the thing is, I never really felt that FF8 was Type A OR Type B. You grinded to make your summons stronger, but you made the enemy stronger with you. It was a give and take that didn't feel very exciting, tbh. As for it maybe being a response to over-grinding FF7, I think FF12RW did it best by having the final boss go up from level 60 to level 99 if you 100%ed everything before the fight. You grinded to get all the best things, so now you get a challenge that makes you NEED the best things. I loved that. I wish more games did that.
Alright, I think that's everything... for now.
The first time I played the game, I started off excited about the story, but after the big Garden fight, I felt that the story started to go downhill fast. The moment that everyone found out they grew up together but lost their memories - that felt like such a rushed plot to me and it really soured the game experience. From that point on, I had a lot of problems with getting into the story. The fact that my game bugged out (PC version) and after making it to disc 4 once but not saving, I could never again go back into the lunatic pandora from the previous save, and I was not able to get to disc 4 again without starting over (which meant having to go through the story again).
Now in response to that, years later I watched a video walkthrough of the game (not quite an LP but close, I guess) which did all grinding off screen after getting Diabolos so it was all story and boss fights on screen. I wanted to finally see how it ends, I guess. I found that the second time through, the "big twist" wasn't as irritating - perhaps because the different pacing of watching the game without battles gave me a chance to see it unfold with better flow. I don't know.
As for the magic and GF systems.
I liked the GF system itself. I like that the summons were interactive with boost, and I liked that there were affinities and customization. I hated the magic system. I felt that the whole Draw system meant that you would find the easiest battle with the magic you want, and then draw up to 100 and junction it to the best stat it affects, and bob's your uncle. It made magic feel less special. And speaking of special, I hated that due to certain spells being better with certain stats, everyone had the same magic pool by the end of the game. There was no really reason to vary it up. I recognize that a similar argument can be made for FF7, but at least in that one, you had to master most of the good materia before you could get a second one. FF8 (and FF6 and FF10 and FF12), in my opinion, all suffer from all the characters having one unique move and then, other than that, being clones of each other by end game. I guess I never really had that problem with FF5 and FFT because you don't end up being the sum of EVERYTHING you've learned, so I'd still load out everyone differently - I'd have my dedicated healers and my dedicated attackers and my dedicated mages. But there is no real dedication in those other games (by end game at least), so I find myself disappointed towards the end.
Finally, regarding monsters leveling. Honestly, I didn't really care. I mean, I know the feeling of having a monster that is hard and then grinding a bit and then wrecking its face. And I know the feeling of finding a foe that is hard and then beating it by having the right loadouts and winning by the skin of your teeth because you fought well. Type A may be satisfying, but Type B is more engaging by far. But the thing is, I never really felt that FF8 was Type A OR Type B. You grinded to make your summons stronger, but you made the enemy stronger with you. It was a give and take that didn't feel very exciting, tbh. As for it maybe being a response to over-grinding FF7, I think FF12RW did it best by having the final boss go up from level 60 to level 99 if you 100%ed everything before the fight. You grinded to get all the best things, so now you get a challenge that makes you NEED the best things. I loved that. I wish more games did that.
Alright, I think that's everything... for now.