FINAL FANTASY VIII
What were they thinking?
Lazy programmers plague the porting industry, if there is such a thing.
With rare exception ports have never ever been any good. Shame on you for
not understanding conversion and quality. When Final Fantasy came out for
the PSX in Spetember'99, i took it for granted we would have a PC version
with jazzed up graphics and cleaned up gameplay. That's exactly the
sentiments that got me into buying this game. Well, I take it all back and
wish I could get my money back. The PSX version was a hell of a lot
better. The conversion hacks blew it big time.
Final
Fantasy VIII revolves around a young man called Squall Leonhart. Did you
know Squall means a storm? What's was wrong with his parents when they
named their young son after a weather condition? Well, I guess it's okay,
cause if they named him Milhouse (From the Simpsons) how moody would that
be. Anyways, as i was saying, Squall's a student in the Garden, a military
facility which trains soldiers of the highest ability. The few that make
it this far are known as the SeeD. Squall's entry into this elite force
pits him up against a evil witch, Edea. It's your job to stop her from
taking over the world.
While the characters in the game are sharper, graphical glitches rule the
day. The fonts, the menus, the save system, the backgrounds... everything
is just a big mess. Even the card game is jacked up. No other port has
shown such disinterest and lack of effort before this. Even Seifer's cool
hairstyle looks like an ugly polygonal pop up.
Thankfully, the game play remains intact. Magic is still.....umm...operated thru a "junction" system. Different sides or aspects of your character are determined by how much magic your character has. Different types of magic is found in different enemies you fight. By "drawing" magic from your opponent, you can stock up on as many units of magic you want... well, if you have the patience, cause to max your character you need to raise the level of important spells to 100. Let's just say its BORING.
A main intricacy of RPG being minored being that of armor upgrade, and weapon upgrades, drawing magic becomes a necessity. The last area in the game is nothing more than an easy chance to max up all your magic spells. It would be cooler if the magic was harder to come by or the enemies didn't have an unlimited supply of spells.
In
order to draw magic, you must first equip a Guardian Force (GF) to your
characters, thereby inheriting the GF's traits and abilities. The GF's
gain experience points, developing more abilities as you fight with them
equipped.
It wouldn't be a Square game without overblown, glorified videos. And thankfully, the video has survived the port; sharper and brighter than before. But who cares if the main graphics can't back the FMV up anymore.
Musically, the game has a few tracks that stand out. Most of the others are so-so. And the midi version of the PC sounds very lifeless and mechanical. Complain: where are the voices? If I wanted to read I'd buy a book. This better be the last silent Final Fantasy.
There are still some great moments in the plot and some fun aspects to the gameplay, but it's all overshadowed by the disappointing, shabby port. Final Fantasy 8 was a great game turned crappy by lazy programmers who don't know the meanings of conversion or quality. Go replay the PSX version instead.
