Rating: 
Summary: I love this game
Review: Before I bought this game, I read the mixed reviews. With some hesitation, I placed the order and got it.I am not a hard core RPG player, just an occasional user.I got hooked on it and the story. I learned to use the junction system and, perhaps because I had not played any of the previous FFs, liked it. People complained of the random battles. I did not mind them, since the story moved pretty well. But having a slow computer, or a low memory 3d accelerator card may turn out the GFs animation pretty slow.With a 16MB memory graphics card, the animations ran pretty well. After the dollet mission (5 hours into the game) I found myself not needing to call out the GFs as much (only to fight bosses) since the characters had gained strength, experience, and magic to fight the random battles. So you dont have to sit and look at the GF animations for the millionth time as other reviewers claim. I loved the story, it wasnt simple nor complicated. The dialog is believably coming out of 17 years old characters(teenagers can take this however they want to). Ah, yes, get a decent game pad. Being a nintendo player, I did not mind that the keyboard was not fully supported. If you are a gamer, you should have a decent 3d card, a flight joystick, and a game pad to suit the different games you buy.
Rating: 
Summary: expected more after 6 month of PORTING!
Review: The controls are awfull! SquareSoft could at least code in a keyboard interface. And, perhaps, make the Save menu not look quite as PlayStation'ish - what's up with the two memory-card-looking slots?.As a few recent reviews pointed out,the music sounds much better on the PSX than it does on the PC.Apart from that, maybe a button to skip FMVs once the player saw them at least once.And those Quardian Forces!They look beautifull when they are casted but after seeing them 100 times you'll soon try to figure out how to skip them!Some GF take 76 seconds to complete!Square doesn't seem to understand how the PC world works.We have had 3D accelerators for quite some time now!.That means that they could easily use 800x600 in the game - but you will never see that:the game always runs at 640x480.Granted,the spell effects are so unbelievably amazing that you'd think they might saturate the lower-end cards- but for one,I doubt that is the case, and two,I doubt anybody cares.What might be a more realistic reason,I fear,is that they didn't want(or understand that they should)re-render all the backgrounds for higher-resolution PC graphics,and just stretched the lame PSX backgrounds;and that seriously detracts from the visual lushness that could've been experienced.A PSX doesn't have a keyboard,we all know that. But I refuse to believe,no matter how convoluted and complicated the code,that in the 6 months that they spent "PORTING IT" they couldn't at least make the user be able to (gasp!) *type in* his name using keys, rather than hunting for each letter and hitting 'Select'.Similarly,when you have a lot of spells in your inventory,it'd be pretty nice to be able to press a letter and have the cursor jump to the first spell with that letter.Also,staying true to the FF7 tradition, there's no Load menu choice, so if you want to load an earlier save game you have to quit and reload.As well,it appears SquareSoft went on an interface pruning frenzy,and removed some elements,which are absolutely redundant,and no gameplayer would ever even really need - such as,for example,a Quit menu option.I mean hey,who needs one? After all,you're supposed to play this game nonstop 24/7,why would you do such a blasphemous thing as quit?(Works for me,by the way.)Either way,you have to press Alt+F4 or Ctrl+Q to exit the game.Astounding(!) =) It's sad to see that PSX version looks and plays better than the PC version =(
Rating:
Summary: PC Edition Final Fantasy VIII
Review: Probably one of the best games I've ever played. Curious, I bought the game new for 29.99. How Amazon can justify charging 53 dollars for it boggles the mind. Very savvy of them though, because if someone really wants the game, they will pay it. Good Move.Oh, the game? Awesome story line. As Squall, you must fight for a mercenary group called Seed. You were trained as a Seed in a Garden, which has become threatened by the powerful Galbadian Army. Through your missions connected to a rebel group called the Timber Owls and beyond, you must solve puzzles in order to save the world from being overrun by the Galbadians, led by evil sorceress Edea and Seifer, a long time rival of Squall. Through the game, you must build experience through battle and you must also capture GF's (Guardian Forces) when melee attacks aren't potent enough. Through defeating enemies, you become stronger and so do your GF's. Through the junction ability, you can junction magic to you stats, like Hit points and defense. I don't want to ruin the story, but I've beaten the game before, and it was worth the time I spent to play it.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best!
Review: Final Fantasy 8 is without a doubt the best in the series. The plotline is much deeper and more engaging than than any FF game so far. A little more development on the bad girls' character might have been nice, especially after Kefka and Sephiroth,, but there's something to be said for the unknown, shadowy evil force too. For me, personally, I experienced no problems with the translation from PS to PC, but hey, that's me. The sound is perfect (some of the best I've ever heard) the character graphics are great, and the FMV sequences are the BEST there have ever been. I loved all the characters, and how they developed in the game. I even liked the junction system and the weapon upgrades. The one big criticism I have is for the GF sequences. An option to skip past the animation would have been nice, especially after your tenth time watching Eden do (his/her?) thing. Other than that, the game is astounding!!
Rating:
Summary: A pretty mangled port of a beautiful game.
Review: Final Fantasy 8 is probably the most well-designed game I have ever played in my life. It was quite the GPA killer in late '99, with layer upon layer of gameplay -- from the fun sideline Card and Chocobo games, the dual-worlds that you explore, the infinitely configurable Junction/Draw system, and the interesting characters that you got to watch interact. It was the Playstation's finest moment, to be sure, and as a long time fan of the series, it confirmed my sense that Final Fantasy just keeps getting better with each installment. When you buy this game for your PC, all that will still be true, but unfortunately the shortcomings of the conversion from the Playstation to the desktop might irritate you. The music was meant to be rendered using the Playstation's MIDI instruments, and I haven't heard a shred of authenticity in PC MIDI's attempt to emulate the original sounds thus far. The graphics are limited to 640x480 because of the Playstation's 320x240 resolution, and that limits the detail in the 3d-rendered characters. The sad thing is, they only limit it to this resolution because they didn't re-render the static 2d backgrounds that the 3d characters walk around on, so yes, you traverse around onscreen on a 320x240 graphic that is simply stretched to full screen (and it looks very, very pixely). The controls were originally designed for the Playstation, too, and while it didn't matter to me much since I have a Gravis Gamepad Pro (Good buy) which is modeled exactly after the Playstation's controller -- the bizarre remapping of controls that I imagine will become necessary for PC owners will no doubt cause some head-scratching. Because few joysticks sport the 10-buttons needed to play FF8 - you will likely be left having to make choices regarding what buttons you want left on your joystick, and what you want to leave on the keyboard. (The must-haves on the joystick, if you're intersted, should be: Accept, Cancel, and Menu) There are, however, advantages to having the PC port over the playstation. The CG movies -- which are now a crowning jewel in the Final Fantasy series -- were all re-rendered in the new resolution, and they are nothing short of absolutely breathtaking. So one is left wondering -- If Square was willing to shell out the dough for rerendering the CG movies -- how come they didn't rerender the music and 320x240 backgrounds?
Rating:
Summary: Absouluty spell binding
Review: This is the first Final Fantasy that I have played. The graphics are amazing. The story in it's self is truely compelling. It's addictive I must say. I get on and find myself spending 6 hours on it and when I do get off it seems like I have only been on for a short amount of time. I am also new to the world of RPG's. This is my first one actually. I recommend this for any new gamer or RPG player. The battles are challenging yet at the same time not impossible. Also I love the love story between Squall and Rinoa. When I first looked at this game the price kinda overwelmed me. But I decided to try it out and pay the $40. I took it home and installed it and started playing and it was worth every penny I spent on it. No RPG or Final Fantasy fan should be without this game. It is an awsome addition to any collection.
Rating: 
Summary: The verdict on the PC port of the psx game Final Fantasy8
Review: For all you people out there who don't know the "Final Fantasy" series the flagship title of Squaresoft you all should slap yourself in the head cause you don't know what you're missing on. This is a great game if it wasn't originally on the psx...it's just the same game with no improvement except some graphical upgrades when casting spells, and summoning guardian forces. It's dissapointing to see that it's the exact port of the playstation. And all you PC gamers out there who love 3D graphics, don't expect it to see it here...the game has dated 640*480 resolution, I think that Squaresoft should've put a little more effort their PC ports, but if you overlook those bad details, this game is truely worthy to be titled "Final Fantasy". I really think you should sacrifice your precious game time into this classic rpg...final verdict...get it...
Rating:
Summary: A great leap forward in graphics, backward in gameplay
Review: Everything about this game is wonderful except one tiny detail. The storyline is great, the graphics excellent. The sound, music, even the minigame is wonderful. The only thing that this game lacks is gameplay. This is the first Final Fantasy game I have ever seen that actually DISCOURAGES exploring the world around you. Every second you pause to explore the scenery instead of moving forward to the next plot element you've had dictated to you is one more second towards losing rank in SeeD and the money that comes with it. Every monster that you actually try and fight just makes all the enemies which you fight after it stronger, to the point where some online guides recommend running away from every single battle in order to make the bosses easier. Thinking perhaps that exploring could get you better equipment for your character? Not very often here. In short, the best way to make your characters stronger is to sit there and use the "Draw" command over and over again to increase your junctioned magic. How positively thrilling. I'd give up the graphics, sound, even a bit of the storyline if only the battle and gameplay system in this game were different.
Rating:
Summary: Most spectacular RPG game
Review: I played Final Fantasy7 and i thought it had an extremely good story-line but final fantasy 8 does too. When i first started finalfantasy8 and looked at the intro movie i was amazed. The ff8 graphics are the best i have seen in any game ever. The people are sure realistically animated. Even hair moves. Now alot of people complain about ff8 not being like the traditional cartoon people of the other ff series. But I think the game schouldnt stay with the cartoon people. As the technology improves so should the final fantsy series. I was rather shocked when i heard that final fantasy 9 is going back to the traditional graphics. The Junction system is also much better than the Materia system, just because its harder doesnt mean itas bad. Youll only completely master and see how usefull and great the junction system is once you beat ff8 and thats part of the fun. The battles are much more exciting than ff7s do to the new system and GF and the tons of spells. The stroy of final fantsy 8 is also great. I wont say its better than ff7s but at least the same good. Throughout the whole game your hoocked and must play on because its so exciting. Like in ff7 you always think you know the end or how the story continues and usually it turns out to be something else. All in all i love this game really much because it combines story and awesome graphics in one.
Rating:
Summary: Oh...My...Gawd...
Review: I have just finished this game, and am still winding down. This game is the best RPG I have ever played, and probably the best game I have ever played... ever. The charaters are so cool they could freeze heck. The graphics are phenominal, unlike FF7, where it looks like they made Dragon Ballz 3-D and changed some characer appearance. And last, but no least, the story is one of the best so far! By the time I had finished, I found myself quite literally going through some sort of emotional crisis.
(I WANT THE STORY TO CONTINUE!!!!)
Anyway, I'd say that if you haven't played this one, do it. It's worth the money. And It's WAY better that FF7.
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