Gourt Home::Gourt :: Final Fantasy VIII
| Microsoft Windows version | |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Eidos Interactive|
| Release date(s) | 25 January, 2000 (North America) 18 February, 2000 (Europe) 23 March, 2000 (Japan) |
| Media | 5 CD-ROMs |
| System requirements | Windows 95, Pentium-class CPU, 32 MB RAM, 8X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 6.1 |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse, or joystick |
Final Fantasy VIII departed from many traditional standards of the series. It is the first game in the series to consistently use realistically proportioned characters, feature a vocal piece as its theme song, and deviate from the series' traditional means of increasing a character's power.
Gameplay
Like Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII consists of three main modes of play: the world map, the field map, and the battle screen. The world map is a 3D display in which the player may navigate freely across a small-scale rendering of the game world. The field map consists of controllable 3D characters overlaid on one or more 2D pre-rendered backgrounds, which represent environmental locations such as towns or forests. The battle screen is a 3D model of a location such as a street or room, where turn-based fights between playable characters and CPU-controlled enemies take place. The interface is menu-driven as in previous titles, but with the typical weapon and armor systems removed and new features present, such as the Junction system and a collectible card-based minigame known as "Triple Triad".
Junction system
This new system revolves around summonable monsters, called "Guardian Forces" (GFs). A character must have a GF assigned to them ("junctioned") before he or she can use several standard Final Fantasy battle command abilities, such as "Magic", "GF" (summoning), and "Item". Only "Attack" can be performed without a GF. While previous Final Fantasy titles used a limited pool of Magic Points (MP) that were consumed by each spell to restrict unlimited magic use, in Final Fantasy VIII, spells are "drawn" from enemies and special Draw Points distributed throughout the game's environments. Additionally, certain GF abilities allow players to "refine" magical spells from items. Spells are then stocked on characters as quantified inventory (restricted to one hundred at a time) and are consumed one at a time when used. GFs also allow characters to "junction" these spells to their own statistics — such as "Strength" and "Vitality" — for various bonuses.The flexibility of this system makes it possible to build a powerful party early in the game. This alternative use of GFs was a significant departure for the Final Fantasy series, as summoned creatures were previously used almost exclusively to deliver a single devastating attack during battles. Furthermore, the system allowed the developers to replace the equippable weapons, armor, and accessories of previous games, with each character instead featuring a specialized weapon that cannot be unequipped. A limited number of upgrades can be performed on each character's weapon throughout the game, increasing its power and altering its appearance.
Limit Breaks
As in Final Fantasy VII, each character has unique special attacks called "Limit Breaks" ("Special Arts" in the original Japanese version). Whereas Limit Breaks in Final Fantasy VII are triggered by accumulating a set amount of damage, in Final Fantasy VIII they are randomly available every turn when the character's health (Hit Points, or HP) is below 32% of its current maximum (84% in Seifer Almasy's case). This system is similar to the Desperation Attacks from Final Fantasy VI, which are triggered on rare occasions when a character is near death. The magic spell Aura increases the probability of Limit Breaks appearing, regardless of a character's remaining Hit Points.Another change is that most of the main characters' special techniques feature interactive elements, ranging from a slot machine design to fighting game-style button inputs. These elements, which are dependent on the character and the nature of the Limit Break, can be used to increase the potency of the attack.
Experience levels
As in most role-playing games and most Final Fantasy games, experience points are awarded following successful battles. When a character accumulates 1000 experience points, he or she gains a "level", which increases that character's base statistics. Unlike previous Final Fantasy games, however, randomly encountered enemies have no set level — their levels increase alongside those of the playable characters. Higher level enemies are capable of dealing and withstanding significantly more damage, and may have new attacks. Statistic increases from "leveling up" are minuscule compared to those available through the Junction system.In addition to gaining levels, Guardian Forces earn Ability Points (AP) after battles, which is allocated to special abilities that Guardian Forces can learn. When a GF has learned an ability, that ability becomes available for any character — and, in some cases, the entire character party — to use. Through learned abilities, GFs can receive attack enhancements in battle, refine magical spells from items, provide bonuses to characters when leveling up, and add battle commands.
Story
Setting
The majority of Final Fantasy VIII is set on a large, unnamed world with one moon. The planet comprises five major landmasses, with the largest (Esthar) covering most of the eastern and northeastern portions of the map. The second largest continent (Galbadia) lies to the west, and contains many of the game's locations. Positioned roughly in the middle of the world map lies the smallest continent (Balamb), the large island on which the game begins. The remaining two landmasses are smaller and mostly desolate, riddled with rough, rocky terrain, having suffered from the impact of a Lunar Cry.(In-game tutorial) Centra Civilisation: A civilisation in Centra 4000 years ago. These Centra people immigrated to other continents and founded the Dollet Empire to the west and Esthar to the east. Centra was destroyed 80 years ago by the Lunar Cry.(Final Fantasy VIII) The southernmost landmass is long and thin, while the other, a short distance north, is an archipelago of broken sections of land that have drifted apart. A number of islands and marine structures flesh out the rest of the game world, and a smattering of off-world locations round out the game's playable areas.
As part of a theme desired by director Yoshinori Kitase to give the game a foreign atmosphere, various designs were given to its locations using the style of internationally familiar places, while also maintaining a fantasy atmosphere. Inspiration ranged from ancient Egyptian and Greek architecture, to the city of Paris, France, to an idealized futuristic an society.
Characters
The main playable characters in Final Fantasy VIII are Squall Leonhart, who uses a gunblade (a fictional revolver-sword hybrid that functions primarily as a sword, with an added damaging vibration feature activated by use of its gun mechanism); Rinoa Heartilly, who fights using an arm-bound crossbow that fires projectiles with a boomerang-like effect; Quistis Trepe, who uses a whip in battle; Zell Dincht, a martial artist; Selphie Tilmitt, who uses nunchaku; and Irvine Kinneas, a marksman. Playable supporting characters include Laguna Loire, Kiros Seagill, Ward Zabac (playable characters in "flashback" sequences), and antagonists Seifer and Edea.
During the game's pre-production, character designer Tetsuya Nomura suggested that the game bear a "school days" feel. As scenario writer Kazushige Nojima already had a story in mind in which the main characters were the same ages, the ideas meshed, taking form as the Garden military academies. Nojima also planned for the two playable parties featured in the game (Squall's present day group and Laguna Loire's group from the past) to highly contrast with one another. This idea was conveyed through the age and experience of Laguna's group, versus the youth and inexperience of Squall's group.
In keeping with the game's theme of a foreign atmosphere, the objective with the character designs was to give them predominantly European appearances. The first Final Fantasy VIII character Nomura designed with this theme in mind was Squall. Additionally, desiring to add a unique angle to Squall's appearance to emphasise his role as the central character, Nomura gave him a gunblade scar across his brow and the bridge of his nose. As there was not yet a detailed history conceived for the character at this time, Nomura left the explanation for Squall's scar to Nojima. Squall's design was completed by a feather motif along the collar of his jacket, included by Nomura for the purpose of challenging the game's FMV designers to take full advantage of the game's graphics engine.
Nomura ended up altering each character's appearance before they reached their final designs, forcing him to scrap his original intentions. For instance, Nomura had originally wanted Seifer Almasy to be involved in a love triangle between himself, Rinoa and Squall. As another example, Quistis was to originally be designed with a skirt, but in the end, was given a long skirt worn over pants. With Rinoa wearing a mini-skirt over shorts, this led to a conflict with the intended notion that one of the main female characters would wear a skirt. A compromise was made in this regard with Selphie's design. She was originally intended to be wearing overalls, but Nomura decided that her outfit should be something of a combination of the two. Finally, when designing Rinoa, Nomura decided to avoid the temptation of FMV technology by making her "cute" and full of personality, instead of "too beautiful".
With Final Fantasy VIII also came the inclusion of three designs Nomura had previously drawn, but had not yet used in a Final Fantasy game. These included the designs of Edea, Fujin and Raijin. The latter two had originally been designed for use in Final Fantasy VII, but with the inclusion of that games Turks characters, it was felt that Fujin and Raijin were unnecessary. Edea had been a design that Nomura created prior to even Final Fantasy VII
In addition to designing all the game's characters, Tetsuya Nomura also designed all of its Guardian Forces. Aware that there was a type of "training" involved with their role in the game, Nomura decided to give them all features that distanced them from human beings and gave them more the appearance of mystical creatures, even in the rare cases of the game's humanoid GFs.
Plot
The story of Final Fantasy VIII opens as protagonist Squall Leonhart and antagonist Seifer Almasy — rivals and cadets at a military academy known as "Garden" — scar each other in a practice duel. Meanwhile, the Galbadian regime, led by Vinzer Deling, invades the Dollet Dukedom, forcing Dollet to hire the Balamb Garden branch of SeeD, Garden's elite mercenary force. SeeD uses the mission as a field examination for its graduation-eligible cadets, Xu: Our client for this mission is the Dollet Dukedom Parliament. A request for SeeD was made 18 hours ago. Dollet has been under attack by the G-Army since about 72 hours ago. 49 hours into the battle, Dollet abandoned their position in the inner city. Currently, they have retreated into the nearby mountains and are reorganizing their troops. That's the current status. Now onto the mission objective. According to our reports, the G-Army is mopping up the Dollet troops in the mountain region. We're to make a landing at Lapin Beach. We're to eliminate the remaining G-Army within the city and liberate it A.S.A.P. Afterwards, SeeD members will intercept any G-Army forces trying to make their way into the city from the mountain region. (Final Fantasy VIII) and with the help of his instructor, Quistis Trepe, Squall passes the prerequisite for the Dollet exam. While SeeD prepares for the assault, Squall is assigned to an attack squad with Zell Dincht and Seifer. In Dollet, Seifer abandons his team halfway through the mission, forcing Selphie Tilmitt to accompany Squall and Zell for the duration. After the mission, SeeD halts the Galbadian advance, and Squall, Zell and Selphie graduate to SeeD status while Seifer is disciplined for acting independently.Shortly after graduating, Squall meets a young woman named "Rinoa Heartilly", whose attitude and approach to life are apparently the opposite of his own. Assigned to help her Galbadian-resistance on his first mission, along with Zell and Selphie, Squall learns that a sorceress named "Edea" is the mastermind behind Galbadia's increasing hostilities. Edea soon kills Deling, turning Galbadia into an imperial dictatorship. Edea: ...Lowlifes. ...Shameless filthy wretches. How you celebrate my ascension with such joy. Hailing the very one whom you have condemned for generations. Have you no shame? What happened to the evil, ruthless sorceress from your fantasies? The cold-blooded tyrant that slaughtered countless men and destroyed many nations? Where is she now? She stands before your very eyes to become your new ruler. HAHAHAHAHA. (Final Fantasy VIII) Under orders from both Galbadia and Balamb's Gardens, Squall and his comrades — now joined by Quistis and sharpshooter Irvine Kinneas — attempt to assassinate the sorceress. Despite a nearly flawless execution of the plan arranged by Galbadia's own General Caraway, Rinoa's father, the party is defeated and imprisoned. Moreover, Squall's party learns that Seifer has now left Garden and became Edea's second-in-command. Squall: So, you've become the sorceress' lap dog? / Seifer: I preferred to be called her knight. This has always been my dream. (Final Fantasy VIII)
After escaping prison, the team splits into two units. Squall's group successfully brings an end to an internal conflict at Balamb Garden incited by NORG, SeeD's financial supporter, while Selphie's squad fails to prevent a Galbadian missile attack on Balamb and Trabia Gardens. The missile launch forces Squall to turn Balamb Garden into a mobile fortress to avoid the attack, leaving the facility temporarily uncontrollable until it collides with the docks at Fisherman's Horizon in the middle of the ocean. During negotiations to apologize to the mayor of Fisherman's Horizon, Galbadia invades the town in search of a girl named "Ellone," who had been staying at the Garden until recently.
Throughout the game, Ellone sends Squall and his allies into a series of flashbacks set seventeen years in the past. The scenes center on a man named "Laguna" and his two friends, Kiros and Ward. During the flashbacks, Laguna transitions from being a Galbadian soldier, to the self-appointed defender of a small country village, to the president of Esthar, the game world's technological superpower.
Meanwhile, Squall himself deals with personal conflictions fueled by the ongoing events of the presentSquall: (How long has it been since we started moving?) (There's not much more to do now. We've taken care of all the monsters in the Garden.) (Oh yeah... I still have to report to the headmaster. There's a lot of things I want to ask about, too.) (He's probably still busy, trying to reestablish order in the Garden.) (...We're in the middle of nowhere.) (Man, I'm bored...) (I hate having nothing to do. It gets me thinking too much.) (I hope Selphie and the others are all right. Was it wrong for me to let them go? I wonder how Quistis and Irvine felt about it.) (That sorceress... Who is she? Why fire missiles at the Garden? Is Seifer ever coming back? I'll get even with him next time.) (Final Fantasy VIII). Among these are Balamb Garden's Headmaster Cid appointing him as SeeD's new leader, Cid: This journey will involve many battles. A well qualified leader is needed for this. Therefore, I am appointing Squall as your new leader. From now on, Squall will be the leader. He will decide our destination and battle plan. (Final Fantasy VIII) and his own ever increasing fondness for Rinoa. Squall particularly finds himself struggling with this latter development, as he had previously shut out all feelings of affection due to a fear of becoming vulnerable.
As Edea and Seifer continue sweeping the world in search of Ellone, matters are complicated further during an investigation of Trabia Garden's ruins. Squall and his comrades learn that — with the exception of Rinoa — they were raised along with Seifer and Ellone in an orphanage run by Edea, and later developed amnesia due to their use of Guardian Forces. Furthermore, it is revealed that Edea is Cid's wife, and together the two had founded Garden and SeeD to defeat evil sorceresses. Cid: She had been a sorceress since childhood. I married her, knowing that. We were happy. We worked together, the two of us. We were very happy. One day, Edea began talking about building the Garden and training SeeD. I became obsessed with that plan. But I was very concerned with SeeD's goal, that one day SeeD might fight Edea... (Final Fantasy VIII)
Soon, the full forces of Balamb Garden and the Galbadian army (using the now-mobilized Galbadia Garden) — led by Squall and Seifer respectively — engage in conflict. After Balamb defeats Galbadia, it is revealed that Edea is merely an unwilling tool for a greater sorceress known as "Ultimecia", who resides in the future and wishes to achieve Time Compression. This spell would grant her dominion over all time and space, and it is for this reason she has sought Ellone.Edea: ...I have been possessed all this time. I was at the mercy of Sorceress Ultimecia. Ultimecia is a sorceress from the future. A sorceress many generations ahead of our time. Ultimecia's objective is to find Ellone. (Final Fantasy VIII)Rinoa: There was a sorceress inside me. Ultimecia, a sorceress from the future. She's trying to achieve time compression. (Final Fantasy VIII)
A conclusive battle with Edea forces Ultimecia to transfer her powers to Rinoa, allowing Edea to survive but leaving Rinoa frozen in a deep coma. Squall becomes obsessed with waking her and seeks the help of Dr. Odine, a renowned scientist living in Esthar. However, while Rinoa is being treated on Esthar's space station, Ultimecia uses her to free Adel, the imprisoned sorceress responsible for the war of seventeen years past. Ultimecia then orders Seifer to activate Esthar's Lunatic Pandora facility, inciting a rain of monsters from the moon in a phenomenon called the "Lunar Cry". This simultaneously brings Adel's containment device from space to the planet's surface, and leaves Esthar swarming with monsters.Rinoa: But Edea's still... I can't guarantee anything, either, if Ultimecia possesses me again... You saw me. She controlled me in outer space and made me break Adel's seal. (Final Fantasy VIII)
Ultimecia — preparing to possess Adel — abandons Rinoa in the void of outer space. A desperate Squall dives after her, but the two are stranded until they encounter a derelict spaceship. After using it to return to the planet's surface, they are approached by delegates from Esthar, who lock Rinoa away in fear of her new sorceress powers.Descendant 1: Sorceress Rinoa. Hyne's descendant. / Descendant 2: Come with us. We must seal your power for the sake of the world. (Final Fantasy VIII) Squall and his companions rescue Rinoa and finally meet Laguna, Esthar's president, Ellone's adopted father, and the man in the flashbacks. Together with Dr. Odine, a plan is devised to let Ultimecia use Ellone to compress time, as it would allow Squall's group to confront Ultimecia in her own era. As Time Compression begins, Squall is forced to duel Seifer once again and kill Adel when she attempts to assimilate Rinoa. With their friendship serving as their bond to reality, Squall and his friends immunize themselves to the effects of Time Compression, travel to Ultimecia's era and defeat her.Laguna: Ok, this is the showdown folks! Time compression is about to begin. 'Love, friendship, and courage'! Show'em what you got! (Final Fantasy VIII)
As Ultimecia is defeated, the universe begins returning to normal, and Squall is nearly lost in the flow of time as he witnesses the origins of the game's entire story. When a dying Ultimecia travels back in time to pass her powers to Edea thirteen years in Squall's past, he informs Edea of the concepts of Garden and SeeD that she will create. Afterward, he is warped away into the timestream and is unable to find his own way back to the present until he is rescued by Rinoa. Afterward, SeeD organizes a banquet to celebrate their victory.
Development
Developed from 1997 to early 1999, Final Fantasy VIII
From the beginning, Kitase knew he wanted a thematic combination of fantasy and realism. To this end, Kitase aimed to include a cast of characters who appeared to be ordinary people. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura and art director Yusuke Naora strove to achieve this impression through the inclusion of realistically proportioned characters — a departure from the chibi designs used in all past installments. Additionally, Naora attempted to enhance the realism of the world through predominantly bright lighting effects with shadows distributed as appropriate. Other measures taken included implementing rental cars for use in-game, and the use of motion capture technology to give the game's characters lifelike movements in the game's FMV sequences.
Kazushige Nojima has expressed that the dynamic of players' relationships with the protagonist is important to him. Both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII feature reserved, quiet protagonists in the form of Cloud Strife and Squall. With Final Fantasy VIII, however, Nojima worked to give players actual insight into what the character was thinking — a direct contrast with his handling of Final Fantasy VII
Audio
Nobuo Uematsu composed and directed Original Soundtrack, which was released on four compact discs by DigiCube in Japan, and by Square EA in North America. Additionally, a special orchestral arrangement of selected tracks from the game — performed by Shiro Hamaguchi — was released under the title Final Fantasy VIII.
The score is best known for two songs: "Liberi Fatali", a Latin choral piece that is played during the introduction to the game, and "Eyes On Me", a pop song serving as the game's theme performed by Chinese singer Faye Wong. The latter song was released as a CD single in Japan and sold over 400,000 copies, making it the best-selling video game music disc ever released in that country until the release of "Hikari" by Utada Hikaru for Kingdom Hearts. "Liberi Fatali" and "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec", another choral piece, were even played during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens during the swimming events.
Reception and criticism
| Publication | Score |
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Within two days of its North American release on September 9, 1999, Final Fantasy VIII became the top-selling video game in the United States, a position it held for more than three weeks. Aside from grossing a total of more than $50 million within the first 13 weeks to follow, in Japan, it sold roughly 2.5 million units within the first four days of release, and during 2006 was voted by readers of Japanese magazine Famitsu as the twenty-second best game of all time.
Reviews of Final Fantasy VIII
Critics have compared the other aspects of the game to previous Final Fantasy installments, as well. Gaming Age cited the storyline and graphics as two major improvements over Final Fantasy VII, while considering the music "hardly a step up...". Though questioning the game's lack of voice overs for its characters, Game Revolution also praised its storyline and ending. For their part, Edge labeled Final Fantasy VIII "... a far more accomplished game than FFVII". On the other hand, the magazine also felt that the game's length left its story unable to "offer consistently strong dialogue and sub-plots". Additionally, it found some of the story's plot twists "not... suitably manipulated and prepared", leaving it "hard not to greet such... moments with anything but indifference". Overall, Edge considered Final Fantasy VIII to be "yet another outstanding edition of SquareSoft's far-from-final fantasies", summarizing it as "Aesthetically astonishing, rarely less than compelling, and near peerless in scope and execution...".
As with other games in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy VIII has been the basis for many works of fan fiction. The details of the game's world and characters are not fully explored by official materials, leaving much room for interpretation and expansion by fans.
References
External links
- Square Enix's Official Final Fantasy VIII website
- Final Fantasy Wiki category list for Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII | 1998 computer and video games | 1999 computer and video games | Eidos Interactive games | PlayStation games | Windows games
Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy VIII | ファイナルファンタジーVIII | Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy VIII | Final Fantasy VIII | ไฟนอลแฟนตาซี VIII | 最终幻想VIII
"Final Fantasy VIII"