The long awaited sequel to the rather impressive FF7 came out in October last year. It was dubbed as the best game in the world, ever. Admittedly it was a cut above the rest in the way of graphics and was well endowed with its wide selection of FMV sequences, but in general, it was not better than its predecessor.
In the way of graphics it was brilliant, and completely pissed on FF7, but other newly introduced elements of the game were, lets just say, a bad idea.
Take for instance the new and improved magic system, drawing and junctioning. This is the most difficult thing to understand in the game (apart from the plot), and although it is a definite improvement of the old magic orbs in the previous games, it just isn't a very efficient way of collecting magic if your battling against something that will quite easily whoop your arse if you spend time faffing around.

As for trying to figure out how to do the junctioning to put your characters to the best of their ability, its quite impossible. The best way to do it is to set it to automatic and let them sort themselves out.
One major improvement, game wise, was the introduction of Guardian Forces. For starters, each GF is a separate character, not just another bit of magic you can perform. These characters have their own strengths and weaknesses, and are able to learn abilities, which help you a great deal at different points throughout the game. Also, the fact that the GFs' have health points so you can use them as many times as you like during a battle, instead of being restricted by not having enough magic points, as in the last game.

Now we come to the plot, and what a plot it is, at least twice as complicated as any of the other Final Fantasy games. It starts fairly simple, you were in a fight, you got hurt, go kill a monster, etc, etc, but from about the beginning of disc 2 onwards it becomes so stupid it hurts. By the end of the game you have come across 4 or 5 mad sorceresses who are all being possessed by each other, and this bloke who you have never met before, and you keep having dreams about, who is your father, and he used to fancy the mother of the girl you fall in love with.
Some bits are quite understandable but overall you need to play the game through completely 3 or 4 times before you have any chance of figuring out what the whole thing is about.
Although complicated, the plot does nave great depth and is mainly based around 2 things; a mad psycho-sorceress from the future who wants to take over the world; and the love story of the 2 main characters in the game: Squall and Rinoa.
All together, the game is a brilliant masterpiece, but unless you look at it as a whole, it does not come across as a game which will compete well with all the other games which have come out recently.

Final Fantasy VIII

+ FMV - Oh. My. God.

+ Loads Of Characters

+ Huge, huge worlds to explore

+ Nice animation

+ Cool magic spells and weapons

+ It's a Final Fantasy game, and they rule.

- The plot. What?

- You can't identify with the characters

- Some bits are too complicated

- It's a bit, well, boring.

Satan

This is a review