Final Fantasy VIII Review

While it does do quite well to live up to the game play of Final Fantasy VII, it does have its quirks. It does have an involving magic system, which instead of MP, you draw magic from enemies and various draw points found across the world. You collect a number of magic spells, and once you run out of this spell, you must stock more or you cannot cast it anymore. Also, this game introduces a new "junction" system, which is quite complicated, but Square kindly enough includes an easy "auto" setting option. You may choose what the junctioning focus more toward, whether it be focused toward Attack, Defense, or Magic. If you plan on doing it the long way, you basically attach magic spells you’ve collected to different physical attributes of each character.<br> The cinema scenes were seamlessly, almost magically, incorporated with the game play. For example, you’re dangling from a rope, and in the background there is a huge fight scene going on between SeeD and the Galbadian army. Seamless.<br> The storyline is gripping and full of characters you can’t help but care about. I find myself not being able to stop playing due to the fact that I want to know what’s going to happen next. The storyline may be a bit linear at times, but there is so many choices to make during the game, and such a good storyline, you’ll most likely hardly even notice.<br> All In all, I think this game is the perfect Final Fantasy game to top off the Millennium. It has around 40 hours of game play, with much more including the mini-games, such as the card playing game you play all throughout the game. It’ll definitely keep us tied over until Final Fantasy IX. A must get for any serious RPG gamer. Looks great sitting next to Final Fantasy VII.