FFVIII Community Playthrough
- Thread starter The Twilight Mexican
- Start date
Claymore
3x3 Eyes
I had actually finished this weeks ago ... but just kept forgetting to update this thread. So, time for the final thoughts on this playthrough.
Chapter Ten: 'Til the End of the World
[*]Did you run into any trouble in Lunatic Pandora?
I was pretty overpowered at this point in the game, so didn't really run into any trouble during battles.
[*]Anything familiar about the place stand out to you? Did you find anything nice?
Nothing really.
[*]Did you bother to go find the Ragnarok in the Time Compressed World? Play any more cards?
Didn't feel the need, so went straight to the final dungeon.
[*]What do you think of the game's final dungeon?
Yes and no. The design is really great, and the fact that you had to fight to unseal your abilities before going into the final battle felt very unique. However, Ultimecia's castle was missing ... Ultimecia. Paintings, prisons, wine cellars, clock towers - though great, I just felt that each area should have revealed more about our evil nemesis who we are about to fight to save all time itself. Instead it felt a little hollow and there was nothing of Ultimecia there.
[*]Did you unseal all your abilities? If not, which ones did you not get to? Which did you unseal first? Why?
Yep, managed to unseal everything. I believe the first thing I unsealed was magic so that I could heal during battles.
[*]Were there any GFs you missed that you had to acquire from bosses in Ultimecia's Castle?
Nope, had a full roster at this point.
[*]Did you take a shot at Omega Weapon? How did that go?
Again, was really overpowered, so Omega Weapon was a breeze.
[*]What do you think of the final boss battles?
They were very ... interesting. Some great designs, but like ForceStealer mentioned, I hated the fact that we were given random party members to work with. There is just something REALLY disturbing about letting these party members die TO BE LOST IN TIME FOREVER in order to get your working roster. I just ... couldn't do it, lol.
Which just does to show the bond that I had developed with all the characters at this point. There are many things you can label at VIII but a character-driven focus is not one of them. I felt something for all the characters, and just couldn't let that happen to them.
[*]What were your feelings about the ending? How would you compare it to other FF endings?
It doesn't rank up there with my favourite endings, but I did enjoy it. The video camera segments were nice, though it felt silly hiding Squall's survival until the last moment.
[*]Finally, what are your overall feelings about your experience with FFVIII in this Community Playthrough?
First time I've been in a playthrough here and it was a really fun experience seeing other people's thoughts and feelings during the game. Would love to get involved in others.
As for VIII, I appreciate it as much as I always did. It will never be my favourite game in the series, but I appreciate what it managed to accomplish. It's a fantastic character-driven experience, with some great locations, but it is ultimately one that I feel has a lot of untapped potential.
Chapter Ten: 'Til the End of the World
[*]Did you run into any trouble in Lunatic Pandora?
I was pretty overpowered at this point in the game, so didn't really run into any trouble during battles.
[*]Anything familiar about the place stand out to you? Did you find anything nice?
Nothing really.
[*]Did you bother to go find the Ragnarok in the Time Compressed World? Play any more cards?
Didn't feel the need, so went straight to the final dungeon.
[*]What do you think of the game's final dungeon?
Yes and no. The design is really great, and the fact that you had to fight to unseal your abilities before going into the final battle felt very unique. However, Ultimecia's castle was missing ... Ultimecia. Paintings, prisons, wine cellars, clock towers - though great, I just felt that each area should have revealed more about our evil nemesis who we are about to fight to save all time itself. Instead it felt a little hollow and there was nothing of Ultimecia there.
[*]Did you unseal all your abilities? If not, which ones did you not get to? Which did you unseal first? Why?
Yep, managed to unseal everything. I believe the first thing I unsealed was magic so that I could heal during battles.
[*]Were there any GFs you missed that you had to acquire from bosses in Ultimecia's Castle?
Nope, had a full roster at this point.
[*]Did you take a shot at Omega Weapon? How did that go?
Again, was really overpowered, so Omega Weapon was a breeze.
[*]What do you think of the final boss battles?
They were very ... interesting. Some great designs, but like ForceStealer mentioned, I hated the fact that we were given random party members to work with. There is just something REALLY disturbing about letting these party members die TO BE LOST IN TIME FOREVER in order to get your working roster. I just ... couldn't do it, lol.
Which just does to show the bond that I had developed with all the characters at this point. There are many things you can label at VIII but a character-driven focus is not one of them. I felt something for all the characters, and just couldn't let that happen to them.
[*]What were your feelings about the ending? How would you compare it to other FF endings?
It doesn't rank up there with my favourite endings, but I did enjoy it. The video camera segments were nice, though it felt silly hiding Squall's survival until the last moment.
[*]Finally, what are your overall feelings about your experience with FFVIII in this Community Playthrough?
First time I've been in a playthrough here and it was a really fun experience seeing other people's thoughts and feelings during the game. Would love to get involved in others.
As for VIII, I appreciate it as much as I always did. It will never be my favourite game in the series, but I appreciate what it managed to accomplish. It's a fantastic character-driven experience, with some great locations, but it is ultimately one that I feel has a lot of untapped potential.
AvecAloes
Donator
Oh. My. Word.
I finally finished the game last night (Force pretty much had to sit me down to finish it
). I have five chapters to go through in this write up. Most of my answers to the earlier chapters are probably going to be short, as it's been quite a while since I played through them.
Hold on, gang.
Yes.
Yes, and I really like his summon animation in this game.
Nope. I wanted to, but I messed up and missed my chance or something. Can't quite remember.
A little, yeah. I really had no idea about that plot element before playing the game, and I can't really say that I saw it coming.
I wasn't surprised to see them again, but I guess I didn't know that it would happen then.
Nope.
This I actually did.
It went well, I suppose. I also did the Irish jig.
I haven't been playing in earnest or anything, but I don't lose cards when I do play, so fine?
Quistis, and she told us some story about Zell and his hover skateboard thing.
In the train station, I think? It's been a while...and yeah, I guess I was surprised, having never played the game before.
Yes.
I don't think I really did any side quests, actually.
No.
Umm, I wish the word setting were more fleshed out and interesting?
HA, NOPE. And I enjoyed the entire sequence EXCEPT for that stupid fight. I swear, all of the 'mini games' in this FF drive me up the freaking wall. But seriously, two clashing flying Gardens? That was pretty cool.
Yes.
Yes.
Oh lord...I don't really remember specifically now.
Yep, Ward was there in the dream sequence.
At that point in the game, I had not acquired very many high-level spells. I tried using Level Up on the Ruby Dragons so that I could draw some cool spells, but they just eated my face off, so...
He didn't even ask me for it, so I kept it.
Curaga a few times, I believe...again, I can't firmly recall...I feel like there was something I did with Quistis, but I could be completely wrong here.
"Well, this seems out of place." Seriously, it contrasts with the rest of the world setting so very much. Now, I never really took this game TOO seriously to begin with, but here is where it really started to lose me. This was just so far removed from the feel of the rest of the game. It just, lost its authenticity, or something.
No, and it was the only GF I didn't get
I really only used her for one or two battles, I think. Not really enough to form an opinion. But one of the things that I dislike about this game is that the junction system almost completely takes away from any uniqueness that the characters may have had in battle. Sure, they use different weapons, but those weapons all do the same damage when you just switch your junctions between the characters. The choices I made about who to put in my party were never based on how they were in battle, as the junction system completely negated having to think about that.
No, not really.
It's all about the walkthroughs, baby
I gave up playing cards a long time ago.
I suppose I was surprised, in that I didn't know that it was going to be him, but one of the other things about this game that didn't really grab me - all of the 'reveals' and 'surprises' didn't shock me. They didn't really affect me at all (except when I thought that they were either silly or irrelevant). So this was much the same. Didn't see it coming, but didn't care as much as I guess they were hoping for? And don't get me wrong, I think Laguna is probably my favorite character in this whole game. Honest. But this wasn't a shocking surprise.
I don't think I did any of them.
Yeah, for the most part. My Irvine didn't have any status effect junctions til about halfway through the dungeon, but it didn't really seem to have a negative effect on me. I utilized a few of the abilities to give Squall 100 Ultimas on attack, which meant he was doing insane amounts of damage, which was nice. Quistis and Irvine both had Aura on their attack, I believe, so they were also doing respectable amounts of damage, though the amounts were not quite so mind boggling as Squall's.
I wish I'd gotten Doomtrain. I didn't need him at all to get through the endgame, but it's the only GF I didn't get.
No, not that I recall. I was kind of ridiculously powered at this point.
Other than the first time? I mean, I got everything that I could from having done the Laguna dream sequence here the first time I was in here, so...no? Am I missing something?
Nooooooope.
Kind of old fashioned for someone living in the distant future
But really, what's up with the medieval castle? I mean, I guess it's cool and all, but again, this game lacks consistency in its settings. I know, that's kind of the point right now, as we're not in the world as it existed for Squall et al., but Esthar threw me for a loop with its crazy advanced technology, and now we're in the actual future (or something like that), and we're in a gloomy castle? Also, for a final dungeon, the music is rather bland. I suppose it fits the setting, but not the context, for me.
I did unseal all of them. I think Magic was the first one that I unsealed. There was a point at which I was fighting a boss (don't remember exactly which one it was by name), and it killed two of my characters. I used a Phoenix Pinion, which summoned Phoenix (which was AWESHUM, why wasn't Phoenix a GF in this game??), but when it went to bring my two dead people back to life, it missed them! Turns out I hadn't unsealed Resurrection yet. So that was incredibly stressful. Then later on, on one of the final boss fights, two of my characters again went down, and I was left with 66 HP on the remaining character, and I hadn't had the opportunity to save (nor had I unsealed Save at that point, either, though are there any save points IN the dungeon?), so that was also a nail biter.
Apparently the only GF I needed was not one that you could get from the bosses there So no Doomtrain for me.
Lol nope.
Fighting all of those sorceresses was cool as far as story goes, but I really just steamrolled my way through them. Even Ultimecia went down without much of a fight, although I didn't get to use Irvine and his awesome limit break at all, as he immediately died and was IMMEDIATELY sucked into time, while of course every other character who died remained there for several rounds :/ But I gave each of the three people who weren't in my party a 'throwaway' GF and gave them all the ability to use Item, and relegated them to being my healers using Megalixers if they found their way into the battle, which everyone did.
Um, well, it wasn't as sweeping as some of the other endings I've seen, if that makes sense. Less grandiose, covered less time/things. Everyone was just...I don't know, blase. Which is fine, they probably needed to just do something normal and everything, but I don't know, it felt like something was missing form me. I'm glad that they were all hanging out and having fun. Also, Seifer? Really? Still acting like a spoiled brat, I see. And why is he even around? He wasn't possessed by the Sorceress, he was following her of his own volition, wasn't he?
The ending was also the only point in the game that I liked Squall (when he was actually SMILING at Rinoa in the very end).
I just didn't like this game.
There were some things that I enjoyed, there were some things about the story that made me grin, but overall, I think it is the weakest FF I've played. I didn't care about any of the characters except when they were being complete morons and I wanted to smack them, the Junction system made me want to throw my controller at the tv several times, and the world seemed really lackluster to me. The plot twists weren't very thrilling, the story seemed to be filled with fluff that didn't need to be there. Etc. Sorry, Tres, I just did not like this game. I do, however, like doing these Community Playthroughs (though I know I dropped off for this one, due to the craziness of moving and such over the last month), and hope to take part in another one in the future.
The end.
I finally finished the game last night (Force pretty much had to sit me down to finish it
). I have five chapters to go through in this write up. Most of my answers to the earlier chapters are probably going to be short, as it's been quite a while since I played through them.Hold on, gang.
Yes.
Yes, and I really like his summon animation in this game.
Nope. I wanted to, but I messed up and missed my chance or something. Can't quite remember.
A little, yeah. I really had no idea about that plot element before playing the game, and I can't really say that I saw it coming.
I wasn't surprised to see them again, but I guess I didn't know that it would happen then.
Nope.
This I actually did.
It went well, I suppose. I also did the Irish jig.
I haven't been playing in earnest or anything, but I don't lose cards when I do play, so fine?
Quistis, and she told us some story about Zell and his hover skateboard thing.
In the train station, I think? It's been a while...and yeah, I guess I was surprised, having never played the game before.
Yes.
I don't think I really did any side quests, actually.
No.
Umm, I wish the word setting were more fleshed out and interesting?
HA, NOPE. And I enjoyed the entire sequence EXCEPT for that stupid fight. I swear, all of the 'mini games' in this FF drive me up the freaking wall. But seriously, two clashing flying Gardens? That was pretty cool.
Yes.
Yes.
Oh lord...I don't really remember specifically now.
Yep, Ward was there in the dream sequence.
At that point in the game, I had not acquired very many high-level spells. I tried using Level Up on the Ruby Dragons so that I could draw some cool spells, but they just eated my face off, so...
He didn't even ask me for it, so I kept it.
Curaga a few times, I believe...again, I can't firmly recall...I feel like there was something I did with Quistis, but I could be completely wrong here.
"Well, this seems out of place." Seriously, it contrasts with the rest of the world setting so very much. Now, I never really took this game TOO seriously to begin with, but here is where it really started to lose me. This was just so far removed from the feel of the rest of the game. It just, lost its authenticity, or something.
No, and it was the only GF I didn't get
I really only used her for one or two battles, I think. Not really enough to form an opinion. But one of the things that I dislike about this game is that the junction system almost completely takes away from any uniqueness that the characters may have had in battle. Sure, they use different weapons, but those weapons all do the same damage when you just switch your junctions between the characters. The choices I made about who to put in my party were never based on how they were in battle, as the junction system completely negated having to think about that.
No, not really.
It's all about the walkthroughs, baby
I gave up playing cards a long time ago.
I suppose I was surprised, in that I didn't know that it was going to be him, but one of the other things about this game that didn't really grab me - all of the 'reveals' and 'surprises' didn't shock me. They didn't really affect me at all (except when I thought that they were either silly or irrelevant). So this was much the same. Didn't see it coming, but didn't care as much as I guess they were hoping for? And don't get me wrong, I think Laguna is probably my favorite character in this whole game. Honest. But this wasn't a shocking surprise.
I don't think I did any of them.
Yeah, for the most part. My Irvine didn't have any status effect junctions til about halfway through the dungeon, but it didn't really seem to have a negative effect on me. I utilized a few of the abilities to give Squall 100 Ultimas on attack, which meant he was doing insane amounts of damage, which was nice. Quistis and Irvine both had Aura on their attack, I believe, so they were also doing respectable amounts of damage, though the amounts were not quite so mind boggling as Squall's.
No, I only had Squall's, which was alright. I wanted Quistis's, but I was missing something that I needed for it, I think.
I wish I'd gotten Doomtrain. I didn't need him at all to get through the endgame, but it's the only GF I didn't get.
No, not that I recall. I was kind of ridiculously powered at this point.
Other than the first time? I mean, I got everything that I could from having done the Laguna dream sequence here the first time I was in here, so...no? Am I missing something?
Nooooooope.
Kind of old fashioned for someone living in the distant future
But really, what's up with the medieval castle? I mean, I guess it's cool and all, but again, this game lacks consistency in its settings. I know, that's kind of the point right now, as we're not in the world as it existed for Squall et al., but Esthar threw me for a loop with its crazy advanced technology, and now we're in the actual future (or something like that), and we're in a gloomy castle? Also, for a final dungeon, the music is rather bland. I suppose it fits the setting, but not the context, for me.I did unseal all of them. I think Magic was the first one that I unsealed. There was a point at which I was fighting a boss (don't remember exactly which one it was by name), and it killed two of my characters. I used a Phoenix Pinion, which summoned Phoenix (which was AWESHUM, why wasn't Phoenix a GF in this game??), but when it went to bring my two dead people back to life, it missed them! Turns out I hadn't unsealed Resurrection yet. So that was incredibly stressful. Then later on, on one of the final boss fights, two of my characters again went down, and I was left with 66 HP on the remaining character, and I hadn't had the opportunity to save (nor had I unsealed Save at that point, either, though are there any save points IN the dungeon?), so that was also a nail biter.
Apparently the only GF I needed was not one that you could get from the bosses there
So no Doomtrain for me.Lol nope.
Fighting all of those sorceresses was cool as far as story goes, but I really just steamrolled my way through them. Even Ultimecia went down without much of a fight, although I didn't get to use Irvine and his awesome limit break at all, as he immediately died and was IMMEDIATELY sucked into time, while of course every other character who died remained there for several rounds :/ But I gave each of the three people who weren't in my party a 'throwaway' GF and gave them all the ability to use Item, and relegated them to being my healers using Megalixers if they found their way into the battle, which everyone did.
Um, well, it wasn't as sweeping as some of the other endings I've seen, if that makes sense. Less grandiose, covered less time/things. Everyone was just...I don't know, blase. Which is fine, they probably needed to just do something normal and everything, but I don't know, it felt like something was missing form me. I'm glad that they were all hanging out and having fun. Also, Seifer? Really? Still acting like a spoiled brat, I see. And why is he even around? He wasn't possessed by the Sorceress, he was following her of his own volition, wasn't he?
The ending was also the only point in the game that I liked Squall (when he was actually SMILING at Rinoa in the very end).
I just didn't like this game.
There were some things that I enjoyed, there were some things about the story that made me grin, but overall, I think it is the weakest FF I've played. I didn't care about any of the characters except when they were being complete morons and I wanted to smack them, the Junction system made me want to throw my controller at the tv several times, and the world seemed really lackluster to me. The plot twists weren't very thrilling, the story seemed to be filled with fluff that didn't need to be there. Etc. Sorry, Tres, I just did not like this game. I do, however, like doing these Community Playthroughs (though I know I dropped off for this one, due to the craziness of moving and such over the last month), and hope to take part in another one in the future.
The end.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Awesome. I love this guy's stuff. The FFV medley is probably my favorite.