Blade
That Man
- AKA
- Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
So, I guess I'm playing FFVIII again.
If you guys don't mind I'd like to revisit a few key aspects of the game that I just personally happen to like (and no complainers please).
So, my rough first (re)impressions of Disc 1 are as follows:
---God, why is the Draw command so addicting? You just find a way to stun a monster and suck their ever living soul out of any magic. Also, something I think not many people realized but the concept of "magic stocks" is a throwback to the first FF. Though technically FF1 had harsher rules about stocking magic.
Basically you could only cast spells so many times per level before you ran out and had to go rest. I wonder what would have happened if they applied that aspect to FF8? Probably would make it harder, but some people actually like the challenge.
If Squall could only stock so many spells per level that would make this game even MORE challenging I think. All the same though it's nice that there are so many item drops built around increasing your summon affinities and refining more magic early on.
And I found myself having Magic inventory issues later, so I had to delete whole stocks of magic that I didn't junction (i.e. low level spells).
---Some would argue that Triple Triad was a game breaker due to Card Mod granting powerful items early on, but really, when you first start out it's really like a battle (lol random encounters with PEOPLE!) to get some cards and gets progressively harder to control the rules of each region, so you can't really say it's easy to get overpowered. That, and I think some of the rare cards are deliberately kept out of Disc 1 for that very reason. I still get a kick out of the fact you get certain monster cards long before you even FIGHT said monsters in the world map, like a hint at what's to come. Killing off the Random rule is always a pain though.
---Garden never ceases to amaze me with it's school academy interior. You kinda have to wonder what NORG was thinking letting kids run most of the academy for military operations...the fact Squall is 17 when all this is going down means he's 2 years younger than he should be for normal Military duty (19 being the standard).
Internally though it looks peaceful, you tend to forget these kids are being trained as assassins and mercs, so in a way it's kinda eerie to think about (and considering Selphie's violent-yet-cheerful personality even more so!)
---Another thing I noticed, Squall has this abrasiveness to him that doesn't seem to be entirely his fault. It's kindof like: "The world is full of idiots so why do I even bother talking to them?" sort of thing. And the way Headmaster Cid, Zell, Laguna, and the rest tend to act around him...it further supports the idea, which is kinda sad. It's like there's always SOME oddball or two Squall comes across and has to deal with. Whether it's Zone with his fake stomach-aches or the Editor who won't shut up in the Timber Maniacs building. It doesn't help when guys like Martine and Caraway dump all their responsibilities on him either. So it's no small wonder where Squall gets his arrogant streak from.
---Dollet is probably one of the prettiest towns in the game. I mean it...it's a shame SeeD had to raid it. The style is very French and just the way everything has that 'sunset-early-moonlight' color and lighting just makes it like a great place to vacation at. I especially love the music for that town in particular.
---Subtle things I noticed too is how high-tech Galbadia is yet they still can't manage to figure out how to broadcast a decent signal due to interference from the Sorceress War. Bad enough most Galbadian soldiers are portrayed as opportunistic and bungling (Biggs and Wedge being the least of it). It's almost like Squall and his teammates are the only people in the world who know what they're doing half the time.
---On GFs: Gosh I love the term "Guardian Force"...it's so much more regal-sounding than Fal'Cie or Eidolon! More games need to address them as this. It makes you think that just about any creature or object with a legend and a large amount of power and magic could become a Guardian Force (if you consider what Griever is, even more so!) Oh yeah, and in a strange way the term "Guardian" makes it seem like Early Summoners deemed their spirits and warriors as Guardians alike (if you retroactively factor in FFX).
Quezacoatl (pronounced Ketsa-cowahtol) > Serpent/Bird God from Aztec Lore, wish FF would add new beings from other stories more often.
Sacred + Minotaur (Brothers) > Minotaur is based on the Minotaur and the Labyrinth of Greek mythos (highly amusing once you realize the dungeon you get them in IS a Labyrinth of a kind!).
Diablos > Spanish for "Devil" (another one that is almost Aztec-like), also based on the Imps, but I'd love to see him as a summon more often.
---The foreboding part when Laguna and company come across Lunatic Pandora made me think some about "Pandora's Box", and how such a thing was best left unopened (though once it was opened all that remained in the box was "hope", something to think about). And we don't exactly know what happened to the Lunatic Pandora post-FF8, since that thing was meant to trigger Lunar Cries from the moon. Hopefully it was dismantled or at least reverse-engineered to prevent Lunar Cries.
---The part where Irvine starts wigging out over his mission nailed it home that he was too young for that kind of thing (let alone being exposed to GFs due to the memory issue they cause). I'm not sure but it seems like he eventually came to hate Martine and Galbadia Garden and didn't want anything to do with them, but even more surprising is how he reacts when meeting Squall and company since the game doesn't indicate he remembered anyone he met until much later.
Okay, that's Disc ONE's impressions. I'll do Disc TWO in the next post!
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