Yeah I found that guide very useful, but you end up hitting the reset button so much more than Chocobo Breeding. That's not a very good gameplay mechanic :/
Not sure if anyone already posted this but there's a fandub of FF8 and personally I think it's really good. I got so much nostalgia watching it, so just thought I'd share (and the peopke making it deserve more views).
So I was just posting about this in the IX Sfx thread, but I thought id post about it here, where it 'belongs'...im very unfamiliar with mods etc, but I downloaded "Roses and Wine" to fix the awful FF8 Steam music/sounds. So far so good, except for Queazacoatl's summon sounds...it starts off with weird pixelated-midi sounds, and then the 'electrical charge buildup' is completely silent, until the final explosion. Anyone else notice anything like this?? Maybe I should upload a video so I can show y'all
I haven't actually played the PC version of VIII in years, but I know if you're experiencing issues like that it would be good to ask either on the Steam discussion page or the mod forums (qhimm.com).
One thing I'll say though is that if this issue existed before you installed any mods it's likely just a PC version quirk. Could also be a stereo channel thing in sound settings, if such a setting exists (I don't remember sorry!).
Ever since I learned about "Lacunar amnesia" I can't shake the certainty that Laguna's name was originally intended to be Lacuna. It makes perfect, brilliant sense.
At the very least, it's definitely made so similar as to be a direct reference. Still bothers me that him and Squall never have it out. It's funny, considering all the FF's that did get sequels/followups where I felt one was completely unnecessary (VII, X), VIII really could've made for an interesting "Where are they now??"
Like... fought? Which character would the player control?
BOTH!?
Actually, that would be awesome: a moment in a turn-based or ATB RPG where you have control over everyone on the battlefield, and the outcome of the story is dependent on which of your characters defeat the other. This would be enjoyable, both in a FF1-X system, or an FFT scenario.
I mean, I've had great fun playing chess against myself. So have others.
But it's not to every player's taste, which is probably why it was never done. But it would be an AMAZING twist to a story like FF8, especially if there were two different outcomes for the battle that had lasting consequences for the rest of the game.
Sadly, Laguna and Squall are never on opposite sides, so this kind of thing couldn't happen while retaining FF8's plot. The only situation I can think of where you're fighting yourself is the Steiner vs. Zidane fights at the beginning of FFIX. Imagine if sometime during Disc 3 Amarant and Freya decided to "have it out" and you controlled both of them in a fight to the death. Whoever survived stayed in the party, and whoever died died. Or, similarly, Wakka vs. Rikku on the road to Guadosalam? You have to choose one to keep with you... will you keep your advantage over flying enemies, or gain a thief in the party? That would be AWESOME!
Sadly, you couldn't build that kind of thing into the action-RPG style that all AAA games have these days, so the time to experiment with that has passed.
.
Edit: Oh duh, I just realized that one could make all of the Seifer battles PvP (as in: player versus themself) but... Seifer is clearly in the wrong every time you fight him. The trick with this sort of thing is to have both parties be sympathetic. The tragedy of such a story is that these characters should be allies, but due to their convictions they must fight. In the example of Wakka and Rikku, the fight would be most appropriate after you learn
that 'Yunie's gonna die, you know?'
-- this gives the player enough information to understand both sides of the conflict, so you can properly role-play each of the opposing sides.
Of course, you can always throw the game, depending on which character you prefer/your personal philosophy/you get a better weapon if character X lives, and that's fine, the fight will be short (or "pointless") but for role-players like myself, it would be one hell of an emotional climax, and a BIG incentive to replay the whole game.
Lol, I meant verbally, actually ("Dadddyyyy where were you!!", "Well, after I abandoned my wife I just thought, why not just get a ponytail and abandon my child as well??), but I'm glad to have indirectly inspired such an interesting idea. The only thing I could think of that's even (sort of) similar is in the later, PSP-edition versions of Persona 3, where a certain main character can be knowingly killed or spared thus altering that segment of the storyline/gameplay for the rest of the game (I don't know how to do spoiler tags, but I think that's vague enough, yeah?). Rather than combat, though, that's basically 100% social behavior/choices/etc. I dig the battle idea, though. Thinking of FFIX, once I knew the story arc, I'd actually find myself subconsciously wincing while kicking Steiner's ass at the start, as if I was afraid I might kill him. And I would have LOVED the opportunity to toss out Wakka's zealot ass.
I know the creators have debunked "Rinoa is Ultimecia" but they totally should have claimed it. I think that would have made this the greatest story of all time. Instead it's just a really good story. I just found out recently that you can fight Diablos as Laguna and co. Blew my mind all these years later.
People slam the orphanage aspect of the characters knowing each other. When I learned that Liberi Fatali means 'children of fate', that was just another part of what makes this story so solid. I don't mind the memory loss part. Does anybody know any extra easter egg info about Kiros and Ward??
The problem, outside the huge coincidence, is the nearly complete lack of setup. It comes completely out of nowhere, and Irvine simply never mentioning it or even acting strange around them is dumb.
The computer in the classroom at the beginning makes a passing reference to "GF critics" talking about effects on memory. But at no point does it show them forgetting something else, or struggling to recall something. It's just - not only did we all grow up together, we all lost the exact same memories. And were able to recover them at the same time without much effort.
I didn't know that about Diabolos though. I assume you just have to use the lamp out of your inventory when you're in the past?
Also Seifer, Quistis, Squall and Zell each started using GFs at Balamb Garden. They surely arrived at the school where they were placed in a class along side people from their old orphanage at least initially with their memories intact.
Irvine is supposed to kind of be a silly character. Having him be the only one that remembers (and still not everything, as he started using a GF "recently") is the only way for them to have a member of the party be 'in on it' and later share with the group without having it come up repeatedly earlier, cos he's just such a doof that he'd just shrug it off. We do, of course, later realize that his panicking in the sniper situation was not just performance anxiety, but because he realized he was assassinating his childhood caregiver.
Squall/Seifer are supposed to have started using the GFs as children, having transferred to Balamb Garden at about 5 years old. Selphie says she used her first GF at 12...the others I don't think we get a solid number from.
I guess what it comes down to is that this is a plot device, one that puts on the show of 'integrating' itself into the overarching plot (because you have to), but is really just a way for them to include one of the major themes...that these characters have known each other their whole lives, and are connected, irretrievably, by fate, bonds, and history. They needed to make that a surprise, and I can literally almost picture the office wallboard with post-its stuck on saying "Characters don't know history, discover at 1/2way point", with the actual reason being TBD. Then one of the mid-level writers goes "Fuck it! How 'bout GF?". So, I get why it bothers some people, but for me so much of the plot of this (and most FFs) is inherently ridiculous that convenient amnesia certainly doesn't spoil the broth. You either accept it, or you don't, I suppose.
That's probably the best I've ever seen it put, lms. Certainly more elegant solutions have come up in FF, but it serves its purpose -- and for some of us, the purpose is justification enough.
See for me... that scene would have worked as is with no reason for the memory loss. Variations of the set-up where one of my siblings remembers something from our childhood but no one else does so they start talking about it and after a while we all remember how it happened at once is something that does happen.
It struck me as very odd (like the scenario writers were trying too hard) that a mundane experience like that warranted an extraordinary explanation.
It is rather funny that such an extraordinary explanation was there for VIII, but for the very next game, Dagger just forgot about her early childhood the way people normally do.
Twilight - Thanks man! I tried to articulate it the best I could, wasn't sure if it made sense haha. And what you said pretty much sums up the way I feel about it as well...I appreciate the concept of these characters having been a 'family' (rather than 'becoming one along the way', like most assembled-on-the-go RPG teams) enough that I don't mind what they use to get there.
Obsidian - Yeah, funnily enough, I think that the sort of 'phenomenal' (but actually quite common and everyday) way that childhood events can almost become like something that happened to a different person entirely was actually what they were going for, and probably what inspired the sentiments in the plot. But forgetting entirely about the person who raised you, or who your 'siblings' were (rather than specific events with them) the writers assumed would be too much for people to swallow. So, voila! Magic plot device. Which, ironically, turns out to be too much for many players to swallow! Lol.
I'm breaking my own rule here by questioning the rationale of something I've already insisted is merely an implemented plot device, but the fact that the name "Ellone" means nothing to Squall, yet from very early on in the game we get those raining "Sis...where'd you go?" sequences, and it seems to be one of his deepest psychological drives. Does he never find himself going, "Damn, I sure miss 'Sis', what the fuck was her name again?". Unless...those scenes are supposed to be for the player's eyes, and not Squall's memory...
having beautiful women in video games is a given but good lord edea is bloody shockingly breathtaking. i had to pause the video and look at her some more.
