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(Or so it would appear.) Never much for working with others, Squall's journey will introduce him to a variety of new people, some he'll call friends - others he won't. The story follows Squall Leonhart, a serious and reserved gunblade-toting soldier in the special combat unit known as SeeD, and his role in the war against the hostile Galbadians. But here's the kicker: the more spells you have stocked, the more they boost your stats when equipped.Quite possibly the most anticipated game of 1999, Final Fantasy VIII continues Square Soft's best selling RPG series. Stocking magic takes a turn, and you get a handful of spells for your trouble. By selecting the 'draw' command in battle, you collect magic from your foes, and it's every bit as boring as it sounds. Use them and they're gone, until you find more. Instead, you just have a set amount of spells, up to 100 of each. There are no magic points - or MP - in Final Fantasy VIII. The simplest way to stock up on spells is to literally stock it from enemies. So what's wrong with it? Well, it's obtaining the all-important magic that's the problem. With the right magic at your disposal, you can create some truly overpowered character builds, but even without optimising your party, there's still a lot of fun to be had in playing around with the system's many, many options. The beauty of the Junction system is that it rewards clever thinking. Okay, so it sounds a bit complex, but it's easy enough to wrap your head around once you've figured out the basics. The stats that you can boost are determined by the GF that you've assigned. You then take your array of typical Final Fantasy magic - cure, fire, blizzard, thunder, etc. Essentially summoned monsters that can be equipped, each GF has its own array of skills, and there are a handful of GFs to find over the course of the game. You begin by assigning a Guardian Force - or GF - to a character.
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On the plus side, it allows for a great degree of freedom. In order to properly beef up your party, you need to make proper use of the Junction system - arguably the most polarising gameplay mechanic in the history of the franchise.Īs far as we're concerned, the Junction system is mostly a good thing, but it's not perfect. You see, in Final Fantasy VIII, character levels don't really matter that much. Final Fantasy's trademark Active Time Battle system returns, but it's connected to an ambitious, almost free-form means of character development. Just like the story, the actual gameplay is good - great at times - but it's not without its flaws. There are interesting themes and concepts at play here - and there is an enjoyable madness to it all - but the momentum of the title's first half is long gone. By the end, Final Fantasy VIII is basically a love story with some mental apocalypse happening in the background. It's not until about halfway through the game that the plot loses its masterful pacing, and from that point, events become a little less engaging.
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Once Squall's free of the Garden and he's busy fulfilling his first contract as a mercenary, the story slowly starts to branch out into weird (and sometimes wonderful) territory. Back in 1999, this was a pretty unique setting - it was a slice of school life long before later Persona games took the concept and ran with it.
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The first few hours introduce you to the concept of the Garden, which is essentially an academy for budding soldiers. Everything starts out surprisingly grounded as you guide Squall to his goal of becoming an elite mercenary.