Seconding all of this. I’ve only beaten it last year and already consider my favorite, peak prerendered aesthetics with mindblowing variety, incredible sensibility when it comes to grabbing iconic Hollywood setpieces and infusing them with an unusual Japanese touch (the train setpiece is just the finale of De Palma’s Mission: Impossible, opening of Dollet is Saving Private Ryan and so on), accepting the flaws of the combat system and getting into triple triad resulted in the most interestingly open-ended experience I’ve had with the series (the emulator helped). And despite having mixed feelings about Ultimecia, the final cutscene is my favorite resolution in the series, an actual perfect denouement on the only level Final Fantasy works on (emotional), an almost Lynchian horror of non-existence followed by love transcending limits of time and space. And they got Faye Wong for this! I dreaded hearing her song it context for so many years, and then I saw “Squall… You’ve missed out on so much” in the dialogue box and reacted to it exactly like I should have. Just lovely.
I’ve never played but as a teen I was obsessed with FFVIII fanfic
This is my contribution to the discussion
it’s also peak 90’s square soft pre-rendered visual poetry. the fmv intro goes so hard with lush, dramatic visual symbolism; a feather drifts up from rinoa’s grasp in a romantic, wide open flower field into the expansive blue sky, only to meteor back down to earth as squall’s gunblade in the middle of a dramatic sword-fight with his bishounen rival across a barren wasteland, while moody silhouettes of the evil sorceress blend-mode over the action. and uemetsu’s ludicrous prog-tinged latin opera music boils over the proceedings with blistering intensity. the game is full of shit like this from start to end, too. no final fantasy game has even tried to come close and it’s all aged like wine.
the game has gaping, enormous flaws, of course, but so does nearly every final fantasy game. but no final fantasy game takes risks like viii does, and for my money the payoff easily outweighs the drag of its mistakes.
watching Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in a theater the other night, i came to the conclusion that no matter what, i cannot really be objective with the series, and its flaws really don’t bother me. i first played a Final Fantasy game at the age of 11 and i am now 40 years old - some of my best young memories, alone and with friends, are tied to this series. some of the most impactful moments and impressions that games made on me come from this series. and what’s stranger, is that the older i get, the more emotionally touched i am by these games. not to be crass, but it’s like something i read about porno a long time ago (i don’t recall who said it), that before sex, one uses porno as a way to imagine an unfulfilled scenario, whereas after sex, one self-inserts into it, recalling on prior memories. i guess i’m saying that Final Fantasy is emotional pornography, to some extent.
if not for this series, it’s possible i’d never have gotten into going to art galleries, or maybe even music. my first truly cherished CDs were FF soundtracks; my first-atteneded art exhibition was a Yoshitaka Amano exhibit in the Lower East Side, which was followed by a panel of Square folks around the time FF8 first released. my mom took me to these events, so not only were they formative around places i would later spend time as an adult, the series also has a personal connection to my memories of spending time with one of the only family members i have who isn’t a total nutcase.
anyway, i’d argue that while Cloud is more explictly read as “badass” than Squall, Cloud is also emotionally stunted and kind of a loser - i think Advent Children hammers this home pretty well. i’ve seen that movie about 4 times now, and it gets better with each viewing. honestly, the part of it that i can stand the least is that Uematsu was getting deep into his “Black Mages” era and some of the compositions make some scenes feel cornier than they would otherwise have to.
all this to say, FFXVI was not particularly good, and it’s a shame. it’s probably the worst FF game, while still being enjoyable enough for me to slog all the way through. great opening, though.
yeah it’s funny because as much as I feel viii is much more deserving of a lavish remake, it really doesn’t need one nearly as much as vii. vii is going for something really great but its reach exceeds its grasp. imo viii completely hits its goal but is kind of too mature for its own good; it’s doing something that fans of vii really didn’t want.
cloud is definitely more of a loser than squall and honestly in more interesting ways but the game just can’t sell it – to some extent the game itself doesn’t want us to really see him as that vulnerable. the remake has handled that aspect exceptionally well so far and it’s among the reasons I’m so happy with it. I don’t think they’ve been this breezily confident with characterization and character development since the 16 bit days, and it’s being lavished upon the game that needs that the most.
Plot summary of FF8 sounds as ridiculous as e.g. Xenosaga EP1 does, so it is up there with the most bizarre of them … and who doesn’t go 
at the convoluted twists and turns this game doles out, before it amps up the fandom ante?
FF8’s ending is very high on the list of videogame things I think about often, and my favorite moment in the series that tries to bridge the gap between the personal and cosmological stakes that define Final Fantasy as a series.
Like, Squall’s whole deal is that he hates the idea of opening up because he’s afraid of putting all that effort into being vulnerable only to be left abandoned in the end. Over the course of the game, he overcomes his fear, learns to accept the powers of love and friendship and all that hokey nonsense, becomes a leader, etc. Classic character development.
And then, in the final phase of the final battle, Ultimecia taunts the party:
I am Ultimecia. Time shall compress… …All existence denied.
Reflect on your… Childhood…
Your sensation… Your words… Your emotions…
Time… It will not wait…
No matter… …how hard you hold on. It escapes you…
And…
(The translator obvious lacked context when dealing with this text (I suspect battle scripts were in a different spreadsheet), but the fundamental mood and idea was still successfully conveyed.)
Ultimecia may have been defeated, but this nonetheless describes exactly what happens to Squall in the ending — wandering alone in dark and dreary void, separated from everyone he ever knew or lover, until all memory and sense of being unravels into absurdity and then nothingness.
Time compression, that cosmos destroying magick that none of the main characters were able to truly comprehend (let alone any of the players), ended up being the exact manifestation Squall’s every fear.
And yet…
and yet…
darling, so there you are
with that look on your face…
i’ve always thought ff7 did a really good job of getting over that cloud isn’t cool because he’s way, way too concerned about how other people see him and that this has always been the case + is almost certainly why he didn’t get into soldier
and this is why so many ~13 year olds loved him
Six
Five
Four
Three (i.e.: Six)
Two had a very questionable skill advancement system
One is the only game in the series to live up to it’s title (16 is Falsehood)
i think about i’ll be “waiting” … here from the ff8 intro all the time
i appreciate all the explanation but like i said im too stupid for final fantasy 8. my emotions dont run deep enough. i play xenosaga instead. a simple game with a simple plot
Depends on the version. I mean, they are all questionable, but sometimes in opposite ways. The default setting for the Pixel Remaster of 2 are hilarious in how huge everyone can get HP-wise.
i love a game with an encyclopedia to read
Your school computer in FF8 has a decent amount of explanatory Lore, and there are also a bunch of magazines and periodicals you can collect.
Kinda wish there was more tho