i didnt mind this game other then the ability to draw to use spells! that made me dislike the game so much and it disappointed me :(

If you were an old school Final Fantasy fan, from the very beginning ones, you were use to this more magical, medival, kind of feel to the Final Fantasy world. I know many people who were even dissapointed in FFVII. But FFVIII was way to "sci-fi" for people and a lot of people didn't like the fact that Squall was not your typical hero character in the respect that he didn't do something for the greater good of mankind because he cared from the beginning. Squall struggled with being a hero and a lot of people think that because of that he was the reason the game wasn't Final Fantasy. I think a lot of people would have enjoyed the game more if it didn't have the title Final Fantasy on it. (These are not my opinions, because I personally liked the game, but opinions of my friends.)

Honestly, in FFVIII, the character designs where excellent, Squall Lionheart to this day is one of the best designed male protagonist within the game. I really, really liked the characters looks within VIII.

However, my biggest problem with VIII was it's storyline, overall, seriously, it was so boring. Being a FF gamer since the day in the late 80's, I had never played a FF game and fell asleep during the game when I first went through it.

Some parts of the game where really, really fun, however alot of the parts, like the whole running around to get ready to assassinate Edea made me yawn on so many occassions. Another part was the Antagonist...seriously, how many sorcerers/ess did you have to fight? When I got to the end of the game and fought Ultimecia...I had the feeling of like "okay, whatever, I just want to see the ending now."

It wasn't like VI with Kefka where you felt something strong, or nothing as intimate when you where confronting Sephiroth in VII.

Those where the biggest flaws that I saw in VIII, however another smaller part was the Junction System. You can talk all you want, but VIII's junction system that came right after FF VII's Materia System, which is hands down, the Best system ever implemented.

Leaves you to differ, honestly, it was incredibly boring to sit there and draw magic from your opponents all day, that literally was so time consuming, and incredibly boring. However, once you've used the magic stocks too much, it was back to drawing magic out again, which was horrendous. Especially when you where trying to earn the stronger magic.

Equipping these magic stocks onto your character, to beef them up in my opinion was another horrible idea, because it left in many cases, you the player not wanting to use them because the strongest magic stocks where the ones that really benefited your character.

Another drawback to me as well, was obtaining some of the Ultimate Weapons, like for Squall Lionhearts, I guaranteed many of you probably bypassed through the game without getting LionHeart your first try. I found myself in this situation the first time around, because at a certain point in the game, once you don't have the things to get LionHeart, it's over and done with.

That drove me nuts, and luckily I had saved in 3 different timeframes so I could start over, but not entirely too far from where I was originally at to get LionHeart.

One other mistake was Square implementing the TAP System on the Summons...seriously, that was a stupid idea. When the summon comes out, you have to tap in order for it to do more damage??? Please man, given I'm very profecient at tapping (due to fighting games) however it just got old fast, boring and tedious.

One other thing that completely got me frustrated, was Squall's LimitBreak...seriously, now THAT was annoying. Because when your sitting there saying to yourself...please do LionHeart...please do LionHeart...oops...he doesn't do LionHeart. That whole "it's going to random" on his limit break was ridiculous.

Luckily for Squall, Zell was the single best character in the game due to his Limit Break being infinitely superior to Squalls or anyone elses, so that wasn't too big of a loss.

These where to me, the biggest reasons why FF VIII wasn't considered all that great. The whole medieval thing never bothered me, because so long as the storyline is strong, then wether it be castles or gigantic gardens which are schools, it didn't matter. I don't think that should've been a big reason to dislike VIII, or feel that it wasn't a FF game because of it. For it still had all the swords/magics/summons etc.

Visually FFVIII was phenomenal, and a gigantic leap from the Popeye Arms that where in FFVII. Not to mention, some of the music scores where incredibly solid, like the Battle Theme Don't Be Afraid, The Man With The Machine Gun, Eyes on Me Piano Theme etc, but it wasn't VII good, and definetly not VI good (VI had the best scores of any FF game ever).

Overall, I thought FF VIII was okay, honestly, if the storyline had of been better imo, it would've been much better recieved, that to me was it's biggest flaw. However, another factor, which to me, is severely overlooked when talking about FF VIII, was the mere fact that it came out after VII which was the most successful and popular FF game to date.

Regardless, although I feel it was the worst "new gen" FF games this is from VII onwards, I still enjoyed it and liked it. Mainly due to because the character designs where just that great, and I really loved the small things like the Gardens in VIII, always thought it was neat to have a school where they teach you magic, having a training ground, etc, etc.

The gunblade was one of the most unique weapons ever introduced and still one of my favorites, and to some people's displeasement, I actually liked the fact that Squall didn't end up as some anti-hero it's just me still attitude in the end. He gets the girl, and earns his happiness, great ending.

Ps: VIII's ending is one of the best endings for a FF game of all time, imo, tied with VI's Ending.

I hated:
The Draw system (Please, NEVER again)
The insultingly easy difficulty
The fact that the world of VIII was quite future heavy
Chocobo presence (practically non-exsistant)

I disliked (not hated)
The Junction System (just didn't appeal to me)
GF Boosting

It might sound like I thought the game was really bad, however, overall I think that it was a great FF game and included much of that FF magic that I love. It's just that it's lower in my favourites list because it contained, hard to avoid, problems.