6 Reasons Final Fantasy 8 Is The Most Underrated Game In The Series

In the history of the long-running Final Fantasy franchise, there’s no shortage of highly controversial titles. XIII, X-2, and XV all provoke particularly intense reactions, with proponents defending them as unfairly maligned and criminally underrated, and detractors arguing that these games literally could not be worse. However, there is perhaps no title in the franchise that feeds arguments as endlessly as Final Fantasy VIII.

Seen by some as Final Fantasy VII‘s odd cousin, fans of VIII argue that its in-depth mechanics, thoughtful cast, and deeply moving love story were unfairly overlooked because of how radically different the game was from its predecessor. Now more than twenty years passed, though, it’s possible to look back with clear eyes to see what it is that made Final Fantasy VIII so special.

6 The Unique Setting

The opening acts of Final Fantasy VIII take place in the Garden, an educational institution designed to prepare youths for military service, and it’s where players find our protagonist at the start of the game. Magic soldier school is a pretty cool concept on face, but it also gives the story a lot of room to establish its characters in the earlier parts of the game. It’s also a pretty unique theme for the Final Fantasy franchise, which usually sees its characters setting off on grand adventures at the beginning of the game rather than hanging out at school.

This setting was, and still is a rather radical departure from the typical Final Fantasy structure, especially when it’s compared to Final Fantasy VII which follows a more traditional RPG structure. Perhaps most importantly, though, Balamb Garden is just a really cool space to explore. Supported by a memorable soundtrack, players may find themselves spending entirely too much time exploring the environment and talking to NPCs.

5 A Compelling Central Romance

Protagonist Squall and his love interest, Rinoa, form the emotional core of Final Fantasy VIII‘s narrative in what is perhaps one of the most thoughtful and well-executed love stories that the Final Fantasy franchise has to offer (no offense to Final Fantasy X fans). Their eventual relationship feels truly earned, as they each have to undergo major character growth to make things work, which lends a critical sense of believability to the two as characters. Too often in RPGs the relationship of the protagonist to his or her love interest feels like a foregone conclusion rather than something that develops organically, but Final Fantasy VIII deftly avoids this shortcoming.

Another reason their relationship works as well as it does is the comparatively grounded and believable character writing. The backstories of Final Fantasy VIII‘s cast feel, as a whole, quite believable, and they influence the ways the characters act in a nuanced manner. Both Squall and Rinoa are deeply flawed individuals, with a lot of baggage from their pasts that needs to be dealt with, but that sets up an exceptional romantic arc for the two that’s sure to keep players invested throughout.

4 The Junction System Is Good, Actually

One of the things that made Final Fantasy VIII so controversial was its Junction system, wherein magic cards could be drawn from enemies, and then that magic could be junction’d to a character to boost their stats. It gives players an unprecedented degree of freedom over how characters could function, as well as introduced some insanely exploitable stat buffs for those who learned to push the system to its limits. Final Fantasy VIII is notorious for having some of the most unintentionally overpowered attacks in Final Fantasy, after all.

It ruffled feathers as a design choice though, because it encouraged players to junction magic to their stats rather than using it in combat, and because it essentially replaced the game’s leveling system. Enemies in Final Fantasy VIII scale to the player’s level, which means that the player must junction magic to their stats to gain an advantage in most encounters. Still, the system afforded players who are into number crunching a lot of control over what each character’s stats would look like when going into an encounter. It’s this flexibility that continues to win it so much favor from fans, even though it is a significant departure from the franchise’s other character-building systems.

3 Final Fantasy VII Is An Tough Act To Follow

It’s possible that there’s some alternate universe out there where Final Fantasy VIII was the first entry in the franchise to release on the PlayStation, the title that would make the jump to 3D graphics, that would receive the most robust marketing campaign in franchise history, and that would make permanent inroads in North America in a way no other title did. Fans can only imagine though, because all of those honors go to Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy VII is the game that blew everyone away with its cinematic presentation and mind-bending graphics, ensuring that it was wholly unlike anything that anyone at the time had played before. On top of presentation and marketing, the game is quite simply that good and would stand as one the best Final Fantasy games of all time even without its awesome reputation.

All of this is to say that it was nigh-impossible for Square to live up to the astronomically high expectations set by Final Fantasy VIII‘s predecessor. It’s created an odd sort of relationship between fans of the two games — VII is the successful poster child of the franchise, and VIII is this controversial, moody, kind of strange game. Players can only imagine what VIII‘s reputation would be had it not grown up in VII‘s shadow, but it’s hard to argue that those who view VIII as its own thing and don’t compare it to VII end up enjoying the experience more.

2 The Soundtrack

Final Fantasy VIII may be one of the most deeply controversial titles in the series, perhaps on account of its twisty story, complex mechanics, and radical departure from Final Fantasy VII. However, even the many warring tribes of Final Fantasy fans can come together and make peace over one shared opinion — Final Fantasy VIII‘s soundtrack is an absolute banger, and arguably one of the best OSTs in the entire Final Fantasy series. Nobuo Uematsu, the frequent composer for the series, has a uniformly excellent body of work and Final Fantasy VIII is no exception.

The soundtrack is instrumental in supporting the game’s unique setting and tone, as Final Fantasy VIII‘s music has a distinct, energetic character to it that can’t be found anywhere else in the series. It’s also impossible to argue with that battle theme — “The Man With The Machine Gun” has been stuck in every VIII fan’s head for the past two decades for good reason.

1 Squall Is The Edgy Emo Boy The Franchise Needs

Players are frequently turned off of the game’s protagonist, Squall, because he spends all his time brooding and acting like an actual frustrated, introverted teenager. Those elements are exactly what makes him work, though — it’s hard to imagine a more flawless protagonist to capture the spirit of the moody teenage Final Fantasy audience in 1999. Detractors frequently toss around phrases like “walking Hot Topic advertisement” and “emo edgelord” to refer to Squall, as if those are supposed to be bad things! Squall spoke to the game’s player base, which is a big part of the reason he’s still so beloved by those who grew up with the title.

On a more serious note, Squall deserves a lot of recognition for being a much more introspective and reserved character than Final Fantasy protagonists typically are. Players are exposed to a ton of internal monologue from him, which is pretty rare for the series and really helps the player get a holistic understanding of who he is. Moreover, following him as he learns to let go of his guarded edgy teen persona provides an excellent pathway for character growth, and brings the audience to a rewarding conclusion.

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