One of the most loved and most maligned of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy VIII had realistic teenagers with passions, love and anger. The graphics and videos were amazing!

The main character is Squall, one of a group of students in Balamb Garden, sort of a military school. Squall's rival is Seifer, and he loves Rinoa. One of the dance scenes between Squall and Rinoa is among the best scenes seen in video gaming.

Cid is the headmaster, training his students to join SeeD (get it - seed - garden). You go back and forth between the students and another group - composed of a mercenary, Laguna, and his buddies. You get drawn into a war and fight to save your land.

As it turns out, an evil sorceress, Edea, is behind it all. You take her on and save the world.

Every character can have his own Guardian Force, or GF. They use weapons such as gunblades in addition. So unlike some of the previous FFs where you had very specific specialists, in this one just about everyone can use weapons, magic and GFs to win the battle. Some enjoyed this, but others missed the strength/weakness balance of previous games.

Also, while the graphics and sound were extremely impressive (many remember vividly their first glimpse of the GF "Shiva", the Ice Maiden) there were those who missed the cartoony, cute graphics of previous versions of FF. To please those fans, the next FF which game out - FFIX - was extremely cartooney and cute.

Highly recommended for any RPG fan.

Screenshots from Final Fantasy VIII

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