Final Fantasy VIII
A 1999 PlayStation RPG featuring the Junction system and Guardian Forces.
Final Fantasy VIII is a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation. It is the eighth main installment in the Final Fantasy series, following a group of young mercenaries led by Squall Leonhart as they confront a sorceress and the forces manipulating her. The game was a commercial success and is considered one of the greatest video games of all time.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Yoshinori Kitase
- Producer
- Shinji Hashimoto
- Designer
- Hiroyuki Ito
- Programmer
- Ken Narita
- Artist
- Yusuke Naora, Tetsuya Nomura
- Writer
- Kazushige Nojima
- Composer
- Nobuo Uematsu
- Series
- Final Fantasy
Facts from the source article.
Synopsis
The world of Final Fantasy VIII is an unnamed planet with a European aesthetic, blending modern and futuristic settings across five main continents. The largest, Esthar, dominates the east, while Galbadia in the west holds many key locations. Trabia is a frozen northern region, and Balamb, the smallest continent, is where the story begins. A desolate southern landmass, scarred by a Lunar Cry where monsters rain from the moon, features broken archipelagoes. The six main heroes are Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, and Irvine. Squall, Quistis, Zell, and Selphie belong to SeeD, an elite force from high-tech Gardens. Rinoa and Irvine are not members. Flashbacks introduce Laguna, Kiros, and Ward. Seifer and sorceress Edea are also temporarily playable. The ultimate foe is Ultimecia, a future sorceress aiming to collapse time itself.
Development
Development of Final Fantasy VIII began in 1997 during the English localization of Final Fantasy VII, with a staff of over 100 people. Hironobu Sakaguchi served as executive producer, while Yoshinori Kitase directed and Hiroyuki Ito designed the battle system. Shinji Hashimoto was producer. A difficulty was having three real-time characters explore environments simultaneously. The Triple Triad card game was conceived by programmer Kentarow Yasui, derived from trading card hobbies in Japan; it was meant to maintain player interest during long stretches without cutscenes. Yasui originally focused on collecting cards but requested the ability to transform cards into items. Total development costs were approximately $30 million, with about 180 staff. The localization process saw extensive communication between Japanese and North American teams for the first time. Lead translator Richard Honeywood wrote a text parser converting English ASCII to Shift JIS format. Alexander O. Smith worked on the project, later earning acclaim for Vagrant Story. The translation was finished by September 1999.
Reception
Final Fantasy VIII received critical acclaim and was generally compared favorably to its predecessors. Game Revolution praised its storyline and ending despite the lack of voice overs. Edge called it a far more accomplished game than Final Fantasy VII, though it felt the game's length weakened consistent dialogue and sub-plots, and some plot twists were not suitably manipulated. Edge summarized it as aesthetically astonishing, compelling, and near peerless in scope and execution. Electronic Gaming Monthly stated the character development was the best of any RPG and that Final Fantasy VIII was the pinnacle of its genre. Jeff Lundrigan of Next Generation rated it four stars out of five. Francis Hwang of Spin praised the cinematic visuals, saying cutscenes rival major animated pictures and combat scenes feature dramatic poses and explosions seen in Akira and Dragon Ball Z.
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