Final Fantasy 2 is only good FF game

[Captain Syrup]

Need a new female protagonist.

Why? So we can waste more hours watching a poor man's Cloud learn not to be a dick?

 

[Berrakh]

It's a bit unfair to say the story script is bad as a fact considering the translation has been botched. For example, half of the "..." in Squall's english dialogue actually had him talking quite a lot in the japanese script and more than half of the "whatever" lines were actual full-fledged thoughts in japanese that were never translated to english. The western audience only knows the translator's headcanon emo, silent Squall, not the actual eloquent Squall from the source material. Even Ultimecia was made into a saturday cartoon villain in the english release.

This isn't just a problem exclusive of FF8, other Final Fantasy titles and PS1 japanese games as a whole have this same problem to the point they feel like you're playing a different game altogether in the original language.

I’ve heard English translations of FF content are headcanon-pocked. Nice to know it wasn’t actually cope.

 

[PuffyGroundCloud]

It's a bit unfair to say the story script is bad as a fact considering the translation has been botched. For example, half of the "..." in Squall's english dialogue actually had him talking quite a lot in the japanese script and more than half of the "whatever" lines were actual full-fledged thoughts in japanese that were never translated to english. The western audience only knows the translator's headcanon emo, silent Squall, not the actual eloquent Squall from the source material. Even Ultimecia was made into a saturday cartoon villain in the english release.

This isn't just a problem exclusive of FF8, other Final Fantasy titles and PS1 japanese games as a whole have this same problem to the point they feel like you're playing a different game altogether in the original language.

Is there a FF8 fan translation patch?
I actually interested to play it again

edit: the whatever bit is kinda hilarious because somehow everytime Squall said “well, excuse me,” it reminds me of Link “excuuuusseee meee, princess”

 

[Berrakh]

Is there a FF8 fan translation patch?
I actually interested to play it again

edit: the whatever bit is kinda hilarious because somehow everytime Squall said “well, excuse me,” it reminds me of Link “excuuuusseee meee, princess”

Tbh FF is a series where I’d be wary of even fan translation patches since the bad dub localizers tend to be autistic fans anyway.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

Why? So we can waste 30 more hours watching a poor man's Cloud learn not to be a dick?

"One, Lightning needs to be louder, angrier, and have access to a time machine. Two, whenever Lightning's not on screen, all the other characters should be asking "Where's Lightning"?

I said not fucking Eclair jfc. Lol

 

[Captain Syrup]

I said not fucking Eclair jfc.

Wait, her canon name is Eclair?

What has Final Fantasy come to?

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

I get what it was trying to do. Remove the incentive to grind. Incentivize doing sidequests. Typically, the player party is OP after completing too many sidequests. XII is especially bad in that regard.

But the party is already OP, because the junction system boosts their stats to endgame levels. You can get all the "-ga" spells by the time you reach Timber.

Hell, you don't even need to farm spells: what about all those amazing GFs you can spam for free, such as Quezacotl's Card, Ifrit's Mad Rush (Haste and Berserk on everyone), Leviathan's Recover (recover all HP / insta-kill undeads), Alexander's Revive (revive all KO characters even when Silenced) and Siren's Treatment (remove all status ailments including Doom).

I read somewhere that these kinds of RPGs (where you have lots of control over your characters) are fairly easy. I don't know if I buy into that, but VIII is noticeably easier than VII. Level scaling was implemented to give the illusion of difficulty.

I really don't get the hang up people have with the Junction system. You get used to it and move on.

Even if you don't know how to refine or card enemies is not like the game forces you to max out every stat and break the meta, how much you are going to draw farm is on your own ocd since the game is not that punishing with the builds unless you do thr dumb thing and grind for xp. In FFVIII is more important to find the GFs, find enemies with good spell and play the card game than grinding xp Almost as if they wanted you to actually explore the world and do shit in it.

It may not be as refined a system but is still not as tedious and frustating as the mechanics in vagrant story. And VS ironically still gets praised for autistic overcomplicating everything to frustate you.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

Wait, her canon name is Eclair?

What has Final Fantasy come to?

Lol it's very embarrassing. Its Claire in English but Eclair in jap

 

[Captain Syrup]

I really don't get the hang up people have with the Junction system.

How does Junctioning work? Where do the GFs come from? How does Squall refine monsters into playing cards?

Contrast with: Materia is a form of mako. You socket it into weapons and armor. Easy.

 

[Gravemind]

When taken on its own, it's not a big deal. It's an incongruity. In a game which is rife with them. How does Junctioning work? Where do the GFs come from?

There was an interesting plot thread brought up about midway through the game about how GFs consume the memories of its users when Junctioned and an attendant question over whether or not it was really worth using their power if it meant you lost one of the foundations of your identity as a result, but I recall it just gets dismissed by Squall like "Well, we NEED to use them, so we don't have a choice," and then never really gets addressed in some greater respect from then on out.

Just to highlight one particular example of the game's incongruity. There's a lot of implicit worldbuilding if you dig for it in FFVIII, but it's not presented in a very interesting way.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

When taken on its own, it's not a big deal. It's an incongruity. In a game which is rife with them. How does Junctioning work? Where do the GFs come from? How does Squall refine monsters into playing cards?

I could buy into this if the basics were at least clear. Ex: Materia is a form of mako. You socket it into weapons and armor. Easy.

You are a sorcerer who channels some equivalent of goetic demons/elementals to do magic and improve your physical strenght? Is not really that incongruent, your gf is the one with the magic powers and affinities, not you, much like how "real" sorcery is supposed to work, borrowing power from spirits.

You get Ifrit by going into a fire cave and his stats are all fire based. Is just an elemental summon. Syren is a water nymph, and so on.

Card is a spell, it works because a wizard did it. You are pokecapturing a digimon so you can play yugioh duels with them

 

[Captain Syrup]

You are a sorcerer who channels some equivalent of goetic demons/elementals to do magic

I'm a sorcerer who goes to a military academy? Sort of like Hogwart's? And I turn enemies into MTG cards?

If I didn't know better, I'd say that Square tried to marry Final Fantasy with Shin Megami Tensei. Which isn't a bad idea in itself. They improved on Dragon Quest's job system, for instance. But it's a big leap to incorporate high school anime.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

I'm a sorcerer who goes to a military academy? Sort of like Hogwart's? And I turn enemies into MTG cards?

I dunno, man. Sounds complicated.

If I didn't know better, I'd say that Square tried to marry Final Fantasy with Persona. (Or Shin Megami Tensei If...) Which isn't a bad idea. They improved on Dragon Quest's job system, for instance. But it's a big leap to incorporate Tarot and high school anime.

I fail to see how is any less valid as a premise than any of the previous FF games or how any of it is a big leap considering the series is in. There was already such a thing as Magitek knights and magitek armor and magitek machinery in the military in FF6. GFs are nothing new, they are just another name for the same old summons that have been a fixture since the classic games and functionally pretty much the same as Espers and Magicite in FF6.

 

[Well Intentioned]

I fail to see how is any less valid as a premise than any of the previous FF games or how any of it is a big leap considering the series is in. There was already such a thing as Magitek knights and magitek armor and magitek machinery in the military in FF6. GFs are nothing new, they are just another name for the same old summons that have been a fixture since the classic games and functionally pretty much the same as Espers and Magicite in FF6.

I think that the issue that's being raised is that you, the player, are being asked to infer a lot of shit that isn't explained in-game. The espers/magicite system in FF6 is explained in-game pretty clearly, as is the mako/materia system in FF7, for example. EDIT: I should mention I don't mean within the confines of a tutorial, but a storyline based explanation of how this shit works and how it relates to the characters.

If there was a similar explanation within the game of how this shit works in FF8, I either missed it or didn't get to see it. I gave up on playing it right around when you're supposed to assassinate Edea(?) cause it was just so boring and tedious.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

I think that the issue that's being raised is that you, the player, are being asked to infer a lot of shit that isn't explained in-game. The espers/magicite system in FF6 is explained in-game pretty clearly, as is the mako/materia system in FF7, for example. EDIT: I should mention I don't mean within the confines of a tutorial, but a storyline based explanation of how this shit works and how it relates to the characters.

If there was a similar explanation within the game of how this shit works in FF8, I either missed it or didn't get to see it. I gave up on playing it right around when you're supposed to assassinate Edea(?) cause it was just so boring and tedious.

I think is very self explanatory how you simply use the GF to enhance your powers without reading a tome of The Complete Historie of Guardian Forces. Specially when the plot is not centered around the GFs as ff6 is centered around espers, in the first mission where you get Ifrit you kinda get the gist of it, there are elemental spirits and you get to recruit them.

Ironically the whole segment where you infiltrate the parade and face Edea is still one of my favorite parts of any videogame. FF6 is the one i actually quit before the last few segments out of boredom. I mentioned earlier but i never liked the 2d FF games very much, the ideas the game introduced were cool, the actual game is nothing to write home about.

 

[Captain Syrup]

the plot is not centered around the GFs as ff6 is centered around espers, in the rst mission where you get Ifrit you kinda get the gist of it, there are elemental spirits and you get to recruit them.

Espers are central characters all the way from the prologue to the epilogue.

GFs are introduced with very little context. It seems Shiva and Ifrit show up because it is expected of them at this point.

The revelation about everyone losing their memories could have been the result of SeeD brainwashing.

Ironically the whole segment where you infiltrate the parade and face Edea is still one of my favorite parts of any videogame.

On this point we agree. It's a sequence which sees all of the characters at their best.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

the GFs are introduced with very little context and then forgotten about.

Much like summons in every other FF game after III, except VI and X.

I disagree that the game could do without them, the GFs and their respective sidequests are very memorable. Even if i was junctioned properly and didn't really need them in battle to win i still summoned them just because i liked them showing up. Each new GF you get means you get stronger and gain new abilities too, the plot may not revolve around GFs but you are always minding the GFs, the first time playing it is really cool just to try them out and see their animations, is ok that something cool is in a game for the sake of being cool.

Sure it would have been nice for the downside of GF use to play a role in plot but like most of the stuff everyone brings up is not so much why FF VIII is bad but how it could be better, thats always was it comes down to. Conversely one cold do that for every other entry but FF VIII is the one that gets singled out and picked out the most.

I find it odd that despite the assburn it generates online, specially with youtubers, FFVIII is actually the third best selling title in the entire franchise, and by little margin behind X and 7, even while having less re-releases in the last two decades than other games in the series. I am not making the argument that is good because it sold well, but FF VIII is hardly a niche title that nobody likes or remembers fondly, even the remaster sold really well and sits comfortably with mostly positive reviews. I really liked it, will defend it forever and i am not alone in this REEEEEE

 

[Dark Edea]

Lightning sucks.

 

[Tuxedo_Zemus]

https://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff08

This is always relevant to an FF8 discussion.

 

[Captain Syrup]

This is always relevant to an FF8 discussion.

I didn't agree with all of his opinions (he was especially hard on X), but Pat was an awesome guide. He turned me on to Hardcore Gaming 101, another niche site.