Final Fantasy VIII Remastered (Steam Port) Rating by Logan Martin Overall Score: 8.7/10 Rating: Worth Playing Note: This was for my first playthrough of FFVIII in 2020. I have finished FFIX, FFX, FFX-2, FFXII, FFXIII, FFXIII-2, FFXIII-3, FFXV, and about half of FFVI. Graphics ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful - These are very dated graphics, but for its time, I think they were excellent. I think I am biased against "Realistic" fantasy game art, it is hard for me to appreciate the beauty of things that just appear as they do in real life. It gets a little boring to me. ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ Paint.exe Gameplay ☐ Very good ☑ Good - There is a lot to mention. The battle system in this game could be very divisive. It is possible to become much weaker as you level up, compared to enemies. You can become extremely overpowered depending on how you menu, and can take that power away the next second. You can weaken yourself in battle if you use the magic that is powering you up -- which is a cool way of making it more valuable and showing that you are dependent on the guardian forces and monster abilities instead of your own. I can see the system providing a lot of replay value. It was pretty fun for me but frustrating at times when I kept being forced to switch things over and over between characters - if you forget to switch during any of the many forced switches in the story, your character has the power of a wet noodle. The system also makes all the characters feel like generalists with very little to differentiate themselves in battle. I did feel a little let down with this level of fluidity -- it seemed odd to be able to change a character from an extremely powerful warrior to a harrowing sorceror to a hapless nobody whenever I wanted to, and at no cost whatsoever. I was off-put by not being able to remove the main character from my party, this also resulted in a major level difference that was unpleasant. Certainly one of the most unique battle systems I have ever played with. The central mini-game, which can also significantly influence the battle system, is excellent. I had a lot of fun with it and I believe it was released as a stand-alone game, similar to the Witcher series's gwent card game. There are timers in certain places that I could've done without. I don't like timers in RPGs but in certain places they worked well. There are some quicktime-event quests that tended to be pretty entertaining. ☐ It‘s just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Starring at walls is better ☐ Just don‘t Audio ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good - This was one of the most forgettable soundtracks I have ever heard in a Final Fantasy game. The music suits the game, but I am speaking within the quality expected by the franchise. The first track that is played is very epic, similar to some of the tracks in FFXV and the famous one from FFVII. The track in the end dungeon is also very cool. Altogether though, while the quality of the soundtrack was not out of place for the series, it was not a standout. I also prefer non-"midi" tracks so maybe I am biased here, again. ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ Earrape Audience ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults Difficulity ☐ Just press‚ A ☐ Easy ☑ Significant brain usage - this really depends on your comfort/skill with the battle system, more so than any RPG that I can think of. ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Difficult ☐ Soulsesque Grind ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isnt necessary to progress ☑ Average grind level - Again, this really depends on your usage of the junction system. ☐ Too much grind ☐ You‘ll need a second life for grinding Story ☐ Story? ☐ Text or Audio floating around ☐ Average ☑ Good - There is a lot to talk about. The story starts off fairly strong. It is fun training as a teenage mercenary and finding out the origins of why you are there and how to help the world more generally. The characters start out with fairly interesting backstories. There are certain scenes that broke my immersion a little -- as in, I was thinking, "I guess the story could go that way but that doesn't seem within the top 3 or 5 most interesting ways it could go." Other than the main character, there is little development in the stories of your party, that were started in the beginning. The love interest in particular seemed a little forced to me, maybe this could change with more playthroughs. Unfortunately, as the game goes on, it branches and becomes much more complicated. This isn't a problem on its own, but unfortunately many of the more interesting parts of the story aren't developed as much as they should be and ultimately mostly end up unresolved. There are side characters that get some play-time, but their stories were not very compelling to me. The mid-late game becomes almost spastic at times with how many different things are being covered. The ending was unsatisfying to me. Some of the questions I had been waiting most on being answered during the game were just left alone. The story has potential it didn't reach. I think it is possible that this story is better appreciated after a couple more playthroughs, but I don't think I would rate it higher than this. ☐ Lovely ☐ It‘ll replace your life Game Time ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☑ Long - Finished in 78 hours in a near-completionist first playthrough. I played a good amount of mini-games. ☐ To infinity and beyond Bugs ☑ Never heard of - at least on this port, the game was rock solid. No problems whatsoever. ☐ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs