FF8: How good is it? Really good!
By Katy Gillivan
As an avid Final Fantasy fan, I agree with Jeffery more than Jose. Some of Jose's complaints seem to stem from the fact that he hasn't figured out a lot of the game. His statement that if you don't use your GFs (and they are GFs, not summons) you could die very easily is not true. Sure it takes a little work, but beefing up your characters with magic could easily prevent you from needing you GFs a whole lot except for the junctioning abilities they provide. The GFs have no disadvantages in my opinion, and the long graphics only seem to be a problem in timed events. In that case don't use a GF with long animation. Squall's gunblade is extremely cool, especially the lionheart gunblade. If you are doing things correctly, you should be using your weapons quite a bit, unless you want to waste your magic for junctioning, or if you are so worried about long graphics, waste time with GFs. Selphie and Rinoa's weapons are both very unique, although it takes some good junctioning to get their full effect. And, as with gathering magic, gathering items and cards to refine in order to get a better weapon will take some effort. I have never had to worry about limit breaks for two reasons: the aura spell and the character's HP. The aura spell allows you to easily access a character's limit break no matter what their HP. And I use junctioning to raise my HP enough that my character still has a thousand HP to go and are in the yellow. Plus, if a character dies, there are lots of ways to bring them back. The limit breaks are powerful and unique, making them very useful. The game is a little easier than FF7, but that is made up for by the effort it takes to rare Triple Triad cards, find rare items to upgrade weapons, get GFs, and solve chocobo forresforestsess Jose isn't ready to take a couple of risks, do a little extra work, and put a little effort into it. In my opinion, a game is only as good as you make it, and I have made this game one of the very best I've ever played. I have worked very hard at it and it has paid off. The ending is well worth it. Top it all off with incredible graphics and an engaging story line, and you have the ultimate game. I agree with Jeffery

Opinions
It all started off with an e-mail of an editorial about FF8 from Jose Hernadez.Then I got two others, one disagreeing, and one aggreeing with Jose's opinion. Read the three editorials below, and e-mail me with your opinion...

Impressions of Final Fantasy 8 By: Ramon Pereira
According to Jeffrey Kent's opinions, the game was the best ever. I've followed the Final Fantasy series for quite a while and i disagree with him in certain points. The game, besides being awfully easy, didnt really give you a choice when it came to characters. No optional characters at all, instead you ended up stuck with a bunch of lame characters with even lamer weapons (i.e. selphie, rinoa) and also an extremeley predictable storyline where you could foretell what was going to happen. The "Inovative" junction system seemed to do a really good job at improving your character's defenses against status, and elemental attacks, but, did you guys really enjoyed all that time you spent drawing magic to the point when you dindnt want to use them because you'd become weaker? well i didnt. The game had awesome grafics which was an improvement over the other final fantasy games, realistic looking characters and a very good looking Rinoa and Quistis... The CG FMV's were just great, cant beat 'em!! i enjoyed watching them and I also think the "Fitos lusec wecos vinosec" latin theme song was awesome, cool sound effects (i.e. Squall's gunblade) Among other things, i also enjoyed the Triple Triad card game, it was very challenging, involving and rewarding in the end!! Whenever they release the cards in America, i'll be the first one in line! I think it was pretty cool that they implemented a salary system in the game, even though i know that many of us did cheated on the tests to become high-ranked Seed's. I would say that Jose's impressions of the game, were closer to my opinions than Jeffrey's, though i beleive we both liked the card game. Think this is right? Or do you agree with Jeffery? E-mail me about it.

Final Fantasy VIII: Is it really that good? YES!!! By Jeffery Kent
In his recent editorial, Jose Hernandez states that while he enjoyed FF8, the game wasn't as good as everyone says it is.

I couldn't disagree more.

Many of the features that Jose lists as drawbacks in FF8 are the very things that most veteran gamers have come to love about this title. True, like most Final Fantasy games, it is rather easy - but the finesse makes up for it. Personally, the junction system allows more replay value than anything I have previously seen before in an FF game - characters for the first time have no real pre-determined abilities, rather, they can be shaped and molded as you see fit. I do agree that the summons, while a beautiful example of artwork, can get rather tedious towards the latter part of the game, but there is a simple way to get around it most of the time - Don't use your summons so much! Personally I use my summons on one out of every 15 battles, I try not to use them on weaker enemies at all! Also, Jose claims that he prefers to heal his characters rather than use the limit breaks, which are in my (and many people's) one of the coolest part of the game! They are really powerfull, and with power comes a risk - not to mention the fact that most of the limits take at least some skill to use properly (Squall, Zell, Irvine) and a little planning in order to use them tactically. If you want to fight more often then for gods sake fight more often!

The magic system represents a much more realistic style than FF7, if anything about magic can be said to be realistic... I always found it kind of strange that characters could cast huge spells that do tons of damage, run out of MP, take a potion, and cast them again! How strong is that potion anyway? The draw system, on the other hand, forces players to take responsibility towards their magic use - if you use all your strong spells in battle, you will run out of them! Personally I'd rather use my resources a little smarter then try to swarm my enemies with raw power....

The Triple Triad card game is a godsend! It provides ample opportunity for side quests around the world and also takes a fair amount of strategy to beat the computer when the levels of the cards are similar. Also, the need to find certain items in order to upgrade your weapons is much more involved than simply killing enough scrub monsters and taking their money, and why do monsters carry money in the first place, did anyone ever figure that out? Searching for the correct parts takes time and feels much more like a quest than just going to earn some money, therefore presenting a more realistic experience.

So, what do we end up with? A game that is richer in graphical detail, has a great story, a different magic system instead of using the industry status quo,. and the option to pick your own path with your characters. Is it the greatest game of all time? That has yet to be seen. But I think that any fan of the FF series can honestly say that FF8 is above the level of anything that has come before. Think this is right? Or do you agree with Jose? E-mail me about it.

Final Fantasy VIII: Is it really that good? By Jose Hernandez
I recently bought my copy of Final Fantasy VIII and let me say that it wasn’t what I expected. Sure, it is a great game, the FMV’s are really nice, it looks like a movie, and the music sounds good, but the game is not “perfect” like a lot of people say. Unlike other Final Fantasy games, this is a game that I could only play once, maybe twice, but I know I’ll get bored. Lets look at the positive side of the game, like the incredible graphics. They are like everything one could ever ask for in an RPG game. The summons are great and the fact that you could raise their levels and learn from it is a nice idea, but they are toooo long and you depend on them a lot during a fight. If you don’t use them you could get killed very easy. The weapons on the other hand, like squall’s Gunblade, (which is one of the best concept in weapons that I ever seen) you don’t use them very often. To have better weapons you need to find items that help you improve it, but if you ask me I prefer paying a LOT of money for a good weapon than having to find items across the world; that is if I found them to improve my weapon. To become strong you need to draw magic and if you want to be very strong you need to draw a lot but if u draw your magic and then use it, you become weaker and then you have to use your long summons again. I miss commands like Four-Cut, Mime, slash-all those things made you fight. Even if you had your summons you didn’t need them too much only in times of trouble. We all know that MP can be something boring, but I prefer having a lot of ether that get my summon killed in a fight, and the fact that the monsters become more powerful as you go up in your levels. It is true that in that way you grow your level faster. I mean my squall reached level 100 in the third CD and I even went to training him but sometimes it is not level what I’m after and the a battle could take me like 10 minutes when in other game you fought 5 in those 10 minutes. The summon EDEN is a show of graphics. It cool really but I didn’t understand what happened and the shock was when it only produce one hit about 5,000 the first time, then I thought I’ll never use this again. There is this another thing that sometimes bothers me and it is the limit breaks. They only appear in times of need like when a character is hurt, but I prefer healing that character than using it. I miss the fact that you had lots of limits and use them as you pleased, and in this game a lot of parts depend on skills and time, at least it wasn’t game over if you didn’t do them. I have played Final Fantasy VII like 5 times and I still play it, but I never get bored. On Final Fantasy VII, I have just played once and I’m a little disappointed so my advice is that you don’t get fooled. You shouldn’t just say it is a great game because of the graphics because we are the ones that should encourage the companies to make a great game that has it all. If we enjoy it like that, then they are never gonna do it because we satisfy with only the graphics. We miss the important things of the game and that’s the structure of the game that makes it good or bad.