I couldn't find a thread on this so I made one.
This game turns 20 years old this week (I simply can't believe it!), so I thought I would wax lyrical about what this game personally means to me.
Out of all the games I've played in my life, this is one I hold the most dear.
Back in 99 I was 15/16 and my life wasn't great. I grew up in a poor council estate and school life wasn't the best. I didn't have many or any school friends and had pretty much ghosted through the last 4 years. I existed and people knew my name vaguely and that's as far as it went. I was considered an under performer by the teachers meaning I was smart, I just didn't write any of it down. I knew my exams were coming up and I was stressed and was probably suffering with depression (although I didn't know it at the time).
So when I got this game, and it was set in a school environment featuring people my age and a main character who was aloof and sad like me, it felt like I belonged. It was an escape for me. I played it relentlessly that year, and I account this to the poor results I got in my GCSEs, although I doubt I would have done much better anyway. I would come home from school, watch Pokemon and then play this most of the night. My parents didn't seem to care.
I never had a Girlfriend at school and the crush I had 1000% wasn't interested in me, so in my youthful naivety I was pulled in by love story between Squall and Rinoa and I believed in the journey of the characters, probably more then any game before.
I've started and restarted it so much back then that even now I know the first disc off by heart. I don't think I got all the cards, that may have come later with a guide. I'm not even sure I got all the Guardian Forces by the time I completed it for the first time. I know that by the time I got FF9, I was still playing this. I don't know when I stopped playing and switched over the FF9 and other games, but I do know that nothing seemed to fit me like a tailored jacket so much as FF8.
When I play it now I'm taken back to that time in a bitter/sweet way, which I why I would be too bias to write a proper review, but I do think that there is something captivating about its light and breezy music and bright environments.
I guess I'm saying this game came around at the right time for me, with the right amount of everything. I sure lots of people have a game that did this for them.
So what is everyone else's thoughts about this game?
(also, where the hell is the HD remaster like FF7?)
This game turns 20 years old this week (I simply can't believe it!), so I thought I would wax lyrical about what this game personally means to me.
Out of all the games I've played in my life, this is one I hold the most dear.
Back in 99 I was 15/16 and my life wasn't great. I grew up in a poor council estate and school life wasn't the best. I didn't have many or any school friends and had pretty much ghosted through the last 4 years. I existed and people knew my name vaguely and that's as far as it went. I was considered an under performer by the teachers meaning I was smart, I just didn't write any of it down. I knew my exams were coming up and I was stressed and was probably suffering with depression (although I didn't know it at the time).
So when I got this game, and it was set in a school environment featuring people my age and a main character who was aloof and sad like me, it felt like I belonged. It was an escape for me. I played it relentlessly that year, and I account this to the poor results I got in my GCSEs, although I doubt I would have done much better anyway. I would come home from school, watch Pokemon and then play this most of the night. My parents didn't seem to care.
I never had a Girlfriend at school and the crush I had 1000% wasn't interested in me, so in my youthful naivety I was pulled in by love story between Squall and Rinoa and I believed in the journey of the characters, probably more then any game before.
I've started and restarted it so much back then that even now I know the first disc off by heart. I don't think I got all the cards, that may have come later with a guide. I'm not even sure I got all the Guardian Forces by the time I completed it for the first time. I know that by the time I got FF9, I was still playing this. I don't know when I stopped playing and switched over the FF9 and other games, but I do know that nothing seemed to fit me like a tailored jacket so much as FF8.
When I play it now I'm taken back to that time in a bitter/sweet way, which I why I would be too bias to write a proper review, but I do think that there is something captivating about its light and breezy music and bright environments.
I guess I'm saying this game came around at the right time for me, with the right amount of everything. I sure lots of people have a game that did this for them.
So what is everyone else's thoughts about this game?
(also, where the hell is the HD remaster like FF7?)
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