Guardian Forces Edit

Main article: Guardian Force

Siren, a Guardian Force.

Summoned monsters are known as Guardian Forces, often abbreviated to GFs. They require
junctioning to characters to be used, as well as to use their inherent abilities. GFs take time to be
summoned, and the time taken depends on the character/GF combination. When selected, the ATB
gauge begins to run backwards and the character's name and HP are replaced by the GF's name and
HP.
Similar to the aeons used later in Final Fantasy X, the GFs have HP and can take damage, shielding
party members while being summoned. During the summon charge time, if the GF's HP drops to 0,
they get knocked out and the summon is canceled. They can't be summoned until revived. When the
GF's ATB gauge reaches zero, the GF is summoned and attacks in a similar fashion to Final Fantasy
VII. If the summoned GF has learned the Boost ability, the player can boost the GF's attack power by
up to 250%, but if the player fails, the attack power may actually be reduced rather than enhanced.
Guardian Forces gain Ability Points from battles to learn abilities. Each GF has unique abilities,
though rare items allow the player to customize each GF's skillsets. Most abilities at least require
junctioning the GF to a character, but some abilities also require junctioning to the character to take
effect. Each GF has an ability that, once learned, can be junctioned as a battle command. The first
three Guardian Forces are acquired at the beginning of the game. Other Guardian Forces are
optional, and can be acquired through sidequests, or by drawing them from a boss.

Junctioning Edit
Main article: Junction system

Squall's Junction screen.

The junction system is used for boosting character stats and to give elemental/status effects to
weapons and "armor"; the game has no equippable armor, but the player can customize the party
members' resistance to damage via the junction system. The player must junction a Guardian Force
to enable the use of battle commands other than Attack. Boosting stats requires characters to obtain
magic, by drawing spells from enemies and draw points, and by refining from items with GF
abilities.
The player can junction the spells to stats such as Strength, Vitality, Evasion and Hit-Rate. Which
attributes can be customized depends on the junctioned Guardian Force(s). The Guardian Force can
learn to unlock more statistics to junction magic to by earning AP in battle, and by the use of GF
items.

Experience and leveling Edit

Squall casts Sleep in battle.

Experience Points are awarded following defeat of randomly encountered enemies. Each playable
character only requires 1,000 EXP to level up, whereas other games require progressively more. The
statistic increases granted by a level-up are minuscule, as major stat growth is relegated to the
junction system.
Enemies and bosses have no set level (although bosses have level caps); they increase in hit points,
statistics, and abilities alongside the player party. Higher-level enemies are capable of inflicting and
withstanding significantly more damage, and may have additional special attacks. They also possess
better magic to draw and items to steal as their level rises. Due to most locations being visited
several times during the storyline and for sidequests, enemies encountered early will grow with the
party. There are certain locations that are the exempt to this style of creature leveling, notably
the Island Closest to Heaven and the Island Closest to Hell, where all creatures are at level 100
regardless of character level, and the Lunatic Pandora, where all creatures are at level 1 regardless of
character level with Squall as party leader (more info here).

Limit Breaks Edit

Main article: Limit Break (Final Fantasy VIII)

Angelo Cannon, Rinoa's initial Combine Limit Break.

The Limit Break system is a more advanced version of the Desperation Attack system from Final
Fantasy VI. Each character has a unique Limit Break based on their preferred fighting style that is
randomly available when a character's HP is below a certain point.
One notable difference between this system and the Desperation Attack feature in Final Fantasy
VI is that the player can opt to attack normally even if a Limit Break is available. The chance of a
Limit Break becoming available will increase the lower the character's HP becomes, among other
factors, in a system dubbed Crisis Level. While Desperation Attacks could only be used once per
battle, there are no limits to how often Limit Breaks can be performed, so long as the character
remains in critical condition.

Several characters' Limit Break sequences are interactive, requiring the player's skill to reach its full
damage potential; if performed correctly, these interactive Limit Breaks can be far more powerful
than the non-interactive ones.

Field gameplay Edit

The party exploring Winhill.

Final Fantasy VIII doesn't have treasure chests, the player being rewarded with finding magazines,
draw points, Triple Triad cards, and sometimes items from talking to NPCs. Triggering scenes
in towns is not always linear: some optional scenes only happen if the player returns to a screen after
already having visited it previously.

Uniquely in the series until then, the distinction of dungeons and towns is somewhat blurred. While
there are rather few traditional dungeons, town areas become infested with random encounters and
with objectives to fulfill until the current crisis is resolved, and afterward the area usually returns to
being a town.

On the world map draw points are invisible. New to the series, the world map has safe areas from
monsters if the player traverses on roads. Other world map transportation methods include renting
cars which expend fuel, riding the train for which the party must buy a ticket, riding chocobos—
timid creatures tamed in chocobo forests—and even controlling a mobile Garden that can cross
oceans, and an airship that—in a feature introduced in Final Fantasy VIII—has auto-pilot.

Sidequests and minigames Edit

Triple Triad.
Final Fantasy VIII introduced a minigame that can be played whenever there are NPCs around; a
trading card game Triple Triad that varies from a simple easy-to-play game to a complicated one.
More rules and variations of rules come into play depending on what area the player is playing in.
Rules played within one area are carried to other areas, so the player will want to be careful what
rules to pick up while playing.
Cards won from monsters or by playing NPCs can be turned into various items using Quezacotl's
Card Mod ability, ranging from screws to items capable of being refined into the most powerful
magics in the game. Cards can be obtained via Quezacotl's Card command to turn targeted monsters
into them.
There are sidequests relating to Triple Triad, and some sidequests reward the player with new
cards. Card Club is a secretive club for expert Triple Triad players the player must impress to face
the "Card Master King". Queen of Cards is a traveling card enthusiast who can commission new
cards being made for the game, and affect the rules around the area she currently resides in.
Other quests include optional locations like Shumi Village and present-day Winhill, puzzles in
chocobo forests, the mysterious UFO? encounters hinted at in Occult Fan magazines, and the
shadow of the Obel Lake, among others.

Chocobo World gameplay.

Chocobo World is a PocketStation game compatible with Final Fantasy VIII in which the player
controls Boko the chicobo, who embarks on a quest to find MiniMog, and is assisted
by Moomba and Cactuar. As PocketStations were never released outside of Japan, international
PlayStation owners could not play this game, but its connection to the main game was still
programmed into every localization of Final Fantasy VIII, so it is possible to play the game by
buying a PocketStation from Japan. Chocobo World was ported and included in the PC versions
of Final Fantasy VIII, including the 2013 re-release, where Chocobo World is playable directly from
the launcher after booting up Final Fantasy VIII.

Synopsis Edit

Setting Edit
See also: Final Fantasy VIII world
A sorceress.
The civilization is fragmented into small city-states and other autonomous groups. The two big
nation states, Galbadia and Esthar, went to war two decades ago in a bid for world domination, both
wanting to unite the autonomous groups under their banners. The war became known as
the Sorceress War, named after the leader of Esthar, Sorceress Adel, a member of the seclusive rank
of sorceresses, women able to naturally wield magic. Sorceresses are both renowned and feared for
their powers, and legends state they inherited their magic from the god Hyne who is said to have
created the world and the people. No one is born a sorceress, but when a sorceress dies they pass on
their sorceress power to someone else, and thus the exact numbers and identities of sorceresses in the
world are unknown.
The Horizon Bridge connecting Galbadia and Esthar was abandoned when the hostilities began,
apart from the middle station a group of engineers from Esthar made their home, and Galbadia
conquered Timber. Before the war could escalate into full scale however, Esthar isolated itself and
shut its borders with rumors circulating Adel had passed on her powers. Galbadia was left reigning
the Galbadian continent, but the war had taken its toll on the populace and many children were left
orphaned.
The world is still reeling from the after-effects of the war with Esthar remaining closed, and the
mysterious radio interference filling all frequencies with noise, rendering the technology useless.
This new phenomenon, whose origin could not be discerned, further isolated the different nations
who can only transmit long-distance messages via physical cables that get frequently compromised
by political strife and monsters.
A new military power has risen to prominence: the Garden. Built 12 years ago, Balamb Garden
trains paramilitary forces who can wield a power that imitates the power of a sorceress: Para-
Magic via Guardian Forces. Based on technology developed in Esthar, Balamb Garden is the only
organization in the world to use GFs whose use is rumored to have negative side effects, although
Garden insists otherwise. Those who graduate from the academy become SeeDs who are contracted
around the world as mercenaries and take on various missions.
Two "sister Gardens" were constructed in Balamb Garden's wake, but although they co-operate and
their students can often take classes in other Gardens or become transfer students, they do not train
SeeDs. Trabia Garden serves as a military academy for the remote nation of Trabia, and Galbadia
Garden focuses on weapon development—the only Garden to use guns—and training officers for the
G-Army.

Characters Edit

Artwork of the Final Fantasy VIII cast by Yoshitaka Amano.

Main article: Final Fantasy VIII characters
Final Fantasy VIII has eleven playable characters, six of them used for the majority of the game,
three used at certain interludes, and two other temporary characters.
 Squall Leonhart - The taciturn and reluctant hero. A lone wolf, he is known as a fearsome
warrior in training, specializing in the rare gunblade. Though aloof and seemingly detached,
he grows to appreciate his friends and love Rinoa, evolving into a model leader for his peers.
His tagline is "...Whatever".
 Rinoa Heartilly - A beautiful and spirited young woman who abandoned a privileged
lifestyle to join a resistance movement. Owns a faithful pet dog, Angelo.
  Quistis Trepe - A top-notch member of SeeD who serves as Squall's instructor. Though
beautiful and popular, she is insecure. She overcomes this through her caring for Squall and
her friends.
 Zell Dincht - A Balamb Garden student with unsurpassed martial arts skill who has a passion
for hot dogs. In spite of his loud-mouthed attitude, Zell strives to be a model cadet.
 Selphie Tilmitt - A spunky young woman with a carefree spirit. Transferred from Trabia
Garden, she tends to overcompensate her sad past with a happy disposition.
 Irvine Kinneas - An expert gunman and consummate ladies' man. Despite his facade, Irvine
is determined, caring and sensitive man, and the only one who knows the hidden connection
between all the members of the group.
Temporarily playable characters
 Laguna Loire - A passionate man whose "pen is truly mightier than the sword". Despite
disliking violence, he takes up arms in the face of injustice or when his loved ones are in
peril.
 Kiros Seagill - A Galbadian soldier who wields katals in battle. An intellectual and cool
person, he is Laguna's best friend and the voice of reason within the group of friends.
 Ward Zabac - A Galbadian soldier who wields a harpoon. Though intimidating at first
glance, he is a caring individual and a most loyal friend to Laguna.
 Seifer Almasy - Squall's rival in Garden and a fellow gunblade-wielder. His dream is to
become a sorceress's knight as per fabled legends.
 Sorceress Edea - A mysterious sorceress who surfaces as Galbadia's ally.

Story Edit
Main article: Final Fantasy VIII story
[Collapse]
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Promotional artwork of Squall and Rinoa.

Squall graduates into SeeD, a mercenary group whose members are hired out to various missions by
Balamb Garden. His childhood dream fulfilled, Squall and his fellow rookie SeeDs are sent out to
help the rebel group Forest Owls to free the occupied nation of Timber from Galbadia. The SeeDs'
contact with the group is a girl called Rinoa, and protecting her—as she lacks combat experience—
becomes part of the group's mission. On the way to meet with the Owls the party finds themselves in
a dream world that depicts events from the past through the eyes of a Galbadian soldier named
Laguna Loire, an event that is to become a recurring mystery along their journey.
The Owls fail to abduct the president of Galbadia as planned, but a rogue SeeD cadet Seifer takes
him hostage to help Rinoa's cause. Squall's party joins his former teacher Quistis and they try to de-
escalate the situation, but Sorceress Edea—whom the president was to announce as the nation's new
ambassador—spirits Seifer away with her.
The group flees Timber with Rinoa and takes refuge in Galbadia Garden where they are hired to
assassinate Edea, as the headmaster of G-Garden and the head of Galbadian Army conspire to save
the nation from her influence. The assassination mission fails even with the help of G-Garden
assassin Irvine, and they discover Seifer is now working for Edea as her "sorceress' knight".
Edea kills the president and usurps power in Galbadia and wants to destroy all Gardens besides the
one she has now taken over: Galbadia Garden. Though Trabia Garden is demolished in a missile
strike, Squall's party saves Balamb Garden by making it mobile, and they begin to use it as their base
to travel the world. Squall is promoted the head of SeeD by Balamb Garden's founder Headmaster
Cid who claims the SeeD's true purpose is to enter a fated battle against a sorceress and that Squall is
the one who must take on the mission.
During their travels they learn Edea used to operate the orphanage from where Squall and his friends
sans Rinoa grew up in. When Galbadia Garden led by Seifer and Edea launches an attack upon them,
the SeeDs defeat Edea whose personality entirely changes, and Rinoa becomes comatose. Edea had
been possessed by a sorceress from the future known as Ultimecia who seeks to unmake the world
with a time compression spell.
Squall's quest to revive Rinoa from her coma leads him to discover the hidden nation of Esthar and
that Rinoa has become a sorceress, having inherited Edea's sorceress power when they defeated her.
Now having restored his childhood memories, Squall seeks out his "Sis" from the orphanage, Ellone,
who has a mystical power to send a person's consciousness back in time to inhabit another person.
She has been sending Squall back in time to inhabit Laguna for a reason she doesn't divulge, and
Squall finally finds her from the Estharian space station. Squall has brought the comatose Rinoa with
him, but Ultimecia possesses her to release Sorceress Adel from her spacebound tomb. Adel is
Esthar's former dictator who was entombed in space to prevent her from passing on her sorceress
power, but now Adel becomes Ultimecia's new vessel while Rinoa is left to die in space.
Squall saves Rinoa, and the president of Esthar, Laguna, hires the SeeDs to fell Ultimecia. They
learn Laguna looked after the orphaned Ellone when she was a child before they were separated and
Ellone ended up in Edea's Orphanage. She has been wishing to reunite with Laguna and Squall, and
thus sent Squall back in time in a dream, trying to change the course of events.
The SeeDs defeat Seifer and Adel, and with Ellone's help trigger the time compression and travel to
the future where they defeat Ultimecia. As the timeline is fixed Squall goes too far back in time with
the dying Ultimecia who passes on her sorceress power to the Edea of the past orphanage. Squall
unknowingly sets his own destiny into motion by telling Edea to found the Garden, but with Rinoa's
help he returns to his own time. Everyone heads to Balamb Garden to celebrate while Seifer returns
to a normal life and Ellone has finally reunited with Laguna.
Spoilers end here.

Themes Edit
Deling City.
Final Fantasy VIII strives for thematic combination of fantasy and realism. It was the first Final
Fantasy game to have realistically proportioned characters—a departure from the super deformed
designs used in the previous titles. The game locations were designed to resemble real world
locations, rental cars and trains are used for in-game travel instead of fantasy-like vehicles, and to
enhance the feeling of realism, motion capture technology was used to give the characters lifelike
movements. Different nations and factions in Final Fantasy VIII have their own flags, their designs
based on the country/group's history and culture.
Final Fantasy VIII marks the turn of the series toward a "young adult" genre, similar to the literary
genre. It was designed to be bright and fresh in feel, an inversion of atmosphere from the previous
two games, Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII. This decision manifests in the location designs
and in the use colors, such as the aquamarine and pink design of Balamb Garden or the overall
design of Esthar, and even war-ravaged and poor locations, such as Trabia Garden, are displayed as
sunny, vibrant and lively, as opposed to the shadowy oppressed slum atmosphere present in Final
Fantasy VII.
[Collapse]
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)
One running theme is dealing with the aftermath of war and tragedy and how people continue on
despite of it. The story takes place approximately 20 years after the Sorceress War, and most of the
player characters are war orphans. The society is implied to suffer from a "lost generation" leading
to a lack of guidance and a shortage of families able to adopt. The 1990s are known as the Lost
Decade within Japan and family dynamics were affected by many factors, including the post World
War II world and the decadence of Japan's 1980s economic high, and the questioning of the quality
and meaning of life by many in the face of its effects. The game's more realistic setting, young adult
themes and western wardrobe of the cast evoke the rise of primetime teen dramas, and its military
school setting reflects the trend of sending teenagers to military academies and boarding schools in
the United States during the 1990s.
The story focuses on Squall, his love interest Rinoa, and a small group of Squall's friends and rival.
Whereas in Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII most characters have some playable scenario or
side quests of their own, the characters in Squall's party are in more of a supportive role. To
strengthen the main character's role the player has less control over his actions in the form of
dialogue choices, and as a unique feature in the series, the player can see the main character's
thoughts communicated via transparent text boxes. Tragedy is explored through the main characters'
personal scenarios.
The story is a coming of age one with a group of orphans originally trained to become mercenaries
and fight for the sake of the world. School themes are heavy throughout, representing the carefree
days of youth, as well as the struggles of growing up. Maturity, tradition and duty are emphasized; as
Squall graduates his actions make him a role model and the succeeding leader of the next generation
of SeeDs. Though each character starts as something different from what they end up becoming,
they share a common background (except for Rinoa, whose background ties to Squall's), and its
discovery becomes the turning point for the party's motivations. The bonds formed between the party
members juxtapose with Squall's initial position as someone who relies on no one. As he remains
lost in the void of time compression's collapse Rinoa's love brings him back, transcending and
breaking its hold on him.

Promotional art of Edea with the lyrics to "Liberi Fatali" talking of the end of childhood and the destiny the "fated
children" would soon face.
A major theme is fate and predestination, as well as common Japanese themes of impermanence and
inevitable loss (called mono no aware), however, the latter themes have been somewhat toned down
in the English version; during the final battle Ultimecia asks the party to reflect on their childhoods,
but in the Japanese version she explains that childhood feelings fade away as time waits for no one,
making clinging onto them pointless. The story focuses on moving on from the past, but ultimately,
although all things come to an end, the bonds between one another lead to new beginnings.
The game's antagonist, Ultimecia, is aware of the prophecy of how she would meet her end at the
hands of the "legendary SeeD." To escape her fate she pursues time compression to make her the all-
ruling god of the universe, but unknown to her time compression allows the "legendary SeeD" to
reach her and destroy her. Garden and SeeD exist to train these "legendary SeeDs" to one day fight
Ultimecia as per Edea's encounter with Squall in the game's ending, but Squall himself has no
knowledge of his role until the end. In keeping with the theme of fate, the characters are often
displaced through time in the roles of Laguna, Kiros and Ward, thus being able to "live" through past
history, although never having the power to change what has been. Ellone (whose power allows the
party to travel in time) touches this subject when she explains to Squall that although one can't
change the course of events they can learn and grow through these experiences, bringing again the
theme of the importance of growth, and learning from the past to achieve a brighter future.
Spoilers end here.

Music Edit

Main article: Final Fantasy VIII: Original Soundtrack

Cover of the Final Fantasy VIII: Original Soundtrack.
The game's soundtrack was Nobuo Uematsu's 23rd work for Square. Released on four compact discs
by DigiCube in Japan, and by Square EA in North America, a special orchestral arrangement of
selected tracks from the game (arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi) was released under the title FITHOS
LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC: Final Fantasy VIII, and a collection of piano arrangements (performed
by Shinko Ogata) was released under the title Piano Collections: Final Fantasy VIII.
The Final Fantasy VIII theme song, "Eyes on Me", which Uematsu wrote and produced for Hong
Kong pop diva Faye Wong, sold a record-breaking 400,000 copies, placing it as the best-selling
video game music disc in Japan until the release of "Hikari" by Hikaru Utada for Kingdom Hearts. It
won "Song of the Year (Western Music)" at the 14th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1999, the
first time a song from a video game won the honor.
Another popular song from the score is "Liberi Fatali," a Latin choral piece played during the game's
intro. The sorceress theme "FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC" was mixed with "Liberi Fatali"
and played during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens during the women's synchronized
swimming event.
The Black Mages, a band that arranged music from Final Fantasy video games into rock music,
arranged five pieces from Final Fantasy VIII. These are "Force Your Way" from The Black
Mages published in 2003, "The Man with the Machine Gun" and "Maybe I'm a Lion", from The
Skies Above, published in 2004, and "The Extreme" and "Premonition" from Darkness and Starlight.

Development Edit

Yoshitaka Amano's renditions of Squall and Seifer,

though not representative of their in game
appearances, still show their visual similarities, most
noticeably the scars across both character's faces,
each given by the other in battle.
Final Fantasy VIII follows Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII in displaying a world with high
technology, diverging from the more traditional medieval feel of the original titles. Final Fantasy
VIII diverges further still by focusing the story on the characters over the world events. Character
designer Tetsuya Nomura wanted the game to have a "school days" feel. Because director Yoshinori
Kitase already had a story in mind in which the main characters were the same age, the idea worked.
Thus, they created the concept of military school-like academies in which the students would train to
become mercenaries.
Further on, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima planned for the two playable parties featured in the
game—Squall's present day group and Laguna's group of twenty years in the past—to contrast with
one another. Leading to Laguna's group consisting of characters in their late twenties and have a lot
of combat and teamwork experience, while Squall's party was young and inexperienced, and Squall
himself not initially able to understand the value of friendship. The fan reception to the story
of Final Fantasy VII influenced the way Nojima wrote Final Fantasy VIII, and thus no main
character dies, and the game does not rely so heavily on flashbacks to deliver information. Laguna's
time was intended to comprise the first half of the game, but a lot of his story ended up being cut.[5]
With Final Fantasy VII, the main protagonist (Cloud Strife) had a reserved nature that led Nojima to
include scenarios in which the player can select Cloud's responses to certain situations and dialogue.
With Final Fantasy VIII, Nojima wanted to give players actual insight into what the protagonist was
thinking and feeling, even while the other characters remained uninformed. This led to Squall's
"internal monologues" that appear in transparent text boxes throughout the game.
Kitase also expressed desire to give the game a deliberately foreign, largely European atmosphere.
As part of this theme various designs were created using the style of ancient Egyptian and Greek
architecture, as well as styles from the cities of France and idealized European societies seen in
various artworks. Additionally, Kitase explained that the game's logo—Squall and Rinoa
embracing—was inspired by the team's efforts to express emotion through body language. The team
knew that the Rinoa and Squall scene was a big moment in the game, so they asked Yoshitaka
Amano to draw this for the logo. Its red to yellow gradient reflects the sunset in the background of
the moment Rinoa is falling toward Squall in the opening cinematic.[6]

Squall Leonhart (right) and Laguna Loire.

Using the game models to physically display their emotions and actions alongside the text boxes, as
well as using updated CG full motion videos, which were far more advanced in detail than any Final
Fantasy game that had come previously, to convey a kind of "silent movie" operatic atmosphere that
didn't rely on words to convey their meaning.
Final Fantasy VIII is the first mainline Final Fantasy title to have "millennium silver" as the color of
the menu and dialogue windows, since the color was popular in the late 90's. This trend was
continued in Final Fantasy IX.
In terms of character artwork, Final Fantasy VIII reflected Nomura's preferred technique at the time,
as opposed to Final Fantasy VII, which featured characters that "weren't really his style". The team
had decided to use realistically proportioned characters; the higher level of full motion video
technology would have otherwise created an inconsistency between the in-game graphics and the
higher definition full motion video graphics. After Final Fantasy VII was finished, the development
team thought players would feel something is off with the difference in proportion between the
character models in battle and on the field, and so in Final Fantasy VIII the character proportions on
the field and battle were kept the same.[7]
Nomura ended up altering each of the characters before they reached the final design stage, which
required sacrificing his original intentions. For instance, he had originally wanted Seifer to be
involved in a love triangle with Rinoa and Squall. As another example, Quistis was originally going
to be designed with a short skirt, but in the end was given a long skirt worn over pants. Rinoa was
planned to wear a mini-skirt over shorts, but this led to a conflict as he wished to have at least one
female lead wearing a skirt, and a compromise was made with Selphie's design: she was originally
intended to be wearing overalls, but Nomura decided that her outfit should be something of a
combination of the two, resulting in her overalls-skirt look.[citation needed]
Like Final Fantasy VII before it, Final Fantasy VIII was ported to PC by Square Soft, Inc. in Costa
Mesa, California. Some of the programmers had left around the time when work began so the
programming team wasn't as big as for Final Fantasy VII, having only five people, but had more
experience porting the Final Fantasy PlayStation code base. The port was finished in about a year,
slightly faster than Final Fantasy VII. Porting Japanese PlayStation games at the time was difficult
due to the language barrier (the documentation and the comments—if any—being in Japanese) and
3D graphics accelerators being still in their infancy. Some effects needed to be reverse engineered to
recreate them under Direct3D.[8]
A demo was released both for the PlayStation and the PC. One of the games that came with a demo
was Brave Fencer Musashi.
As was common at the time, the localization team wouldn't get the actual files until months into
development, and had to play and record the game itself to translate it off the screen to meet the
looming deadline.[9]

Releases Edit

PC version Edit
The game launcher of the 2013 re-release version.
Final Fantasy VIII was the second Final Fantasy game to be ported to a Windows platform. It was
released on December 31, 1999 and re-released on December 5, 2013 for Steam.

The Steam version comes with several in-game enhancements, including a speed-up option to fast-
forward through cutscenes and FMVs, as well as built-in cheats, such as "Battle assist", which makes
battles almost impossible to lose.

Similar to Final Fantasy VII, the re-release version comes with the Magic Booster feature that
allows the player to boost their characters' magics to 100. Achievements and cloud save data storage
are also available. Windowed mode and high resolution displays (up to 1920x1080 @ 60Hz) are
now supported. However, the game still uses the original midi tracks from the 1999 version, rather
than the PlayStation version music, unlike the 2012 re-released Final Fantasy VII that has received a
musical update. Chocobo World is playable directly from the launcher after booting up Final
Fantasy VIII.

System requirements Edit

These system requirements are for the re-released version.

Minimum Recommended

Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8 Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8

OS
(32/64-bit) (32/64-bit)

Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU 3GHz

Processor 1Core CPU 2GHz or faster
or faster

Memory 1 GB RAM 4 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT or

Graphics DirectX 9.0c compatible card
faster

Hard Drive 4 GB available space 4 GB available space

Sound Card Integrated sound chip or more Integrated sound chip or more
 DirectX 9.0c DirectX 9.0c
Others
Square Enix account Square Enix account

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered Edit

See also: Final Fantasy VIII version differences

The remastered version was announced on June 10, 2019 at the E3 event, with graphical
improvements including character models and textures. The game retains its original 4:3 aspect ratio
in both FMVs and real-time graphic rendering. The music is unchanged from the original
PlayStation version.[10] The remaster was made in cooperation with the French developer and
publisher Dotemu.[11]
The initial plan was to release the remaster on current-generation hardware with unchanged graphics.
However, as Final Fantasy VIII celebrated its 20th anniversary, and since TVs have evolved from
SD CRTs, the team decided to improve the character models and the initial schedule was delayed to
achieve this.[12]. A live demonstration was playable at Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) West in Seattle,
Washington the weekend of August 30-September 2, 2019. Players could choose a preset scenario
per terminal and play through the boss of the area selected.

The remastered version includes:

 Enhanced visuals with several characters, enemies, GF, and objects refined to look better.
 Battle Assist booster that maxes out HP and ATB bars and triggers Limit Breaks at any time.
The player will still die by instant Death or when losing all HP when hit by a critical attack
that deals more damage than the player's HP.
 No encounters: turns off random encounters, but event battles trigger.
 3x speed boost: Accelerates time by a factor of three. Will not apply to certain scenes,
including movies.
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered released on September 3rd for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo
Switch, and PC (via Steam). It launched with a sale price of US$19.99 as a digital-exclusive release.
Players who pre-ordered received bonus content on each platform, including a custom theme
package for PlayStation 4.
Reception Edit

Critical reception Edit

At the time of its release Final Fantasy VIII received positive reviews and was commercially
successful. After its North American release, Square Electronic Arts announced Final Fantasy
VIII had sold a near unprecedented amount of units. The game was the number one selling video
game in the United States across all video game software categories and remained on the top spot for
three weeks.[13] Final Fantasy VIII grossed a total of more than $50 million in the 13 weeks to
follow,[14] making it the fastest-selling Final Fantasy title at the time. In Japan it sold more than 3.3
million units within the first month of release[15] and more than 6 million units were sold by the end
of 1999. As of March 31, 2003, the game had shipped 8.15 million copies worldwide: 3.7 million in
Japan and 4.45 million overseas.[16]
At the time, Final Fantasy VIII was generally viewed as a leap forward from Final Fantasy VII in
terms of graphics, but many criticized the junction system as being overly complicated. Many critics
praised the game's storyline, but some found it inconsistent in quality and that some plot twists were
too sudden with not enough setting up beforehand, leaving players feeling indifferent, although
many also praised the game's character development and called Final Fantasy VIII the pinnacle of
the RPG genre. In 2002, IGN named Final Fantasy VIII the seventh best title for the PlayStation of
all time, placing higher on the list than Final Fantasy VII.
Final Fantasy VIII was voted by Famitsu readers as the 22nd best game of all time in 2006,[17] and
was named one of the 20 essential Japanese role-playing games by Gamasutra, stating "There's a lot
that Final Fantasy VIII does wrong, but there's even more that it does right."[18]

Awards Edit
Final Fantasy VIII won a number of year-end accolades, including the prestigious "Grand Prize" at
the 4th Japan Game Awards, tying with Dokodemo Issyo for "Game of the Year", and being one of
only five games in the Final Fantasy series to be awarded the highest honor.[19]
In 2000, it won all three categories it was nominated for at the Interactive Achievement Awards for
"Console Adventure/Role Playing Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Animation" and
"Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction".[20]
At the 6th Golden Satellite Awards in 2002, the game won "Best Interactive Video Game/Product".

Production credits Edit

Executive Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi

Director Yoshinori Kitase

Music Nobuo Uematsu

Main Programmer Ken Narita

 Executive Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi

Battle system Designer Hiroyuki Itou

Character Design / Battle Visual

Tetsuya Nomura
Director

Art Director Yusuke Naora

Scenario Writer Kazushige Nojima

Image Illustration Yoshitaka Amano

Movie Director Motonori Sakakibara

Movie Character Director Hiroshi Kuwabara

Character Modeling Director Tomohiro Kayano

Real-Time Polygon Director Akira Fujii

Battle Effect Director Shintaro Takai

Motion Director Tatsuya Kando

Card Game Director / Battle

Takayoshi Nakazato
Camera Director

Lead Field Designer Kazuyuki Ikumori, Kenzo Kanzaki, Yukio Natakani, Tetsuya Takahashi

Event Script Programmer Shun Moriya

Battle Programmer Hiroshi Harata, Kentarow Yasui

Event Director Hiroki Chiba

Map Director Takeshi Endo, Masaru Oka

 Executive Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi

World Map Director Ikuya Dobashi

Sound Programmer Minoru Akao

Sound Editor Eiji Nakamura

General Manager Yuji Shibata

Localization Director Aiko Ito

Coordination Director Tchie Tokoro

Localization Engineer Richard Mark Honeywood

Marketing Managers Akira Kaneko, Yasuhiro Suzuki

Assistant Manager Tomomi Nishigaki

Localization Assistant Yuichi Yamada

Square Soft, Inc.

Localization Management Masahiro Nakajima

Editors Brian Bell, Richard Amtower IV

Associate Producer Akihito Kozu

Square Electronic Arts L.L.C.

Senior Customer Service Manager Rick Thompson

Vice Chairman Yoshihiro Maruyama

 Executive Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi

President Jun Iwasaki

Hideo Yotsuya, Lynn Biscoe, Beeline Group Inc., The Kenwood Group,
Special Thanks
Saatchi & Saatchi, C.H.E.N. PR

Packaging artwork Edit

Japan.

U.S./Canada/Mexico.
Europe.

EU PC version.
Platinum (Europe).

Greatest Hits (NA).

Gallery Edit

See also: Final Fantasy VIII concept art

Promotional artwork.

Promotional artwork.

Promotional artwork.
Promotional artwork.

Promotional artwork.

Promotional artwork.
Promotional artwork.

Promotional artwork.
Show MoreShow Fewer
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered

Squall.
Rinoa.

Selphie.

Zell.
Quistis.

Irvine.

Rinoa's Angel Wings.

 Show MoreShow Fewer

Allusions Edit

Main article: Final Fantasy VIII allusions

Final Fantasy VIII makes references to other Final Fantasy and Square games, to the number
eight, Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, among others.
To date, Final Fantasy VIII has the highest number of Star Wars-inspired names, including Biggs
and Wedge, Nida, Piet and Martine, who is named Dodonna in the Japanese version.

Trivia Edit

 Final Fantasy VIII introduced a number of innovations and features that would later reoccur
throughout the main series:
 It is the first game where the characters are realistically proportioned thanks to
improved graphical power at the time.
 It introduced the option to name (and rename) summons.
 It is the first game in the series where Ramuh is not the main Lightning-elemental
summon, being replaced by Quezacotl.
 It is the first game in which all enemies have a death animation.
 It is the only main series game with pre-battle poses featuring each character readying
their weapon leading into their main battle stance.
 It is the first game to use motion capture technology from actors in motion capture
suits.
 It is the first game in the English language main series to standardise the "-ara" and "-
aga" terms for higher level spells (e.g. Fire, Fira, Firaga) first used in Final Fantasy
Tactics, with the rest of the main series adopting these terms onwards.
 It is the first game to add an in-game glossary which future games incorporated.
 It is the first game to use both the rumble force-feedback and analog sticks of the
DualShock controller for the PlayStation, also making use of the right analog stick
when controlling vehicles.
  To some extent, it is the first game to incorporate downloadable content through
the PocketStation; Chocobo World enables the player to pass on exclusive items
through to a Final Fantasy VIII save file and also power up Boko's summon attack
depending on his level in Chocobo World.
 During the parade in Deling City, the masked dancers are performing the dance moves
from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video.
 Final Fantasy VIII is parodied in the Dreamcast game Segagaga, where it is called Final
Pharmacy VIII.

Final Fantasy VIII in Charlie's Angels.

 In the first Charlie's Angels movie, in the scene when Dylan approaches a house for clothes,
there are two kids inside vigorously button mashing and moving while playing Final Fantasy
VIII. Infamously for fans, both kids hold controllers even if the game has no two-player
mode, and there are no sequences in which such button mashing would be required (except
maybe for when using the boost mode for summons).
 The game's PlayStation demo uses a track called "Raid on Dollet" for the Dollet invasion.
The game's final version does not use that track and it was never released on any official
soundtrack album. It is unknown why the track was scrapped, although a widespread theory
is that it was removed for legal reasons due to heavy similarities with the song "Hummel Gets
the Rockets", composed by Nick Glennie-Smith and Hans Zimmer from the movie The Rock.
 If the player has a game save from Final Fantasy VIII on their memory card during the event
Monster Corral of Legend of Mana, the egg obtained during this quest will hatch a chocobo
rather than a Rabite.
 While the developers of the original PC port were forbidden from adding easter eggs, the
team played a prank on one of the producers by editing the intro logo FMV to be replaced by
an awkward picture of him. The team put it on a set of discs marked as 'Release Candidate.'[8]
 With the release of Remastered , Final Fantasy VIII has ended a 20-year absence from
Square Enix's catalogue of games, and was the oldest main series title never to receive a
significant remaster or remake prior to its own rerelease.

See also Edit

 Final Fantasy in popular culture

 Final Fantasy VIII demo
 Final Fantasy VIII Technical Demo for the PS2
 Final Fantasy VIII allusions
 Final Fantasy VIII timeline
 Final Fantasy VIII artworks
 Final Fantasy VIII wallpapers

External Link Edit

  Official European site
 Steam Purchase Page
 Playstation Store Purchase Page
 Wikipedia Article

References Edit

1. ↑ Square Enix Bringing Final Fantasy XIII And More To Smartphones Via
Streaming (Accessed: August 20, 2019) at Siliconera
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Final Fantasy VIII Remastered Launches September 3 on PS4 (Accessed: August 20,
2019) at PlayStation Blog
3. ↑ https://youtu.be/wpx2Z2CCjPs
4. ↑ 「FINAL FANTASY VIII Remastered」発売日決定・予約開始のお知らせ (Accessed: August 21,
2019) at Square Enix Japan
5. ↑ Kazushige Nojima Talks About Early Internet Criticism On FF7 That Influenced Final
Fantasy VIII (Accessed: October 10, 2019) at Siliconera
6. ↑ Yusuke Naora’s SMU Lecture Recap – Featuring New FINAL FANTASY XV Concept
Art (Accessed: August 21, 2019) at Final Fantasy News
7. ↑ Weekly Famitsu Issue no. 1224: Yoshinori Kitase Interview (Accessed: October 10, 2019) at The
Lifestream
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Why the hell do they have mouths: a Final Fantasy 7 PC retrospective (Accessed: August
21, 2019) at PC Gamer
9. ↑ EDGE #278 Tale of Tales Meet Alexander O Smith the translator who's brought some of
Japan's biggest RPGs to the West p. 90
10. ↑ Final Fantasy 8 remaster music will be from the PlayStation version (Accessed: June 16,
2019) at Game Revolution
11. ↑ Dotemu "Honored" To Team Up With Square Enix For Remastered Version Of Final
Fantasy VIII (Accessed: June 20, 2019) at nintendolife
12. ↑ Final Fantasy VIII Director Yoshinori Kitase Explains Why It Was Late To The Remaster
Party (Accessed: June 30, 2019) at Siliconera
13. ↑ Final Fantasy VIII Tops Videogame Charts (Accessed: August 21, 2019) at IGN UK
14. ↑ FF8 Breaks Sales Records (Accessed: August 21, 2019) at IGN UK
15. ↑ Final Fantasy VIII Is Out! (Accessed: August 21, 2019) at IGN UK
16. ↑ Square Enix February 2,2004 - February 4,2004 (Accessed: August 21, 2019) at Square Enix Japan
17. ↑ Japan Votes on All Time Top 100 (dead) (Accessed: August 30, 2009) at Edge (dead)
18. ↑ A Japanese RPG Primer: The Essential 20 (Accessed: August 21, 2019) at Gamasutra
19. ↑ History of Japan Game Awards (Accessed: August 21, 2019) at Japan Game Awards
20. ↑ 2000 Interactive Achievement Awards (Accessed: August 21, 2019) at Interactive
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