Author Topic: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?  (Read 30164 times)

DLPB_

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #50 on: 2011-04-22 07:52:24 »
That translation looks way off.  That is more Aleksoul or somthing....

« Last Edit: 2011-04-22 07:54:13 by DLPB »

Armorvil

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #51 on: 2011-04-22 18:29:47 »
That translation looks way off.  That is more Aleksoul or somthing....

It's been a while since I played FFVI Advance, but according to Djibriel's FAQ (the FFVI bible), they still translated his name as Wrexsoul. So maybe it is a good translation (or, highly unlikely : they considered it was as legendary as spoony bard & co, so they kept it in).

Or, if you're just joking, I'm afraid I don't get the joke :(
« Last Edit: 2011-04-22 18:31:24 by Armorvil »

DLPB_

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #52 on: 2011-04-22 18:45:54 »
It is no joke... and that definitely is not the correct translation.  The kana does not fit it at all.  What it is, I dunno.  That first bit could be any number of things Alek, alec, arek, arec, etc etc.

アレクソウル (Arekusouru)

アレク Areku.  Cannot be Wrex.  It is impossible.  I would assume Wrex soul would be uurekusu souru or just rekusu souru

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Arek  I would go with Arek... But I can't tell what it is.
« Last Edit: 2011-04-22 18:54:24 by DLPB »

DarkFang

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #53 on: 2011-04-22 18:51:51 »
アレクソウル - Arekusouru

Beat me to it.

DLPB_

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #54 on: 2011-04-22 18:54:50 »
ソウル

is soul for sure :)  At least.  L spiro says they definitely intended Ale at the start.

perhaps they just didnt have the space for what they intended.  Certainly not wrex though or rex.
« Last Edit: 2011-04-22 19:01:47 by DLPB »

Armorvil

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #55 on: 2011-04-22 19:00:17 »
I see, thanks for the info, both of you. Does Alek/Areku/... mean anything ? Because I kinda understand why they went with Wrexsoul. Wrex = wreck; Wrexsoul being a soul-destroyer monster preying on Cyan and all that.

DLPB_

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #56 on: 2011-04-22 19:04:00 »
Well that is the thing... it certainly will mean something to the author and is possibly pulled from some sort of myth.

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Alek

One thing is sure.  It isn't wrex or rex, because if it was they would not have started it with an A among other problems.

See it could also be a pun.  They could have used the su from the areksu to become the x.  So for example Alexoul.  or somethin silly that doesnt work as well with english.

If I had to go with hand on heart, I would say it is taken from Alexander and is Alek Soul or Alex Soul or Alexoul.

yeah Alex is just 1 extra kana, I think they were just playing about with it, so I would definitely go with the above 3.  Well that was a nice diversion.  Also goes to show you how the English localisation refuse to change it even when blatantly wrong...

At least they changed Atma weapon LMAO.
« Last Edit: 2011-04-23 10:25:15 by DLPB »

Furzball

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #57 on: 2011-04-23 04:46:32 »
I still have to say FF8 is my favorite final fantasy. I've always been a fan of the confusing time travel storylines lol.

As for gameplay, meh, I play alot of games where the gameplay sucks (LIFELINE) but the concept or story are interesting. Problem is, after seven I really didn't like the fact that I had to collect screws and stuff to make weapons. So I said "screw that" and played through the whole thing and beat it on original weapons. Something not really to be suggested in FF7 or 10. But is entirely possible with stat boost in the junction system. Real life version you could take a plastic butterknife, junction a good ifrit and you have a dang nuke. Not to mention all the magic and items that help.

And I'm a bit of a sap for love stories. This one is abit too... easy and straightforward. No matter what Cloud gets rinoa. At least in FF7 you got to choose your date. Personally I liked Quistis (maybe it's cause of the whip and the whole young maturaty thing). Rinoa is abit of a switchbitch in my opinion. As soon as she breaks up with Seifer she goes hitting on Squall. I have don't blame Seifer for being a douche to Squall in the game.

And triple triad. Dang the only thing I wish to mainly change with that is the annoying music. Otherwise it's easy but challenging enough to have fun. Heck I just waste time on my psp playing it in balamb even before going out to get ifrit.

And Laguna is the most irresponsible parent I have ever seen.

wait... why did I like this game again?
Innocence of youth. I was young enough when it first game out that I didn't think of all these things. Back then it was sappy love story, graphical eye candy, and pretty music. Sad to say I even used "eyes on me" as a final in drama class. Yes I'm a guy, yes i know it's a girls song, but I had it memorized easily enough.

Adhira

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #58 on: 2011-04-24 16:30:00 »
Here i go breaking my lurking vow, but this thread is pretty nice considering what fan discussions about which FF is the best usually turn out to be in other places~

My all time favorite FF, RPG and game is FFVIII. As others said, the main fault of its battle system is being too exploitable, and the Aura > Meltdown > Renzokuken combo allowing you to plow through every possible endgame challenge with ease.

I heard lots of people complaining "you have to spend an hour drawing 100 of every spell at the start", while that was obviously not necessary and plain exploiting of the drawing system. There are just too many ways to gain an unfair advantage in the game, ultimately spoiling the whole experience.

My favorite features of VIII are the scenario (the world), Nomura's excellent designs (The Ragnarok... i still dream about it at night) and my idol's, Kazushige Nojima's writing. (It admittedly loses focus near the end of the game, though)

Considering the opinions i heard across the years, the FF8 gaming trend often goes this way for people who actually don't get to hate the story and characters instantly:

first playthrough: don't understand junction and GF leveling immediately > underpowered near the end > fail to finish
late playthrough: through gaming + guides > overpowered > lose interest near the end

Between the two examples one usually sees the ending once or twice.

Had i the time and resources to rework VIII like people are seemingly starting to do with VII, i would definitely:
- nerf or remove Meltdown
- remove the "hidden" drawing points on the two lv100 islands
- slightly increase the enemy levels (or simply increase level variance across common enemies)
- give all enemies a limited amount of spells that can be drawn in one fight and limit drawing effectiveness to SeeD Rank
- add a few drawing points to the world
- make more stats open for junction in the start (more "J [skill]" abilities)
- make the GF learning trees all visible from the start (or make an in-game tutorial about them...)
- increase APs necessary to learn Tier 2 and especially Tier 3 spell crafting skills
- slightly decrease the output of spell crafting

This way you will have fewer spells of the same kind and weaker junctions at the start (no more having more HP than bosses), being still able to craft your spells from items thanks to GF skills as you go on.

At the very least i think the duel at the end of the first disk should be actually difficult for the player...

In conclusion, i believe the ideas behind FF8's battle system were as good as the ones behind FF7 (if not better), but the balancing and the easy exploits ruined them. With the proposed fixes the various spell crafting skills would become more useful in the course of the game and the increased difficulty would make combat more enjoyable.

After all, remember how many times you used tier 2 spells in VIII. Probably not many as you could easily craft 100 tier 3 spells from items by the time they started to appear on monsters.
« Last Edit: 2011-04-24 16:32:09 by Adhira »

xLostWingx

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #59 on: 2011-04-24 21:16:21 »
I think that if one were to do a factor anaylsis of FFs and people's preferences - There would be three main factors (excluding personality of course):

1.  Age when played
2.  First FF played
3.  Other FFs played

I played VII when I was 12.  It was the first FF I played, and I hadn't heard of FF before then.  Now, 12 years later, it is still my favorite game.  First, it is a great game, but second, the factors of my life at that time were certainly signifcant influences.  Like a previous poster said, "...innocence of youth..." FFVII was probably great for those of us who were 11-13, and it was our first FF.  Had I played VIII before VII, then perhaps my preferences would be much different that they are today.  I imagine literary background could be a major factor as well.  I read hundreds of books before I ever played an RPG.  Before then, I played shit like Sonic, and Gran Turismo, and Tekken.  So...idk, its just interesting, from a Psychological perspective, how FFs become different individual's favorite FF.

Vgr

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #60 on: 2011-04-24 23:07:53 »
...played VIII before VII...

That's my case. VIII was the very first FF I played and still one of my favorites : I just cannot decide which FF is better whitin FF7, FF8, FF9, FF10 and FF12. They all are good. FF9, FF10 and FF12 are in the second rank, tough. FF7 and FF8 are the best FFs ever.

DarkFang

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #61 on: 2011-04-24 23:58:20 »
My first Final Fantasy was VI. I remember I was in the Narshe Caves with Terra.

My top five Final Fantasy games would consist of (in no particular order) IV, VI, VII, VIII, and XII.

But you know a Final Fantasy game no one talks about? Mystic Quest. That game was pretty fun and had a beast soundtrack.

Lion

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #62 on: 2011-05-04 03:08:10 »
ff8 is my favourite final fantasy.

i personally found the characterization of the main enemy very very poor. she never gets fleshed out and you never really truly hate her, like you hated sephiroth. it was indifference you felt and it really ruined it.

spoilers incoming

i hated how edea and seifer never amounted to anything. in the end they were just there. they had so much going for them but then  they fall flat and do nothing.

i loved the ending though. the surprise twist at the end with laguna and raine being squalls father and mother just added so much. watching lagunas mature was really really pleasing. i feel like laguna should have a game made about him in the same way ff7's zack had a game made about him. at the start laguna wanted this hot chick (julia) without even talking to her. he makes a fool of himself and he's far too irresponsible at this point. he grows up and he marries raine and maybe he's still immature but you get the feeling he's not a complete idiot with women anymore. but i guess his sense of adventure takes hold of him and he has to leave.

ultimecia was just an absolutely terrible character. it's just bad story telling technique to have the main villain someone you barely know. no character development meant squall might as well have been fighting a tree because the feelings were the same.

so was seifer. at the start he is squalls rival, he's this cocky bully who seems like an asshole but you'd never imagine turns evil. by the end of disc 2 though he's just a puppet with nothing to him at all.

end spoilers

the first disc was probably the best disc. i liked how it was action packed and i loved the mission type feel of it. do this and kidnap the president. do this and assassinate the sorceress.

apart from the love story in the later discs and lagunas story, literally nothing of interest truly happens. im serious.

yarLson

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #63 on: 2011-05-04 16:00:08 »
i dunno man, Esthar is a pretty interesting place   :P

nfitc1

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Re: Final Fantasy VIII - opinions?
« Reply #64 on: 2011-05-04 19:27:25 »
The funny thing in the Wrexsoul battle though, is that you need to kill the "right" party member during the battle, for the boss to appear (as opposed to having to kill your party members before the boss fight, in Ruby's case). It should be doable through AI editing in FFVII, but don't ask me how (Bosola, NFITC1, Gjoerulv or Titeguy might know, though).

Oh yeah. It's simple. I forgot about Wrexsoul. Maybe Gi Nattack should be re-written to act like that. I think all the necessary AI pieces have been found to make that happen. Someone should make that happen. :D

Jenova's Witness

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« Reply #65 on: 2011-05-06 17:13:51 »
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« Last Edit: 2015-11-16 11:21:14 by Jenova's Witness »