Final Fantasy VIII or Final Fantasy IX

[Folant]

Tetra Master is crazy more fun than Triple Triad. You people is off yer 'ed.

Also, IX. Just because IV wasn't an option. In fact, forget IX, get IV and play that. IX is still mad good though.

[Omniyoji]

XI had the superior romantic relationship between the Male and Female leads which is ironic since VIII was supposed to be a "Love Story".

Ah yes I remember my tarutaru self hitting on that hume with the gazongas.

[Spira]

wow. that 1000 images is gorgeous. i recognize all of them except for the card table room on the bottom left. it must be some small room in a quieter town like dollet.

I definitely agree about the school days appeal. I was 14 when I played FF8 and I loved it to bits. however, I still enjoyed it immensely when I played it again after it released on PSN, so I don't think its just that.

To add to the point about the school days appeal, it helps make the game, and its story so much more relatable. The concepts they use are mainly things we already know or have have conceptual knowledge about in the real world. School, military weapons, military might, time travel. It is for this same reason that FF8 is actually one of the least fantasy-styled FFs ever. But because of that, it feels a lot more natural to players (especially young ones), and that heightens the immersion right there.

You can contrast this to like say FF10 and 13, which have this nasty habit of forcing heavy concepts down your throat (Sin, Fal'cie/L'cie), just so that they can make defying the conventions of the concept a plot twist. You don't feel as much connection to it because the concept itself doesn't necessarily work its way into a players belief system. And for younger gamers, they just get lost because it might be too abstract for them.

Going back to 8, when they do the whole playing of concepts thing, you get things that kids, mostly students, can relate to. Quite like how when I first got back to balamb garden and the school was in chaos - that felt powerful to me because my belief system was used to schools being a place where theres hierarchy and order. I think it's things like that that captivate you to the story and make you think about its situation. Not going to say 9 is bad here, kingdoms and thiefs are within knowledge, but we know already know them as myth. I think this is where FF8s fantasy based on modern reality shines very well.

I also have to say I related to Squall a lot more. 8 had a very strong introspective style that allowed you to know what Squall was thinking, and it was kind of a typical teenage mindset. Zidane is an anomaly. He's a skirt-chasing optimistic person who can also be very childish and serious at different times.

Finally, you can say I'm biased, but I think FF8 is a pretty good story about love. It's just that you shouldn't try to look at is as romantic love story. Squall is as unromantic as one can get, but when he experiences love, it screws with his system and he has to learn to deal with it. And it does a great job at exemplifying the dark side of love - the pain and loss it causes and sadness. If you want to believe in the Utimecia/Rinoa theory, then it makes that effect even more powerful. (Personally, I subscribe to it, because there are simply too many obvious references to miss. Its just that because of the implications of Rinoa being Ultimecia, they will never officially go on record to say it is so. I know Hironobu Sakaguchi has dismissed the theory before, but its not like he wrote the story anyway - what would he know)

lol.. also Triple Triad was awesome because it didn't involve changing card stats. Me and a bunch of friends used to play Triple Triad in class using cards we made

[Acturus]

FFVIII, fo sho'

[Nevex]

1000 images is awesome indeed. I usually don't pay much attention to 2D backgrounds when playing but from that pic you can see how beautiful they are even today, more than a decade after.

[BlackMoomba]

Tetra Master is crazy more fun than Triple Triad. You people is off yer 'ed.

I believe that's the first time I've ever heard someone say that.

[chikalin]

IX had the superior romantic relationship between the Male and Female leads which is ironic since VIII was supposed to be a "Love Story".

garnet and zidane were so cute together. garnet was also probably my favorite female main in a ff game.

really, though, i think the main reason i liked garnet/zidane a lot better than rinoa/squall was because rinoa was annoying and squall was so freaking emo.

'squall i'm dying...' 'whatever.'

[Spira]

its just a better reflection of reality

[Charismatic]

'squall i'm dying...' 'whatever.'

That's shopped btw...

[chikalin]

That's shopped btw...

i know, but it sums it up so well.

[Charismatic]

It actually doesn't at all but... sure, believe what you will!

[Xantavia]

All this back and forth, and nobodys mentioned this theory (spoilers for FF8 ).

[Omniyoji]

All this back and forth, and nobodys mentioned this theory (spoilers for FF8 ).

Well... that was interesting. First time I've heard of that, of course I don't discuss much about FF8 at all ^^;
Thanks for pointing that out Xan.