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| Playability: One of the many things that FFVII did right was in the gameplay area. Control was very good and the game itself had that special way of getting players immersed in the storyline. This was expertly accomplished by first and foremost having a script and secondly by almost seamlessly combining in-game play with CG cut scenes. FFVIII takes this concept and moves it up to another level. The CG's are now even more integrated into the storyline and flow from CG to in-game much more fluidly. You can see what I mean right from the start of the game where the opening CG melds into the actual game instead of just being a flashy opening that lends little to the game itself.  Upon
entry into the actual game you will be immediately impressed by the
changes that have taken place in the character models when compared to
FFVII. Gone are the rather small, semi-deformed individuals that
populated the previous FF game. Now we are treated to finely texture
mapped characters that look and behave like real people. That's right I
said, "behave". People are milling about having their own
private conversations that you can listen in on if you happen to walk
by. Hey, I didn't know the Playstation had an Emotion Engine in it…I
though that was reserved for the next gen Playstation that Sony is going
unleash… Also, events seem to change randomly. For instance you can
save your game at various points and when you progress from there you
may pass by a group of people chatting or walking around. If you happen
to start the game from that save point again, there is a very good
chance that those same people will no longer be there, a different group
could be congregated or something else completely different from the
first time you passed by. These random events help to create a world
that seems alive and very realistic in nature and gives one a nice
impression of things happening in real time and adds yet another element
of realism to this wonderfully alive game. Due to the more realistic
character models, you will also notice other lifelike actions with
individuals kneeling to read or gather books from a shelf, posturing in
various ways, leaning on things and other types of realistic behaviors.
The motion capture used also depicts walking and running very
accurately. Overall, the presentation of the characters is very
impressive and much more adult in orientation when compared to other
RPG's.  Control
is dead on and you will have no trouble moving your character from place
to place. When in towns, jungles, etc., pushing the analog stick
slightly results in a walk, pushing it harder forward will have your
party running. Since there are usually multiple people in your party,
the control system focuses on your lead character and forces the others
to follow. This ends up working quite well and allows you to concentrate
on just the one character when movement is called for. The camera angle
is perfect and moves around automatically in an almost cinemascope
likeness. Once you hit the overworld things change a bit. The
prerenderred scenes are thrown out the window and backgrounds are now
done in real time polygons. Regardless of you party size, only the lead
is displayed on the screen. Since the backgrounds are done in real time
you can now take control of the camera and rotate your view 360 degrees
going right or left. You can also zoom in or out to can a different
perspective on the environment. Gone is the Materia system that was used in the last Final Fantasy game, the replacement is now called Guardian Force. Basically the Guardian Force are those super powered creatures that you used to summon from FFVII. The biggest difference in the way you use these behemoths now is that they are more like having another character in the game as they can sustain damage (hit points) when they are called into battle. The new method to take advantage of these Guardians is called the Junction System. You junction Guardian Force's to a player and then begin to link magic to them. Each Guardian can be assigned new magical tasks to learn and once done can be used during battle. This system is a little complex at first but like the Materia system, once you get the hang of it, it is very flexible. Guardians are more compatible with certain players. You can check this compatibility in the menu and link the most well-matched Guardian with that characters to achieve maximum results.  Also
new element in the game is the Draw command, which is almost the same as
the steal command from FFVII but much better. Players can now attempt to
Draw magical power from their opponents and then store them for later
use or use them immediately upon drawing them. This is the only way to
obtain magic in FFVIII so issuing this command during battle is
essential. You also have the option of drawing and then immediately
using the magic back against the opponent. Another refinement in the game is the fact that you no longer receive money when you defeat a monster in battle. Instead you can expect to get potions, Cards or parts for your weapons. This part combined with the Draw element makes much more sense to me instead of getting money from a monster you just defeated. I mean, how many monsters do you know that actually carries money around with them anyway? The only way to get money now is to earn it! Once Squall and his team graduate into SeeD's they start pulling down a salary. On a regular basis you will receive your pay automatically, with a little alert to let you know that money is being deposited in your "account". You can actually draw more money (or less) depending on how well you are following certain mission goals and objectives. Once again, this gives the game a much more realistic approach and more closely mirrors real life events.  Now
lets talk a bit about cards. There is a neat side game called The Card
Game where you challenge opponents to a game vaguely similar in concept
to an old card game called "war" combined with elements from
domino's. Each card is assigned point values on each of the four sides.
Players use five cards and place them on a 3 x 3 grid trying to place a
card with a higher value number on that side next to a card with a lower
numeric value. Whoever gets the most cards at the end of the game wins a
single card, all of the cards or some variation depending on the rules
for that played game. Since rules to the game vary from city to city so
there are a lot of different strategies to learn to become successful,
but winning at this game is critical to your ultimate success in the
grand scheme of things. You can have a Guardian learn about cards and
later that Guardian will be able to provide critical weapon components
as a result. Virtually every monster in the game has a card associated
with it so there are a bunch of cards for you to collect. Cards can be
obtained by winning a card game and on some occasions when you defeat
monsters. You also start FFVIII with a predetermined amount of cards
already in your inventory.  I
always felt that one of the more original parts in the battle mode were
the Limit Breaks. Learning and obtaining them (especially the last few
for each character) was a hassle but during battle they worked wonders.
Unfortunately they could only be used sparingly when you Limit Break
meter charged. Of course FFVIII has changed the structure of Limit
Breaks as well. There are still Limit Breaks used in the game, but now they are like a last resort. When your character is on their last legs you get the option to pull out one of your Limit Breaks which are delivered with devastating results. Using these breaks are a risky business because if you don't dispatch your opponent you may not get a second change to try again or to heal yourself because your hit points are so low that one more attack from an opponent could end up killing you. This result in having the player put some "skin" in the game. You can use your Limit Breaks each turn, but you have to keep your players strength so low that it is extremely risky business. It certainly ends up keeping you on the edge of your seat and adds a good amount of intensity to the battles.  Another
nice little twist to the battle mode occurs as you get deeper into the
game. You will be placed into a battle that takes place closer to real
time where you have to press buttons to block and attack. While it plays
out more like a mini game, it is still an actual battle that took me a
bit by surprise. The use of vehicles has been nicely implemented in the game this time around. When traveling between towns you can now opt to rent a car to help speed up your commute a bit. Later in the game you will also get to take control of airships. Driving these vehicles consists of moving the left analog stick right or left for steering and the right stick for forward and reverse. I liked the fact that early on you need to rent a car and not just jump in some heap that is laying around. Hey, if you want the luxury of a car you have to pay for it! |
| REVIEW
LINKS... ¤ Setting the Scene ¤ Character Profile ¤ Sound and Vision ¤ Playability ¤ Options, Scores and Opinions ¤ Screenshot Archive: Coming on Saturday |