IV vs VIII (In Multiple Categories)

[Locke4God]

This might be home field for IV, but I wanted to compare a few games together by breaking them down into different categories.

So here it is. IV vs. VIII in 7 different categories. You'll see them listed in multiple choice format. You can vote for the best game in each category. Vote for both if you thought they were equally great, or vote for neither if you thought they were equally bad in each category. I thought this might be more fun than just determining which game was better outright.

[Xanatos]

OK, I really don't know how do you come up with this comparing of two FF games with huge differences but I'll go with it this time.


FF IV has a good story, nothing special but the same goes for FF VIII although for some reason I like story from FF VIII somewhat more.

Battle System, definitely FF VIII. I like junction system a lot, it was innovative and interesting to use and it enables to approach battle in various aspects. I like that you can easily use the opponents weakens with various magics without even casting them.

Major Battles, well both of these FF had some interesting major battles. In FF IV I liked that you could fight against some summons, and some bosses were awesome. The same goes for FF VIII, really liked battle against Ultima Weapon, Omega Weapon, Bahamut and etc. This is pretty much tied even tho I voted for FF VIII, **** I could have also voted for FF IV...

I played FF IV a long time ago so I don't remember much of sidequest's, so again my vote goes for FF VIII. There were ton of sidequest's and they were pretty much useful because you could obtain some rare items or even summons. There was one sidequest that I didn't finish, I think it was Obel Lake sidequest.

Overall enjoyment of environment and towns goes without a doubt to FF VIII, maybe because I don't find those 2D stripes to be nothing special.

Characters, I guess FF VIII. They were much more complex and interesting unlike those from FF IV and their background story's, feelings and thoughts are somewhat more expressed. I don't say that FF IV has bad characters, they are also well done but some of them really annoy me like Cecil.

Character & Weapon Upgrades. OK, I could have also voted here for FF IV but for some dumb reason I didn't. FF IV has much better weapon upgrade because FF VIII has poor selection of weapons and I don't need to mention that FF VIII doesn't have armor, accessories and etc. But FF VIII definitely has a better character upgrade because that's the most important thing in the game and they dedicated much more time developing that area. I like that GF's or also known as summons and their abilities are included in characters development. Not to mention junction system and magic drawing which result in enhancing some of the characters attributes.


As you can see Locke I'm more fond of FF VIII but that doesn't mean that FF IV is a bad game just the contrary I really enjoyed playing FF IV. But As I said in the similar thread that you made, I don't see how can you compare these two games in any aspect. I think that it would be more realistic to compare FF IV with FF V but that's just my opinion.

[Locke4God]

@ Xanatos - You're right. You can't compare them because they're on different systems. I guess that means I can't choose between Apple Pie or Cheesecake because both of them aren't fruit based. Or I can't make up my mind between an F150 or a Mustang because dangit, one's a car and one's not.

Now about the topic, I actually agree with most of what you said, although I'm going to have to go with IV on the character front. The characters of VIII were all more or less carbon copies of one another, but IV had some outstanding characters with unique qualities.

Polam and Porom for instance and the scene where they choose to freeze themselves in stone to save the others. What a great scene. Cecil and his quest to become a Palidin. Rydia dissapears during the battle with Leviathon and later returns having grown up, and now much more powerful. Everybody was unique and different and had various reasons for joining the quest and I found that much more interesting than in VIII.

I do however agree than on the whole it's hard to choose, and it's hard to choose between a lot of these games. That's why I wanted to break them down into different aspects of the games. I love IV, although VIII I think you almost have to say is the better game on most fronts, but maybe you dissagree with that. IV like I said had high quality characters, and as you said may have had better weapon upgrading. It kills me personally to try and choose between 6, 7, 8 and 12. Those are the 4 best IMO.

[Xanatos]

@ Locke - I must say that you have some great points there and I must agree with some of thing's you've said. Sure, these two games can compare with each other but I don't think it's fair to do so. I don't expect that you agree on this one, after all we have different thoughts on this subject but SquareSoft had more freedom and less limits when they were making FF VIII, unlike FF IV where they were limited in many aspects. I have read somewhere that SquareSoft was forced to throw out some elements and even shorten the story in some early FF games because the limits of small size cartridge. On the other hand that wasn't the case with FF VIII and that's why I think it's unfair to compare these two games. FF VIII was developed many years after FF IV on a console way stronger than SNES and normally it will have better battle system, more minigames, sidequest's, biger towns, bigger freedom of exploration etc... and FF VIII will get more votes for those aspects, am I right? I myself can't compare these two games in all of the aspects that you mentioned but comparing them only in aspect of story, characters and reception would be more reasonable for me - just my personal opinion, no hard feelings.

It kills me personally to try and choose between 6, 7, 8 and 12. Those are the 4 best IMO.

You're not only with that dilemma, but for me there is only two FF games to chose from, FF VI and FF IX.

[Locke4God]

You know, if that's true, that they had to trow out some elements, I would really love to see PS3 versions come out that include the original stuff they wanted to have in there. Not just new stuff, but the actual things they wanted in the first place. That would be cool.

[HUNK]

The only catagories I could really give Final Fantasy VIII were mini-games and enviroments.
As far as the mini games go, Cards were simply endlessly entertaining and I didn't realise how much I loved it untill time compression and all I could duel was Joker...Then I started to card mod everything I had. Tee-hee.

The enviroments were amazing in Final Fantasy VIII. My favorite places were easily Dollet, Dealing City and Ishtar(Naturally).

I was really straining my brain to decide on charecters. I really didn't appreciate many FFIV charecters untill somthing bad happened to them and they left my team, then all of the sudden I really miss Palom and Porom...Plus I did not realise that you could stack Yang's focus attacks untill a few fights before he destroyed the cannons.

As for story, I really sympathise with the whole "Knight of Redemtion" thing that Cecil pulls off by becoming a Paladin and redeeming the sins of himself as a Dark Knight.(Although I acctually apreciated both PLD and DK)
Overall though I have to go with FFIV. Good topic by the way.

[Locke4God]

Points well taken HUNK, and glad you enjoyed it. I posted a pair of other similar conversations if you're interested.

IV for me definately had the better characters, and I say that mostly because VIII's were frankly carbon copies of one another. IV with Cecil and Rydia alone was a more solid character base and then the others were all very unique in both their power sets and reasons for needing to join the party. But I like the games with larger parties anyway, so maybe I'm just biased there.

As you said, the Cecil quest for redemption and his becoming a Paladin really sold me on him. I think he's the best lead in the series by far.

I'm a bit suprised the Category for Battle System is currently tied. Really? IV was just a run of the mill FF system, which isn't a bad thing at all, but I thought the uniqueness of the junction and draw systems of VIII were much more entertaining and useful.

[Xanatos]

IV for me definately had the better characters, and I say that mostly because VIII's were frankly carbon copies of one another.

This is the second time I have read that you prefer FF IV characters which is cool by the way because characters from VIII weren't that much better. But I'm interested what do you mean by "carbon copies of one another"? If you could explain this a little better I would appreciate.

I'm a bit suprised the Category for Battle System is currently tied. Really? IV was just a run of the mill FF system, which isn't a bad thing at all, but I thought the uniqueness of the junction and draw systems of VIII were much more entertaining and useful.

It's pretty obvious why would someone vote for FF IV battle system and to me it isn't much of surprise that it's tied in this comparison. FF IV introduced a brand new battle system at that time called ATB and it's started a revolution not only in FF games but in many other RPG games. And don't forget that this battle system was used in most of the FF games including FF VIII so it deserves much more credit.

[Locke4God]

@ Xanatos - Ooooh that's true, IV was the first version of the ATB. Good call. Yeah and some people really didn't love the junction idea as much as I might have, so I think you're right that it's not sooooo suprising that it's tied.

On the characters, my comment that VIII's lineup were carbon copies of one-another really stems from 2 points. They all have virtually the exact same back story, as all of them grew up in the same orphanage and lost their memories. And then of course they all have practically the exact same power sets. Certainly not as unique in that aspect as games like 6, 9, or 10. So that's really what I mean when I said that.

I suppose you could make some arguements that they took seperate roads after that, but I mean really did it matter much to the characters that Kineas grew up at one garden and Selphia grew up at Trabadia? It mattered a little to the story, but Kineas, Quistis, Selphie, and Zell were all C level characters who served the same purpose under the leads Squall & Rinoa. Meanwhile in a game like IV, there are a variety of A, B, C, & level characters, and each of them had their own unique power sets and reasons for joining. In that way I just thought the cast was more interesting, and makes the VIII characters look very homogenous by comparison.

[Xanatos]

They all have virtually the exact same back story, as all of them grew up in the same orphanage and lost their memories.

Exact same background story just because they grew in the same orphanage!? Not even close. I really don't know how did you come up with this conclusion and I think it's better if I don't ask, but just because they lived in the same orphanage doesn't necessary mean that they would have the same background story. Yes they have lived in the same orphanage but for really short time and yes they did have similar background story to some degree but I wouldn't call it the exact same one.

And then of course they all have practically the exact same power sets.

Power Set? I don't really understand what do you mean with "exact same power sets" but I'll try to answer on this logical enough, I hope so. Oh, and I apologize if I didn't understand you well on this subject, but please fell free to correct me. Well now, lets see... Every one of them had different stat's, weapons, different limit breaks achieved with different weapons or items (case in Quistis), attached several GF that resulted in achieving different characters abilities and junction abilities which resulted in various strengths and weaknesses for every character in party, am I right so far? Which means...there is no possibility that any of these characters could be same in power sets even if you try to accomplish that, for example...Try to junction Ultima magic on Selphie and see if her attack deals the same damage as Squall junction with the same magic, or even if they stats are the same. I suppose to you the exact same thing would be to chose Selphie over let's say Zell and count on her to do some serious physical damage I mean they have the "same" power sets, right...Try that and let me know how it goes.

I suppose you could make some arguements that they took seperate roads after that, but I mean really did it matter much to the characters that Kineas grew up at one garden and Selphia grew up at Trabadia? It mattered a little to the story, but Kineas, Quistis, Selphie, and Zell were all C level characters who served the same purpose under the leads Squall & Rinoa. Meanwhile in a game like IV, there are a variety of A, B, C, & level characters, and each of them had their own unique power sets and reasons for joining. In that way I just thought the cast was more interesting, and makes the VIII characters look very homogenous by comparison.

I don't think that those are arguments and I don't need to make any of them because if you remember correctly it really happened. They took separate ways which was pretty much the reason they have a different background story's. And I suppose you know that background story doesn't just include their childhood time, or does it? I will agree with you that they didn't have much impact to the story but many from FF IV didn't also have, and if I remember correctly FF IV had more characters than FF VIII so I'll say that their even in that aspect. As for joining reasons in FF IV, meh, nothing special. Most of them could quit that party and I wouldn't blame them. As for characters goes their are close but somehow characters from FF VIII were more interesting - my personal opinion.

[Locke4God]

The short of it is that in VIII (and mind you I absolutely love this game) I never thought about which character I was using. I attacked with whoever I wanted, I used any type of magic with whoever I wanted. It's not like only Vivi could use black magic, or only Yuna could summon. Everybody could do everything, and all at pretty much the same level. That's what I mean when I say they have the same skill set.

[Xanatos]

The short of it is that in VIII (and mind you I absolutely love this game) I never thought about which character I was using. I attacked with whoever I wanted, I used any type of magic with whoever I wanted. It's not like only Vivi could use black magic, or only Yuna could summon. Everybody could do everything, and all at pretty much the same level. That's what I mean when I say they have the same skill set.

Well than, that's completely different thing, but then again you could do the exact same things in FF VI so what's difference between these two games and remember you did mention that FF VI has more unique approach in this aspect but for some strange reason it's exactly like in FF VIII, weird huh. The same thing you did in FF VIII I managed to do in FF VI but with more efficacy meaning that it's wasn't important at all with who I attack, heal or even cast support magic unlike FF VIII where I couldn't really on Quistys to deal some sever physical damage.

And judging by your fighting tactics in FF VIII, I dare to assume that you didn't fight against Omega Weapon or you just didn't last long enough against him.

[Locke4God]

Well in FFVI, while I do agree on the summons and magic front, yes the characters aren't very different, they do have significantly differently specialty attacks, which are a pretty big part of the combat system. VIII's variety of weapon don't lend them as much uniqueness as do VI's specialty attacks.

[Xanatos]

Good point man, I totally forgot about specialty attacks. Let's see...I really don't know why did you compare weapons with specialty attacks in the first place, both of them serve completely different purpose. Maybe you were referring to the limit breaks obtained by purchasing some weapons from FF VIII which again would be completely different from specialty attacks but except of that there is no way to connect these two elements, please elaborate this little more. Specialty attacks were a pretty big part of the combat system, maybe and please correct me if I'm wrong but they were only useful in the beginning although Terra's trance was useful even later in the game. As soon as you obtain Ultima everything else in combat sense was useless, yes you could still use specialty attacks but it took more time and you could deal barely the same if not less damage than with Ultima, which was pretty stupid because I liked some of those specialty attacks. But except Terra's trance I only used Locke's thief ability. On the other hand FF VIII didn't have different specialty attacks but then again many other FF games didn't have anything similar so I don't see that as downside. But FF VIII had something more useful, Limit Breaks and don't tell me that this wasn't more useful than those specialty attacks from FF VI. As for variety of Limit Breaks I think you should find enough of those be it Quistis support limit breaks, Squall destructive limit breaks or even Selphie's limit break based on luck.

[Locke4God]

True, VIII did have limit breaks. I don't think that makes the characters more unique vs what's presented in VI, but it certainly was useful. You know, I think that VI did have some sort of overdrive attacks. You had to be under like 10% HP to use them or something, so I never really did, because I heal faster than that, but they were there.

The speciatly attacks of 6 were a part of the battle system, but they were also a part of character upgrades as well. This type of thing gets into a grey area. Most of the characters, you're right, were fairly inefficient in using these late in the game, but Sabin's attacks, and Edgar's too were still powerful at the end. Although it was still easier to use Ultima as you said. That's pretty much all I did the entire trip through Kefka's tower. That, and attach no encounters.

[Xanatos]

Well, we have gone of the topic a little bit but you've made this thread so I'm guessing it's OK. Anyway about that Overdrives I've never seen them either but I would like to, I'll check it on Youtube later. I must agree with you and I said it myself that some of the specialty attacks were useful but you still didn't explained why did you compared those attack's with weapons from FF VIII, so I'm little bit confused with that part.

Characters in FF VIII didn't just depend on limit breaks to be unique in battle, you can customize every character via junction system and GF ability's to accomplish enough visible uniqueness for every one of them. If you remember correctly some GF could give some neat abilities that would make every character much different from the others in battle. But then again some of those specialty attack's were also available in FF VIII like Steal and Blue Magic (There were more but I can't remember) and much more on top of that like Counter, Cover Card etc. Am I right? That means that in FF VIII every character could also have a specialty attack, So don't assume to quickly that FF VI characters were more unique. If anything else FF VIII had much more options in that field.