Your first Final Fantasy game

[Xanatos]

Final Fantasy IX, for couple of hours only I'm afraid, after which I had to return it to my cousin. Not enough to make a proper judgment, though I loved the adventure feel of it.

I asked my parents to buy me a copy, they did, just wrong Final Fantasy. I got Final Fantasy VIII instead, drastic difference, but it was still a great introduction to the series. Over the years my love towards characters, and story of Final Fantasy VIII has weakened, as both are rather poorly done, though I still love it for it's gameplay, triple triad, and exploration.

[Vegeta76]

I asked my parents to buy me a copy, they did, just wrong Final Fantasy. I got Final Fantasy VIII instead, drastic difference, but it was still a great introduction to the series. Over the years my love towards characters, and story of Final Fantasy VIII has weakened, as both are rather poorly done, though I still love it for it's gameplay, triple triad, and exploration.

Funnily enough, I feel the exact opposite. Compared to other FF games, VIII had pretty weak gameplay IMO, but the story line was so poignant at times, and how it all wrapped up at the end essentially coming full circle? Brilliant.

FFVIII was my first love, then I went on to FFVII, which had the best gameplay in my opinion. Then FFIX, which I enjoyed but not enough to finish, and finally FFX, which took me a while to get into but eventually is the FF game I ended up sinking the most time into (200 hours... don't judge).

FFXIII? Beat it, but don't remember much of it at all. Uninspired eye candy with not a single likable character, except for maybe Sazh.

[Xanatos]

Funnily enough, I feel the exact opposite. Compared to other FF games, VIII had pretty weak gameplay IMO, but the story line was so poignant at times, and how it all wrapped up at the end essentially coming full circle? Brilliant.

FFVIII was my first love, then I went on to FFVII, which had the best gameplay in my opinion.

Junction system offers deep customization and it has direct influence on your stats, you can approach any situation in several different ways, in other words it has tactics feel to it, not to mention your opponents level up with you which gives certain amount of challenge, thus excellent gameplay. However, junction system is easily exploited, which also leads us to VII's gameplay, materia system while impressive at first is highly flawed and as with junction system easily exploited. Nevertheless, both are still fun to mess with.

Regarding the story, it relies way too much on teen love for my taste, if you look at the full scope a lot is left unanswered or given a poor explanation. Both Rinoa and Squall heavily overshadow other characters, as for the main villain, I appreciate her as a brilliant mastermind, but she's not fleshed enough and her motives don't have strong foundations if at any.

[Vegeta76]

Yeah, I'll definitely agree with you on FFVIII having a pretty lousy main villain. That's probably my least favorite thing regarding the game's story. As for the unanswered questions, I didn't mind them too much, as there's enough hinted through subtext to allow players to draw their own conclusions. In a lot of ways it reminds me of the "LOST" of Final Fantasy games, where for every answer there sprouts up at least two more questions, haha. Being a Lost fan might explain why I'm also a fan of VIII.

Also, have you ever heard of the Squall is dead theory? While I don't agree 100% with the author's observations, it is rather interesting, and helps shed some new light on the game.

Perhaps even more interesting is the theory that Final Fantasy VIII and III exist in the same world, spread apart by hundreds -- if not thousands -- of years.

[Xanatos]

Yeah, I'll definitely agree with you on FFVIII having a pretty lousy main villain. That's probably my least favorite thing regarding the game's story. As for the unanswered questions, I didn't mind them too much, as there's enough hinted through subtext to allow players to draw their own conclusions. In a lot of ways it reminds me of the "LOST" of Final Fantasy games, where for every answer there sprouts up at least two more questions, haha. Being a Lost fan might explain why I'm also a fan of VIII.

Also, have you ever heard of the Squall is dead theory? While I don't agree 100% with the author's observations, it is rather interesting, and helps shed some new light on the game.

Perhaps even more interesting is the theory that Final Fantasy VIII and III exist in the same world, spread apart by hundreds -- if not thousands -- of years.

I've read almost every theory there is regarding Final Fantasy VIII, few actually make sense and would tie things down pretty well, my personal favorite is Rinoa being Ultimecia which would explain quite a few things, but when Square oficialy denies every posible theorie even though they make more sense then what they had to offer they lose certain amount of charm to them.

There's no such thing as perfect story, but Final Fantasy VIII leaves us with too many unanswered questions I'm afraid, that's ok with older titles, in fact I love older titles for leaving us to our imagination but for day and age where storytelling in games evolved drasticaly I consider this to be a huge flaw. Same goes for Final Fantasy VII where fans have to go beyond adding some backstory to certain character.

[X-Meteo]

My first FF was VII. I got it for Christmas when I was a lot younger (can't remember how old, probably around 1 or 12). I had no idea what kind of game it was and I was instantly hooked as soon as I started playing.
Soon I found out that my friend was playing FFVIII and we would swap stories about things that were going on in the respective games. I remember how surprised and pleased we were when we spotted links between the games (the same Summons turning up was a big happy shock!)

I found out Aeris was going to die before she did when a friend let it slip and I was a little heartbroken. After I completed it and the credits had finished rolling and the bonus cut-scene had finished I just sat and stared into space, then wandered round the house in a daze. Nothing in life seemed the same anymore, I'd never been witness to a storytelling experience like it. Final Fantasy VII influenced so much about my opinion on video games, on storytelling, my interest in mythology and folklore, my understanding of writing and character development, the list goes on.

I'm glad to have found this forum, because when I try to explain what FFVII did to me no one (apart from my stepdad weirdly) understands and people just roll their eyes. But I'll never forget my first time, nor the excitement I got when new ones like IX and the re-release of VI came out. Happy times.