Quote Originally Posted by Vegeta76 View Post
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.