Angel wings (Final Fantasy VIII (PS))

Member Name: wyvern9lb

Product:	Final Fantasy VIII (PS)
Date:	03/06/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good storyline, easy controls, and very addictive

Disadvantages: slow game to start with, Can be tediuous at times

My opinion of the game

This is my second favourite final fantasy game (first being final fantasy 7, just because I like the structure and characters of the game better). I was a little hesitant to play this game at first as the theme is based around an academy (like going back to school, what a dreadful thought), but actually found the game quite addictive. The main thing I liked about this game is you could store magic by extracting it for ememies (no need to hunting for materia, like in final fantasy 7), but I found that this could take along time to build up enough magic and can be very tediuos battling the same monster for the best spells. The storyline was quite interesting, but the idea of taking tests just to increase my stats put me off (unless you use the internet walkthroughs to cheat that is, as there are a number of nice walkthroughs that will give you the answers. Just wish you could do that in real test!). My favourite character has to be Rinoa Heartilly, she is very strong female who know's her mind. I find her limit break very useful later on in the game, (as long as you give her the most powerful spells to cast and keep her alive that is).


The storyline

You play the main character Squall Leonhart, who tends to keeps his feelings to himself (that was until Rinoa). He is a member of SeeD, an elite military mercenary. The main mission is to stop the sorceress Ultimecia, a future sorceress, who wants to compress time to a singular point, crushing the world. In order to do this she possess another sorceress Edea, the characters matron at the orphanage, to do her bidding. When Edea is defeated (by you) she passes her powers to Rinoa (great limit for Rinoa now called angel wings) who then (whilst in a coma) free Adel, another sorceress, from here prison in space. This then triggers a reaction that makes all monsters to fall from the moon. Ultimecia succeeds in time compression, so must then travel to her time, the future, to defeat her.
This game skips from past, present to the future. The character Ellone has the power to send a person's consciousness back in time and into the body of another, so they can experience and influence the actions of that person, where we meet (and control) laguana, kiros and ward, characters from the past.

The battles

This time you can draw spells and store them for later use from your enemies, but dont forget to draw your GF (guardian force), a protective monster who unleashes powerful attack, (I will come to these later). When you draw spells, the amount you receive will be random and can take some time to acculualate (especially the good ones). You can then swap these spell between ant character you wish (which is good thing if you don't use some of the character alot). Some of the big bosses can take of few attempts to defeat, so don't forget to save your game regually.

GFs are quite important to collect as they can be a powerful allie to you. Each one has a unque quality to offer and you need to decide which to use at the correct time. These can be interchanged between each character and builds a relationship with them. For example the more you you Ifrit (a GF) with squall the better and more powerfule Ifrit will perform.

Weapons

In order to upgrade your weapons you need to collect the correct parts (either stolen or dropped by enemies) to remodel them. There are magazine issues that you wil find throughout the gamel, telling which parts are require to upgrade each weapon. Another magazine you will collect is linked to Rinoa Limit breat and her pet pooch. Each issue will learn the dog a new trick. When a trick is selected in the menu, as you walk around a gauge will fill up. Once full you will be able to use this in battles.

The characters

Most of the characters have grown up together in a small orphange, in which Edea was the Matron. You regually see videos of their past, growing up together. This shows a great bond between each character.

Squall: Main character who keeps his feelings to himself. His weapon is a gunblade, a sword crossed with a revolver. Limit Break is a series of sword strikes called Renzokuken.

Rinoa: Strong, caring and passionate (my favourite). She daughter of General Caraway, a high-ranking officer in the Galbadian army. er weapon is a boomerang and she has 2 limit bream Combine, attacks with her dog and later on Angel wings (my favourite) in which she raises up and repeatedly uses her spells you have collected (only problem is you have no control over her)

Quistis: Squall's instructor. Her weapon is a chain whip and limit break is Blue waves, in which she uses ememies spells she has learned. I don't tend to use her as much.

Selphie is a plucky little character with lots of energy, which can get into trouble. Her weapon of choice is nunchaku. Her Limit Break is Slot, which allows the player to cast a random spell numerous times

Zell, Irvine are other playable character but don't tend to use them, so can tell you much about them.

Laguana, kiros and are all characters from the past, which take on the stats that you're current character has.

Graphics

Generally the graphic of the battle are quite good, most impressive are your GF's. There are some video footage in certain places within the game, building the cahracters background and the plot of the whole game.

Summary: worth a try (especially if you like final fantasy format)