Game Day: ‘VIII’ is pretty great
As the March release of “Final Fantasy XIII” draws nearer, it seems appropriate to look back on what the popular Japanese RPG series was up to a decade ago in “Final Fantasy VIII,” recently released on PSN for download to the PS3 and PSP.
The main character is Squall Leonhart, a gifted but socially aloof student at Balamb Garden, a school for the elite SeeD corps of mercenaries. The game’s first couple of hours are spent on Squall’s final exam, a live combat exercise.
After that, he and some fellow SeeD agents are given an assignment to help a resistance group free their backwater town, an assignment that turns into a quest to save the world from a wicked sorceress. The story is interesting, and the characters, while prone to teen drama, make for a memorable cast.
“Final Fantasy VIII” makes some pretty drastic departures from longstanding “Final Fantasy” tropes, and in so doing it delivers one of the more intricate game-play experiences in the series.
Instead of gaining money from defeated enemies, the player’s party pulls down a regular salary from the Garden. Instead of many pieces of equipment, there are only weapon upgrades.
Instead of the familiar magic point system for casting spells, magic is drawn from monsters during battle, found at draw points scattered around the world or refined from items and lower-level spells. Characters can carry up to 100 of each spell, which are used up like consumable items; they can also be traded between party members.
Spells serve another purpose as well: When attached – or Junctioned – to one of a character’s core statistics, such as strength or hit points, the right spell can boost that statistic to varying degrees. Spells also can be Junctioned to allow their effects – such as poison and blindness, or fire and ice elemental damage – to be passed on or guarded against.
This system offers an intricate way to customize each character, but makes it easy to transfer their bonuses to another if needed.
To Junction magic to anything, however, a character must first have Junctioned a Guardian Force. These powerful beings can be summoned for battle, but their real utility is the many abilities they can learn and impart to their users.
The downside to this Junctioning is that it makes the six main characters more or less blank slates. Each of these wonder teens has a unique attack that can be called on in times of danger, but other than that, there’s little difference between them.
FINAL FANTASY VIII
3 1/2 stars
PUBLISHER: Square Enix
SYSTEM: Sony PlayStation Portable and PS3 (PlayStation Network download)
PRICE: $9.99
AGE RATING: Teen