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is a 1999 Console Role-playing Game Developed and Published by Square (now Square Enix ) for the Sony PlayStation Video Game Console and Windows -based Personal Computer s. The game's story focuses on a group of young mercenaries who are drawn into an international conflict, and seek to protect the world from a Sorceress manipulating this war for her own purposes. Thirteen weeks after its release, ''Final Fantasy VIII'' had earned more than US$ 50 million in sales,23 making it the fastest selling ''Final Fantasy'' title. Additionally, ''Final Fantasy VIII'' was voted the 22nd-best game of all time by readers of the Japanese magazine '' Famitsu ''.4 ''Final Fantasy VIII'' departed from many traditional standards of the '' Final Fantasy '' video game series. It is the first game in the series to consistently use realistically proportioned characters, the first to feature a Vocal Piece as its Theme Music , did not have a Magic Point-based system for spellcasting, and one of the only titles to deviate from the series' traditional means of increasing a character's power. GAMEPLAY Like '' display in which the player may navigate freely across a small-scale rendering of the game world. Characters travel across the world map in a variety of ways, including by foot, car, Chocobo , train, and Airship . The field map consists of controllable 3D characters overlaid on one or more 2D Pre-rendered backgrounds, which represent environmental locations such as towns or forests. The battle screen is a 3D model of a location such as a street or room, where turn-based fights between playable characters and CPU -controlled enemies take place. The interface is menu-driven, as in previous titles, but with the typical weapon and armor systems removed and new features present, such as the Junction system. Also featured is a collectible card-based Minigame called " Triple Triad ".5 Junction system This new system designed by battle designer Hiroyuki Ito revolves around "summonable" monsters, called " Guardian Forces " (GFs). A character must have a GF assigned ("junctioned") to them before he or she can do anything in battle besides "Attack" with their weapon, such as "Magic", "GF" (summoning), and "Item". While previous ''Final Fantasy'' titles provided each character with a limited pool of Magic Points (MP) that were consumed by each spell, in ''Final Fantasy VIII'', spells are "drawn" (obtained) from enemies, Draw Points distributed throughout the game's environments, and usable items. Spells are then stocked on characters as quantified inventory (up to 100 at a time) and are consumed one by one when used. GFs allow characters to "junction" these spells to their own Statistics — such as "Strength," "Vitality," "Evade," and "Luck" — for various bonuses.6 , during a battle with an early Boss ]] The flexibility of this system makes it possible to build a powerful party early in the game. This alternative use of GFs was a significant departure for the ''Final Fantasy'' series, as summoned creatures were previously used almost exclusively to deliver a single devastating attack during battles. Furthermore, the system replaced the equipment system of previous games with a permanent, specialized weapon for each character; each weapon can be upgraded several times, which increases its power and alters its appearance. For example, Squall begins with a gunblade called the Revolver, but after fully upgrading it, it becomes the Lion Heart.7 Limit Breaks As in ''Final Fantasy VII'', each character has unique special attacks called " Limit Breaks " ("Special Arts" in the original Japanese version). Whereas Limit Breaks in ''Final Fantasy VII'' are triggered by filling the Limit meter through taking damage, in ''Final Fantasy VIII'', they are randomly available every turn when the character's health (Hit Points, or HP) is below 32% of its current maximum, and influenced also by the negative status effects the character is afflicted with. This system is similar to the Desperation Attacks from '' Final Fantasy VI '', which are triggered on rare occasions when a character is near death. The magic spell ''Aura'' increases the probability of Limit Breaks appearing, regardless of a character's remaining Hit Points.8 Another change is that most of the main characters' special techniques feature interactive elements, ranging from a Slot Machine design to Fighting Game -style button inputs. These elements, which are dependent on the character and the nature of the Limit Break, can be used to increase the potency of the attack.9 Experience levels Experience Point s are awarded following successful battles against randomly encountered enemies. When a character accumulates a certain amount of experience points, he or she gains a "level", which increases that character's base statistics. Unlike previous ''Final Fantasy'' games, however, randomly encountered enemies have no set level — their levels increase alongside those of the playable characters. Higher-level enemies are capable of inflicting and withstanding significantly more damage, and may have additional special attacks. Statistic increases from "leveling up" are minuscule compared with those that are available through the Junction system. In addition to gaining levels, Guardian Forces earn Ability Points (AP) after battles, which is allocated to special abilities that Guardian Forces can learn. When a GF has learned an ability, that ability becomes available for any character — and, in some cases, the entire character party — to use. Through learned abilities, GFs can receive attack enhancements in battle, refine magical spells from items, provide bonuses to characters when leveling up, provide access to shops, and add battle commands.10 PLOT Setting See Also: World of Final Fantasy VIII Most of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' is set on an unnamed fantasy world with one moon. The planet comprises five major landmasses, with Esthar, the largest, covering most of the eastern portion of the map.11 Galbadia, the second largest continent, lies to the west, and contains many of the game's locations. The northernmost landmass is Trabia, an Arctic region. Positioned roughly in the middle of the world map lies Balamb, the smallest continent, the island on which the game begins. The remaining two landmasses are smaller and mostly desolate, riddled with rough, rocky terrain caused by the impact of a "Lunar Cry", an event where monsters from the moon fall to the planet.Centra Civilization A civilization in Centra 4000 years ago. These Centra people immigrated to other continents and founded the Dollet Empire to the west and Esthar to the east. Centra was destroyed 80 years ago by the Lunar Cry. 1213 The southernmost landmass includes an Archipelago of broken sections of land that have drifted apart. Islands and marine structures flesh out the rest of the game world, and a handful of off-world locations round out the game's playable areas. As part of a theme desired by director Yoshinori Kitase to give the game a foreign atmosphere, various designs were given to its locations using the style of internationally familiar places, while also maintaining a Fantasy atmosphere. Inspiration ranged from Ancient Egypt ian and Greek architecture, to the city of Paris , France , to an idealized futuristic European society.14 Characters See Also: Characters of Final Fantasy VIII The six main playable characters in ''Final Fantasy VIII'' are Squall Leonhart , a loner who keeps his focus on his duty to avoid vulnerability; Rinoa Heartilly , an outspoken and passionate young woman who follows her heart in all situations; Quistis Trepe , an instructor with a serious, patient attitude; Zell Dincht , a Martial Artist with a passion for martial arts and hot dogs; Selphie Tilmitt , a cheerful girl who loves vehicles and flies the Spacecraft Ragnarok ; and Irvine Kinneas , a Marksman and consummate ladies' man. Playable supporting characters include Laguna Loire , Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac , who appear in "flashback" sequences, and antagonists Seifer Almasy and Edea Kramer . During the game's pre-production, character designer Tetsuya Nomura suggested the game be given a "school days" feel. Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima already had a story in mind in which the main characters were the same age; their ideas meshed, taking form as the "Garden" military academies. Nojima planned that the two playable parties featured in the game (Squall's present day group and Laguna Loire's group from the past) would be highly contrasted with one another. This idea was conveyed through the age and experience of Laguna's group, versus the youth and naïveté of Squall's group. To maintain the game's theme of a foreign atmosphere, the characters were designed to have predominantly European appearances. The first ''Final Fantasy VIII'' character designed was Squall. Desiring to add a unique angle to Squall's appearance and emphasize his role as the central character, Nomura gave him a scar across his brow and the bridge of his nose. As there was not yet a detailed history conceived for the character, Nomura left the explanation for Squall's scar to Nojima. Squall was given a Gunblade , a fictional Revolver – Sword hybrid that functions primarily as a sword, with an added damaging vibration feature activated by use of its gun mechanism,15 and his design was completed by a fur ruff along the collar of his jacket, incorporated by Nomura as a challenge for the game's FMV designers. Nomura ended up altering each character's appearance before they reached the final design stage, which required sacrificing his original intentions. For instance, he had originally wanted Seifer Almasy to be involved in a love triangle with Rinoa and Squall. As another example, Quistis was to originally be designed with a skirt, but in the end was given a long skirt worn over pants. With Rinoa wearing a mini-skirt over shorts, this led to a conflict with the intended notion that one of the female characters would wear a skirt. A compromise was made in this regard with Selphie's design: she was originally intended to be wearing overalls, but Nomura decided that her outfit should be something of a combination of the two. Finally, when designing Rinoa, Nomura decided to avoid the temptation of FMV technology by making her "cute" and full of personality, instead of "too beautiful". With ''Final Fantasy VIII'' came the inclusion of some designs Nomura had previously drawn, but had not yet used in a ''Final Fantasy'' game. These were the designs of Edea, Fujin and Raijin . The latter two had originally been designed for use in ''Final Fantasy VII'', but with the inclusion of the Turks characters in that game, it was felt that Fujin and Raijin were unnecessary. Edea had been a design that Nomura created prior to even ''Final Fantasy VII'' Story ''Final Fantasy VIII'' begins as Squall duels with Seifer in a training session outside the military academy known as "Garden". The two cadets scar one another's faces and are returned to Garden for treatment.Dr. Kadowaki: Why don't you take it easy in training? Next time you might not be so lucky. / '''Squall:''' Tell that to Seifer. / Dr. Kadowaki: Quistis? Come get your student. Yes, yes... His injury's not serious. It'll probably leave a scar. 16 Meanwhile, the Galbadian regime invades the Dollet Dukedom, forcing Dollet to hire the Balamb Garden branch of "SeeD" — Garden's elite mercenary force — for aid. SeeD uses the mission as a field examination for its graduation-eligible cadets,'''Xu:''' Our client for this mission is the Dollet Dukedom Parliament. A request for SeeD was made 18 hours ago. Dollet has been under attack by the G-Army since about 72 hours ago. 49 hours into the battle, Dollet abandoned their position in the inner city. Currently, they have retreated into the nearby mountains and are reorganizing their troops. That's the current status. Now onto the mission objective. According to our reports, the G-Army is mopping up the Dollet troops in the mountain region. We're to make a landing at Lapin Beach. We're to eliminate the remaining G-Army within the city and liberate it A.S.A.P. Afterwards, SeeD members will intercept any G-Army forces trying to make their way into the city from the mountain region. 17 and with the help of his instructor, Quistis, Squall passes its prerequisite and is assigned to a squad with Zell and Seifer. In Dollet, Seifer abandons his team halfway through the mission, forcing Selphie to accompany Squall and Zell for the duration. After the mission, SeeD halts the Galbadian advance; Squall, Zell and Selphie graduate to SeeD status; and Seifer is disciplined for acting against orders.'''Headmaster Cid:''' "Seifer. You will be disciplined for your irresponsible behavior. You must follow orders exactly during combat. But I'm not entirely without sympathy for you. I don't want you all to become machines. I want you all to be able to think and act for yourselves. I am..." (''Final Fantasy VIII'') Shortly after graduating, Squall meets Rinoa, whose attitude and approach to life are apparently the opposite of his own.18 Assigned with Zell and Selphie to help her Galbadian Resistance , Squall learns that a Sorceress named Edea is the mastermind behind Galbadia's hostilities. Under orders from the Galbadia and Balamb Gardens, Squall and his comrades — now joined by Rinoa, Quistis and Irvine — attempt to assassinate Edea.Squall: "Our next mission... This is no ordinary mission. It's a direct order from both Balamb and Galbadia Garden. We're to... ...assassinate the sorceress. 19 Despite a nearly flawless execution of the plan, the party is defeated and detained. Squall's party also learns that Seifer has left Garden to become Edea's second-in-command.Squall: So, you've become the sorceress' lap dog? / '''Seifer:''' I preferred to be called her knight. This has always been my dream. 20 After escaping detainment, the team splits into two units, both of which are controlled by the player in separate scenarios. Squall's group stops an internal conflict at Balamb Garden incited by to the president of Esthar.Laguna: "A fierce debate ensued about who should govern this country after Adel was gone. I wasn't paying close attention while they made me up to be this hero of the revolution, and I ended up being president." (''Final Fantasy VIII'') Meanwhile, Squall deals with personal conflicts fueled by the game's ongoing developments,Squall: (How long has it been since we started moving?) (There's not much more to do now. We've taken care of all the monsters in the Garden.) (Oh yeah... I still have to report to the headmaster. There's a lot of things I want to ask about, too.) (He's probably still busy, trying to reestablish order in the Garden.) (...We're in the middle of nowhere.) (Man, I'm bored...) (I hate having nothing to do. It gets me thinking too much.) (I hope Selphie and the others are all right. Was it wrong for me to let them go? I wonder how Quistis and Irvine felt about it.) (That sorceress... Who is she? Why fire missiles at the Garden? Is Seifer ever coming back? I'll get even with him next time.) 21 such as Balamb Garden's , a renowned scientist living in Esthar.'''Doc Odine:''' "We just exorcise the sorceress. There iz nothing Odine cannot do." (''Final Fantasy VIII'') While Rinoa is being treated on Esthar's space station, Ultimecia uses her to free Sorceress Adel from her orbital prison. Ultimecia then orders Seifer to activate Esthar's Lunatic Pandora facility, inciting a rain of monsters from the moon that sends Adel's containment device to the planet's surface.Controller: "The lunar world is a world of monsters. Didn't you learn that in school? As you can see, the monsters are gathering at one point. History's starting to repeat itself. The Lunar Cry is starting." (''Final Fantasy VIII'')'''Rinoa:''' But Edea's still... I can't guarantee anything, either, if Ultimecia possesses me again... You saw me. She controlled me in outer space and made me break Adel's seal. 26 Having selected Adel as her next host, Ultimecia abandons Rinoa in outer space. Squall rescues her, and they return to the planet on a derelict starship. However, delegates from Esthar isolate Rinoa for fear of her sorceress abilities,'''Descendant 1:''' Sorceress Rinoa. Hyne's descendant. / '''Descendant 2:''' Come with us. We must seal your power for the sake of the world. 27 forcing Squall to rescue her. Laguna apologizes for the incident and announces Dr. Odine's plan to let Ultimecia possess Rinoa and use Ellone's power to compress time, as it would allow Squall's group to confront Ultimecia in her era.'''Doc Odine:''' "There iz only only one way to defeat Ultimecia. You must kill her in ze future. ...There is no normal way to jump to ze future under normal circumstances. But there iz still a way! It iz because Sorceress Ultimecia plans to compress time. Compressing time with magic... Vat good will it do for ze sorceress to compress time? There may be many reasons, but it doesn't matter. ...In order for Ultimecia to exist in this time, she must take over ze body of a sorceress from ze present. But ze machine must have a limit. Ultimecia probably needs to go back further in time to achieve time compression. Only Ellone can take her back further into ze past. Zat iz why she iz desperately seeking her. We must take advantage of Ellone's power. ...Once Ultimecia iz in ze past, she'll use ze time compression magic. ...Ultimecia also goes back to her own world. Vat would be left is ze time compressed world. Past, present, and future will all get mixed together. You will keep moving through ze time compression toward ze future. Once you're out of ze time compression, zat will be Ultimecia's world. It's all up to you after zat." (''Final Fantasy VIII'') To do this, Squall's team infiltrates Lunatic Pandora, defeats Seifer and Adel, and has Rinoa inherit her sorceress powers.'''Laguna:''' Adel will need to pass on her powers before being defeated. Rinoa, will you be willing to accept them?" (''Final Fantasy VIII'') Time Compression is thus initiated, allowing Squall and his friends to travel to Ultimecia's era to defeat her. With Ultimecia defeated, the universe begins returning to normal; however, Squall is nearly lost in the flow of time as he witnesses the origins of the game's story. When a dying Ultimecia travels back in time to pass her powers to Edea, Squall informs Edea of the concepts of Garden and SeeD that she will create.Squall: "Both Garden and SeeD were your ideas. Garden trains SeeDs. SeeDs are trained to defeat the sorceress." (''Final Fantasy VIII'') Afterward, he is warped back into the timestream where he is trapped until finally being rescued by Rinoa. At the end of the game, Squall kisses Rinoa during SeeD's victory celebration. DEVELOPMENT Development of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' began in '' and leaving direction of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' to Yoshinori Kitase .29 Shinji Hashimoto was assigned to be the producer in Sakaguchi's place. From the beginning, Kitase knew he wanted a thematic combination of fantasy and realism. To this end, he aimed to include a cast of characters who appeared to be ordinary people. Character designer and battle visual director Tetsuya Nomura and art director Yusuke Naora strove to achieve this impression through the inclusion of realistically proportioned characters — a departure from the Super Deformed designs used in the previous installment. Additionally, Naora attempted to enhance the realism of the world through predominantly bright lighting effects with shadows distributed as appropriate. Other measures taken included implementing rental cars for travel in-game, and the use of Motion Capture technology to give the game's characters lifelike movements in the game's FMV sequences.30 Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima has expressed that the dynamic of players' relationships with the protagonist is important to him. Both ''Final Fantasy VII'' and ''Final Fantasy VIII'' feature reserved, quiet protagonists in the form of Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart. With ''Final Fantasy VIII'', however, Nojima worked to give players actual insight into what the character was thinking; a direct contrast with his handling of ''Final Fantasy VII'' In 2000 , a PC version of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' was Ported to Windows . This rerelease featured smoother graphics, enhanced audio, and the inclusion of '' Chocobo World '', a Minigame starring Boko, a Chocobo featured in one of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' AUDIO See Also: Music of Final Fantasy VIII Regular series composer ''. The score is best known for two songs: " Liberi Fatali ", a Latin Choral piece that is played during the introduction to the game, and " Eyes On Me ", a Pop Song serving as the game's theme, performed by Chinese singer Faye Wong . The latter song was released as a CD Single in Japan and sold over 400,000 copies,37 placing it as the best-selling Video Game Music disc ever released in that country until the release of "Hikari" by Utada Hikaru for '' Kingdom Hearts ''. "Liberi Fatali" was played during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens during the women's synchronized swimming event.3839 MERCHANDISE In the month of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' On September 22 , 1999 , a CD-ROM titled ''Final Fantasy VIII Desktop Accessories'' was released. It contains Desktop Icons , Computer Wallpaper s, Screensaver s, and an E-mail application. Additionally, ''Final Fantasy VIII Desktop Accessories'' features an edition of the Triple Triad Minigame from ''Final Fantasy VIII'', creating the ability to play against opponents via a Local Area Network .40 The European release of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' saw a relatively large amount of merchandise being packaged together with the game for an initial run special release at no extra cost. These were all sold in a large rectangular box which contained a ''Final Fantasy VIII'' t-shirt, a PlayStation Memory Card and a selection of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' stickers - designed for adhering to the PlayStation Memory Card . A special Final Fantasy VIII boxed set was released containing a replica of the necklace worn by Squall, a ring with a lion shaped around it, and a miniature Gunblade. RECEPTION AND CRITICISM Within two days of its North American release on September 9 , 1999 , ''Final Fantasy VIII'' became the top-selling video game in the United States, a position it held for more than three weeks.41 Aside from grossing a total of more than US$ 50 million within the first 13 weeks to follow, in Japan, it sold roughly 2.5 million units within the first four days of release,42 and during 2006 was voted by readers of Japanese magazine '' Famitsu '' as the twenty-second best game of all time. More than 6 million units were sold in total by the end of 1999.43 Reviews of the gameplay have been mixed. Multimedia news website IGN felt that it was the weakest aspect of the game, citing its Guardian Force attack sequences as "incredibly cinematic" but tedious,44 sentiments echoed by '' Electronic Gaming Monthly ''.45 They also regarded the battle system as intensely complicated, yet refreshingly innovative and something that "RPG fanatics love to obsess over". '' Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine '' claims that the game's Junction system is a major flaw due to repetitive stocking of spells,46 while the UK -based Magazine '' Edge '' comments that the battle system consists of a "bewildering" number of intricate options and techniques that "most gamers will ... relish".47 GameSpot praised the game's battle system, commenting that the "possibilities for customization the Junction system are immense".48 Critics have compared the other aspects of the game to previous ''Final Fantasy'' installments. Gaming Age cited the storyline and graphics as two major improvements over ''Final Fantasy VII'', while considering the music "hardly a step up...".49 Though questioning the game's lack of voice overs for its characters, Game Revolution praised its storyline and ending.50 For their part, ''Edge'' labeled ''Final Fantasy VIII'' "... a far more accomplished game than ''FFVII''". On the other hand, the magazine also felt that the game's length left its story unable to "offer consistently strong dialogue and sub-plots". Additionally, it found some of the story's plot twists "not ... suitably manipulated and prepared", leaving it "hard not to greet such... moments with anything but indifference". Overall, ''Edge'' considered ''Final Fantasy VIII'' to be "yet another outstanding edition of SquareSoft's far-from-final fantasies", summarizing it as "aesthetically astonishing, rarely less than compelling, and near peerless in scope and execution...". ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' offered similar comments, stating that the game's character development "is the best of any RPG's" and that "''Final Fantasy VIII'' is the pinnacle of its genre". REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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