As far as the visual aspects of this game are concerned, rest assured that there is nothing that compares currently on the Playstation. This game is at the top of the few elite titles that truly push the machine's capabilities to their limit. There have been many improvements over Final Fantasy VII in regards to the presentation of it's visual graphics. Real-time polygonal character representations have been improved and their overworld appearance has been made more human-looking. Monsters and non-prerendered environments have drastically improved texturemapping and are are each uniquely taylored to fit the pre-rendered out of battle scenery giving the game a very smooth sense of environmental continuity. The pre-rendered locations and environments are lush, and colorful with incredible attention to minute detail. The animations for both spells, limit breaks, and Guardian Forces are absolutely stunning. The Full-Motion-Video is captivating and unparalleled by any video game ever created thus far. The transitions and implimentation of FMV is by far this RPG's most beautiful piece of artistry. No longer are your characters separated from the high resolution action, but rather their polygonal likenesses are at time incorporated into the events transpiring in the Video, to give the game a very active feel and allow the gamer to feel excited while takeing part in the action and remaining in control of his characters. The quality of the rendering in the FMV's is...breathtaking. I have seen nothing that compares with this level of beauty. You find yourself questioning the notion that these are computer graphics and not actual television movie studio productions. It gives Video Gamer X a shiver to think that Squaresoft boasts that the Playstation 2, will render this level of animation and realism IN REAL TIME! whoa... Without a shadow of a doubt, this game gets an emphatic 10, in this category.

Athough this game leans in the direction of Final "Science Fiction" rather than a fantasy, the plot is an action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end yet still manages to touch on the more deeper roles each character plays, especially Squall and Rinoa, in the game and maintains it's devotion to the overall theme of "love transcending all adversity." There will be many times when your presuppositions about the plot are contradicted and events take an unexpected turn. There are many occasions where you can break away from the main objective at hand and jaunt into side quests and exploration. Although, the plot is up there with the upper crust of RPG greats, I was left with a few questions regarding Ultimecia's motivations (outside of a superficial goal of destroying all life) for compressing time that remained seemingly unresolved. I feel they could have developed this a little more. The characters are the kind of people we gamers can all related to in some way. We've all seen these people in our schools, and may even have them as friends. Their personalities are distict and very human, yet remain linked with an adolescent perspective. Of any RPG, that a new gamer or a person who likes books and TV can relate to, this should be the one. I myself share a kindred bond with the personality of Squall, and see so many things we share alike. I hope Squaresoft remains on the roll it's been on, and keeps up the great work with impressive games like Final Fantasy VIII.

Final Fantasy VIII's background game music is the only place where it falls short of the other aspects of the game. It seemed that it was either extremely dull (Balamb Garden Theme, Balamb, Overworld Theme, Deling City, TImber- all sleepers), or very good ("Eyes on Me," Battle Theme, Laguna Battle Theme, Ragnarok in Flight, "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec," The Slideshow), no inbetweens. You will notice that "Eyes on Me" has an uncanny resemblance to Aeris' Theme from FF7. Maybe it's just me, but in my belief the music of Final Fantasy VI (III), and Final Fantasy VII had more umph than this game and is representative of Nobuo Uematsu's best work. The sound effects were sampled well, and really blasted you in the face at times. If you want to wake up your neighbors, summon a guardian force with the TV/entertainment center at it's loudest setting and your windows open. Noisy stuff. In your face magic noises and effects were cool. This, and "Eyes on Me" is really what holds Final Fantasy VIII's score in this category at 9.0. Sure I wish all the character's statements were spoken verbally, but we'll just have to wait for Playstation 2's 4.7 Gigs of DVD-ROM data storage for that to happen with a game that has as much dialogue as Final Fantasy.

Since Final Fantasy VIII is an RPG, it's main system of gameplay is centered primarily around menus and commands. Magic is no longer delt with in terms of MP (Magic Points) but rather units called "stocks" where each character can carry a maximum of 100 stocks of a wide array of spell types "drawn" from an enemy. The Junction system of both Guardian Forces and magic allows for maximum customization and full use of mutitudes of options at a players disposal. This really gives you ultimate control of what happens during battle and can turn an otherwise failure of a character into a unstoppable juggernaut. There was one thing that bothered me, and that was the constant chore of drawing magic out of enemies. This had the tendancy to slow the pace of the plot down at times due to the constant necessity to enter battle and draw spells. Although draw points were located throughout the game in various locations these proved to be too little to be of any worthwhile discovery (except the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell). As you first progress through the game you will find that magic and physical attacks don't hold a candle to Summoning Guardian Forces. Seeing the awesome destructive power of a GF is great the first couple of times in a battle, but their lengthy animations begin to grow tiresome after they continually have to be summoned over and over again. As you get further into the game and manage to Remodel Squall's Gunblade, junction Haste to his Spd, boost his Str to 255, and press L1 when attacking, most of the GF's, outside Eden, are rendered obsolete due to their inability to quickly inflict damage even when at 1000 compatibility. I found myself completely relying on Squall alone and his Renzokuken Limit Break for a majority of battles even Ultimecia while other characters concentrated on keeping him alive. FF8 made me dip into the Item bin more often than FF7, although I barely ever had it equipped to my command abilities during battle. The Menu Abilities made items into useful magic. Sometimes I had to go on seemingly endless quest for rare items to remodel my weapons or obtain the damn Doomtrain GF and the Leonheart. Malboro Tenticles, bah! Energy Crystals, Arrgh! Dragon Fangs, %&#$! Final Fantasy VIII contains an innovative mini game called Triple Triad and to play the game requires you have a mastery of it's rules and cards. This was a very addictive gameplay element, that should keep many gamers on a hunt for a long time. Overall, I liked all the options FF8 allowed and hope to see these improved as the series progresses further.

Final Fantasy VIII isn't the type of game where you can resonably expect to complete in a day. I would not recommend renting this game due to it's length and requirements for completion, because you will probably accrue a massive amount of late fees that would warrant buying the game in the first place. The challenge in this game lies predominantly within the requirements for mastery. To complete the game will take quite some time in itself, but to master it completely could take months. There are numerous side quests you can venture upon, and multitudes of items you can obtain. Collecting every Triple Triad Card is a massive task in itself, and if you miss one early in the game, more than likely you're out of luck later on disc 4. Side Quests abound, and figuring the secret of every Chocobo Forest is challenging itself. Yes, to master Final Fantasy VIII, you will lose sleep, food, and a social life. Have you found PuPu yet? Or went on the Queen of Card's Quest? Does every character have 100 Ultimas and 100 Meteors? Is every character at level 100? Do you have the Laguna's Card? Do you have Squall's Leonheart? Do you have every issue of Occult Fan? Did you find all the issues of Timber Maniacs? Have you defeated Omega Weapon? If you answer No, to any of the previous questions, then you haven't MASTERED Final Fantasy VIII and these are just a small portion of all the gameplay avenues capable of being mastered or attained. Do you have Final Fantasy VIII Mastery Bragging Rights? Probably not. This game is a worthy challenge indeed.