Final Fantasy VIII

The plot of Final Fantasy VIII remains shrouded in secrecy, but then if you new toe much it would no doubt ruin hat is likely to be the best Final Fantasy experience yet. However, Square has released a few background details to the game to whet our appetites. The game centres around a character known as Squall Leonhart, a seventeen-year-old man with a large scar en his face (the scar, apparentiy, plays an important part in the plot). This hints at a hidden or perhaps forgotten past, a theme which Square have already tackled in a number of their garnes. His role is similar to that of Cloud in Final Fantasy VIl - he is essentially a loner, unfriendiy and, at least en the surface, appears to care abou no ene ut himself. Squall was a member of a military school known as The Garden. This is where six to nineteen-year-olds gather to learn military skills, graduates of which can join a foreign army after an intensive examination. In the game Squall is a member of SeeD, The Garden's own special forces group, where members are exceptionally gifted and werk independentiy of any government or army. Square have stated that the game's theme is fairly similar to that of FFVII, but this time the romantic interest is more of a priority than the imminent demise of the world. A futuristic city with a halo above it also plays a large part in the plot, although exactly what is not yet known. The game's temale interest comes in the ferm of Rinoa Heartilly, Squall's lover. Not much is known about her at present ether than that she is also a member of SeeD with Squall and they met at Garden. The ether characters revealed se far are Laguna Loire, an exsoldier now a journalist; Zeil Dintch, a 17-year-old street kid whose dream is to become a member of Garden; and Seifer Almasy, Squali's commanding officer in SeeD. The battle system has been given more than just a little overhaul. Gone is the Materia system of FFVII, and in its place is something called 'Draw'. This ability allows characters to extract magic power and spells from their enemies and either use it directly against them or store it up for future usa. The actual battle system itself is much the same and stijl fellows the same pattern as FFVII. There have been a few, hut significant nonetheiess, changes. Limit breaks cannot be stoned up and now have to be used as and when they become avallabie. They become more frequent the lower theenergy of the character, and a new twist has been added. A limit bar will move as your character performs his or her limit break; en it are several markers which the player can press the Rl button in time with to exact more damage than normal. Hitting each of the markers at the right time will also add a bonus attack onto the end of the limit break. This rule can also be applied to normal attacks - pressing the Rl button at the right time does that littie bit extra damage. A few of the annoying things about FFVII's battle sequences have been eradicated, such as mistakenly casting a spell on the wrong character. lf, for example, you need to cast a Phoenix Down spell, the arrow will automatically go to the dead persen. Likewise, casting a Cure spell will automatically ge to the person with the lowest health.

The actual look of the game has been the subject of some controversy in Japan because Square have decided to ge for a more Western feel. Gene are the Manga looks of the previous games, and the characters (in particular) have undergone a 'Westernisation' - they are now normal height and have no over-sized eyes. Now this has annoyed certain sections of the Japanese press as they see this move as a cynical ene to bring Final Fantasy in line with the international market, which is exactly what it is - if a game appeals to more people then why shouldn't it sell more? Admittedly, we too are a little perturbed by this new aesthetic - part of the charm of Final Fantasy VII was the game's unashamed Japanese roots. This aside, what we've seen of the game se far looks stunning. Most of what went before - the pre-rendered backgrounds, the polygonal characters and all the special effects - make a return, but the whole thing looks a lot sticker. Also, a great deal of werk has gene into animating the characters; making them more life like helps to express feelings and moods more accurately than the abrupt, almost cardboard-like animation in FFVII. lt also helps that the characters are fully texture mapped as opposed to FFVII's use of shaded polygons. There has also been a concerted effort to implement more FMV into the actual gameplay, and the movies flow into the gameplay seamlessly; FMV for the backgrounds, while the PlayStation generaties the characters. Overall, the feeling of the whole game is more mature and cinematic - the characters are players en a stage. As for the enemies, these are in the same tradition of FFVII, where Square's designers have been allowed to let their imaginations run riot. What we've seen so far, though, is that there is a mix of what could be considered 'real' (giant cobras, mechanical insects and so on) and bizarre, nightmarish creatures, including a huge flying demon with a massive chin. Not quite as much attention has gene into them as has with the characters, but they are stijl a massive improvement over the monsters seen in FFVII. Aurally, much of the familiar music from FFVII returns, albeit in a rearranged ferm, se all these tunes which delighted/irritated you will be back in style.