Garden Wallpaper
Squall Wallpaper
Final Fantasy VII was rated to be "Quite possibly the best game ever made." Final Fantasy VIII is predicted to be the BEST GAME EVER MADE!! From the masterminds of RPG's - Squaresoft has done it again!!
Once again, there is a whole new cast of characters that will wrap you up in there lives leaving you unable to stop thinking about them when your not playing the game. At school, or wherever you go they will be on your minds. At least that's what FFVII did to me. Squaresoft the brains behind the game always finds a way to get you so attached to the character, that if they die, or something happens, you feel for them, instead of laughing (NICK!!). Perhaps, even you yourself will die!!
Here's the plot: Squall Leonhart is a student of Garden, a private school that trains mercenaries. After completing training, he is inducted to SeedD, an elite mercenary force. At a swingin' party for new SeeD recruits, Squall meets Rinoa Heartilly. The pair go their separate ways without ever revealing their identities. The two later meet each other unexpectedly. Squall discovers that Rinoa is the leader of Forest Owls, a rebel group (with a wimp name) fighting against the powerful nation of Galbadia. Squall is slowly but surely drawn to Rinoa.
After meeting Rinoa, Squall starts having a bizarre series of dreams. He dreams he is Laguna Loire, a Galbadia soldier who wants to be a journalist (foolishly not realizing that being in journalism is more hellish than being shot at day after day). Laguna appears to be on a military mission with his two buddies, Ward and Kieroth.
While Squall leads a double life, the winds of war build. Powerful Galbadia, having annexed their neighboring Dole (for its luscious canned pineapples), declares war on all other countries. The president is assisted in his global domination goals by the witch, Edea. Squall is given an order to join a team to assassinate the witch.
Will Squall succeed? Who is his dreamy alter ego, Laguna Loire? This is where you come in and the story begins.
As you would expect from any Square Soft release, Final Fantasy VIII is big on presentation and detail. From the start of the quest to the closing credits, it will assalt your senses with computer generated (CG) video clips that are notably improved with motion-captured animation, facial expressions, and get this, blowing hair. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of these movies is the artistry that is evident in every scene. There are Hollywood studios that would be lucky to have the production values that are found throughout this game.
Besides graphics, the game has undergone many other changes. Gone are the super-deformed characters that Final Fantasy players have loved for years, and in their place are new "more realistic" character models. Placed on a field of gorgeous CG backdrops, the new models complete the look of Final Fantasy VIII and set the stage for what could be the biggest improvement - its interface.
The interface in Final Fantasy VIII is based on three new, but familiar premises. The summon beasts that were the main attraction of FFVII are now envolved like characters through an interface known as Guardian Force. The magic, which used to be found in magic shops, is now acquired through the command called Draw. These pieces and the abilities that they give all fall into FFVIII's inventive new system called Junction.
The defition Square gives is as as such: Junction = Equipping objects other than weapons and armor. In previous games, the player's powers were customized by giving him or her better magical armor or flaming swords. This is not the case in FFVIII. As a matter of fact, weapon upgrades are few and far between, and you can't buy armor. Powers are granted to the characters by choices made using the Junction interface.
The battles in FFVIII are like none you have ever seen It's as if the gods themselves came down from the heavens and rained fire from the skies. Littered with dazzling lighting effects, explosions, and the always entertaining Guardian Force summons, each battle is less than an encounter, and more of an all out war. Square has incorporated a number of exiting elements to keep the battles from getting boring. For one, when Squall attacks, you can increase the damage inflicted with a well timed pull of the trigger on the gunblade (R1) just as his swing comes down on the enemy. You can even press (R1) during Squall's limit breaks to wreack complete havoc upon your enemies. Since the enemy's level always match your own (yes!), there is a chance you can die during almost any encounter, forcing gamers to keep a close tab on the battle at hand, and a trigger finger ready for action.
Mini-games are one of the greatest things about Final Fantasy and VIII delivers one of the most interesting to date. In FFVIII, the collectible card game takes on a life of it's own. The cards represent enemies that are found throughout the game. To create a card, beat an enemy to near death and then use the capture command (much like Nitendo's Pokemon) to add that baddy to your deck. With deck in hand, you can challenge any person in the realm to a match. The game is plays much like War, with the highest card overtaking any weaker cards that it touches on the board. At the end of the game, the player with the most cards wins. Your prize: the opponent's most powerful card.
One of the little, yet broad additions to FFVIII is the Pocketstation compatibility. This game only becomes accesible once you encounter the Guardian Force CoChocobo named Boco. Then you download Boco onto the Pocketstation and head out on a completely unrelated adventure. The goal is simply: cruise the world fighting various baddies, gaining experience along the way. The ingenious part is that all the items found on this adventure are then brought back to Squall on his quest. Since this is the only way the Chocobo Guardian Force can be powered-up, playing this mini-game is a must for gamers who are looking for everything. Especially since there might be a "special friend" waiting out there for Boco to find.
Final Fantasy VIII is going to set the standards by which all RPG's are jugded. Don't be surprised when this baby get's a perfect 10, shoots down the Dreamcast, and becomes the game of the millenium. We'll just have to wait until September, for it's release on US shores, meanwhile I wish I were japanese so I could play and understand the game!!
