GREAT!
Initially, the only ability your character will have is "attack". After you junction to a GF, your character will be able to fill up 3 active abilities, as well as inactive abilities. Having only 3 slots gives a good "check and balance" feature to setting up your character. Most GF's will immediately offer you the following active abilities: magic, item, GF (a.k.a. to summon the GF), and draw. More abilties open up as your GF's level increases. Inactive abilities are also earned and include such things as "HP increase by 80%" on "automatic haste." Magic is done with a "draw" method rather than the familiar magic points meter. When you "draw" against an enemy, you take one of your enemy's spells. These spells can then be cast using the magic ability or they can be "junctioned" to certain character statistics.
Confused? Let's say you've drawn 31 cures and your GF has the ability to junction magic to HP. By junctioning your cures to the HP, your HP can be raised. Different GF's have different magic junctions: some can junction spells to your vitality, others to your Elemental defense. It allows you to customize and greatly strengthen your character. The downside of the draw system is that in order to really "strengthen" your character, you need to draw all of the important spells to the max (100). That can get… well, boring. There aren't any armor upgrades, and weapon upgrades are a minor aspect in the game. So it's all about junctioning magic. I think even the most battle hardened of RPGers will get tired of drawing spells from some weakling enemy that's barely fighting back. The last area in the game is really nothing more than an easy chance to max out all your spells. It would have been better if spells were harder to accumulate and enemies didn't have unlimited spells to draw. Much like FF7, the graphics push the envelope of the Playstation hardware, but at the same time illustrate the limitations of the system. What really makes the graphics impressive is how the character designs stay consistent throughout. From battle to video to just walking around, there's none of that wacky, super-anime deformity of FF7. This consistency helps to keep the story flowing smoothly. Unfortunately, sometimes the backgrounds of the battles have a pixelated look. Of course, it wouldn't be a Square game without overblown, glorified videos. The transition from gameplay to video is truly impressive and seamless.
Musically, there are only a few tracks that really stand out. The other songs have a looped, empty feel. Th best musical piece in the game is "Eyes on Me", sung by Hong Kong popstar Faye Wong. It's a cliched, but beautiful love song. A clever trick in the game is how they work the melody of the song into key moments, so that when you get to the lyrical version, the song carries a lot more meaning. Faye Wong is one hell of a singer, and if you ever get the chance, try finding some of her other work. Now for the complaining... Why aren't there any voices? If you really want to read, go buy a book. A voice carries so much feeling and character. There is something sorely missing when I can't hear Rinoa talk. So what if it would've taken 8 disks and cost more? It would have upped the immersion level dramtically. I really hope that this is the last "silent" Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy 8 is a great game,