deep, well-thought-out storyline, combined with gameplay equal if not better than, every other FF game in the series. Of course the storyline is a bit cliche, but that's what you expect. I mean, FFVII was hardly the most original storyline, but people still managed to appreciate that for what it was. The way that you condemn the junction system as being horrible purely because it is new and different to you is rather ignorant. To be honest, I think it was one of the best strives towards originality made by Square, and it complements the game well. Sure, it takes some getting used to, but if you took the time and actually sat down with this game with a neutral mindset, then you'd learn to appreciate all that it has to offer.
The gameplay of VIII is vastly inferior to the most other FFs due to combination of a tepid and highly exploitable character development system as well as a distinct shift in emphasis away from fighting battles, they wanted players to breeze through and enjoy the story. FFVII not original? I guess that really depends on what you define as original. VII was highly derrivitive in the sense that it borrowed ideas liberally from hebrew myth, among other texts and sources in order to draw parrallels with the game's world and also the contempory world, and was broadly built around Sackaguchi's highly original Gaia philsosophy regarding the dead returning to the planets lifestream. FFVIII also had a fine story but not as good. They decided to focus on the central characters of Squall and Rhinoa and their love story, which would have been fine accept that squall is so damned introverted that that this aspect just isn't as compelling as it could have been. It is also important to note that this focus as been included to the exclusion of others, for instance the games plot has been included largely as a backdrop, and while most of the characters in your party have pretty interesting and robust personalities, any extensive development of the characters backgrounds is largely ignored with the exception of when they relate to Squall.The Junction system isn't entirely horrible, it's just implimented the wrong way. The idea of linking up with a GF which helps to determine parameters, along with syphoned magic adding to your parameters is solid in theory, yet the ability to hord magic and the fact that the game encourages you to avoid battleing until you get the stat boosting GF's results to long and boring stretches of gameply where you have to escape a fight every 30 seconds or so. I have spent plenty of time playing this game, and began playing it with a neutural midset. I do infact still enjoy it, but it just feels somewhat broken.
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