Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2021-04-03 01:55 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2021-04-03 01:55 pm
Entry tags:
I Saved My Soul To A Memory Card.
Riona's Head: Hey, you should get back to one of the games you've started but never finished. Tales of the Abyss? Tales of Berseria? Spirit of Justice? Steins;Gate? Lucid9?
Riona's Heart: Hey, how long has it been since you last played Final Fantasy VIII?
I told myself a few years back that I couldn't possibly justify ever playing Final Fantasy VIII again. I'd played it so much that I almost knew it by heart. I don't need to replay this game; it's written into me. But the Persona series, with its combination of attending school and fighting monsters, left me thinking about Balamb Garden, and somehow I've found myself back here.
(I'm playing the original, ported without changes to PS3, rather than the remaster. I was excited for the remaster when I first heard about it, but then I learnt it had blurred the backgrounds and reduced Squall's range of movement to eight directions, so I decided against getting it. It's just not Final Fantasy VIII if you can't run around in smooth circles and watch your teammates follow you in perfect step. I'm glad a version exists on more modern consoles, though, so new players can still discover this beautiful catastrophe of a game.)
The fight between Squall and Seifer in the opening cutscene is still rad as hell, over two decades later. Pretty incredible stuff for 1999 3D animation in a videogame, even considering that it's an FMV.
Look at all of Squall's movements! I love him. The realistically proportioned models in Final Fantasy VIII allow for more human, subtle body language than the ones in the original Final Fantasy VII, which had to rely on large gestures, although we're not yet at the point of being able to see facial expressions outside FMVs.
Considering that Final Fantasy VII came out on the same hardware, two years earlier, Final Fantasy VIII is a remarkable graphical upgrade. Square had obviously learnt a lot from their early efforts at 3D modelling and animation.
Balamb Garden! This place feels so familiar. It's good to be home.
Love that this late-nineties game includes an in-game school intranet forum that ends up being shut down because the pupils just use it for arguments and talking about how hot the teachers are. Truly ahead of its time.
The way background NPCs move around, and sometimes appear in a particular area and sometimes don't, is a really cool touch that helps the world feel more alive. I don't remember seeing anything like it before I played this game. In the other games I'd played, characters were either programmed to be in an area or they weren't; there wasn't this element of chance.
This was also the first game I played in which you could overhear conversations NPCs were having amongst themselves, without actually being involved in the conversation. Again, a nice little touch that makes the world feel more real. People aren't just standing around, waiting to talk to you; they've got their own lives going on!
Still can't believe I got lost straight out of the gate on my first playthrough, spent four literal hours wandering Balamb before I found the Fire Cavern, and somehow still stuck with this game. I'm impressed both by thirteen-year-old Riona's patience and by her lack of observational skills.
It's hard to express how much this game means to me. I'm glad it exists.
Riona's Heart: Hey, how long has it been since you last played Final Fantasy VIII?
I told myself a few years back that I couldn't possibly justify ever playing Final Fantasy VIII again. I'd played it so much that I almost knew it by heart. I don't need to replay this game; it's written into me. But the Persona series, with its combination of attending school and fighting monsters, left me thinking about Balamb Garden, and somehow I've found myself back here.
(I'm playing the original, ported without changes to PS3, rather than the remaster. I was excited for the remaster when I first heard about it, but then I learnt it had blurred the backgrounds and reduced Squall's range of movement to eight directions, so I decided against getting it. It's just not Final Fantasy VIII if you can't run around in smooth circles and watch your teammates follow you in perfect step. I'm glad a version exists on more modern consoles, though, so new players can still discover this beautiful catastrophe of a game.)
The fight between Squall and Seifer in the opening cutscene is still rad as hell, over two decades later. Pretty incredible stuff for 1999 3D animation in a videogame, even considering that it's an FMV.
Look at all of Squall's movements! I love him. The realistically proportioned models in Final Fantasy VIII allow for more human, subtle body language than the ones in the original Final Fantasy VII, which had to rely on large gestures, although we're not yet at the point of being able to see facial expressions outside FMVs.
Considering that Final Fantasy VII came out on the same hardware, two years earlier, Final Fantasy VIII is a remarkable graphical upgrade. Square had obviously learnt a lot from their early efforts at 3D modelling and animation.
Balamb Garden! This place feels so familiar. It's good to be home.
Love that this late-nineties game includes an in-game school intranet forum that ends up being shut down because the pupils just use it for arguments and talking about how hot the teachers are. Truly ahead of its time.
The way background NPCs move around, and sometimes appear in a particular area and sometimes don't, is a really cool touch that helps the world feel more alive. I don't remember seeing anything like it before I played this game. In the other games I'd played, characters were either programmed to be in an area or they weren't; there wasn't this element of chance.
This was also the first game I played in which you could overhear conversations NPCs were having amongst themselves, without actually being involved in the conversation. Again, a nice little touch that makes the world feel more real. People aren't just standing around, waiting to talk to you; they've got their own lives going on!
Still can't believe I got lost straight out of the gate on my first playthrough, spent four literal hours wandering Balamb before I found the Fire Cavern, and somehow still stuck with this game. I'm impressed both by thirteen-year-old Riona's patience and by her lack of observational skills.
It's hard to express how much this game means to me. I'm glad it exists.
no subject
to the point of making my own physical cards and forcing my friends to play it in school
this is adorable, god bless you
(It's very important for Zell to be on my team at all times.)
THIS IS FAIR. My recent file is the first time I've ever played through without running Zell in my main squad, and let me tell you, it felt wrong. Although I was dreadful at using his Duel limit using the Switch controls, so maybe it was for the best. (I did, indeed, play the Remaster. I'm a sucker for convenience.)
Squall: Why?
Oh, Squall. Honey.
BUT OKAY, MISSILE BASE PARTY COMPOSITION. First of all, I don't think I've got much more to add about Squall's inner turmoil than what the game already gives us! Everyone else nominates Squall to pick the two parties during that part of the game, and it's incredibly clear that it's a responsibility he absolutely does not want (an unfortunately recurring theme for him). Then we have those weeks of Garden adrift at sea where he's lying on that bunk slipping further and further into internal reflection, wondering how Those Three felt about him choosing them, if he's going to see them again, of course they all know the risks so it's fine whatever the outcome (so why is he still thinking and thinking and thinking about this) and my heart just breaks for that poor boy.
And he's so SO relieved when he sees them again in FH! Like, he does actually say out loud that it's great to see them, but his first internal reaction is so immediate and impassioned and he is just a good boy, Riona. He is a good boy.
WHO DOES SQUALL SEND TO THE MISSILE BASE? Obviously this is going hard into my own headcanons at this point, but it goes something like this.
Selphie insists on going, so that's one settled right away. Squall is going to Balamb Garden, and that means Rinoa is going to Balamb as well. Rinoa is the client, her contract with SeeD hasn't ended yet, and she herself isn't a mercenary for hire. He doesn't have the authority to send her anywhere, and he has a duty toward keeping her safe as per the ongoing contract. Which all works out great for him, because that means he doesn't have to let personal feelings get involved with that part of the decision-making. So far so good. (also good OOC, because extra scenes together at Balamb Garden!)
This is where it gets a bit more complicated... although only just. The remaining choices are Quistis, Zell, and Irvine. Those three are all fine and capable choices for sending to the missile base, right? But there is another convenient factor that allows Commander Squall to take over from Emotionally Invested Squall—Irvine is assigned to Galbadia Garden, not Balamb, and he isn't even a qualified SeeD. If three people have to go behind enemy lines for this extremely dangerous mission, the correct answer has to be three people who have successfully graduated from Balamb's SeeD program. Selphie, Quistis and Zell can be trusted to get this job done. They can be trusted to understand what's required of them. And maybe, just maybe, they can be trusted not to confuse any of this with personal feelings. They can mentally step back from this in the same way that Squall is trying to.
There's more reasons to justify taking Irvine to Balamb. I don't think Squall necessarily distrusts Irvine at this point in the game, but I wouldn't say he especially trusts him either. Certainly he doesn't have much reason to place a great deal of faith in him. If Squall trusts himself to always get the job done, better that Irvine and Rinoa should be with him. And there's still the matter of reporting back on the failed assassination attempt, carried out in conjunction with Galbadia Garden. Irvine is the closest thing they have to a Galbadian Garden representative and a key figure in the failed attempt—his input is relevant. It makes sense that he should come to Balamb. Who knows—maybe from there he'll be transferred back home, n'er to be seen or heard from again.
OR MAYBE NOT. Who can say. But that, right there, is a breakdown of what goes through my Squall's head on that dusty desert roadside. And damn, but it sure does get me thinking about other obligatory RPG party splits. I'm not sure if any others are ever quite as weighted as this one, though...!
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legitimately restarted my entire file after reaching Galbadia Garden because the wrong card rules had spread to different regions
oh no oh no
Everyone else nominates Squall to pick the two parties during that part of the game, and it's incredibly clear that it's a responsibility he absolutely does not want (an unfortunately recurring theme for him). Then we have those weeks of Garden adrift at sea where he's lying on that bunk slipping further and further into internal reflection, wondering how Those Three felt about him choosing them, if he's going to see them again, of course they all know the risks so it's fine whatever the outcome (so why is he still thinking and thinking and thinking about this) and my heart just breaks for that poor boy.
I love absolutely everything about this. It just expresses his state of mind so well. I'm sitting here now and fondly reflecting on his suffering.
he is just a good boy, Riona. He is a good boy.
I have learnt from this that I'm prone to misreading my own name as 'Rinoa' when talking about Final Fantasy VIII.
I really like your reasoning! It makes absolute sense. Although of course I cannot follow it in my own playthrough because it means that Squall and Zell are not in the same party, which is illegal.
no subject
There is certainly a memory loss joke to be made here, but I am not awake enough to determine what it is. Although I am thrilled that you are distracted from playing Final Fantasy VIII, a science-fiction RPG that deals with teenagers in combat situations afflicted with memory loss, to instead play this 13 Sentinels game which seems to be, from what I can glean, a science-fiction RPG that deals with teens in combat situations afflicted with memory loss.
Squall suffers so well in this game! Not helped at all by the people around him just relentlessly piling on more and more responsibility regardless of his input. It is the worst but also please do not stop FFVIII.