rionaleonhart | The Coach's Concerns Are Frankly Justified.

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The Coach's Concerns Are Frankly Justified.

Nothing calms me down quite like playing Final Fantasy VIII. There's something very soothing about spending time with this game I know so well and love so deeply. I'd drifted away from my replay for a year or so, but I picked up the controller and sank straight back in as if I'd never left.

When Julia says, 'You have beautiful eyes. Though they look a bit scared now. Don't worry, I'm not gonna pluck 'em out and eat 'em,' I can really see Rinoa in her.

Zell shadowboxing when he's embarrassed!

'You tell us to go, we go. Even if it is a losing battle,' Zell says to Rinoa. These kids have been brought up in the full expectation that, at any point, someone might tell them to die, and they'll just have to go ahead and die.

(...Feel sorry? Seifer would hate to hear that.) Squall knows Seifer so well; I think, at the start of the game, Seifer is the only person Squall deeply knows. Later: (That's just to ease your mind. Am I the only one who thinks that? No, I'm sure Seifer...)

Poor Zell gets so quiet and withdrawn after he realises he's endangered Garden.

Sort of hits me in the heart that, when Ward thinks he's about to die and can barely speak, he forces himself to tell Laguna and Kiros, 'It was fun, you guys.'

After the second Laguna dream, Squall thinks, If it were just me, I could tell the others it was only a crazy dream. It's so much easier for him to dismiss problems if he's the only one they affect.

When they first arrive at Galbadia Garden:

Zell: Sure is quiet.
Squall: ...I like it.
(Rinoa starts laughing)

It's pretty cute!

I don't remember discovering the Galbadia Garden hockey changing room before!

'Have you heard about that hockey team made up of a bunch of monsters?' the coach asks. 'We're gonna play them next week. To tell the truth, I'm kinda worried. Some guys told me that they play so rough that some of our guys might get killed.'

I am REELING from the discovery that there's an explanation for the hockey monsters you fight on the Galbadia rink later, and the explanation is 'they're a visiting hockey team playing Galbadia'.

I will always love Squall having a long, increasingly distressed internal monologue leading to an outburst, whereas all his companions see is Squall pacing around in silence, then yelling 'I'M NOT HAVING ANYONE TALK ABOUT ME IN THE PAST TENSE' and running out of the room.

I love that, after Irvine flirts with her, Selphie goes 'why is my heart pounding?' and Squall very seriously tells her that it's the pressure of the mission. Bless you, Squall.

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The hockey team made up of monsters fascinates me. Like, was Coach being hyperbolic or literal? Are they each ten Jell-eyes stuffed into a jersey and hockey padding? VIII has such trippy worldbuilding and I love it.

Apparently, if you scan one of the hockey monsters, you get the description 'A member of Galbadia Garden's demi-human ice-hockey club'. Frankly, this just raises more questions.

I'm going to choose to believe they're the product of a Shumi coupling with a human. You're welcome to any and all mental images.

WHAT, the coach TALKS about the monsters wtf, I never discovered that. WHAT.

Thinking about it, I suppose I can't say for certain whether he's the coach or just a player; I assumed he was the coach because I found him alone in the changing room and he said 'our guys' rather than 'us'. But, whatever his role, there's definitely an NPC with dialogue about the hockey monsters, and it's absolutely blown my mind.

FF8 gets a lot of flak and it makes me cross as while it's definitely not perfect, there's a lot more thought (and reason to make players thoughtful!) put into it than people give it credit for. The sheer amount of optional dialogue too is massive for a game of its time.

The Squall and Seifer stuff is really fascinating to me! Squall's the only one who really understands him - and, as you state, also the only person Squall really understands - and their similarity and Squall's thoughts of him are really cool. I also like on the SeeD exam where Zell is completely baffled by Squall and Seifer's relationship because he thinks they must hate eachother but they are surprisingly agreeable at times and Seifer's all "I'll tell you about my romantic dream!" He's so confused.

That and this:

I will always love Squall having a long, increasingly distressed internal monologue leading to an outburst, whereas all his companions see is Squall pacing around in silence, then yelling 'I'M NOT HAVING ANYONE TALK ABOUT ME IN THE PAST TENSE' and running out of the room.

Are honestly some of the most underappreciated scenes in the whole game, I think. It's just some really good character work - I don't care if people don't like it! Having said that, I really do like looking at very quiet, introspective characters through the eyes of others. It's part of the reason Jos is my favourite Warchild character - those books all have different protagonists, but the protagonist of book one is very quiet, extremely introspective, not especially good at or interested in socialising (to the degree where he gets confronted about how much he doesn't even seem to like being around people) and is (I'm sure you are SHOCKED with my general scale of interests) traumatised. One of the things I loved about the second book was seeing him through the eyes of another character, because without his justifications and pondering, he really does look quite different.

'Have you heard about that hockey team made up of a bunch of monsters?' the coach asks. 'We're gonna play them next week. To tell the truth, I'm kinda worried. Some guys told me that they play so rough that some of our guys might get killed.'

I'd seen this dialogue before, but I actually don't remember ice hockey monsters! I think that makes me worse for not putting it together. Man, Galbadia are pretty terrible hosts if they invite them and then "let" us kill them.

I love that, after Irvine flirts with her, Selphie goes 'why is my heart pounding?' and Squall very seriously tells her that it's the pressure of the mission. Bless you, Squall.

Squall is the best. Totally my childhood idol!

This was some light hearted fun in what has been a very strange week!

-timydamonkey

there's a lot more thought (and reason to make players thoughtful!) put into it than people give it credit for.

True! It's definitely a flawed game, but it's clear that a lot of love went into it.

I also like on the SeeD exam where Zell is completely baffled by Squall and Seifer's relationship because he thinks they must hate eachother but they are surprisingly agreeable at times

Very much agreed. The strange almost-warmth of their interactions on the SeeD exam is fascinating (and very confusing for poor Zell).

It's just some really good character work - I don't care if people don't like it!

Squall's internal struggle in that scene is definitely really interesting, even if it's slightly funny when you think about it from the perspective of the other people in the room. I wonder how much of his meltdown comes from ferociously struggling not to grieve Seifer: trying to throw away his emotions, only to have them come back at him from strange angles.

I'm sorry you've been having a strange week! I hope things get better.

oh my god, I had no idea about the coach talking about the hockey monsters. WILD. ABSOLUTELY WILD.

Also, I love that scene where Squall has an outburst and runs out of the room. I talked about it on my Squall site but it's really one of my favorite moments of the first disc. Squall monologues nonstop in this game, but that's one of the few times his feelings actually burst out of him. It's a good moment to remind us how much he goes through.

Thank you for the link; I really enjoyed reading that! It's great to see such in-depth analysis of a character I'm so passionate about.

Nothing calms me down quite like playing Final Fantasy VIII. There's something very soothing about spending time with this game I know so well and love so deeply. I'd drifted away from my replay for a year or so, but I picked up the controller and sank straight back in as if I'd never left.

I adore this :D There's a wonderful comfort to be found in returning to a beloved game again and again, like a favorite blanket. And FFVIII is such a wonderful game. My partner and I played it together earlier this year and fell deeply, deeply in love with it. It's since gone on to be my favorite Final Fantasy (...out of the two FF games I've played - but still!) and even just thinking about it gives me that soothing feeling, too.

Zell shadowboxing when he's embarrassed!
His little bouts of embarrassed shadowboxing are so endearing!

I don't remember discovering the Galbadia Garden hockey changing room before!
I don't think J and I ever discovered this either! I'm sure I would have remembered it. It makes so much sense! I can't believe of all things the game has an actual explanation for the hockey monsters!

I will always love Squall having a long, increasingly distressed internal monologue leading to an outburst, whereas all his companions see is Squall pacing around in silence, then yelling 'I'M NOT HAVING ANYONE TALK ABOUT ME IN THE PAST TENSE' and running out of the room.

Ugh, Squall is fantastic. I related to this a lot - having little monologue-conversations in my head and only saying the conclusion out loud is something I do, too, and apparently I've confused a lot of people in this way (hahaha). It was heartening to see that I'm not the only one who does this. Squall is very relatable, easily one of my favorite characters Nomura has written, and my favorite protagonists of all the FF games I've played thus far. (I liked Cloud a lot, but Squall - Squall got to me.)

I'm so glad to hear people are still discovering and loving Final Fantasy VIII! It's a divisive game, and I can see why, but it means so much to me.

Squall is very relatable, easily one of my favorite characters Nomura has written, and my favorite protagonists of all the FF games I've played thus far. (I liked Cloud a lot, but Squall - Squall got to me.)

Yes! I like Cloud too, but I've never connected with any other character in the way I connected with Squall Leonhart. I genuinely think he helped me to understand other people. When I first played this game, at the age of thirteen, I really struggled to grasp what others were thinking or feeling (much like Squall). But I could understand Squall's thoughts perfectly, which helped me realise perhaps I could learn to understand people in real life as well.

I've never connected with any other character in the way I connected with Squall Leonhart. I genuinely think he helped me to understand other people. When I first played this game, at the age of thirteen, I really struggled to grasp what others were thinking or feeling (much like Squall). But I could understand Squall's thoughts perfectly, which helped me realise perhaps I could learn to understand people in real life as well.

There is something to be said about characters who speak to us as we are and show us through their growth how we ourselves can grow in our own lives, too. I'm so heartened to hear that you had this with Squall. :D

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The Coach's Concerns Are Frankly Justified.

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