Board 8 > SaveEstelle/LeonhartFour in Different Houses: Remastered Edition [SELF]

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ila5XKt8Wo" data-time="

So while the opening FMV with Liberi Fatali gets all the hype (and for good reason), this sequence that plays if you let it idle on the startup screen for long enough has been overlooked. For one, Overture (the song that plays here) is an underrated track. Then I like the slow scroll through the cast and locations in black and white photos (all while never fully showing the face of the characters). One of the things that strikes me with FFVIII is that they were going for a very cinematic presentation with this game. It's almost like they wanted it to be like a Hollywood movie with the way the FMVs and other things are done. It gives the game a grand sense of scale, at least to me. Presentation is a huge thing for me, and few games have it the way FFVIII does.

The game tries to grab your attention from the onset. It feels like there are a ton of FMVs within the first few hours of the game, and they're pretty spread out through the rest of the game. The opening FMV really goes all out on the production values, complete with Latin chanting, words across the screen, rapid-fire panning from scene to scene, transitioning from Rinoa's feather floating up in the air to Squall's gunblade dropping in out of the sky, and culminating in an epic battle between Squall and Seifer...which we find out immediately afterwards was merely a training session. The game goes all out right away. Squall and Seifer giving each other matching scars is an extremely memorable (and gruesome, by the series' standards) moment. For the record, I bought a Griever necklace off of eBay shortly after this game came out, and I still own it. Also, it's kind of amazing how much the opening FMV "spoils" of later moments in the game. The game acts as though it's no surprise that Squall and Rinoa will eventually fall in love. It's treated as inevitable. Their embrace is the friggin' logo of the game (and LOVE is famously the game's main theme), and they show (a very much prettied up version since the real scene happens in a very mechanical and drab environment) Squall and Rinoa about to embrace and cut it short right before they meet in each other's arms. How they manage to get there from where they start out is the real mystery of the game. As is the case with GameFAQs Character Battles, it's the journey, not the destination.

These new character models are super sharp. They look fantastic. I feel like I never really knew what these minor NPCs (like Doctor Kadowaki here in the opening scene) looked like, but it's clear as day now. We also get a quick sneak peek at Ellone. She says one line about meeting Squall again and vanishes just like that. It's a "blink and you miss it" moment that you'll probably forget ever happened after you learn who she is. I do kinda like that Squall and Rinoa are the only characters you get to name. It gives the game some leeway to give the other characters nicknames, like Quisty.

We get some glimpses into who Squall is early on, when Doctor Kadowaki tells him to ignore Seifer, but he says he can't just run away from him. He's got too much pride to back down from a fight, and this comes up again later on. It was his way of proving that he could take care of himself without Ellone, that he didn't need anyone's help. And speaking of Quistis, she has a character establishing moment where she makes fun of Squall by perfectly predicting and copying his responses to her questions. The irony is that Squall's statement, "I'm more complex than you think," is completely accurate. He just lets Quistis see what he wants her to see, and while she here declares that she's starting to figure him out, she later learns that she truly didn't know him as well as she thought she did.
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For the record, this is all going to be "stream of consciousness" style as I play like this, probably. I'm just going to say stuff as it comes to mind as I play. Thankfully, I can just put the PS4 into "rest" mode and not have to find a save point to stop playing as I did back in the day because this is all I have time for! I get two trophies for getting Quetzacotl and Shiva from my terminal. The trophy list seems pretty lazy! You get a trophy for every Guardian Force, and most of the trophies are pretty basic. Even the trophy titles and descriptions feel uninspired! That makes me sad.

I do like the little avatar images of the two GFs off to the side though!
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FE3H Crimson Flower Chapter 14 beated.

Chapter 14 Mission: Sorry, Claude, but I've seen this map in a paralogue before so I know there are boats coming you can't trick me! Rookie move having them show up at the end of Turn 1 though, that's the kind of maneuver you should use on like Turn 3 or 4 after the player has committed their forces to entering the city normally! But yeah, Claude's big play here was allying with Almrya and having their navy drop in to fight us too. Split the party with the bigger group taking the town and a smaller group fighting their way onto the boats. Things went pretty smoothly. Hilda was an opponent here and Byleth sent her to detention. When we beat Claude something new happened and he basically pleaded for mercy and we got the option to spare or kill him. I chose to spare him because he's always seemed like a cool guy, really think he and Edelgard could have talked this one out! They were fairly amiable talking to each other after I spared him! Jerk move game giving me the option to ask Claude to join us, he seemed like he was okay with it too! but alas he decides to leave Fodlan because his being around would give the anti-Empire Alliance faction someone to rally around. Not sure I buy this if he joined us but whatever. I guess the implication this whole time is that he was actually like... a sleeper Almyran asset or something? Maybe even a noble/royalty? He seemed to imply as much when making his case to be spared but like how does he get in charge of the Alliance then are they that bad at background checks? Anyway, next up is the Kingdom.

I started Chapter 15 but am still in it, a bunch of Paralogues opened up so I've been working my way through them. lol at the mission on the battle screen basically spoiling it.

Paralogue (Edelgard): man talk about sore losers. That Almyran general we just beat in Claude's map came back for Round 2, this time trying to take an army to invade Fodlan. Lots of enemies here, including some with some very nice items to steal. Glad I had Byleth master Thief way back when because giving him Steal so I had 2 people capable (Petra is the other) and that helped with that. A few tricky moments where I had to lure the item guys out but wanted to make sure I didn't kill them on counter, but not too bad.

Paralogue (Hubert): these guys again, huh. This map was actually a bit tricky given my personal goals were to save all green units and break all monster armor for max items. Actually used all my Divine Pulses here because that was easier said than done an also because the green units have no regard for their own survival and will happily attack when they're get annihilated on the counterattack. Got it done though. The wording of the reward makes it sound like you only needed to save 3/5 though I'd never be satisfied with that (nor could I have known beforehand.)

2 Paralogues down, 3 to go. (Leonie/Linhardt, Petra/Bernadetta, and Marianne) should get those done on the next/last free day of the month.

Also, not quite related but Chapter 14 introduced a new contender for my favorite song so far. Late Act 1/Act 2 map themes have been great so far. I'd say my Top 3 songs in the game thus far are: Indomitable Will (Chapter 14: The boss override theme that plays when you engage Claude), Roar of Dominion (Chapter 12 Theme, at least for Crimson Flower), and Chasing Daybreak (Act 2 Map Theme Default, again, at least on Crimson Flower.)
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I like that FFVIII has an info corner that regularly updates throughout the game as you learn more about the world around you. There are a few tidbits in there that you don't find elsewhere within the story itself, which is kind of unfortunate. I wish they had drawn more attention to this thing or let you know when it updated, the way modern games do that have this sort of thing. Either way, there are so many aspects of the game that people didn't understand or learn about because the game doesn't do the best job of communicating the optimal way to play and things like that. Which is ironic because the game goes to great lengths to explain the system, but it didn't make it easily accessible or convenient.

Also, I've got to say, while I would never listen to the Balamb Garden theme outside of the game, it's always pleasant in-game and it is loaded with nostalgic value for me. It's so relaxing. The moment that theme starts playing like 10 minutes into the game, that's when it really starts to feel like I'm playing FFVIII again. Balamb Garden is one of the better hubs in a JRPG, right?

I like the Balamb Garden Network that you can access from the desk computer. It definitely looks like a website made in 1999. I remember someone once made a Squall fansite that was modeled after this page. Remember fansites? Those were fun. I used to love to read Squall fansites for fun because there's so much to say about the character, so many ways to interpret his words and actions. I like seeing what other people have to say about him because it broadens my perspective and deepens my understanding of who he is. Now everything's on Tumblr and it makes me sad. I Google searched "Squall Leonhart fansite" thinking about this, and I found like two results that weren't Tumblr. This is one of them, and it has some decent "think pieces" on it. Yes, I just used the term "think piece" to describe a video game character fansite. Squall is just that great.

http://blizzara.org/squall/

Also, it's really hard to play a video game or talk about it when your dog keeps wanting you to throw something so she can fetch it.

Anyway, back to the Balamb Garden Network. It talks about how the magic your characters use via Junctions isn't technically "real" magic. It's called "para-magic," which was developed by Dr. Odine. It's inferior to the "real" magic power of a sorceress. It's actually rather true to life in-game, too, because you're better off just using regular attacks, limit breaks, and GFs than casting magic. It's better served enhancing your stats. It also talks about how using GFs could possibly lead to memory loss here, so that plot twist wasn't completely out of nowhere...! Of course, the game also makes it clear that only SeeDs really use GFs, which should be viewed as suspicious because they provide so many overt benefits in battle. GFs raise the question of, "What are you willing to sacrifice to accomplish your dreams?"

This thing really does make Balamb Garden feel like a real school because it almost operates like a student handbook. They even give life advice, such as "Take time to think things through before starting a relationship." Was FFVIII the first JRPG to really center around school days like this? I know Persona has the formula down to a science now, but was FFVIII the original? I don't recall something that came before it, but there's always a chance I've forgotten something.

I also love that there's a primitive message board that starts off as a place for suggestions but soon devolves into trolling and arguments to the point that they eventually have to shut the thing down. FFVIII was way ahead of its time...!

Also, did you know there's a character in FFVIII named Wimbly Donner? He was the head of the Garden Festival Committee before Selphie! You only learn he exists through this thing...!
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I really like the Balamb Garden theme personally.

Also I don't think I knew about half of those things lol. Either that or I knew about them at one point at forgot about them. Apparently I didn't pay much attention to things like that when I was younger.
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Didnt play much Three Houses this weekend (just did Ch 14 exploration and some quest battles/support grinding). Hopefully Ill continue soon.

FFVIII is actually somehow the only 3D FF Ive actually finished besides XII...! (Though Ive gotten pretty much up to the end in most of the others). One of these days.
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I love that Quistis has her own fan club in-game. It's a funny little novelty. Also, the game gives you so many chances to be nice to Selphie. I feel like one of the writers must have been a huge Selphie fan. Even though I still know my way around Balamb Garden like the back of my hand, I still always choose to give her the tour just so I can get all the dialogue.

Oh wow, the Triple Triad Cards look different! I always like going second. I prefer being able to read and react to the other player's moves. Also, I've got 30 save slots available to me, so I can make saves before all my favorite parts like I did when I was younger...!

I've always wondered what Fujin was supposed to sound like speaking in all caps one word at a time. Is it supposed to be shouting or what? Fujin and Raijin are a good comedy duo though. We get our first of our running gag of Zell unsuccessfully trying to get a hot dog here as well. I like that, even in an inner monologue of silence, Raijin still ends with "Ya know." I wonder what he said in Japanese. I heard Fujin just spoke in single Kanji characters, which I can imagine would be difficult to localize properly. I like that they went with something fun and unique with it.

Also, speaking of "I wonder what he said in Japanese," Squall's oft-repeated refrain in FFVIII is, of course, "Whatever." In the Japanese, what he actually says is "Sorry," but it's implied from the context of the original language to be insincere, perhaps even sarcastic. I can get why they went with something dismissive there because it would be difficult to convey that Squall's "Sorry" isn't meant to be a sincere apology, other than to go with something silly like, "Soooooorry" or "SORRY" or some such. In both cases, it's basically meant to put people off and keep his emotional distance, so I think it works, all things considered.

I like that the dialogue in FFVIII regularly updates, and I also like that there are "free-flowing" conversations between nameless NPCs. You can just stand there and let them talk amongst themselves without a button prompt, which is neat. There's a group of three students in the cafeteria who are always just bantering among themselves about nothing in particular, and it's fun coming back every now and then to see what they've got to say next.
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LeonhartFour posted...

So while the opening FMV with Liberi Fatali gets all the hype (and for good reason), this sequence that plays if you let it idle on the startup screen for long enough has been overlooked. For one, Overture (the song that plays here) is an underrated track.

Yeah I always watch this when I start a new game. Good song too

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LeonhartFour posted...

Was FFVIII the first JRPG to really center around school days like this? I know Persona has the formula down to a science now, but was FFVIII the original? I don't recall something that came before it, but there's always a chance I've forgotten something.

Initial reaction was "can't be" but I also can't really think of a counter-example either!

LeonhartFour posted...

I also love that there's a primitive message board that starts off as a place for suggestions but soon devolves into trolling and arguments to the point that they eventually have to shut the thing down. FFVIII was way ahead of its time...!

.hack had this too and was also way ahead of its time. Posters with personal posting gags, trolling, etc.
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I mean, Persona 1 came out before FF8.
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Huh, I didn't realize the original Persona was that old.
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It makes me sad that the little kid who jogs around the concourse of the Garden runs faster than Squall. Why must you make it so difficult for me to get your Mini Mog card? Oh well, I wait until I get the Ifrit card to start playing Triple Triad because the starting deck is pretty rough.

The game tells you what Squall's student ID number is exactly once, and it's a random Garden Faculty dude who refers to him as Student No. 41269. Yet I've always remembered what his number is because my birthday is March 4, the girl I had a crush on at the time's birthday was August 12, and 69, well, yeah. The things that stick in your memory when you're 13. It's kind of interesting that the faculty dude refers to Squall as "that problem child." I don't know if he's confusing him with Seifer or if it's just because Squall generally comes across as uncooperative, but most of the regular staff seem to think quite highly of him.

I like the stuff that random NPCs bring up that mean nothing to you the first time through because you know nothing about the world yet. This one dude in the library brings up the fact that no one seems to know what happened to the sorceress who used to rule Esthar. He chalks it up as, "I must have cut class that day," but there's more to this than meets the eye...! Also, it's funny that there's a magazine in the game called Occult Fan, and they have seemingly pointless anecdotes in them. However, they're supposed to be hints that show you how to summon Doomtrain later in the game.

Fun fact that I didn't learn until several years after the game came out: If you push O in the middle of a tutorial, you can just skip it. That's pretty handy because some of these tutorials can be pretty long!

I'm a huge FFVIII fan (obviously), but I'm not a huge fan of Blue Fields (the world map theme) or Don't Be Afraid (the regular battle theme). I think they're both on the lower end of the series in terms of similar themes in other games. Also, I used to have ATB set to "Wait" just to give myself time to make choices when I'm in the menu and whatnot, but man, it suddenly feels very slow (I guess modern games have spoiled me), so I just set everything to the fastest speed and set ATB to Active. I don't think I'll use any of the cheats just because I don't plan on grinding out levels or spells or whatever, but this game would definitely benefit from it more than most.

I do really like FFVIII's dungeon theme (Find Your Way). It's kind of a simple theme and blends into the background, but I think it enhances the exploration aspect of the dungeon and almost makes it easier to concentrate. I always set the time limit for the Fire Cavern to 10 minutes because your SeeD Exam score is based on how little time is left on the clock by the time you beat Ifrit. The closer to 0:00, the better.

I love that Squall and Quistis banter throughout the dungeon as you run through it. I wish the game did a lot more of it because I'm always in favor of more banter. Now while I said I didn't care for FFVIII's regular battle theme, the boss theme (Force Your Way) is another story entirely. That's a top tier boss theme. FFVIII has great boss themes overall, too. I like how, when you scan Ifrit, it says that because he's part of the SeeD Exam, he's not that difficult to beat. I also love his expression of shock when you summon Shiva against him. Also, part of me wonders if there's just an infinite supply of Ifrits for this exam, or if GFs are somehow really common and so it's easy for every SeeD to get one. Or maybe when SeeDs stop using a particular GF, they return to where they came from until someone else comes to claim them. I wish the game had explored this!
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Aw man, I love Blue Fields and Don't Be Afraid. I still think FF8 is Uematsu's strongest soundtrack pound-for-pound.
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I think I would generally agree with you (I think FFIX rates up there, too), but those are two of the weaker links. They're not bad. They're just kind of...there. They don't really stand out as memorable to me.
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I'll spare the topic world map and battle them inequalities for now. I like how sparse Blue Fields is though. It kinda makes the world of FF8 feel very otherworldly to me, which I think helps make it feel a little different from other FF games.
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Yeah, I think one of the things I do appreciate about FFVIII's "common" themes is that they actually try to be background music and don't try to draw attention to themselves. They serve their purpose and don't try to do anything more than that.
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I've got to get used to the gunblade trigger timing again. I whiffed on a few Renzokuken triggers finishing off Ifrit. One of the things that's always stood out as strange to me is that every gunblade (whether it's Squall or Seifer) has 255 Hit. They literally never miss. I wonder what the logic behind that was supposed to be. I guess a weapon as cool as a gunblade couldn't possibly ever miss...!

Also, I like that FFVIII added "intro" animations for the characters at the beginning of a battle (Squall does a practice swing of his gunblade, for example), and I like that each character has a "Ready to attack" pose after you choose your action. They're fun little touches. FFVIII is big on expressing emotion and such through body language in general. They tried to make all the important characters very expressive (perhaps because they finally had the technology to do so!), and I enjoy that aspect of the game.

One of the things I don't like is that, once a GF finishes learning an ability, it defaults to choosing a GF boosting ability (like GF Strength boost or HP boost) when I don't really care to enhance those stats over learning junction abilities or refine abilities. Well, I guess it's nice that they automatically assign you a new ability to earn so you aren't wasting AP if you forget or something, but still.

Oh hey, here's the first of a running gag of Squall ignoring people's attempts to shake hands with him (We'll come back to that one later...!). Also, considering Seifer has repeatedly failed this exam (and considering his general reputation), whose idea was it to make him the squad leader? This doesn't seem like a wise decision! Headmaster Cid does seem to have a soft spot for him though. He even has his card! On a related note, there's kind of a fan theory out there that Seifer is his son or something of that nature. Usually when it comes to character cards, they're held by someone close to that character. Of course, that would mean that Irvine is the long lost son of the mayor of FH or something because his wife holds the Irvine card, so I wouldn't take that as gospel...! Also, they assigned Quistis (a rookie instructor) as the squad leader of a bunch of candidates who have potential behavioral problems, so I'm not too sure about that choice either! Maybe Cid is more interested in "character building" exercises than actually succeeding at the mission. That seems a lot like him, actually.

One of the best burns in the game is when Quistis wishes Seifer luck, and he tells her to save those words for a bad student who needs them. Then she goes, "Ok then. Good luck, Seifer." Say what you will about Quistis and her flaws (and I'm sure I will!), that was a great comeback. Then Seifer tells them to add Quistis to "the list," and Squall echoes my own thoughts by wondering what the list is. Is it some sort of "people who are on my bad side" list or something? Knowing Seifer, that seems possible!

Headmaster Cid looks less like Robin Williams with his new character model. That makes me a little sad. I really like Seifer's updated character model though. It makes his trenchcoat look really slick. I wonder what Seifer called Zell in the Japanese version. I can't imagine it was "Chicken-wuss."
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Chicken-wuss-kun
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LeonhartFour posted...

They literally never miss. I wonder what the logic behind that was supposed to be. I guess a weapon as cool as a gunblade couldn't possibly ever miss...!

magnets obviously
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Chicken-yarou

Wuss is as good as anything.
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Huh, nice.

I like how juvenile the insult is, actually. I like that the cast of FFVIII actually act like teenagers. Not just that they are teenagers, but they actually act like them. They make dumb decisions. They overreact and get too emotional at times. They freeze up under pressure. They have awkward interactions with each other and with people they've just met. They aren't these "wise beyond their years" characters. They spend most of Disc 1 repeatedly screwing up (largely due to their own immaturity) and having to try to do damage control.
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Also, going back to what I was talking about with Squall's "Whatever," I searched for an article about it and found this one that explains it pretty well.

https://legendsoflocalization.com/squalls-whatever-line-in-japanese-final-fantasy-viii/

I enjoy localization stories, so stuff like this is always interesting to me.
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Mob Psycho 100 Episode 3 complete

This is a weird show

(Not necessarily in a bad way)
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LeonhartFour posted...

Mob Psycho 100 Episode 3 complete

This is a weird show

(Not necessarily in a bad way)

Haha, yeah, it kinda is. It gets really good though. IIRC, Episode 4 is actually where it really starts rolling.

Also I missed commenting on it but lmao the telepathy club twist is so good. Body Improvement Club is legit though.
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Yeah Mob hits you out the gate with its style and presentation before it hits you with the story later.

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You should really get back to dragon ball sometime though >_>

It gets better!

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Yeah, I still plan on it eventually. I just haven't been in an anime mood lately.
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Took care of those paralogues I mentioned, but that's it. Stopped on the mission day.

Paralogue (Marianne): This took an inordinate amount of time that surprised even me, entirely because of my self-imposed objective - as always - of defeating every enemy and breaking all monster armor. The latter actually required some thought at times because my team is getting too strong! There were like a billion monsters on this stage too so you can't just rely on Gambits to do it. For real though there was probably like... 15ish monsters + the boss? It's fog of war too so that's why the count isn't exact. At least my thoroughness was rewarded because there were two of them hanging in the upper left corner and one had a stat booster. This paralogue also set the unintentional theme of the day of "talking monsters" and the intriguing "Children of the Goddess" faction that the phantom soldiers belonged to. The boss monster was the "11th" Elite who was blacklisted from history after he turned into a monster and killed a lot of people and the origin of Marianne's crest. Had Marianne finish him for character reasons and she got a relic sword out of it.

Paralogue (Petra/Bernadetta): Huh, with the church as the enemy here I wonder if this isn't available if you side with them way back when or if the paralogue simply changes the enemy (presumably to the Empire.) This was a pretty simple mission but it had the added fun of having a bunch of reinforcements, including Catherine, pop up when Petra got near the destination point. I wonder if they still come if you rout without her nearing it. I only had her near there because I was executing a strategy that had Wyvern Rider Edelgard fly in there to handle the sole archer so she could wreck the rest of them by herself, but bringing Petra to dance was close enough apparently. Unfortunately Catherine didn't have any unique dialogue with Byleth, Edelgard, or Shamir which struck me as odd but oh well.

Paralogue (Leonie/Linhardt): the student debt crisis comes to fodlan. Odd pairing but it made sense in the end. Really interesting though was how Edelgard and Hubert were unavailable for deployment here because Linhardt said not to tell them about this mission because it involved a place related to the church. But I mean... we were basically looting so I think they'd have been onboard! Our opponent was another talking monster in fog of war. Split the party and advanced. This boss was the tankiest one yet. I thought he could regen his barriers even after they were destroyed but I think what happened was I was dumb and because he's a 3x3 unit I didn't fully break the central one the first time. Armor broke him the second time (all on his final health bar because this dude is a tank) and got items so yeah. Got a sacred bow from him and Linhardt all but stated he was one of the Saints of the church. Wonder how that happened, at least with Hero Relics you can make the case that there's precedent (although the guy had a Crest so who knows) but here? idk. This also was the site of my first "true" Fire Emblem experience with Felix getting killed by a 1% crit (off a 50% hit.) At least there's Divine Pulse in this game. >_>
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I'm kinda missing Three Houses, but I've got to have my priorities in order.
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Terry Bogard confirmed for Smash Ultimate DLC Character 4

Season 2 of DLC also confirmed

Give me some Dimitri
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Time to see him become a midcarder like dedede

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Deadly Premonition 2 announced for Switch too

certainly not what I was expecting

the original game is also available on Switch starting today
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Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition coming to Switch in 2020

Glad I waited
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LeonhartFour posted...

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition coming to Switch in 2020

Glad I waited

consider me salty as hell its xenoblade 1 again and not x

(or, of course, the dream - xenosaga hd)
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In an interview about a year ago they said that XCX would be difficult to port to the Switch:
https://www.usgamer.net/articles/xenoblade-chronicles-2-postmortem-breaking-down-the-inaugural-switch-rpgs-success-with-tetsuya-takahashi

Even if it was going to happen, it would likely still be too soon.
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I know they said that! It's why I'm frustrated! Presumably they'd need more time to handle X and I imagine this remake is taking up their focus now!

justice for elma
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Finally watched that direct. Xenoblade remaster got me hyped, and there was a lot of good stuff there. Never been a better time to own a Switch!
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I like how, when Xu shows up, even Squall goes through the motions of formalities to give her the SeeD salute and show respect, but Seifer just stays seated with his feet propped up on the table. For all the talk of Squall being antisocial, by the textbook definition, Seifer is the antisocial one. I do love his back and forths with Zell though. He recognizes that Zell gets easily riled up and so he trolls him every chance he gets. I also like, in a game that's all about your party members sticking together and mimicking the leader's every movement, Seifer acts independently of Squall and company. It's a nice design touch.

"The Landing" is one of the best FFVIII tracks. The FMV that accompanies it at the beginning is pretty great, too. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the SeeD exam because I played the demo a million times before the game came out (Brave Fencer Musashi was a pretty nice consolation prize for getting the demo, too...!). It's just kind of old hat at this point. There were quite a few differences between the demo and the final product. The only GF your party had access to was Leviathan, for instance. Also, Rinoa was the third party member instead of Selphie, but she never spoke since she wasn't here in the final game (Some people might say this is the best version of Rinoa...!). The language was also noticeably more vulgar, like in FFVII, but they cleaned a lot of that up in the final game, for whatever the reason.

As an enthusiast of dialogue of all sorts in video games, it makes me sad that the SeeD exam actually punishes you for talking to people. Seriously, they dock you points if you talk to someone you're not supposed to. I choose to be a good student and obey the rules, but it still makes me sad.

You get an interesting glimpse into Squall's character when they're on standby during the SeeD exam. Seifer wants to deliberately disobey orders, and as Zell protests and asks Squall for backup, he simply states that he supports the captain's decision. It just goes to show that he views himself as a good soldier who just takes orders without question, and that's what he wants it to be. That's why he never wanted to be the SeeD Commander because that burden of responsibility for others besides himself is squarely on his shoulders. He doesn't want to have to rely on others or have them rely on him. He just wants to be a soldier who mindlessly does his duty and nothing more.

I also like it when Seifer tries to put his hand on Squall's shoulder and he just swats it away. Seifer views Squall's willingness to go along with his disobedience as a desire to wreak havoc, which is basically Seifer projecting his own desires onto him. The irony is that, despite being the head of a Disciplinary Committee, Seifer is very much anti-authority and anti-rules, at least when it comes to himself. He loves the power of being in charge and getting to do what he wants, especially if it means he gets to boss other people around, but he always thinks the rules shouldn't apply to him. In his mind, Seifer is a law unto himself. He is the one who determines what is right and what is wrong, no one else.

Squall calls it a good opportunity to test out his training, and he even expresses gratitude to Seifer in a backhanded compliment sort of way by saying that training with him prepared him to fight anyone, even those who fight dirty. Even though they're rivals who challenge each other relentlessly, beneath the surface, they do share a mutual respect of sorts. Zell even picks up on it and thinks the whole thing is strange, though I can't exactly blame him...!
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LeonhartFour posted...

The irony is that, despite being the head of a Disciplinary Committee, Seifer is very much anti-authority and anti-rules, at least when it comes to himself.

This strikes me as the yankee delinquent trope from anime. They ironically refer to themselves as a peacekeeping force when they tend to harass the student body.

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Seifer mostly just loves the power trip from being "in charge." He fancies himself a leader without really understanding what that means. He demonstrates that pretty clearly before the exam when Quistis tells them that teamwork is key to passing the exam, and Seifer says that teamwork means staying out of his way. Deep down, he wants to be viewed as this great hero, which is why he tries to hog all the glory, even going so far in a tutorial battle to tell Squall and Zell to save the killing blow for him.
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Then Squall and Seifer have another exchange where the latter asks if he's scared knowing this is his first real battle. Squall replies that he doesn't know and doesn't really think about it, which is probably true. Again, one of the things he likes about being a soldier is that, in his mind, he can just turn his brain off and do what he's told without thinking. Seifer says that he loves battles and doesn't fear anything, which, based off of his later actions, is also probably true. He probably could have used some restraint though!

Then Seifer says that each battle brings you one step closer to your dream, but Squall says he doesn't care about "dreams." Squall doesn't really think about the future much, at least not up to this point. He doesn't have any sort of ultimate goal in life. He just fights and follows orders because it's all he knows, and he's content with that, at least for now.

Then Selphie shows up and thanks Squall for showing her around, saying she doesn't get so lost anymore, which is weird considering that tour would have been earlier the same day, so it's not like she's had that much time to get acclimated, unless she's just a fast learner (which is possible! Selphie's sharper than she lets on despite all the crazy...!). Speaking of crazy, Selphie recognizes that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so she just jumps off the cliff and urges Squall to do the same! You actually can, but again, you get docked points for doing so. What I love afterwards is that Squall and Selphie can tag-team making fun of Zell afterwards if you choose the right dialogue option when you catch up to her, and their banter is excellent.

FFVIII has some pretty solid comedy duos. I like Biggs and Wedge. Probably my favorite incarnation of the duo in the series. Elvoret can be a wake up call boss if you're not careful. It's definitely the toughest thing you've faced up to this point. I do like the chase sequence with X-ATM092. Did you know you can actually permanently destroy him? It's impossible on the first forced encounter, but you can do it any other time. You get a hefty amount of AP and you actually get bonus points on the SeeD exam, although I've never done it. You don't actually have to fight it more than once though. There are a couple times when you can get around a seemingly unavoidable encounter. There's one point where you're going down a hill and its movement will shake the ground so much that the party gets stuck, but if you walk instead of run, it won't do that. You can also start running the opposite direction on the bridge after X-ATM092 jumps in front of you and it'll eventually jump back the other way in an attempt to cut you off again. The final FMV where Squall jumps toward the boat while Quistis guns the thing down is so cool. Either way, at this point, we've firmly established that Squall is not a fast runner because he ends up way behind both Zell and Selphie by the time they get to the beach.

Breezy, the theme of Balamb Town, is really relaxing and catchy. It's a high tier town theme for the series. Also, there are two issues of Timber Maniacs in Balamb, but you can only pick up one. When you collect one, the other disappears. The reason is that whichever issue you pick up affects how the first Laguna dream sequence plays out. It's a weird scenario where the future affects the past...! The game will also troll you into thinking you found a Timber Maniacs issue in Zell's house, for whatever the reason!

Randomly, you can learn the legend of Hyne (the god of the world of FFVIII who gave sorceress powers to humanity, supposedly) in a house in Balamb. It really has nothing to do with the plot at all, but it's a weird and neat background tidbit! Also, fun fact: If you run on the roads on the world map, you'll avoid all encounters! Monsters don't appear on the roads in the world of FFVIII, I guess...!
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Oh right, forgot to mention earlier, but Mob Psycho 100 Episode 4 complete

Things are definitely starting to pick up with the appearance of another powerful psychic.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Terry Bogard confirmed for Smash Ultimate DLC Character 4

Season 2 of DLC also confirmed

Give me some Dimitri

Normal Brain: Byleth or Edelgard

Big Brain: Pokmon Trainer + Ice Climbers hybrid where you rotate between the house leaders fighting alongside Byleth

Galaxy Brain: Fire Emblem Three Houses Smash Spinoff Game
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Oh god, I'm completely blanking out on how you make a lot of money in FF8 or if you even need it.
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Early on I think it's just SeeD rank?

I don't think you really need much money in the game, but its been a while since I've played it.
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BK_Sheikah00 posted...

Oh god, I'm completely blanking out on how you make a lot of money in FF8 or if you even need it.

You honestly don't even need that much money in FFVIII since you don't have armor or accessories, and it doesn't even cost that much to upgrade your weapons. And pretty much everything you need can be gotten through stealing or playing cards. Just getting up to a decent SeeD level so you get a good salary is usually more than enough to cover all your expenses.
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You know, I kind of wish there was an option to wear their SeeD uniforms because those things are pretty slick.

The guy at the front gate talks about how he enjoys scolding troublemakers every year, and it just makes me want to own him in Triple Triad and take all his cards.

There's a big foreshadowing moment here that you can pick up from a couple of NPCs talking about how Galbadia's real target in Dollet was getting the communication tower up and running. However, they say that broadcasts using radio waves is useless because there's a worldwide signal interference, which started without warning 17 years ago. They only briefly touch on this later, but what actually caused it was Adel's tomb's seal. The jamming signal keeping her sealed was so strong that it actually affected signals on the planet's surface. It's weird to think that FFVIII's world is incapable of live broadcasts despite their technological advancements, although I suppose that problem is fixed once they take care of Adel for good.

When you get back, Cid will ask Squall what he thought about his first real action, and if you choose the classic "Whatever" response, he'll find it hilarious. Then when you talk to Seifer, he says they could have been heroes if it hadn't been for the order to withdraw. Once again, you see Seifer's dream of being a hero (specifically a sorceress's knight, but more on that later). Xu chides Seifer for acting like he was taking the best action as a captain because he'll never be a SeeD. It's rare to see something actually bother Seifer, but that comment definitely does. Then Cid comes along and tells him that he'll be disciplined for his irresponsible behavior, but at the same time, he's not without sympathy for him because he doesn't want them all to become mindless machines. He wants them to be able to think and act for themselves. It's the conundrum of the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law. As an academic and military institution, it's hard for them to deviate from the letter of the law because once they start making exceptions, it just leads to chaos. There has to be an objective standard to measure everyone against.

Cid is about to say more, but a faculty member informs him that he has some business in his office (likely related to the SeeD exam), and so he doesn't get to finish what he was about to say. If you talk to the faculty member afterwards, he says that SeeD will not act beyond the exact wording of a contract because they are not a non-profit organization. You can already see the conflict between Cid's vision for Garden and NORG's (via the faculty members who represent him) even this early on.

I like that they actually make you wait in the hallway for about a minute before the faculty member comes by and announces who passed. It provides an extra bit of tension as you wait for the results (even though you can probably guess that Squall passed). Then we cut to four students in the headmaster's office, and Cid starts to give a speech about how SeeD is Balamb Garden's elite mercenary force, but that's only one aspect of them. He begins to say, "When the time comes..." but the faculty member interrupts him again. We learn later on that SeeD's ultimate goal is the defeat the sorceress, but that vision got lost in the shuffle over time.

If you talk to the faculty member after the inauguration ceremony, he tells you to ignore the GF criticism you hear from other Gardens or military forces, so there's more foreshadowing...! If you talk to Cid, he'll give you a Battle Meter that tracks various battle statistics. You can actually upgrade it on a couple different opportunities throughout the game if you talk to the right people.
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In the hallway, the as yet unnamed other student who passed the SeeD exam talks about how it's finally his big break and he's going to rule this Garden someday! Zell says that all those who pass the exam have to give a speech in front of the entire class, so the fact that we don't get to see that feels like a huge missed opportunity! Then, in a rare display of class, Seifer gives Squall and company a round of applause. This is a really understated moment for him because there's no dialogue, but it does that Seifer's not all bad. He gives respect where he believes it is due.

My initial SeeD rank is 8. I think the highest you can get at the very start is 10, but that requires defeating like 100 enemies on the exam to get a perfect 100 on Attack and I ain't about that life. I only got a 30 on that one.

Selphie sneaks into Squall's room and tells him to get changed into his SeeD uniform. She presumably doesn't leave while he's changing, but maybe he at least closed a door or something! During the party, Squall is the consummate wallflower. Zell tries to shake his hand again and Squall ignores it again. The game gives you another opportunity to be nice to Selphie. Even if you rejected her offer to join the Garden Festival Committee earlier, you get a second chance.

And now it's time for the infamous introduction of Rinoa. This time, Squall is indeed the best looking guy here! For all the talk that Squall doesn't show interest in Rinoa until the big moment in Disc 3, there's plenty of foreshadowing if you're willing to pay attention. Like I said before, FFVIII is big on expressing meaning through body language. When Rinoa pretends to hypnotize Squall into liking her so he'll dance with her, he actually laughs. She's the only character in the game who makes him laugh, and she does so multiple times (on a couple of occasions, it's almost kind of a mocking laughter for saying something that strikes his military sensibilities as naive or unrealistic, but still!).

Squall tells her he can't dance instead of flatly turning her down, but she doesn't seem to care and drags him out there anyway. I love the dance FMV where Squall deliberately pretends to be a terrible dancer in hopes that she'll give up and leave him alone, but she's not so easily deterred. Perhaps the funniest moment in the game is when Squall just stops dancing and tries to walk off the dance floor. By the end of the dance, Squall is pretty clearly into it and even starts faintly smiling a little bit, and that look on his face when she walks away is of a guy who's definitely smitten.

The contrast between his interactions with Rinoa and how awkward and stilted he is with Quistis afterwards is striking. She even lampshades this by saying, "So you'll dance with someone you don't even know, but you can't stand being around me?" Squall says it's because she's his instructor, and that's basically where the disparity lies. Because they grew up together and they're only a year apart in age, Quistis views them as friends and peers. However, because of Squall's military mentality, he can't get past the hierarchical authority structure, so she'll always be his teacher. Even after she stops being an instructor, he still calls her "Instructor Trepe." That's a big reason why she never had a chance with him despite her best efforts.
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Quistis tells Squall to meet up with her in the "secret area" in the training center and says he can consider that her last order. Quistis gets a lot of flack for essentially abusing her power as his teacher and using it as an opportunity to make a move on him, and I get that. It's a fair criticism, but at the same time, it feels like taking the situation too seriously. There's something unrealistic about people who want too much realism in their fiction. In any event, it does highlight her own immaturity and demonstrates that she wasn't really ready to be an instructor. Like I said before, it's a teenager acting like a teenager. Not to say it excuses the behavior. I get why some people would be bothered by that, but it literally never occurred to me until I saw someone else point it out.

Going back to SeeD rankings, I usually like to take a couple tests to get my ranking up to 10 initially. There's a way to game the system since they're all Yes or No questions and there's no penalty for failing the test. Just answer every question Yes and see what your score is, and you'll know how many Yes answers there are for that test. And if you're still not sure, you can just change one answer and see if it changes the score.

I really like the song that plays during this secret area scene, "Tell Me." I wish they used it more often. I think it only plays one other time. I also like the balcony overlooking the Garden in the background, lit up at night. It's a really nice visual. I like the long pauses between each line during the scene because it highlights the awkwardness of it all. I do feel for Quistis though, pouring her heart out to Squall, only for him to ask if she's done talking yet and then tell her to go talk to a wall when she says she just wants him to listen. Ultimately, the issue isn't that Squall doesn't care or hates Quistis or anything like that. He doesn't want to let himself get attached to someone and start to care too much, like what happened with Ellone. Squall keeps an emotional distance and puts up a wall around himself as a defense mechanism. He flatly tells Quistis that everyone should take care of themselves and he doesn't want to carry someone else's burden. At this point, Quistis basically gives up on pursuing Squall. The difference between Quistis and Rinoa is that when Squall tried to push them away, Quistis let him while Rinoa pushed back. We'll get into criticisms of Rinoa "pushing back" later, but that's really what it boils down to here.

On the way out, we run into Ellone again. The fact that she instantly recognizes Squall and calls Quistis "Quisty" should be a red flag that she knows them both pretty well despite appearing to be a total stranger. Plus, she doesn't appear to be a student at a military academy at all. Then the White SeeDs randomly show up out of nowhere to escort her away when we haven't seen anyone else wearing that uniform up to this point. There are a lot of things here that don't make sense if you're not viewing all of this with the benefit of hindsight.

The boss fight here is super easy to cheese. The main boss, Granaldo, is susceptible to Sleep of all things. The three Raldos beneath him don't act independently. They only act when he commands them to, so you can wail away on them while he's asleep. They're all not very strong anyway, and they have some decent spells to draw while you fight them, too, so that's nice.

Quistis leaves Squall with the parting shot of, "It's not like everyone can get by on their own, you know?" To which he replies, "...Says who?" Squall's goal is to be completely independent in every sense of the word, to the point that he doesn't need anyone and no one needs him so he doesn't have to worry about fear, pain, and loss.
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I kinda want retranslations foe the ps1 games, but I fear they'd take away the good stuff too


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