Final Fantasy VIII
In general, "Final Fantasy VIII" has been compared favorably to its predecessors. Though questioning the game's lack of voice overs for its characters, "Game Revolution" praised its storyline and ending. For their part, "Edge" labeled "Final Fantasy VIII" "a far more accomplished game than "FFVII"". On the other hand, the magazine also felt that the game's length left its story unable to "offer consistently strong dialogue and sub-plots". Additionally, it found some of the story's plot twists "not... suitably manipulated and prepared", leaving it "hard not to greet such... moments with anything but indifference". Overall, "Edge" considered "Final Fantasy VIII" to be "yet another outstanding edition of SquareSoft's far-from-final fantasies", summarizing it as "aesthetically astonishing, rarely less than compelling, and near peerless in scope and execution". "Electronic Gaming Monthly" offered similar comments, stating that the game's character development "is the best of any RPGs" and that ""Final Fantasy VIII" is the pinnacle of its genre." UGO.com stated that while no other game in the series had stirred the controversy that "Final Fantasy VIII" had and that it was flawed, "Final Fantasy VIII" was a "daring, groundbreaking game [...] decidedly the most original console-style RPG ever created". In 2002, IGN named it the seventh best title for the PlayStation, placing higher on the list than "Final Fantasy VII"; the publication felt that "Final Fantasy VIII" improved on the strengths of its predecessor. Kat Bailey, writing for "1Up.com", noted "Final Fantasy VIII" as the first game in the "Final Fantasy" series which features a love story as the game's overarching theme, calling a daring choice and symbol of the video game medium's continued evolution as a form of storytelling, with numerous subsequent video games adopting romantic subplots to varying degrees of success.