Final Fantasy VIII Final Fantasy VIII is the eighth installment in the " Final Fantasy " series . The game is the second " Final Fantasy " developed for both PlayStation and PC . It was made available as a PSOne Classic over the PlayStation Network in Japan on September 24 , 2009 , in North America on December 18 , 2009 and in Europe on February 4 , 2010 . Thirteen weeks after its release , " Final Fantasy VIII " earned more than $ 50 million from sales in the United States , making it the fastest selling " Final Fantasy " title at the time . Additionally , " Final Fantasy VIII " was voted the 22nd - best game of all time by readers of the Japanese magazine " Famitsu " . " Final Fantasy VIII " went on to become one of the best - selling games in the series ; the game had shipped 8 . 15 million copies worldwide as of March 31 , 2003 . " Final Fantasy VIII " is a departure from many traditional series standards . It is the first " Final Fantasy " game to consistently use realistically proportioned characters , the first to feature a vocal piece as its theme music , and one of the only titles to deviate from the series ' traditional means of increasing a character ' s power via level ing ( although levels are not completely abandoned as they were in " Final Fantasy II " ) . In addition , it does not have a Magic Point - based system for spell - casting . Instead , magic is collected , drawn , and created from items , and is used to power up the characters via the junction system . Gameplay . The gameplay differs from previous titles , the draw and junction systems being the most notable changes . Instead of leveling up to learn new spells and abilities via weapons or a job class , the player must draw the spells from enemies and draw point s , hotspots scattered throughout the game containing random numbers of a specific spell , or create them from items . This eliminates the convention of magic points , but encourages players to hoard and conserve spells both for direct use and for junctioning them to different stats associated with Guardian Force s , who also hold the learning of new abilities . Enemies are randomly encountered on the field . There are three members to a party , and unlike in previous entries to the series , " Final Fantasy VIII " doesn ' t do a distinction between front and back row and any party member can attack any target . Pressing the trigger button just as Squall is attacking an enemy has him deal an automatic critical hit . Guardian Forces . Summoned monsters are known as Guardian Forces , often abbreviated to GFs . They require junctioning to characters to be used , as well as to utilize their inherent abilities . GFs take time to be summoned , and the time taken depends on the character / GF combination . When selected , the ATB gauge begins to run backwards and the character ' s name and HP are replaced by the GF ' s name and HP . Similar to the aeons used later in " Final Fantasy X " , the GFs have HP and can take damage , shielding party members while being summoned . During the summon charge time , if the GF ' s HP reaches 0 , they get knocked out and the summon is canceled . They can ' t be summoned until revived . When the GF ' s ATB gauge reaches zero , the GF is summoned and attacks in a similar fashion to " Final Fantasy VII " . If the summoned GF has learned the Boost ability , the player can attempt to boost the GF ' s attack power by up to 250 % , but if the player fails to adequately boost the GF its attack power may actually be reduced rather than enhanced . Guardian Forces gain Ability Points from battles to learn abilities . Each GF has unique abilities , though rare items allow the player to customize each GF ' s skillsets . Most abilities at least require junctioning the GF to a character , but some abilities also require junctioning to the character to take effect . Each GF has an ability that , once learned , can be junctioned as a battle command . The first two Guardian Forces are acquired at the beginning of the game . Other Guardian Forces can be acquired through sidequest s , or by drawing them from a boss . Only three Guardian Forces are given automatically , the others are optional . Junctioning . The junction system is used for boosting character stats and to give elemental / status effects to weapons and armor . The player must junction a Guardian Force to enable the use of battle commands other than Attack . Boosting stats requires characters to obtain magic , by drawing spells from enemies and draw points and by refining from items with GF abilities . The player can junction the spells to stats such as Strength , Vitality , Evasion and Hit - Rate . Which attributes can be customized depends on the junctioned Guardian Force ( s ) . The Guardian Force can learn to unlock more statistics to junction magic to by earning AP in battle , and by the use of GF items . Experience and leveling . As with most games of the RPG genre , Experience Points are awarded following defeat of randomly encountered enemies . The system of leveling in " Final Fantasy VIII " is unique for two reasons : each playable character only requires 1 , 000 Experience Points to advance to the next level , whereas other games require progressively more points as levels are gained . The statistic increases granted by a level - up are minuscule , as major stat growth is relegated to the junction system . The other feature is that enemies and bosses have no set level ( although bosses have level caps ) ; they increase in hit points , statistics , and abilities alongside the player party . Higher - level enemies are capable of inflicting and withstanding significantly more damage , and may have additional special attacks . They also possess better magic to draw and items to steal as their level rises . The benefit of this system is no matter where the player is in the storyline , there is a level of difficulty . Furthermore , due to most locations being visited several times during the storyline and for sidequests , enemies encountered early will grow with the party and can still pose a threat later in the game . There are certain locations that are the exempt to this style of creature leveling , notably the Island Closest to Heaven and the Island Closest to Hell , where all creatures are at level 100 regardless of character level , and the Lunatic Pandora , where all creatures are at level 1 regardless of character level with Squall as party leader ( more info here ) . Limit Breaks . The Limit Break system in " Final Fantasy VIII " is a more advanced version of the Desperation Attack system from " Final Fantasy VI " . Each character has a unique Limit Break based on their preferred fighting style . As a rule of thumb , while a character ' s HP remains below a certain point , Limit Breaks will become available . One notable difference between this system and the Desperation Attack feature in " Final Fantasy VI " is that the player can opt to attack normally even if a Limit Break is currently available . Another is that the chance of a Limit Break becoming available will increase the lower the character ' s HP becomes , among other factors . Also , while Desperation Attacks could only be used once per battle , there are no limits to how often Limit Breaks can be performed , so long as the character remains in critical condition . Several characters ' Limit Break sequences are interactive , requiring the player ' s skill to reach its full damage potential ; if performed correctly , these interactive Limit Breaks can be far more powerful than the non - interactive ones . Field gameplay . " Final Fantasy VIII " doesn ' t have treasure chests , the player being rewarded with finding magazine s , draw points , Triple Triad cards , and sometimes items from talking to NPCs instead . Triggering scenes in town s is not always linear : some optional scenes with NPCs only happen if the player returns to a screen after already having visited it previously . Uniquely in the series until then , the distinction of dungeons and towns is somewhat blurred , there being rather few traditional dungeons , but town areas becoming infested with random encounters and with objectives to fulfill until the current crisis is resolved , and the area usually returns to being a town . On the world map draw points are invisible . New to the series , the world map has safe areas from monsters if the player traverses on roads . Other world map transportation methods include renting cars which expend fuel , riding the train for which the party must buy a ticket , riding chocobos — timid creatures tamed in chocobo forests — and even controlling a mobile Garden that can cross oceans , and an airship that — in a feature introduced in " Final Fantasy VIII " — has auto - pilot . Sidequests and minigames . " Final Fantasy VIII " introduced a minigame that can be played whenever there are NPCs around ; a trading card game , known as Triple Triad , that varies from a simple easy - to - play game to a complicated one . More rules and variations of other rules come into play depending on what area the player is playing in . To complicate things further , rules played within one area are carried to other areas , so the player will want to be careful what rules to pick up while playing . Cards won from monsters or by playing NPCs can be turned into various items using Quezacotl ' s Card Mod ability , ranging from screws to items capable of being refined into the most powerful magics in the game . Cards can also be obtained by using Quezacotl ' s Card command to turn targeted monsters into cards . There are sidequests relating to Triple Triad , and some sidequests reward the player with new Triple Triad cards . Card Club is a secretive club for expert Triple Triad players the player must impress to face the " Card Master King " . Queen of Cards is a traveling card enthusiast who can commission new cards being made for the game , and affect the rules around the area she currently resides in . Other quests include optional locations like Shumi Village and present - day Winhill , puzzles in chocobo forests , the mysterious UFO ? encounters hinted at in Occult Fan magazines , and the shadow of the Obel Lake , among others . " Chocobo World " is a PocketStation game compatible with " Final Fantasy VIII " in which the player controls Boko the Chicobo , who embarks on a quest to find MiniMog , and is assisted by Moomba and Cactuar . As PocketStations were never released outside of Japan , international PlayStation owners could not play this game , but its connection to the main game was still programmed into every localization of " Final Fantasy VIII " , so it is possible to play the game by buying a PocketStation from Japan . " Chocobo World " was ported and included in the PC versions of " Final Fantasy VIII " , including the 2013 re - release , where " Chocobo World " is playable directly from the launcher after booting up " Final Fantasy VIII " . Synopsis . Setting . The civilization is fragmented into small city - states and other autonomous groups . The two big nation states , Galbadia and Esthar , went to war two decades ago in a bid for world domination , both wanting to unite the autonomous groups under their banners . The war became known as the Sorceress War , named after the leader of Esthar , Sorceress Adel , a member of the seclusive rank of sorceresses , women able to wield magic . Sorceresses are both renowned and feared for their powers , and legends state they inherited their magic from the god Hyne who is said to have created the world and the people . No one is born a sorceress , but when a sorceress dies they pass on their sorceress power to someone else , and thus the exact numbers and identities of sorceresses in the world are unknown . The Horizon Bridge connecting Galbadia and Esthar was abandoned when the hostilities began , apart from the middle station a group of engineers from Esthar made their home , and Galbadia conquered Timber . Before the war could escalate into full scale however , Esthar isolated itself and shut its borders with rumors circulating Adel had passed on her powers . Galbadia was left reigning the Galbadian continent , but the war had taken its toll on the populace and many children were left orphaned . The world is still reeling from the after - effects of the war with Esthar remaining closed , and the mysterious radio interference filling all frequencies with noise , rendering the technology useless . This new phenomenon , whose origin could not be discerned , further isolated the different nations who can only transmit long - distance messages via physical cables which get frequently compromised by political strife and monsters . A new military power has risen to prominence : the Garden . Built 12 years ago , Balamb Garden trains paramilitary forces who can wield a power that imitates the power of a sorceress : Para - Magic via Guardian Forces . Based on technology developed in Esthar , Balamb Garden is the only organization in the world to use GFs whose use is rumored to have side effects , although Garden insists otherwise . Those who graduate from the academy become SeeD s who are contracted around the world as mercenaries and take on various missions . Two " sister Gardens " were constricted in its wake , but although they co - operate and their students can often take classes in other Gardens or become transfer students , they do not train SeeDs , Trabia Garden serving as a military academy for the remote nation of Trabia , and Galbadia Garden focusing on weapon development — the only Garden to use guns — and training officers for the G - Army . Characters . " Final Fantasy VIII " has eleven playable characters , six of them used for the majority of the game , three used at certain interludes , and two other temporary characters . Story . Squall graduates into SeeD , a mercenary hired out to various missions by Balamb Garden . His childhood dream fulfilled , Squall and his fellow rookie SeeDs are sent out to help the rebel group Forest Owls to free the occupied nation of Timber from Galbadia . The SeeDs ' contact with the group is a girl called Rinoa , and protecting her — as she lacks combat experience — becomes part of the group ' s mission . On the way to meet with the Owls the party finds themselves in a dream world that depicts events from the past through the eyes of a Galbadian soldier named Laguna Loire , an event that is to become a recurring mystery along their journey . The Owls fail to abduct the president of Galbadia as planned , but a rogue SeeD cadet Seifer takes him hostage to help Rinoa ' s cause . Squall ' s party joins his former teacher Quistis and they try to de - escalate the situation , but Sorceress Edea — whom the president was to announce as the nation ' s new ambassador — spirits Seifer away with her . The group flees Timber with Rinoa and takes refuge in Galbadia Garden where they are hired to assassinate Edea , as the headmaster of G - Garden and the head of Galbadian Army conspire to save the nation from her influence . The assassination mission fails even with the help of G - Garden assassin Irvine , and they discover Seifer is now working for Edea as her " Sorceress ' s Knight " . Edea kills the president and usurps power in Galbadia and wants to destroy all Gardens besides the one she has now taken over : Galbadia Garden . Though Trabia Garden is demolished in a missile strike , Squall ' s party saves Balamb Garden by making it mobile , and they begin to use it as their base to travel the world . Squall is promoted the head of SeeD by Balamb Garden ' s founder Headmaster Cid who claims the SeeD ' s true purpose is to enter a fated battle against a sorceress and that Squall is the one who must take on the mission . During their travels they learn Edea used to operate the orphanage from where Squall and his friends sans Rinoa grew up in . When Galbadia Garden led by Seifer and Edea launches an attack upon them , the SeeDs defeat Edea whose personality entirely changes , and Rinoa becomes comatose . Edea had been possessed by a sorceress from the future known as Ultimecia who seeks to unmake the world with a time compression spell . Squall ' s quest to revive Rinoa from her coma leads him to discover the hidden nation of Esthar and that Rinoa has become a sorceress , having inherited Edea ' s sorceress power when they defeated her . Now having restored his childhood memories , Squall seeks out his " Sis " from the orphanage , Ellone , who has a mystical power to send a person ' s consciousness back in time to inhabit another person . She has been sending Squall back in time to inhabit Laguna for a reason she doesn ' t divulge , and Squall finally finds her from the Estharian space station . Squall has brought the comatose Rinoa with him , but Ultimecia possesses her to release Sorceress Adel from her spacebound tomb . Adel is Esthar ' s former dictator who was entombed in space to prevent her from passing on her sorceress power , but now Adel becomes Ultimecia ' s new vessel while Rinoa is left to die in space . Squall saves Rinoa and the president of Esthar , Laguna , hires the SeeDs to fell Ultimecia . They learn Laguna looked after the orphaned Ellone when she was a child before they were separated and Ellone ended up in Edea ' s Orphanage . She has been wishing to reunite with Laguna and Squall , and thus sent Squall back in time in a dream , trying to change the course of events . The SeeDs defeat Seifer and Adel , and with Ellone ' s help trigger the time compression and travel to the future where they defeat Ultimecia . As the timeline is fixed Squall goes too far back in time with the dying Ultimecia who passes on her sorceress power to the Edea of the past orphanage . Squall unknowingly sets his own destiny into motion by telling Edea to found the Garden , but with Rinoa ' s help he returns to his own time . Everyone heads to Balamb Garden to celebrate while Seifer returns to a normal life and Ellone has finally reunited with Laguna . Themes . " Final Fantasy VIII " strives for thematic combination of fantasy and realism . To this end , " Final Fantasy VIII " was the first " Final Fantasy " game to have realistically proportioned characters — a departure from the super deformed designs used in the previous titles . The game locations were designed to resemble real world locations , rental cars and trains are used for in - game travel instead of fantasy - like vehicles , and to enhance the feeling of realism , motion capture technology was used to give the characters lifelike movements . Different nations and factions in " Final Fantasy VIII " have their own flags , their designs based on the country / group ' s history and culture . " Final Fantasy VIII " marks the turn of the series toward a " young adult " genre , similar to the . It was designed to be bright and fresh in feel , an inversion of atmosphere from the previous two games , " Final Fantasy VI " and " Final Fantasy VII " . This decision manifests in the location designs in the use colors , such as the aquamarine and pink design of Balamb Garden or the overall design of Esthar , and even war - ravaged and poor locations , such as Trabia Garden , are displayed as sunny , vibrant and lively , as opposed to the shadowy oppressed slum atmosphere present in " Final Fantasy VII " . The strive for light and bright feel , however , can conflict with the plot and the characters can appear indifferent and unable to react to tragic events with the seriousness one would expect them to exhibit ; for example , after Rinoa has become comatose only Squall appears worried about her , whereas the others remain their cheerful selves , even when Rinoa and her condition is the topic of discussion . Still , one can identify a running theme within the game : dealing with the aftermath of war and tragedy and how people continue on despite of it . The story focuses on Squall Leonhart , his love interest Rinoa Heartilly , and a small group of Squall ' s friends and rival . Whereas in " Final Fantasy VI " and " Final Fantasy VII " most characters have some playable scenario or side quests of their own , the characters in Squall ' s party are in more of a supportive role . To strengthen the main character ' s role the player has less control over his actions in the form of dialogue choices , and as a unique feature in the series , the player can see the main character ' s thoughts communicated via transparent text boxes . The story is a coming of age one with a group of orphans originally trained to become mercenaries and fight for the sake of the world . School themes are heavy throughout , representing the carefree days of youth , as well as the struggles of growing up . Maturity , tradition and duty are emphasized ; as Squall graduates his actions make him a role model and the succeeding leader of the next generation of SeeDs . Though each character starts as something different from what they end up becoming , they share a common background ( except for Rinoa , whose background ties to Squall ' s ) , and its discovery becomes the turning point for the party ' s motivations . The bonds formed between the party get a central role to juxtapose with Squall ' s initial position as someone who relies on no one , and as he remains lost in the void of time compression ' s collapse Rinoa ' s love brings him back , transcending and breaking its hold on him . A major theme is fate and predestination , as well as common Japanese themes of impermanence and inevitable loss ( called " " ) , however the latter themes have been somewhat toned down in the English version ; during the final battle Ultimecia asks the party to reflect on their childhoods , but in the Japanese version she explains that childhood feelings fade away as time waits no one , making clinging onto them pointless . The story focuses on moving on from the past by showing the cast ' s childhoods ' ends , and Ellone and Laguna ' s quests , but ultimately , although all things come to an end , the bonds between one another lead to new beginnings . The game ' s antagonist , Ultimecia , is aware of the prophecy of how she would meet her end at the hands of the " legendary SeeD . " To escape her fate she pursues time compression to make her the all - ruling god of the universe , but unknown to her time compression allows the " legendary SeeD " to reach her and destroy her . Garden and SeeD exist to train these " legendary SeeDs " to one day fight Ultimecia as per Edea ' s encounter with Squall in the game ' s ending , but Squall himself has no knowledge of his role until the end . In keeping with the theme of fate , the characters are often displaced through time in the roles of Laguna , Kiros and Ward , thus being able to " live " through past history , although never having the power to change what has been . Ellone ( whose power allows the party to travel in time ) touches this subject when she explains to Squall that although one can ' t change the course of events they can learn and grow through these experiences , bringing again the theme of the importance of growth , and learning from the past to achieve a brighter future . Music . The game ' s soundtrack was Nobuo Uematsu ' s 23rd work for Square . Released on four compact discs by DigiCube in Japan , and by Square EA in North America , a special orchestral arrangement of selected tracks from the game ( arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi ) was released under the title " " , and a collection of piano arrangements ( performed by Shinko Ogata ) was released under the title " " . The " Final Fantasy VIII " theme song , " Eyes on Me " , which Uematsu wrote and produced for Hong Kong pop diva Faye Wong , sold a record - breaking 400 , 000 copies , placing it as the best - selling video game music disc in Japan until the release of " Hikari " by Hikaru Utada for " Kingdom Hearts " . It won " Song of the Year ( Western Music ) " at the 14th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1999 , the first time a song from a video game ever won the honor . Another popular song from the score is " Liberi Fatali , " a Latin choral piece played during the game ' s intro . The sorceress theme " FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC " was mixed with " Liberi Fatali " and played during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens during the women ' s synchronized swimming event . The Black Mages , a band that arranged music from " Final Fantasy " video games into rock music , arranged five pieces from " Final Fantasy VIII " . These are " Force Your Way " from " The Black Mages " published in 2003 , " The Man with the Machine Gun " and " Maybe I ' m a Lion " , from " " , published in 2004 , and " The Extreme " and " Premonition " from " " . Development . " Final Fantasy VIII " follows " Final Fantasy VI " and " Final Fantasy VII " in displaying a world with high technology , diverging from the more traditional medieval feel of the original titles . " Final Fantasy VIII " diverges further still by focusing the story on the characters over the world events . Character designer Tetsuya Nomura wanted the game to have a " school days " feel . Because Yoshinori Kitase already had a story in mind in which the main characters were the same age , the idea worked . Thus , they created the concept of military school - like academies in which the students would train to become mercenaries . Further on , scenario writer Kazushige Nojima planned for the two playable parties featured in the game — Squall ' s present day group and Laguna ' s group of twenty years in the past — to contrast with one another . Leading to Laguna ' s group consisting of characters in their late twenties and have a lot of combat and teamwork experience , while Squall ' s party was young and inexperienced , and Squall himself not initially able to understand the value of friendship . With " Final Fantasy VII " , the main protagonist ( Cloud Strife ) had a reserved nature that led Nojima to include scenarios in which the player can select Cloud ' s responses to certain situations and dialogue . With " Final Fantasy VIII " , Nojima wanted to give players actual insight into what the protagonist was thinking and feeling , even while the other characters remained uninformed . This led to Squall ' s " internal monologues " that appear in transparent text boxes throughout the game . Kitase also expressed desire to give the game a deliberately foreign , largely European atmosphere . As part of this theme various designs were created using the style of ancient Egyptian and Greek architecture , as well as styles from the cities of France and idealized European societies seen in various artworks . Additionally , Kitase explained that the game ' s logo — Squall and Rinoa embracing — was inspired by the team ' s efforts to express emotion through body language . The team knew that the Rinoa and Squall scene was a big moment in the game , so they asked Yoshitaka Amano to draw this for the logo . Its red to yellow gradient reflects the sunset in the background of the moment Rinoa is falling toward Squall in the opening cinematic . This aim was also referred throughout the game ; utilizing the game models to physically display their emotions and actions alongside the text boxes , as well as using updated CG full motion video s , which were far more advanced in detail than any " Final Fantasy " game that had come previously , to convey a kind of " silent movie " operatic atmosphere that didn ' t rely on words to convey their meaning . " Final Fantasy VIII " is the first mainline title in the series to have " millennium silver " as the color of the menu and dialogue windows , since the color was popular in the late 90 ' s as the world was about to enter a new millennium . This trend was also continued in " Final Fantasy IX " . In terms of character artwork , " Final Fantasy VIII " reflected Nomura ' s preferred technique at the time , as opposed to " Final Fantasy VII " , which featured characters that " weren ' t really his style " . The team had decided to use realistically proportioned characters ; the higher level of full motion video technology would have otherwise created an inconsistency between the in - game graphics and the higher definition full motion video graphics . After " Final Fantasy VII " was finished , the development team thought players would feel something is off with the difference in proportion between the character models in battle and on the field , and so in " Final Fantasy VIII " the character proportions on the field and battle were kept the same . Nomura ended up altering each of the characters before they reached the final design stage , which required sacrificing his original intentions . For instance , he had originally wanted Seifer to be involved in a love triangle with Rinoa and Squall . As another example Quistis was originally going to be designed with a short skirt , but in the end was given a long skirt worn over pants . Rinoa was originally planned to wear a mini - skirt over shorts , but this led to a conflict as he wished to have at least one female lead wearing a skirt , and a compromise was made with Selphie ' s design : she was originally intended to be wearing overalls , but Nomura decided that her outfit should be something of a combination of the two , resulting in her overalls - skirt look . A demo version of " Final Fantasy VIII " was released both for the PlayStation and the PC . One of the games that came with a demo was " " . As was common at the time , the localization team wouldn ' t get the actual files until months into development , and had to play and record the game itself to translate it off the screen to meet the looming deadline . Ports . PC version . " Final Fantasy VIII " was the second " Final Fantasy " game to be ported to a Windows platform . It was released on December 31 , 1999 and re - released on December 5 , 2013 for Steam . The Steam version comes with several in - game enhancements , including a speed - up option to fast - forward through cutscenes and FMVs , as well as built - in cheats , such as " Battle assist " , which makes battles almost impossible to lose . Similar to " Final Fantasy VII " , the re - release version comes with the Magic Booster feature that allows the player to boost their characters ' magics to 100 . Achievements and cloud save data storage are also available . Windowed mode and high resolution displays ( up to 1920x1080 @ 60Hz ) are now supported . However , the game still uses the original midi songs from the 1999 version , rather than the PlayStation version music , unlike the 2012 re - released " Final Fantasy VII " that has received a musical update . " Chocobo World " is playable directly from the launcher after booting up " Final Fantasy VIII " . System requirements . These system requirements are for the re - released version . Reception . At the time of its release " Final Fantasy VIII " received positive reviews and was commercially successful . After its North American release , Square Electronic Arts announced " Final Fantasy VIII " had sold a near unprecedented amount of units . The game was the number one selling video game in the United States across all video game software categories and remained on the top spot for three weeks . " Final Fantasy VIII " grossed a total of more than $ 50 million in the 13 weeks to follow , making it the fastest - selling " Final Fantasy " title at the time . In Japan it sold more than 3 . 3 million units within the first month of release and more than 6 million units were sold by the end of 1999 . As of March 31 , 2003 , the game had shipped 8 . 15 million copies worldwide : 3 . 7 million in Japan and 4 . 45 million overseas . At the time , " Final Fantasy VIII " was generally viewed as a leap forward from " Final Fantasy VII " in terms of graphics , but many criticized the junction system as being overly complicated . Many critics praised the game ' s storyline , but some found it inconsistent in quality and that some plot twists were too sudden with not enough setting up beforehand , leaving players feeling indifferent , although many also praised the game ' s character development and called " Final Fantasy VIII " the pinnacle of the RPG genre . In 2002 , IGN named " Final Fantasy VIII " the seventh best title for the PlayStation of all time , placing higher on the list than " Final Fantasy VII " . " Final Fantasy VIII " was voted by " Famitsu " readers as the 22nd best game of all time in 2006 , and was named one of the 20 essential Japanese role - playing games by " Gamasutra " , stating " There ' s a lot that Final Fantasy VIII does wrong , but there ' s even more that it does right . " Allusions . " Final Fantasy VIII " makes references to other " Final Fantasy " and Square games , to the number eight , " Star Wars " , " 2001 : A Space Odyssey " , among others . To date , " Final Fantasy VIII " has the highest number of " Star Wars " - inspired names , including Biggs and Wedge , Nida , Piet and Martine , who is named Dodonna in the Japanese version .