These are the notes I took during a replay of Final Fantasy VIII between 2013 and 2016. I originally posted these to my blog. In some cases, I may have expanded on these thoughts elsewhere on this website, so it's possible some sections will sound familiar.
Any annotations from the present day (2024) are in [square brackets].
26 November 2013
There is a strong possibility that I have played Final Fantasy VIII too many times. I started it after completing Final Fantasy VII (at last! I thought I was doomed never to finish that game, what with malfunctioning memory cards ruining my first playthrough and my own malfunctioning memory meaning I completely forgot where I was supposed to be going on my second, but it finally happened), because it seemed a logical next step, and I was quite unsettled to realise that I knew every event of the first few hours in advance. I knew the gist of every conversation in advance. I knew the name of every monster on the island of Balamb, taking the Fire Cavern and Training Centre into account, and I can probably name quite a large percentage of the monsters in the wider world as well. (For context: I've just finished Final Fantasy VII, and the only non-boss enemies in that game I can name are 'Jumping' and 'Soldier (2nd Class)'.)
Final Fantasy VIII has had an immense impact on my life; I think Pokémon is the only other work of fiction that's had a comparable effect. I have no idea who or where I'd be without it.
That isn't an exaggeration. This game helped me learn to empathise with other people; by presenting me with Squall, a character whose thoughts and feelings I could understand, it helped me realise that the thoughts and feelings of other people didn't have to be an impenetrable mystery. It's also indirectly the reason I started keeping a blog, and I currently live with a friend I made through Livejournal. Goodness knows what's going on in the parallel universe in which I never played it. I'm probably on my third Nobel Prize by now, considering all the time I haven't been wasting on things like blogging and videogames and friendship.
[I speak more about how strongly I connected with Squall as a kid on this page.]
I love Zell's anxiety when it looks like you're about to take Selphie's shortcut in the field exam. 'Squall... You're not gonna... It's a cliff, man...' Bless him. He may not always think things through, but he can be surprisingly sensible sometimes, and his moments of concern always make me smile. I want to be friends with him.
To jump ahead in the game a bit: I think my very favourite dialogue option in Final Fantasy VIII is one that comes up when Squall and Rinoa are reunited, if you sent Rinoa to the missile base (I don't usually send her there, as you miss out on some scenes if you do, so - tragically - I don't often get the opportunity to see this):
Rinoa: I miss'd ya. ...You know, I thought I was gonna die at the missile base. ...That's when I really missed you.
Squall: .........
Squall: Why?
SQUALL.
12 December 2013
Balamb Garden, MD level. Squall, Zell and Rinoa come across an unstable-looking ladder. If you choose the 'Someone else go check it out' option:
Squall: (I'll have someone else check it out.)
Squall: (Zell and Rinoa...)
Squall: (Zell...)
Squall: (Rinoa...)
Squall: I'll go take a look. You two wait here.
This is possibly my favourite bit of Squall-characterisation in the game; it's a rather lovely glimpse behind his efforts to tell himself he doesn't care. And almost nobody will ever see it! Because what videogame player, presented with an intriguingly wobbly ladder, doesn't go straight for the 'I'll check it out myself' option? I managed to play through this game at least four times without ever knowing this moment of conflict was in there.
There's something oddly relaxing about playing Final Fantasy VIII the way I generally do, where every fight takes ages because I'm busy drawing magic to make my characters ridiculously overpowered. It becomes a very slow game, but there's something almost therapeutic about it. It's a bit like knitting.
(Apart from when I'm drawing Zombie, because I can't help finding that hilarious. I'M NOT SURE I WANT TO RECEIVE ALL THESE ZOMBIES.)
I still love it when Squall suddenly yells 'I'M NOT HAVING ANYONE TALK ABOUT ME IN THE PAST TENSE' and runs out of the room.
The Deling City assassination mission is interesting because it really makes it clear that, for all the cast's military-esque training and combat expertise, they're still just kids. Quistis screws up because she feels guilty for losing her temper with Rinoa. Irvine chokes. It really brings home the fact that these mercenaries are sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years old. They shouldn't be fighting in wars and carrying out assassination orders. They're teenagers.
Finally (and this is a terrible juxtaposition with the previous paragraph): that D-District scene in which Squall is crucified and tortured for information he doesn't have is hotter than I remembered. WHOOPS.
21 March 2015
Zell's mother carries some useful cards, so I'll often drop by her house and challenge her to a few games of Triple Triad. It's sort of cute, when I think about it. I like to imagine Zell is slightly weirded out by the developing friendship between Squall and his mother.
I don't quite understand why NORG goes 'OH, CID'S OBVIOUSLY TRYING TO TAKE THIS GARDEN AWAY FROM ME AND YOU'RE ONE OF HIS FOLLOWERS, PREPARE TO DIE' just before he attacks you. It seems to be a flimsy excuse for a boss fight, but... they don't need a flimsy excuse for a boss fight. NORG already has a very good reason for attacking you, which he laid out earlier in the same conversation: he wants to get rid of the SeeDs involved in the assassination attempt as a goodwill gesture towards the sorceress.
Also, 'THAT-PATHETIC-MARRIED-COUPLE'S' continues to be the clumsiest dramatic reveal I've ever seen. Even 'THAT-PATHETIC-HUSBAND-AND-WIFE'S' at least sounds slightly more like something someone somewhere might conceivably say.
There's generally a lot I don't understand about NORG.
YOU CAN DISCOVER THE CAFETERIA LADY'S WAYWARD SON IN FISHERMANS HORIZON. I can't believe I'm still learning new things about this game! (I've also learnt that Fishermans Horizon, counterintuitively, doesn't appear to be written with an apostrophe. This makes me a bit uncomfortable.)
I also didn't know about the adorable sidequest you can do during Balamb's occupation, where you distract a guard so Big Bad Rascal can get a message from the hotel owners, trapped outside the town, to their daughter.
Also on the subject of things I've never seen before: when Selphie puts on a concert for Squall and Rinoa, it seems obvious that you should make them play 'Eyes on Me'. But you shouldn't! Because the scene with the Irish jig in the background is actually much better. I hadn't realised there was a version of that scene in which Rinoa didn't storm out.
Rinoa: We all love you. There, I said it. Please don't freak out.
Awww.
Finally, a bit from the bridge-crossing to Esthar that really shocked me:
Zell: Is the princess still asleep?
Quistis: She might wake up with a kiss from the prince.
QUISTIS, RINOA IS IN A COMA AND THAT IS A HORRIBLE THING TO SAY TO SQUALL. The attempts at matchmaking in this game are so inappropriate!
10 September 2016
There's a picture of Winhill in Esthar's Presidential Palace. I never noticed it before, in all the thousands of times I've played Final Fantasy VIII. Oh, Laguna.
And that's the end of my notes from my 2013–2016 playthrough of Final Fantasy VIII! You can also read my notes from my 2008 playthrough or my 2021 playthrough if you're interested.