It was all here, epic FMV sequences set to Nobuo Uematsus rousing score.
For whatFinal Fantasy VIIIdoes well, it deserves another look.
If not a phoenix downd rebirth on the level of its predecessor.
It brought backVIs geopolitical intrigues and potential collective doom.
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Furthermore,VIIImanaged to not bog itself down with labyrinthian plots.
The world itself is unnamed, and its handful of tense world powers dont come with reams of backstory.
Its a pleasant throwback to the pixel era.
To populate it,Final Fantasy VIIItakes the hero squads of old and twists them up.
The reasons why take a little time to play out.
Seifer, the bully, is a kind ofStand By Me-era Kiefer Sutherland.
Squall is the emotionally stunted introvert that thankfully missed the incel era.
Zell is the sports guy and Irvine is Cowboy Ken.
The ladies have Qustis as the Ice Queen and Selphie as The Pixie.
Aerith Gainsborough died so Rinoa Heartilly could fly.
Ironic that its conflict that sees them grow and remember.
Now, though, its a conflict with a purpose.
Its also a surprising early text about toxic masculinity.
The duels and bullying between Seifer and Squall happen because there are few other emotional outlets in their lives.
Thats especially true of Seifer who relies on his physical prowess to feel worthy.
He ends up becoming a knight for Edea because its all he knows.
In contrast to his predecessor, Cloud, his growth as a person isnt triggered by his conflict.
He becomes Rinoas knight out of kindness and respect.
When was the last timeFinal Fantasydid that?
Edea, under the sway of another Sorceress, Ultimecia, uses these fears to her advantage.
Somewhere in Esthar is a guy yelling misogynistic slurs into a Est-Tube vid about this.
Its a legend thats true, up to a point.
What we dont have is any first-hand confirmation that this happened to theFinal Fantasygames in question.
His version of the story ends with his admittedly logical belief that the original code forVIIwas gone.
From there, it was assumed thatVIIIexperienced the same problem.
Its a fair guess, extrapolated from an infamously bad PC port.
Jank controls, shit music quality, and frequent crashing made Squall and Rinoas PC journey a disaster.
In 2019, almost twenty years after its original release, the remaster finally dropped for all modern systems.
Furthermore, the biggest critiques of the game arent addressed beyond those God Mode toggles.
Friends, this is not what aFinal Fantasygame deserves.
What if Aerith lived?
was no longer limited to fanfic prompts.
Do we know for certain that the threat of time compression is over?
Is that the only demon in the box?
Therell be more sorceresses after Rinoa, and there were centuries of them before.
Maybe this time Squall is the Laguna, or the Cid,.
