Final Fantasy 8 Preview

Aj... Japan... Land of the rising Sun is far, far away from us, and yet there are some things that transcend the obstacles of distance and land straight onto our PCs. If you are a RPG fan, or a fan of PC games in general, you know what I’m talking about. It’s that crazy PSX title from Square Soft that has so far sold in over 25,000,000 copies worldwide. The 8^th installment of Final Fantasy series is just around the corner. The scheduled date for the PC version release is 25 January, not far from today. So naturally, being the fan of the ‘movement’, I decided to gather some information about the title, play a demo, and share some thoughts on what you might expect from the game. First of all, let me just say that Japanese games have a very distinctive style, and as with most of the things originating from ‘The Far East’ they take some time getting used to. I was never quite able to pin-point what exactly attracted me to Final Fantasy series, as I am mostly a shoot ‘em up kind of a guy, but the combination of a good story, along with the meticulous attention to the details surrounding it had definitely something to do with it. Final Fantasy RPG captures the essence of epics, showing love, tragedy, conflict, and mixes it up with magic, luring the player to propel the unfolding storyline forward. The game sort of reminds me of Russian romantic novels, with the characters evolving into heroes of the day, or ultimate villains. Throw in a couple of nice babes making passes at you and you have a setting irresistible to many of the gamers with just a shred of imagination in their souls.

Visuals...

Watch out boy! Shiva is about to lay down the smack on you!

Man, don't mess with the tidal wave. T-Rex or no T-Rex...

Final Fantasy 8 is no different in that sense, but what is different is the completely reshaped artistic approach, look and feel of the game. Gone are the Manga style little creatures from the FF7. Characters in FF8 look far superior with more natural movement animations, higher poly count, and an overall looks closer to what is seen in some of the western style comic books. Don’t get me wrong, Manga art is still very much a factor, but it has morphed into a more westernish, life-like variant. One of the things left over from the prequel are the background settings in all their 320x200 "beauty". There is a certain progress made. I could even spot a light flare animation here and there, but that is not nearly enough to satisfy or compensate for the rest of the games grandiose visuals. Along with the backgrounds, in-game dialogue is also written in a 320x200 resolution. We all know the boundaries of PSX, but lacking in such small details can really mean a lot when dealing with PC fans.

In a stark contrast to the puny text font, and better (but not good) backgrounds, animations and the spectacle of watching the real-time rendered fighting sequences is simply amazing. Here you can sense the full grandness of the Japanese art, in a sense of their graphical achievements. It’s not so much the number of polys, as it is the imagination and the precision with which the ideas are materialized.

Guardian Forces

That is best shown through Guardian Forces, a central part of combat and your character’s effectiveness. FF7 Materia is now replaced with the concept of Guardian Forces. Call them spirits if you like, they are the creatures that your character will summon during the combat in order to inflict damage on the enemies. GFs represent the powerful fantasy beings on your side, some of which make a triumphant return, such as Shiva, and Ifrit - the fire demon. In the spirit of classic epic stories, some of the Guarding Forces will have to be defeated by your character before they can join you. GFs include:

Quezacotl - One of the first Guardians to join you on the quest.

Shiva - Ice based GF that does some of its best work against fire-based enemies. Her ferocious attack is included in the demo, and it looks quite cold and spectacular...

Siren - Also included in the demo version, Siren can protect you from the Silence and Sleep attacks, and can also cast Silence herself... She has the ability to help you locate hard-to-find Draw and Save Points. If you’ve taken a look at some of the FF8 screenshots on the net, Siren is the one with a leaf over her... well the place where women usually wear panties.

Diablos - One of those GFs you have to defeat before it will join you. Diablos comes out of the cursed magic lamp, at first weak in his powers, but gradually evolving with practice...

Cerebrus - I know I’m no Thesaurus, but this double-headed dog from ancient Greece is definitely back to settle some scores. Luckily, this time he’s on our side (if defeated). I’ve read somewhere that a source from Square Soft is saying this is one of the meaner GFs around.

Leviathan - Boy, I love this guy. The dragon is in the demo, and is responsible for the famous Tsunami tidal wave. This is certainly the best combat animation I’ve seen so far, which makes me all the more eager to get my hands on the final version of the game.

Jumbo Cactaur - Although it looks pretty silly, basically like a giant cactus, Jumbo is one of the toughest GFs out there. Imagine all of its needles grouping in one powerful sudden burst of energy. It’s a deadly sight for any enemy to encounter...

Combat/Magic

The rest of the combat system includes a pretty similar concept to what we experienced in FF7. Changes in the system are pretty subtle, and are yet to be fully investigated with the full version of the title. Turn-based, time limit style is still in force, only this time you’ll have to pay more attention to the timing of the Limit Breaks in order to utilize their maximum effect. Some of the novelties of the Magic system include the possibility of drawing magic from the enemies, rather than just casting it. You can also draw magic from the drawing points... PSX style menus are visually almost identical to the ones in FF7, and the concept of gaining experience points after battles, and reaching certain levels is very much the same. You can Junction your magic, use objects and do all other neat things that make Final Fantasy VIII one of the better RPGs around.

Entering the World of Final Fantasy...

You have to be prepared then... You are entering the Square Soft created world as Squall, eccentric, strong-silent type of a hero. Squall is a member of Balamb Garden Military, with a SeeD (elite special combat group) entrance exams on his mind. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I can tell you that Squall will become a member of SeeD. Final Fantasy VIII story involves two warring countries Galbadia and Dollet. Our hero is forced into conflict on the side of Galbadia, and something tells me that one of the principle female characters (it’s a wild guess) will be a native of Dollet. As I said I’m guessing here, but FF8 story, and the general style give off that feeling of mythical Greek tragedies, true sense of struggle between good and evil.

And what better way to represent these magic stricken happenings than with the most elaborate and well-done FMV sequences ever to grace my PC. I mean if you’re looking for a showstopper; animations and computer characters you just wish were touchable (especially the females), look no further. Square Soft boys were able to obtain the original hi-res movie frames from the original FFVIII PSX development team, and used a new movie compression and playback technology. As a result PC FMV sequences run at twice the resolution of the Playstation. And that’s just the beginning. Looking at the ballroom scene in the demo I had to pinch myself to believe somebody could create something as beautiful as that using today’s technology. The movement of the female character when she’s walking on high heals, facial expressions, her hare; everything looks so beautiful you’d wish you were watching a Final Fantasy VIII movie. Creativity of the scenes, lush and elaborate design of the FMVs, fantastic real time rendered combat scenes, good storyline... Final Fantasy VIII is simply sucking you into its world... We’ll see who can resist its charms once it hits the shelves around the end of January.