Poll: Magic in FFVIII, once and for all...

[matsugawa]

I'll admit, the middle child of the sacred trinity had to grow on me, but not for the magic system. In fact, that actually had me sold on it from the demo onward; it was just unique and on the whole more efficient than the whole 'point system' with an ether bar (one spell costs X amount, another costs Y... and so on and so forth).

But what was everyone else's take on it? How alone am I in my seeing the Draw system as a breath of fresh air?

 

[Sir Ollie]

The magic system was alright, apart from the Draw system i spent most of the Seifer fight in disc 3 drawing auras

 

[MagnetoHydroDynamics]

Never played it... Should I?

 

[Sir Ollie]

Never played it... Should I?

Its a good game, give it a go at least

 

[Random Argument Man]

I've been planning to buy FF8. Should I be worried about it?

 

[SimuLord]

The magic system was one of the (many) reasons FF8 occupies a position in my all-time bottom 10 games.

 

[Insert Funny Name Here]

I could stand it. Not brilliant. But it didnt stop me completing the game.

 

[randommaster]

It was alright, but the fact that it took forever to stock up on the rarer spells, you know, the ones you actually wanted to junction. Combine this with having to do most of the harvesting during battle, and you get a system that is amazingly boring.

While you on't have to worry about MP anymore, having to manage an inventory of magic for every character made for too much mircomanaging.

 

[Teachingaddict]

I personally loved it

 

[LeonLethality]

bottom 10.... most people dont realise the magic system itself is old the draw system is new the mp system was not in the original you had to buy a certain number of magic, i frankly loved ff8 it was a game i saw no faults in (except how in my disc 3 for some reason squalls gunblade is invisible but i comically view that =D) but anyway maybe im just a fan whatever i loved the game im expressing my opinion, you dont like it, i dont care i dont care to much of yours other than the fact that its an opinion that wont change mine (shit im ranting sorry =D) in the endi liked the junction system mp pisses me off, at least i can cast spells in the beggining without fear of using all my ethers >.> i think though that it should be ff8 exclusive though every ff has to have its own little thing to it that none others do, and junction is ff8's its an either you like it or you dont thing

 

[Meta Like That]

It was something different, and for that, it gets points.

 

[Archemetis]

It was different, different not neceassarily meaning better, of course.

It was an alright system which did work, but when coupled with teh junction system it (at least for me) became awkward to manage and move through.

I mean sure, drawing magic from enemies, It's a system that works but unfortunately became VERY tedious. Mostly to do with the simple fact you draw once, get about 3 fires, draw again, 5 fires, draw some more, 1 fire... It got very boring...
At least until it came to a point where you could make magic from items, That too was a brilliant system which of course could only be utlized with draw system.

The Junction, while serving in not other capacity then to ensure that your characters are overpowered against everything accidently made it so players would be constantly thinking "Oh hell, all my best spells are junctioned to my health and strength stats... I use them and Squall'll get weaker... Shit!"

So it became a problem.

It was a good system that was worth a try, but unfortunately it just had a few little flaws that made it aswkward for me.

At least it wasn't as "Broken" as the leveling curve in that game...

1000 EXP for eevry level with enemies that always give the same amount of EXP which is combatted with enemies who scale in levels as your teams average level rises...

Not very hard to exploit if you have the time...

 

[matsugawa]

Never played it... Should I?

Well, of course I'm going to tell you to because I think it's an under-appreciated gem lodged between a gaming milestone beyond criticism and a polarizing throwback. If you've played VII and IX, you might as well.

It tries a lot of new things, and to its credit, a fair number of them work out well. The occasional action element can feel a little bit shoe-horned, the card battle system (which everyone seems in love with but me) is painfully insubstantial, and the fact that the Guardian Force summon animations are unskippable will wear on your nerves. On the other hand, the draw system is unique (worth a look at least), it's got some genuinely likeable characters, it's probably one of the best time-travel stories written, and it walks an admirably fine line between taking itself too seriously and not taking itself seriously enough.

I could go on, but I won't. Like I said, try it out if nothing else.

 

[-Seraph-]

I did not like it one bit. It felt like a chore and the entire junction system felt like a mess. Frankly I felt the entire combat system was broken when I could virtually GF my way through like 70% of the battles. I was constantly frustrated with the battle mechanics, and really...if the story turns you off that last thing you want is for the battle mechanics to be shit.

 

[matsugawa]

I've been planning to buy FF8. Should I be worried about it?

Depending on where you buy it and in what condition you buy it (used or even new), the game is probably going to cost you 20usd. You can do a lot worse. The only real word of warning I've ever heard anyone attach to FFVIII is never under any circumstances buy the PC version. Stick with Playstation.

 

[bjj hero]

Other than the draw system I found it an empty world. You had to walk over miles of plain and empty space to reach the a handful of cities. Getting the air ship didnt really help, travel got quicker but the landscape looked even more barron from high up.

Gripped me no where near as much as 7, or 12 for that matter.

 

[Sevre]

It was my first Final Fantasy game, but I prefer 9,7,10,12 and Kingdom Hearts 2 if the latter counts.

 

[crono738]

It wasn't horrible, but it did get really...really annoying at times.

 

[Rakenshi1243]

It was pretty bad.. Drawing was just horrible, although the idea of Junction magic was alright. I actually spent most of my time playing the card game than anything else.

 

[Good morning blues]

I don't think I ever figured it out, but at least they tried something different I guess. I thought FF8 was a terrible game all around.