Introduction
Hello, I'm Cool Ghost. In this thread, I will be doing an LP of Final Fantasy VIII.
What is Final Fantasy VIII?
Final Fantasy VIII is a video game, originally released by Squaresoft for the PSX in 1999. This was also the first Final Fantasy game I finished (but FFVII was the first one I played). This was back in the days when Final Fantasy games came out semi-regularly, and it was on the heels of Final Fantasies IV, VI, and VII, at least in America, which tend to be favourites for a lot of people. This game is not a favourite for a lot of people. Personally, I don't mind it, but I also know that quite a bit of that is nostalgia.
This game is kind of weird, mechanically; if you don't know what you're doing, it's a slog, and if you do, it's really easy to break it. I'm not planning on doing a lot of that second one, for two reasons: A, it's boring; B, it's boring to see someone just cheese the game. That's the preamble done I guess.
Anyway, let's play a game, shall we?
Table of Contents
- Part One: Magical Feathers and Metaphors
- Part Two: School "Daze"
- Part Three: Information Dump "Daze"
- Part Four: Exploring Balamb Garden
- Part Five: The Fire Cavern
- Part Six: Test Prep
- Part Seven: The SeeD Exam, Part 1
- Part Eight: The SeeD Exam, Part 2
- Part Nine: I Think I Can Still Get Three More Out of the SeeD Exam
- Part Ten: Test Results
- Part Eleven: Graduation
- Part Twelve: Quistis's Bad Day
- Part Thirteen: Fun With Chattin' and Readin'
- Part Fourteen: Takin' the Train
- Part Fifteen: Squall's Sexy Dream
- Part Sixteen: The Owls
- Part Seventeen: Really, This is the One I Should Have Called "Taking the Train"
- Part Eighteen: The Occupied Town
- Part Nineteen: Fifteen Minutes of Fame
- Part Twenty: Regrouping
- Part Twenty-One: Last Train to East Academy Station
- Part Twenty-Two: Laguna's Guide to the Centra Underground Scene
- Part Twenty-Three: Another Garden
- Part Twenty-Four: The Mission
- Part Twenty-Five: Into the Heart of Galbadia
- Part Twenty-Six: Deling City Vacation Slides
- Part Twenty-Seven: Caraway
- Part Twenty-Eight: What Comes Naturally
- Part Twenty-Nine: Sorceress Edea's Speechmaking Class
- Part Thirty: The Shot
- Part Thirty-One: Peaceful Living
- Part Thirty-Two: Monster Hunter
- Part Thirty-Three: In the Jailhouse Now
- Part Thirty-Four: Zell Saves the Day
- Part Thirty-Five: The Rescue
- Part Thirty-Six: Jailbreak
- Part Thirty-Seven: Shifting Gears
- Part Thirty-Eight: Selphie Goes to War
- Part Thirty-Nine: Going Home
- Part Forty: Garden in Chaos
- Part Forty-One: Going Down With the Ship
- Part Forty-Two: Mobile
- Part Forty-Three: The Garden Master
- Part Forty-Four: World's Greatest Navigator
- Part Forty-Five: New Horizons
- Part Forty-Six: No More Drifting
- Part Forty-Seven: Diplomats Horizon
- Part Forty-Eight: Fishy Ho
- Part Forty-Nine: Master Fisherman's FHistory
- Part Fifty: How to Get Ahead in SeeD
- Part Fifty-One: Just, Fuckin'...Thirty Goddamn Pianos
- Part Fifty-Two: drumfan1988 posted: Where's the drum?
- Part Fifty-Three: Casting Off
- Part Fifty-Four: Going Nowhere
- Part Fifty-Five: Dollet Dog
- Part Fifty-Six: Sidequests!
- Part Fifty-Seven: Cool Boss (NOT AN IDIOT)
- Part Fifty-Eight: Nothing Removes Sleep.
- Part Fifty-Nine: Back to Balamb
- Part Sixty: Take Me to the Captain
- Part Sixty-One: Garden Check-In
- Part Sixty-Two: Up North
- Part Sixty-Three: Grief
- Part Sixty-Four: A Revelation
- Part Sixty-Five: Trabia Garden, Supplemental
- Part Sixty-Six: Part-Time Help
- Part Sixty-Seven: Clash of the Gardens
- Part Sixty-Eight: Desperate Times
- Part Sixty-Nine: Assault on Galbadia Garden
- Part Seventy: Confrontation
- Part Seventy-One: Calm After the Storm
- Part Seventy-Two: Work is a Four-Letter Word
- Part Seventy-Three: Dragonslayer Laguna
- Part Seventy-Four: Connection
- Part Seventy-Five: Straw Grasper
- Part Seventy-Six: White SeeD Ship of Dreams
- Part Seventy-Seven: How Squall Ended Up Going to Esthar
- Part Seventy-Eight: A Quick Check-In
- Part Seventy-Nine: Horizon Bridge
- Part Eighty: Salt Flat Epic
- Part Eighty-One: Into the Sky Hole
- Part Eighty-Two: Science Gulag
- Part Eighty-Three: Laguna's Last Dance
- Part Eighty-Four: Esthar
- Part Eighty-Five: I'm Lost
- Part Eighty-Six: Other Side of the Curtain
- Part Eighty-Seven: Zell Leads the Way
- Part Eighty-Eight: Lunatic Pandora
- Part Eighty-Nine: SeeDs in Space
- Part Ninety: Don't Fuck with the Moon
- Part Ninety-One: Leap of Faith
- Part Ninety-Two: Space Oddities
- Part Ninety-Three: "Eyes on Me"
- Part Ninety-Four: Landings and Take Offs
- Part Ninety-Five: Back in Town
- Part Ninety-Six: Squall's Sorceress Rescue
- Part Ninety-Seven: Variations on a Scene (Oath by the Sea)
- Part Ninety-Eight: Sorceress's K***ht
- Part Ninety-Nine: The Statue and the Man
- Part One Hundred: Train Man
- Part One Hundred and One: Battleship Island
- Part One Hundred and Two: Chocobo World Tour
- Part One Hundred and Three: Weird Stuff
- Part One Hundred and Four: Interstellar Hitcher
- Part One Hundred and Five: Abolish the Card Monarchy
- Part One Hundred and Six: The President of Esthar
- Part One Hundred and Seven: The Ultimate Plan
- Part One Hundred and Eight: Quistis's Quest
- Part One Hundred and Nine: The Crystal Pillar
- Part One Hundred and Ten: Revolutionary
- Part One Hundred and Eleven: Rinoa Gets Junctioned
- Part One Hundred and Twelve: The Ending World
- Part One Hundred and Thirteen: Time-Compressed World
- Part One Hundred and Fourteen: Under the Sea
- Part One Hundred and Fifteen: Loose Ends
- Part One Hundred and Sixteen: Das Schloss
- Part One Hundred and Seventeen: Ultimecia's Art Dungeon
- Part One Hundred and Eighteen: Fight! Fight!
- Part One Hundred and Nineteen: The Final Battle
- Part One Hundred and Twenty: End of Time
Bonus Updates
- Balamb Garden Info Archives
- SeeD Exam Outtakes
- Incompetence at the Missile Base
- Revisiting Deling City
- Boco Saves the World: Chocobo World Side Quest (by MagusofStars)
- A Comment on Fan Theories (Spoilers for the Whole Game Inside)
Fan Art (Some light spoilers here)
inverts shows us who really thought Laguna was cute during the train dream.
Variant_Eris demonstrates the utility of Selphie's approach to problem-solving.
inverts illustrates Squall's plan for a surprise attack.
yokaiy presents a cautionary tale of gunblades.
After someone pointed out that Edea's parade synched up with the song "Thriller", Comrade Fakename linked this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p_ENriuXqk
Cavelcade presents a theory of why Adel's so ill-adjusted:
and Burger Flipper illustrates a great gift for her:
Burger Flipper also illustrated the effects of 10,000 Needles:
Battle Pigeon doctored up an image of Adel's magical specialty:
Burger Flipper summarises Laguna's role in developing the final mission plan:
and then continues on to reveal the true villain of the game:
FeyerbrandX on the topic of hot dogs:
FeyerbrandX posted:
If you bring something up in the first act, it better get eaten in the third.
And Daigerus illustrates one of the proposed names for DoomHouse:
(inspired by this post:)
Trick Question posted:
That's not Alexander, that's iron MikeTyson.