Just beat Omega Weapon and Ultimecia: time to officially review FF8 REMASTER

Hoo-boy what a ride. I just remembered why I stopped playing this game without a GameShark. Sure, the enhancements from the remaster ease some of the issues, but the game is very flawed and rushed. But let's do the ratings part: since this is a videogame the scales are doubled for the ratings.

Graphics:

The game is a mixed bag:

Characters got graphical enhancements that make them look PS2-like but the prerendered backgrounds remained untouched. I mentioned that some people were prerendered in some backgrounds, which makes the difference between things you can interact with and things you can't, rather jarring.

5.0

Music and sounds:

Nobuo Uematsu showcases his mastery here. You got plenty of awesome themes like:

Liberi Gatali, Blue Fields, Shuffle or Boogie, Man with the Machine Gun, Never Look Back, even the weakest song is a banger.

9.5

Story:

Fuck this with a rusty spoon. I already bitched about it here. It stinks, I don't like it andnow it makes sense why it sucks, since development was rushed and a ton of story as cut out.

4.5 because I'm feeling generous... and Selphie made some threats.

Gameplay:

It's a turn based JRPG. But unlike most JRPGs, Squaresoft tried something different with the Junction and Draw systems. Basically you equip summons in order to use abilities, like drawing Magic. Basically you steal magic from the enemy for you to NOT use later, since Magic is what you use to raose your stats in the junction system. At least the card mini game is cool.

6.5

Controls:

Like I said, it's a turn based JRPG, so you spend most of the time managing menus, or moving your character through the world map. The cars are not that great to use. Some inputs for Squall, Irvine, and Zell's limit breaks can be slightly iffy.

8.5

Fun Factor :

Mixed bag here. We get fun things like Triple Triad, but then there's frustrating and biring things like Laguna fighting the dragon or Squall foghting the paratrooper. There's too many fetch quests.

7.5

Overall:

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered gets a miserable 6.92 as its final score. The game had a lot already going against it, since it's one of the weaker Final Fantasies. This remaster being so half-assed doesn't do the game any favors. Despite the ton of flaws, Selphie has a soft spot in my heart... BOOYAKA!!