>>713201575FF8 had its critics, but so did FF7. The game was beloved upon release for the most part. In retrospect the game became more divisive because the leveling system is bad, but the story is probably the best out of the golden era FF games. Squall is the strongest protagonist with the clearest character arc. The world design is top notch. However, while the story is the strongest, it does have problems near the end and gets confused. There are some unresolved plot threads.
It feels like the most ambitious FF game and you can tell they bit off more than they could chew because FF9 and FF10 were a little more toned down for better and worse. I love FF8 but will always admit the big issues it has while simultaneously singing its praises. It is genuinely a mixed bag, not in that it is mediocre, in that it has amazing and bad elements.
There is also the issue that the translation of FF8 is a mixed bad and no one is willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile FF7 fans will deflect all criticism on its translation, which is also not that great.
But Spoony was just a JAPANESE GAME BAD guy for the longest time. If it was not a game he played as a kid, and it was Japanese, he went in wanting to hate it because hating on Japanese stuff was cool at the time. Nearly every creator went through that period and it is rightfully considered outdated and cringy because it is. FF8, 9, and 10 are better than 95% of western games AND japanese games. Despite their flaws at least they are fucking ambitious. I'll take an ambitious mess over the West cranking out mediocre mascot platformers or terrible brown and bloom call of duty/gears clones.
