People consider Final Fantasy VIII to be the black sheep of the franchise, which is quite an unfair label for the title. Given the massive reception for Final Fantasy VII, it was only a given that the hype for Final Fantasy VIII would be through the roof and people wouldn’t be satisfied by anything short of an absolute masterpiece. Given how the cards were stacked against Final Fantasy VIII, it’s quite refreshing to see just how excellent the game turned out to be. While the Junction system was admittedly broken, figuring out the best course of action that could be taken to maximize stats early on was still a blast and one of the major draws of the game.
As is the case with any Final Fantasy title, there are still numerous hidden things about Final Fantasy VIII that warrant a second glance. Keeping this in mind, here are ten such elusive aspects of the franchise that need to be looked at in detail.
10 Squall’s Jacket Served As A Challenge For The FMV Team
Tetsuya Nomura’s intentions when it came to Squall’s design was also to challenge the FMV team since they had to animate all the artifacts of a fur-lined jacket as well. This turned out to be good practice since the team also had to animate the visual spectacle that was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
9 Squall Was The First Character Designed For The Game
Squall was also the first character designed for the game, with the scar on his face being the first feature to be integrated since Tetsuya Nomura wanted to hammer in the point that he was the main character. Fun fact: The second character to be designed after Squall… was Selphie!
8 Squall’s Appearance Is Based On Joaquin Phoenix’s Deceased Brother
One thing that most people might not know about is the fact that Squall’s appearance is based on River Phoenix, as per Nomura himself in an interview.
For the people who are unfamiliar with River Phoenix, he was an accomplished musician who is also Joaquin Phoenix’s elder brother. Unfortunately, he passed away at the early age of 23.
7 Selphie’s Limit Break Has Two Unused Spells
Selphie’s Limit Break might be one of the least fun attacks in the game, but one can’t deny that the potential of these attacks is immense. One need only look at the power of The End to validate this point, which can decimate any enemy without any issues whatsoever… including bosses. There were two other spells that were supposed to be a part of these Slots but weren’t integrated into the main game — Percent and Catastrophe. Both spells use the animation for Fire magic in their dummied state, with Percent reducing the lives of foes to a critical state, while Catastrophe hit all enemies for major damage.
6 Triple Triad Cards Were Actually Sold In Real Life
The Triple Triad minigame is one of the best parts of Final Fantasy VIII, with some people even going so far as to state that completing the game is worth it just for this minigame alone.
There are several reasons as to why people absolutely adore this minigame, and the reaction in Japan was even more extreme — in fact, the region even got a physical copy of these Triple Triad cards that were produced by Bandai!
5 Gerogero Was Censored In Western Releases
Gerogero is one of the more revolting bosses in the game, but the original version of this monster was even more disgusting somehow. In the original release, Gerogero has a reddish hue, making his visage — what with all the internal organs scattered about — seem all the more realistic. This was toned down in the Western release, with this boss now appearing more blue-ish in this second form.
4 A Bunch Of Dancers Are Recreating Michael Jackson’s Thriller During Edea’s Parade
One nice bit of detail that most people might not have noticed during Edea’s parade are the masked dancers, who are recreating Michael Jackson’s Thriller to a T with their steps. Of course, most players were too busy getting horrified as Squall got pierced by Edea’s icicles to notice such a cool detail.
3 Fujin And Raijin Were Supposed To Appear In Final Fantasy VII
Seifer’s buddies might seem like nothing more than boss fodder, but they actually end up playing a big role in changing the mentality of this antagonist and bringing him over to the good side after a prolonged series of conflicts. Both Fujin and Raijin were initially created for Final Fantasy VII, but the existence of the Turks made their characters pretty moot in the grand scheme of things. As a result, their contributions were shifted to Final Fantasy VIII instead.
2 Parasite Eve Served As A Baseline To Test Out The Cinematic Graphics That Would Appear In This Game
For people who are wondering how Final Fantasy VIII managed to nail its graphics to such an extent, the answer lies in another title which was used as a way to test out Squaresoft’s cinematic flair — Parasite Eve. The fact of the matter is that Parasite Eve is one of the best games that Squaresoft has ever released, and this is is no small part due to the graphics, which were revolutionary for its time. This game served as the base for what the company could accomplish with its FMVs, and they’ve never looked back since.
1 Deling City Was Inspired By Paris
Deling City is one of the most interesting, diverse, and varied locations that one can explore in the game, and one need only look at the inspiration behind the architecture of this city to understand why this is the case. Deling City was inspired by the look and feel of Paris itself, making it feel all the more enjoyable to roam around in.
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