That was Square's mindset: go big (and maybe fail horribly, as Square Pictures ultimately did). That same year, it established Square Pictures with the intention of turning its FMV prowess into full-blown feature films.
FINAL FANTASY 8 SERIES
It wasn't afraid of cooking the golden chocobo it was thinking about how it could get the series in front of mass audiences. This was Square at the height of its golden age. That was roughly where Square was at when it started work on Final Fantasy 8 in late 1997. You decide you're going to reexamine the basic assumptions underpinning RPG mechanics and video game storytelling. You have a massive audience and a clear formula for success. Thanks to Final Fantasy 7, Square is now one of gaming's most powerful publishers. You're coming off Final Fantasy 7, a success so transcendent that it popularized console RPGs in North America and made PlayStation the generation's dominant console. To understand what Final Fantasy 8 had to accomplish when it came out in 1999, put yourself in the shoes of director Yoshinori Kitase. It may even be time to say what was once unthinkable: Final Fantasy 8 is great. It might finally be time to stand up and say that, yes, this weird, experimental, and most damningly, different, RPG deserves to be considered more than a sentimental favorite. For better or worse, Final Fantasy 8 is seemingly doomed to remain Not Final Fantasy 7-the eternal black sheep.īut 20 years after its original release in Japan, it might be time to finally reevaluate. Final Fantasy 8 has its share of defenders, but few will go to bat for it in the same way they will for Final Fantasy 4, 5, 6, 7, or hell, pretty much any other game in the series. I say "sentimental favorite" because saying "best" is bound to raise some eyebrows. It was my Final Fantasy my sentimental favorite game in the series I broke it so hard that I could one-shot the boss waiting at the end of Disc One.
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Final Fantasy 8 was the first RPG I ever broke.