Final Fantasy VIII was not the first game I played, nor in my opinion was it the most finely crafted one I have experienced. But it was definately the first game I played that made me start to really put my time into games as a form of entertainment that could do so much more than just watching tv or in some cases reading a well written novel. Not saying that all games do this of course but for me it was a few certain series that "started my affair" and I've become a better person for it ever since.

Final Fantasy VIII came out in 1999 and I was actually unaware of the series at the time and of this games particular release, I had just recieved a playstation off my uncle who had gotten me into computer games originally by giving me his old Megadrive (Genesis) when I was younger and had shown me the awesome enjoyment involved with holding the right button to win every Sonic game (which I still love). He gave me some of his playstation games that he had around that time, Crash Bandicoot and Porche Challenge, and a latter of enjoyable but standard games. There had been nothing in this collection that made me think video games had really gotten anywhere they were still just something fun to play with when there was nothing else to do. I'd just finished Crash Bandicoot and decided it was time to purchase a new game for my system something I could say "Woah look at the graphics" to my friends when a cut scene came on. The actual reason I chose Final Fantasy VIII was because when I looked at the games in "Game" it had such a sexy back of the box and I just thought "god damn this is some hot shit" although been 11 at the time I probably thought something different like "Ooh da lally this will be splendid!".

I knew this was going to do something for my love for games once I saw the beginning cutscene, to this day I find it hard to find a game to have an intro that can compete with that. The CG cut scene was beautifully rendered and it had such great action, good direction and actually had foreshadowing I came to find out. In previous games I had seen nothing like this, it had always just been the cute cool retro games I remembered which with this been my first rpg didn't really give me much depth other than "Your princess is in another castle".



When I started playing I felt new emotions for games that if the game strikes me just right now I can feel again (Lost Odyssey gave me some tingley feelings), I had never been so emotionally invested into a game. The characters seemed so alive to me and yet it wasn't the same as just watching the events unfold I was really part of this. Sure I didn't feel like I was Squall or anything like that but I felt as thought I was somehow the narrator who was overlooking on the situations they were been put into.

Ok here is a secret I hoped to keep away for a bit longer but it was this game that created my dark past, when the first random encounter happened and the battle screen came up I shouted "Oh my god it's a fighting game too!" and began to mash my controller in an attempt to slice up my enemies or through a hadoken at them and had no idea what the bars on the screen meant, luckily since I was mashing everything so much I hit X a few times and attacked them, then I slowly began to realise it was only when "that box" came on the screen that I could just choose my actions. To this day I think the turn based ATB RPG fighting system (dont try saying that drunk) are the best way to have a good balanced fight in an RPG. With these games there all about choices and the characters been individual and affecting the story, even though I like Eternal sonatas combo attack system and think it works great I don't think I can really give it too much strategy other than when to heal.

This game started my affair for gaming for one main reason, I wanted to play it more than anything once I had started. In todays gaming I find it hard to just play a game straight to finish, I normally have about 3 on the go because I get sick of them after a few hours and need a change. But with this it just kept giving me just enough challenges, story, enviroments and character development to keep me hanging on and fighting for the next outcome of my actions.

This is far from a flawless game but for me it was all I needed to show me there is more to games that points and coins, that a video game can do more than a movie and make you feel more invested than if you starred in your own film! (Or read one of those books where you make choices and turn to certain pages). It may have been an affair that started a long time ago, but my flame for games still burns brightly and every year I will replay Final Fantasy VIII,, sometimes twice if I have no other games left it just brings back so many good memories for me and even made me buy the soundtrack since the magic Nobuo works can be re-created wherever I am and still make me feel all warm and unsocial even when in a crowded room.



Sorry to rant for so long I just hold such a huge erection for this game I had to fap about it sometime, I could have gone further but I spent too much time talking about how I bought the damn thing so you don't get to hear about how the love story in this game actually made me try romance movies! Thanks for reading my embarrassing story from my youth.