This spiny assailant looks fearsome, and is built up to be a bit of a hard nut. Thankfully, he's a cinch to dispatch

Turns out that episode number VII wasn’t so ‘final’ after all…
James Price

So how successful was the Japanese launch of Final Fantasy VIII?
Oh, it didn’t go too badly. Over two million copies were sold on its day of release – or so we’re told – making Final Fantasy VIII a retail phenomenon to rival the efforts of any other form of entertainment media.

But didn’t Cloud and Sepiroth conclude their differences in FFVII?
They did, yes. Final Fantasy VIII, however, has an entirely new cast, world and storyline. You play a young lad called Squall Leonheart – no, really – who attends a special forces college known as the Garden. He’s aspiring to become a member of SeeD, ABBA-esque Super Troopers and the cream of the academy, doncha know. Final Fantasy VIII begins just before the entrance exam that determines Squall’s induction to their hallowed ranks.

So it’s an entirely different game to FFVII, eh?
Yes and no. The action takes place in an entirely new world, but in terms of ‘feel’ and general presentational style, FFVIII is strongly reminiscent of its forebear. Once more, players make their way through scrolling or flick-screen pre-rendered locales. To journey from one main area to another, you travel over a 3D map, its battles are partially turn-based yet oddly realtime… we could go on.

Oh. So, in a sense, it’s more of the same?
There’s more to it than that. Square’s Final Fantasy games are stories first, and games second. It wouldn’t be entirely unfair to suggest that they owe more to the concept of ‘multimedia’ than ‘videogame’. The design brief of FFVII was perfectly suited to relating a sprawling, epic tale. No wonder, then, that Square have chosen to stick with it. To berate FFVIII for retaining the format of its predecessor would be to miss the point…

So what’s new in FFVIII?
Well, its combat system has undergone a bit of an overhaul. Replacing FFVII’s Materia is the Junction system, and the powerful Guardian Forces. The ‘Draw’ technique is a new one, too – it enables you to pinch magic attacks from assailants. There’s not enough space to relate their bearing on fights in detail here, but suffice to say, they give FFVIII’s battles a new level of appeal.