Fighting talk. Tell me of other intrigue and ingenuity...
There's a variety of fresh sub-games – including a card battle game that seems to be a prevalent theme throughout – and, on a more physical level, analogue control and Dual Shock compatibility make it all the more controllable and wobbly respectively. There are a host of other changes, too – just enough to highlight FFVIII’s sequel status, but never to an extent where it begins to feel intimidating in its newness.

Down to business. How does it look and play?
Visually, FFVIII rarely errs towards the wrong side of ‘stunning’. On the rare occasions that it does, it’s merely gorgeous. Its FMV and game engine sequences mix seamlessly, and its polygon-based cast are far more detailed. It doesn’t quite have the same impact as Final Fantasy VII, though. It’s palpably more attractive, but not to an excessive degree. Special mention must be made of its stunning FMV movies, though. They’re some of the best Future Gamer has ever seen – the standard of animation is virtually unrivalled. Squall’s dance with love interest Rinoa at the SeeD graduation ball, in particular, is incredible.

I can’t wait. I’m off to buy it on import…
Stop. Wait. Listen. Not only does FFVIII contain code that detect that a PlayStation has been ‘chipped’ – refusing to boot if it does so – it’s also a shadow of its actual self unless you read Japanese fluently. Think about it. Final Fantasy VIII is a game that consists of thousands upon thousands of pages of dialogue. If you don’t understand that text, how can you hope to enjoy such a story-oriented adventure? Answer? You can’t. At best, you’ll plough through aimlessly with scant appreciation of events. At worst, you’ll get stuck within your first hour.

So when do I get to play an English language version?
The general consensus is that Square will have a US version ready for the end of the summer, or thereabouts. There’s no firm date for a UK version yet, though. And that’s a damn shame. From what we’ve seen of FFVIII so far – that's hours and hours of play, thanks to the efforts of Japanese-speaking friends – it promises to be at least as good as the seventh instalment. We reckon a UK release date by this winter at the earliest…

Arse!
Yes. But, per chance, worth the wait…

*Sequel to the Biggest Game Ever (TM)
*All-new cast, world and plot
*The combat system has been tweaked. You’ll like the changes, we’ll wager
*Did we mention that it looks incredible?
*Over two million happy Japanese owners can’t be wrong…