Final Fantasy 8’s Unique Mechanics Are a Double-Edged Sword

Considering the mainstream success and crossover appeal of its direct predecessor, the amount of mechanical depth and complexity in Final Fantasy 8‘s systems is surprising. In 1999, Square followed up its most popular (and perhaps most approachable) entry in its long-running flagship franchise with a game that introduces a plethora of new mechanics that are completely unique to its proceedings and not featured in any other Final Fantasy game. Revisiting Final Fantasy 8 with the benefit of hindsight and 24 more years of series progress paints it in a much more positive light than many might have initially viewed it in, but it’s still an outlier among the mainline Final Fantasy games.