If you just want to experience the trying life of Squall (who, by the way, is one of the series' best and most relatable protagonists despite an unearned reputation of a whiny teen), you can do so without loads of the usual RPG padding. The level scaling also means that while those bosses will get challenging, you'll never get unfairly crushed simply for not grinding enough. Speaking of theme and narrative, FF8's uniquely broken systems also serve those who want to focus on it: grab Diablos, grind AP for Enc-Half and Enc-None abilities before leaving for Timber and then enjoy an encounter-free game, soaking up the story and only participating in boss fights. Remove the attached Guardian Force and the attached super soldier shrinks to a weak teenager once more, however - something which has interesting thematic implications also. FF8 is a game where your character level can remain static but everything around you grows ever-more ridiculous - characters clambering to have thousands of hit points with automatic haste and counter attacks all while remaining technically weak and low-level.
This is with good reason, as that's a developmental focus of these titles also - but FF8 represents what the genre can be when it's more systems-focused. When people talk about Japanese-made RPGs, especially Final Fantasy, the focus tends to be on the story and characters.
You should stick with it, though - if you give the game a chance it pays back in spades with a deeply rewarding, interesting, and eminently breakable game.
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It is definitely a rival for the most obtuse and impenetrable game in the series alongside FF2's insane character progression system. It's easy to tune out in the early hours of FF8 as it bombards you with lengthy tutorials about "taking care of your GF", "junctioning magic" and even taking in-game exams. Pretty quickly it all gets rather ridiculous. We've got a guide for Final Fantasy 8 Triple Triad cards right here, actually. All of this isn't just in the service of an extremely good card game, but also intricately linked to the game's RPG progression, where cards can be transmogrified into key items that are then used for weapon upgrades or stat boosts for your friendly summon monsters. You'll be winning cards in matches, turning enemies into cards or even deliberately losing cards to certain NPCs in order to force new ones to spawn elsewhere in the world. Triple Triad, the brilliant card game that somehow inexplicably hasn't been turned into a Hearthstone style stand-alone, isn't just a fun distraction either: it's key to the entire game. This means you can totally fight the final boss at level 9 - the antagonist will simply be scaled to be an appropriate challenge for the level. This has a knock-on effect: rather than a traditional level-based difficulty curve, FF8 has adaptive difficulty. Within a few hours of starting the game, you can make it so that random encounters never happen, or make enemies turn into trading cards. I say it still works, but Final Fantasy 8 is at its best when you break it. It still has the intricacies of a luxury watch in its deep, rewarding RPG mechanics, but it's also a system that the player can take a sledgehammer to - yet it somehow bears the weight of the blow. Where FF12 is a work of intricate genius, a finely crafted Swiss Watch with nary a flaw in its many gears and cogs, FF8 is glorious chaos. If it's the best is a matter that's plainly up for debate, but Final Fantasy 8 is definitely the most mechanically interesting title in the series, up there with the excellent Final Fantasy 12 International Zodiac Job System (recently released in the west as FF12: The Zodiac Age).
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After two wildly successful and surprisingly similar games in the sixth and seventh entries, this is the creators of those games trying to break free into something different - and it's magical. It's not the critical darling of 9, and neither is it the technical revolution of 10. It doesn't have the childhood-defining significance that 6 has to many, nor the cultural impact of 7. It's by no means a failure - it's actually one of the better selling of the group and is beloved by many - it just hasn't got that same oomph. Of that golden age run of FF6 through to FF10, FF8 is probably the least talked about of the bunch. We're all pumped for Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but playing the newly released Final Fantasy 8 Remaster reminds how that game would be just as worthy of a fully-fledged remake.
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