Battling

    In this the eigth final fantasy, the system for battling, is totally unfeasable, illogical, unreasonable, and stupid. The game fails to offer challenge. The main point here, is that the established system for battling can not exist within the bounds of imagination, most RPGs have elements that are not in real life, but you can see how they would exist in the world of the RPG. For example in FF7 a materia is actually a little gem like object which fits into a slot on your sword. Whereas a Curaga is some mystical force which you have a set number of, and it can increase your attack power, though you see it or carry it around with you.

Draw Magic:
    Firstly how do you find an enemy and take from him, without touching him, a set number of fires. Then where do they go. In theory you can see the drawn magic while you draw it, but when it gets to you it just dissappears. And yet, if you wish to use this magic, it just happens. Magic in other games, is a force that you learn, that you call upon from within. Final Fantasy eight magic, is a force that you steal, that comes out of monsters, but you can still use it to hurt them.

Junctioning:
    Before we establish the stupidity of this system, let me point it's one mediocre point. It actually gives you a reason to carry magic, because it increases your stats, after all why would you use a Fireaga when you could use ifrit. When you junction, what happens? You can have magic that is not junctioned, so it can not be the only way to carry it around. And yet, you can have an unjuctioned stat, so it isn't required to do. Except with GFs? You have to junction those, or else you can't use them? When you junction an ifirit where does it go? Even at the begining of the game, Squall is already "carrying" two guardian forces. Where were they kept before being put into Squall's incapable hands? And exactly what does Shiva have to do with how much HP I have? And how does she give me the option to increase it.

Guardian Forces:
    As we already stated the GFs totally dismiss the point in using spells. The power of the guardian forces, which is extreme, exceeds the price you pay for using them, which is little. It is upon rare occasions that GFs die, and its a good thing to, because without the GFs you wouldn't know how to battle anyway because they are all you ever use. Attacking with a GF becomes a cinematic event as each new Gaudian Force attemps to prove it can be more of a pomp than it's predecossor. The makes each GF (past Siren) 1 minute or if not longer. And any timed event of the game has to be changed to about one half hour. Often games boast how much playing time they have. FF8, secrets and all took me about 50 hours. My disection of that time is. 50% triple triad. 49% watching the GFs and 1% fighting the urge to throw my controller at Rinoa's head.

Attacking:
    In most RPGs attacks carry you through many of your enemy encounters, espeically when you are just ambushed by random enemies. In FF8 attacking is totally useless. Why attack when you can use Eden? 32000 or 60, your choice. Even with the ultimate weapons, the most powerfull magic juctioned to your attack, and a timed-hit the damage dealt is only a small percentage of the enemies HP.

Enemies:
    Firstly the enemy design is blatently uncreative, and what is worse is that later in the game, the same monsters will reoccur, even though they weren't that intresting in the first place. Only now, when it would be nice, to just smack these old foes and watch them fall, they have leveled up with you. Which means if you go back into the fire cave at level 100 it will be just as hard as it was at level 5. So why bother leveling up?