25 Years On, Final Fantasy VIII‘s Real Opening Remains Incredible

The demolition of Zanarkand successful Final Fantasy X, the Bombing Mission in Final Fantasy VII, the Magitek mechs stomping done the snows towards Narshe, Final Fantasy XVI‘s Game of Thrones-ian slaughter. The beloved gaming bid is known for immoderate truly chaotic acceptable pieces to hook you into an dozens upon dozens of hours of adventure. But 1 inactive hits, adjacent if it takes a infinitesimal for you to really get it: Final Fantasy VIII‘s landing astatine Dollet.

FFVIII—which launched connected the archetypal PlayStation successful the U.S. 25 years agone today—does not unfastened with the bombast 1 mightiness typically expect of a Final Fantasy these days. Sure, the opening cutscene climaxes successful twinned teen mercenaries Squall and Seifer dueling it retired successful sword training, but the actual opening of the crippled is successful stark opposition to its predecessor FFVII‘s shocking enactment of ecoterrorism. No, instead, FFVIII opens softly arsenic Squall, nursing a now-characteristic gash crossed his face, readjusts to beingness successful his magical, high-tech floating university, Balamb Garden. It’s an unthinkable opposition that Final Fantasy has go known for: the precocious schoolhouse feelings of preparing for exams, but the exams impact flinging a sword with a revolver grip astir oregon jumping into the adjacent volcanic caverns to larn however to successfully tame and past summon a giant, furry god.

But adjacent successful that premix of the existent and the fantastical, it’s quiet. There’s nary existent driving impetus for FFVIII‘s opening different than that Squall and his classmates are preparing for their finals arsenic SeeD students, a nebulous past trial that, adjacent arsenic you rapidly larn that SeeD is nary mean schoolhouse assemblage but an planetary mercenary organization, and Balamb its basal of operations. It’s the traditions of Final Fantasy—martial combat, magic, summoning monolithic beings of unfathomable power—distanced and extrapolated done the lens of not Warriors of Light oregon revolutionaries and rebels, but a precocious schoolhouse drama. That is, until the world of what Squall and the remainder of Balamb’s students are preparing for kicks successful an hr oregon 2 into the game: their last exam is to interruption the siege of a adjacent autarkic Duchy, Dollet, facing an penetration by the overwhelming mightiness of the Galbadian army.

Everything begins turning connected a dime successful the legendary pre-rendered cutscene that begins playing erstwhile Squall, his mentor and teacher Quistis, cocky newcomer Zell, and, of course, his rival Seifer statesman piling onto the gunboat that volition instrumentality them to Dollet’s beaches. Set to what remains 1 of Nobuo Uematsu’s finest works successful the franchise, “The Landing,” Squall pokes his caput retired of the apical of the vessel arsenic it races crossed the ocean, overlaying a tactical diagram connected a representation of Dollet… lone to little the photograph find the nonstop aforesaid representation of Dollet successful existent life, lone present it’s doused successful occurrence and explosions. Dollet’s ain forces, military-looking figures covered successful bandoliers and toting battle rifles, are being torn isolated lone for the SeeD gunboats to travel smashing onto the beachhead, arsenic students successful schoolhouse uniforms statesman charging up the enactment and towards their last test, and perchance their deaths.

Suddenly, the extrapolation that defined Final Fantasy VIII‘s opening becomes inverse. You’re nary longer sitting successful classrooms and roaming schoolhouse hallways discussing the conception of martial grooming oregon subject strategy, you are thrust into the mediate of warfare wherever sidesplitting the force is virtually worthy points connected your last exam. Everything the subordinate does arsenic Squall and his enactment makes their mode up to effort and unafraid Dollet’s comms relay—the tactical root of Galbadia’s penetration successful the archetypal place—is being scored successful the background by the crippled arsenic portion of that last test. Are you sidesplitting capable soldiers? Are you pursuing the close orders, are you staying connected mission? Do you retreat from Dollet successful time, arsenic you’re being chased backmost from the relay operation by a hulking, mechanical spider-tank, dissimilar thing you’ve faced successful the crippled up to that point? What Squall and his friends person been grooming for becomes existent successful the fires of Dollet, and with it, and successful immoderate ways Final Fantasy‘s extrapolated phantasy begins to evaporate earlier their eyes.

Regardless of people connected the test, Squall and (most) of his friends permission Dollet arsenic full-fledged members of SeeD (the people determines your archetypal salary, different small biting commentary). But players permission it with a starker knowing of what Final Fantasy VIII wanted to accidental astir the franchise, adjacent beyond its sci-fantasy modernist aesthetic taking an adjacent further measurement distant from the series’ traditions than its predecessor did. Plenty of Final Fantasies earlier this enactment young radical into the nutrient grinder of war, but fewer managed to seizure the futility of the concern analyzable down warfare rather truthful succinctly as Final Fantasy VIII did successful that slayer opening twist.

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