Final Fantasy VIII

Finished on: 08/12/2025

Hours Played: 47 hours, 4 minutes over 7 days, 18 hours

Achievements: 70 out of 104 (67%)

Favorite Achievement: Master Collector

The main reason I replayed this was to experience Triple Triad again and it's still fun to collect all the cards (as long as you deal with Random and/or Plus first).

Hardest Achievement: Welcome to Jurassic Park

AUUUUGH this was a pain!! The first ten minutes are spent rushing through the intro, next ten minutes are for drawing Blizzard and leveling Boost for Shiva and the last ten minutes you have to find and defeat on of them. Quistis' Laser Eyes did a pretty good amount of damage but Squall did the most damage with a boosted Shiva summon every round. It came down to the fucking wire though, if I had to guess I had less than two minutes left when I finally conquered this challenge.

Rarest Achievement: Junk Food Junkie (3.83% Unlock Rate)

This wasn't TOO bad but I don't really know what a "single session" means honestly.

Playthrough Notes:

Main party was Squall / Zell / Quistis for 90% of the game where I could pick a party. Quistis was swapped out for Rinoa in the last dungeon though because I wanted to beat Omega Weapon and Quistis' limits aren't the best for that fight.
I THINK I changed the majority of the Triple Triad rules to only Open.
For the majority of the game I kept my levels as low as possible (for once) but leveled up to 100 before the final dungeon. ... that was a mistake as it made Omega Weapon a lot more irratating.
My final card deck was Seifer, Edea, Doomtrain, Ward and Eden.
As for my opinion on this game's set: I really enjoyed it! There's a few achievements that led to me finding things (like the Fisherman's quest) that I've never come across before which was cool. It wasn't too hard either. I skipped the ones like the Shumi Village sidequest because I've played this game several times before and know what sidequests are boring and not worth it sooo my achievement score could've been higher but meh, I'm doing RetroAchievements just for fun.

The layout for the images below is TERRIBLE but I am DONE trying to make it prettier. Sorry for the size of the images but if they're too small try holding CTRL and + to increase the image size on your browser. My apologies to mobile users (?).

Refer to the "hardest achievement" section above...

ALRIGHT GUY THAT RUNS THE FRONT DESK TEN YEARS AGO YOU TOOK MY CARDS DID YOU THINK I'D FORGET THAT COME ON BRING IT ON gah! non!! GAH no please let me go-o-o-o-o-o

... don't talk to any NPCs OR jump off a cliff if you want a perfect mission score. I forgot the first rule.

The highest score you can get on this test is a 500 which is a SeeD rank 10. I recieved a 320 and SeeD rank 6 so, uhhhh, I failed... would've been 220 if I didn't kill X-whatever on the bridge.

snatch his weave sis

SAY THE LINE RINOA!!!!!!!

I think the main lesson from FF8's story is that putting teenagers in charge of military operations and, in her case, teaching other teenagers is a very very bad idea. I mean, Quistis is the oldest playable character (barring Edea) and she's 18. (I know that a 18 year old is technically an adult but still. When's the last time you've heard of an 18 year old teaching 14 to 17 year olds?)

I feel ya buddy.

I love Diablos' design. I'm making a "Favorite Designs" page and his FF8 appearance quickly made it onto the list.

I'm using this amazing guide about manipulating the Triple Traid rules and the Queen of Cards always wanted to go to Galbadia instead of Dollet URGH

me when some random weirdo hands me the magazine of sleepiness

Meanwhile he's causing a traffic jam because he parked the vehicle in the middle of the road.

still cute though

idfk why this is funny to me or why i took these screenshots

yeah let's just put all the porno mags in a pile by the front desk that'll work

First try!

Who's Whatever-Man?

local wannabe journalist with excellent hair throws his two buddies off cliff trying to cuchi-cuchi, more at 11

i'm sorry i know this is a serious scene but this moment always cracks me up

"hey yeah it's a good idea to discuss ASSASSINATION in the FRONT COURTYARD OF THE SCHOOL"

Quistis not moving from her pose in the third and forth screenshots here is hilarious to me.

........... girl.

Eliminating Trabia's rules took FOREVER the first time I did it, it was about three hours of resetting until both (?? i think there's only two rules) were eliminated.

Quistis: "... surprisingly small."

man i hate it when i'm riding a train and it's delayed because a long legged dude is running in front of it!!!

(i always do this)

'k i'm gonna try this with the dogs that come in at work i'll let y'all know if i can beat omega weapon irl

The general running around like that makes me laugh every time.

CONGRATS EDEA YOU ARE NOW THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

haha oh well

man this parade is wild

(it was during this playthrough that i found out that the residents were 'charmed' into cheering for the parade which is why no one freaked out when deling was killed)

what do you THINK i'm doing

(i'm just kidding, i like rinoa)

i say this whenever i met someone new hahahaha

i'm sorry but sqaull's facepalm here is so silly

also it took me years to put two-and-two together to realize why irvine was so nervous

you talk that way around a kid you get sent to the VOID also ignore the fact that the very bottom of laguna's pants are cut off and it makes him look like he's levitating

I never realized how pretty Winhill is until this playthrough!

THANKS!!!!!!

This took me only 30-something tries. I wish I had stayed around to try for another one for Quistis' best limit but oh well.

I fucked up the image / video settings on Retroarch so the next few screenshots look like absolute ass.

You can die here by the way. ... it's happened more than once to me. All you have to do is press right!

yea he's good

this is what i do when i'm making website pages :')

Has ANYONE ever done this with just Squall and without turbo? I (still) haven't figured out how to activate turbo so it took all three party members to open the entrance.

Fun fact that I learned recently: hot dogs in this game are actually "pan" (aka the kind of japanese bread with filling) in the Japanese version!

NO NOT YOU

I don't dislike Ellone but I do think that her motives during the first three and a half discs were insanely selfish.

I never knew about the "old fisherman" sidequest OR that this area even existed! The ladders leading to this spot are kinda hidden in the background especially when you're playing on an emulator.

WHENEVER THE DOG SAYS WE CAN also wtf is going on with flo's hair here

I'm with Squall here, putting a emotionally troubled teenager in charge of an organization of other troubled teenagers is bullshit.

There's an achievement for "ruining Rinoa's favorite song" so sadly I couldn't fit in someone tap dancing. :(

bro you couldn't even close the magazine bro what the hell bro?????

(i had to crop out the 'screenshot taken' notification on the third one) this part will always be funny to me

auuuughhh i missed out on the majority of the zell and library girl scenes!! they're a cute couple, also i fucking hated good-night pururun. ... wait, no, I meant Goodnight Punpun.

Anyone else remember the theory that Zell was Cloud and Tifa's child?

....... I really hate this entire sidequest. In case you didn't know you have to be in this EXACT SPOT to solve this forest's puzzle.

dang

Nida, the unsung hero of this game, confuses the protagonist with a... whale... tooth? Or whatever the manuevering device is supposed to be.

The first time I encountered the other Garden I wasn't paying attention and screamed when I turned around and saw it. I was about... twelve, I think.

yeah well when i get nervous my fighting ability goes down by 110%

okay i'm SURE rinoa DOESN'T CARE WHO saves her at this point

The first screenshot is funny to me because it looks like the first guy fell over while skating. Also Odin can ruin the practice too.

Cerberus looks awfully tiny in the second shot.

SAMESIES!!!

fuck these guys, i either (a) forget to advance the plot to get edea's letter so that i can go onboard or (b) get the letter and forget where this stupid ship is located

worst funeral ever

hey i said the same thing when the game wouldn't let me transfer edea's equipped magic!!!! ugh

thanks

DOG DOG DOG SHE'S HERE!!! oh and squall went into space or w/e

I always eliminate Random in space. I know Plus is super annoying but at least you can choose your best cards without Random (obviously). Managed to get Alexander's and Squall's cards fairly quickly, I think I recieved Squall within a single game! (It usually takes... a while... with Ellone.)

wow you seem really upset about it

This line is funny (to me).

HEY I'm working on the RA page for OB64 already, you don't need to remind me!! no one's gonna get that

*seinfield laugh track audio plays*

silly :)

honestly this is the best quote of the game

The fact that Squall says NOTHING to this dialogue irritates me.

shut up and give me those energy crystals

My first run through the Island of Hell went... like this.

Bahamut took me about a hour (even with the speed up toggle) because I was very underprepared for, uh, everything.

WELL THIS HAPPENED. Also I just thought the third screenshot was cool.

shut up and give me your card

Devouring enemies is always... an experience.

well okay then

I hope the CC members and the Queen of Cards made it back to the normal time when time 'decompressed'... Xu is seen during the ending FMV so the CC members should be alright.

"I don't care" made me laugh.

AH HELP I HAVE FALLEN DOWN

well rinoa died before i unlocked the revive power!!! so i had to unlock it after this fight which was way too early but oh well

Me too.

hey it's me

HOW ARE YOU MEANT TO FIND THIS WITHOUT A GUIDE?!?!?

Ugh, beating Omega Weapon without losing a party member (one of the achievements that I've missed) was impossible for me. I DID NOT KNOW you could survive Terra Break, which is displayed in the fourth screenshot. (I don't know if I was 'Defend'-ing or not.) Honestly I could've gone back to the Ragnarok and refined and re-refined the Ward (or Eden?) card until the party had enough VIT to tank it but by this point of the game I was ready to complete this set.

funny dog :)

I loooove this final boss fight, it's so cool. Don't forget to have Draw equipped if you're playing for achievements because Apocalypse is the final spell in the "spellbook"!

Yes!