Final Fantasy VIII

Back in 1999, I came across this poster in a comic books & game shop. I didn't know about Final Fantasy then, having little chance to play computer games when I was younger. This was my first contact with the Final Fantasy games.

3D computer games with characters in realistic proportions was a very new thing back then. FF8 was all the rage, both guys and girls, gamers and non-gamers  played FF8.

I was really interested in the game, being quite impressed by the graphics. (Fine, the effeminate men had something to do with it too... *cough*) Sadly, my cheap computer was too outdated to support it. I bought the game anyway, but my computer ran it so slowly I gave up on playing it.

Recently, I suddenly recalled having the game discs with me, and installed in on my current computer, which is way over-qualified in the hardware department for this.

It's funny how low-res it looks compared to other games today, but I still find some of the art very attractive, for example, how they combine art nouveau and fantasy styles with more technological aspects of the FF world. A good nine years after the game was released, I've finally completed it. What it triggered was more than nostalgia, but a desire to play catch-up with the games and toys I never got to play with when I was younger.