We absolutely can't wait to finish Echo-S 8 and see peoples reactions to playing it! Thank you so much for putting it on the stage, your videos are always fantastic ❤
I love your work! I have the entire voice acting team for Spanish ready for all the characters for years now. Is there any way we can collaborate to release that version as well? If you can tell me how to extract the game's text, I can start recording right away. Thank you for your time
@@ArquelAdonis You have a fully cast team for the characters already? Would you be able to get enough people for the likes of the NPC's and such? Because it would be pretty cool to work together on it. I'll talk to the rest of the team about it and see what they think.
Hello! Great video! I'd like to add/change one thing: the Angelwing mod is not completely what you're featuring, as you're also featuring my Angelwing ULTIMA mod (that I worked with Fated Courage to bring to life), but I have overhauled all of the graphics (some of which you feature, including my text/font updates in the cafeteria, etc.) Also, the battlefields aren't included in angelwing, and are from my 'BattlefieldPack' mod which were meticulously created with custom work by yours truly. You should check out FatedCourage Video AI upscales, if you didn't! Much love, -MCINDUS-
Also he mentions it’s only for OG version but we’ve had demaster for awhile now and able to use angelwing and battlefield amongst others for the remaster version too
I never understood how there were people who couldn’t figure out the junction system. Play around and make number go up, bigger number is better. That’s pretty much it.
I don't think most people had problems with Junction proper, but rather enemy scaling and overreliance on Triple Triad. At least, those are the problems for me, and mods that change this, like Crystal and Ragnarok, make for much better experiences, but of course, to each their own.
didn't quite understand it myself. I mostly relied on the automatic settings and eventually beat the game. that final boss was crazy difficult for me. I was able to beat her because of the remaster, where I was able to speed up the game and level-up till 100 in no time. Draw a shit-ton of magic from some weird island that I found online. I never liked the availability of the other "cheats" so I didn't use them. if I could've removed them from visibility I would've loved to do so. but the speed-up cheat was a nice one. Later I read that the final-boss her difficulty is based on your level. but that it scales in steps or something. so when looking back. I was 1 level into one of those steps. which is why she was so difficult and I had to level up. because levelling down is not an option.
As soon as you hit the world map you can get access to materials to make the water spell and curaga spell. Slap water on attack and curaga on hp. Congrats, you just beat ff8
Well, for me, I did have a hard time at first and still a little to this day. What I didn't like was that I'd spend hours drawing magic from enemies so I could junction it. Then I realized that by using the magic, it would weaken my stats because the amount wasn't at 100 anymore, so I hated that. I never wanted to use magic because of this, even though magic usage is a core part of any Final Fantasy game. Maybe I was doing something wrong and completely misunderstood how to effectively junction, but yeah I didn't care for that part. The story though, I loved it.
Final Fantasy 8 is an outstanding game. So much so that years have passed and we are still talking about it, for good or bad. Yes, not your typical final fantasy in many cases, but it has surpassed the test of time and become an outstanding classic. Wish they would remake it.
It needs to be remade because 7 got remade and 9 is about to be the next one.. but 8 is still left behind? Kinda unfair. Even 10 came back a couple of times too.
Genuinely surprised there is no mention of the Maelstrom randomiser for this game, it's decently well made and because of the difficulty adjustments that VIII has it means that running into a late game boss in Ifrits spot isn't the death sentence it normally would be. I would recommend it to any lover of FFVIII
I will add a couple myself here. Roses and Wine for Orchestral Music, Ragnarok mod (Lionheart mode) for rebalancing/difficulty (It is harder for sure), and PSX/360 buttons icons for PC. Great list other wise.
would you say lionheart is more worth trying than the rebalance mods in the vid? im going to do a playthrough with the succession mod so il try one of these with it.
@@acedfirefist I can't say, Lionheart mod is the one I went with first. It's quite hard, but there's also New Threat (Only disc 1), which is insanely hard like it's version for FF7.
@@Deadsun0424 Worth mentionning Lionheart is the Harder version of the Ragnarok Mod, for player not accustome with Difficulty Mod in FFVIII I would recommend the base Ragnarok Mod first, it's still harder than the original (which to be fair given how easy the original is is not hard to do) but more accessible, and allow to enjoy the QoL of the mod and new contents.
Honestly, I don't think succession enhanced the story, I think it's a lesser story made simply because the creator didn't like the original and thought he could do better by making changes to the story that lessen emotional moments, and lessen the connections built up through the story. I appreciate the effort that went into it, but to me it is a lesser story than the original. I've always loved the story for viii, and honestly the changes made in succession just don't do anything for me
Here's a good mod idea that would resolve every issue I had with FF8: a hidden key item that allowed you not to cancel Time Compression, but to ignore it. Obtaining this item allows you to enter towns and dungeons, etc during TC and allows the completion of side quests from disc 3 during disc 4. Simple as that.
I love Final Fantasy VIII. It's my favorite game in the series and one of my favorite video games of ALL TIME! Original or Remastered, it doesn't matter. After the (rumored) FF9 Remake, I HOPE 8 is in their books next too! As much as I appreciate these mods, I'm fine with FFVIII the way it is.
Yeah that Succession mod irks me. Saying it "feels true to the original vision of the game" is an insult especially when it literally changes and outright removes major plot points of the story (especially time compression which is the entire motivation of Ultimecia). It's fan fiction that reeks of being a fix fic and nothing more.
I hope to get a VIII remake one day. That late 90s early 00s y2k futurism style is so nostalgic. Combined with some of Uematsu's Satie esque best work that just ads that bright but calming serene atmosphere to a lot of the locations is top tier.
Final fantasy 8 is my favorite game in the series so any changes in the story is an automatic no for me. What I want is a retranslation of it since from what I have seen online the translation while not as bad as ff7 is still not great.
Give me a mod that gives me more control over how rules for Triple Triad proliferate, and I will endure any other supposed flaw this game has. Just give me a mod that lets me pay off the Queen of Cards to kill a rule in a region.
Ragnarok mod includes NPCs that abolishes all rule in their region for gil. It's part of a larger gameplay mod tho and is just one of it's many changes. (I'm surprised it isn't featured in this video as it's one of the largest gameplay mods out there for ff8.
@@dontworryaboutit5490 Sounds like it though considering how many people were polarized by Final Fantasy VIII's story and considering the popular fan theories (Squall is Dead and Rinoa is Ultimecia) its not surprising. Guess its too hard for some people to try to see a story differently than their own head canon.
I love Final Fantasy VIII but I do think the battle mechanics mods are needed. The one that added sidequests sounds great. If I was in charge of a remake, I'd add optional sidequests that delve deeper into the playable characters pasts including Seifer.
The only one that piqued my interest is Draw 100. Rest isn't compelling to me, I love my Junctions, I love my non-leveling runs and I especially love the time compression.
For me it was the worry of not using magic because of effecting stats and stuff i didnt like it 9s system is much better equip piece of armor get enough points to permantly learn the spell or skill
My hate definitely comes in during the Ultimecia battle - later phases, she starts cutting out parts that will weaken your stats if they're attached. Including summons.
@@therealevo88 for me it's the opposite. I hate in ff9 that i have to cling to inferior pièces of equipment for skills that take forever to learn and are of unclear utility.
The author of the Succession mod westernized the story. He deleted plot elements because the story wasn't simple enough for him and rewrote characters to match his ideal western cliches. He once said that he viewed Rinoa's first scene as "intrusive of Squall's space" and "cringe" and "manipulative" (literally a funny and lighthearted moment where Rinoa pretends to use magic) So he turned it into a Y.A self-conscious thing, where every character acts smart so the author would also feel smart, and the story would lose all its color and charm to become a teenage superhero drama...
@@BJGvideos he misinterpreted the childful delight for manipulative and infantile behaviour... in Rinoa's case. I live in East so it's easy to see your usual Western (actually, American) Y.A writing and its difference with Eastern (mostly Japanese) interpretation of characters.
@@BJGvideos he also had an arguement in the comment section with a person about how these behaviors are viewed differently in different cultures. edit:sorry, i misremembered that person as japanese, now i fixed it.
For it's flaws, Final Fantasy 8 still remains my favourite game out of the whole franchise, and it always disappointed me how little SE seemed to really care about it over other entries. Haven't tried it modded yet, then again I never paid attention to the FF modding scene, outside of Moguri Mod for FF9.
I've always been confused why people had trouble with FFVIII's gameplay. As a kid, i lacked most of the know how needed to play really any game. I rarely read tutorials either because i was too young to really understand everything the way it was intended or simply impatient. FFVIII's story was enthralling to me and the gameplay was definitely difficult with one caveat. I managed to brute force the entire game never once using the junction system. I'd consistently made it to the beginning of disc 4 maybe 17 times, simply because my copy of disc 4 was scratched and i couldn't really get past starting it up and moving a few steps before it could crash. Point I'm making is I ignored the junction system, until i was able to understand it, it was hell for sure but it was still my favorite game and when i finally started reading the tutorials i discovered how the game actually functioned and realized the junction system was really interesting. Not to say anyone is wrong or weren't playing the game right because I got through the game based solely on perseverance clearly playing it wrong to some degree. Maybe it's an attention span issue.. I say having been diagnosed with adhd as a kid yet when i came to video games I couldn't beat the challenge overwrote my need to succeed. Also i love this video, no shade on this I actually installed succession and martial law in order to add a little bit of freshness to my favorite game of all time. at the same time i see some others are frustrated with the succession mod but at the same time plenty of fan mod/games have a tendency to do the same thing offending diehards, while bring life back to games those who hated the original allowing more audiences to try something they initially hated. Anywho, anything that supports the idea of people playing this gem, regardless of what complaints i might not fully agree with is a plus in my book.
Seeing a lot of people in the comments talking about the Succession mod just sounds like fanfic, which yeah, it is, but that doesn't make it inherently bad What makes it questionable is removing the time compression, which breaks almost every part of the plot at a base level Without that I'm pretty sure that Ellone and Adel have literally no reason to exist in the story bc the plot point they're there to facilitate is gone Hell, if it WAS just a fanfic it'd probably be at least fine bc they wouldn't be bound by the constraints of the game itself, but since it's a mod they can't actually cut any characters that openly conflict with the new story
My only problem with junctioning, is that it really punishes you for casting spells, since you then need to refill those spells, so you end up relying hevily on mele combat through the whole game, locking away a huge portion of combat.
@@lexprontera8325Moguri is basically a massive overhaul mod launcher that is compatible with almost every mod made for 9. It's basically almost like a template for all mods to be compatible.
I tried the Crystal mod an LOVED how fresh and new battles felt, kind of like I was playing a whole new game. The only thing was the difficulty; Elvoret at the top of the Communication Tower kept wiping me!
I just recently started the Remaster Steam version. I am considering installing the randomizer, as I love randomizers. On the challenge thing, my standard JRPG challenge is: no shops. The FF8 Junk Shop is ok, since it is an attempt at a crafting system and you cannot find the weapons in the wild, but in general, if you can find it in the wild [chests and drops], I won't buy it, which means no normal gear or item shops, though casinos or other non-standard currency shops [like the Small Medals in DQ games, or Chrono Trigger's silver point stuff]. For games like FF7 and 9, where Abilities are gotten from items, I scour the guide to find the abilities that cannot be crafted, attained from drops, or found in chests and buy only those [so only a small list of materia].
A friend of mine asked me which Final Fantasy games I like, I told him it was Final Fantasy 8. He was livid as a response. I was flabbergasted and laughing at it. This was years ago. I still remember it, and it is etched at my very soul how comical that event was.
If there was one aspect of FFVIII I think I would turn to mods for it's the difficulty. VIII is a reasonable contender for easiest game in the mainline series, partly because of the global level-scaling but also because there so few battles with actual teeth to them. As it stands, optimally using the Junction system or GFs feels like overkill on a casual run.
The biggest "problem" with the Junction system is that once you figure out certain things about the game, it becomes very easy to just break the game fairly early on using it and the Limit Break system... The two main tools to very early on break it are Str-J from Ifrit and L Mag-RF (life magic refine) from Siren... As you can just buy a bunch of tents, turn them into Curagas for a very early Tier 3 spell to Junction to Str to boost it very high and then use Squall's or Zell's LB on loop by having either stay on low health. You can start doing it right after Dollet and it will carry you all the way to the endgame.
This was my first FF game. A friend got me into it, and i ended up playing them all. We played countless times, but we didn't know about the card mod trick until a friend showed us. It was nuts to realize that you could be 9999 before reaching level 10, lol
Sending love for the Requiem Mod!! It's a great difficulty overhaul mod that is a must-try for longtime FF8 fans that know the gameplay system in and out. Every boss encounter is overhauled, enemies have new attack patterns and spells, and it may make you pull your hair out here and there. Great mod, lovely mod, please try it! Also I've seen it mentioned in the comments but Maelstrom is a wonderful work-in-progress randomizer for the game as well! Really feature-rich and you can randomize a ton of aspects of the game--bosses, drops, draws, shops, steals, gf locations, recipes, etc. Hope these two mods get more love!
It really feels like Kaizo FF8 basically lol, I love how unique they made every boss fight feel with how deeply redesigned they were or how they made certain niche mechanics matter so much more. It really rewarded you for an in-depth understanding of the game's systems. If you're feeling silly try combining Requiem with Maelstrom and see how far you can get lol
Thank you so much, FF Union, for spotlighting my mods! I really appreciate it. I noticed you were focusing on the mods available on the Nexus, so you missed what is arguably the best gameplay mod for FF8: Ragnarok. You just barely missed being able to have 8 great mods for FF8!
Well I'm on my deathbed now and I wish they hadn't remade my favorite Final Fantasy. If I could have gone on without seeing the way they butchered my favorite game, my life would have been that much better.
Parts of the succession mode were great particularly in the smaller talk. Made a lot of things really come to life. But so much of it got way too wordy and self indulgent and a lot of it was not well edited. Hats off for the insane effort but sadly I went from absolutely loving it near the beginning to becoming fatigued by some of it. Honorable mention should also be made for the upcoming improved angel wing ultima mod and lunatic pandora installer.
One thing I'll say in defense of the original PC version's soundtrack, which also applies to the FFVII port: The soundtrack was always in MIDI format, even on the PS1, but because MIDI is just a set of instructions the resulting sound is fully dependent on the hardware or software that's handling the playback. MIDI was used due to the sheer amount of music in the games, and if Squaresoft had opted to use CD Audio it would have meant even more discs or fewer FMVs. I remember the entire MIDI soundtrack of FFVII could fit on a single floppy disk. Compressed audio wasn't really viable either, since it used (relatively speaking) a lot more processing power compared to either CD Audio or MIDI. Back in the 90's, when the ports were released, it was common for games to sound much different depending entirely on what sound card you had. In FFVII's case, the original PC version did come with a Yamaha synth software you could install but even then it didn't sound 1:1 with the PS1's sound chip, and couldn't because AFAIK the PS1 had a pretty unique sound chip tl;dr The PC ports of FFVII/FFVIII had "bad music" because the sound files were created with the PS1's hardware in mind, and due to technical limitations at the time (file size vs processing power requirements) it was pretty much impossible for it to sound the same on PC as it did on the PS1.
..the junction system is straightfoward and comprehensible enough.. The challenge is getting your hands on the strongest magics as soon as possible which the Triple Triad is the only way, and the GF skills required to transmute the cards to said strong magics; THAT's when things become complicated
Nice mods ! Also I've made a mod where you can play as Fujin, Raijin and Edea as permanent characters and changed the classic battle theme to " man with machine gun" theme :)
I bought the FF8 remaster but realized that other than the built-in cheats, it was just a poorly implemented HD mod. So I refunded and installed the HD mod and got a much better looking game.
This is my favorite FF of all that i have played. FF VIII is one of the games of my life and is always in my top 3 with Symphony of the Night and MGS 4. I love this game so much that i wanted it to be my platinum 100 last year. Been playing FF VIII since the PlayStation one. I would love a remake but i guess that's never gonna happen 😢
I love the controversies of this video - A lot of players that wanted more challenge without having to handicap themselves, because the game vanilla was too easy VS - A lot of players that felt that the game was hard because of the junction system that they didnt like.
Also Angelwing does work with remaster. Along with the rest of Mcindus battlefield pack the seedui mod along with all the characters and Npcs upscaled or redone.
All I wanted was to have enemies that had random amounts of magics to draw, akin to player characters. It always bothered me that I could draw 300 fire from something, and it could still cast fire.
great video :-) the crystal and psx music restoration mods make me want to get into this one for the first time. i tried after ff vii and just couldn't get past the non-traditional balancing and weird leveling system - no offense meant to those who love it as it is music-wise, i first played this on the demo disc that came with brave fencer musashi... that opening theme being changed for the worse in the retail release always bugged me. i wonder if i could manually add that track in?
This is the kind of video I want to see more of, I love the idea of replaying the game, but its by no means the same and replicates the feeling of a new game, but its a game you're super familiar with
My biggest peeve of ff8 was the mobs always scaling. I enjoy grinding levels to get stronger and seeing that progress. You don't get that with scaling and it sucks. Its the reason why I've only played through the game once, much unlike 7 and 9 where I've cleared the game a multitude of times.
I'm curious about the Succession mod. I particularly like this head canon of mine that Irvine hesitates at shooting Edea because he actually remembers her. Makes sense for anyone to hesitate when asked to shoot their mom. Removing the amnesia subplot seems it would make his hesitation weird.
I don't know that that is much of a head canon rather than just a later story element explaining an earlier one. He doesn't fully recognize her as Matron, but he remembers Matron in general as he reveals at the basketball court scene. But I dunno, I guess it *could* be just choking up.
Mt biggest beef with this game is something that can only happen once. The first time i played i didnt go to my desk at the start snd didnt get the GF's. So i had to beat ifrit based on level alone and only had 1x character who could do any junction abilities apart from attack. I soldiered on for a while but it was a tough slog and i dont think i got past the dollet exam
That's impossible, you get those GFs when you leave the garden. The game does do that to the player twice far later on though - suddenly switch up your characters and ruin the junctions when you don't expect.
Only thing id change with FF8 is a mod that changes the magic system.. I get what they were doing which was giving you a choice between magic and physical ability... But i think any magic system that pushes you to not use magic is very flawed.. Also spending 10 minutes pressing one button to draw magic is the low point of the game.
Reading through the comments on here is somewhat fascinating. I'll say 8 does not need the ff7 remake treatment. LoD on the otherhand is BEGGING for it.
I love card mechanic in game and ability to end fights without gaining xp and keeping myself low and also enemy scaling is also low. Bossfights don't give xp after you defeat them so why level up anyways? Game is intended to remove grinding for players that are sick of it while providing tools for people who enjoy it. I really like that and no other RPG has it like that. I can really cater my playthrough however i like. For me that is a good game. I might go and play it again.
the mod i would really love to see, would be something that remade backgrounds and fmvs made with ai. I've seen some videos where they reimagined ffviii like the 7 remake, and it looked awesome. Is it possible to substitute those low quality bg in the game for new ones with more details? and what about the fmv? can they be redone and inserted?
2 mods that I would love to see: stop enemy level scaling and remove GF mini-game & animations, I don't like that in order to get stronger in FF8 you must not fight lol and leveling up only makes the game harder.
i'm so curious why ff8 isn’t as popular as ff7? after played both until ff9 i always had this impression that ff8 is more superior than other series even ff7. but apparently ff8 is less loved by square
ff7 had a bigger cultural impact due to tech and timing, ff8; some fans of the franchise didnt like because 'o junction or its love story its based around. square staff probably run the gambit with their favorites but 7 gets the most attention due to its cultural position, its a company 7 sells
@@BobOfBarons I must say ff7 is a masterpiece on it's own but square did a bit too much over using it and overrating it, i like the hype but after so many years there are other old ff series in the franchise that deserves more as it turns out ffvii became more and more of a cash cow and for me it's slowly loosing its charm and greatness.
We absolutely can't wait to finish Echo-S 8 and see peoples reactions to playing it!
Thank you so much for putting it on the stage, your videos are always fantastic ❤
I love your work!
I have the entire voice acting team for Spanish ready for all the characters for years now. Is there any way we can collaborate to release that version as well?
If you can tell me how to extract the game's text, I can start recording right away.
Thank you for your time
@@ArquelAdonis You have a fully cast team for the characters already?
Would you be able to get enough people for the likes of the NPC's and such?
Because it would be pretty cool to work together on it.
I'll talk to the rest of the team about it and see what they think.
Keep up the good work! Our thoughts are with you!
Yes!
I'll be excited to try it out as soon as it's finally finished. Keep it up!
Hello! Great video! I'd like to add/change one thing: the Angelwing mod is not completely what you're featuring, as you're also featuring my Angelwing ULTIMA mod (that I worked with Fated Courage to bring to life), but I have overhauled all of the graphics (some of which you feature, including my text/font updates in the cafeteria, etc.)
Also, the battlefields aren't included in angelwing, and are from my 'BattlefieldPack' mod which were meticulously created with custom work by yours truly.
You should check out FatedCourage Video AI upscales, if you didn't!
Much love,
-MCINDUS-
It's da man, s'up, thanks for all your work with FF8.
Thank you my friend
Man, we love you
Also he mentions it’s only for OG version but we’ve had demaster for awhile now and able to use angelwing and battlefield amongst others for the remaster version too
Mcindus the GOAT FF8 modder
I never understood how there were people who couldn’t figure out the junction system. Play around and make number go up, bigger number is better. That’s pretty much it.
I don't think most people had problems with Junction proper, but rather enemy scaling and overreliance on Triple Triad. At least, those are the problems for me, and mods that change this, like Crystal and Ragnarok, make for much better experiences, but of course, to each their own.
didn't quite understand it myself. I mostly relied on the automatic settings and eventually beat the game. that final boss was crazy difficult for me. I was able to beat her because of the remaster, where I was able to speed up the game and level-up till 100 in no time. Draw a shit-ton of magic from some weird island that I found online.
I never liked the availability of the other "cheats" so I didn't use them. if I could've removed them from visibility I would've loved to do so. but the speed-up cheat was a nice one.
Later I read that the final-boss her difficulty is based on your level. but that it scales in steps or something. so when looking back. I was 1 level into one of those steps. which is why she was so difficult and I had to level up. because levelling down is not an option.
As soon as you hit the world map you can get access to materials to make the water spell and curaga spell. Slap water on attack and curaga on hp. Congrats, you just beat ff8
Well, for me, I did have a hard time at first and still a little to this day. What I didn't like was that I'd spend hours drawing magic from enemies so I could junction it. Then I realized that by using the magic, it would weaken my stats because the amount wasn't at 100 anymore, so I hated that. I never wanted to use magic because of this, even though magic usage is a core part of any Final Fantasy game. Maybe I was doing something wrong and completely misunderstood how to effectively junction, but yeah I didn't care for that part. The story though, I loved it.
casting magic costs MP XD
Final Fantasy 8 is an outstanding game. So much so that years have passed and we are still talking about it, for good or bad. Yes, not your typical final fantasy in many cases, but it has surpassed the test of time and become an outstanding classic. Wish they would remake it.
Outstanding = talking about a bad game? Where’s the logic in that?
It needs to be remade because 7 got remade and 9 is about to be the next one.. but 8 is still left behind? Kinda unfair. Even 10 came back a couple of times too.
@@odiedodieukit has flaws yes but it isnt a bad game.
I think it’s probably the worst FF game between 6-14 lol
@@Rodgerwilco91 all the more reason for it to have a remake
You seriously didn't even let us HEAR ONE LINE from that last example? Lazy editing
Yeah as someone in Echo-S I can verify that we would have encouraged that usage.
Genuinely surprised there is no mention of the Maelstrom randomiser for this game, it's decently well made and because of the difficulty adjustments that VIII has it means that running into a late game boss in Ifrits spot isn't the death sentence it normally would be. I would recommend it to any lover of FFVIII
I will add a couple myself here. Roses and Wine for Orchestral Music, Ragnarok mod (Lionheart mode) for rebalancing/difficulty (It is harder for sure), and PSX/360 buttons icons for PC. Great list other wise.
would you say lionheart is more worth trying than the rebalance mods in the vid? im going to do a playthrough with the succession mod so il try one of these with it.
@@acedfirefist I can't say, Lionheart mod is the one I went with first. It's quite hard, but there's also New Threat (Only disc 1), which is insanely hard like it's version for FF7.
@@Deadsun0424 Worth mentionning Lionheart is the Harder version of the Ragnarok Mod, for player not accustome with Difficulty Mod in FFVIII I would recommend the base Ragnarok Mod first, it's still harder than the original (which to be fair given how easy the original is is not hard to do) but more accessible, and allow to enjoy the QoL of the mod and new contents.
@@nesoukkefka1741 Fair points, and I couldn't remember the actual mod name outside of Lionheart. Thanks.
Honestly, I don't think succession enhanced the story, I think it's a lesser story made simply because the creator didn't like the original and thought he could do better by making changes to the story that lessen emotional moments, and lessen the connections built up through the story. I appreciate the effort that went into it, but to me it is a lesser story than the original. I've always loved the story for viii, and honestly the changes made in succession just don't do anything for me
I agree, that just seems to be a "petty mod"
And..... nobody asked, and you are wrong
@@aidansearle5023 Nope. Fanfic sucks.
@@aidansearle5023 I asked. And he's right.
Here's a good mod idea that would resolve every issue I had with FF8: a hidden key item that allowed you not to cancel Time Compression, but to ignore it. Obtaining this item allows you to enter towns and dungeons, etc during TC and allows the completion of side quests from disc 3 during disc 4. Simple as that.
I love Final Fantasy VIII. It's my favorite game in the series and one of my favorite video games of ALL TIME! Original or Remastered, it doesn't matter. After the (rumored) FF9 Remake, I HOPE 8 is in their books next too! As much as I appreciate these mods, I'm fine with FFVIII the way it is.
its also my favorite.. it makes me laugh how people will sit and say FF8 is horrible and than turn around and say 7 is their favorite .
Ok, I love FFVIII as it is... but changing outfits for the characters is definitely something I want
Yeah that Succession mod irks me. Saying it "feels true to the original vision of the game" is an insult especially when it literally changes and outright removes major plot points of the story (especially time compression which is the entire motivation of Ultimecia). It's fan fiction that reeks of being a fix fic and nothing more.
100% agree here
Exactly. It doesn't "add" or "enhance". It only takes things away and insults the creators' intended vision.
You sound like Chuami.
The mod sounds stupid to me. It’s made for people who don’t like the game.
I hope to get a VIII remake one day. That late 90s early 00s y2k futurism style is so nostalgic. Combined with some of Uematsu's Satie esque best work that just ads that bright but calming serene atmosphere to a lot of the locations is top tier.
Final fantasy 8 is my favorite game in the series so any changes in the story is an automatic no for me. What I want is a retranslation of it since from what I have seen online the translation while not as bad as ff7 is still not great.
Give me a mod that gives me more control over how rules for Triple Triad proliferate, and I will endure any other supposed flaw this game has. Just give me a mod that lets me pay off the Queen of Cards to kill a rule in a region.
Ragnarok mod includes NPCs that abolishes all rule in their region for gil. It's part of a larger gameplay mod tho and is just one of it's many changes. (I'm surprised it isn't featured in this video as it's one of the largest gameplay mods out there for ff8.
Gods bless that mod's maker, then!
Most of these mods sound like fixing things that aren't broken by breaking them.
The first one is just a trashy fanfic, condescendingly “fixing” a story that isn’t broken
@@dontworryaboutit5490 Sounds like it though considering how many people were polarized by Final Fantasy VIII's story and considering the popular fan theories (Squall is Dead and Rinoa is Ultimecia) its not surprising. Guess its too hard for some people to try to see a story differently than their own head canon.
I love Final Fantasy VIII but I do think the battle mechanics mods are needed. The one that added sidequests sounds great. If I was in charge of a remake, I'd add optional sidequests that delve deeper into the playable characters pasts including Seifer.
The only one that piqued my interest is Draw 100. Rest isn't compelling to me, I love my Junctions, I love my non-leveling runs and I especially love the time compression.
Definitely have a love-hate relationship with the junction system.
What's the hate?
For me it was the worry of not using magic because of effecting stats and stuff i didnt like it 9s system is much better equip piece of armor get enough points to permantly learn the spell or skill
Mostly for me it was hate.
My hate definitely comes in during the Ultimecia battle - later phases, she starts cutting out parts that will weaken your stats if they're attached. Including summons.
@@therealevo88 for me it's the opposite. I hate in ff9 that i have to cling to inferior pièces of equipment for skills that take forever to learn and are of unclear utility.
The author of the Succession mod westernized the story. He deleted plot elements because the story wasn't simple enough for him and rewrote characters to match his ideal western cliches. He once said that he viewed Rinoa's first scene as "intrusive of Squall's space" and "cringe" and "manipulative" (literally a funny and lighthearted moment where Rinoa pretends to use magic) So he turned it into a Y.A self-conscious thing, where every character acts smart so the author would also feel smart, and the story would lose all its color and charm to become a teenage superhero drama...
Btw
Writing fanfic is alright.
But the author himself denies what he made is a fanfic...
huh
How is that "westernized"? What does that have to do with hemispheres?
@@BJGvideos he misinterpreted the childful delight for manipulative and infantile behaviour... in Rinoa's case. I live in East so it's easy to see your usual Western (actually, American) Y.A writing and its difference with Eastern (mostly Japanese) interpretation of characters.
@@BJGvideos he also had an arguement in the comment section with a person about how these behaviors are viewed differently in different cultures.
edit:sorry, i misremembered that person as japanese, now i fixed it.
@@barsabe That really doesn't seem like an east vs west thing and much more like an individual misinterpretation
Had the opportunity to use 8 for 8, but were married to the number 7. Shame.
According to Final Fantasy 14's story? Final Fantasy 8 was so bad, The world was BANISHED. 7 was still there baby!
What a totally normal & not weird at all thing to complain about.
For it's flaws, Final Fantasy 8 still remains my favourite game out of the whole franchise, and it always disappointed me how little SE seemed to really care about it over other entries.
Haven't tried it modded yet, then again I never paid attention to the FF modding scene, outside of Moguri Mod for FF9.
I wish other FFs would get the FF7 treatment
Thank God. This game is trash.
@@TheBrazilRules I mean trash would think gold is trash
I've always been confused why people had trouble with FFVIII's gameplay.
As a kid, i lacked most of the know how needed to play really any game. I rarely read tutorials either because i was too young to really understand everything the way it was intended or simply impatient.
FFVIII's story was enthralling to me and the gameplay was definitely difficult with one caveat. I managed to brute force the entire game never once using the junction system. I'd consistently made it to the beginning of disc 4 maybe 17 times, simply because my copy of disc 4 was scratched and i couldn't really get past starting it up and moving a few steps before it could crash.
Point I'm making is I ignored the junction system, until i was able to understand it, it was hell for sure but it was still my favorite game and when i finally started reading the tutorials i discovered how the game actually functioned and realized the junction system was really interesting. Not to say anyone is wrong or weren't playing the game right because I got through the game based solely on perseverance clearly playing it wrong to some degree.
Maybe it's an attention span issue.. I say having been diagnosed with adhd as a kid yet when i came to video games I couldn't beat the challenge overwrote my need to succeed.
Also i love this video, no shade on this I actually installed succession and martial law in order to add a little bit of freshness to my favorite game of all time. at the same time i see some others are frustrated with the succession mod but at the same time plenty of fan mod/games have a tendency to do the same thing offending diehards, while bring life back to games those who hated the original allowing more audiences to try something they initially hated.
Anywho, anything that supports the idea of people playing this gem, regardless of what complaints i might not fully agree with is a plus in my book.
The time compression is actually one do the few “time travel” story/ideas I have actually liked. Normally they put me off hard
Seeing a lot of people in the comments talking about the Succession mod just sounds like fanfic, which yeah, it is, but that doesn't make it inherently bad
What makes it questionable is removing the time compression, which breaks almost every part of the plot at a base level
Without that I'm pretty sure that Ellone and Adel have literally no reason to exist in the story bc the plot point they're there to facilitate is gone
Hell, if it WAS just a fanfic it'd probably be at least fine bc they wouldn't be bound by the constraints of the game itself, but since it's a mod they can't actually cut any characters that openly conflict with the new story
Am I the only one who remembers a gamefaq for a Tony hawk / ff8 mod?
My only problem with junctioning, is that it really punishes you for casting spells, since you then need to refill those spells, so you end up relying hevily on mele combat through the whole game, locking away a huge portion of combat.
I'd love it if they did something like Moguri for FF9.
I never played 9. What is that?
@@lexprontera8325Moguri is basically a massive overhaul mod launcher that is compatible with almost every mod made for 9. It's basically almost like a template for all mods to be compatible.
I tried the Crystal mod an LOVED how fresh and new battles felt, kind of like I was playing a whole new game. The only thing was the difficulty; Elvoret at the top of the Communication Tower kept wiping me!
only mod i ever used was roses and wine. it just swaps all the music to full orchestral versions. makes the game feel epic
I just recently started the Remaster Steam version. I am considering installing the randomizer, as I love randomizers.
On the challenge thing, my standard JRPG challenge is: no shops. The FF8 Junk Shop is ok, since it is an attempt at a crafting system and you cannot find the weapons in the wild, but in general, if you can find it in the wild [chests and drops], I won't buy it, which means no normal gear or item shops, though casinos or other non-standard currency shops [like the Small Medals in DQ games, or Chrono Trigger's silver point stuff].
For games like FF7 and 9, where Abilities are gotten from items, I scour the guide to find the abilities that cannot be crafted, attained from drops, or found in chests and buy only those [so only a small list of materia].
Succession and Martial Law sound right up my alley. Would love an Echo-S rendition to go alongside Succession.
Favorite game of all time. Love the FF8 content!
❤
A friend of mine asked me which Final Fantasy games I like, I told him it was Final Fantasy 8. He was livid as a response. I was flabbergasted and laughing at it. This was years ago. I still remember it, and it is etched at my very soul how comical that event was.
If there was one aspect of FFVIII I think I would turn to mods for it's the difficulty. VIII is a reasonable contender for easiest game in the mainline series, partly because of the global level-scaling but also because there so few battles with actual teeth to them. As it stands, optimally using the Junction system or GFs feels like overkill on a casual run.
It's only easy is you really know it, which makes it harder. 7 is the easiest FF by far
Go watch 1st playthrough livestreams to see how "easy" it is for them.
If you haven't heard of it already, check out the Requiem Mod 🙌
Wow I’ve never heard of succession I’m gonna download it right now
The biggest "problem" with the Junction system is that once you figure out certain things about the game, it becomes very easy to just break the game fairly early on using it and the Limit Break system...
The two main tools to very early on break it are Str-J from Ifrit and L Mag-RF (life magic refine) from Siren... As you can just buy a bunch of tents, turn them into Curagas for a very early Tier 3 spell to Junction to Str to boost it very high and then use Squall's or Zell's LB on loop by having either stay on low health.
You can start doing it right after Dollet and it will carry you all the way to the endgame.
This was my first FF game. A friend got me into it, and i ended up playing them all. We played countless times, but we didn't know about the card mod trick until a friend showed us. It was nuts to realize that you could be 9999 before reaching level 10, lol
Sending love for the Requiem Mod!! It's a great difficulty overhaul mod that is a must-try for longtime FF8 fans that know the gameplay system in and out. Every boss encounter is overhauled, enemies have new attack patterns and spells, and it may make you pull your hair out here and there. Great mod, lovely mod, please try it!
Also I've seen it mentioned in the comments but Maelstrom is a wonderful work-in-progress randomizer for the game as well! Really feature-rich and you can randomize a ton of aspects of the game--bosses, drops, draws, shops, steals, gf locations, recipes, etc.
Hope these two mods get more love!
Requiem Mod is so good, I had to upgrade to a NKRO keyboard to beat Brothers because I literally couldn't hit the keys fast enough otherwise xD
It really feels like Kaizo FF8 basically lol, I love how unique they made every boss fight feel with how deeply redesigned they were or how they made certain niche mechanics matter so much more. It really rewarded you for an in-depth understanding of the game's systems. If you're feeling silly try combining Requiem with Maelstrom and see how far you can get lol
I had no idea there was many people making mods for 8
because there isn't many. this video lists all of them
@@barsabe there are many, these are not all of them
@@FF8FansChannel there is exactly 8 of them in the nexus mods lol
@@barsabe nexus mods is not good place to look for mods. Qhimm forums is better.
You forgot the best one, Ragnarok mod
Thank you so much, FF Union, for spotlighting my mods! I really appreciate it.
I noticed you were focusing on the mods available on the Nexus, so you missed what is arguably the best gameplay mod for FF8: Ragnarok.
You just barely missed being able to have 8 great mods for FF8!
I'll probably be on my deathbed by the time ff8 gets a remake. - _-
Let's just not wait for it
Well I'm on my deathbed now and I wish they hadn't remade my favorite Final Fantasy.
If I could have gone on without seeing the way they butchered my favorite game, my life would have been that much better.
Parts of the succession mode were great particularly in the smaller talk. Made a lot of things really come to life. But so much of it got way too wordy and self indulgent and a lot of it was not well edited. Hats off for the insane effort but sadly I went from absolutely loving it near the beginning to becoming fatigued by some of it. Honorable mention should also be made for the upcoming improved angel wing ultima mod and lunatic pandora installer.
One thing I'll say in defense of the original PC version's soundtrack, which also applies to the FFVII port:
The soundtrack was always in MIDI format, even on the PS1, but because MIDI is just a set of instructions the resulting sound is fully dependent on the hardware or software that's handling the playback. MIDI was used due to the sheer amount of music in the games, and if Squaresoft had opted to use CD Audio it would have meant even more discs or fewer FMVs. I remember the entire MIDI soundtrack of FFVII could fit on a single floppy disk.
Compressed audio wasn't really viable either, since it used (relatively speaking) a lot more processing power compared to either CD Audio or MIDI. Back in the 90's, when the ports were released, it was common for games to sound much different depending entirely on what sound card you had. In FFVII's case, the original PC version did come with a Yamaha synth software you could install but even then it didn't sound 1:1 with the PS1's sound chip, and couldn't because AFAIK the PS1 had a pretty unique sound chip
tl;dr The PC ports of FFVII/FFVIII had "bad music" because the sound files were created with the PS1's hardware in mind, and due to technical limitations at the time (file size vs processing power requirements) it was pretty much impossible for it to sound the same on PC as it did on the PS1.
..the junction system is straightfoward and comprehensible enough.. The challenge is getting your hands on the strongest magics as soon as possible which the Triple Triad is the only way, and the GF skills required to transmute the cards to said strong magics; THAT's when things become complicated
Nice mods ! Also I've made a mod where you can play as Fujin, Raijin and Edea as permanent characters and changed the classic battle theme to " man with machine gun" theme :)
I bought the FF8 remaster but realized that other than the built-in cheats, it was just a poorly implemented HD mod. So I refunded and installed the HD mod and got a much better looking game.
Hold on! There are FFVIII mods? How am I only discovering this now? 😅
Lots of them
Pretty cool list, but I'm surprised Ragnarok doesn't appear there, I hope you cover it some time
Every time there is a new video from you guys, I RUN! I love what you do. Thank you. Also, amazing voice over.
Thank you so much Teo, that's so kind of you. ~Darryl
I'm so nostalgic about this game that I will watch any video about, even though I haven't played it in over 20 years lol
If they remake it then they should explore the 3 way love story of squall quistis and rinoa
FF8 is by far my favourite FF, and I have played them all, even those not of the main numbering. It was already perfect. No need to change or mod.
Crystal was a good difficulty mod. It’s not very balanced but that’s a good thing..the hidden “Omega Weapon” fight was amazing
Bro really about to make me buy FF8 AGAIN. Seriously though, great video as always! This was really intriguing!
This is my favorite FF of all that i have played. FF VIII is one of the games of my life and is always in my top 3 with Symphony of the Night and MGS 4.
I love this game so much that i wanted it to be my platinum 100 last year. Been playing FF VIII since the PlayStation one. I would love a remake but i guess that's never gonna happen 😢
Easily one of my all time favourite final fantasy games
The new Squall hd model in the remaster should have never been in an official game cause it is so different from the original Squall.
I love the controversies of this video
- A lot of players that wanted more challenge without having to handicap themselves, because the game vanilla was too easy VS - A lot of players that felt that the game was hard because of the junction system that they didnt like.
A video about 8 Final Fantasy VIII mods would be perfect...
Also Angelwing does work with remaster. Along with the rest of Mcindus battlefield pack the seedui mod along with all the characters and Npcs upscaled or redone.
Mods just show the world there can be a better or different world. Some show the heart that originally made games wonderful.
All I wanted was to have enemies that had random amounts of magics to draw, akin to player characters. It always bothered me that I could draw 300 fire from something, and it could still cast fire.
No love for maelstrom the ff8 randomizer mod? Damn, best thing to happen to final fantasy in years is randomizers.
7 mods and Ultimecia is still not Rinoa.
Literally came on to see if that would be one of themods
I'm ur 8th like😂
In our hearts, she shall always be...
I will stand by this theory like a knight stands by his maiden
Or Lulu
Hes the best looking guy in the room! 😂
man.FF8 has the best minigame in the form of triple triad.
I just noticed Irvine's terrible trigger discipline in that cutscene ;D
great video :-) the crystal and psx music restoration mods make me want to get into this one for the first time. i tried after ff vii and just couldn't get past the non-traditional balancing and weird leveling system - no offense meant to those who love it as it is
music-wise, i first played this on the demo disc that came with brave fencer musashi... that opening theme being changed for the worse in the retail release always bugged me. i wonder if i could manually add that track in?
This is the kind of video I want to see more of, I love the idea of replaying the game, but its by no means the same and replicates the feeling of a new game, but its a game you're super familiar with
Angel Wing mod looks nice.
I just replayed this game a few weeks ago.. I had no idea you could mod it ??? lol, ughhh do I have to replay it again with mods now
Forgot to mention that some prefer the original FFVIII to the remaster because of the censorship implemented in the remaster.
I'm curious how they make the final chunk of the game work if they removed time compression from the story.
I don’t think I ever understood the junction system, yet I still found the difficulty fine, and beat the game. 😅
Still waiting on that ff8 remastered hd backgrounds mod
My biggest peeve of ff8 was the mobs always scaling. I enjoy grinding levels to get stronger and seeing that progress. You don't get that with scaling and it sucks. Its the reason why I've only played through the game once, much unlike 7 and 9 where I've cleared the game a multitude of times.
I'm curious about the Succession mod. I particularly like this head canon of mine that Irvine hesitates at shooting Edea because he actually remembers her. Makes sense for anyone to hesitate when asked to shoot their mom. Removing the amnesia subplot seems it would make his hesitation weird.
I don't know that that is much of a head canon rather than just a later story element explaining an earlier one. He doesn't fully recognize her as Matron, but he remembers Matron in general as he reveals at the basketball court scene. But I dunno, I guess it *could* be just choking up.
Mt biggest beef with this game is something that can only happen once. The first time i played i didnt go to my desk at the start snd didnt get the GF's. So i had to beat ifrit based on level alone and only had 1x character who could do any junction abilities apart from attack. I soldiered on for a while but it was a tough slog and i dont think i got past the dollet exam
That's impossible, you get those GFs when you leave the garden. The game does do that to the player twice far later on though - suddenly switch up your characters and ruin the junctions when you don't expect.
@@Bozebo he probably played the japanese version, which Quetzacotl and Shiva can only be obtained at the desk.
I so hope ff8 gets the remake, they can take my money then.
Agreed
Only thing id change with FF8 is a mod that changes the magic system..
I get what they were doing which was giving you a choice between magic and physical ability...
But i think any magic system that pushes you to not use magic is very flawed..
Also spending 10 minutes pressing one button to draw magic is the low point of the game.
Reading through the comments on here is somewhat fascinating. I'll say 8 does not need the ff7 remake treatment. LoD on the otherhand is BEGGING for it.
Is there a mod that modifies the leveling experience into a more traditional leveling like FF4?
Beautiful FFVIII
Hope getting remake...
What mod is used for 60 FPS for FMV and GF?
If there's one classic FF game that Square can turn into an action game, FFVIII is the one.
Until I see an official trailer, I'm choosing to believe the FF9 remake does not exist. Rumours or not.
Is the Succession mod compatible with any of the difficulty-overhaul ones?
I love card mechanic in game and ability to end fights without gaining xp and keeping myself low and also enemy scaling is also low. Bossfights don't give xp after you defeat them so why level up anyways? Game is intended to remove grinding for players that are sick of it while providing tools for people who enjoy it. I really like that and no other RPG has it like that. I can really cater my playthrough however i like. For me that is a good game. I might go and play it again.
the mod i would really love to see, would be something that remade backgrounds and fmvs made with ai. I've seen some videos where they reimagined ffviii like the 7 remake, and it looked awesome.
Is it possible to substitute those low quality bg in the game for new ones with more details? and what about the fmv? can they be redone and inserted?
FF8 needs a cycle zero prequel.
The best one is Alternate Destiny 😂 I am joking of course 😊 but it's a work made by great passion for the game
These are pretty interesting, I'll for sure give sucession a try, unsure on what gameplay mod to go with though.
Its videos like these that make me rethink my decision on not purchasing PC versions or Steam 😭
2 mods that I would love to see: stop enemy level scaling and remove GF mini-game & animations, I don't like that in order to get stronger in FF8 you must not fight lol and leveling up only makes the game harder.
Omg Voice acting? I'm gonna check out Echo Mod at some point
i'm so curious why ff8 isn’t as popular as ff7? after played both until ff9 i always had this impression that ff8 is more superior than other series even ff7. but apparently ff8 is less loved by square
ff7 had a bigger cultural impact due to tech and timing, ff8; some fans of the franchise didnt like because 'o junction or its love story its based around.
square staff probably run the gambit with their favorites but 7 gets the most attention due to its cultural position, its a company 7 sells
@@BobOfBarons I must say ff7 is a masterpiece on it's own but square did a bit too much over using it and overrating it, i like the hype but after so many years there are other old ff series in the franchise that deserves more as it turns out ffvii became more and more of a cash cow and for me it's slowly loosing its charm and greatness.
Regardless of what i think of a game's story, a "modded" story doesnt sound appealing in the slightest
Ragnarok anyone?
FF8 will gets its love soon enough, just got to wait for 7 to finish 1st
I think there's one where monsters give you money instead of experience