Final Fantasy VIII, a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square, is the eighth mainline entry in the Final Fantasy series. Director Yoshinori Kitase and artist Tetsuya Nomura created the world and cast—Nomura contributed the visual design of both the characters and summoned monsters. Yusuke Naora handled the game world's art design and Kazushige Nojima wrote the scenario. The core staff had all previously worked on Final Fantasy VII, incorporating feedback from that title into their work.

Set in an unnamed fantasy world, the plot focuses on the students of Balamb Garden, a private military academy that trains mercenaries. This mercenary force, SeeD, is employed by multiple nations to fight the expansionist republic of Galbadia. The main protagonist is Squall Leonhart, a SeeD cadet seen as an introspective loner. His main companion and love interest is Rinoa Heartilly, the outspoken leader of a resistance movement against Galbadia. Other companions include Squall's classmates Selphie Tilmitt and Zell Dincht; Quistis Trepe, a Balamb instructor; Irvine Kinneas, a mercenary from another SeeD facility; and Laguna Loire, a soldier who primarily appears in flashbacks. A recurring antagonist for Squall is Seifer Almasy, a rival SeeD cadet. The main antagonists are Edea Kramer, a possessed sorceress controlling Galbadia; and Ultimecia, a powerful sorceress from the future with a vendetta against SeeD.

The world and cast of Final Fantasy VIII were designed with an international audience and bright tone in mind, with the story drawing inspiration from Kitase and Nomura's school days. The two keywords for the narrative were "love" and "academy school". Improvements in technology produced more realistic designs and graphics than Final Fantasy VII, with natural proportions that avoided aesthetic clashes with the full-motion video cutscenes. Nojima wrote the scenario based on Kitase and Nomura's plan for a more personal romantic narrative compared to earlier Final Fantasy entries. Squall and Laguna's narratives initially had an equal presence in the game, but most of Laguna's content was cut. The cast of Final Fantasy VIII has seen praise from reviewers, with many highlighting the more realistic character designs and Squall and Rinoa's romance. Some criticism was given to Laguna's small presence in the game and Squall's antisocial attitude.

Concept and design

right|250px|thumb|[[Full motion video depictions of Laguna (left) and Squall, two of the main protagonists]]

The initial world and story concept for Final Fantasy VIII was created by director Yoshinori Kitase, and character designer Tetsuya Nomura from Final Fantasy series developer and publisher Square. Following the worldwide success of Final Fantasy VII (1997), they decided that the next mainline entry would both have a lighter story and atmosphere, and be aimed at a worldwide market. They identified "love" and "academy school" as central themes of the story, and wrote the core plot and main setting. The team wanted to "mix future, real life and fantasy".

Kitase wanted a more personal story for Final Fantasy VIII compared to earlier entries. He focused the game on the relationship between Squall and Rinoa, with the remaining ensemble cast acting as props for the two central characters' arc. The cast were originally all going to be students in the same class, but this concept was dropped as the team wanted to introduce new party members as the game went on. Kitase remembered the initial plan was for Squall and Laguna to have equal screen time.

Nomura handled designs for both the characters and their weapons, and the Guardian Force summoned monsters. Nomura described his designs for VIII as his preferred technique, compared to those in VII which featured characters that "weren't really his style". Motion capture technology was used for the full motion sequences to add realism to the characters—Nojima recalled Rinoa's movements during a dance party scene needed adjustments after complaints from women on the game's staff about how she moved in her dress. Kitase explained that the logo—showing Squall and Rinoa embracing—was inspired by the team's efforts to express emotion through body language. despite never outwardly expressing his love until the ending. Squall frequently reflects on forlorn memories of standing out in the rain at the orphanage where he grew up, wondering where "Sis" went. Squall wields a gunblade, a sword that uses components of a revolver to send vibrations through the blade when triggered. His Limit Break is Renzokuken, a series of sword strikes. It is later explained that the "Guardian Forces" (GF) which the SeeDs use in battle, cause memory loss, which is why Squall does not remember his past in the orphanage.

Literary analysis of Squall's character arc placed him within the hero's journey. He has a contrasting personality with Laguna, his foil, which furthers his development by experiencing Laguna's memories through flashbacks. In his essay, "Final Fantasy and the Purpose of Life", Greg Littmann describes Squall as a Hobbesian protagonist before his evolution into a more rounded individual over the course of the game. One fan theory holds that Squall dies when he confronts Edea at the parade in Galbadia, impaled by her magical spear of ice, with the remainder of the game as an extended dream sequence. Kitase debunked the theory in an interview with Kotaku.

Rinoa Heartilly

is the primary female protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. She has black hair with brown highlights. She is the estranged 17-year-old When Squall and his party of SeeD help the resistance movement fight Galbadia, Rinoa decides to stay with them; as a result, she ends up falling in love with Squall. which consists of an arm holster and a projectile that returns like a boomerang. In her Combine Limit Break, she attacks in unison with her dog, Angelo.

A fan theory posits that due to her Sorceress powers, Rinoa becomes Ultimecia at some point after Squall's death, growing to hate SeeD due to loneliness and resentment. Kitase debunked the theory in an interview with Kotaku. Laguna wields a machine gun and his Limit Break is Desperado, which involves a swinging rope, a grenade, and a barrage of bullets. In the dream segments, he is shown to be a twenty-seven-year-old soldier in the Galbadian army who travels with his companions, Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac. After Laguna had admired her for some time, Julia introduced herself to him, and revealed her dream of writing her own songs. However, after Laguna is shipped out on new orders the following day, the ensuing circumstances prevent him from returning. Julia eventually marries General Caraway and has a daughter, Rinoa. She was killed several years before the start of the game in a car accident.

After a scouting mission at Centra, Laguna gets injured and separated from his team. A young woman named Raine nurses him back to health after he is brought to Winhill. He falls in love with and marries her, but is drawn away from his new home when a young girl in their care, Ellone, is kidnapped. Laguna tracks her down in Esthar, where he helps liberate the nation from the despotic rule of Sorceress Adel. The people of Esthar elect Laguna as their president and Ellone is sent back to Winhill without him. Raine dies after giving birth to a child, who is taken away to Edea's orphanage, along with Ellone. Ward and Kiros strongly imply that Squall is their child, an interpretation supported by gaming writers and fans. Laguna is unable to leave his post to visit her and remains president of Esthar to the present day. Ellone and Laguna are later reunited in space, and Laguna helps the party prepare for their fight against Ultimecia.

The concept of two main characters was planned since the beginning of the game's development. Nomura tried to create a contrast between Laguna's and Squall's occupations; thus, Laguna became a soldier with light-hearted charisma, and Squall became a reserved mercenary student. The designers intended Laguna to be more similar to the previous protagonists in the series to complement Squall, who is different from the previous main characters. Laguna's status as Squall's foil contributes to Squall's character development and maturation. and assumed a leadership position among his friends. Like Squall, Seifer wields a gunblade which he calls "Hyperion". His Limit Break, Fire Cross, allows him to use the attack No Mercy. He later uses the more powerful techniques Demon Slice and Bloodfest against the player. Seifer has a short temper and is often depicted as a bully who desires attention. He is also fiercely independent and is often punished for his recklessness. He is the leader of Balamb Garden's disciplinary committee alongside his friends Fujin and Raijin.

During the introduction sequence, Seifer cuts Squall across the left side of his face with his gunblade, leaving a scar. Squall retaliates with a backhand slash that leaves Seifer with a mirrored scar. At the following field exam in Dollet, Seifer acts independently from his teammates Squall and Zell, abandoning them; consequently, he fails and is not promoted to SeeD. From his point of view, Squall and the others are "evil" and he recognizes himself as a hero. After she brainwashes him, he alienates himself from his friends. Eventually, Fujin and Raijin abandon him and he is defeated shortly afterward. Following Edea's defeat, the party confronts Seifer one last time as he now serves Ultimecia, and they defeat him. Seifer escapes, kidnapping Rinoa and bringing her to Adel. At the end of the game, Seifer is seen fishing and having fun with Fujin and Raijin.

Nomura had originally intended Seifer to be not only Squall's rival, but also part of the love triangle between him, Squall, and Rinoa. Although this concept was scrapped in the final script, Seifer remains Squall's rival, with his appearance being designed to contrast with his. They have equivalent but mirrored scars on their faces and their jackets are of opposing colors and lengths. Both wield gunblades, but Squall's gunblade is larger and requires two hands, while Seifer's gunblade is lighter and can be wielded with one hand. The book Converging Traditions in the Digital Moving Image: Architectures of Illusion, Images of Truth discusses that while Seifer is seen as a show-off and a troublemaker, Squall identifies with him regardless. IGN listed Seifer as the 91st best video game villain, stating that he makes for a great rival due to the similarities between him and Squall.

A younger version of Seifer appears in Kingdom Hearts II as a member of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee alongside Fujin and Raijin. Seifer's counterpart in the virtual Twilight Town is a rival of Roxas, and at one point mentions that he does not wish to cooperate with destiny. He is voiced by Takehito Koyasu in Japanese and Will Friedle in English. He is also featured in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a sub-character representing Final Fantasy VIII.

Quistis Trepe

is an eighteen-year-old instructor at Balamb Garden, where Squall, Zell, and Seifer are students. and her Limit Break, Blue Magic, a common ability found throughout the Final Fantasy games, allows her to imitate monsters' attacks. Afterwards, she maintains a more informal relationship with the other characters as a fellow member of SeeD.

As a child, Quistis stayed at an orphanage with most of the main characters. She then lived with foster parents, with whom she never developed any intimacy, before moving to Balamb Garden at age ten. She became a SeeD at fifteen and an instructor two years later. By this time, she had become very popular, with numerous fans who identify themselves as "Trepies". Quistis initially joins Squall to prepare him for his upcoming field exam. She later takes Squall into her confidence and tells him personally about her demotion. Later, she criticizes Squall when he nearly abandons Rinoa.

When designing the characters, Nomura wanted at least one female character to wear a skirt. Quistis was originally supposed to fill this part, but Nomura decided a long skirt worn over pants would look better. The role was eventually passed to Selphie. Nomura was surprised when the writers cast her as a teacher, despite being around the same age as the rest of the group.

Quistis also appears in World of Final Fantasy where she is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese and Kristina Pesic in English.

Selphie Tilmitt

is a student at Balamb Garden who recently transferred from Trabia Garden. She first appears when running into Squall while late for class, asking him to show her around due to having recently transferred. During the Dollet exam, Selphie joins Squall's team after Seifer abandons them. She becomes a full-fledged SeeD alongside Squall and Zell, and the three are assigned to the same team. She participates in many extracurricular activities, such as planning the Garden Festival and running the school's website. Selphie wields nunchaku, and her Limit Break Slot allows the player to cast a random spell numerous times as well as certain magic used in her limit break.

Zell Dincht

is a student at Balamb Garden with Squall and Seifer. He is seventeen years old, and his Limit Break, Duel, requires the player to input button combinations to deal damage. He also has a passion for sweet rolls, changed to hot dogs in the North American localization. In the closing sequence of the game, he almost chokes on them by trying to eat too many at once. Zell lived at the same orphanage as many of the other protagonists, where Seifer first began to bully him. Later on, the Dincht family adopted him in the town of Balamb. His motivation for enrolling at Garden is to live up to the memory of his grandfather, a famous soldier. He also thinks of himself as Seifer's rival, despite not being the main character. The inspiration for the tattoo on his face came from an MTV music video featuring a man with a full body tattoo.

He is voiced by Noriaki Sugiyama in Japanese in mobile games such as Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia.

Irvine Kinneas

is a student at Galbadia Garden, one of the three mercenary academies in the game. He is one of the Garden's elite sharpshooters, and wields a rifle. His Limit Break is Shot, which deals damage and inflicts status effects depending on the type of ammunition. but this is merely a façade to charm women and hide his lack of confidence.

After Sorceress Edea becomes the Galbadian ambassador, Balamb and Galbadia Gardens order Squall's team to assassinate her; Irvine is introduced as the sniper for the mission. Moments before the assassination attempt, he explains to Squall that he does not perform well under pressure. Despite this, he fires an accurate shot, but Edea uses magic to stop the bullet. Because Irvine had not used a GF until he joined the party, he is able to remember his past. During the game, Irvine gradually becomes closer to Selphie, acting on the feelings he had since living with her at the orphanage.

With Irvine, Nomura tried to strike a balance between not overshadowing Squall and not becoming too unattractive. He gave Irvine a handsome appearance but a casual personality, hoping that this would make him less attractive than Squall. Keeping with this idea, Nomura gave him goggles, but this idea was abandoned in favor of an American cowboy-like appearance to set him apart from other characters in the Final Fantasy series who wore goggles.

He is voiced by Daisuke Hirakawa in Japanese.

Kiros Seagill

is one of Laguna's comrades in the Galbadian Army. He wields a pair of katar daggers, which he uses to slice enemies in his Limit Break, Blood Pain. Following the failed mission in Centra, Kiros is separated from Laguna and Ward. He heals quickly and decides to leave the Galbadian army, but soon finds that life without Laguna lacks excitement. His subsequent search for Laguna brings him to Winhill after nearly a year. When Laguna is forced to leave Winhill to find Ellone, Kiros accompanies him, helping him earn money as an amateur actor to fund the expedition. Kiros' interactions with Laguna are based on the staff's interactions during development.

Ward Zabac

is Laguna's other comrade. He is an imposing man who wields a large harpoon, which he uses in his Limit Break, Massive Anchor, to crush his opponents from above. During the incident at Centra, he loses his voice in a battle with Esthar soldiers. After being separated from Laguna and Kiros, he becomes a janitor at the D-District Prison. When Laguna becomes president of Esthar, Ward joins Kiros as an advisor, directing affairs with gestures and ellipses. Laguna and Kiros can understand what he is saying by his reactions. Her motives are unknown, but SeeD dispatches Squall to assassinate her. The mission fails after an unknown entity possesses Rinoa and Edea sends a bolt of ice through Squall's chest. and was known as "Matron" to Squall and the kids that lived at the orphanage. It is also revealed that Edea was not acting of her own will, but was possessed by a sorceress from the future named Ultimecia. After Ultimecia's control over her is broken, Edea joins the SeeDs in the struggle and becomes a member of Squall's party for a short time. However, she accidentally gives her powers to Rinoa, making her a sorceress. Being a sorceress, Edea attacks with magical bursts of energy; her Limit Break, Ice Strike, is a magically conjured icicle hurled like a javelin.

Other characters

Adel

is a sorceress from Esthar who initiated the Sorceress War some years before the start of the game. As the ruler of Esthar, she ordered her soldiers to abduct girls to find a suitable successor for her powers, including Ellone. In the present, after Edea is released from Ultimecia's control, Ultimecia possesses Rinoa and commands her to free Adel so she can become Ultimecia's new and more powerful vessel. To defeat Ultimecia, Dr. Odine comes up with a plan that involves trapping her within Rinoa's body. Squall's party defeats Adel, and Rinoa inherits her powers, leaving Rinoa as the only sorceress candidate for Ultimecia to possess. Ultimecia possesses her again, and using Ellone's powers, they start "Time Compression", leading to the final battle.

Cid Kramer

is the headmaster of Balamb Garden. After the failed assassination attempt on Edea, the Garden Master, NORG, attempts to seize power from Cid and reconcile with Edea. This sparks an internal conflict, in which the students and personnel side with either Cid or NORG, but Squall and Xu quell the conflict and return Cid to power. Afterward, Cid confronts NORG, who started the conflict over financial issues. Cid is the husband of Sorceress Edea, with whom he ran an orphanage and founded the SeeD organization. They are estranged for most of the game because they lead opposing factions until Ultimecia releases her magical possession of Edea.

Because most Final Fantasy titles include a character named "Cid", Nomura wanted to design someone with differences from the past Cids in the series. He gave this version of Cid the appearance and personality of an older, benevolent character who would watch over Squall's party and offer them advice and motivation. Nojima decided that this type of good-natured character would work best as the headmaster of Balamb Garden.

Ellone

is a mysterious woman who is the missing "Sis" of Squall's past. Ultimecia needs this power to achieve "Time Compression", so she uses Edea and the Galbadian military to find her.

Despite being a key figure to the plot, Ellone's story is mostly told in flashbacks. After Esthar soldiers killed Ellone's parents under sorceress Adel's orders, she lived with Raine in the small village of Winhill, where she also developed a close relationship with her adoptive uncle, Laguna. These peaceful times lasted until she was captured by Esthar. which Raijin calls their "posse", even after Seifer leaves Garden. Raijin is voiced by Kazuya Nakai in Japanese and Brandon Adams in English.

Ultimecia

is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. She is a sorceress from the future capable of reaching her consciousness into the distant past via the "Junction Machine" to possess other sorceresses. Because she operates through the body of a possessed Edea to gain control of Galbadia, Ultimecia's existence is revealed only after she possesses Rinoa to release Sorceress Adel from her orbital prison to take as a new host. She seeks to avert her predestined fate through "Time Compression" magic, which would cause time to collapse, extinguishing all life as she becomes an omnipresent goddess.

Following Dr. Odine's plan, Squall and his party take advantage of Time Compression to confront her in the future. Ellone uses her power to sever Ultimecia's possession, temporarily halting the spell, which allows Squall's group to travel to Ultimecia's distant future and defeat her.

Ultimecia is the villainess representing Final Fantasy VIII in Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 and Dissidia NT, where she is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka in Japanese and Tasia Valenza in English.

Promotion and reception

The characters of Final Fantasy VIII have spawned action figures, jewellery and other goods in their likeness. In 1999, action figure lineups were distributed in Japan by Bandai, Kotobukiya, Banpresto, and Coca-Cola. Bandai also released them to Europe and Australasia the same year. In 2004, action figures of Squall, Rinoa and Selphie were distributed in North America by Diamond Comics.

Reviewers have praised the characters of Final Fantasy VIII. The Gaming Age reviewer was originally concerned with the shift to consistently realistically proportioned characters, but he ultimately found them more appealing. Moreover, the review stated that the character designs and graphical quality allowed the characters to "convey emotions much more dramatically". Jeff Lundigran of IGN commented that the "low-polygon characters of Final Fantasy VII are gone, replaced with sometimes surprisingly realistic high-polygon models that only look better the closer they get".

On the other hand, Lundigran criticized the manner in which romantic interactions play out, stating that "considering that the love story is so integral to everything that happens—not to mention forming the central image of the box art—it's incomprehensible why no one says 'I love you' to anyone, ever". Although the reviewer at Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine acknowledged possible fears over a romantic storyline, he wrote that "it's only later in the game, once you are really attached to all the distinct and complex characters, that the more emotional themes are gradually introduced".

Critics noted that the remastered version of Final Fantasy VIII, released in 2019, breathed new life into the characters. Polygon observed that the remaster finally made good on the "You're the best looking guy here" meme, which originally lambasted the low resolution graphics of the original game.

References

  • Final Fantasy VIII character profiles — Square Enix USA