Because they both came out in the same general time frame (PS1), the game that came first *FF7 in this case* generally is always the more well received. This is also true of Majoras Mask and Ocarina of Time in the Zelda franchise. Sometimes when a game comes out that a crowd of people can latch on to and form a bunch of opinions around - when something that comes out that is different but still within the same lore we tend to look at more opinionated. I loved FF8. Shuffle of Boogie card game. Classy ballroom dance scenes. Mobile cities. Evil Woman as a villain. It just felt classy. Yet most people will answer FF7 in this situation. Why? It was blocky. More pixelated. Sure, it had a decent tone of post-apocalyptic mixed in with likable characters and an evil-as-hell main villain. Sure, the chocobos were fun to mate and ride. But as a whole story if you take away all the free-world exploration and mini-events that soak up time, the main plot of FF7 is far shorter than that of even 8, or ones that followed. Yet, again, people praise FF7. This makes me wonder - Did FF8 Take a backseat, just like Majora's Mask did for Zelda?
I don't think you are right in that because they both came out on PS1, FF7 is seen as the better game. Most people would say that FF9 is better than FF8. I know that a LOT of people didn't like the magic system in Final Fantasy 8. Drawing magic from mobs and completely removing the MP system was a bit mistake. That alone is enough to turn a lot of players off the game. People were also thrown off by the fact that half way through the game you began to play as someone else. Even if it was for just a brief period of time. Final Fantasy had an awesome card game, much better than FF9s. While FF8 remains my second favorite game in the series, its more because it was my first RPG that I really played on PSX.
That's a cool opinion too. I've never thought of it like that myself. I've been around people who have generally shared my concept (on multiple forums, and real life) so it's really nice to see another perspective. If I picture it like you said, it makes sense why people liked 7 and 9 but not 8. I never did pick out the fact of the different character change could turn you off. I felt it was refreshing as they were all single-minded before that. I thought it was more a step in the right direction.
No, I don't think Final Fantasy 8 took a backseat. I think it mattered, like with Ocarina and Majora, which audience it was being marketed to. Both games are wonderful as they are, but they seem to be geared towards different audiences. Given, the similarities are there, but it still seems different. That doesn't make it a backseat game though.
FFVIII never took a backseat in my opinion because many people loved that game as much as FFVII despite both being geared towards different audiences. Squall and Cloud are both very epic characters in their won right.
FFVIII has a lot of haters for various reasons, including some odd gameplay mechanics and Squall's character (complaining about Squall being a loner is like complaining about Cloud being emo). I think that the main reason FF7 got more attention, though, was because FF7 was most people's first JRPG, so it holds a special place for them. I think it's kinda silly, but it's the main reason why FF7 is liked more than FF8 or FF9 (FF9 was the best of the PS1 FFs, by the way).
I just never could get into 9, no matter how I tried. I think I know why, and people still tell me to this day I'm missing out -- but I just didn't find the game, or anything in it interesting after I got used to the classy art of 8, and story like that. I guess I maybe didn't give it enough of a chance, to be honest. I was hoping more in that vein of 7 with 8's art, but I just hoped too high. That turned me off on top of it. Not saying I am right or wrong; I just didn't prefer it. Good on ya if you enjoyed it.
That's what I thought, too. FFVIII is, in my honest opinion, may not be as good as FFVII, but is far better than most of the other FF's out there down the line. The Triple Triad card game was an amazing sidequest-heavy mechanic that helped a lot with your usual main quests. FFVIII's story was the first since the original first to involve time travel, and this time, it involved a little romance. Liberi Fatali's a great piece of work. The whole idea of "children of fate" coming together made everything a unique narrative. The junctioning system needed work, though. It wasn't nearly as engaging as Materia or Job Class systems.
That's understandable. FF9's style was closer to pre-FF7 games than FF7 or FF8, and most people were expecting something closer to 7 or 8, so they might feel disappointed because it's nothing like what they expected.
I think that Final Fantasy 8 wasn't really a bad game, per-say. I think the issue they had is they changed way too many things that we were all used to such as the standard magic system and on top of that put the game in a whole different environment as well that seemingly catered to an older audience, rather than a younger one. Despite what a lot of others say, Final Fantasy 8 was in fact one of my favorite ones as it had a rather engaging story-line, good game-play(if you don't take advantage of the vulnerabilities of the draw system too much.), a unique mini-game, and quite good character development.
Many people got introduced to the series by FF 7, and expected FF 8 to be a continuation in the same style, maybe even following the same story. Back then, people wouldn't really go on the internet and do much research before buying a game, so often they had no clue what they were getting. While FF VIII was a great game, people expected another VII and got disappointed.
I think FF 8 took a backseat to FF 7 ( in my opinion) was mainly due to the villains. Even to this day, people won't shut the hell up about Sephiroth on either how badass he is or( in the case of fangirls) how hot he is / if he and cloud would make a cute couple. I personally liked Ultimecia but not a lot of people talk about her. It would be nice to see her or an enemy like her again rather than Sephiroth popping up yet again to listen to his decapitated mommy's head to wreck stuff and ultimately be stopped by a brooding blond guy with a giant sword that may or may not be compensating for something else.
I never got to play FF7 so I don't have much basis on making a comparison but from my perspective as someone who was formerly completely disinterested with this genre at the start, FF8 was the one that finally made me want to give it a fair shot. I don't know what it was about it but I think it's mostly due to the characters not being too cartoonish in size and proportion, so I tend to agree with some of the posts here that it was probably meant to draw in a different audience which in my opinion did work since now I am at least somewhat familiar with the title and the characters even though I'm still a complete casual.
At the time it came out, no, definitely not. I remember seeing more commercials and advertisements for Final Fantasy VIII than I ever saw for Final Fantasy VII. Square was trying to hype that game to the moon and back - it just hasn't latched onto the popular consciousness quite as well as FFVII. Still a solid game, though, and I'd be just as likely to play either one. I also totally agree that FFIX is the best of the PS1 Final Fantasy titles. That game got the shaft pretty bad. I was barely even conscious that it was out until it was already being sold on discount. Quite different from VII and VIII, and probably better if you're a longer-term fan of the franchise, but a damn good game regardless.
