Characters of Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII, a 1999 role-playing video game by Squaresoft, features "SeeD", an elite group of mercenaries, as well as soldiers, rebels, and political leaders of various nations and cities.
Thirteen weeks after its release, it had earned more than US$50 million in sales,[1] making it the fastest selling Final Fantasy title at the time.
[6] The six main playable characters in Final Fantasy VIII are Squall Leonhart, a loner who avoids vulnerability by focusing on his duty; Rinoa Heartilly, an outspoken and passionate young woman who follows her heart; Quistis Trepe, an instructor with a serious yet patient attitude; Zell Dincht, an energetic martial artist with a fondness for hot dogs; Selphie Tilmitt, a cheerful girl who loves trains and flies the airship Ragnarok; and Irvine Kinneas, a marksman and womanizer who uses his charm to mask his insecurities.
[5] Temporarily playable characters include Laguna Loire, Kiros Seagill, and Ward Zabac, who appear in "flashback" sequences; SeeD cadet-turned-antagonist Seifer Almasy; and sorceress Edea Kramer.
[7] Character designer Tetsuya Nomura, while exchanging e-mails with director Yoshinori Kitase between development of Final Fantasy VII and VIII, suggested that the game should have a "school days" feel.
The first character Nomura designed specifically for Final Fantasy VIII was Squall,[9] initially giving him longer hair and a more feminine appearance.
With Squall, Nomura wanted to try a unique angle to establish his role, giving him a characteristic gunblade scar across the bridge of his nose.
[8] Ramuh—an old wizard summon from earlier Final Fantasy games—was replaced; other human-like designs were re-imagined as nude figures or with creature-like elements.
Nomura, also the director of the Guardian Force animation sequences, wanted to create a greater impact than the summon cinematics of Final Fantasy VII.
Another prominent race is the "Shumi", a small tribe of creatures with yellow skin and large arms that lives in an underground village on the Trabian continent.
Popular recurring monsters that appear in the game include Adamantoise, Behemoth, Bomb, Cactuar, Iron Giant, Malboro, and Tonberry.
[22] It is later explained that the "Guardian Forces" (GF) which the SeeDs use in battle, causes memory loss, which is why Squall does not remember Ellone, Edea, and his past in the orphanage.
[22] When Rinoa gains Sorceress powers, she acquires a second Limit Break, Angel Wing, which increases her spell-casting ability, along with rendering her in a state of "magic" berserk for the remainder of the battle.
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.
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.
[8] A younger version of Seifer appears in Kingdom Hearts II as a member of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee alongside Fujin and Raijin.
[51] 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.
[5] She wields a chain whip,[53] and her Limit Break, Blue Magic, a common ability found throughout the Final Fantasy games, allows her to imitate monsters' attacks.
Zell wields gloves and attacks with punches and kicks,[65] and his Limit Break, Duel, requires the player to input button combinations to deal damage.
[74] 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.
[79] 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.
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.
After Esthar soldiers killed Ellone's parents under sorceress Adel's orders, she lived with Raine in the small Winhill village, where she also developed a close relationship with her adoptive uncle, Laguna.
Raijin (雷神) is a member of Balamb Garden's disciplinary committee alongside Seifer and Fujin;[97] the three form a close "posse", as he calls it.
[120] NORG is more concerned about the revenue acquired by SeeD as a mercenary organization rather than its noble duty of opposing the Sorceress; he is considered a "black sheep" of the Shumi tribe.
[131] 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".
[18] GameSpot agreed with the transition, claiming that "involving, personal, and emotional stories are far more believable when they come from, well, people, not short, bizarrely shaped cartoon characters".
[18] However, GameSpot felt that Final Fantasy VIII shifts the story from the "epic" concepts of VII to the "personal", in that "the characters and their relationships are all extremely believable and complex; moreover, the core romance holds up even under the most pessimistic scrutiny".
[132] A later editorial by IGN's Ryan Clements echoed this sentiment, appreciating that Squall and Rinoa's single kiss during the finale serves "one of the player's main rewards for hours of dedication".
[133] 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".
