The Final Fantasy VIII Retrospective

After the international success of Final Fantasy VII, Hironobu Sakaguchi would abscond from game development to focus on directing a Final Fantasy movie. Before moving on, however, he would tell director Yoshinori Kitase that he and the rest of the FFVIII team could make the game their own. The inmates were now running the asylum, as all eyes were now on Square to see whether they could live up to the lofty standards set by FFVII. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AndrewBluett Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/drubie.bsky.social Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 1:19 - Part I - Great Expectations 7:12 - Part II - Come Together 14:32 - Part III - Commitment 25:47 - Patreon 26:02 - Part IV - Final Fantasy VIII 37:11 - SeeDs in the Garden, Blooming into Flowers 45:27 - Cards, Draw, & Junction 1:05:10 - Retooling Standards 1:18:40 - A Party of Supporting Characters 1:30:44 - Squall Leonhart 1:39:59 - Rinoa Heartilly 1:46:52 - Laguna Loire 1:55:31 - Surface vs Subtext (or, How Themes Drive a Story) 2: