Work in Progress since 2023
	VGRT; Intro to FFVIII   I haven't written about them yet, but I really enjoyed my time with both "Final Fantasy VII" & "Final Fantasy IX", I thought both games were really beautiful stories that tackled a lot of serious topics, especially ones about identity. But I felt as though going from VII to IX was really slow, and at some point unbearably slow, but I still completed it & loved it. I had no real intention of ever playing "Final Fantasy VIII" & was actually planning on jumping directly in "Final Fantasy X" after I finished up IX, I mean basically all of my Final Fantasy friends kept bringing up how VIII was the worse one & how I should skip it. Then something happened that completely changed the trajectory of my plans. This screenshot of FFIX is from around the time I realized I needed to play FFVIII So, it's all basically a blur to me but, I believe it was early on during my "Final Fantays IX" playthrough, my good friend & professional Andy Warhol clone Sludge had been telling my about this friend of his that, for the lack of better words, was pushing "Final Fantasy VIII" as this incredible lesbian love story. Now to some, that would seem like a throwaway comment about the game, but for some reason it just stuck with me. This comment this (at the time) random lady said just would not leave my head the entire time that I was playing IX (to be fair, Squall Leonhart looks like a butch lesbian), I was just so interested that I began searching for my own copy of the game.   This beautiful, signed copy of FFVIII, that I had the honors of playing. Luckily, I didn't have to wait too long after beating IX to get VIII, thanks again to my friend Luke who found my a copy during a convention visit. So much to the dismay of all my Final Fantasy friends, I decided to spend the rest of my summer, and even the beginning of my semester dedicating myself to "Final Fantasy VIII" VGRT's FINAL FANTASY VIII: An Introduction The first FFVIII-related photo or video I took was of... Cid Kramer. Well the only reason I did that was because I was completely caught off-guard by the fact that he looked like Robin Williams. I just wasn't expecting it at all but, his model is actually really nice looking. I think it gives such a nice contrast to the way VII handled its models, here with all its nice details on all the texture. Sometimes the models in this game can look extrenmely rought but, that's mostly down to the PS1 struggling to properly render 3D (i.e. the jitteryness that also plauges the SEGA Saturn).   The only two images I took related to the raid. Anyways, I didn't actually take many photos or videos for a while. I actually think I might've recorded over some scenes by completely accident, as I feel as though I would've recorded that awesome scene of Squall escaping on the beach from the giant Galbadian mech. But since I don't have anything from that event, I guess I'll just skip to the next part, which I consider to be an immediate highlight.   This is the beginning of the first tape I recorded, which is labeled August 19th, 2024. My first impressions of Squall were great, a pretty serious loner character who just wants to be left alone. It reminded me a bit of Cloud during the beginning of VII where he's a little distant, but we'll see later that Squall's reasoning for that is pretty different from Cloud's. The reason I began recording here was because I saw Squall's outfit, and immedietly recognized it from that one "Gaming in the Clinton Years" clip where he threatens to kill himself. Which means...     Rinoa has spotted her prey. Squall's safety is not guaranteed. We get introduced to Rinoa! Which means we've reached the very beginning of "Final Fantasy VIII's" core, a love story. Now VII had some romance-elements with some of its characters & even in its gameplay, and later IX would also put a bit of focus on the romance between its two main characters. But VIII is a whoooole different beast, its story completely revolves around their romance not only in its story, but arguably also its pacing. I'm gonna be completely blunt here and say that VIII's pacing is all over the place, but it's at its best whenever it has to focus on Squall & Rinoa.	Main Home     About Site     Webmaster's Corner     Credits     FAQ       The Works Portfolio     Animations & Renders     Web Videos     Physical Props     Preservation       Fan Works VG Road Trip     RewindFeline     Earthbound 64     SEGA Saturn Shrine     Sonic Team Shrine       Friend's Sites