Exploring FF8's Cut Content

[@AlleywayJack]

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[@BOSIE321]

I did smile at the idea of Laguna crashing his car into Winhill: it's a very Laguna thing to do and would add to why the village evidently hates him so much.

[@AlleywayJack]

@BOSIE321 it would run with the theme of the first dream where we find Laguna team lost in the woods, and shortly afterwards he parks in the middle of a busy street in Deling city. Clearly a terrible driver.

[@Daxter250]

lets not forget that at the coastline of winhill during lagunas gameplay you can see crashed cars at the cliff ^^.

[@js-ro5jk]

This is why FF8 needs a remake the most, so much could be built upon

[@xdcksgmd37]

I just want a remake akin to DQ3 or Romancing Saga 2. I can’t deal with another FF7 scale remake.

[@Crocogator]

I'll defend VIII to the end of the earth, but I will never say it wasn't rushed or weird or relying on headcanon.

[@jairekambui7738]

I think the lead characters (Squall and Rinoa) some side characters (Edea and Cid) and the general story and concept With the time kompression and Ultimecia are really great, but a lot of the world building and other side characters leave a lot to be desired. Seifer got the worst of it in my opinion. It’s probably the most conceptually ambitious game of the PS1 generation FFs but that means not everything sticks the landing like 7 and 9.

[@leonvalentine3748]

​@jairekambui7738 the world building is fair in terms of available content. Delivery was terrible. But i do enjoy this game.

[@VictorLHouette]

I always feel like the world of 8 feels incredibly empty - particularly because of just how much locations become 1 and done. Dollet never matters again after the start, same with Timber, Delling City, FH... Even the few locations you visit more than once often feel weirdly unchanging, in a way that FF9 for example avoids. I think it really is just a sign of the game not getting the time it probably needed to be fleshed out more fully. Also, while I know the creators have explicitly denied the head canon, I think the Ultimecia-is-Rinoa theory actually makes the story much better. Makes it a kind of tragic story, but it wraps up some narrative ends in a really satisfying way that the story as-presented just... Doesn't really fulfill.

[@Crocogator]

@@VictorLHouette Ultemecia is the first time Rinoa tried to defeat her, and in desperation while Squall was dying, Junctioned him as a GF and created Griever, and thus started the time loop. The player defeating Rinoamecia is the time they finally end the loop. And that's my head canon.

[@enjolraslechimiste]

So well said. It is exactly how I feel

[@jairekambui7738]

The one game that could actually use a remake to expand on a lot of the missing content and flesh the game out even more. Seifer was robbed hard and his character is hard to understand given the minimal screentime he has after disc one. I also found it a bit awkward that the world has no name. Almost every other FF game world is named, this wasn’t. FF8 is a brilliant character study of the main protagonist, and has great symbolism, concepts and themes that are well executed, but some significant world, story and character elements were left unfinished and undercooked unfortunately.

[@ThatRandomFastingGuy]

If you read through the Balamb Terminal and do the Library side quest. You'll know Seifer bases his personality on a novel

[@recondinent2]

@@ThatRandomFastingGuy you expect us to READ?!?! in the CLASSROOM?!?! while there are draw points outside!

[@NightVisionPhantom]

I always thought the Squall and Laguna meeting was so underwhelming. Like they don't even acknowledge each other in any way.

[@evilriku1336]

Tbf, Laguna does say that after everything is over that he & Squall will have a longwinded talk together, most likely explaining why he left his child in the orphanage and so forth.

[@loregasmic]

@@evilriku1336That felt like such a cop-out, all that should’ve been in the main game but was probably cut

[@NetherlandsFirst]

That's because Squall doesn't know Laguna is his father. But Kiros, Ward, and Laguna do have internal dialogues about Squall looking like Raine and so on. I think it was handled pretty well. It was not the right time for Laguna to drop a bombshell on Squall right at the moment when he was going to save the world.

[@xYiazmatx]

@@NetherlandsFirst I'm not sure if waiting until after the '"let the villain destroy the world" time-compression future assassination to save the past' mission was a wise call on Laguna's part lol

[@Ternalin]

This just shows why FFVIII deserves a remake so much more then FFVII imo. Yes, VII is more popular but this game just had the pressure of being the "One after 7" and really didn't get its fair shake. I was a child in 1997 and I remember the hype of FF7 a lot, I think it was one of the first games I ever saw advertised on TV so I feel that 8 never got a fair shake. The story of FF8 is just so interesting and the idea of the time is really complex and interesting and different from FF7.

[@AaronAsherRandall]

Couldn’t agree more. FF8 and Xenogears are the two games most deserving of a remake in my opinion. But I just want upscaled graphics, various things modernized and a complete game, not any multiverse stuff.

[@memebump7612]

We were robbed.

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

The game was still 60 hours, so Im good with that.

[@menelquar]

The idea of the story focusing on Squall and Seifer is so intriguing.

[@jairekambui7738]

It seems very clear from the cover art and promotional material that the story was supposed to focus on all three of them, Seifer Squall and Rinoa, but Seifer’s storyline got shafted I assume due to time and maybe resources. If you read into his character, he has a lot of depth, but because he barely appears in the game after disc 1, we never really explore his character.

[@menelquar]

@ agreed! It’s really unfortunate. Maybe one day we’ll get a sequel or a reboot/remake to explore some of these ideas. I think the way they’re changing the story in FF7R would work even better for FF8’s world with all of the time travel. Changing things in the past tends to change the future after all!

[@fattiger6957]

Yeah, exactly. Going into the game and playing the first half, you expect him to be Squall's rival who challenges him throughout the game. It also seemed like he would be Squall's rival in love when it comes to Rinoa. Instead, Seifer just ends up being awkwardly written out of the plot and doing nothing as the stakes ramp up in the latter half of the game.

[@jairekambui7738]

@@fattiger6957 Exactly. That last scene with Seifer in the ending looked great, I imagine was supposed to be this deep cathartic moment of acceptance, but because of how awkwardly his character was handled it just felt more confusing than anything else. Just three seconds ago he was betraying his friends and about to help Ultimecia end all of existence, then he’s seen smiling and having fun with them in the end? Things don’t add up.

[@solarus2120]

I agree. With him being in the party at the beginning, and then showing up 4 times as a boss fight, each time supporting/fighting for a Sorceress, there's definitely more there than what is shown to us

[@zummone]

You should take a look at the game over screen from the trial version of FFVIII. "Their story began that morning... but actually, it has been continuing since the beginning of time..."

[@waleseggmundo]

I'm fine with us only getting snapshots of Laguna's story. There's plenty of extra little hints to be found (Timber Maniacs for example) and having it all spelled out would ruin the mystique of it. Show, don't tell. Plus, we're meant to be seeing it all from Squall's POV, so yeah some expanded backstory with Seifer would've been great but not knowing what he's up to once joining Edea is important too.

[@jairekambui7738]

I agree that the game is all about Squall as a character study, and the game fully succeeds with that, but The problem with the squall pov is that it hurts the characterization of certain other characters, primarily Seifer.

[@waleseggmundo]

@@jairekambui7738 >yeah some expanded backstory with Seifer would’ve been great

[@lebagel]

You're right. Every big production needs to be edited down and ideas need need reigning in to make a smooth, fun and effective game. That's all the happened here and the only way to judge it is whether FF8 was a good game or not - and it was.

[@AlleywayJack]

@waleseggmundo makes you wonder whether the Squall internal monologue was a later addition. I wish the ultimanias gave us more story drafts because I'd love to see how/why Seifers arc was reduced and what replaced it.

[@ArquelAdonis]

I hate when people says that doesn't need a remake. Obviously is one of the most needed ones! I hope that could be done in a near future

[@rainbowkrampus]

Do you really want some voice actor to put their version of "Whatever." in your head?

[@ArquelAdonis]

@@rainbowkrampus the funny thing is that I play the game in Spanish, so we don't have even ONCE the "whatever" catchphrase because we had a really good localization team bein really accurated to the original. No hot dogs, no German accent too. And I'd be playing it in Japanese, since seiyuus are pretty good for RPGs.

[@insekki]

Depends on the kind of remake. A super faithful one with just upgraded graphics like people wanted for vii I wouldn't be that interested it. While I can play the og ffvii to this day with no issue at all I totally get why someone half my age would be turned off by the presentation. Viii on the other hand still looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous. However this is one where I'd be happy for more adjustments to the story. As much as I adore the game (might be my favourite, deeply flawed though it is) it certainly does go off the rails and feels rushed. Unlike vii's wonderfully tight script that really didn't need too much meddling, I think viii could benefit from some changes.

[@NukeA6]

The problem with modern remakes is absolute classics are chosen and ones that are perfectly fine today. Then there's the "modern audience" crap. But yeah, FF8 is one of the better choices for a remake especially if you're into a certain fan theory.

[@insekki]

@NukeA6 absolutely agree. Like the recent silent hill 2 remake. Instead of starting with 1, where you could make an argument that the visuals were dated and a remake might help bring in younger fans, they started with 2, because that's the popular one. Even though it absolutely doesn't need a remake in any way. And yeah my headcanon has been R=U for over 20 years. Elevates the messy parts af the story for me.

[@Kujatalp]

Great video! It's so good to see the cut back drops and how these could have been used. Makes me wish for a remake now!

[@rosaheartlily]

This makes me REALLY want a remake! I've been hesitant in the past because I quite like the plot holes in the OG, and I didn't want them to be filled in a way that spoiled the charm they hold for me. But I would be very much in favour of the game being made as it was originally envisaged. We can but dream...

[@Chris_P_Bacon62]

It would've been cool if all that stuff made it into the game, but it's also cool that they left some stuff up for debate. Although they never say this in-game, I believe that in Ultimecia's time period, all SeeD members in the world are downright mean and ruthless witch hunters, and I mean they destroy sorceresses with extreme prejudice and Ultimecia had to live in hiding for most of her life. That would explain why Seifer believed that Squall and the others were the bad guys because Ultimecia probably told him everything about her time period. This is off topic, but as much as I love the Rinoa = Ultimecia theory, I could never bring myself to believe it. I wish it were true, though. However, I've always been open to the possibility that Ultimecia could be Squall and Rinoa's daughter or granddaughter. I know she lives generations in the future, but we don't know exactly how many generations, and I think the developers intentionally left that up to us to decide. As for Ultimecia's age, I don't think the developers even know that because it's irrelevant, but she looks like she could be anywhere from 28 to 60.

[@woodyhorton8537]

It's implied that Ultimecia is really old due to the fact that a sorceress cannot die with out finding a special person that is capable of absorbing her power and become the new one. Adel for example searched forever and eventually stalked Ellone. Ultimecia basically killed everyone in her timeline from what I remember so she's essentially immortal until what happens at the end of the game

[@Will-O-King]

All of this sounds immensely better than what they gave us. FF8's first quarter has always been the only real highlight of the game for me, with the rest of it slowly becoming more and more underwhelming. Just the whole feeling of "being in a military academy, making unique relationships, then going out into a modern world torn up by monsters and war" felt awesome and more compelling. The Laguna visions seemed odd for me at first, but if they took over as the main focus of their missions, I think it'd still be just as compelling. I didn't care about saving the world so much as getting to survive and explore through the ruins of it. The way the game devolved into a love story and "we were all orphans that magically lost our memories" was always such a disappointment in comparison. I would've played a different game if I wanted that.

[@fattiger6957]

Yeah, I definitely feel like Seifer was going to play a bigger part throughout the whole game. In the marketing and first half or so of the game, he was set up to be Squall's major rival. But it really feels like he was unceremoniously shuffled out of the story. It was also set up to have a love triangle between him, Rinoa and Squall, but that barely factors into the plot other than a little of Rinoa's backstory. When you finish the game, it really feels like Seifer was just a bunch of unfulfilled potential.

[@localHopeth]

That's because Squall really died at the end of disc 1 when Edea's huge icicle was blasted through his chest. Rest of the story from that point is his life flashing before his eyes & his dream of how he wished things would have gone. The tenor of the game changes from trending down for the heroes to the heroes conquering all challenges & everything making sense nicely. Game gets more fantastical. Notice how Moombas are introduced right at start of disc 2. Why do you think Seifer is always so WEAK after disc 1? It's because it is Squall's dream, and in his dream HE is the hero. He even gets the girl. Replay the game with this lens and you'll never see it the same. Discs 2-4 lasted mere seconds as Squall lost his life. The ending.... This game is a masterpiece in subtlety!!!

[@Nakatomi_Kagehisa]

​@@localHopethyeah and don't forget X-atmo92 Is actually Zell from another timeline, he wasn't satisfied with a face tattoo so he modified his entire body but got trapped in a timeloop, he ended up being captured by the Galbadian army and he's forced to fight himself during the Dollet Mission, extremely tragic and poetic. Such an awesome story!!

[@localHopeth]

@@Nakatomi_Kagehisa Nice joke reply 🤭

[@Ternalin]

The creator of FF8 recanted the Rinoa/Ultimecia Fan Theory recently, I think. I still believe that theory myself, regardless what the creators say. There are just too many things that suggest that in the game. Well that and I love the tragic romance of Rinoa as she slowly goes insane and wants "time" to force her to give back Squall, even though changing the past is impossible. It's almost Shakespearian in the level of drama and pathos.

[@FUNBadTime]

I agree, love the theory a lot. Although in my mind I like the idea more that the end of the game represents the cycle being broken by love and Ultimecias / Rinoas dark future being undone with Squall surviving / Rinoa finding him in the emptiness. To me the theory always made quite some sense, especially with the angle of Ultimecia being a version of Rinoa in a timeline where Squall went along with her being put in stasis like Adell, instead of Squall refusing. Thus her awaking all alone in the far future with a lot of regret.

[@Kageryushin]

Actually, Yoshinori Kitase retracted his statement that Rinoa and Ultimecia weren't the same person in 2022. He didn't mean for his answer back before then that they weren't the same person to be taken as an official or definitive statement, and later acknowledged that it was fully possible that Nomura and/or Nojima intended to imply that she was, even saying that hinting at a connection between the two characters was a concern during the creation of Dissidia (which involved Nomura as producer) and Mobius (which involved Nojima as writer).

[@Ternalin]

@@Kageryushin That's what I meant and the fact that all Ultimecia's weapons in Dissidia are the same name as Rinoa's really is too coincidental to not believe they are connected in same way or are the same person.

[@kirkcavanaugh1493]

Maybe they will one day redo it and add all the stuff they had originally planned to put in it? I would play that for sure.

[@Thelastjoka]

just more reasons why a FF8-2 should be made!

[@fancypotato1873]

Another great video from your channel! I love your FF8 content!

[@djramshead]

7:25 I didn’t read this as meaning the Garden SeeDs weren’t all part of Edea’s orphanage - but simply that we may have actually had much more engagement between Squall and Seifer as this revelation becomes known. When FFVIII was first being promoted before release, the rivalry between Squall and Seifer looked as if it would be a huge part of the story - they trade matching scars after all! Memory from the lighthouse makes it sound like we weren’t shown that at some point the two of them had a direct confrontation as kids that sparked their teenage rivalry. They both became gunblade specialists, both were romantically connected to Rinoa, their scars. Why these specific parallels and then Seifer gets dropped as just a barely there accomplice to Ultimecia?

[@gmkgoat]

Seifer was wildly underutilized in the shipped game. He’s on the box art! The dynamic between him, Squall, and Rinoa was obviously meant to take a more center stage but that got shunted off somewhere in production.

[@thedagfather8807]

Crazy how a game can be so legendary even missing this legendary other half of the story would've been epic

[@Tyler-h7p]

First time I saw this was on a Pizza Hut demo desk

[@Tyler-h7p]

And I beat it on my PlayStation five

[@Tyler-h7p]

Without using the card game too much

[@youhearthatsnap5180]

Same for me. Rinoa in the party for the Dollet mission and access to only Leviathan GF

[@acerimmer8338]

I love to learn about cut-content from my favorite franchise. So much story yet to tell that we'll never get (at least in proper game form). Listening to this, I couldn't help but feel this is what FF7R should've done: just add cut-content from the OG game to flesh it out more, include what they always wanted but time wouldn't allow. Instead, we got a bastardized re-imagination of the story. Sidenote: I would be ecstatic to see pre-rendered JRPGs make some sort of comeback! They're absolutely gorgeous and provide a perspective that 3rd person or classic 16-bit games just can't.

[@RaifSeverence]

Right now, your best best for what a modern pre-rendered JRPG might look like would be the upcoming Fantasian: Neo Dimension.

[@CaryKazama]

We've been robbed... if any game deserves a remake including ALL its cut content, it's 8. I always said the Laguna segments should've been more/longer I love 8 and will defend it as long as I live

[@introvertbeef1747]

Laguna story doesn't feel important if the porpose just to introduce Ellone. Ragnarok usage in main story very short. Laguna and Ragnarok are the coolest aspect of FF8 yet underutilized.

[@jairekambui7738]

@@introvertbeef1747 Ragnarok is the coolest ship in the franchise.

[@JackSparrow-ct4mh]

@@jairekambui7738 ff8 is the coolst game in the franchise

[@hanegawamidori4081]

More like re-introduce Ellone, after 90% of players forgot she was in the game. Most people I talk to still misremember Rinoa as the mysterious brunette who talks to you in the infirmary opening before Quistis shows up.

[@BHFFS]

Man this game got gutted even harder than FFXV. Boggles the mind to imagine what it could have been.

[@Beastlango]

Awesome stuff, definitely want more

[@wknight8111]

There's a lot of great lore and world-building in this game, but there's also a lot of empty space and missed opportunities. Deepening the connection between Squall and Laguna, and between Squall and Seifer would have helped. Honestly, I feel like the memory-loss aspect is the weakest part of the story, and I feel like it would have improved with two changes: (1) Squall and Seifer were the only two of the SeeDs to be in that orphanage, and (2) Squall didn't *forget* Edea was matron, he simply didn't recognize her through a name-change and all the makeup. That makes for a better moment of realization, and makes the events at the end of Disk 1 make more sense (during the battle some of the makeup/jewelry comes off and Squall freezes up because he recognizes matron).

[@VarunaChaotic]

$20 they could’ve made a full game from the cut content!

[@LocustaVampa]

Laguna was underrated as a character, I felt, but that's just like the entire game. His moments are so uplifting.

[@AaronAsherRandall]

Tbh I didn’t like the voice acting in FF7R. However, because of the realism on the original chester designs in 8, a remake with voice acting, upscaled graphics and just completing the game with all of this content would be an easy slam dunk for Square. They don’t need to do all of the multiverse crap, just modernize the game. We all know too that 8 has the BEST mini game out of any FF. So much low hanging fruit here for a low-scope remake or FF8. I really didn’t like the FF8 remaster on Switch etc. Squall looks weird. That’s not how I imagined him to look when I played this as a kid. The mods for the steam version do a great job of cleaning this up.

[@CrzndlSndr]

Whoa whoa whoa... Triple Triad is aight, but Blitzball wears the crown

[@rowanmorris2187]

Pretty saw ive watched a few of your vids now. Great work, just subscribed.

[@AlleywayJack]

@@rowanmorris2187 🙏 thanks I'm glad you've enjoyed them

[@cloudxz92]

Not a Cut, but Edea was created for Final Fantasy 7 already, probaly for Jenova somehow. But they diden't really know how to use her, so they used her on FF8.

[@AlleywayJack]

@cloudxz92 Yeah, if i remember rightly her early concept art was meant to be a leader of a Jenova cult that would be a boss fight. This may have been replaced by the Jenova reunion angle and the Sephiroth/Jenova appearances so they re-used the art for what would become Edea

[@Quiettekiyet]

Hello Alleyway Jack. :o) Great video of yours once again. I will defend FFVIII as much as I can, but dammit, there are moments where I just have to sigh and raise the white flag just because there is so much material mentioned in the game but never expanded upon. The most important being about sorcery, which fan artists like Iffylogic in their comic Kontext, have greatly worked with on their own and filled blank spaces. There are things where I myself can not help but rely on headcanons that other fans and I came up with. This definitely sucks as a creator because then you have to think about whether or not this or that would be OOC or if it still fits into the world of the game. For example: I am working on a small small comic strip about Fury and Julia but I have to sit there and fill all the blank spaces myself because there is not a lot of source material to reference my work from. My personal headcanon from many about minor characters is that Julia was murdered and it was not a simple car crash. For many reasons but one being that she just died because she had to and a car crash is too broad of a concept. (If someone is interested in hearing about this, I would elaborate.). After reading Kazushige Nojima's Novel about Tifa and Aerith, I came to the opinion that his writing seems lazy at times. In the sense of that he is throwing something into the media but never really expanding upon it and leaving it as a broad concept. I do have to say that I read this book for the last time a year ago so I may remember it poorly but this (this = Tifa's relationship to Zangans student) is definitely something that stuck out to me and I was sitting there thinking "You mention this just to never work with it again at a later point in the story?!". I think this is a big problem with dev teams, especially in Final Fantasy games. There are too many cooks in the kitchen, as I saw someone say because you have a dev with a great idea just for their idea to be cut by another dev because they thought it was not good enough to be included into the game. I mean, Balamb as a regency?! That alone would add historical context as well add to politics in FF8, as the game is already highly political. What a shame this did not make the final cut of the game. I really wish the game gets a Remake. It has so many great and unique ideas aside from already being unique in it's overall design. Where else do you have a game with an Y2K feel with neo-sigilism, techno-utopian futurism mixed with Art Nouveau and baroque?! No where! World design aside, the character design is soooo peak. I could talk about it for hours.

[@jamssandwich]

"The ever-unlikely remake" bro don't do this to me

[@ApsisApocynthion]

FF8 deserves the world building FF7 style remake the most. It would be so GOATED. The ambiance and music of FF8 is up there with the best in the franchise. The game was held back by its weird mechanics more than anything. Story is also weird, but that wasn’t a deal breaker for anyone in the 90s/early 2ks. Many of us were kids back then and didn’t really get stories 100% anyways. If a remake fixed up the combat system and junctions stat system, then FF8 could be just as popular if not more popular than FF7. Seriously. Just copy the combat system from FF7 Rebirth. It would be amazing on 8.

[@Zenaltra]

This is why whenever the subject of remakes comes up, I always say FF8 needs it the most

[@chrisortega7521]

I think Balamb is a Regency because they, as well as all the Gardens specifically, are under Shumi rule, regardless of which nation they are in.

[@Kira-Nerys]

Great, now I want a remake with all of the cut content.

[@LetsWinWithTim]

It just shows what kind of game FFVIII could have been, had it been given the same devolpment time as FFVII. Maybe one day we will get a prequel similar to crisis core. One can dream

[@_siegemcsheen_9401]

I can’t wait for the fans to make a mod for FF8 that includes the lost content. FF8 was too short for me.

[@kiraravens4054]

Damn... I love FFVIII. I would love to get a full summary of the original concept at some point. As much as I love this game, some bits have always felt a little brushed over - which makes so much sense if it was supposed to be something quite different at first.

[@robh09]

I really wish we could eventually gey an FF8 remake. There was so much lore that couldn't be explored

[@Ototsu-Yume.]

01:50 isn't that also where the big circular pothole is located in game that looks like an old ground zero for a massive explosion or lunar cry? It looks like they might have actually made the overworld sprite originally for it and then just scooped it out in the official release.

[@speedcreep2605]

An expansion on Laguna could be great but tricky. I never got invested in his story, but that may be because it's poorly told. I 100% believe Seifer was supposed to be more important. Squall and Seifer are setup as opposites like Cloud and Sephiroth. Seifer has light hair, a long white coat and a dark undershirt. The pistol at the base of his blade is a modern automatic. His stance is more like that of a fencer (which funny enough has him holding his pistol sideways... thug life). He's very loud and outgoing even if it is in an arrogant and mean way. He becomes a knight to fulfill his dream. Squall has dark hair, a short dark jacket, and a bright undershirt. The pistol at the base of his blade is a revolver. He wields this in a more traditional looking two-handed stance. He's very quiet and introverted because he's insecure and has no trust in the people around him. He becomes a knight to protect Rinoa.

[@Viper4ever05]

This cut story gives me a modern-medieval vibe with the names of those countries.

[@drunkdrag0n]

Should Final Fantasy VIII ever get the remake it deserves, without any obstruction to Kitase's original vision, I think we'll end up with two full games each one taking place in different times. A "past" version which follows Laguna, Kiros and Ward, starting with them going through the Galbadian army as soldiers and eventually becoming liked and respected enough for promotion, letting Laguna and his buddies build the strong and near-unbreakable bond they have. This would probably conclude with the final boss of Adel, defeating her in a battle and sealing her away. Then a "Present" version, which shows Squall's story and features Seifer as a more active rival/anti-hero. Squall and company go to locations laguna has visited (Timber, Dollet, Winhill etc.) and he learns the story of his dad without being told about who his dad is until they meet again, following the story along for the most part with a few alterations and changes to update certain locations.

[@azraelknightquest5754]

There was a lot of Seifer that seemed unfinished. For example, as much as he was a bit of a dick, he seemed to respect Squall pre-spell. "Don't let me down now", trying to get Squall to actually approve and support him in his desire to go after the Galbadian soldiers, applauding Squall and his crew for succeeding where he failed, being so worried about Squall facing the Galbadian Army that he stormed into the Presidents studio and took him hostage on live television, it all seemed like Seifer was gruff but DID actually care. He just didn't want to show it (something Zell himself alluded to at the orphanage). Then he got blasted in the face and became kind of this...rambling madman, like he was stoned off his ass by the magic. Then defeated and... ...and well, that's it. He is suddenly FISHING 🎣 then looks up and smiles as Balamb Garden passes over, happy they succeeded. ...it really felt unfinished and unfocused. I do wonder if there was more about Seifer redeeming himself or more explaining the spell put on him.

[@Bevtone]

Thanks for this video, as a fan of the game ill always lament them not following through on what the game was supposed to be, sure it was ambitious and they had other works in the pipeline but if they'd committed it would have gone down as masterpiece instead of a polarising mess that even its biggest fans like myself can't help but criticise.

[@nealhammersmith8798]

For the most part FF8 has a good pacing and does not really putz things forward. I will admit that the flashbacks were choppy at first. Yes it would have been nice to see the world map more fleshed out. From a player perspective, one would assume the full canon of the FF8 would have these cities, additional character interactions, etc. The story itself is framed on a boot strap paradox.

[@rainbowkrampus]

Man, people asking for a remake are cooked. They would ruin FF8 by focusing on all of the wrong things just like with 7R. 7R at least has a decade of ancillary material to draw from to fill out some of its bloated nonsense.

[@hanegawamidori4081]

To be fair, FF8 feels like it left enough on the cutting room floor as a rushed production that it'd be just fine, especially with an even-handed writer just taking their actual time on it, this time around.

[@rainbowkrampus]

@@hanegawamidori4081 "especially with an even-handed writer" Yeah... I don't uh... I don't think such a thing exists at modern Square. Also, it's never just a matter of adding in cut content. Cutting content entails reworking plot scenarios. Things that people find important will be lost in the reshuffling process that has to happen in order to work the previously cut things into the scenario which developed after they were cut. At that point, I'd much rather they just make a new game that plays on the same themes and expands on the ideas and scenarios they weren't able to fit in. Like, I don't care about Trabia city. The game doesn't need it and they'd have to invent a whole bunch of stuff just to make it worth incorporating. Tell a new story and you can make "Trabia city" important an important part of your world from the get go, rather than trying to shoehorn it in just because it was an idea someone had decades ago.

[@CoolStoryBro455]

Soothing narration

[@Sentinel_ICBM]

A FF8 prequel would answer so many loose ends to the main game story. Make it 32-bit, I don't care.

[@k2d271]

How about another 10-year, multi part revamp..?

[@acerimmer8338]

Yes! We need pre-rendered RPGs to make a comeback. It's such a perfect mix of high-fidelity graphics yet the simplicity of 16-bit navigation and perspective.

[@dmadaffari]

There's a LOT of new FF8 content coming out from various channels lately. I'm here for all of it and I hope Square Enix sees it. The game is a masterpiece that was way before its time (and hardware limitations). IS all this content a reaction rumors y'all know about?

[@Dyxid]

This is interesting when considering that Xenogears also suffered from cut content at the time, meaning the strain of manpower and resources from working on both games so close together ended up hurting both games in the end. Though while Xenogears is regarded with some fondness, FF8 is often viewed with a mixed reception (it's certainly not one of my favorites) but now it's shifted from "they just made a bad game" to "they just made an *incomplete* game" and one wonders how much better it (and Xenogears) would have done if they hadn't been unwitting saboteurs to each other.

[@bigredxennial]

This is interesting, because the shared background of all the characters has always been my biggest complaint about the game, ie lazy and uninteresting writing for character backgrounds.

[@Chigurh007]

Very good video

[@AlleywayJack]

@@Chigurh007 🙏

[@richardyamato]

How many discs was this game again? God was it 20 yrs since?

[@kirkcavanaugh1493]

It did seem like there was a lot missing, or a lot of what seemed like "story arcs" that just kind of fizzled out.

[@mhicorivera7802]

If the finished game still become a good game(even though it have a many flaws) imagine if they focus on FF8 rather than split the developers to make FF 8 and FF 9 at the same time

[@NantoShin]

Rinoa becomes Ultimecia in the future

[@blumiu2426]

The fact Edea was in Laguna's party does add a cool aspect of having the enemy for Squall be the ally for Laguna. And yeah, Seifer jumped the shark, and though you got the gist, it didn't go further into his reasoning and thinking/motivation beyond his "romantic dream". They clearly had too many ideas for FFVII and seems to be a theme for this particular team setup even on their first game.

[@JackSparrow-ct4mh]

wouldnt line up timewise tho with end version. edea becomes a sorcery when squall is already in orphange , meanwhile laguna is on his trip to Esthar to rescue Ellone, from which he never came back as he got involved politicly there.

[@blumiu2426]

@@JackSparrow-ct4mh Yes, I think that was the point of what was mentioned in the vid. Things had to be reworked and changed.

[@jbc00per]

I always thought from Seifer and his dream that he was just tired of Squall haha they clearly had a rivalry way before he got his dream in his head and seeing Edea facilitated Seifer ending his rivalry with Squall or at least escalating it so much that he thought Squall wouldn't get as far as he did

[@Daxter250]

centra and trabia really feel underdeveloped. so much could have been added there. why a frigging merc gard sits in trabia in the middle of nowhere was always beyond me. also the whole orphan story felt rushed and like its some sort of tape to hold the story together.

[@HavokStrifeX]

It's wild how much Square dropped the ball on FF8 and Xenogears but they're still 2 of my favorite games. 😂

[@SophiaXiaoyuAralaCran]

Do you think in maybe future times, that maybe we'll get a real FF8 remake and with THIS stuff that was cut but complete along with new stuffs?

[@invisi-bullexploration2374]

One of the things I would have loved to have seen was more wordbuilding. It was sorta obvious to me that the Centera civilization blew itself to Hell. We find a lab where some military organization had been trying to harness the power of energy beings that became known as the guardian force. But they seemed to have gotten greedy and attempted to bottle beings that could never be tamed or contained. This hubris could have been the undoing of Centera if they had a hand in the Great Cry. Maybe they thought it could be controlled as a weapon? The young ones were spirited away to mobile shelters and set adrift as the world died. Yet absolutely no information on Centera was passed down to these survivors. They just sort of started over. It was if the Centerans did this on purpose to give humanity a clean slate.

[@invisi-bullexploration2374]

And I think I read somewhere that the only thing the devs have said about them was that Centera had a 1980's tech level. It would have been fascinating to go to a Centeran ruins. Near Edea's house you do get flavor text that there is a big, abandoned city. 'But you are too busy to mess with it'.

[@alexshinra6722]

Little off topic, but when you looks at the world and the nations, who was seed selling its mercs too?. Galbadia: already had its own scool for traning and recruitment. Tribia: just a school nothing else. Shumi: not war like and have no need for war. FH: dont belive in conflict and wouldnt arm in the first place. Timber resistance: too poor to pay other than one of the squad after what seems to be well over 10 years fighting. Esthar: noped out and closed its borders by building a massive wall. So who are they selling there mercs too???.

[@SenJenko]

it looks like most we knew ended up taking on school positions we have no example of a seed graduating and going off and doing whatever it is they do damn youre right this is aggravating lol

[@jairekambui7738]

Yeah the world building of the game has holes in it for sure. It’s too focused on Squall and we never see proper examples of world concepts being used in game. The game would massively benefit from something like modern side quests that take you to different locations on Seed missions and develop the world and side Characters more.

[@menelquar]

@@alexshinra6722 Dollet is, I think, the only nation we see in-game who hires SeeD. Later on, Galbadia just takes over Galbadia Garden, it doesn’t seem like they’re hired anyway.

[@alexshinra6722]

@menelquar i dont count dollet as clearly that was made up for the seed exam and a set up for a later plotpoint, then it could vanish into the earth and it wouldnt effect anything infact for my first play i didnt think it was a location just a throw away event like the laguna vs ruby dragonfight. But yeah no one exists to use there services no one.

[@alexshinra6722]

@@SenJenko there two guys defending windmill but if you talk to them, they explian they dropped out of seed and just hire out indiependent of the garden so there less costly and they personaly have an investment in keeping there local emplpyers safe, other than that it annoying cuase they talk about how big the wars where and dont get me started innthe fact the whole comm tower mission was for what to send a very blurry video of there world ambassador to...timber and FH who are the only ones with TVs still working for public use.

[@davids2551]

Putting Laguna on world map could have doubled the work load by having to update the map for two different time periods. I didn't like FF8 because I think an RPG is supposed to take you on a long epic journey and FF8 kept doing small missions where you end up back where you started. Also not a fan of the tedious circle you have to run around to get everywhere in garden. Magic in the game was more useful if you hoarded it to boost your stats than if you used it. The card game had some nasty mechanics like plus and random, but there's ways of abolishing them. Character scale on the world map never looked right Chocobo game that was only available in Japan and not fixed for remake.

[@Antivirus-uk3rx]

I hated laguna! And the story hanging on a whole group of orphans growing up together then completely forgetting eachother was trash!!!

[@trinut3760]

Everything is turned up for volume, my pc fan from watching this vid and the fly in my room are drowning out this guy. When autoplay hits my ears are gonna bleed.

[@xmh3105]

Good vid😊

[@AlleywayJack]

@@xmh3105 🙏

[@keith5325]

I think the reason the probably scrapped the squall/seifer sub plots is because they just ao heavily did that exact same thing with ff7. I do wish Laguna had more segments but that also would have irritated some people that just wanted to play squall and his storym

[@tyriancross]

Tbh, I genuinely believe that the "meta" remake FF7 got was totally wasted on it, and it far better suits FF8. It lines up with Ultimecia and Ellones actions perfectly - no matter how much they tried to change, fate is inevitable etc...

[@blumiu2426]

I wager it would have had the pair acknowledge they were father and son. That was the most annoying part of the entire thing, plus why it seemed bizarre Laguna save Ellone, but didn't look for his own kid. I do wonder though if it would have changed it from a love story and been more of a generational story if 50/50 between the two. Still would have been love, but another important aspect. People would complain more that the other characters were in the background if they did that. I'd never want a remake to get the rest if possible, however. Square-Enix isn't Squaresoft.

[@JackSparrow-ct4mh]

Laguna didnt know Raine was pregnenet with squall when he left. The whole point of Ellone sending Squall back in time, was to tell laguna to not leave Raine, but she discovered hard way that u cant change past

[@blumiu2426]

@@JackSparrow-ct4mh It was the fact he knew before he left, he knew later. Ellone knew, grew up with him and found him years later. It made no sense Laguna wouldn't know when he was at the orphanage or later. If it was the trope of making protagonists orphans, it was poorly executed and left a huge hole in the logic of characters and events. It makes Laguna out to be a deadbeat and really didn't care about Ellone enough to find their child.

[@Savyon0]

@@blumiu2426 I always got the impression that Laguna, or whatever reason, couldn't leave Esthar after they deposed Adel (probably because of the whole "putting up a giant illusory wall and hiding from the world" thing), so even if he had known about Squall, he wasn't really able to do anything. Though that itself leads to another plot hole/possibly cut angle: how did the "hiding Esthar from the world" thing even work, in the game as released? It's reasonable to assume that Galbadia, at least, knew where Esthar was (due to the war), so how did they convince the world that Esthar just... disappeared? At least in the early map shown in the video, they show the capital of Esthar having been moved to a new city/location, which would make it a lot easier to explain/ easier to believe that they could have been in hiding from everyone else (and by extension, why Laguna couldn't leave- they couldn't risk the new location getting leaked).

[@Shoutatclouds]

Desperately needs a remake. No enemy mirrored leveling. MAKE R=U real And expand a bit with cut content.

[@water2bank804]

It got a remaster and thats all it needed this game is a masterpiece.... its not worth changing anything about it....everything about FF8 as it is makes it iconic 👌 f the graphics etc the game itself is perfect if FF8 got the chocobo treasure hunting thats in 9 it would be the greatest FF title released but sadly thats not the case and for me personally the top 3 are FF 8 FF 9 FF X 7 is quality also but it is not better overall than the other 3 and anything after X is all downhill and where final fantasy lost its way and a huge part of its fanbase going forward 😢

[@llKirosll]

I will always stand for "Bad Games deserve Remake; Good Games deserve Remaster". Yes, I find FFVIIR deplorable. And no, I'm not a fan of the original FFVII, neither a detractor. That game really did need a new make up, but to change aspects of the story, that's a no-no. And then we get to the cut content of FFVIII. Though I'm intriguing about, would like to know more, and definitely would have loved to have more regions to explore and more story to go through in the original; I'm not so keen for a remake to add then. Looking at how it is today, FFVIII story is already pretty long, with the locations with have, to have more in the original release, how many extra discs would this game ship? Or the extra locations could have very little content, and the end product could have been something like "it would be better if compressed." So no, I do not want a remake of FFVIII, specially when using FFVIIR as a comparison point. But yes, I would absolutely pre-order if they did (I did for FFVIIR, and I will do for any main FF that is released, being the FF-bitch that I am ^^) . As for the Remaster it got, honestly, it would be better if Squenix hadn't done it. Updating the character's models but not touching the background?

[@ryanrosen740]

Instead of releasing more remakes, how about FF8: The Sorceress War? Seems they have enough plot notes for a standalone game.

[@fallenwing25]

What got me is that Esthar sent ships to find ellone later on. How come laguna didn't bring raine to esthar once he became president? He could have sent for her. Instead, he sent ellone back to winhill

[@jordanmartel2937]

It appears they wanted to do a Godfather part II style narrative of telling two concurrent stories in the past and also present day

[@AlleywayJack]

@@jordanmartel2937 arguably the strongest of the Godfather trilogy if I say so myself 👀

[@tsukasa0802]

Got some fresh meat!

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

They cut 50% of the story? It was a wise move to focus on Rinoa and the time loop thing in my opinion. It was a unique twist. Focusing on Seifer would have been too generic for old Squaresoft...

[@ThatRandomFastingGuy]

I don't find FF8 ambiguous. 😅 It's in my top 5 FFs

[@travissapienza4930]

I gotta say, as someone who's favorite final fantasy is 8. Pretty much all of this deserve to be left on the cutting room floor. Playing as Laguna was fun, but only because it was sporadic. If half the was basically a flashback thats not good because then youd have to cut out half of the good stuff to make room for it. Also, id like to know who people are comparing seifer too that he's not developed enough. Sephiroth and him having zero development and being dead for 99% of ffvii? Are we pretending it was actually him we were chasing for the first 2/3s of the game? Im sure if seifer had like 4 extra games and a movie of bonus lore long after the fact, there woulda plenty of time to jam more seifer lore into the story. Kuja? Thats a good one. You literally find out his motivation over the course of the game. Starting all the way durning the seed exam and his romantic dream. Which we later find out what it is and omg its being a sorceress's knight!? Strange that thats exactly what he did in the game. Must be a coincidence. I get for some reason people were blown away long after they played the game that Laguna was Squall's father but its literally obvious. Maybe if people actually read the story part of the interactive book they were playing. They'd have figured it out without the game holding there hand.

[@AlleywayJack]

@travissapienza4930 I 100% agree on the Laguna point, I was happy with the fleeting snapshots of his life. It did enough to show how he influences the future without detracting too much from Squall - and it left me wanting more of his adventure in a good way. Regarding Seifer, I don't think it's necessarily comparing him to another character (maybe the closest is Kain in ff4?) but there's a definite nod to his involvement with Rinoa, and more importantly a build up with Squall that doesn't quite resolve... I think his ending FMV moment is basically the perfect resolution to a redemption arc we never got to see.

[@travissapienza4930]

@@AlleywayJack Don't get me wrong, like all characters I'd have loved if Seifer was given a bit more of everything. They had 4 disks after all, plenty of time. But like Laguna you get just enough to make it intriguing. Seifer joining Edea wouldn't be a fairly major plot point with a bunch of questions surrounding it if we got there already knowing he's wanted to be a sorceresses knight since he was a child. tbh Seifer hesitating to feed Rinoa to Adel and then never fighting/seeing him again till the ending fmv is enough. I at least didn't need some random exposition about how the posse "abandoning" him caused him to reconsider. Or his old feelings for Rinoa overpowered his childhood desire. Hell we can even say Edea's talking about him having to choose between being a man and a child before he joins her could be viewed as foreshadowing his eventual leaving his post as her knight. And it's probably just me. But I feel it actually fits the theme of the game perfectly. Not really knowing exactly what's going on. Between the age of the protagonists and them basically being used by all of the older generation(Cid included) and the GF amnesia, so really none of the characters should know anymore about Seifer then they already do when were introduced to him.

[@JackSparrow-ct4mh]

to me ff8 is almost perfect as it is (except for maybe some pacing and side quests) - at least storywise. would i want some extra content to have fun with? sure, but im kinda of afraid that any expending of the game as we know it could result in ruining it, like han shoot first syndorme of george lucas. Like i enjoy ff7 remake, but u can clearly say from production point of view it is made to fit 2020s standards and changes some crucial elements that were eseential to the 90s feel.

[@LinoudStrife]

Yeah even if its my first, its prob my least favorite ff because it screams wasted potential with everything and was all downhill post disc 1 imo. Wouldve loved more Laguna and actual backstory for everyone else that isnt "orphanage amnesiacs lol"

[@LeetHaxington]

This game shouldn’t be labeled a final fantasy. Its like that weird super Mario bros 3 game that’s just a slapped on reskin. This game opened the path for all the weird anime drama action games in the more modern ones. Before that it’s more of a mystical yet DnD series.

[@hatenate2070]

Make final fantasy great again. Turn based.

[@shareintheview]

I don't think we need to see any cut content. Leave the mystery to our own thoughts and ideas of what happens. This is one of the reasons why I'm not a fan of the 7 remakes. its too much information which convolutes the story and gameplay. As for the Seifer stuff, wasn't he brain washed by the sorceress? My take on him was that he was the polar opposite of Squall, thus creating the anti hero bully arc of a story.

[@slagarcrue85]

they already did a remaster of ff8 from the ground up years ago for the ps4. That they showed at the game awards a while back like years ago. But it took a very long time to make it and have it completed for release because they had apparently had lost the source code at some time in the past after the complete the game was released on the PlayStation originally all 4 to 5 disks of it you need to have. with virtually no scratch on them dirt finger prints ext, to be able to load and be playable from beginning to end the despite all the dialogue being all texted based versus voice acted . ff7 probably had decently higher selling cost to as well do to being released being formatted the same way as 8. cartridge produced Nintendo main game nes game and super nes games . With that being the nes releases of the original ff ff which saved square from almost near bankruptcy back then . Up to ff5 being on the nes. Then fff 6 called fff3 originally being one of many rpgs released the Super Nintendo along. Also on thing that baffles me was how did the n64 last as long as it did . With the Nintendo 64 only having 3 rpg games developed for it of which only paper Mario was good and sold a decent amount of copies despite literally being one of the last 64 games produced . Thank Nintendo we can play it still through 64 switch library.

[@thelastofitskind3034]

If they really would of put time on this game no doubt it would of been best game ever made ever I don't care what anyone says

[@unnamedlegeon]

So FF8 really did need a remake 😁.

[@m.a.packer5450]

50% of the story? Game was long enough, but I honestly think the Laguna story was more interesting than the dumbass teen romance we got

[@Shiniobi]

We NEED a full on remake 😢

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

Hells no

[@acerimmer8338]

No! It'd just be bastardized like FF7R.

[@ouromov2895]

Too bad square is sucking off 7 for all its worth. They are more likely to do a 7 sequel and mobile games rather than remake 8. Undoubtedly after seeing the horrendous job of memberberrying 9 in FFXIV 9 might be next on the remake list.

[@N0P3Sugar]

if only ffvii weren’t overrated and overly used ffviii would be alot more better choice for squaresoft/ square enix as their main FF franchise when it comes to story.

[@woodtier-gv8he]

Didn't understand the game at all when I played it 😂