I admit... when I first heard about FF8 I was skeptical. I thought "How could Square match FF7?" Doubtless I still wanted the game so I placed my reserve on the game about 1 month in advance. So the day of September 9, 1999 came (the whole 9-9-99 thing) and I got it. I popped it in and instantly was blown away. I saw the opening seen and knew right then, that the "mature anime" of the characters were amazing. I mean you see the detail that Square includes in just the opening sequence and you are amazed. So I played for a while and put it away till Christmas. (school started) I pulled it back out at Christmas time and decided to play. I got through the first disc that day and then I sat around for hours just playing Triple Triad. For those of you who do not know what it is, it is a sort of CCG in the videogame. Once you start though it just takes up tons of time and it is totally amazing how ingrosing this "game inside a game" is. I loved getting all the GF cards and the Main character cards and such. I just want to say if you get the chance to buy this game, then devote hours to Triple Triad just like all of us devoted hours to Gold Saucer. Other than that the new "junction system" is the new form of Magic/Summon. You junction GF to you which gives you abilities, higher attack/magic points, and other stuff like that. You have to draw magic from animals in the world around you. It's that it just makes you wonder where they got the magic from? The best part about this game though is the amazing Storyline. It changes a whole lot and like most RPGs this one lives off of it's storyline. If you are a Final Fantasy Fan or just an RPG or Videogame fan then treat yourself to this 4 disc monster. You will not be sorry.