Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 4, 2007 0:23:42 GMT -5
Most of Final Fantasy VIII is set on a fantasy world named "Gaia"[citation needed] with one moon. The planet comprises five major landmasses, with Esthar, the largest, covering most of the eastern portion of the map.[11] Galbadia, the second largest continent, lies to the west,[11] and contains many of the game's locations. The northernmost landmass is Trabia, an Arctic region. Positioned roughly in the middle of the world map lies Balamb, the smallest continent,[11] the island on which the game begins. The remaining two landmasses are smaller and mostly desolate, riddled with rough, rocky terrain caused by the impact of a "Lunar Cry", an event where monsters from the moon fall to the planet.[12][13] The southernmost landmass includes an archipelago of broken sections of land that have drifted apart. Islands and marine structures flesh out the rest of the game world, and a handful of off-world locations round out the game's playable areas.
As part of a theme desired by director Yoshinori Kitase to give the game a foreign atmosphere, various designs were given to its locations using the style of internationally familiar places, while also maintaining a fantasy atmosphere. Inspiration ranged from ancient Egyptian and Greek architecture, to the city of Paris, France, to an idealized futuristic European society.[14]
Final Fantasy VIII begins as Squall duels with Seifer in a training session outside the military academy known as "Garden". The two cadets scar one another's faces and are returned to Garden for treatment.[16] Meanwhile, the Galbadian regime invades the Dollet Dukedom, forcing Dollet to hire the Balamb Garden branch of "SeeD" — Garden's elite mercenary force — for aid. SeeD uses the mission as a field examination for its graduation-eligible cadets,[17] and with the help of his instructor, Quistis, Squall passes its prerequisite and is assigned to a squad with Zell and Seifer. In Dollet, Seifer abandons his team halfway through the mission, forcing Selphie to accompany Squall and Zell for the duration. After the mission, SeeD halts the Galbadian advance; Squall, Zell and Selphie graduate to SeeD status; and Seifer is disciplined for acting against orders.[18]
Shortly after graduating, Squall meets Rinoa, whose attitude and approach to life are apparently the opposite of his own.[19] Assigned with Zell and Selphie to help her Galbadian resistance, Squall learns that a sorceress named Edea is the mastermind behind Galbadia's hostilities. Under orders from the Galbadia and Balamb Gardens, Squall and his comrades — now joined by Rinoa, Quistis and Irvine — attempt to assassinate Edea.[20] Despite a nearly flawless execution of the plan, the party is defeated and detained. Squall's party also learns that Seifer has left Garden to become Edea's second-in-command.[21]
Students from Balamb Garden battle Galbadian soldiers.After escaping detainment, the team splits into two units, both of which are controlled by the player in separate scenarios. Squall's group stops an internal conflict at Balamb Garden incited by NORG,[22] SeeD's financial supporter, while Selphie's squad interferes with a Galbadian missile attack on the Balamb and Trabia Gardens. The missile launch forces Squall to turn Balamb Garden into a mobile fortress to avoid the attack, leaving the facility temporarily uncontrollable until it collides with the docks at Fisherman's Horizon.[23] While Squall negotiates with the mayor of the town, Galbadia invades in search of a girl named "Ellone",[24] who had been staying at the Garden until recently. Galbadia is unable to find Ellone; she eventually escapes to Esthar, the game's technological superpower. Throughout the game, Ellone sends Squall and his allies into a series of flashbacks set seventeen years in the past.[25] The scenes center on Laguna and his two friends, Kiros and Ward. During the flashbacks, Laguna changes from Galbadian soldier to the self-appointed defender of a small country village, and then from the leader of a resistance movement against Sorceress Adel to the president of Esthar.[26]
Meanwhile, Squall deals with personal conflicts fueled by the game's ongoing developments,[27] such as Balamb Garden's Headmaster Cid appointing him as SeeD's new leader,[28] and his increasing love for Rinoa. During an investigation of Trabia Garden's ruins, Squall and his comrades learn that — with the exception of Rinoa — they were raised along with Seifer and Ellone in an orphanage run by Edea; they later developed amnesia due to their use of Guardian Forces.[29] It is also revealed that Cid and Edea had founded Garden and SeeD to defeat evil sorceresses.[30] After these revelations, the full forces of Balamb Garden and the Galbadian army, led by Squall and Seifer respectively, engage in conflict. After Balamb defeats Galbadia, the player learns that Edea is merely an unwilling tool for a greater sorceress known as "Ultimecia",[31] who resides in the future and wishes to compress all time into a single moment; it is for this reason she has sought Ellone.[32] A conclusive battle with Edea forces Ultimecia to transfer her powers to Rinoa, allowing Edea to survive, but leaving Rinoa frozen in a coma. Squall becomes obsessed with waking her and seeks the help of Dr. Odine, a renowned scientist living in Esthar.[33]
Squall and Rinoa embrace after he frees her from confinement in Esthar.While Rinoa is being treated on Esthar's space station, Ultimecia uses her to free Sorceress Adel from her orbital prison. Ultimecia then orders Seifer to activate Esthar's Lunatic Pandora facility, inciting a rain of monsters from the moon that sends Adel's containment device to the planet's surface.[34][35] Having selected Adel as her next host, Ultimecia abandons Rinoa in outer space. Squall rescues her, and they return to the planet on a derelict starship. However, delegates from Esthar isolate Rinoa for fear of her sorceress abilities,[36] forcing Squall to rescue her. Laguna apologizes for the incident and announces Dr. Odine's plan to let Ultimecia possess Rinoa and use Ellone's power to compress time, as it would allow Squall's group to confront Ultimecia in her era.[37] To do this, Squall's team infiltrates Lunatic Pandora, defeats Seifer and Adel, and has Rinoa inherit her sorceress powers.[38] Time Compression is thus initiated, allowing Squall and his friends to travel to Ultimecia's era to defeat her.
With Ultimecia defeated, the universe begins returning to normal; however, Squall is nearly lost in the flow of time as he witnesses the origins of the game's story. When a dying Ultimecia travels back in time to pass her powers to Edea, Squall informs Edea of the concepts of Garden and SeeD that she will create.[39] Afterward, he is warped back into the timestream where he is trapped until finally being rescued by Rinoa. At the end of the game, Squall kisses Rinoa during SeeD's victory celebration.
As part of a theme desired by director Yoshinori Kitase to give the game a foreign atmosphere, various designs were given to its locations using the style of internationally familiar places, while also maintaining a fantasy atmosphere. Inspiration ranged from ancient Egyptian and Greek architecture, to the city of Paris, France, to an idealized futuristic European society.[14]
Final Fantasy VIII begins as Squall duels with Seifer in a training session outside the military academy known as "Garden". The two cadets scar one another's faces and are returned to Garden for treatment.[16] Meanwhile, the Galbadian regime invades the Dollet Dukedom, forcing Dollet to hire the Balamb Garden branch of "SeeD" — Garden's elite mercenary force — for aid. SeeD uses the mission as a field examination for its graduation-eligible cadets,[17] and with the help of his instructor, Quistis, Squall passes its prerequisite and is assigned to a squad with Zell and Seifer. In Dollet, Seifer abandons his team halfway through the mission, forcing Selphie to accompany Squall and Zell for the duration. After the mission, SeeD halts the Galbadian advance; Squall, Zell and Selphie graduate to SeeD status; and Seifer is disciplined for acting against orders.[18]
Shortly after graduating, Squall meets Rinoa, whose attitude and approach to life are apparently the opposite of his own.[19] Assigned with Zell and Selphie to help her Galbadian resistance, Squall learns that a sorceress named Edea is the mastermind behind Galbadia's hostilities. Under orders from the Galbadia and Balamb Gardens, Squall and his comrades — now joined by Rinoa, Quistis and Irvine — attempt to assassinate Edea.[20] Despite a nearly flawless execution of the plan, the party is defeated and detained. Squall's party also learns that Seifer has left Garden to become Edea's second-in-command.[21]
Students from Balamb Garden battle Galbadian soldiers.After escaping detainment, the team splits into two units, both of which are controlled by the player in separate scenarios. Squall's group stops an internal conflict at Balamb Garden incited by NORG,[22] SeeD's financial supporter, while Selphie's squad interferes with a Galbadian missile attack on the Balamb and Trabia Gardens. The missile launch forces Squall to turn Balamb Garden into a mobile fortress to avoid the attack, leaving the facility temporarily uncontrollable until it collides with the docks at Fisherman's Horizon.[23] While Squall negotiates with the mayor of the town, Galbadia invades in search of a girl named "Ellone",[24] who had been staying at the Garden until recently. Galbadia is unable to find Ellone; she eventually escapes to Esthar, the game's technological superpower. Throughout the game, Ellone sends Squall and his allies into a series of flashbacks set seventeen years in the past.[25] The scenes center on Laguna and his two friends, Kiros and Ward. During the flashbacks, Laguna changes from Galbadian soldier to the self-appointed defender of a small country village, and then from the leader of a resistance movement against Sorceress Adel to the president of Esthar.[26]
Meanwhile, Squall deals with personal conflicts fueled by the game's ongoing developments,[27] such as Balamb Garden's Headmaster Cid appointing him as SeeD's new leader,[28] and his increasing love for Rinoa. During an investigation of Trabia Garden's ruins, Squall and his comrades learn that — with the exception of Rinoa — they were raised along with Seifer and Ellone in an orphanage run by Edea; they later developed amnesia due to their use of Guardian Forces.[29] It is also revealed that Cid and Edea had founded Garden and SeeD to defeat evil sorceresses.[30] After these revelations, the full forces of Balamb Garden and the Galbadian army, led by Squall and Seifer respectively, engage in conflict. After Balamb defeats Galbadia, the player learns that Edea is merely an unwilling tool for a greater sorceress known as "Ultimecia",[31] who resides in the future and wishes to compress all time into a single moment; it is for this reason she has sought Ellone.[32] A conclusive battle with Edea forces Ultimecia to transfer her powers to Rinoa, allowing Edea to survive, but leaving Rinoa frozen in a coma. Squall becomes obsessed with waking her and seeks the help of Dr. Odine, a renowned scientist living in Esthar.[33]
Squall and Rinoa embrace after he frees her from confinement in Esthar.While Rinoa is being treated on Esthar's space station, Ultimecia uses her to free Sorceress Adel from her orbital prison. Ultimecia then orders Seifer to activate Esthar's Lunatic Pandora facility, inciting a rain of monsters from the moon that sends Adel's containment device to the planet's surface.[34][35] Having selected Adel as her next host, Ultimecia abandons Rinoa in outer space. Squall rescues her, and they return to the planet on a derelict starship. However, delegates from Esthar isolate Rinoa for fear of her sorceress abilities,[36] forcing Squall to rescue her. Laguna apologizes for the incident and announces Dr. Odine's plan to let Ultimecia possess Rinoa and use Ellone's power to compress time, as it would allow Squall's group to confront Ultimecia in her era.[37] To do this, Squall's team infiltrates Lunatic Pandora, defeats Seifer and Adel, and has Rinoa inherit her sorceress powers.[38] Time Compression is thus initiated, allowing Squall and his friends to travel to Ultimecia's era to defeat her.
With Ultimecia defeated, the universe begins returning to normal; however, Squall is nearly lost in the flow of time as he witnesses the origins of the game's story. When a dying Ultimecia travels back in time to pass her powers to Edea, Squall informs Edea of the concepts of Garden and SeeD that she will create.[39] Afterward, he is warped back into the timestream where he is trapped until finally being rescued by Rinoa. At the end of the game, Squall kisses Rinoa during SeeD's victory celebration.