Back in 1999, I came across a Final Fantasy VIII poster in a comic books & game shop. I didn’t know about Final Fantasy then, having little chance to play computer games when I was younger. This was my first contact with the Final Fantasy games.

3D computer games with characters in realistic proportions was a very new thing back then. FF8 was all the rage, both guys and girls, gamers and non-gamers played FF8.

I was really interested in the game, being quite impressed by the graphics. (Okay, the bishounen had something to do with it too…) Sadly, my cheap computer was too outdated to support it. I bought the game anyway, but my computer ran it so slowly, I gave up.

Recently, I suddenly recalled having the game discs with me, and installed in on my current computer, which is way over-qualified in the hardware department for this.

It’s funny how low-res it looks compared to other games today, but I still find some of the art very attractive, for example, how they combine art nouveau and fantasy styles with more technological aspects of the FF world. A good nine years after the game was released, I’ve finally completed it. What it triggered was more than nostalgia, but a desire to play catch-up with the games and toys I never got to play with when I was younger.