9. Final Fantasy VIII
I've never been the greatest fan of the Final Fantasy franchise which may account for VIII's fairly low entry on this list. In fact, I downright hated most RPGs until the PS3 release of Oblivion in 2007, even today I find J-RPGs extremely difficult to play. However, my own personal feelings towards the genre can not discount for the great sequel that Final Fantasy VIII is. For me, despite my feelings against the genre, it went against the grain. I never owned the game - in fact, I never even wished to own the game - but the two months or so that I played it certainly opened my eyes to new gaming genres.
There was something special about Final Fantasy VIII, and most people who played the game would probably suggest the same. For me, it was the graphics: there comes a point, usually towards the end of a console's life that you realise that said console's capabilities have peaked, and in the case of the original Playstation this peak came with Final Fantasy VIII. Even if you played the game and didn't enjoy it, there is no denying that the graphics were absolutely stunning and were certainly a clue to the wonders we may see on the Playstation 2. I had played Final Fantasy VII and thought that the graphics weren't all that great and I wasn't a fan of the story or the game-play, but with VIII, I was majorly impressed with the graphics and I actually enjoyed the story; it is the first game I can remember playing, which took its time with the story and didn't rush to get the player engaged. In many ways I found Final Fantasy VIII to be like an epic film such as Lord of the Rings; in many ways it was with the game's four disks and fifty-hour length story. I can't even remember if I got off the first disk but that was rather unimportant. Finally, let's not forget that we are talking about the 8th main entry in a series of games that were already critically acclaimed, and the very fact that Squaresoft followed up Final Fantasy VII with this beast of a game surely means that it deserves a place on this list.
What can be learned: If your previous game is excellent, make sure to make the most of the consoles capabilities to better it.
Honourable Mention: Final FantasyVII I realise that this is going to split Final Fantasy fans down the middle. I understand that
VII was an influential game but for me it didn't utilize its equipment as was as its sequel and therefore wasn't as visually impressive.
IX was pretty impressive too.