8 Video Game Mechanics That Were Too Complicated

Final Fantasy VIII is one of the most divisive mainline entries in the hit RPG franchise for several reasons, perhaps most of all its polarising Junction system, which is basically the game's means of customising the player's loadout.

You'll need to assign Guardian Forces (GFs) to specific party members, and as they level up they'll learn magic abilities which can then be applied to specific stats.

That's an incredibly broad overview and it might sound simple enough, but there are a few key issues here - for one it's horribly and hurriedly explained by the game itself with a cascade of word-salad tutorials.

Then there's the fact that, for a legion of young players, this was probably only their second-ever RPG after Final Fantasy VII, and so to throw them in the deep end with such an arcane, willfully convoluted customisation system felt almost passive-aggressive.

If you dared take a break away from the game for a week or two to deal with real life, good luck remembering how any of it worked, compared to Final Fantasy VII's easily understood Materia system.

Over 25 years on, the moment someone brings up Final Fantasy VIII in conversation it's still just a matter of time before someone starts complaining about Junctioning.