First release date: February 11, 1999
Franchises: Final Fantasy
Platforms: PlayStation 3 - PlayStation - PlayStation Portable
Genres/Themes: Role-playing (RPG) - Adventure - Card & Board Game - Fantasy - Science fiction - Open world
Developers: Square Product Development Division 1
Publishers: Square Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Squaresoft
Final Fantasy VIII is the eighth main installment in the Final Fantasy series. The gameplay makes a departure from many series standards. While it still uses the Active Time Battle system, it deviates from the series' traditional means of boosting a character's power via leveling, although levels are not completely abandoned as they were in Final Fantasy II. In addition, it does not have a Magic Point-based system for spell-casting. Instead, magic is collected, drawn, and created from items, and is used to power up the characters via the junction system.
