Final Fantasy VIII

1999 · PlayStation · SeeD, junction, and Guardian Forces

Final Fantasy VIII gave the series its most divisive systems. Junction tied your stats to summoned Guardian Forces and to magic you drew from enemies rather than bought, which meant the conventional advice (level up, buy better gear) actively worked against you. Players either found it brilliant or unplayable.

The cast are teenage mercenaries trained at Balamb Garden, and the game is unusually interested in what that does to them. Squall’s detachment is written as a defence rather than a personality, and the plot spends its length dismantling it.

It also contributes twelve summons to the roster, tied with Final Fantasy VI for the most of any single game: the Guardian Forces are so central to the mechanics that the game has more of them than most entries have any summons at all.

This cast in the puzzles

A tight core cast, plus Garden faculty and the sorceresses; a strong source of gunblade and unusual-weapon answers.

Characters in the roster	19
Debut year / era	1999 · PlayStation era
Roles	1 protagonist · 8 party member · 9 antagonist · 1 npc
Most common weapons	Gun (3) · Projectile (2) · Gunblade (2) · Dagger (1) · Whip (1)
Races represented	Human (18) · Other (1)
Eligible for the Quote puzzle	16 of 19
Summons debuting here	12

The Final Fantasy VIII cast (19)

Summons introduced in Final Fantasy VIII (12)

Play today's puzzle

Any of these 19 characters can be the answer to the daily Character or Silhouette puzzle. A new subject is drawn every day at 00:00 UTC, the same one for everyone.

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