The Republic of Dole, which was fighting against the Galbadian Force, asked Garden, a private school to train soldiers, to dispatch SeeD, the commando unit that belongs to Garden. Squall has been an excellent student of Garden, and he decided to take part in this actual fighting as an entrance examination for SeeD, instead of taking a graduation exam for Garden.

The story begins with a cool FMV sequence with a lot of cruisers sailing to Dollet city. Squall is standing on board watching a picture of the city. The cruisers lands and a lot of soldiers leave the landing craft.

Squall, 17, Zell Dincht, 17 and Rinoa Heartily, 17, belong to the group B. Its leader is a tall cool guy named Seifer Almasy. Seifer looks very much like Sephiroth in FF7. Squall and other two are enlistees of SeeD.

Seifer orders the three to go to the main square. So you have to go along the street to the square. The movement of characters is different from that of FF7, or previous FF series. Not only the main character is shown, but also the second and the third are visible on the field screens. The second and the third, (here they are Zell and Rinoa) move following the leader Squall. The movement looks like that of Chrono Trigger. Squall (you) meets some soldiers on his way to the square, then a battle begins.

In the battle, you have new command, "draw". In Final Fantasy 8, there is no MP (Magic Point). You can get a magic by choosing "draw," and then by choosing "stock" you can stock the magic the enemy has. The kinds of magic you can get depend on the enemy; some have strong magics and you can get one, and some have only "fire" or "heal". The number of magic you can get is decided at random. Sometimes you can get only one magic, and sometimes you can get two or three of them. Sometimes you fail to draw the enemy's magic. During a battle, you can choose the magic you have stocked by choosing the comand "magic", or "draw" and "use". (In Japanese it goes "hanatsu". I don't know how it will go in English version.) If you choose "draw," other two command, "stock" and "use" appear. If you choose stock, you can draw the enemy's magic and stock it. If you choose "use," you can choose the magic you have "stock"ed.

When the character's attack just hits the enemy, press the R1 button. It will make your attack stronger. And another thing: when Squall's HP gets low, the command "fight" can sometimes change into "successive attack" at random. This is strong! Squall can attack a lot of times to the whole enemies, and then at last, he attacks "fated circle". It is just like the limit breaks in FF7. As for Zell, his command changes into "wrestle" and he attacks with "meteo bullet." (I'm not sure how this goes in English, it's hard to translate Japanese Katakana word into English!)

The system of summoning has changed, too. They are now called the Guardian Force. You can summon them by choosing the command of G.F. First Rinoa has this ability, but the only one monster that she can summon is Leviathan. The graphics for this are quite amazing. Leviathan builds a tall cliff and lets a flood of water go down to the enemy.

At the square, a short FMV plays. Then Seifer and the three go for the radio tower. On its way, they meet some soldiers of Dollet. They say to him that Galbadian Soldiers have gone to the tower. Another soldiers say that there are a lot of monsters around the tower now. So the three climb the tower by using a lift.

On top of the tower, Biggs is checking a machine. There, Wedge comes and tells him that something that looks like a monster has been seen. Biggs is absorbed in checking. Wedge has gone for patrolling. There Squall and his fellows appears. At that time, strangely a wrench put on the floor falls down from the top of the tower, hitting here and there. It seems that some button is pushed by a hit. The big radar begins to move. A wonderful FMV. The big antenna opens and turns up. Then it let off beam. Where? Why? It's not told here.

Seifer comes up. Biggs, noticing that Wedge is not with him, tries to run away. Seifer hits him. A battle against Biggs and Wedge begin. You can get a magic "double" from Biggs. It enables you to use two magics at one turn. During the battle, a tornado comes and blows Biggs and Wedge off. Then a boss Elviole appears. It attacks with "tail needle" and "storm breath."

After the battle a Dollet soldier appears and says that you should get together at 19:00 on the beach. Seifer gets angry, but anyway, you have only 15 minutes to get to the beach!

Squall, Zell and Rinoa go down the tower. Biggs, who was beaten by them, managed to switch on a small square machine. When they get to the basement of the tower, a strange big insect-like machine appears on top of the tower. It is the boss X-ATM092. It is a machine that looks like an ugly crab. The boss X-ATM092 is chasing you!! I couldn't get to the beach within 15 minutes twice (game over), and I managed to succeed it at the third time. Some battles against the boss aren't avoidable. Some short FMV are inserted. 'Run, run, run, faster! Faster! To the shore!'.

When you manage to get to the beach, X-ATM092 is still chasing you, but at last it falls down the short cliff and breaks down. The cruiser is at the point of leaving. You are just in time to get in. The last wonderful FMV plays with Squall on board and the cruisers are sailing away.

Well, the movement of the characters are so smooth and wonderful. In FF7, except FMV, only the polygon characters were moving. In FF8, the characters look more real.

How to Fight

Squall & Zell

FIGHT MAGIC---> List of magics you have
DRAW ---> List of magics you can draw---> USE or STOCK
ITEM