Compared to the still-hyped-to-this-day Final Fantasy VII and darling favorite Final Fantasy IX, there’s never been quite as much love (at least to my knowledge) for the other mainline entry in the PS1 holy trinity: Final Fantasy VIII.

I wouldn’t exactly call it the black sheep of the three or anything, but it certainly was the most different in terms of visual aesthetics, along with its rather divisive “Junction” magic system that turned spells into consumables that tied to specific character attributes (i.e. using spells came with stat reductions) and had to be tediously re-accrued from specific places/enemies once spent.

However, there’s no denying the game had style. The locales, character designs, monsters, effects, and cinematic sequences throughout are all a vibrant feast for the eyes, and there was so much to explore in the vast and grandiose world the developers created.

It also had some of the best soundtrack music in the series — seriously, it’s arguably Nobuo Uematsu’s finest work — and the Triple Triad trading card mini-game you could play with NPCs was as addictive as any mobile game today.

Anyway, I already gushed about the game two years ago so I’ll stop now and let you know that as of August 8th, 2023, FF8 is on sale for just $10, down from its usual $21. This is the lowest the price ever goes, so if you’ve ever thought about snatching it up, now’s the time. It’s controller supported too!