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00:04Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're diving into the world of the retrospectively appreciated
00:09Final Fantasy VIII, and uncovering all its secrets, behind-the-scenes details, and easter
00:15eggs you missed while you were desperately trying to understand the Junction System.
00:27Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
00:31about our latest videos.
00:35Fantastic Cameos!
00:45Even as far back as Final Fantasy VIII, devs were hiding easter eggs alluding to the team
00:50within their games.
00:51However, FFVIII director Yoshinori Kataze wasn't a fan of these nods and would force the devs
00:57to remove them whenever they were discovered.
00:59This didn't stop the team, however, and simply made them get cleverer with the placement.
01:03When entering the D District prison, instead of one of the signs stating caution, it instead
01:08reads to caution, which is a nod to the battle effects director.
01:11Another easter egg is in Ultimecia's castle, where one of the pictures on the wall is a
01:16portrait of a woman the artist knew, and snuck it into the miniaturized version of the map
01:20after the higher-res version was discovered.
01:22This same dev snuck a portrait of his wife on a TV screen in timber, as well as baseball
01:27memorabilia, simply because he was a fan at the time.
01:37Repurposed Companions.
01:48Much like Final Fantasy VII before it, Final Fantasy VIII went through a few changes before
01:53the final concept was settled upon.
01:55But a few ideas from FFVII still managed to find their way into FFVIII.
02:00The most prominent of these is the game's main antagonist, Edea, who was originally planned
02:04to appear in FFVII as character designer Tetsuya Nomura had designed a witch for the game,
02:10but after changes were made to FFVII's narrative, she no longer fit and her design was too complex
02:15for the game at the time, and so she eventually found her place in FFVIII.
02:19The same is true of Cypher's Companions Fujin and Raijin, who were initially planned to appear
02:24in FFVII before the introduction of the Turks and were deemed too similar, but ended up finding
02:30their place in FFVIII as well.
02:40Censored Boss
02:47Every Final Fantasy game features a myriad of striking and memorable boss designs, and
02:52likewise, FFVIII had its fair share.
02:54However, one of these bosses, Giro Giro, was originally much more unsettling than the one
02:59Western audiences eventually encountered.
03:01The original version of Giro Giro was hewed redder, outlining his appearance as a mess
03:06of organs that appear much more realistic and bloody.
03:10However, for the Western release of the game, this color was shifted to a blue hue, and while
03:14Giro Giro still remains one of the most unsettling bosses in the game in design, it could have
03:19been so, so much worse.
03:31Thriller Parade
03:41We briefly talked about hidden easter eggs the devs like to hide in the game, but this
03:45one isn't so much hidden as we just didn't notice the first time due to everything else
03:50going on.
03:51Right at the end of Disc 1, Edia's parade is accompanied by a multitude of dancers, but
03:56not all of them are dancing along to the same beat.
03:59A few of these masked performers are sneakily doing Michael Jackson's famous thriller dance,
04:04while Squall is getting impaled by Edia's ice, so you can understand how we missed it in
04:08our first playthrough.
04:21Triple Triad
04:22The Final Fantasy series is well known for their minigames, but Triple Triad is one of
04:27the most beloved additions to the Final Fantasy franchise and continue to be iterated on with
04:32Final Fantasy IX's Tetra Master, however, the idea for the game has surprisingly humble origins.
04:38Triple Triad was heavily influenced by the massive success of Magic the Gathering and
04:43game director Yoshinori Kitase's desire to have a minigame players could play anywhere
04:47in the game world.
04:48Triple Triad proved to be such a success within the Final Fantasy community that Square decided
04:53to release a standalone version of the game for PC in Japan.
04:56Players were able to collect cards and battle either against AI or real players via a LAN connection.
05:03This version also included additional bonuses such as wallpapers, screensavers, and even
05:07an FFVIII-themed email application.
05:10Baseline Eve
05:11Final Fantasy VII proved to be a graphical landmark title for Square and the development team,
05:26but for the follow-up Final Fantasy VIII, they wanted to push the tech even further.
05:30To determine the baseline to achieve this, the team looked to another recent Square release,
05:35Parasite Eve.
05:36Parasite Eve was lauded by both critics and fans for its cinematic presentation and CGI
05:41cutscenes.
05:42Game director Yoshinori Kitase and his team decided that what Parasite Eve was able to
05:46accomplish should be the bare minimum the team should strive for and to push the hardware
05:51to its limits to bring their vision to life.
05:53The result is gameplay that flows effortlessly into FMV sequences and an incredibly detailed
05:58game world unlike anything else Final Fantasy had accomplished at the time.
06:11Death Island
06:13The OG Final Fantasy games are known to hide secret high-level bosses for players to challenge
06:18such as Ozma in FF9 or Ruby and Emerald Weapon in FF7.
06:23But in Final Fantasy VIII, the devs created an entire island filled with incredibly high-leveled
06:29enemies for players to challenge.
06:30By traveling to the northeastern part of Esther, players can find a secluded island with no
06:35discernible reason for players to visit besides the challenge.
06:38Enemies here start at level 100 and are full of debilitating status effects that will easily
06:44crush anyone unlucky enough to stumble on their shores accidentally.
06:47It's a great place to stock up on powerful magic, but just be prepared for a fight trying to make
06:53it out alive.
06:54Garden Seeds
07:04The Garden is an iconic location in FF8 and the main hub the player begins the game in, featuring multiple
07:11houses that become more integral as the story continues.
07:14However, the original plan for the Garden was much greater.
07:18Original concepts for the facility had it being able to transform into a super garden, with
07:23all three facilities combining into one massive structure, with art director Yosuke Noori comparing
07:28the sequence to that of the anime Gitter Robot Go Transformations.
07:33However, the scope and scale of this sequence proved to be too demanding, and so it was instead scaled back
07:39to only the
07:39individual gardens being able to transform.
07:41The name Seeds given to students of the gardens was also symbolic, as they were seeds being cultivated and grown
07:48within the gardens.
08:00Laguna Flashbacks
08:02Throughout your playtime in Final Fantasy VIII, you can collect pieces of newspaper articles from the timber maniacs written by
08:08Sir Laguna.
08:09However, the order and what pieces you choose to collect can directly affect Laguna's flashbacks later in the game.
08:15For example, depending on which volume you pick up in the town of Balaam, the version of events in the
08:20flashback with Julia in her room will play out differently.
08:24Specific character dialogue can also be affected, as can Selfie's entry in Sir Laguna's webpage, as well as who appears
08:31during Laguna's battle with the Ruby Dragon.
08:33There are no clear indicators of the effects picking up which volume at which time will alter these flashbacks, making
08:40it something to consider upon subsequent replays.
08:42Eden's Eternal Breath
08:54Reusing assets between games, especially within the same studio, is nothing new, but one instance in Final Fantasy VIII is
09:02so subtle you might not have even realized it was there.
09:05The summons in the PS1 Final Fantasy games are some of the greatest spectacles in their respective entries, and with
09:11some taking a full minute to execute, there can be quite a few hidden details within those moments.
09:17One such instance comes during the game's ultimate summon, Eden.
09:20Hidden within the many screens at the start of the summon, eagle-eyed players will notice the same celestial diagram
09:26from Final Fantasy VII's Safer Sephiroth Supernova animation passing around Eden as the attack powers up.
09:32Interestingly, Safer Sephiroth Supernova is also the longest attack in Final Fantasy VII as well.
09:52Missing Chocobos
09:53Chocobos have been as much a part of the Final Fantasy series as protagonists with impossible hair, debuting all the
10:00way back in Final Fantasy II and appearing in nearly every Final Fantasy game since then in some capacity.
10:07However, after their prominent role in FFVII, the big birds seem to be missing from FFVIII.
10:12Within FFVIII, the Chocobos only exist in their respective Chocobo forests, of which you can find seven in total, typically
10:20marked by the distinctive dome-shaped trees.
10:23Since they aren't integral to the plot this time around, their appearance here is little more than a cameo, but
10:28you can still interact with the yellow fowl and even play some minigames with them.
10:33Ragnarok Crashing
10:33Naturally, players will always uncover unexpected bugs or glitches in games after release, but one of these in Final Fantasy
10:41VIII ended up unintentionally becoming game-breaking in most cases.
10:45Later in the game, when players acquire the Ragnarok ship, they need to be especially mindful of where they park.
10:51If parking too close to a structure, Ragnarok can become stuck on top of the building or even trees, making
10:58it inaccessible after exiting.
11:00This can be especially troublesome if players don't notice and happen to save the game before attempting to re-board
11:06the ship, as they'll be unable to and won't be able to progress any further in the game, forcing a
11:11full restart unless they happen to have a secondary save file.
11:15Thankfully, this was fixed in the remaster, however.
11:19Gunblade Functionality
11:30Squall's Gunblade has since become as iconic as Cloud's Buster Sword in the Final Fantasy series, and rightfully so as
11:37it was designed to be as instantly recognizable as Cloud's starter weapon, while also giving players more participation in battles
11:43as hitting a button on impact gave them a chance at a critical hit.
11:47However, what many players don't fully understand is just how exactly the gun blade really works.
11:53Many believe that the gun part of the gun blade would work like a shotgun, where the sword essentially fires
11:59a shot on impact, but it's actually quite a bit more complicated than that.
12:03In truth, the gun blade takes the shot fired by the gun part of the weapon and transfers that power
12:09to the edge of the blade, giving the weapon more attack power. The more you know.
12:19Squall
12:42Squall
12:44Squall
12:44Was it real or just scary, what you know, was the thing for the FMV team to render during cutscenes.
12:47However, this would also end up influencing the team as they began work on the fully CG film, Final Fantasy
12:53The Spirits Within.
12:54Squall was the first character designed for the game, and his model was heavily influenced by River Phoenix, and even
13:00shares the same birthday with the late actor.
13:03Special attention was given to Squall's scar as character designer Tetsuya Nomura
13:07believed it made it clear Squall was the game's main character.
13:11Was it real or just my fantasy?
13:17Rinoa.
13:26While the inspiration for Squall's design might have come from Hollywood,
13:30Rinoa's was actually quite a bit more humble.
13:32According to Tetsuya Nomura, Rinoa was directly inspired by a co-worker
13:37and he even modeled Angelo after the dog this co-worker had.
13:41While the woman's identity has never been officially confirmed,
13:44it goes to show inspiration can come from almost anywhere.
13:47Another interesting tidbit about Rinoa is she is actually the strongest playable character in the entire game.
13:53Without any stat manipulation such as buffs or bonuses,
13:57Rinoa's base stats at level 10 is 10% stronger than any other character
14:02and by level 100, this jumps to 20% with the highest strength
14:06and magic stats of any character by a wide margin.
14:14Obol Lake
14:15This one is nearly impossible to stumble across by accident.
14:19On the northern side of Timber is a peninsula.
14:22If you walk along its shores while repeatedly pressing X,
14:25eventually a prompt will appear asking if you'd like to throw a rock or hum at the lake.
14:29If you choose to hum at the lake, a large shadow will appear
14:33and you'll be prompted to hum again.
14:35If you do so, the Black Shadow of Obol Lake will ask you to find his companion, Mr. Monkey.
14:41After tracking down the cheeky monkey,
14:43the Black Shadow will continue to send you on mysterious quests filled with riddles
14:47and, even better, a series of hidden treasures for each completed task.
14:51It's one of the deepest side quests in the game,
14:54but only the staunchest of completionists would have stumbled across it without some sort of guide.
14:58Well worth the effort, though.
15:00Guardian Forces
15:08The Guardian Forces are some of the most powerful beings players can find and equip in Final Fantasy VIII.
15:13However, some of the most powerful Guardians are incredibly well-hidden and easy to miss entirely.
15:19For example, Headmaster Cid will give the player an item called the Magic Lamp.
15:23If players attempt to sell this item, they'll be transported inside to battle the Demon Diablos,
15:28the only way to collect this rare Guardian.
15:31Another easily missable Guardian is the Jumbo Cactuar,
15:34which can only be found on Cactuar Island.
15:37A patch of land east of Cascabal Desert,
15:39you could easily fly over if you weren't paying attention.
15:42Finally, on Sentra,
15:44you can find an enormous structure that looks like the ruins of a yellow diamond.
15:48Inside, you'll need to solve puzzles while racing the clock to confront Odin and add him to your party.
15:53The Toneberry Guardian is also hidden in this area as well.
16:06Demo Differences
16:17Unlike today, back on the PS1, demos of upcoming games were extremely common,
16:22and with Square wanting as much hype behind their upcoming Final Fantasy game as possible,
16:26naturally, there was a demo disc for FFVIII.
16:29However, what makes the demo for FFVIII notable is just how much change between the demo and the final game.
16:35For example, besides players being highly overleveled and having access to late-game Guardians,
16:40Squall's face was noticeably different in the demo versus the version players ended up with,
16:45and instead of Queestus managing the machine gun to take down the spider mech,
16:48it was a random soldier.
16:50Players also couldn't hide in the pub from the attack like they could in the final game.
16:54At the end of the demo, it was Rinoa waiting at the beach,
16:57while in the final game, it was Selfie while Rinoa remained on the ship.
17:07Combat King
17:08Each character has additional attacks they can learn for their Limit Break attacks,
17:12but some require a bit more work than others.
17:14Zell learns his extra Limit Break attacks by collecting Combat King magazines,
17:18of which there are five in total.
17:20While these can all be found within the world as you play,
17:23they can also be simply purchased from the S-Star bookstore if you don't want to track them all down.
17:28However, Issue Number 3 has a lengthy sidequest attached to it,
17:32in which players will need to help the oblivious Zell with his secret admirer,
17:36Library Girl with a Pigtail.
17:38By visiting the library eight specific times,
17:40and an additional 50 times before the end of the sidequest to prove your commitment,
17:45none of the dialogue will be missing during the pair's meetup,
17:48and Zell will unlock Combat King Issue 3 for all your hard work.
17:52Fantasy Wars
17:53Ever since Final Fantasy 2, Square has made no secret of their love for the Star Wars franchise,
17:58and has included numerous nods and easter eggs to a galaxy far, far away.
18:03However, out of all these secret mentions and homages,
18:06no Final Fantasy game to date has as many references packed within it as FFVIII,
18:11with five characters getting their names from George Lucas' franchise.
18:15The most obvious is Biggs and Wedge,
18:18who have appeared in multiple Final Fantasy games over the years,
18:20ever since first appearing in FFVII.
18:23Another prominent figure is Nita,
18:25whose name takes direct inspiration from the unfortunate commander
18:28who gets choked to death by Darth Vader after losing the Millennium Falcon.
18:32And finally, along with Piet,
18:34the final nod is Martine,
18:36whose name was mistranslated from his original Japanese version, Dodonna,
18:40a reference to Dodonna of the Rebel Alliance.
18:43Definitely some deep cuts in there for Star Wars fans.
18:46Angelo's Habits
18:54St. Angelo di Roma,
18:56Rinoa's regal and loyal companion,
18:58whose name was specifically chosen to hint towards Rinoa's larger role within the narrative of Final Fantasy VIII,
19:04has quite a few secrets of her own many wouldn't know if not for the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania guidebook.
19:10Beyond her insane limit-break attack, Angelo Cannon,
19:14Angelo also has some peculiar dietary habits.
19:17Not only does Angelo hate spicy food,
19:20but she also hates dog food in general.
19:22Rinoa spoiled the pup,
19:24which is why Angelo's favorite foods, among others,
19:26include sushi, apples, and most bizarrely of all, white chocolate.
19:36Pre-order bonus
19:48While kick-starting the hype machine for Final Fantasy VIII following the breakout success of Final Fantasy VII,
19:54Square spared no expense putting out loads of information about the upcoming RPG,
19:59including wall-to-wall coverage in every PlayStation publication possible,
20:04with some even breaking down the entire narrative of FFVIII even before the game had released.
20:10Weird tactic, but alright.
20:12However, by far the most bizarre cross-promotion was an exclusive promotion in the US with Toyota.
20:18For anyone who pre-ordered Final Fantasy VIII,
20:21they would be entered to win one of four Toyota Echoes.
20:24In a time when many pre-order bonuses were simply a poster or the game's soundtrack,
20:29this was undeniably a big deal.
20:32However, to date, it's never been revealed if anyone actually won any of the cars,
20:37or if it was nothing more than a publicity stunt.
20:40Most likely, it was the latter.
20:49Eyes on Me
21:01The now iconic track Eyes on Me was not only the series' first vocal track ever in a Final Fantasy
21:08game,
21:08but also a dream composer, Noboyu Uematsu, had since Final Fantasy VI,
21:14but also managed to become the first video game song to ever win Song of the Year at the Gold
21:19Disc Awards in Japan,
21:21sold 500,000 copies, and would spend 19 weeks on the music charts in Japan.
21:26Vocalist Fei Wong wasn't Square's first choice,
21:29and before she landed the part,
21:31Square attempted to recruit big names from all around the world,
21:34including Celine Dion and Mariah Carey.
21:36Fei Wong ended up getting the part after scenario writer Kosoje Nojima added her CD to the pile of potential
21:43candidates,
21:44and the rest is music history.
21:46Man, I will know that you are no dreamer.
21:55Lionheart
22:03Over the years, dedicated players have discovered numerous bugs and glitches
22:08to exploit the many systems at work behind the scenes of Final Fantasy VIII,
22:12breaking everything from the Junction system
22:14to even obtaining Squall's ultimate weapon, Lionheart, before the end of Disc 1.
22:19Naturally, this will make Squall incredibly overpowered early on,
22:23but obtaining this legendary weapon this early isn't without its own struggles.
22:27You'll need to farm numerous elements and materials by farming various enemies in battle
22:32and even collecting and modding specific Triple Triad cards.
22:36However, the most difficult obstacle of this self-imposed challenge is keeping the entire party under level 20.
22:42Otherwise, specific items will no longer be available,
22:46ruining your chances of forging Squall's ultimate weapon.
23:01Poo Poo
23:08Without question, the strangest secret in Final Fantasy VIII is Poo Poo the alien.
23:13In order to even find the little blue Poo Poo,
23:16they would need to visit four very specific locations
23:19and encounter a UFO abducting various monuments
23:22before finally directly encountering the UFO itself in Grand Didi Forest in battle.
23:27After winning the battle,
23:28players then need to return to Balaam Gardens to encounter the little alien Poo Poo.
23:33However, instead of fighting the creature,
23:35players will need to give Poo Poo the five elixirs as requested,
23:39after which Poo Poo will depart,
23:40giving players the ultra-rare Poo Poo Triple Triad card.
23:44Although seemingly out of place within the game,
23:46it's charming nonetheless,
23:47and a quest completionists will undoubtedly want to track down.
23:55Which fact about Final Fantasy VIII did you find the most surprising?
23:59Did we miss anything you thought was interesting?
24:01Share your tidbits of knowledge in the comments,
24:04and also, if you could explain the junction system, that'd be a big help.
24:07Did you enjoy this video?
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24:17We'll see you next time.
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