Final Fantasy VIII – Ball Room Dance
Some may not consider this as an epic moment or even an important moment in gaming, but for me personally, it definitely was, for many reasons.
Firstly Squall Leonheart is one of, if not my favourite FF protagonist of all time. He’s extremely complex and messed up due to so many reasons which come to light as the game plays out, but one particular scene struck me when I was younger and it was the ballroom dance scene.
It’s worth remembering that FFVIII was the first FF to take on the life-like human style, as opposed to previous cartooney or pixelated art styles. This was of course due to an uplift in technology and developer experience on the PlayStation at the time. And even though when you look back now the cut scenes don’t quite stack up next to current gaming, at the time these looked amazing.
This particular scene was great in the sense that it looked simply stunning and had comedy and emotion rolled into one. You can see the step up from FFVII’s motorbike scene for example. It really took a step up and looked great doing it.
It’s also the first time you’re properly introduced to the Rinoa and Squall love story, which turns out to be extremely moving towards the middle and end of the game.
All of this coupled with the music makes this scene a strong number 7 for me and a step up in gaming graphics by miles. I’ll always remember making a separate save just before this scene. So I could marvel in it whenever I wanted to, it really blew me away.
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