Final Fantasy 8 Plot Theory


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My brother was recently linked to a web page attempting to explain what really happens to Squall throughout the 4 disc adventure known as FF8.

After he read it, he was dumbfounded and shocked by the conclusion, and called me to find my opinion on the theory. I shared a similar reaction.

The game has been out for 12 years, I've played it at least 5 times from beginning to end, I've always considered it one of my personal favorite games, and yet I had never created any thought of my own that comes close to the conclusion one fan made once the game was finished.

It has changed the way I view the title, it simply isn't the same game anymore. IMO, it's much better now.

Many spoilers in the link:

http://squallsdead.com/

I think it's all 100% true, I don't even think anyone could convince me to see it the way I used to (Time compression blah blah), I'm sold.

Thoughts?

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i never liked the look of ff8, and watching a friend play it i didn't much like the mechanics either.

ff7 was good for it's time, if a little 2d nowadays. ff9 was good at the time right up until the very end. never played an ff game after that though. ff3(6) is still the best one imho though. it was epic and had one of the best, if underrated, villains in a game ever.

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It is a nice theory and all, but I think that is just that, a theory, I think people latch onto it so much simply because the original story in FF8 just went all over the place with some silly story elements like everyone forgetting each other etc.

If it was all a dream then the game past the first disk becomes pointless in its entirety and we have to assume everything ends up badly considering the evil elements at work behind the scenes as we never would know what happened.

So sure, its a great theory that has been put together nicely, but in the end the developers from my knowledge have never confirmed anything of the sort after the idea was put out there in the first place.

And I think the guys quote sums it up nicely on his page for which I agree.

The truth is, I don?t think there is a substantial amount of evidence to conclude whether or not the writers intended for the audience to interpret the game in this fashion. I choose to believe that this is how the game was intended to be understood because, to me, the game makes no sense otherwise. Everything that happens to the characters after the first disc is retarded. The ending is like recapping the game on acid. There has to be something more to the story than a simple ?Hero Takes All? plot. Sometimes, while writing this article, I really felt that this is the real story of Final Fantasy VIII. But sometimes it all just sounds like poppycock to me. In any case, I think Squall's Dead is an interesting theory, worth considering at least, and I hope you think so too.

It is a great theory, but in the end the only evidence is what you interpret from the game which never tells you anything of the sort, and as I first said, seems to be fans of the game simply trying to find a better explanation for the crazy events that happen in the game that don't make much sense and simply seem to be bad writing, lol.

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Dammit, this just reminded me of how good the Final Fantasy series were. Final Fantasy 8 is one of my favorite video game endings of all time.

This just shows how much more effort they used to put into making the FF series, and how much more memorable the series was before voiceovers were put in them. Every cut scene had to be made with such detail with the music, animations, and visuals to emote certain feelings since they had no words to express them.

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It is a great theory, but in the end the only evidence is what you interpret from the game which never tells you anything of the sort, and as I first said, seems to be fans of the game simply trying to find a better explanation for the crazy events that happen in the game that don't make much sense and simply seem to be bad writing, lol.

After watching the last cut-scene of the game, with this theory in mind, I really can't see how it could be interpreted in any other way. Did you watch the 1st 1/3 clip he provided?

Squalls dead. All of those shots are from the beginning of the game. His mind is finally fading from him. Then he ends up in heaven.

But in reality, he was a recent graduate of a military academy, given a mission to assassinate a power foe in which he and his party failed. This is much more realistic.

Edea won. She killed him. The party failed, they were most likely executed and the 'hero dies in the end'. The sorceress won.

You can say disc's 2-4 would have been pointless if this is true, but Squall doesn't know he is dying. Since you play as Squall, you aren't supposed to know this either. He has to finish his life disconnected from reality and allowing his mind to finish it for him. Everything he imagined from disc 2-4 could have happened in the small duration of Edea striking him to the point he hits the ground and loses his last breath (at which point he strikes down Ultimecia) You can call it pointless but it's all pointless, regardless of the way you view it. It's just a story, just a game.

When you grab disc 3 from the FF7 box, it reveals sephiroth, with meteor on the disc itself. This is the conclusion of 7.

When you grab disc 4 from the FF8 box, it reveals Edea. No Adel, no Ultimecia. The end is Edea.

Disc 1 ends, Squalls dead, that's it. The game as a whole (all 4 discs) is Squall's story, his final fantasy (literally.)

The first couple google search results for "squallsdead" brings up other responses to the theory. They are worth a read.

It will always be disputable from this point, but I saw it one way for years and years. I can't see it that way any longer. (I was too young then.)

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After watching the last cut-scene of the game, with this theory in mind, I really can't see how it could be interpreted in any other way. Did you watch the 1st 1/3 clip he provided?

Squalls dead. All of those shots are from the beginning of the game. His mind is finally fading from him. Then he ends up in heaven.

But in reality, he was a recent graduate of a military academy, given a mission to assassinate a power foe in which he and his party failed. This is much more realistic.

Edea won. She killed him. The party failed, they were most likely executed and the 'hero dies in the end'. The sorceress won.

You can say disc's 2-4 would have been pointless if this is true, but Squall doesn't know he is dying. Since you play as Squall, you aren't supposed to know this either. He has to finish his life disconnected from reality and allowing his mind to finish it for him. Everything he imagined from disc 2-4 could have happened in the small duration of Edea striking him to the point he hits the ground and loses his last breath (at which point he strikes down Ultimecia) You can call it pointless but it's all pointless, regardless of the way you view it. It's just a story, just a game.

When you grab disc 3 from the FF7 box, it reveals sephiroth, with meteor on the disc itself. This is the conclusion of 7.

When you grab disc 4 from the FF8 box, it reveals Edea. No Adel, no Ultimecia. The end is Edea.

Disc 1 ends, Squalls dead, that's it. The game as a whole (all 4 discs) is Squall's story, his final fantasy (literally.)

The first couple google search results for "squallsdead" brings up other responses to the theory. They are worth a read.

It will always be disputable from this point, but I saw it one way for years and years. I can't see it that way any longer. (I was too young then.)

Well we can agree to disagree, I play FF7 and FF8 once a year and have done since they were released, and have read the Squall Is Dead theory many times, I don't think it is true.

And your disk image idea doesn't really work when the US version and 4disk PC version comes with Laguna on the 4th disk, does that mean he is the end? FF9 has concept images of all the main characters, disk images are nice and all but it isn't something I would use to prove a theory.

As I said before, it is a nice theory, but unless it got confirmed in any sort of capacity I just don't believe it and seems to cover for the bad cliché story we got that generally wasn't very well put together, and in the end is as over the place as other Final Fantasy games which are all pretty much to the point to their stories as random as they can be sometimes.

If you want to believe it go ahead, it is in the end a great story, and always the mark of a great game that discussions can go on for this long.

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Well we can agree to disagree, I play FF7 and FF8 once a year and have done since they were released, and have read the Squall Is Dead theory many times, I don't think it is true.

And your disk image idea doesn't really work when the US version and 4disk PC version comes with Laguna on the 4th disk, does that mean he is the end? FF9 has concept images of all the main characters, disk images are nice and all but it isn't something I would use to prove a theory.

As I said before, it is a nice theory, but unless it got confirmed in any sort of capacity I just don't believe it and seems to cover for the bad cliché story we got that generally wasn't very well put together, and in the end is as over the place as other Final Fantasy games which are all pretty much to the point to their stories as random as they can be sometimes.

If you want to believe it go ahead, it is in the end a great story, and always the mark of a great game that discussions can go on for this long.

Then explain how the ending make sense is hes NOT dead. This is the ONLY explanation I have seen that accounts for everything.

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Squall's not dead.

Edea probably healed him, or could even have been Seifer.

When Rinoa is possessed later on, there's still a little bit of her left.. could be the same thing with Edea.

^^ Not played this game in years so my memory is pretty hazy but I'm sure that's correct.

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Then explain how the ending make sense is hes NOT dead. This is the ONLY explanation I have seen that accounts for everything.

What plot points do you need explaining?

And to point out, just because something explains everything doesn't mean it is true, I could make up my own theory that could explain away everything without it being true, these are Final Fantasy games at the end of the day, there are some sort of plot hole in most of them and these are games that are generally based around magical beings and other random stuff that is real in that games universe without having to have an explanation for why.

It is kinda ironic that this conversation has come up though, I was going to start this years FF8 run a few days ago but all my PS1 games are at my parents, lol.

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Completely forgot about Laguna. Its been so long since I've played tjis game. Can someone remund me what Laguna's importance to the story was? Was he connected with the orphans?

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Completely forgot about Laguna. Its been so long since I've played tjis game. Can someone remund me what Laguna's importance to the story was? Was he connected with the orphans?

He is the guy who you first play as in the dream section and is president of Ethar when you finally get there, and from memory is never actually said to be, but is pointed to be the father of Squall.

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He is the guy who you first play as in the dream section and is president of Ethar when you finally get there, and from memory is never actually said to be, but is pointed to be the father of Squall.

But what was the symbollic importance of squall dreaming up Laguna several times?

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Squall's not dead.

Edea probably healed him, or could even have been Seifer.

When Rinoa is possessed later on, there's still a little bit of her left.. could be the same thing with Edea.

^^ Not played this game in years so my memory is pretty hazy but I'm sure that's correct.

Really? they healed a giant hole through the chest? thats instant death.

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Really? they healed a giant hole through the chest?

A giant hole created by a magical ice projectile. If you can magically conjur a giant block of ice and hurl it at some one who is to say you can't magically remove any trace of an injury, too?

Trying to use our logic of how things work in the real world and use it in a video game that involves magic doesn't really work to well.

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What plot points do you need explaining?

The whole ending sequence makes no senses if hes alive. the whole last video involves ONLY the first part of the story.

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But what was the symbollic importance of squall dreaming up Laguna several times?

It is Ellones special ability, Squalls "sis", she can send peoples minds back in time to experience the past, which is what she does with Squall and his squad during the game thinking she can change the past, you get a couple during the first disk, and then two or three through disk 2 and 3.

The whole ending sequence makes no senses if hes alive. the whole last video involves ONLY the first part of the story.

Not at all.

The main scenes involve Rinoa and the dance floor which is when he first meets her which makes sense seeing how this is suppose to be partially a love story, and then shots of all the team you get, all of which you meet on disk 1, but it also has scenes from after Balamb Garden has taken off and he is looking at Rinoa, a scene from in space and also Ragnarok which take place in disk 2 and 3.

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This theory reminds me of all these totally random ideas people pulled from nowhere in my fiction classes. Come up with some random theory then select whatever you can to support it.

Like all the people reading into "The Blob" and its meaning while totally ignoring that creator's statement of "It's just a monster movie; there is no symbolism".

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