Played and beat Final Fantasy 8 for the first time. Bit of an unpopular opinion, but I enjoyed everything about it more than FF7 (which i also played for the first time a few months ago). As a long time JRPG player, the mechanics were really interesting and fresh. I liked the majority of characters more as well. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm coming to these games 20+ years later and don't have the nostalgia for them - I'm not sure. I can definitely see why people loved FF7, though I'm not one of them.
I'd love anybodies thoughts on this and their opinions on the two games!
FF7 came out at the perfect time and it really redefined RPGs in the USA. I know it exposed me to this kind of gameplay and genre that I had never experienced before. Unless you count some of the NES RPGs. Those never captivated attention like FF7 did.