FFVIII was the first mainline FF game I played after exposing myself to the franchise with Tactics. I was new to turn based systems, so I never picked up on the criticism. I was blown away by the presentation, fantasy and adventure of it all. The gunblade was about the coolest thing a kid of my age could have been exposed to at that time as well. Right now I’m big into VII for obvious reasons, but I really want to replay VIII.