A Boy Named Squall and FFVIII, Ten Years On

You know you were a teen in the late 90's-early 2000 if you played (and loved) Final Fantasy VIII.

A friend got me reminiscing about Final Fantasy VIII today. I spent many a summer day playing that game, attempting to level up and acquire all the Guardian Forces I could (in the end I cheated and used a friend's Gameshark to get it done, haha).

Of course, the single definitive driving force behind me playing the game was a boy named Squall Leonhart.

Incidentally, crushing on Squall and consequently playing FFVIII got me close to a number of boys in real life, too. Whereas video games made guys nerdy and awkward around girls in real life (this was Pre-Seth Cohen, i.e., geeks didn't have the status and awesomeness they have now), it seemed that video games made the girls who played them pretty approachable, and maybe a little cool (I was also pretty damn skilled in CounterStrike, fyi). Haha.

I Wiki-ed Final Fantasy VIII today and realized it's been ten years since it came out. FFVIII is a decade old! Unbelievable. I can't say I don't feel a little older at the thought. I also never knew that it was actually first released on September 9, 1999, which is also my birthday! Serendipitous and awesome, if I say so myself.