Here’s a pretty well put together article that analyzes FF8, the time in and peer media in which it was released (Whedon, Rowling), and story in games. It’s written for someone who has never played it (or, in fact, many games at all).
For the cynical gamers, note: this is not a “games as art” piece as the author discusses near the end. Just a slightly deeper look at an often overlooked game.
Note: It does spoil the ending. Read at your discretion.
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/70336-remembering-the-orphan-final-fantasy-viii/
I thoroughly enjoyed FF8; enough so that I replayed the entire thing twice back-to-back when my save data was erased 2 hrs from the end (otherwise known as 58 hrs in). FF8 was actually the reason I bought a Playstation (or, more accurately, I played FF7 on the PC and my PC was incapable of running FF8).
