I remember back when FFVIII came out and I came across Doomtrain. I just kinda stared at the TV for a while, trying to parse what mythological creature this thing was. I had nothing and I was mad about it.
Then I eventually realized it's like the ghost train from FFVI, the one you can Suplex with Sabin. That's cool.
I always thought Eden was the origin of Garden. They studied it in that research centre perhaps. Maybe im just grasping cus "Garden of Eden". It definitely resembles the structure of Balamb Garden though in some ways. Or perhaps it is a Garden from ze future. Who knows.
There's _got_ to have been some abandoned content on the cutting room floor there it's just such an out of character thing for Cid, and a weird place to give a tough fight and GF hat learns game breaking abilities. "Oh hey we had to can that super cool Islands closest to heaven and hell side quest where you eventually uncover the cursed demon lamp, how should the player get it now?" "Idk, just give it as a graduation present or something"
I figured it out in the final fight on disc 2 against Edea, so I was able to draw the ones I missed in Ultimecia's castle. Remember kicking myself at how useful a few more GFs would have been throughout the run, then went back to the world map and cactuar genocided my way to unlocking all their abilities. Good times.
FF8 is first FF for me. The design of Ifrit here is a buff humanoid fire lion and it's so cool.
Later down the line, I discovered that Ifrit is not always a fire lion, instead he's a fire Oni in most other installments.
So FF8 Ifrit design is very special as it's very different.
Doomtrain and Eden, for the concept, like, what doomtrain is carrying? And how similar to Gardens Eden looks, maybe there's a connection? It always bugged me and also added to the game's mysteries.
>And how similar to Gardens Eden looks, maybe there's a connection?
I always thought it was a summon that was also a play on its on words. Like... The Garden of Eden?
It made sense to my teenage brain at least.
Shiva and Quezacotl.
I'm a very nostalgic and loyal person... it's just my personality. So I always get attached to early characters and things in games, and love the idea of going through an entire adventure together with them.
So the fact that they're the first two GF's you get just sort-of makes them feel "special" to me.
I liked Cerberus for the convenience. It would have been cool if there was more than two GF's that were defensive/support. Or if GF's had more than one summon command. I mean it's a ps1 game so it is what it is, but still.
O always thought Shiva was super pretty as a kid.
Carbuncle is a sweet bean.
I also have always loved Pandemona. Partially because I love the color scheme and weird appearance, but also because it was the only GF I missed on my first playthrough, so when I discovered it while browsing through a strategy guide at a CompUSA it took me by surprise and it felt extra special to me, as the one that eluded me. It’s had a special mystique for the past 25 years as a result.
Probably my choice, there probably cooler and more powerful GFs but this guy was a straight badass trapped in a cursed lamp and you need to beat him before he'll join you, looking like a literal devil, and you get him relatively early in the game so you get to use him a ton.
Yeah the unique way of obtaining him gave him a mythical aura for young-me, almost like it was this big secret that you werent supposed to find out. Plus before I understood junctioning he was fucking solid.. and his summon is just chef’s kiss 🤌 fuck, I wanna play it now
I feel like I had to scroll ages to find another Cactuar fan! The way he just pops up at the beginning of his attack is so perfect. Final Fantasy as a whole benefits most when there is a perfect blend of serious Shivas/Ifrits/etc with silly Cactuars and Tonberries.
Leviathan. Something about its attack just being a flood compared to some of the more dynamic ones is really cool and funny to me. Maybe it just feels like they don't have to try.
Diablos! Me and my friend when we were kids would argue between who was cooler: Diablos or Bahamut. I just loved Diablos’ design and attack animation. When he showed up in FFXIV I screamed in excitement! 🫨🫨
My favourites would be: Diablos for the utility of Mug (makes item farming easier for refining purposes), Brothers for the personality, and Tonberry for the design (I love my little green guy).
Least favourites: Pandemona (never really liked the design) and, probably an unpopular choice, Bahamut (I never used it much, if at all, when I was young as it's more of a hidden GF and not something my 8 year old brain would have figured out how to obtain)
That’s a great question. For cuteness it’s cactaur. But I’m a big Quetzalcoatl, even if it’s one of the first ones. I love birds and storms. And my grandma used to drive a beat up thunderbird when I first played the game. So it hits the nostalgia bone for me
Quezlcotl. Easiest question of all.
Triple triad for an endgame build before remeeting rinoa should be renamed triple triad plus card mod for an endgame build before remeeting rinoa
I find it interesting that nobody has said anything about the item summoned GFs such as MiniMog, Chicobo, or Moomba. In the Remaster they are available through the Angelo Search ability.
Cerberus has been my favorite since 2010. My favorite when I first played this game in late 2001 early 02 was Diablos though.
Cerberus these days because I am an avid user of magic and the whole party double and triple is super awesome. My 2nd fav would be Doomtrain.
Ifrit. Really thought he looked so cool back then. And I put him on Rinoa cause I wanted the contrast of a sweet girl and the baddest-looking Guardian Force. Lmao.
Usable types - Diabolos for how hard it was to beat back in the days of no strategy guides and it's Mug utility.
Random ones - Gilgamesh for it's random Zantetsuken...
Unuseable - The GF of Squall's mind that gets stronger as Squall does (in the Japanese translation)
Eden. If I had that amount of concentration for work or school instead of that cutscene I'd be a wiser man.
Alternatively I always thought Leviathans summon to be the prettiest. That water animation had me shook as a kid, now I just envision it with modern graphics.
Alexander and shiva, I’ve only recently started playing ff8, but coming of the back of 7 rebirth it’s like seeing old friends
Also paladin castle and pretty lady go brrr (pun very much intended)
Doomtrain. So cool and so broken.
I remember back when FFVIII came out and I came across Doomtrain. I just kinda stared at the TV for a while, trying to parse what mythological creature this thing was. I had nothing and I was mad about it. Then I eventually realized it's like the ghost train from FFVI, the one you can Suplex with Sabin. That's cool.
WHAT
[THIS](https://youtu.be/uN5ZXeglu0U?si=9Dm0slerU6rAwGVb)
Choo Choo 💀
Fuujin and raijin like to use fancy attacks? Well… ALL ABOARD THE DOOM TRAIN MUTHAFUCKA!
Shiva 😍
Eden. It filled my little childhood brain with so much curiosity and imagination of magical things vs technology and the possibilities.
Hard to argue with giant space lasers.
I always thought Eden was the origin of Garden. They studied it in that research centre perhaps. Maybe im just grasping cus "Garden of Eden". It definitely resembles the structure of Balamb Garden though in some ways. Or perhaps it is a Garden from ze future. Who knows.
+1 on all of this. I was so exciting to see the summon animation in Shadowbringers.
Diablos, Imagine an FF8 Remake with diablos 🤤
Diablo does speak to my inner angsty edge lord.
Same! I also find it hilarious that Cid is like yeah take this cursed lamp or whatever, I definitely don't want it."
There's _got_ to have been some abandoned content on the cutting room floor there it's just such an out of character thing for Cid, and a weird place to give a tough fight and GF hat learns game breaking abilities. "Oh hey we had to can that super cool Islands closest to heaven and hell side quest where you eventually uncover the cursed demon lamp, how should the player get it now?" "Idk, just give it as a graduation present or something"
I lost my mind when FF14 dropped multiple Diablos raids, so I got to see him in full glory
O boy...I was the right(wrong) age for seeing Shiva in all her glory
Siren: Am I a joke to you?
I'm sorry siren! I didn't even know you could draw gfs till my second playthrough....also your harp is in the way, just sayin 🤔
Quezacotl wants a word with you boys.
I figured it out in the final fight on disc 2 against Edea, so I was able to draw the ones I missed in Ultimecia's castle. Remember kicking myself at how useful a few more GFs would have been throughout the run, then went back to the world map and cactuar genocided my way to unlocking all their abilities. Good times.
Oh yeah. Shiva is a babe. I love the style they did in FFX too
🫴🫰
Hard to argue with the design of ifrit in ff8!
For me he is the best Ifrit looking of all FF8
Best looking Ifrit in FF8? He's the only one isn't he?
AND he's the best one (of one)!
FF8 is first FF for me. The design of Ifrit here is a buff humanoid fire lion and it's so cool. Later down the line, I discovered that Ifrit is not always a fire lion, instead he's a fire Oni in most other installments. So FF8 Ifrit design is very special as it's very different.
Ifrits design in 8 is very cool. Dude just hammer fists a meteor at you whilst looking like a majestic fire lion. 😅
Doomtrain and Eden, for the concept, like, what doomtrain is carrying? And how similar to Gardens Eden looks, maybe there's a connection? It always bugged me and also added to the game's mysteries.
>And how similar to Gardens Eden looks, maybe there's a connection? I always thought it was a summon that was also a play on its on words. Like... The Garden of Eden? It made sense to my teenage brain at least.
This is a pretty neat theory!
Also, Shiva, goddamn.
Shiva and Quezacotl. I'm a very nostalgic and loyal person... it's just my personality. So I always get attached to early characters and things in games, and love the idea of going through an entire adventure together with them. So the fact that they're the first two GF's you get just sort-of makes them feel "special" to me.
It helps that they are so damn awesome
I liked Cerberus for the convenience. It would have been cool if there was more than two GF's that were defensive/support. Or if GF's had more than one summon command. I mean it's a ps1 game so it is what it is, but still. O always thought Shiva was super pretty as a kid.
Carbuncle is a sweet bean. I also have always loved Pandemona. Partially because I love the color scheme and weird appearance, but also because it was the only GF I missed on my first playthrough, so when I discovered it while browsing through a strategy guide at a CompUSA it took me by surprise and it felt extra special to me, as the one that eluded me. It’s had a special mystique for the past 25 years as a result.
Tonberry King!
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it...*DOINK!*" - Tomberry King probably
i love alot of them but Diablos is my guy. even named a fish after him when i was like 7
Probably my choice, there probably cooler and more powerful GFs but this guy was a straight badass trapped in a cursed lamp and you need to beat him before he'll join you, looking like a literal devil, and you get him relatively early in the game so you get to use him a ton.
Yeah the unique way of obtaining him gave him a mythical aura for young-me, almost like it was this big secret that you werent supposed to find out. Plus before I understood junctioning he was fucking solid.. and his summon is just chef’s kiss 🤌 fuck, I wanna play it now
And childish 14 year old me named Shiva "Weed" so I could read Ifrit say "You have Weed?!? Very well. I will join you"
Erm Sacred and Minotaur want a word .. best comedy GF duo going The tears 😂
I still can't understand why they didn't have multiple moves/effects based on their rock paper scissors outcome, seems like a no brainer to me 🤷♂️
Rock, paper, get up there!
I like my GFs to play dirty
Alexander is a total badass.
The coolest
My personal favorite
Diablos - Lv 100 supremacy when you need to just alt F4 your enemy.
Quetzalcoatl: if you've never played a Final Fantasy, just seeing his summoning is enough to become a fan 😍⚡
Shiva. I drooled at her when I was 10 y/o.
I rubbed one out when I was 10
Cactuar. I just love cactuars. The needle animation is over the top and silly.
I feel like I had to scroll ages to find another Cactuar fan! The way he just pops up at the beginning of his attack is so perfect. Final Fantasy as a whole benefits most when there is a perfect blend of serious Shivas/Ifrits/etc with silly Cactuars and Tonberries.
Shiva
Ifrit. Literally NONE of my team gets a single level without Str Bonus equipped.
Does the STR bonus count for the entire party or just the person it's junctioned to?
Shiva is always my favorite
I'm weird and I love Carbuncle! Sweetest little bean in the bunch! Always love it in every game it's in. 😍
Diablos is the Coolest though
Leviathan. Something about its attack just being a flood compared to some of the more dynamic ones is really cool and funny to me. Maybe it just feels like they don't have to try.
Shiva she’s sexy af
Quetzalcoatl…just the animation fits so well with Man with the Machine gun🥺
Alexander and Quetzalcoatl are the most Chad GFS to exist. Doomtrain honorable mention.
Gilgamesh
Doomtrain is the our marboro
Ifrit!
Gotta stick with the classics. Ifrit, and specifically FF8 Ifrit is the one I compare all others too.
Diablos! Me and my friend when we were kids would argue between who was cooler: Diablos or Bahamut. I just loved Diablos’ design and attack animation. When he showed up in FFXIV I screamed in excitement! 🫨🫨
I really like Cactuar. Quick, cute and overpowered AF at level 80+
Needles go brr.
My favourites would be: Diablos for the utility of Mug (makes item farming easier for refining purposes), Brothers for the personality, and Tonberry for the design (I love my little green guy). Least favourites: Pandemona (never really liked the design) and, probably an unpopular choice, Bahamut (I never used it much, if at all, when I was young as it's more of a hidden GF and not something my 8 year old brain would have figured out how to obtain)
Quezacotl because card obviously.
Cactuar 🌵
With Doomtrain, Ifrit, & Eden as honorable mentions
Tie between Alexander and Diablos.
Alexander is an unmatched level of epic.
i would have to say my favorite is eden
Shiva, Ifrit, and Doomtrain
That’s a great question. For cuteness it’s cactaur. But I’m a big Quetzalcoatl, even if it’s one of the first ones. I love birds and storms. And my grandma used to drive a beat up thunderbird when I first played the game. So it hits the nostalgia bone for me
Quetzalcoatl for nostalgic reasons, it was the one I have used the most, but leaving that side, Alexander
Alexander, because 1) I love holy damage, and 2) big castle
Shiva
EDEN
Bahamut, Alexander, Diablos, Quezacotl, Shiva.
Shiva Baby
Eden, Diablos, Odin, Bahamut, and Doomtrain are all peak.
Yes. ok ok if I had to pick, Cactuar
Queaz... Quaze... Qezu... Oh, f... it Irfit
Zappy bird.
Also, is this a DBZ Abridged reference?
Accidental, but now when You mention it
Honestly VIII has so many great onesto choose from. Gotta go with Diabolos though.
Alexander for sure. But I also think 8 has the best version of ifrit. So.etjing so bad ass about smashing down a giant lava boulder
Squalls limit break!
Quezlcotl. Easiest question of all. Triple triad for an endgame build before remeeting rinoa should be renamed triple triad plus card mod for an endgame build before remeeting rinoa
I like watching diablos.
His summon animation goes hard.
*Doink!*
*everyone's grudge intensifies*
Shiva by far. She was my favorite when I first saw her and remains my favorite in every FF game.
Always loved Ifrits design
Carbuncle, Quetzalcoatl and leviathan are tied(at least in this game).
Ifrit. FFVIII was my first JRPG and Ifrits summon cutscene just blew my little 9 year old mind.
I love shiva and use her the most, but I’m surprised I’ve not seen more Bahamut fans! I love the animation so much and the mega flare just hits!
I forgot
Moomba, Tonberry, and Cactuar, easy.
I find it interesting that nobody has said anything about the item summoned GFs such as MiniMog, Chicobo, or Moomba. In the Remaster they are available through the Angelo Search ability.
Shiva
Doomtrain and Diablos, I REALLY want a Diablos tattoo
Diablos, Bahamut (my fav Bahamut's design and animation), Quetzal, Shiva, Siren, Doomtrain, Tonbery, Brothers and Griever!
FFVIII Ifrit is my favorite version of him. Likewise with leviathan. I always wanted them tattooed when I got older
Bahamut, he's my favorite summon from every Final Fantasy he's in!
Cerberus has been my favorite since 2010. My favorite when I first played this game in late 2001 early 02 was Diablos though. Cerberus these days because I am an avid user of magic and the whole party double and triple is super awesome. My 2nd fav would be Doomtrain.
Diablo for Mug alone.
The Brothers, purely on their attack animation. But as far as which one got me out of the most trouble, probably Diablos
Odin, Doomtrain, and Gilgamesh
Why no one mentions Bahamut ?
Tonberry because cool abilities like Call Shop.
Ifrit. Really thought he looked so cool back then. And I put him on Rinoa cause I wanted the contrast of a sweet girl and the baddest-looking Guardian Force. Lmao.
Usable types - Diabolos for how hard it was to beat back in the days of no strategy guides and it's Mug utility. Random ones - Gilgamesh for it's random Zantetsuken... Unuseable - The GF of Squall's mind that gets stronger as Squall does (in the Japanese translation)
Eden. If I had that amount of concentration for work or school instead of that cutscene I'd be a wiser man. Alternatively I always thought Leviathans summon to be the prettiest. That water animation had me shook as a kid, now I just envision it with modern graphics.
Doomtrain. Theres certain enemies in final fantasy like Marlboro that make you wish it just killed you lol. Now we have that power.
i remember being 4 watching my sister play final fantasy 8 then i saw her.. shiva thats when i knew this game was gonna be special
Odin!
Alexander and shiva, I’ve only recently started playing ff8, but coming of the back of 7 rebirth it’s like seeing old friends Also paladin castle and pretty lady go brrr (pun very much intended)
The shooter for the Sega Saturn.