I'd share my story but I'd much rather take the opportunity to plug episode 6 of the podcast in which you can hear it.
I'm just about finished with my current playthrough and I enjoyed utterly dominating the system. In not doing a no-level run but I am keeping low levels (leveling up is more a liability than benefit in this game) and abusing techniques like card, level up/down, no encounter, etc. I was essentially stomping everything on disc one and from there it was a matter of just how invincible I could be. I'm pretty sure I have the statistically best setup possible with three separate junction setups I rotate around, 100 of every spell for each and full junction slots. And I've not once had to use any offensive command other than "attack" (and "card," if it counts). Simply put, the game is easily exploited with minimal effort. Aside from the odd special "everybody's HP to 1" boss technique (and even that isn't as much a problem considering how limit breaks work) I've never felt remotely close to death. Part of the enjoyment of playing FFVIII was seeing just how badly I could break FFVIII. It was the proverbial "jumping the flagpole" that kept my interest.
It is by no means my favorite game in the series. The plot is something of a hackjob that takes massive leaps in logic and seriously challenges the player's suspension of disbelief, even for a fantasy RPG. In some ways, it's almost an unintentional parody of RPG stories at times. It's essentially an idiot plot that also likes to pull random "twists" out of its ass to justify itself. And it does spend too much time throttling the speed with which a player can accomplish tasks, often seemingly drawing (hur hur) pleasure from forcing the player to slow down and take in the sights. To say that FFVIII is self-indulgent would be an understatement and, in many ways, is the origin of numerous derided tropes that would define the future of the series.
It is, however, a game with a lot of spirit, which alone can hold my interest in spite of all else. I'll take a nonsensical story with a soul over a cohesive yet charmless one any day of the week. And despite its narrative failures, there are some good ideas being played with in there. The Laguna, Julia, and Raine plot thread and how it resonates 20 years in the future is incredibly well done and yet is unfortunately sidelined. There are also some good ideas underlying Squall's development from essentially a douchebag into a caring and driven hero. Unfortunately the script sometimes trips over itself trying to get that across and it becomes difficult to understand why anybody would even want to associate with Squall in the first place, let alone "fix" him. He starts out as such a nasty person, and his friends seem so willing to put up with him being a dipshit, never actually calling him out on it aside from a few cutsie jabs from Rinoa and Quistis, that it can be very difficult to sympathize with anybody. And his eventual change comes very slowly and very late.
There are good things in FFVIII. They're just buried in there. I'd argue that the game's broke-ass engine helps save it since it makes the game a peculiar curiosity and justifies at least one balls to the wall, no mercy playthrough.
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