Here is my theory taken from the montage at the end. Squall is stuck in a paradox where his alternate self is destined to fight Ultimecia forever (everything is replaying; him meeting Rinoa at the party, etc.) In order to break this paradox, Squall must not rescue Rinoa in space, and instead let her die in space. Ultimecia’s powers will die with her. Squall realizes this and a tear falls from his eye, as his worst fear of being truly alone is realized. If Rinoa dies in space, Ultimecia will not be able to reincarnate and transfer her powers back to Edward to retrigger the paradox. Adel is defeated, and no time compression.

Where are the rest of final fantasy 8 cast because Zell wasn't there and laguna or the powerful witch they beat to save the world

Live action cast!! Very nice and interesting choices. Just don't let Gackt watch this video. here's my live action cast: Squall = Takeru Satō Rinoa = Yuriko Yoshitaka Selphie = Aoi Miyazaki Irvine = Mario Maurer Ellone = Zhou Dongyu Edea = Monica Bellucci Seifer = Alexander Sakarsgård Quistis = Elena Satine Kiros = I agree, Michael Jackson

Immediately knew Kiros But no to Quistis and seifer

Camille Belle looks more like Rinoa during her younger days...

He is indeed an honest person. Its good that he left it open to interpretation.

Its a very comfy game.

one from Nomura and Nojima should work with yoshihiro togashi to be one of the successor of HxH since they have the same level of brilliant minds. by that, HxH will definitely be in good hands :)

To me it's the uncertainty that makes it so intriguing. It might very well be a situation like Yoshiaki Koizumi and Link's Awakening, where one developer (in this case definitely Nomura) thought of a cool story idea and implemented it unbeknownst to the other developers. Because to be honest, the theory really sounds like Nomura already, and it's funny that they mention him in this video specifically Edit: Also your videos on the topic are absolutely amazing. FFVIII is by far my favorite game to theorize about

I wonder what he thinks about the arguments behind the theory. It would be nice to see how this gets explicitly incorporated into the tale, if they ever do anything with VIII again

>Nomura, Nojima & Kitase as script writer team >No mention whoever make the final draft >someone slip hidden message or possibly thematic ending (most typical japanese writer) >maybe Nojima or Nomura Most likely, Nomura Tetsuya Thus strengthen the trope "Don't Let Nomura Write the Script" before "Nomura is watching too many Netflix"

At this point they should respond to us with a ff8 sequel

Thank you :)

I hace never seen a video that sums up the story so effectivelly. I would not talk about flaws. Look at this way, Gasp beliefs on Cetra would not have change anything in the story. Anyway, great video!! Keep it up!

Great work! Personally, I don't like the idea of multiples timelines but I have to say that you made a point. Specially, it blowed my mind that images of Rinoa of the intro that are not taken from any part of the current game. I'm enjoying a lot your FFVIII videos, so thank you!

Do the Japanese fans discuss seifer at all? He was on the cover of the game and seemed like he would play a big part in the game but he kind of just disappears towards the end with no redemption. I would love to know more about seifer

Wow this was amazing…. Good job. The first time I’ve seen this theory, it is so well thought out! Imagine what kind of game final fantasy 8 could have been if it had enough time and resources to finish completely…. Thank you!

I wish it wasn't a robot voice. I couldn't make it 2 minutes...sorry.

It was an overly ambitious project that had it's budget slashed half way through. The developers stitched together what they had best they could. That's probably why the source code is missing. They don't want people to know what was cut from the original production.

dude, before watching your videos, ive already admired ff8 since the first time i played it, but its for gameplay reason. the story didnt really give me much impact other than the gimmick of squall/laguna timeline and they are being father and son. other than that, i understand nothing about the story. your explanation makes everything makes sense. i guess this shows that the problem with ff8 is, while it has great story behind it, the execution is lacking. this makes ff8 got forgotten easily by majority of people. if only the dev put this much effort in showing the details in the story that could link everything in place like what you did, i believe it would be a memorable jrpg experience. ff8 IS indeed underrated

I think the blue light are for humanoid characters and the green light for enemy & monsters characters

All these years and this is closest thing to a complete story I have ever heard. Truley….from bottom of my heart, well done. This game runs deeper than it seems,s, deeper than any final fantasy game. I just wish square would acknowledge its existence and do a remake not skip over it for ff9 which no where near as complex

I got CHILLS! Maye a tear or two...

very good video, enjoyed every second

Bullshit, the producer himself denied this fallacy years ago

It's my favorite FF from his release, and every time I have new reasons for it. Dude, I'm almost crying.

Thanks for the breakdown. Your videos are really good. You deserve a lot more views.

I think a reupload even with the robot voice would be pretty good. I personally don't mind reading and I do miss when a lot of theory videos used text so you could read along instead of having it spoken to you. It's what I enjoyed so much about the old PythonSelkan MGS theory videos. I feel like the no commentary and text only gives it a feeling of mystery. I enjoy it!

FF8 deserves a remake more than any other game in the series. There was so much unfinished and unexplored due to the rushed release of the game.

i just figured the grand sorceress thing involved memories or a connection to the others that held the title or powers of that status before. its a common theme in a lot of fiction that high magical statuses where inherited with the knowledge of their use. avatars depiction of angs connection to the previous avatars would be the pop culture reference.

Damn, to think that I would never notice that despite having played FF8 for countless hours, crazy.

WE ARE SO BACK. I've always loved R = U. I love this head cannon, but I don't know if what it's what the writers actually intended. But there's definitely something hidden and sprinkled throughout the game that maybe didn't get it made into the final script. And don't forget they gave a nod to this theory in Final Fantasy Mobius with Ultimicia dancing and pointing up just like rinoa did.

Such a sour ending... is that the only ending the game has ?

Thank you for this amazing video and for keeping this game alive after so many years

human type enemies use blue light monster enemies use green.

It's always been an interesting thought about them being the same person. I think they're definitely connected, but not the same person. Remember that Ultimecia has a very different speech pattern from Rinoa and I don't think it's because she had a stroke. Ultimecia spent time in Rinoa's body and would know her thoughts and feelings. Maybe they had an influence on her.

Ever since I heard this theory the first time I believe in it religiously… However the only thing I kinda disagree is the witches that appear in the time compression, I think those are from the past, as I think that if you scan them(although I’m not sure if the English translation differs a lot with the Japanese one) it says that they are from another era brought by the time compression, which is the blend of past/present/future, but anyway other than that I love everything else 🥰

It's remarkable how when you first meet Ultimecia in person, she is sitting high on her throne of her vain castle, like she was behind everything without ever leaving that one spot. I really appreciate that they went with that twist, because they led us to believe that Edea was the big bad behind it all. When rpgs start one way, there is that other half that shows what the first act was foreshadowing, with that shift in plot.

Honestly, I like the idea of Griever carrying Squall's essence or conveying Rinoa's despair as she is unable to move on with her grief of losing Squall. I like tragedy so I like this idea.