You trying to start a war?

Seriously though, I am heavily biased towards this game. I've always liked FFVIII the most. It was my first FF so there's that, but I hold it in highset regard compared to whole series. Second, Cid Kramer is literally my dad's name just spelled Cid instead of Sid. When I first discovered that when I was a child I fell in love with the game instantly. When people ask me about FF8 it all comes down to the junction/leveling system. Everybody complains about it being too complicated, but it's really just a case of picking and choosing abilities to make numbers go up on certain characters. The real hardest part is gaining abilities and certain junction slots by leveling up GFs(summons).

FF8 provides probably the most robust leveling system in the the whole series. It really lets you build characters as if it's a ttrpg. It revolves around the GF leveling system, and that can be confusing the first time around because the game emphasizes the junction system more in the tutorials. When you get a new GF it comes with a large list of abilities you can learn simply by battling. When you give a GF to a character, that character gains all the learned abilities. GFs have shared abilities but you have to learn them separately on each GF. So if you got Elem-J on one GF but not another, that other GF also has to take the time to learn Elem-J. Whichever character has the GF without Elem-J won't be able to junction magic to Elem-J either. There's no real order to learning abilities but some things are "required" to make life easier later on in the game. Some GFs have abilities only they know, so now you have to pick and choose which character you want that ability on. It sounds really complicated, but it really is just like DnD leveling when you break it down.

The actual junction system itself is modifiers you set to magic. So say you want your attacks to do a bonus of Thunder damage. A GF learns Elem-Atk-J. That character equips the GF and sets the Elem-Atk-J slot to Thunder/Thundara/Thundaga. Now your normal attacks do bonus Thunder Damage. If the NPC you are fighting is weak to Thunder damage it helps take them out quicker. There's a whole list of stats you can junction magic to that boost your characters in any way you want. It's a true build system and not just gain xp and levels to make everything stronger. You have to pay attention to what's junctioned and when. Use Scan aaaaaaaaa lot.

It can lead to grinding but it's not the worst grinding in a jrpg. Generally you don't want to min/max FF8 because the game scales with your average party level. You can do low xp runs. No junction runs if you hate your life. There's a million ways to "play the game," if you know what I mean.

Another hard part is grasping how much Triple Triad(the side card game) is embedded into gaining new abilities and powers. When I was a weeee lad I never touched the game. I made it all the way to disk 4 and unbeknownst to me I missed a lot of content by skipping that crazy little gem. Now I'm like a fiend trying to get every card so I can get such and such abilities later down the line. Good thing it really is the best side card game in any video game. A lot of FF8 fans will say the real game is Triple Triad and the story is the bonus content.

Speaking of, the stories are so different between the three that it's not worth comparing. Character wise FFVII definitely has the stronger cast. If you're into moody Emo teens then Squall is gonna be your boy. If not then I can see him being a downer. He's definitely worth his weight as a main character though. Aesthetically, I like VIII the most. The sci-fi aspect is lighter and not as in your face with the existentialism of dying planets and eco terrorism. The second time around doing 3d really shows. Musically I think it's the best soundtrack in the whole series.

I live and die by saying FF8 is the best game in the series. VIII grabbed me in a way that proved video games are art long before I would ever understand what that meant. Being an 8 year old and really being captured by the story for the first time in any video game changed me. I'm no longer just mindlessly playing these things. I'm paying attention to the story beats and the characters emotions and motivations. Then to go backwards and play VII with that in mind, it just didn't grab me the same way. I enjoy it. I love playing VII now, but VIII is thee game for me. Poor IX is just the redheaded step child of the series to me. I love FF games beyond the PS1 games. X is right there with 8. 12 is up there. VI and IV are excellent. IX is the one I put the least amount of time in and my opinion of it suffers for that. Play 8. Use a guide if you have to. There's no shame in that. If you like Final Fantasy you will be better off having 8 under your belt.