WARNING: The following content may contain spoilers for Final Fantasy VIII and brief scientific matters. Read at your own discretion.

It's been a while since I finished playing FF8. Still, there are some (you might say) plot points that I'm not completely clear about.

For one: Has it ever occurred to anyone else that Laguna is Squall's father and Raine was his mother? This idea seemed to be so obvious to me but when I mentioned it to a fellow gamer, I didn't get much reaction. The whole thing with Squall being in the orphanage (because Raine died and Laguna wasn't around/didn't know (?)), calling Ellone "Sis," the comment about how Squall looked just like his mother and thank goodness wasn't anything like his father, etc., seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces. It also makes a great set up, plot-wise, for Squall and Rinoa to get together, as the children of Laguna and the bar singer, who ended up marrying other people, even though they loved each other before the war. I mean, I could just be making things up in my head but that's what it looked like to me.

And for another: the time travel. The whole thing with Squall being stuck in time and then coming to the past with Ultimecia and seeing Edea and telling her about SeeDs and all that and then her taking upon the sorceress' powers....wouldn't that mean that time would be moving in a loop? Of course, time doesn't work that way. It branches with every possible action (if this doesn't make sense, don't worry. It's physics. You can go here (http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php) to get an idea of what I'm talking about (the explanation of the dimensions can be a bonus)). Still, if Edea took on Ultimecia's power (despite Squall's warning) and was informed of SeeD, wouldn't it all just happen again? No, because Squall, I think, was just momentarily in the past, like a blip. Time was compressed after all. So it would follow that Squall could theoretically pop into any moment in time. After his encounter with Edea, he goes back into his own time and everything is fine again. Apparently writing this has helped me organize my thoughts.

Going on like this, you might think that I really like FF8. Not really. Sorry, FF8 fans. It's actually my least favorite out of the ones that I've played. I wasn't a FF fan for a long time and actually avoided the games. But then I had a PS2 available to me and a friend insisted that I play FF9 (which I love) and I guess I've just gone with it.

Which leads me to another question. Is it worse to play/read/what have you something in which you love the characters and hate the plot, or hate the characters and love the plot? I suppose that's up to people's own personal preference. Whether plot line is more important than the relationships. Of course, a good balance is best. But which would you prefer, if stuck in this position? Plot or relations?

My next musing will be following along the same lines as this one, with a nagging unanswered question from another FF game. If you've played FF9, be sure to check in.

Comments and thoughts are, of course, welcome.