by J. Christopher Baggett

Created on: January 16, 2010

For over 20 years, the premiere RPG franchise has easily been that of Final Fantasy.  Originally intended to be the last game before the company shut down due to monetary issues, Square (Now known as Square Enix) found themselves with an unexpected and rather surprising hit on their hands.  As the arrival of Final Fantasy XIII draws closer, one finds themselves reflecting on the franchises many incarnations over the years, from it's original swords and sorcery gameplay in Final Fantasy I to it's genre changing futuristic settings in Final Fantasy III (Or VI, if you're reading this somewhere that isn't America).  Most often debated, however, is the unique magic systems inherent in each title.  

No two Final Fantasy titles have used the same magic system, adding to them an air of individuality while also opening up room for vivid debate amongst the fans.  If you ask an old school RPG player, they're probably going to prefer Final Fantasy III/VI, in which the magic and skills were tied to Relic items equipped to each character.  Newer players are more prone to favor the smash hit Final Fantasy VII, with it's Materia slot system that involved placing magic orbs into slots on armor and weapons.  But me?  I'm the odd duck out, one of the many fans who have earned the ire and confused looks of a great many series fans.

I prefer the magic system of the much hated entry into the series, Final Fantasy VIII.

Yes, I said much hated, and you can't deny that it is.  Fans of the series all around the world have united to declare Final Fantasy VIII an abysmal wreck, but ultimately this all boils down to one single complaint: it wasn't Final Fantasy VII.  As a result, the fantastic and unique Junction system gets overlooked by a great many fans.

Junctioning works like this: throughout the game, you encounter and acquire various summon monsters who are known as Guardian Forces, or GFs.  These GFs can be assigned to a certain character in your party, and throughout the game the GFs will form a bond with these characters, and will earn Ability Points, or AP, which allows them to learn new abilities.  In order to use Magic, you must equip a GF and then use a special command, Draw, in order to take magic spells from enemies or from Draw Points scattered around the world.  The magic is then stocked in your inventory of spells, which you can use until it is depleted.  Now, while this sounds like a hassle, you have

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