FINAL FANTASY VIII
Give it 4 hours
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (32%); after 20h it's 1 in 15 (7%).
- Fully opens up by hour 20.
- 14% of players who start reach the ending.
- Most players drop off before “End of Game” (Finish the game): only 14% of starters get there.
- 80% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 9,556 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 48.1h for positive, 14.7h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (79.8% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- End of Game Finish the game Most players quit here 14% −86
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (45)
story milestone ending side
- Quezacotl Unlock Guardian Force Quezacotl 100%
- Shiva Unlock Guardian Force Shiva 100%
- Ifrit Unlock Guardian Force Ifrit 85%
- Card player Play Triple Triad 62%
- First salary Get your first salary from SeeD 61%
- Siren Unlock Guardian Force Siren 59%
- 100 kills Kill 100 enemies 53%
- Diablos Unlock Guardian Force Diablos 49%
- Magician Draw (Stock) magic from enemies 100 times 49%
- Brothers Unlock Guardian Force Brothers 43%
- Loser Lose a rare card in a Triple Triad game 43%
- Handyman Upgrade your weapon 43%
- Carbuncle Unlock Guardian Force Carbuncle 39%
- Leviathan Unlock Guardian Force Leviathan 35%
- Pandemona Unlock Guardian Force Pandemona 32%
- Cerberus Unlock Guardian Force Cerberus 31%
- Alexander Unlock Guardian Force Alexander 29%
- Ragnarok Find Ragnarok 25%
- Tonberry Unlock Guardian Force Tonberry 24%
- Cactuar Unlock Guardian Force Cactuar 22%
- Maximum HP Reach maximum HP 22%
- Bahamut Unlock Guardian Force Bahamut 20%
- Chocobo Capture a Chocobo 20%
- Eden Unlock Guardian Force Eden 19%
- Doomtrain Unlock Guardian Force Doomtrain 19%
- Professional Player Win 100 games of Triple Triad 18%
- Top Rank Reach SeeD rank A 14%
- Top level Reach level 100 14%
- End of Game Finish the game 14%
- Cards Club Master Defeat every member of the CC Group 13%
- Magic Miner Draw magic 100 times from draw points 12%
- Maximum Gil Reach maximum Gil 11%
- Choco loot Acquired an item from Chocobo World 8.0%
- UFO Complete the PuPu side quest 8.0%
- Magazine Addict Collect all Weapons Monthly/Combat King/Pet Pals/Occult Fan magazines 7.5%
- Blue Magic Master Learn all of Quistis' limit breaks 6.8%
- 1000 kills Kill 1000 enemies 6.6%
- Timber Maniacs Collect all Timber Maniacs magazines 6.3%
- Omega Destroyed Beat the Omega weapon 6.1%
- Collector Collect all cards 6.0%
- Obel Lake Secret Complete the Obel Lake side quest 6.0%
- Dog Trainer Learn all of Rinoa's limit breaks 5.8%
- Top Level Boko Reach level 100 with Boko 3.5%
- Contrived Finish Finish the game with Squall's initial level 2.5%
- 10000 kills Kill 10000 enemies 2.0%