Originally released on the Playstation and then ported to the PC, the Steam copy of Final Fantasy VIII is a fairly cheap way to access one of the PS1 era classics while also getting to use the Pocket Station game Chocobo World (a mini-game that didn't come included with non-PS1 versions of Final Fantasy VIII outside of Japan, which can give items in FFVIII.)

I'll get right to the negatives, not just of this port, but of Final Fantasy VIII.

[ CONS ]
These are pure problems.

-MIDI music. There's guides on Steam for how to fix this, but the fact remains a fresh install will see lower quality music in various situations than in the PS1 version.

-Square Enix DRM on the launcher. If their servers go down for maintenance, you can't play your single player game. That's stupid.

-If you already have Final Fantasy VIII, Chocobo World's really going to be your only major draw to this, since cloud saves don't justify the above DRM.

-Final Fantasy VIII's story requires a lot of work on you, the player's part to make it decent. This seems to stem from odd narrative choices and mistranslations, but the fact remains you might find yourself disappointed with a world where child soldiers are led by Evil Robin Williams to battle a Double Witch. YMMV.

-Gamepad support is iffy. Sometimes, if your gamepad disconnects for any reason, even if you reconnect it, you're stuck using the keyboard until you close out and re-open the game.

[ MIXED ]
Middle of the road.

+/-The magic system in this game is polarizing. Essentially, you use a command called Draw to take some magic from what you're fighting. Then you can equip that magic onto your stats via a feature called Junctioning. You can also get this magic from other sources, like converting items (cards come to mind). I personally don't get the hate for it, the system's pretty simple and lets you inch out whatever level scaled opponents you're facing with minimal thought involved, but note a lot of people don't like it.

+/-With the relatively young age of the main protagonists, the ... Gunblades, and the odd direction the story tends to go in - while there's a unique identity to the world of this game, it can feel like a high school drama with magic and gun swords thrown into it sometimes.

+/-It has a better story than Final Fantasy XIII. But that's not saying much.

+/-Hard to relate with the romance build up between Squall and Rinoa (two main characters), but I'm sure there's fans for that.

[ PROS ]
Where the game does well.

+If you don't have Final Fantasy VIII and are a Steam addict, it takes three seconds to fix that Midi issue above. Square Enix sales happen a lot too, so the game's usually dirt cheap.

+Triple Triad. When the world is on the brink of destruction, play card games.

+You can cheat. Cheat a lot. Use the launcher to give yourself a ton of drawn magic, or use the hidden Function Keys to cheat in all kinds of things. While no Final Fantasy game is hard, this can be very useful for speed running or getting yourself up to a certain point in the game if desired.

+Lots of Steam community material on where and how to mod Final Fantasy VIII into a better looking, better playing game is available.

+Final Fantasy music. Always good.

+Guardian Forces (this game's summons) actually level up and unlock you new abilities. This and the square button mashing damage bump when you summon them in battle makes them a lot more interesting than Final Fantasy VII's cutscene spam.

+Everything concerning Chocobos, be it the Tamagotchi style Chocobo World or the overworld chocobo mining, is enjoyable.

+You serve under Robin Williams, Evil Headmaster Military King who trains children to use experimental demon magic, casually hands students he wants to see die lamps that transport them to hell to fight Satan without telling them what it does. It is implied he banged the main antagonist while possessing a minor protagonist, so he was in bed with a Triple Witch. Furthermore, when the actual owner of the Garden (think flying military base) gets mad that he tried to have a political leader -murdered and fails during an already tenuous war- and attempts to placate said understandably angry nation, Headmaster Robin Williams has the appropriate response in mind after stomping off from the well mannered NORG, his lips profusely wet from screaming.

"CHILDREN? FIGHT TO THE DEATH"

Did I mention there's a dating hangout area for the students of this Garden, and so he has Tyrannosaurus Rex(multiple) stocked there for "training purposes?"

The guy's a menace. Play this game so you can discover how Robin Williams nearly doomed the world.