The ship landing sequence in Dollet at the beginning of Disc 1 has to be the most iconic sequence in Final Fantasy VIII. It’s a slow ramp-up to that moment, but as soon as Squall, Quistis, Zell, and Seifer board the landing boat, the game screams to life and never backs off for the next 38 hours. It’s the ultimate mission statement for what this game is going to be: bombastic, dramatic, full of weird characters, verging on camp but still extremely cool in a 1999 way. No wonder this is the demo they put on the Pizza Hut demo disc.
A big part of the sequence is the music, so here is an A+ cover of the landing by multi-instrumental VGM cover artist Lacey Johnson. It absolutely kicks ass.
I’d also recommend watching her live cover of “The Landing” from Super MAGFest 2022, if only because if you listen carefully, you can hear a guy yell “I LOVE FINAL FANTASY VIII!” at the start when he realizes what she’s playing (listen around 30:05). We are everywhere.
Lacey Johnson has an awesome stage presence, and it’s worth catching one of her shows, if only because maybe there’ll be a surprise Final Fantasy VIII cover.