It's not often that a game gets it's entire soundtrack released in an english market, but Final Fantasy VIII had a release in not only the United States, but the UK as well. It was only sold thorugh Squaresoft's old website about the time that FF8 was released in the US, so it had a pretty limited production compared to the japanese version. That pretty much makes this item very rare and very difficult to get ahold of now. Although this soundtrack carries the exact same tracks as it's japanese counterpart, it sports an entirely different look. It's dropped the traditional FF8 logo for a more stoic one and carries a very rare illustration of Squall on it's cover. Cooler than the japanese version? Definitely.

The cover itself is a boxed-set cover. That is to say, you can slide the CDs out of it. The CDs are in a folding case made of plactic and cardboard. If you are familiar with any DVD boxed-set, then you should be able to image how this looks. As an added bonus, behind each CD you can see more rare illustrations from Final Fantasy VIII including the carousel and a gargoyle. The CDs themselves are gold and silver (2 of each) and are pretty plain, aside from the logo I mentioned earlier and some fine print. There are a total of 74 tracks on 4 CDs.

Perhaps the most unique thing about this set is the little booklet that comes with it. It's only 9 pages long, but contains even more rare art, a track listing for all 4 CDs, song and production credits, lyrics to Liberi Fatali and Eyes on Me and a short interview with Nobuo Uemastu (which is actually more like a foreword of sorts and less like an interview.) And all of this is made cooler by the fact that it's all in english. Also, since this is an American release, it says "Squaresoft" rather than "Square."

In the end, I have to say that I highly recommend getting this item if you can come across it. It's pretty rare, so you are going to have a hard time finding it, but if you can - it's definitely a must get.

Additional Pictures:
None at this time.

Track Listing
Disc 1
1. Liberi Fatali
2. Balamb Garden
3. Blue Fields
4. Don't Be Afraid
5. The Winner
6. Find Your Way
7. SeeD
8. The Landing
9. Starting Up
10. Force Your Way
11. The Loser
12. Never Look Back
13. Dead End
14. Breezy
15. Shuffle or Boogie
16. Waltz for the Moon
17. Tell Me
18. Fear
19. The Man with the Machine Gun
20. Julia
21. Roses and Wine
22. Junction
23. Timber Owls

Disc 2
1. My Mind
2. The Mission
3. Martial Law
4. Cactus Jack (Galbadian Anthem)
5. Only a Plank Between One and Perdition
6. SUCCESSION OF WITCHES
7. Galbadia Garden
8. Unrest
9. Under Her Control
10. The Stage is Set
11. A Sacrifice
12. FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC
13. Intruders
14. Premonition
15. Wounded
16. Fragments of Memories
17. Jailed
18. Rivals
19. Ami

Disc 3
1. The Spy
2. Retaliation
3. Movin'
4. Blue Sky
5. Drifting
6. Heresy
7. Fisherman's Horizon
8. ODEKA ke Chocobo (Chocobo's Outing)
9. Where I Belong
10. The Oath
11. Slide Show Part 1
12. Slide Show Part 2
13. Love Grows
14. The Salt Flats
15. Trust Me
16. Silence and Motion
17. Dance with the Balamb-Fish
18. Tears of the Moon
19. Residents
20. Eyes on Me

Disc 4
1. Mods de Chocobo (featuring N's Telecaster)
2. Ride On
3. Truth
4. Lunatic Pandora
5. Compression of Time
6. The Castle
7. The Legendary Beast
8. Maybe I'm a Lion
9. The Extreme
10. The Successor
11. Ending Theme
12. Overture