According to a 1998 Famitsu magazine interview with the game's character designer Tetsuya Nomura, preliminary meetings to plan out Final Fantasy VIII with the game's team, including director Yoshinori Kitase, began immediately after the completion of Final Fantasy VII's development.

During one of the conversations, Kitase said that he wanted to use a character that Nomura drew 3 years ago, before Final Fantasy VII, which was the sorceress Edea Kramer.

He added that although the Final Fantasy series has the word "Fantasy" in its name, it had become routine for them to feature technological civilizations and machines, and he felt the fantasy aspect had steadily weakened its presence. Therefore, Edea was added to the game to genuinely counteract those growing technological aesthetics: "a full-on, high-fantasy sorceress".

According to a 1998 Famitsu interview with the game's director Yoshinori Kitase, he stated that when the game's development started, character designer Tetsuya Nomura suggested for Squall & Laguna's stories to end in a way that would have tied them together. This idea was scrapped for unknown reasons and forgotten about completely.

The Pocket Station, sold only in Japan, was used in Final Fantasy VIII. It featured a mini game called Chocobo World, starring Boco the Chocobo. While international console users could not play it, the PC port of Final Fantasy VIII did include Chocobo World in its entirety as a standalone application.

In the Galbadia Missile Base control room, while in the "Equipment" section of the launch configuration panel, you can simultaneously press V/B/Up/Down (PC version) or Triangle/Square/Up/Down (PlayStation version) to view animations of an Elite Soldier and a G-Soldier dancing. Rinoa will laugh and comment on each animation.

In the NTSC version, "Selphie Tilmitt" wields a weapon called "Nunchaku". But was replace with "Shinobou" in the PAL version, due to media laws in the UK forbidding ninja-related weapons.

In the Japanese version, in Ultimecia Castle's armory, there is a sword on the wall with red blood on it. The blood is green in other versions of the game.

According to former Square localizer Alexander O. Smith, the US localization team had to use a GameShark cheat device to view the game's text for easier translation. This was because Square's Japan headquarters didn't think to send them a copy of the game's text files.

In the city of Esthar, there's a shopping mall, which has a store named Cloud's Shop. This is a reference to the main character of Final Fantasy VII.

Japanese rock artist Gackt once claimed in a TV program that Squall was modeled after him, even referring to the protagonist as "Gackt #2". However, the character designer, Tetsuya Nomura, says that he based Squall's appearance on the late actor River Phoenix.

Tetsuya Nomura, the game director, said that Deling City's design was heavily influenced by Paris.

The characters of Fujin and Raijin were initially designed to appear in Final Fantasy VII, however, the inclusion of the Turks made their presence unnecessary and they were shelved until Final Fantasy VIII. They were also most likely inspired by shonen-manga of the past, which ended up fitting much better into Final Fantasy VIII's cast.

In April 2000, José Rabadán, a teenager from Murcia (Spain) killed both of his parents and his sister with a katana. The media accused Final Fantasy VIII of inducing Jos to do it, with one magazine stating, "he was just imitating his hero, Squall" who, in a moment of the story thinks that he must kill Spoiler: someone close to him: Rinoa.

However, José Rabadán hadn't finished the game, nor even reached the point in which this event occurs, proving the article to be jumping to conclusions. José was arrested and spent eight years in jail. He has since been known by the nickname of "El asesino de la Katana" (The Katana Killer).

Kiros's weapon, the katal, is a mistranslation of an Indian weapon called the Katar. The Katar is one-handed push dagger. These are used primarily for thrusting attacks.

Two of the track names on the soundtrack have hidden meanings. The track "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec" is actually an anagram of "Succession of Witches" and the opening track, "Liberi Fatali" is "Fated Children" roughly translated into Latin.

During the attack on Dollet when you meet Selphie during the FMV, she is wearing shoes with knee-high socks. However, her in-game model wears knee-high boots.

The boss Gerogero was changed from the original Japanese version. His perturbing organs were changed from red to blue due the censorship. His name is also derived from the Japanese word "gero" which means vomit.

Abadon, fought in the Great Salt Lake, is a boss that can be killed in one hit, as Abadon is an undead monster. Using a revival item will instantly kill him.

By attacking the second form of the Fake President (Gerogero) with a healing item, such as a Phoenix Down or the Cure spell, you can beat him with one shot.

The track "Raid on Dollet" was used in the demo, but not in the actual game.

During Ultimecia's (as Edea) parade in Deling City, the masked dancers are performing the dance moves from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video.