FFVIII was actually the game that originally hooked me (I was sold at "I had a terrible nightmare. i dreamed I was a moron.")

That said, the graphics aren't retro enough to be cute, and not modern enough to look great, so I wonder if a non-fan would love 'em warts and all. More importantly, as you said, Disc 3 is very bewildering from Lunatic Pandora appearing out of the blue to Squall hopping a rocket and heading to space without any reason given in advance.