~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ , FINAL FANTASY VIII ,- - ,, ------------------------- _||_ ' _ || UNOFFICIAL STRATEGY GUIDE ' || \\ \\/\\ < \, || ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ || || || || /-|| || Zena's definitive guide |, || || || (( || || for Final Fantasy VIII. _-/ \\ \\ \\ \/\\ \\ In this here guide you _ , will find a wealth of ,- - , information on Final _||_ _ || _ Fantasy VIII, some of ' || < \, \\/\\ =||= < \, _-_, '\\/\\ which you won't find || /-|| || || || /-|| ||_. || ;' anywhere else. |, (( || || || || (( || ~ || ||/ _-/ \/\\ \\ \\ \\, \/\\ ,-_- |/ Disclaimer, health ( warning, credits, feed- _ -_- back rules and frequently - - _- _-_, _-_, _-_, asked questions are in the )- ) // // // bottom chapter. )___) || || || ~)___) ~|| ~|| ~|| See below to see latest up- ) ) || || || dates. The rest of the version /-_/ _-_, _-_, _-_, history can be found in the introduction chapter. -----------OO-----------------------------------------OO---------- || Title: Final Fantasy VIII || || Guide type: Unofficial Strategy Guide || || Author: Zenalasca || || Real Name: Zena Mason || || E-Mail: ze_faq@yahoo.com.au || || Began: 26th December, 2004 || || Last Updated: January, 2007 || || Version: 8.00 || -----------OO-----------------------------------------OO---------- Latest Version Updates ---------------------- 8.00: - Added information about Nida to the Encyclopaedia. - Thanks to a very studious person named Ian (who made a point of my complaints about other guides having bad spelling) I have changed "Librali Fitali" to "Liberi Fatali," which is in fact the spelling that Square uses -- therefore the right one. - Added information about versions 1.00, 2.00 and 3.00 to Version History. - Added the old footer from v3.00 and 4.00. - Changed the profile for elixir in the chapter about items. - Added Refining Tree, an artical that shows you chains of three or more refining operations. - Began magic ratings lists in the Status Junctions chapter. - In an earlier version of the guide I wrote the histories of certain characters, and now I have reinstalled them. - Added a sample chapter of my FF8 novelisation, the first time any of it has appeared on the internet. ------------------------------------------------------------------ INTRODUCTION I00 The name says it all, man ------------ --- -------------------------- Guide Introduction I01 Intro of this epic masterpiece FF8 Introduction I02 Intro of this epic masterpiece BASICS II00 The ABC, 123, doe-re-me of FF8 ------ ---- ------------------------------ Basic Info II01 Things you should know ... Glossary II02 What all the stats, etc. mean Controls II03 Default PS and PC controls Menus II04 Brief summary of the menus Battle Tutorial II05 All the basics of battle Triple Triad II06 TT for beginners and experts too SeeD II07 How to be a good little SeeD ... Transport II08 Planes, trains and automobiles! All About Magic II09 Miscellaneous magical info Junction Tutorial II10 Your step-by-step,in-depth guide PocketStation II11 For Chocobo World (PSX version) GF Management II12 How to make your GFs love you Dialogue Tutorial II13 Deciphering dialogue standards Character Managing II14 Summary of getting the best team FF8 Version Changes II15 ... and differences with FF7 WALKTHROUGH III00 The BEST ... or your money back ----------- ----- ------------------------------- Balamb III01 Beginning-of-walkthru-bonanza Dollet Field Exam III02 The Dollet practical exam Balamb II III03 Surviving post-test Balamb Dream World Prt I III04 Laguna the tall dark stranger Timber III05 A glimpse of what is to come Dream World Prt II III06 Laguna the bumbling fool Galbadia Garden III07 A new mission Deling City III08 Between a rock and a hard place Dream World Prt III III09 Laguna the family man D-District Prison III10 Jailbreak [from the] rock! Missile Base III11 Tactical espionage action! Balamb III III12 Much ado about nothing Fisherman's Horizon III13 The calm before the reel storm Balamb IV III14 Balamb's occupation Trabia Garden III15 Reaching a mutual understanding Centra III16 War of the Gardens Edea's House III17 The Sorceress' stories Dream World Prt IV III18 Laguna the movie star White SeeD Ship III19 A reunion of sorts Great Salt Lake III20 Polluted outskirts of Esthar Dream World Prt V III21 Laguna the Politician Esthar III22 Shopping capital of the world Lunar Base III23 Ground control to Major Tom Ragnarok III24 Resident Evil in Space Lunatic Pandora III25 The Henchman of Ultimecia Ultimecia Castle III26 Final frontiers SECRETS AND SIDE QUESTS IV00 Walkthrough essentials ----------------------- ---- ---------------------- The Magical Lamp IV01 Be bedazzled with GF Diablos Dollet Revisited IV02 Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Tomb of da Unknown King IV03 The King of the Thralls Winhill Revisited IV04 Quest of the broken Vase Shumi Village IV05 Learn more about Laguna & NORG Chocobo Catching IV06 Earning chocobos' trust Chocobo World IV07 Adventures of Boco the Chocobo Odin IV08 Another test, another dungeon Tonberry IV09 Earning Tonberries' loyalty The Solomon's Ring IV10 Offerings to a GF demigod Cactuar Island IV11 Cactuar fun under the hot sun! PuPu the Alien IV12 Tear jerking, heart moving ET :P Card Club Group IV13 Climbin' to the top of the Pack! Queen of Cards IV14 Squall's poker-face may help Obel Lake IV15 Black Shadow and Grumpy Monkey Bahamut IV16 King of GFs, and of dragons Ultima Weapon IV17 Have you met your match? Omega Weapon IV18 You're in [bad] Luck!! Challenges IV19 How to waste your time Tips and Hints IV20 How to save your time Glitches IV21 Summary: Loopholes in the system APPENDICES V00 What can't fit anywhere else ---------- --- ---------------------------- Character Info V01 Characters' battle statistics Bestiary V02 Monsters, meet your makers! Cards List V03 Complete card listing Card Players V04 What's hot in the TT world Magic List V05 Where to find and how to use Status Junctions V06 One-stop spot for Elem/ST-J Guardian Forces V07 Each GF has their own run-down GF Abilities V08 Run-down of GF abilities Timber Maniacs V09 Where and when to find them Weapons V10 Weapons and ingredients needed Items V11 Strategies on hard-to-get items Locations Index V12 My version of a world map Game Shark Codes V13 Have your cake and eat it too Refining Tree V14 How the items are related SPECIAL FEATURES VI00 Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! ---------------- ---- ----------------------------- Common complaints VI01 ... concerning FF8 Character Analyses VI02 Explicit, yet with few spoilers! Song Lyrics VI03 Final Fantasy VIII sing-along? The Dream Saga VI04 A sci-fi, humanistic novel Media references VI05 Other places FF8 made its mark Classic Themes VI06 Classic Final Fantasy concepts All about Moombas VI07 Raise your hand if you know not German Version of FF8 VI08 Names in the German FF8 Real-Life Galbadia VI09 Germany or the USA? Ultimecia theories VI10 Spoiler filled run-down of Ulti Story Analyses VI11 Not yet finished! Game's history VI12 It's all in the past Encyclopaedia VI13 What's in a name? Selphie's parents VI14 Who are they? Selphie's powers VI15 ... But she's not a sorceress! Tonberry King VI16 Where did he come from? European or Japanese? VI17 Is Rinoa meant to be Asian? Party time for Quisty! VI18 Where was she at the SeeD dance? Squall's parents VI19 I can tell you who they are Eden myth busted! VI20 Who or What is Eden? Creepy events VI21 While playing FF8 Survey VI22 What do you think? Xbox 360 review VI23 Love it or hate it Battle advice VI24 From me, you, and whoever else FF8 movie VI25 How would you direct it? Unsolved mysteries VI26 Some of which are partly solved OST list VI27 Official soundtrack list Zena's FF8 Novelisation VI28 A teaser of the full thing ENDING STUFF VII00 Things a guide can't do without ------------ ----- ------------------------------- FAQ VII01 Frequently Asked Questions Feedback VII02 Rules to go by when you e-mail Acknowledgements VII03 Shout-outs to all who helped! Boring Stuff VII04 Disclaimer health warning, etc Ending Words VII05 My conclusion to this affair Note: Most word processors and internet applications have a "Find" system. Using this you can type in the co-ordinates to find their designated destination. "Find" can usually be located in the application's "Edit" menu. There are two different sets of co-ordinates for each chapter. One on the left, and one on the right. Say you wanted to get to the beginning of the walkthrough. You would type in the number on the left, or the code in the right, which is, in this case III19 or III. Include "ff8/" at the beginning of these codes to get to your destination. If somehow it didn't work, check that there are no spaces in the code. ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--== ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--== -= INTRODUCTION [ff8/I00] =- ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--== ==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--== ================================================================== Introduction the Guide [ff8/I01] ================================================================== Introduction ------------ Final Fantasy VIII is my favourite game of all time, or certainly my favourite RPG, and defiantly my favourite Final Fantasy. The game has typical RPG elements, yet with a unique bent on how it's done. I have put my whole heart and soul into making a guide for my favourite game of all time. It's a must for any fan of Final Fantasy VIII, whether they be novice or expert! Before I start telling you about Final Fantasy VIII itself there some things I want to get out of the way. This is a complete guide for Final Fantasy VIII; it will give you everything an official strategy guide offers and more. And if it isn't in this guide, there are references to other great Final Fantasy guides on the net. Because this guide is so vast, there'll be loads of mistakes. So I'm counting on you, the reader to point them out! The guide is best suited to the following fonts (in order of personal preference): Monaco, Courier New, Andale Mono, V100. Some of the formatting may be a bit weird but that's because I use an Apple computer. You can fix the problem by choosing a Macintosh Encoding/Character Set. If you don't want to read any spoilers I suggest you steer clear of the section entitled "Special features and other articles of interest". You know, the section with that's riddled with game discussions, shameless plugs and all that nice, creamy spoiler material! You know you want to! (but I'm in no position to be egging you on now, am I?) Other than that, I don't think there's a huge risk of finding any spoilers - the walkthrough is designed to focus strategies rather than how I would like you to play the game (and if I do indicate a preferred style of playing it's easy to skip). The finding system is similar to the Game Genie FAQ by Albert Tran, Final Fantasy VIII FAQs by Scott Ong and the Gran Turismo 3 Cote D'azur FAQ by Conquerer. To use it ... a. Select "Edit" and choose "Find" or press Ctr+F. You should be able to see the "Find" window. b. Say you wanted to get to "Basic Info". The co-ordinates for this section is "VI78", but you'll have to add "ff8/" as a prefix. c. Type it in and press enter/return or choose "Find Next". If this is a new version you're looking at and you're unfamiliar with any changes made, there are version update logs throughout the guide denoted by . There is also a section for general changes to the guide. This is meant first and foremost for the PAL version of Final Fantasy VIII, meaning players for from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. As the PAL version is basically the NTSC version anyway, it doesn't really matter. If there are any differences in the NTSC and JP versions, I'll mention them. These are some good Final Fantasy VIII references. Most of them I have got information from myself to use in this guide, so I swear by them! GameFAQs: o Granny's Hand-Holding Guide to Cards by Sister. o Character Setup Guide by Vice President Treill Hearmiton. o Angel Wing FAQ by Sherry Han. o Angelo Search Limit Break FAQ by DarkLordOfTheSith and Simjam. o Plot Analyses FAQ by falsehead. o Seifer/Edea FAQ by Shadow Flare. o Pocketstation/Chocobo World Technical FAQ by the Saint. o Final Fantasy VIII FAQs by Scott Ong. o Surviving Ultimecia Castle by Ruk Chan. o US/Japanese Differences by Yuzu-chan and Musashi. o Analyses on Ultimecia and Time by Sir Bahamut. o SeeD Rank Guide by The Admiral. o Item/Magic FAQ by Dan Orner. o PocketStation FAQ by Michael Johnson. o GF Allocation Guide by Brandon G. o Enemy controlling FAQ/list by King Edgar. o Power Up Boko Codes by Vilurum. o Monster Encyclopaedia by Split Infinity. o No GF game by Smoking Frog II. o Speed FAQ/Walthrough by Meh1 and Edman. o No Level Up guide by Edman. o No Junction Game challenge FAQ by Hyprophant. o Experience FAQ by Chris Castiglione. o Draw Point FAQ by Buma. o Boss FAQ by iDragon. o FAQs by Yee Seng Fu. Neoseeker only: o Game Script by Shotgunnova. Here are some abbreviations which will appear in this guide: Final Fantasy: FF Final Fantasy VII: FF7 Final Fantasy I: FF1 Final Fantasy VIII: FF8 Final Fantasy II: FF2 Final Fantasy IX: FF9 Final Fantasy III: FF3 Final Fantasy X: FF10 Final Fantasy IV: FF4 Final Fantasy X-2: FF10/2 Final Fantasy V: FF5 Final Fantasy XI: FF11 Final Fantasy VI: FF6 Lastly, if you want to publish part/all of this guide on your web site or magazine or whatever e-mail me first! The following web sites can host this guide: o Game FAQs - www.gamefaqs.com o Super Cheats - www.supercheats.com o Neoseeker - www.neoseeker.com o 1up - 1up.com 0 FANTASYSQUARE - www.fantasysquare.com That's it ... for now. Tell me if there's anything that needs correcting/adding, and enjoy the game! [Zena Mason, a.k.a. Zenalasca] ------------------------------------------------------------------ About the Authoress ------------------------------------------------------------------ I come from a whole family of writers (my grandfather, uncle and father have all written books), so writing is well and truly in the blood for me. The following are some of their published works. Colin Mason: Hostage, Short History of Asia, Short History of the Future, and more, mostly about Asia. Mark Mason: In Search of the Loving God. Matthew Mason: Dream Saga (Dream Master, Dream Nemesis). The story of how I got Final Fantasy VIII is rather interesting. When my dad bought our first PlayStation we got a demo disc as well which included the beginning movie of Final Fantasy VIII. I liked it so much that I probably said something like "now I know what to tell mum what I want for my ninth birthday". Mum was none too pleased about what I had chosen but got it for me anyway. I was then persuaded by her partner to trade it for 3D Pacman and Monster Truck Racing, which were traded for Pitfall 3D because they were so bad. Mum persuaded me four years later to ask for it back, and that's where my addiction to Final Fantasy VIII began ... Alex owned an official strategy guide, so I wondered if I could get some information for Final Fantasy VIII on the internet. I did find one guide via Google search but it wasn't all that good. I thought I could definitely do a better job. I found out about Game FAQs from a magazine, and despite finding some very good guides there I continued writing my own. It wasn't all that special, because I had only taken stuff from other guides. It helped me learn how to do it. I finished the guide in one year and it was another year before I finally managed to submit it to Game FAQs. When I did most of my e-mails consisted of web sites asking to have it as well! ------------------------------------------------------------------ Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------ I know in the past I've put down people who've done version histories and it's hypocritical of me to do it considering I've said that ... but over the years I've realised the use of the version history. Look here if you have a version earlier than 8.00 and are unsure about downloading this massive file. 1.00: - My FF8 files were originally ClarisWorks documents translated to AppleWorks, but I decided to forget them and do my work on TextEdit. By the time the guide reached "version 1.00" I had formatted the guide in the GameFAQs approved way and already finished the walkthrough, but there was still much work to be done. 2.00: - Worked on the basic format, style, information and so on of the guide. Even the simplest things were of great consternation to me, and I was constantly changing things. - Finished a shell of the walkthrough and many other things. 3.00: - This version released in 2005 and ONLY 868 KB. A lot has changed since v1.00. Like v2.00 I only changed small things. - The beta version of Dad's book, The Dream Nemesis was released and I added an article about it. - Added information to "About the Authoress." 4.00: - Added submitted contribution from Ninjatsu about the PC version of FF8 (memory card and PocketStation details). - Added submitted contribution from Ninjatsu about the PC version of FF8 (soft reset). - Edited "How to get Magic", adding a contribution from Ninjatsu. - Added more contributions from Ninjatsu to "Fast Facts about levelling up and learning abilities - Added Ninjatsu contribution to "Tips and Tactics". - Ninjatsu pointed out some MAJOR mistakes, so I basically tried to sort things out. I had to totally rewrite the SAME, SAME WALL, PLUS, and COMBO tutorials, as well as the guide on how to manipulate rules. - Added "Getting Paid" and "Getting to Level A in disc 1." - Added contribution from Ninjatsu to "How GF learn abilities." - Added "Types of Fighters" and sorted the section out. - Added contributions from Ninjatsu to "For the Perfectionists." - Modified "Map of the Scenario," and added a contribution from Ninjatsu. - Added contributions from Ninjatsu to the sections about giving the passphrase and getting Angelo's card. - Added contribution from Phuc Bach to "Kashkabald Desert (s)". He has found a way to get to Cactuar Island in disc two ... without going to Cactuar Island ... - Added contribution from Ninjastu about being able to draw Triple from Odin. - Totally rewrote some sections. - Added more characters and manual's introduction for Squall. - Gave the section a table of contents and organised it a bit. - Added the "Glitches" section. - I got rid of the index at the back and change the order of things a little. 5.00: - Got rid of Differences/Simularities Final Fantasy VIII has with Final Fantasy VII. - Got rid of "Changes from the Japanese version to the US version" and integrated them into a new chapter "Changes in FF8." - Added "Scanning equivalents of stats." - Added "What each spell does." - Added "How to get to Trabia Garden." - Added Andrew Noteling's tactics for defeating Adel. - Added to "The CC Members in Disc 4." - Added multiple player challenge. - Added NTSC Game Shark codes for Brothers, Cactaur, Alexander and Bahamut. - Added codes I got from ffnet.org and Final Fantasy Extreme. - Sorted the characters in chronological order and added a few things about some of the GFs (not all). - Since I last updated this section was entitled "The Dream Nemesis" because that was what the book was called. Because it was so long it was divided into two sections, "The Dream Master" and "The Dream Nemesis"; the book was given an overall title; "The Dream Saga". - Changed format and added a few references. - Added info on Ribbon and Dark Matter. - Added mystery about Card King in disc 4. - Added this section after getting (somewhat shoddy FF8 music downloads). Have vowed to get real OST when I can. Added more game and story questions. - As a result of the dissolving of the chapters "Interesting Points and Misc." and "Discussions", instead of getting rid of the contents altogether I made new sections for them. I have also relocated already existing sections to "Special Features". I moved "Similarities between FF8 and other games" from "FF8 version changes" to "Media References". 6.00: - Details for Job Class game refined on the request of Ninjatsu and someone else (can't remember). - Changed the format of this section to make it easy to understand. - Added some things to Characters. - Improvised the Final Fantasy VIII review and had to relocate "Common complaints concerning Final Fantasy VIII" because my computer froze the first time (its got only 400 MHz, and I'm working on a file over 1,000 KB that's on my iPod Shuffle!). - Added "Updates Overall", which are a summary of recent changes to the guide as a whole. - Added the section "German Version of FF8" to Special Features. 7.00: - Improved the information in this section. - Added a Diablos strategy from Trev. - Totally changed the whole list; totally rewrote it to make it easier to understand and more useful. - Traditionalised the history update system. - Improved the cards list. - Changed some formatting in the guide. - Wrote a list of SeeD questions and answers at the bequest of a reader who noted that my previous SeeD test answers were wrong. - Added a submission from Ann concerning playing against the Card King in disc 4. - Added summary of player stats and improved the section on character management. - Updated info about FF12 and the latest gaming consoles in frequently asked questions. - I finally sorted out the mess with the table of contents and now all the co-ordinates are correct. ================================================================== Introduction Final Fantasy VIII [ff8/I02] ================================================================== Final Fantasy VIII Review ------------------------- Final Fantasy VIII is unique; controversial. You love it or you hate it. If you play it, you soon realise what kind of games you like. The story of Final Fantasy VIII has many aspects to it, so it is difficult to know there to begin. Like all of the other Final Fantasies, magic, friendship, tyrannical rulers and the battle of good and evil play a large role in the story. All of the main characters are introduced in the first disc (yes -- the game has four discs!). The main character is Squall Leonhart who lives at Balamb Garden, a military facility which is designed to train SeeDs, elite mercenaries who use the amazing power of the GFs. Galbadia has its sights on conquering the world, and SeeDs are deployed all over the world to fight against the Galbadian invasions. Yet there is more to it than there seems. Behind Deling there looms an even greater threat to not only to the world as it stands, but time itself. Everything is not what it seems at first glance. What's more, Squall and the others have been brought together to fight evil by more potent forces than simple chance (although the game would have you believe other- wise). When I say "Squall and the others have been brought together together," I do not mean it in the really corny way where a group of people join forces to take on their challenges in a perfect, flawless way; and have big arguments over unlikely things. Every person has their good points and bad points, and the game deals with it in a realistic way. In games it's so unusual to find characters who are truly real in this way -- they may have "problems", but they are minor compared to what people suffer in their everyday lives. The characters in Final Fantasy VIII are not perfect. They are teenagers, and the game does not try to hide that fact. Is this a bad thing? No way! The majority of people who play Final Fantasy the most are probably in this age group. Therefore, I believe this element of the story has some value. The characters have great responsibilities placed on them but because they are not perfect they end up making terrible mistakes. That's character building stuff. There are various undercurrents in the story that seem to carry you away before you even realise it. Things don't make sense at first, then after a while, one by one, they click into place. Like Harry Potter, there are some seemingly "throw away" comments, which turn out to be clues to the story ahead. Out of all the Final Fantasies, Final Fantasy VIII is the most philosophical. If there were ever classics in games as there are in movies, Final Fantasy VIII is a gaming classic. Out of all the games I have seen, the music seems to be the most popular in the non-gaming community. It's the kind of game where you'll be sitting brooding over some puzzle or theory, contemplating the actions of a certain character, and even philosophising things that may have never crossed your mind before! Perhaps that is the reason Final Fantasy VIII is described as the "black sheep" of the series. Story and characters are the prominent aspects of Final Fantasy VIII, but the story is not without it's faults. It's like a rough diamond -- beautiful, but not quite refined. There isn't much of a "fun factor," so I wouldn't suggest playing this game if you were feeling like you just wanted to get your mind off things. Without exploring other possibilities in gaming, the later Final Fantasies would get repetitive. Square keeps the gaming purists happy for a while with the tried and true, but every now and then, a totally revolutionary game is made. People accept some of the aspects of the game, which are instituted in the later Final Fantasies. The graphics are fantastic for their time and console. I prefer them to Metal Gear Solid, which technically has better graphics, because Final Fantasy VIII is more artistic. The CGIs, in my opinion are even better than the CGIs in Final Fantasy X, because the characters in them are more expressive. The world map and character graphics look grainy in Final Fantasy VIII, but that's nothing to jump up and down about (it just looks bad when you have a large TV screen ^_^). Overall....................................................(10/10) Pros: - An excellently designed plot. - One of the few games that has been publicly appreciated for its music (namely Liberi Fatali and Eyes On Me). - Innovative junction system allows you to customise benefits otherwise received by armour and weapons. - You get a good mental challenge while playing. - Timeless graphics. - Triple Triad. - You don't have to level up for bosses. - It's really cool how you can make new items and magic from other items and cards. Cons: - It it isn't a game you can just play then automatically repeat (then again that could be a good thing). - All that time spent on drawing magic. - The battle theme doesn't have much variation. - Battle sequences (including GF attacks) get annoying. - There aren't any light hearted mini-games like chocobo racing. ________________________________________________________________ | Game Information | |________________________________________________________________| Title: Final Fantasy VIII Series: Final Fantasies I to XII, and spinoffs Developer: Squaresoft Genre: RPG Players: 1 Difficulty: It depends, I think on how hard you find the Junction system. I don't think being a hardened RPG player would help much, either. Age Group: MA 15+ (Australian regulations, means Mature Audiences over 15) Australian gaming regulations are regarded as the toughest in the world (over here we have to order some games from New Zealand. I myself had to get my father to buy Final Fantasy X for me because I wasn't 15 yet). You could hardly call any of the Final Fantasies violent or even sexually explicit. The only things that come close to this that I have encountered are a few uncensored comments and and dancer stripping to her underwear in Final Fantasy IV, Seifer giving Squall that scar, Seifer's Bloodfest move (just looks like raining red paint -- who cares?), and a few scantily clad big- busted women in Final Fantasy X. I'd say Final Fantasy VIII should have a 11+ rating, because it is a bit old for 9 and 10 year olds. Come to think of it, I don't know any 9 or 10 year olds that are even interested in playing it. So I say if you want to play it there's a good chance you're mature enough to do so. If you're the type of person who gets afraid easily play the game with a responsible adult. Platform: Sony PlayStation Size: 4 discs, 2359.5 MB in total (608.1, 575.5, 599.1 and 576.8 MB for discs 1 to 4 respectively) or 2.3 GB, which is a bit over half the size of FFX Memory Card: 15 blocks per card Analogue: Yes Vibration: Yes PocketStation: Yes Platform: Windows PC Size (approx.): 5 discs (2.4 GB) Memory Card: Not Applicable, game gives 2 slots with 30 saves each Analogue: Not Applicable Vibration: Not Applicable PocketStation: Not Applicable, Chocobo World game comes with FF8 for PC, nothing required to play it Prices ------ Japan: 7800 Yen Australia: $30 USA: $20 Release dates (PSX) ------------------- Japan: February 2nd, 1999 USA: August 31st, 1999 Europe/Aus/NZ: October 27th, 1999 Release dates (PC) ------------------ Japan: N/A USA: December 31st, 1999. Europe/Aus/NZ: Somewhere in the year 2000. ________________________________________________________________ | Extracts taken from the back and the manual of the game | |________________________________________________________________| | Final Fantasy VIII - The journey of a lifetime | | | | The member of an elite military team, Squall is forced into a | | conflict beyond imagination.To survive, he must contend with a | | desperate rival, a powerful sorceress and his own mysterious | | dreams. Realistic, detailed characters and background graphics | | enhanced by a breaktaking musical score. An epic story of | | love, hate, war and peace, set in a massive new world. New | | Junction System allows characters to be customised with | | awesome magic spells drawn from enemies. Stunning motion- | | captured CG cinema segments seamlessly integrated into | | gameplay. | | | | In FINAL FANTASY VIII, the player will assume the role of | | Squall and Laguna to advance in the story. At times, Squall is | | known to fall into a "dreamlike" state. It is during these | | periods that he encounters Laguna. | | | | Squall Leonhart | | | | Laguna Loire | | | | What destiny awaits these two characters? | | | | At what point does the story between the two cross? | | | | Who is Laguna...? | |________________________________________________________________| .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. /============================================================\ | THE BASICS [ff8/II00] | \============================================================/ .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. .~~. I have found that when playing a game you want to spend as little time as possible reading the basics, therefore, having a manual that is an inch thick can be daunting. Luckily, no manual or inst- ruction book for FF8 is THAT long! If you don't have a memory like an elephant, leave tracks like one. Taking notes will reduce the amount of times you have to spend here. O================================================================O | Basic Info [ff8/II01] | O================================================================O __________________________________________________________________ How to use your PlayStation: for Dummies ---------------------------------------- 1) Look at the instruction manual of your PlayStation 1 or 2. It is usually to be found in the box which your PlayStation 1 or 2 came in. I'm a nice person, so I'll give you a short overview of what you need to do. It's pretty damn easy. All you need is any type of screen which has AV in; you should have an audio/ video cable which connects from the PlayStation to the audio/ video inputs. The yellow cable is the video and the red/white cables are audio. You also need a power cord so the console will actually play (duh). You might also need adapters of sorts to adjust to your particular system, etc. 2) Make sure all 4 discs are intact. You can only play an NTSC game on a PAL PlayStation) if you own a Mod-Chipped Play- Station. There are people who advertise themselves as being able to put mod chips in PlayStations and XBOXs. Always play the game on the right side. The picture on the disc should be facing you. Whenever handling the disc hold it by the edges and middle. If you have to put it down be careful of the sensitive side (the one with the picture). While the dark side can be rubbed of scratches, the side with the paint cannot be repaired if scratched. Keep the game in a cool dry place. Not directly in the sun or near a raging fire ;). Do not use the disc if it has been cracked, warped or cleaned with adhesives. 3) Make sure you have a memory card with enough memory on it. You can delete unwanted save games from the PlayStation browser. 4) Insert the disc that your FF8 save is in. If you have no FF8 data insert disc 1. If by chance you get sick of FF8 and want to play a different game, press the Reset button and change the discs - do not turn the console on and off. __________________________________________________________________ How to begin ------------ After the official logos you will come to the credits screen. If you are playing a copy of FF8 which has not been pirated then you will not see the credits screen, so you won't have to worry about pressing X or O to skip it. The credits is quite nice, with black and white pictures of the cast and scenes in FF8 and reasonable music. At the end of the credits there'll be a screen saying "FINAL FANTASY VIII". Press Start to come up to the title screen (it has the following options): New Game: Start from the beginning of the game. Continue: Continue from a Final Fantasy VIII save file. Choose a memory card slot which has FF8 data in it and continue where you/or someone else left off. The only way you can continue from a save file is if you make that save file on the memory card (you do not need one if it is the PC version). You could never complete Final Fantasy VIII in one sitting. __________________________________________________________________ Saving ------ To save, step on one of those flying ring thingies, and enter the main menu with the X or O button. The save command is there. You will have to choose a memory card slot and make a new file or save over an old one. You will need to make sure there is enough room in your memory card before playing. By the way, you can also do this on the world map. TIP: Save whenever you can! Save before playing a card game! Save whenever entering a different place! Save, Save, Save! __________________________________________________________________ Continuing from Save Files -------------------------- After starting your adventure and saving your data, when you turn off the game and play it again, the saved data will exist (unless you've deleted it of course). After choosing "Continue" from the title menu you will get a choice of memory card slots. Choose the slot with the memory card that has the save file you want to load. After the loading bar fills up, you will see a list of save games you have made and a little information about that save game (your party, no. of hours spent playing the game, location, etc - don't let a parent / partner see it ! ^_^). Press X/O on the save file you wish to open, and continue where you left off! __________________________________________________________________ Memory Card Icons ----------------- Once you have made a saved game, if you view that saved game from your console browser the save will show a different picture depending on what memory block it was saved on. This list of the block numbers and their corresponding pictures was copied from Part I of Scott Ong's FAQ. 1: Squall 4: Quistis 7: Seifer 10: Kiros 13: Fujin 2: Zell 5: Rinoa 8: Edea 11: Ward 14: Cid 3: Irvine 6: Selphie 9: Laguna 12: Raijin 15: Angelo __________________________________________________________________ The debate rages on: What kind of memory card should you use? ------------------------------------------------------------- Reportedly Sony is the best--any other memory card has the chance of being corrupted. Aha ... well I happen to have one Sony memory card and one Futuronics memory card. The Sony one is a little old and corrupted Alex's game while he was in disc 3, but the new Futuronics still works perfectly on FF8 to this day. __________________________________________________________________ Minimum system requirements for PC ---------------------------------- Windows 95 or higher, 32~64 MB RAM, 8~16 MB 3D Accelerator Graph- ics Card, 8x CD ROM, DirectSound, and DirectMusic Compatible Sound Card. __________________________________________________________________ All about Selecting Names: A Diagram and other useful advice ------------------------------------------------------------ _______ .-Help------------------------. This is a diagram of the | | | Name the character | name selecting screen. | | '-----------------------------' Characters can have up | | .-Name------------------------. to 7 letters while GFs | | | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | can have 10. By select- |_______| '-----------------------------' ing "English" you see .---------------------------------------. the top section of the | English | A B C D E F G H I J K L M N | diagram. By selecting | Symbols | O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | "Symbols" the middle | Space | | part is displayed. The | Confirm | a b c d e f g h i j k l m n | bottom part can be seen | Delete | o p q r s t u v w x y z | always. Press the | Default |-----------------------------| confirm button on any | | Ø 8 Æ Ö • ô ˜ ¯ v Ì ¬ ? € | character and it will | | œ " Œ Ú ? | become part off the | | | name. By pressing the | | ï ' ´ Ç ? ø ™ í  ? v Ó Î Ï | cancel button or | | / ƒ ¸ á | choosing "Delete" you | |-----------------------------| go back a space. | | . , - : ? ! _ - ( ) | "Default" changes the | | 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | name back to its |_________|_____________________________| default. By the way, if you press Start, the If you want to rename a GF you will have cursor will go directly to use a Rename Tag on them. If you wish to the Confirm option. to rename Angelo, use a Pet Nametag. You can only rename Squall or Rinoa if you You can choose the names have a game enhancer. of Squall, Rinoa, Angelo, and the junction -able GFs. Note however, that their card's names will remain default. __________________________________________________________________ RPGs: The General Idea ---------------------- Being and RPG, Final Fantasy requires you to go around talking to people, getting items, exploring, and fighting battles. FF8 is a tough, hardcore RPG with side quests requiring the mental dexterity and curiosity of a magician (which is why most of us look to the on-line guides ^_^). The tough things about this game are: Finding what you need to do next, the junction system, how to play Triple Triad, battles, side quests, and the shear complexity of it all ... No need to fear, the hero's here! __________________________________________________________________ Examining Things ---------------- At times in the game you may need to examine switches or ladders. You can also pick up items or get the opportunity to draw magic from draw points by examining things that seem out of place. You can check things like radios or maps too. It can be an intuitive process ... __________________________________________________________________ Climbing Ladders and Opening Doors ---------------------------------- Examine to ladders to start climbing. If you're having trouble climbing ladders which can happen) go directly UP or DOWN. You don't need to examine doors to open them. Just walk through them. Of course, there are some doors you cannot access (like a fridge door ;)). __________________________________________________________________ Shops and Services ------------------ The world of FF8 is one where there are people hurrying about doing things for you for your money (well it's not quite like that ... you have to go to those people ...). Hotel: A place where you can pay money to have a rest. Most hotels have a Save Point and Timber Maniacs magazine. Rent-A-Car: Here you can pay 3, 500 to rent a car. When in a car you encounter no enemies! But beware, once you enter a town or city the rent is terminated. Train Station: Pay 3, 000 gil to go to a designated destination. Timber has about 4 stations all up! Item Shop: Buy essential items like potions and phoenix downs here. Produce varies. Junk Shop: Here you can upgrade your weapons (if you have the right items and enough gil). Pet Shop: GF items are bought here. There are pet shops in Timber and Esthar only. Book Shop: A magazine retailer. There's only 1 in the world. __________________________________________________________________ Using Items ----------- During battle:- Outside of battle:- Save Points:- The character must have Use from the 'Item' Items that can the "Item" command menu. You cannot use only be used at equipped. Items that items that would save points or on can be used in battle give you a greater the world map are medicinal things advantage during such as Tents, such as potions or battle, but you can Pet Houses, things that will give use medicinal items and Cottages. you a greater advantage for humans and GFs, in battle such as Hero compatibility items, or Protect Stone. ability items, etc. __________________________________________________________________ Upgrading Weapons ----------------- In FF8 you cannot have armours and have to upgrade your weapons at Junk Shops. What you need to upgrade your weapons are: - Items required for the weapon. Get them from various enemies. - The cash to pay a Junk shop to put all the pieces together. - Weapons Monthly magazine. It is possible to upgrade to a weapon without a Weapons Monthly Mag though. Unlike normal items, weapons cannot be sold, and are displayed in the Status menu rather than the Item menu or a Weapons menu. As your characters modify their weapons, their Attack and Hit rate increase. __________________________________________________________________ General Tips ------------ - Pay attention to detail. If you see something odd or out of place, press the action button on it to investigate. In fact try looking for things that look odd or out of place. My father gave up on FF7 and traded it for another game cos he didn't examine something in a room. - Prepare before entering a different area. It's quite easy really; just make sure you save before going into an establishment on the world map and change your elemental attack and defence to suit the area you're in. You don't want to be entering a region inhabited by Malboros, without anything to protect you against their Bad Breath. - Save whenever you can. As you're never really sure of what is going to happen. In fact, while I didn't have the Move-find ability at the beginning of disc 2, I forgot to save just before calapsing into bed as Laguna, and just as I was nearing the end of the jail nightmare I had to stop for a while, returning to find that my younger had sister turned off the PlayStation while I was away! So I had to repeat all of disc 2 up to that point. So try not to get yourself into a similar situation! - Explore your surroundings thoroughly. By running around early on in the game, returning to areas several times, you can gain quite a bit of background information, some of which can be quite interesting if you've played through much of the game already. - Think of the consequences of your actions. It's so annoying doing things over and over because you made a bad mistake. __________________________________________________________________ Miscellaneous character information ----------------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Name Age Height DOB BT Weapon - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Squall Leonhart 17 5'8" (176 cm) 23-08 AB Gunblade Rinoa Heartilly 17 5'3, 1/2" (163 cm) 03-03 ? Pinwheel Quistis Trepe 18 5'6" (170 cm) 04-10 A Whip Selphie Tilmitt 17 5'1, 1/2" (156 cm) 16-07 B Flail Zell Dincht 17 5'5" (167 cm) 17-03 B Gloves Irvine Kinneas 17 6'0" (182 cm) 24-11 O Rifle Laguna Loire 27 5'9" (179 cm) 03-01 B Machine Gun Ward Zabac 25 7'0" (213 cm) 25-02 A Harpoon Kiros Seagill 23 6'2" (191 cm) 16-07 O Hand knives Seifer Almasy 18 6'2" (188 cm) 22-12 A Gunblade O================================================================O | Glossary [ff8/II02] | O================================================================O Ability ------- "Abilities" are not "Limit Breaks, as they are a special power given by GFs (if the GF knows the ability, in which case if it does not have a certain ability it can learn it by gaining AP or using an item that teaches the ability). The abilities come in different types, some that act passively and some that are used actively, and a character can only benefit by an ability by junctioning GF who has that ability. Ability Point (AP) ------------------ These are required for GFs to learn abilities. At the end of every battle (even bosses) the GFs junctioned will all learn a certain amount of AP each. Say the game says something like "GFs got 20 AP", all of the GFs get 20 AP each. Active Time Bar (ATB) --------------------- All battle participants have an ATB. They cannot do anything until it fills up. The Speed stat influences how fast the ATB fills up for each fighter. GFs also have ATBs in a way, except the ATB has to empty from full before the GF will come; affinity with the character who junctions the GF will determin how fast the GF arrives. Draw ---- An ability given by GFs. You can steal magic from enemies or obtain magic from draw points. To be able to draw from draw points at least one character will have to have the Draw ability equipped. To see more info about the Draw ability, go to the GF abilities section. Evade (Eva) ----------- How often a character evades enemy attacks. Can counteract a good Hit stat. Even a seemingly low Evade stat can make a character dodge attacks (especially from heavyweights like Omega Weapon). Kiros is good example, as he has the best evasion out of all the playable characters. Experience (EXP) ---------------- After gathering experience from damaging enemies, a character gains levels. To learn more about experience and levels, see the battle tutorial. Guardian Force (GF) ------------------- Powerful creatures who give your characters the ability to use magic and other commands including one that summons them into battle for their signature attack. They learn abilities with AP and earn their own EXP. More information about GFs can be found in the GF management section and appendices. Hit Rate (Hit %) ---------------- Accuracy of physical attacks. Also depends on the enemies' Evade Rate. If the hit rate is at 255% the character will hit every time even while under Blind status. Hit Rate largely depends on the character's weapon. Hit Points (HP) --------------- How many times a character can be hit (their life force). A character cannot participate in battle when their HP is at zero. Novice RPG players can make the mistake that HP is the most impor- tant stat, but what really counts is your fighting style; you must adjust your battle statistics according to battle strategies -- and most importantly, actually have battle strategies! This is a strategy guide, so naturally it is filled with strategies. Junction (suffix, -J) --------------------- A system of equipping GFs, magic and abilities. To learn about using the junction system, go to the section on that subject. Limit Break ----------- When in a dire situation where death is imminent (or in other words, only 10% of total HP left), a character can draw on a super human reserve of personal power. Limit Breaks are easy to use, as all you have to do is press to the right on the "Attack" command when the arrow appears (you sometimes have to press Circle repeti- tively to get the arrow). Luck ---- Luck ... is this a physical attribute? No! Having a high Luck stat will give you the upper hand in battle, increasing the chance of unusually good things happening, like when the enemy does something stupid, or some force nature comes and blows the opponent of its feet, or if you get a critical hit, or if a rare item is obtained; things like that. Quite amazing and strange things can happen when you have the luck. Magic (Mag) ----------- The Magic stat effects any "magic" orientated activity. I'm not sure if it effects magical limit breaks or not, but it effects abilities like Magic, Draw and Devour. The effect of any magic, even healing magic such as Cure will increase depending on your Mag. Magical Attacks --------------- Attacks used with magical force. Magical attacks can be protected against with Shell, Reflect and the Spirit stat. Physical Attacks ---------------- Attacks used with a weapon, claws or fists. Protected against with Protect and the Vitality stat. Some spells can be protected against with Protect magic as well. Speed (Spd) ----------- How fast a character's ATB fills. Haste can make the ATB flow even faster. Bear in mind that a character may not be needing more speed than they have. Like in FF6, you can actually have such a high Speed stat that it is too fast for the game itself. My Squall for instance has an ATB that will fill in two seconds at most. He is not the speediest he can possibly be, but fast enough. In fact, when afflicted with Slow, Squall's ATB fills at a normal rate. Spirit (Spr) ------------ A lesson in Spiritual Awareness: the more Spirit your character has, the more he or she will be able to stand against magical attacks. However, there are some spells that don't actually cause magical damage, like Meteor and Quake. Statistics (stats) ------------------ Basic attributes in a fighter. Hit Points, Strength, Vitality, Magical Power, Spirit, Speed, Luckiness, Hit Rate, Evasion, Experience and levels are all stats a character can have. Stock ----- A Draw command which allows you to store magic to use later. The more you draw, the more spells you will get. Strength (Str) -------------- Power of physical attacks. Strength can be increased temporarily by casting Berserk or Mad Rush (the recipient will not be able to control their actions). Weapons effect Str a great deal. Vitality (Vit) -------------- Defence against physical attacks. Vitality can be raised temporarily by casting Protect or equipping Auto-Protect. Scanning equivalents of stats ----------------------------- Intelligence (Int): Magic (Mag) Dexterity (Dex): Hit Defence (Def): Vitality (Vit) Everything else: The same ------------------------------------------------------------------ Symbols ------------------------------------------------------------------ Term Note Symbol ----------------------------------------------------------------- Berserk Status (purple) "" bubble Darkness Status (purple) Eye Death Status (purple) Coffin Curse Status (purple) Unhappy face Fire Elemental (green) Flame Earth Elemental (green) Rock or stone Holy Elemental (green) Light Ice Elemental (green) Ice crystal Petrify Status (purple) Diamond shape Poison Elemental (green) Bubbles Poison Status (purple) Bubbles Silence Status (purple) "" bubble Slow Status (purple) Clock Stop Status (purple) Hand Thunder Elemental (green) Lightning bolt Wind Elemental (green) Tornado Zombie Status (green) Human skull o================================================================o | Controls [ff8/II03] | o================================================================o Field Screen ------------------------------------------------------------------ Directional buttons:- Move south, north, east or west Left Analogue Stick:- Move around in any way you like Square button: - Talk/challenge character to a game of cards. X button - Examine / talk / confirm. Circle button - Enter the menu screen (see below). Triangle button - (While moving around) you go into walk mode. Start button - Pause (vibration can be turned on/off here). Menu Screen ------------------------------------------------------------------ Directional buttons - Move cursor up, down, left or right. Left Analogue Stick - Move cursor. Square button - Assorted functions (see Menus section). X button - Confirm selection. Circle button - Exit menu screen (if at main menu). Triangle button - Cancel selection. L1 button - Scroll character/GF screens to the left. L2 button - Scroll character/GF screens to the left. R1 button - Scroll character/GF screens to the right. R2 button - Scroll character/GF screens to the right. Battle Screen ------------------------------------------------------------------ Directional buttons - Move cursor left, right, up or down. Left Analogue Stick - Move cursor. X button - Confirm selection. Circle button - Switch to next available party member. Triangle button - Cancel selection. Start button - Pause (you can toggle vibration function). Select button - Hide command menu. L1 button - (While choosing target) see in list form. L2 button - (With R2) escape the battle. R1 button - Gunblade trigger (while the gunblade hits). R2 button - (With L2) escape the battle. Whilst using Scan Magic ------------------------------------------------------------------ L1 button - (while going up) Zoom in. L1 button - (while going down) Zoom out. L1 button - (with left/right) Move target around screen. R2 button - (with L1) Make target run. Enemies cannot. World Map (walking) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Directional buttons - Move south, west, north, or east. Left analogue stick - Move around. Right analogue stick - Move camera angle. Triangle button - (Press down) walk mode. X button - Confirm action. Circle button - Enter menu screen. Start button - Pause (change vibration settings here). Select button - View maps (there are three in total. L1/L2 buttons - Move camera angle. R2 button - Change POV (Point Of View). Travelling in a Car ------------------------------------------------------------------ Directional buttons - Turn around. Left analogue stick - Turn around. Right analogue stick - Accelerate forwards/reverse vehicle. Square button - Accelerate forwards. Triangle button - Reverse. X button - Get out of vehicle. Flying the a Ship ------------------------------------------------------------------ Directional buttons - Turn around. Left analogue stick - Turn around. Right analogue stick - Accelerate forwards/reverse. Square button - Accelerate forwards. Triangle button - Reverse. X button - Get off. Circle button - Enter cockpit. The Ragnarok's Auto-Pilot Function ------------------------------------------------------------------ You can get the Ragnarok to go to any destination as quickly as possible simply by choosing your destination from one of the maps (press Select two times). Soft Reset ------------------------------------------------------------------ Soft reset. As you'll be resetting a lot, prolong your Reset button's life by performing the soft reset. Press Start + Select + R1 + R2 + L1 + L2 all at once. Default PC Controls ------------------------------------------------------------------ X: Talk, examine, or confirm a selection. W: Cancel selection or return to field screen. A: Challenge a person to cards. D: Bring up the menu screen. C: Scroll to the right. Z: Scroll to the right. F: Toggle maps on the over world. E: Gunblade trigger for Squall and Seifer. S: Pause game. You cannot pause during some scenes or while in the main menu. Ctr + R: Soft Reset. o================================================================o | Menus [ff8/II04] | o================================================================o Introduction ------------ The main menu can be accessed by pressing Circle outside of cut scenes and battles. Below is a representation of the main menu. Current party members are listed in the 'STATUS' screen, while inactive characters are listed below. To change battle formation move the cursor to the active party and switch your party members round with the X button. The maximum party members are three; in battle, the top party member will be on the right side, while the bottom one will be on the left side, and it's pretty obvious where the middle one will be. You will be able to navigate the character screens in most of the menus with the L1/R1 buttons. _____________________ Help-----------------------------------| Status | |_______________________________________| Junction [1] | |STATUS [14] | | | | Item [2] | | Zell Lv 13 HP 335/ 750 | | | | Magic [3] | | Squall Lv 18 HP 740/ 959 | | | | Status [4] | | Selphie Lv 10 HP 201/ 559 | | | | GF [5] | |______________________________________| | | | Ability [6] | | Quistis Rinoa | | | Lv 15 HP 201 Lv 13 HP 246 | Switch [7] | | ===----- ====---- | | | | Cards [8] | | | | | | Config [9] | | | | | | Tutorial [10] | | | | | | Save [11] | |______________________________________|_____________________| _____________________________________ | PLAY 4:15 | | | | [12] SeeD 10 | | Timber Hotel [13] | | Gil 5000 | |_____________________________________| |_____________________| NOTE: Commands you cannot use at the present time are displayed in darkened fonts. Reserve party members have red gauges depicting their current health. I've found that these gauges can fill up by themselves. ------------------------------------------------------------------ [1] JUNCTION ------------ This game is made heaps easier with the junction system. It enabl- es characters to power up and use abilities. To learn how to use the junction menu, refer to the Junction Tutorial. To learn all the terms used, refer to the Glossary section of this guide. [2] ITEM -------- When "Item" is selected in the main menu, the cursor automatically switches to "Use". Press Triangle to make the other sub-commands available to you. Explanations of all the items are provided in the "HELP" window. The maximum amount of each kind of item you can have is 100. Any items more than that will be discarded, which you should keep in mind when battling or refining. Use: Use the items in your inventory, like Potions, and read magazines. Some items cannot be used; this is because they are junk items that can only be used for upgrading and refining or because they can only be used during battle. Rearrange: Organise items. Pick up an item you want to move elsewhere, then press X again to drop it where you want it! Sort: Automatically arranges all items in order of potion- type items, battle items, save point items, GF medicine, ammunition, junk items and magazines. Battle: Organise the items you can use in battle. Pick up an item you want to move elsewhere, then press X again to drop it where you want it! In battle the Item command needs to be equipped before an individual can use items. How to get items: Defeat or Mug enemies, and refine abilities such as 'Card Mod', and 'ST Med-RF'. _________ | TIP |____________________________________________________ |--------------------------------------------------------------| | Stock up on items every time you can, just in case you run | | out of Magic. | |______________________________________________________________| __________________________________________________________________ A KEY OF THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ITEMS IN FF8 __________________________________________________________________ __ || Potion type items. They can be used to heal HPs or status /__\ ailments and can be used inside or outside of battle. _/\ Items that can only be used in battle, or, if they can be /__/ used only in the item menu they have a special purpose. Magical Lamp, Solomon's Ring, Rename Card and Pet Nametag are good examples. __ Save point items. Items that can only be used while on the /\ \ world map or while standing on a save point. The only /__\_\ items that fall into this category are Tents, Pet Houses, and Cottages. __ GF related items that heal a guardian force or teach it an || ability. You can even make it forget an ability with /_GF Amnesia Greens. _____ Ammo needed for Irvine's Shot limit break. The types of '---.| ammunition are: Normal, Shotgun, Dark, Fire, Demolition, || Fast, AP, and Pulse. They can be bought or made using Ammo-RF. _ Items that serve virtually no purpose except to get other, / \ more valuable items/cards/weapons. They are generally | | useful for (1) refining into better items, (2) upgrading \_/ weapons, (3) teaching Quistis Blue Magic abilities. ___ Magazines. What are they useful for? Well, for one thing, |---| you can read them! These are the magazines that are |___| available (they each come in a series): Weapons Monthly, Combat King, Pet Pals, and Occult Fan. There's also Girl Next Door (a naughty mag which you're not allowed to read) which there's only one of. Combat King and Pet Pals will teach Zell and Rinoa new limit breaks respectively, but there's a catch - they only "learn" these limit breaks AFTER you look at the specific magazine. Same goes for the Weapons Monthlies. You won't see a particular weapon at a junk shop unless you have the ingredients for it already or have "read about it" in a magazine. [3] MAGIC --------- Magic does not consume MP, but like items, magic is a one-use thing, so when you use up all your magic, you have get more again using the 'Draw' command on enemies or draw points (purple wisps of liquid streaming from points in the ground). There are about 50 spells all up. It is a form of energy called "para-magic" to be exact, and can be used to your advantage through the Junction system. Find out how to use magic in the Battle Tutorial (BF104). Before you can cast magic, you need to get it with the draw command (again, head to BF104 for info on how to draw). To find out about all the different types of magic, and what they all do, see the section "All About Magic". Use: Use magic possessed by a party member. Only Cure, Cura, Curaga, Life, Full-Life and Esuna can be used outside of battle. Reserve characters (those not in the main party) cannot use any of their magic. Plus, a GF must be junctioned to the character in question. The Magic command does not need to be equipped. Exchange: Swap magic between characters. A character can give all of their stock of a certain spell, or split it up between them and the other person. All: Swap whole sets of magic with other characters. Rearrange: Organise magic manually or automatically. To discard magic, press Square on the magic you want to get rid of and a message will pop up asking if you want to discard all of that magic. [4] STATUS ---------- View up-to-date character information including how much experien- ce the character has, how much they need to level up, how many levels they have, current statistics, junction information and limit break settings. Hit X once to bring up the status / elemental defense / atk screen. Hit it again to view compatibility between the character and GFs. Hit X a third time to see the list of GFs and which ones are junctioned by the character (a symbol next to the name) and compatibility ratings. Hit the X the fourth and last time to see the characters' limit break screen. You can also bring it up quickly by just pressing Square. With Squall and Zell you can set their limit breaks to "Auto", where the computer puts in the commands for you, but not perfectly every time. See the Glossary for information about what certain terms mean. [5] GF ------ Use this menu to view your GF's status and abilities. You can choose an ability you want your GF to learn, and once it has earned the required amount of APs (Ability Points), you will be able to use the ability. [6] ABILITY ------------ Most abilities have to be activated in the Junction menu to be used, but GF and Menu abilities start coming into effect as soon as they have been learned. In the 'Ability' menu you get to use Menu abilities. TIP Update your magic often. With Mid Mag-RF or High Mag-RF you can replace your pesky low level spells such as Fire into Fira, then Fira to Firaga. Especially useful for obtaining magic like Triple, which is rare, but need only be refined from Double with High Mag-RF. [7] SWITCH ---------- Because you can only have three party members, the rest of the available party members are in the sub-party. While you are on the world map or a save point you can choose your party here. Press Square on the characters to see what you have junctioned to them. Switch: Choose three characters who will be in your party. Junction Exchange: Switch the junction details of one character with another. Magic is also exchanged. [8] CARDS --------- View the cards you possess by pressing the directional buttons. After losing a card, it will be displayed in darkened fonts, showing where you lost the card (location of card player you lost it to, where you can get it again or 'Squall', confirming that you refined the card). To get cards you can: Card a monster in battle, defeat it (occasionally), or defeat other card players in a card game. If you want to find out how to play the game there is a tutorial in this guide. [9] CONFIG ---------- Customise your preferred game settings here. Sound: Stereo or Mono. Controller: Default or Customise. To customise controller settings select "Customise" with the confirm button. In the PC version configure the controls by opening FFVIII Config from the windows Start menu or FFVIII dir (file). Cursor: In battle, when set on Memory, the cursor goes back to the option you last used until the battle ends. Battle Mode: In Active, the ATB continues filling when commands are being chosen. In Wait, the ATB stops filling while commands are being chosen. Scan: Initial only gives detailed enemy information when casting scan once. Choose Always to view detailed info every time you Scan. Camera Movement: 0% to 100%. Battle Speed: Slow to fast. Battle Message: How long it takes for a battle message. Analogue Input: Sensitivity of the analogue sticks on a Dual Shock controller. Vibration Function: Turn ON or OFF. [10] TUTORIAL ------------- Basic Operation - Default button configurations for the field, battle, world map and menu screens. Battle Operation - About fighting in Final Fantasy VIII. Card Game Rules - How to play Triple Triad. If you find this tutorial confusing, there's another one in this guide. Online Help - Hand-holding tutorials about junctioning and using characters' status screens. TEST - Once you've become a SeeD you can take tests where you will be asked YES or NO questions about the game. If Squall's level isn't the same or higher than the test level, you cannot take the test. If you get 100% in a test, your SeeD level will rise, meaning more pay. Review - You can take SeeD tests again here. Your SeeD level isn't affected be test reviews. Icon Explanation - Explains all the status and element icons. Information - Miscellaneous information. Game basics, GF and magic lists, as well as background info concerning the game's places and characters can be found here. There are also some things that can only be unlocked by doing certain things. Information: Places/people - Information about places is only available after you have visited them or if they've been mention in conversation, so if you see a character mention a person or place you aren't familiar with, it should be in the tutorial. Battle Metre - Talk to Cid again at the SeeD inauguration ceremony. He'll give a device that can record information. Character Report - While you're in the D-District Prison, there's a prisoner who will give you a Battle Metre upgrade if you defeat him in a game of cards (he won't talk to you if you haven't already got the Battle Report though). GF Report - From disc two onwards you can get this from a man in Balamb Garden. He appears randomly in the Training Centre and sells items. You can get the GF Report from him by defeating him in a game of cards. Proof of Omega - Obtained only by defeating Omega Weapon. It's nothing special really, just something to show your friends when they don't believe you've defeated the toughest monster in Final Fantasy VIII. [11] SAVE --------- Record your progress. Final Fantasy VIII requires a PlayStation Memory card, and at least a block of memory. The save option can only be accessed when on the world map or standing on a save point (they look like floating rings). Up to 15 save files can be made. You might need to delete save files from other games if your memory card is full. [12] TIME AND MONEY ------------------- How much time you've been playing from the beginning of the game, and how much gil you possess. These come hand-in-hand, so to speak. When you have played over 100 hours, the timer will start back at 00:00, but this time in red. [13] LOCATION WINDOW -------------------- Tells you where you are at the moment. Great for when you're on the world map. [14] STATUS ----------- This window shows your active party. To change the order of party members simply place the cursor on a party member and use the confirm button to rearrange your party as you please! O================================================================O | Battle Tutorial [ff8/II05] | O================================================================O Introduction: What is a battle? ------------------------------- Battles are rather unique in Final Fantasy. Instead of seeing an enemy and bashing at it with your weapon, you choose from a list of commands. Health is identified by Hit Points (HP), and there are various attributes that define what kind of fighter you/the enemy is. Each battle participant has to wait for their turn in battle, and have a range of attacks they can use. Much of the game revolves around battle, as you're always trying to find items items and magic that will give you a greater advantage in battle. Random Battles -------------- You don't "see" random battles. Most of the time, it's an invisible enemy. You're just walking along and suddenly you enter a battle! You can use Enc Half or Enc None to block out a lot of random battles, but they can be useful; by fighting randomly encountered monsters on a regular basis you can: - - Get rare items (the more levels your party has, the better a chance you will have of getting rare items). - Get LOTS of magic. Monsters will be your main source of getting the stuff, especially early in the game when you don't have so many refine abilities. - Get useful cards REALLY EARLY in the game. - Get your GFs to learn those abilities. - Increase GF compatibility. - Get a better SeeD level. - Get experience. Boss battles only provide you with AP. In short, by fighting many random battles you can make all the non-random battles very easy. Some times you will be forced into a non-random battle where you fight a normal enemy, but they are usually very easy. Of course, if you dislike battles, but don't mind cards, you can get around that problem. Avoiding Random Battles ----------------------- - Drive a car. - Ride a chocobo. - Catch a train. - Walk on tar sealed roads. - Equip Diablos' Enc None or Enc Half abilities. - Use a GameShark. - If you do get into one you can escape. Non-Random Battles (or bosses) ------------------------------ You cannot avoid bosses. They are just part of the game. Some bosses are optional. Most bosses are immune to 99% of all status ailments. Active Time Battle (ATB) ------------------------ ________________________ | Zell 544 --------- | A status window showing the | Squall 486 --------- | character health, and ATB is | Selphie 489 --------- | displayed on the battle screen. |________________________| A party member can execute an action only when their ATB has ___________ filled up. When it fills up and the character is |COMMAND | ready for action you will see a list of equipped | Attack | commands they can choose from. Refer to the | Magic | Junction tutorial ([1]) how to junction abilities. | GF | | Item | Sometimes when you enter a battle you will see |___________| 'First Strike' or 'Back Attack' in which you or your enemies will get the first strike in battle respectively. 'Initiative' and 'Alert' are both good in giving you an advantage where this is concerned. Enemy statistics ---------------- Enemies level up with you, meaning, that the enemy party will have the same levels as your party!! As your enemies level up, becoming more intelligent, they acquire new abilities, items, magic and battle strategies just as you do. Damaging to your enemy ---------------------- The damage you cause to your enemies with your attacks depend on the opposing stats. For instance, the damage your character causes to the enemy with their attack depends on their Vitality and your Strength. Str (physical damage you inflict) - Vit Mag (potency of the magic you cast) - Spr Hit (accuracy of physical attacks) - Eva ST Atk (status ailment caused when you attack) - ST Def Elem Atk (elemental bonus caused by attack) - Elem Def One of the best ways of exploiting your enemies weaknesses is elementary. There are total of eight elemental attributes: earth, wind, water, fire, ice, thunder, holy and poison. Each element has its own strengths and weaknesses. Enemies can be strong or weak against certain element/s, and most of the magic spells affiliated with one or more of the elements. One of those types of magic can be used with junction abilities such as Elem Def-J or Elem Atk-J. The more the magical strain, the more effective that magic will be (100x Firaga would provide over 100% defence against fire attacks, meaning you would absorb the damage). ________________________________________________________________ | Elemental Chart | |________________________________________________________________| | Types of enemies Weaknesses Examples | |----------------------------------------------------------------| | All | Non-elemental | Laser Eye, Ultima | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Fire | Ice | Diamond Dust, Blizzard | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Ice | Fire | Hell Fire, Fire Breath | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Water | Thunder | Thundara, Eletrocute | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Thunder | Water | Tsunami, Water | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Desert | Water | See other Water entries| |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Human | Poison | Pain, Bio, Bad Breath | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Zombie | Holy | Holy Judgement, Cure | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Machine | Thunder | Thunder Storm, Thunder | | | Water | Water Breath | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Oil | Fire | Flame Shot, Firaga | |--------------------+------------------+------------------------| | Flying | Wind | Aero, Tornado | |____________________|__________________|________________________| Statuses -------- In battle there are many kinds of statuses, both bad and good, that change the way your characters fight. In short, Elixirs, Megalixirs, ST Defence and the Treatment command cure any status ailment. Remedy+ not only cures negative status change, but gets rid of good ones too. Mighty Guard bestows nearly all positive status changes except Reflect while Runaway Train (Doomtrain) and Bad Breath inflict every status ailment. Dispel gets rid of any positive statuses. ______________________________________________________________ | Status Symptoms - Cause * Cure | |--------------------------------------------------------------| | Aura | - Limit Breaks are easier | - Aura. | | | to get. | - Aura Stone. | | | | - Mighty Guard. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Berserk | - Strength is raised. | * Esuna. | | | - The victim attacks the | * Remedy. | | | enemy in a fit of rage. | * End battle. | | | you lose control of it. | - Berserk. | | | | - Mad Rush. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Confusion | - Victim makes completely | * Esuna. | | | random actions in a | * Remedy. | | | dizzied state of | * Physical hit. | | | confusion. | * Time Lapse. | | | | * End battle. | | | | - Confuse. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Curse | - Blackish tinge to skin. | * Remedy. | | | - Inability to use limit | * Esuna. | | | breaks even with Aura or | * Holy Water. | | | low HP. | | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Defend | - Attacks do not damage. | - Defend. | | | | * Confirm action| |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Darkness | - Attack accuracy is | * Eye Drops. | | | considerably dropped. | * Remedy. | | | - Black cloud over head. | * Esuna. | | | | * 255% Hit rate | | | | nullifies the | | | | effect of | | | | darkness. | | | | - Blind. | | | | - Acid. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Doom | - Victim is 'executed' | * End battle. | | | when the counter reaches | * Remedy+. | | | zero. | * Elixir. | | | | * Treatment. | | | | - Doom. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Double | - Cast one or two spells | - Double. | | | at once. | - CounterRockets| |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Haste | - ATB fills quicker. | * Time interval.| | | | - Haste. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Invincible | - Impervious to any attack.| - Hero-Trial. | | | | - Hero. | | | | - Holy War-Trial| | | | - Holy War. | | | | - InvincibleMoon| |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | KO, death | - KO stands for Knocked | * Life. | | | The victim will be lying | * Full-Life. | | | on the ground. If your | * Phoenix Down. | | | whole party gets knocked | * Revive. | | | out it's Game Over. | * Mega Phoenix. | | | - KO'd characters miss out | - Death. | | | on experience. | - Doom. | | | | - Zantetsuken. | | | | - Degenerator. | | | | - LV? Death. | | | | - Rapture. | | | | - The End. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Petrification | - The victim is turned | * Soft. | | | stone. They can't do | * Remedy. | | | anything. | * Esuna. | | | - If your whole party gets | * Treatment. | | | petrified it's Game Over.| - Break. | | | - Petrified party members | | | | miss out on experience. | | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Poison | - Victim slowly dies from | * Antidote. | | | damage caused when they | * Esuna. | | | take action. | * Remedy. | | | | - Bio. | | | | - Acid. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Protect | - Reduces the damage of | * Dispel. | | | physical attacks by 1/4. | - Protect. | | | | - Protect Stone.| |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Reflect | - Reflect most magic onto | - Reflect. | | | enemy party. Ultima and | * Dispel. | | | Meteor cannot be | | | | reflected. | | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Regen | - Small amounts of healing | - Regen. | | | at set time intervals. | * Dispel. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Shell | - Reduce the impact of | - Shell. | | | magical attacks by 1/4. | - Shell Stone. | | | | * Dispel. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Silence | - Cannot do anything that | * Echo Screen. | | | involves using your | * Esuna. | | | voice, like cast magic | * Remedy. | | | or summon GFs. | - Silence. | | | - "...." bubble. | - Silent Voice. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Sleep | - Victim goes to sleep. | * Esuna. | | | You cannot use them. | * Remedy. | | | - Magic will not wake them | * Physical hit. | | | up. | * Time lapse. | | | | - Sleep. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Slow | - ATB slows down. | * Esuna. | | | | * Remedy. | | | | - Slow. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Stop | - ATB stops flowing. | * Esuna. | | | | * Remedy. | | | | - Stop. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Triple | - Cast two or three spells | - Triple. | | | at once. | - CounterRockets| | | | * Dispel. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Vit 0 | - Skin turns a pinkish | * Remedy. | | | colour. | * Esuna. | | | - No defence against | - Meltdown. | | | physical attacks. | - Acid. | |---------------+----------------------------+-----------------| | Zombie | - Skin turns green. | * Remedy. | | | - Victim is damaged by | * Esuna. | | | curative items/magic. | * Holy Water. | | | | - Zombie. | |--------------------------------------------------------------| |______________________________________________________________| Using Magic ----------- Magic is an ability all GF have, and before you can use it you have to draw it from an enemy or draw point (equip the "Draw" command). To use it in battle, the character in question has to have the 'Magic' command equipped. _______________________ |MAGIC P.1 NUM. | To use Magic, select one spell and | Fire 50 | choose your target. | Thunder 50 | The number next to the stock is | Blizzard ï 50 | indicated next to the magic spell's | Cure 50 | name. |_______________________| The ï indicates that the magic is junction to a character's stats. Drawing Magic ------------- ___________ |COMMAND | 'Draw' extracts magic from enemies. | Attack | _________ _________ | Magic | |CHOICE | |CHOICE | Choose a target, and | Draw |>| Fire |>| Stock | magic, then Stock or Cast. | Item | | Thunder |>| Cast | |___________| |_________| |_________| The success rate of your draw depends on how often Stock stores the magic for future you draw. Meaning, the use while Cast automatically casts more you stock magic, the the magic without having to store it better your chances are of in your inventory (only one spell at getting 9 spells in one at time though, and in a less potent stock! version). There is no limit to how much magic you stock from an enemy You can stock up to 100 of but each character can only carry 32 types of magic. The maximum amount of magic for each draw is 9. Some magic cannot be drawn unless a enemy is at a certain level or above. Enemies carry different magic as they level up. Some magic will become unavailable as an enemy levels up. To learn what you can draw from each monster at each level, refer to the Bestiary. If you want to change the enemies' level use Tonberry's LV Up/Down abilities. According to Ninjatsu: "The success rate of your draw depends on your Magic Stat. The higher your characters stat the more chance they have of drawing a magic, and the more chance they have to draw 9 spells at once." Using items ----------- _______________________ "Item" is also an ability all GF have, |ITEM P. 1 NUM. | and items are won from enemies, bought, | Potion 10 | or refined from other items. To use | Phoenix Down 10 | items in battle, the character in | Remedy 10 | battle, the character in question has | Potion+ 10 | to have the "Item" Command Ability. |_______________________| Summoning guardian forces ------------------------- _______________________ 'GF' summons a guardian force junction |GF HP | to that particular character. Select a | Quezacotl 600 | guardian force and it's target. | Shiva 596 | | Ifrit 610 | The number next to the guardian | Leviathan 2698 | force's name shows it's health. GFs |_______________________| can be cured by resting (you need to walk around) or with special GF curing items. GFs can only be cured in battle with the 'MiniMog' command (you need a PocketStation for that). Using limit breaks ------------------ ___________ |COMMAND | ____________ When running low on health, an | Attack |>| Combo | arrow may appear next the 'Attack' | Magic | | Angel Wing | command. Press the right | Draw | '------------' directional button on it to reveal | Item | a character's limit break. |___________| Limit breaks are even more Each character has the own powerful than the average attack. individual limit breaks. Each character has their own unique limit breaks. The Luck stat NOTE: Limit breaks are more is important for success with common when under Aura status limit breaks. (your HP doesn't have to be at critical to be able to use a limit break). Overview of Limit Breaks ------------------------ Squall There is a gauge with flashes going through. If you [Renzokuken] press the R1 button when the flashes go over a certain point, Squall will inflict more damage with each blow. When this is finished, a random finishing move may be executed. New finishing moves are learnt by upgrading Squall's gunblade. Seifer "No Mercy": Seifer casts Fire on his opponent and [Fire Cross] hits him with the whirlwind affect of his gun blade. Zell There are a list of moves on the screen which you [Duel] must press the right combination of buttons for (like a dancing game - or Xenosaga) the attacks. If you chain the right moves together before the timer runs out, you can use damaging finishing moves. Zell will learn new moves after looking at Combat King magazines in the item menu. Quistis When Quistis has learnt a type of Blue Magic she can [Blue Magic] use it whenever her limit break it activated. She can learn abilities by using certain items on her. Selphie Choose "Do Over" and you will get a random spell. [Slot] If you find a spell you want to cast, choose "Cast". There are some spells only Selphie can cast. Once Selphie has cast a special magic ability or reached certain levels, she be able to access it more easily. Irvine Choose the type of ammo you want Irvine to use and [Shot] R1 to shoot the rounds. Be quick as there is a time limit! It's like the Trigger Happy ability in FF10/2. Rinoa This limit break involves Rinoa's dog, Angelo. He [Combine] choose a random ability out of the ones he knows, so if you don't want him to use a certain ability, don't teach it to him! You have to look at a Pet Pals magazine from the item menu and activate it from Rinoa's status menu if you want him to learn it though. Stealing items -------------- After learning Diablos' or Bahamut's 'Mug' ability, you can steal items from your enemies while attacking them too. Unlike with dropped items that the enemies give you when you defeat them, stolen items do not vary with the level of the monster. So if you want to get an item dropped by a specific enemy do not mug it. Receiving items --------------- Items are usually dropped enemies. Enemies drop different items depending on their levels, but Tonberry has abilities that can temporarily change the level of (though not on bosses, as they do not drop different items at varying levels)! Later on in the game GFs Eden and Bahamut will have the 'Rare Item' ability, which increases the chances of getting items such as Bomb Spirit. If your level is low and you're not getting very good items from your enemies, you can try carding them, then turning the cards into items with 'Card Mod'. Ending a battle --------------- A battle can end in a variety of different ways: - You lose (all your party being Petrified or KO'd). You'll see a Game Over screen and have to continue from your last save. - You win (deplete all of the enemies' remaining HPs). You will receive items/EXP/AP. - You escape the battle (see controls section). EXP is determined by how much you damage the enemy. Fast Facts about levelling up and learning abilities ---------------------------------------------------- - A character doesn't earn experience if: (1) They didn't take any action in battle, (2) are knocked out or petrified when the battle is over, (3) if the last enemy was Carded or Petrified, (4) the enemy is a boss. - Experience points are gained even if you escape, as long as you attacked the enemy. - The party members/guardian forces who dealt the finishing blow get the most experience. - You get different EXP from every enemy as you level up (and they level up). - Whoever deals the finishing blow gets the most EXP, but if all the party members had equal blows, equal EXP is shared. - After earning 1000 EXP points from damaging enemies (none is earned from bosses), a character levels up, their stats may increase as a result. - All enemies (including bosses) give AP to the junctioned GFs, but if a character takes no action in battle their GF receives no AP! But I'm not entirely sure ... - The level of your enemies depend on the average level of your party, therefore their stats are different all the time. From Ninjatsu:" - Unlike FF7 characters not participating in the battle will not gain exp. - Characters in battle will gain experience even if they did nothing. Unless they are k.o or petrified, or all the monsters got carded/petrified. - Killing 1 monster then carding the second in a battle vs 2 monsters will give you exp for the first monster. - Whoever deals the finishing blow per monster will get more exp for that monster, different level monsters give different finishing blow experience. - The more damage done to enemies increases exp gain. Killing a 70hp monster with a 9999 blow will give you the exp for the 70hp monster. Hitting the 70hp monster for 60hp then curing it to full health then killing it gives more exp. - All enemies give AP, including carded enemies(not sure about break). All Gf's currently alive and junctioned to the characters in the battle will gain exp and AP, even if the character they are junctioned to is k.o(not sure about break). - Enemies levels are "roughly" the same as your average party(The 3 characters currently in battle) level. When there are more than 1 enemies in a battle they may have different levels, use different magic, and give different exp, while allowing you to draw different magic too." Tips and Tactics ---------------- - Time is of the essence. Abilities such as "Auto-Haste" and "Initiative" will ensure you get the advantage over an enemy. Or you can totally thrash your enemies by having these abilities AND casting Slow or Stop on your enemies. They won't know what hit em'! - Meltdown is fantastic because it decreases the victims' Vit to 0, ensuring physical blows will deal maximum damage. Physical limit breaks such as Shot, Renzokuken, Duel, Blue Magic, and Combine are greatly enhanced by the Vit 0 status ailment. - Later on in the game Mighty Guard will be invaluable, as it casts a whole bunch of protective spells onto your party such as Protect, Shell, Haste, Float, and even Aura! Although they don't sound much, protective spells such as Shell and Protect are very useful. - Take advantage of your characters strong points by focusing on their kind of attack. For instance, as Squall has a physical limit break, you don't want his magic junctioned to Magic. Or, like with Selphie, who is weak physically, but is a skilled magician. You want to take advantage of good magic rather than having average attacks, right? - If you have the time, draw as much magic as you can from as many different enemies. Not only does it help you raise your stats through junctioning, it provides you with loads of cool stuff to use against your enemies, making battles easier. From Ninjatsu: "Always draw when fighting a new enemy to see what magic they have, and especially bosses." - Use enemy weaknesses to your benefit. For instance, an enemy might have very high Spirit, but low defence, and have a weakness against: Thunder, earth, water. So, you would avoid magic, and instead go for GF attacks or limit breaks such as Thunder Storm, Electrocute, Brotherly Love, Tsunami or Water Breath. - To increase the power of your GFs, learn abilities such as Boost, SumMag+10%, SumMag+20% and SumMag+30%. - When you get a GF such as Siren or Carbuncle, who carries a additional spell/s with their attacks or you have status attack, casting status magic becomes pretty wasteful. - Quezacotl's 'Mid Mag-RF' is good for raising stats early in the game. - Whenever you see new magic, draw as much of it as you can. In some boss battles, you will not be able to get that kind of magic again until you get a few more GFs! - If you're doing a no level up game "Card" is a good attack to use to make sure your party gets no EXP and the chance of getting a semi-rare card. I found that if you card a certain kind of enemy too many times you will get EXP when you defeat one again. - Team work is the key to easy success. Keeping all characters' experience points level with each other throughout the game will make it easier to defeat the final boss. - Fight many battles. To gain a small advantage over bosses and gain rare items, more magic, and abilities. In fact, monsters will give you better items depending on their level, and you will be paid better as a SeeD. - If you have a high compatibility rating with your GFs, you can summon them very quickly in battle, giving you an enormous advantage. In my first game where I had 1000 compatibility (I can only guess that, a I was summoning them 99% of the time). I found the battle with Edea at the end of disc 2 really easy. In my next game, where I had well and truly become very tired of the GF sequences, therefore not summoning them as much, I found Edea very hard. At that point I actually discovered she had an attack called "Maelstrom" ^_^. So, in conclusion, I suggest you take another look at the "GF Management" section. - If you want a random event, wait. Not doing anything for a period of time (which can be 20 seconds to 7 minutes). After a period of time has elapsed, something MIGHT happen depending how high your luck stats are or whether Angelo or Gilgamesh are with you ... - Having trouble getting that item? Can't seem to be able to get a Dragon Fang even with 'Rare Item'? - Don't mug all your enemies. Some items can only be obtained if you DON'T mug the enemy. - Some items can only be got when the enemy is at a certain level. This level depends on the average level of your party so therefore varies. But this is really annoying if your party's level isn't very high, so use 'LV Up' or 'LV Down' to manipulate the enemies' level anyway you want! - Maybe it's 'Rare Item' that's keeping you from getting a Dragon Fang! The ability tends to lower the chance of receiving junk items. - Use any item you have nearly 100 of. Otherwise you'll ?nd yourself discarding some of it. The refining lists in "GF Abilities" help. - Use Carbuncle to your advantage. I know Carbuncle, and Reflect are possibly the most annoying things in the game, this is how to use them to your best advantage. 1. Summon Carbuncle. 2. Cast Reflect on the enemy. 3. If you want to cast a spell on an ally, cast it on the enemy instead. Use potions if you want to cure. 4. Summon Carbuncle once every turn if the enemy has Dispel. That way they'll only use that on you instead of their offensive attacks! Heheheheh ... - Know the character's weapons and limit breaks. Information can be found in the characters section. - Know an enemies' element. By knowing an enemies' element, you can determine their weakness. You can usually tell by the magic you draw from them, or what they use to attack you. You can also get great info with Scan. See above if you would like to view an elemental chart. - If you're having trouble carding a powerful enemy such as Snow Lion, use Demi, then card it! - Junctioning is vital to playing the game easily, so take the time to learn it, and spend far less time later on defeating hard bosses. - Whenever you enter a new region check out all the enemies who inhabit there and experiment with what they can give you. - Make short work of your enemies by junctioning Break, Death, Pain, or Zombie to your status attack. In battle, your enemies will be pretty much open to defeat (unless, of course, they're immune to those maladies). You'll also need 100 of those spells for it to work every time. - The more items and magic the better! Whenever you enter a different region stock up on items and spells. I know 100 Confuses may seem pretty useless, but it can be junctioned to your status attack for great results, and 100 Curse Spikes can be refined into a very rare Dark Matter. It's far better to do this than go trekking all over the world looking for the same stuff you took for granted earlier on. Levelling up early will avoid backtracking too. - Cast Double or Triple on your characters to get the most out of your magic. A character with Double or Triple status can cast more than one spell at a time. The same thing can be done by equipping the character abilities 'Expend x2-1', and 'Expend x3-1'. - Silence or summon Siren for enemies that use magic. It's surprising who's weak to this magic. - The more enemies you kill, the more items you get. - Always make sure you have plenty of Phoenix Downs and later on -- Mega Phoenixes. Potions and that kind of thing are also important. Although they don't sound like much, the Recover and Revive commands will prove invaluable. - In some boss battles there are enemies who are helping the boss. It is generally a good idea to kill them off first, but you only have to kill the boss to win the battle (like in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance). - Use limit breaks whenever you can. They can potentially be the most powerful attacks in the whole game. O================================================================O | Triple Triad [ff8/II06] | O================================================================O Introduction: What is Triple Triad? ----------------------------------- Triple Triad is the mini-game of Final Fantasy VIII. Did you know they had a whole team working on this thing? Like most Final Fantasy mini-games, Triple Triad is similar to battles, it involves non player characters, can get you great items. It is frustrating at first, but pretty fun once you the hang of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------ When to begin playing ------------------------------------------------------------------ You can start playing right at the beginning of the game. Talk to the man near the elevator in floor 2 of Balamb Garden. He gives you 7 starter cards and shows you how to challenge players. But you can only challenge him in the CC Group side quest. From Ninjatsu: "Not after you get the first 7 cards.... they suck (If you are really good at cards it is possible). Beat Ifrit to get his card, and beat Diablos to get his card. With 2 good cards you can start beating most people in Balamb Garden." Yes, I did fail to note that. I found that Bomb cards are good starter cards (you can card them in the Fire Cavern). Now try challenging the boy who wears blue and runs around the Garden. He's easy to defeat and holds the MiniMog card. If you're feeling lucky you can try getting Quistis' card from a Trepe Groupie, or Seifer's card from Cid, or Zell's card from Ma Dincht. They'll be a bit tougher to get but you'll have a good hand to start the game with. ------------------------------------------------------------------ How to read the cards ------------------------------------------------------------------ Triple Triad cards are like normal cards in the way that they have numbers ranging from 1 to A (ace). Only they have 4 numbers instead of 1. The statistics of a card are directional: 3 7 2 1 Each has their own direction; in this example 3 signifies north, 7 signifies west, 2 signifies east, and 1 signifies south. N W E S ------------------------------------------------------------------ How to cards work in relation to each other ------------------------------------------------------------------ __________________________________ | | | | | 5 | 8 | 2 | | 3 9--WIN->4 4<-WIN--A 6 | | 8 | A | 9 | |___________|___________|__________| These are three cards that have been lined up against each other. See how each card has four numbers? The cards on the left and the right have both one over the card in middle, because A and 9 are both higher than 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Upon Winning a Game of Cards ------------------------------------------------------------------ When you win a game of cards, depending on what trading rule is in play, the winner will select what cards they want. The names of the cards are displayed in colours, telling you their status: * White. The card is currently in your hand. * Blue. You've haven't had the card in this current game. * Yellow. It's a card you've had once but lost all of. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Where to view your cards ------------------------------------------------------------------ To see the strengths and weaknesses of your cards go to the Card menu. It shows all the cards you have, and even the location of cards you've lost in card game with other people. Even cards that you have lost or refined will be there, but it'll tell you, that you have none of that card ... and if you refined the card you cannot retrieve it. There are 10 pages devoted to the cards. Once there are no more cards to know of, you'll see a star beside the Card heading in the main menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Aim of the game ------------------------------------------------------------------ The game is set on a 3x3 grid, where nine cards can be placed. Each card has 4 numbers. When a card is placed next to another card, the adjoining numbers effect each other. If the numbers are right, it will turn the other card over, resulting in a 1 point gain, which may be lost if the other player gets their card back. At the end of the game, when nine cards are placed on the board, the person with the most points wins. That a basic outline of how to play the game. Additional rules can change how the game is played. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Card Layout Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------ These rules affect the way your hand is laid out the most. * OPEN: is the easiest rule to understand and involves no complications. * SUDDEN DEATH: "Fight to the death". The game doesn't allow a draw, and when it happens, a new game is started. Note that if you converted a the other player's card in the last game, you'll have it in your deck in this one. The same goes if the enemy managed to convert your cards. * RANDOM: The computer shuffles the cards and randomly selects deck for you. It's quite good if additional rules such as SAME or PLUS are active. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Additional Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------ These affect how you play your actual game. SAME ---- .------------.------------.-----------. Mesmerize has 3 on E and | 5 | 8 | 3 | Sphinxara has 3 on W and 5 | 3 3 SAME! 3 5 SAME! 5 5 | on E. Tri-Face has 5 on | 4 | 8 | 5 | W. The numbers that "meet" | Mesmerize | Sphinxara | Tri-Face | each and are the same set '------------'------------'-----------' the SAME rule in play. SAME WALL --------- It's basically the same as SAME, only the numbers don't have to be adjacent for the rule to work. The numbers just have to be facing the edges of the board. So, Sphinxara wouldn't be placed on the left side of Mesmerize, but on any of the spaces above Mesmerize! PLUS ---- .------------. Okay, so C3 has [2] and [1]. When you | 2 | add [2] to [4] it makes 6. [1] and [5] | 6 2 | also make 6. So when C3 is placed on |C1 [5] | the board PLUS comes into play. .------------|----PLUS!---| | 4 | [1] | | 2 [4] PLUS! [2] 6 | |C2 7 |C3 3 | '------------'------------' COMBO ----- I don't understand the COMBO rule very well, but I will try to interpret it. When the SAME, SAME WALL or PLUS rules are in play, COMBO effects how you use them. Here's an example; the Eden card gets flipped via SAME, SAME WALL or PLUS. If the Eden card happens to be in a position where it can flip a card; with the COMBO rule, it will. Then the game will do the same with all your other cards that are on the board. ELEMENTAL --------- ELEMENTAL happens when you see a symbol that represents an element. OK, say an elemental rule, for example, Wind was in the middle of the board. If you put the Pandemona or some other wind elemental card there the A north, 7 west, 1 east and 7 south would all rise one up by 1 (A cannot be raised because it is the highest). But if you put a card that was a different element there or had no element at all, it's stats would decrease by 1. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Trading Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------ * ALL: The winner gets all the cards the loser dealt out. Good if you're trying to expand your card collection. * DIFF: Say your winning score was 6 and the loser's score was 2. What's the difference between 6 and 2? Take 2 from 6, you have 4. You get to choose 4 cards. * DIRECT allows you to play the cards you've converted in the heat of the game. This rule can be found when playing against the Card King. (Ninjatsu: "Whatever cards you flipped are yours, whatever cards your opponent flips are his. VERY DANGEROUS RULE!!!") ------------------------------------------------------------------ Changing Trading Rules Easily ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Card Queen also plays a major role where card rules are concerned. Win a card game with her with certain rules, then play with another person using the same area rules; they will have the same rules as the Card Queen. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Manipulating rules ------------------------------------------------------------------ Sometimes when you go to a different region they will have rules you are unfamiliar with, like Plus or Random. Now here are the steps: a) You need to find a place where the rules suit you. If you're trying to get rid of Random in Dollet, choose a place where Random does not apply. b) At the beginning of the game Balamb and Galbadia do not have the Random rule. c) Challenge a player to a game of cards. d) If the last game of cards you played was in a different region to where you're playing now, the player will say something like "would you like to play a game of cards using rules from Dollet and Galbadia?". DO NOT say "yes" because Random may be added to the Galbadian rules. e) Tell them "no". Don't worry if nothing happens, just say "no" and eventually they'll just ask you for a normal game of cards. f) Play with them with you want. g) Go back to Dollet and save your game now! h) Challenge the first person you meet. i) They'll say pretty much the same thing as the person you met in Galbadia. Only this time say "yes", because Random may be abolished. j) This is all random, of course (ha). When you say "yes" the list of rules will appear. Sometimes Random will be included while at other times it will not be there. k) Whether you choose to play or not the outcome will be determined. Reset and try again from step g) if nothing happens. l) If Random is abolished the player will stop using Random, and everyone else using Dollet rules will follow suit. Here's another way; just play an ordinary game of cards. Depending on your actions, rules may be abolished (but it will take longer). ------------------------------------------------------------------ Rules in all the Regions ------------------------------------------------------------------ Balamb - Open. Dollet - Random, Elemental. Galbadia - Same. FH - Elemental, Sudden Death. Trabia - Random, Plus. Centra - Random, Plus, Same. Esthar - Elemental. Lunar Gate - Open, Random, Plus, Same, Same Wall, Elemental, Sudden Death. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tips ------------------------------------------------------------------ - As with all mini-games, you should practice Triple Triad until you get the hang of it. It's like fighting battles, actually, except with numbers. You defeat another's card by having a bigger number, the player who finishes with the most cards wins, get it? Learn Triple Triad at the beginning of the game for an easier time. If you're not too familiar with Triple Triad, ?re Cavern is a good place to get reasonable cards. Also challenge everyone you see. You never know what cards someone has. - If you can understand what the numbers on the cards mean, you can play Triple Triad. There is nothing particularly hard or difficult about the game once you learn to play it. - Build up your collection of cards and play with everyone you can. You can also get cards by carding enemies. Some monsters can be occasionally carded for powerful cards! - If you are starting to play cards late in the game, defeat Brothers in Tomb of the Unknown King (they are easy if you cast Float on them) and/or Diablos from the Magical Lamp. These cards are very good defensively speaking. If you are in disc 3, the Squall and PuPu are also very easy to get! - Perfect your