======================================================================== 88888888888 8888888888 8888 8888 88888888888888 88888 88888 8888 8888 88 88 888 8888888 8888888 88888888 88 88 888 88888 88888 888888 88 88 888 88888 88888 8888 88 88 888 88888 88888 88 88888888888888 ======================================================================== F I N A L F A N T A S Y V I I I ======================================================================== Final Fantasy VIII (US Version) Part I Version 1.10 By Scott Ong E-mail: kangning@mbox5.singnet.com.sg http://members.xoom.com/scottong World Map Source: http://risland.virtualave.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ffviii_top <<<< Disclaimer >>>> -please read it!- This FAQ is meant for personal usage only. It cannot be altered and it can only be reproduced in electronic form only. It cannot be published in magazines, articles and any other form of reproduction. The FAQ is not meant for sale. Any offenders will be severly dealt with This FAQ is made by me, Scott Ong (kangning@mbox5.singnet.com.sg) Unpublished work of Scott Ong 1999-2000. If you want to use this FAQ for your website or webpage, please seek the author's permission and link it to my site. You are allowed to print the FAQ out, but make sure that you did not sell it for cash! All my FAQs are not meant for sale! This is Part I of Final Fantasy VIII FAQ for the English version. Final Fantasy VIII Logo, characters are copyright of Squaresoft. If you want to find information regarding item list, weapon list, monster list or any other besitary data, please look up at Final Fantasy VIII FAQ Part II which is available at GameFAQs. <<< References >>> Official Final Fantasy VIII Website - http://www.ff8.com Official Squaresoft Website - http://www.squaresoft.com <<< Note to Webmasters >>> If you want to use this FAQ for your site, make sure that you keep on checking GameFAQs for latest revisions. Otherwise, I will have to answer questions that already answered in the latest editions. ___ / I \___________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Revision History ffviii_001 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -[1.0]- . First appearance of FAQ. . Added completed Disc 1 Walkthrough . Completed Tutorial Guide -[1.1]- . Added partially completed Disc 2 Walkthrough, make spelling corrections for Disc 1 walkthrough. -[1.2]- . Completed Disc 2 Walkthrough, and more secrets uncovered. . Added Chocobo Guide to FAQ. -[1.3]- . Completed Disc 3 Walkthrough, major expansion. . More items than you could ever expect! . Added Ultimate Weapons Upgrading Guide . Added Obel Lake Mystery along with all sub quests. . Enhanced Zell's Love Quest. . Added getting Full marks for Dollet Quest -[1.4]- . Completed Disc 4 Walkthrough -[1.5]- . Edit the Disclaimer . Make a couple of corrections to most parts of the FAQ. . Added the Shumi Side Quest Part II . Added corrections to Zell's Love Quest . Added the second method for Deep Sea Deposit Quest . Added to get Ward in Laguna's Dream Sequence #4 -[1.6]- . Added a method to get Ammo in FH [before concert] . Corrected some of the errors. . Added an improved method in finding Piet. -[1.7]- . Made corrections on Missing Vase Pieces Quest. . Added information regarding Watts as a disguise in Timber . Added frequently asked questions section. . Corrected some errors. -[1.8]- . Added Frequently Asked Question section . Added the answer for the third hint for the Obel Lake Mystery . Added advanced Search Mode help! . Correct most typos and grammatical errors. . Added Rumours section and also my point of view regarding to that. . Added some miscellaneous information regarding PC version -[1.9]- . Correct the remaining typos and gramatical errors. . Added some information regarding the Sphinxaur. . Found another draw point! . Added few more questions to the Frequently Asked Questions. -[1.10]- . Corrected some of typos. . Added more information regarding the PC version of FF8. . Added a few more burning questions about FF8. . Made the junction screen more precise [I have added a few more illustrations. . This could be the last update made to this FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Where to obtain the latest version of the FAQs? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The latest versions of FAQ can be found in following locations: GameFAQs http://www.gamefaqs.com Scott's FAQ Page http://members.xoom.com/scottong* Cheat Code Central http://www.cheatcc.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * If you intend to place the FAQ on your site, please kindly make an effort to get its latest versions from GameFAQs. ____ / II \__________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's Note ffviii_002 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, it has been a long time since I have made an update for the FAQ. Even though the FAQ is already completed, there are still errors that required me to correct it. What's has been added to the FAQ? - Frequently Asked Questions --> Well, for the past few months since FF8 has been released, I have received countless e-mails regarding this game and I have decided to compile them. Otherwise, I will be repeated those answers over and over again. Of course, once I have added the list of questions, I will not be answering them anymore. BTW, if you have any problems regarding weapon upgrading, please refer to the ultimate weapon upgrading guide. Just added some more words for the previous update, I have finally found out some of remaining burning questions which causes me to add them to the section. Remember to check it! - The third hint of Obel Lake Mystery --> thanks to one helpful contributor who has told me about this third hint [well, can't expect that it is actually a joke...]. Refer to Obel Lake Mystery Section for more details. - Search Mode --> A lot of FAQ readers have complained to me that the FAQ being too long as it takes ages to search for the information that you need. I have finally found a method, which is being obtained from Dingo Jellybean's FF7 FAQ but I have made some improvements to it. All you just need to do the following: (Note: there are actually people who tends to overlook this capability of WordPad and I myself is also one of them ^_^;) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Method 1: From the toolbar, select Edit and choose Find. Enter the keyword. Method 2: Use the short-cut key Ctrl+F and you will see the Search Box popped up. Enter the keyword that you want to look for. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- But sometimes the keyword does not reached your desired destination, hence I have come up with a good idea and that's to add codes to the right side of the contents page. Just enter the following keyword: ffviii_xxx where xxx stands for the 3-digit code for the section. The list of code numbers can be found at the Table of Contents. But remember that you must enter the "ffviii_" in order for it to work, or you will find that you will end up at other pages instead! - Note to all webmasters. If you want to post the FAQ on your site, make sure that you keep update and get the latest versions. I will always sent my FAQs to GameFAQs. I will definitely not permit anyone else to edit my FAQs. No HTMLizing for my FAQs. Final Fantasy: Worlds Apart (http://www.ffnet.net) is an exception. - Strangely enough, I have received e-mails regarding whether I am doing a FAQ for Final Fantasy IX. I am about 75% sure that I will NOT be writing a FAQ for it due to several personal reasons. Anyway, I guess someone else will write a FAQ for that game. [But this means that you can be ensured that there will be FAQs for Final Fantasy IX.]. BTW, check out Dingo's FF9 FAQ, which is rather great. I don't intend to write out FAQs for great games... this one is already a killer ^_^;) - I have corrected most of grammatical errors as being requested by viewers. Thanks to them, otherwise I will not known the seriousness of the problems. I will try my best to correct errors for my other FAQs once I have time. - I hoped that this may be the final update for this FAQ. BTW, I am no longer accepting strategies and questions regarding this FAQ. ALL the stuffs that I know about FF8 can be found in this FAQ and Part II. If you have any recommendations, complaints, secrets regarding this game, and just e-mail to me and I will try my best to solve it. - I am quite sorry for not answering any e-mails after my March vacation as I have been rather busy with my assignments, projects and examinations. You should get your reply shortly. BTW, there will be no reply for those who do not add "FF8" or "Final Fantasy VIII" as I have deleted the e-mails that does not have this as a subject. [ except for those that contains other game headings] - BTW, if you intend to place this FAQ on your site, you are free to do so as long as the FAQ remained intact and make sure you make an effort to get the latest revisions of my FAQs. Don't bother to e-mail on requests on place the FAQ on your site. [Applies to my FF8 FAQs only.] For this update [Version 1.9 and 1.10] - I have found a couple of vital information regarding cards, boss facts and added a few tips in weapon upgrading. - BTW, you can check my FF8 Part II for the new Chocobo World section, which is typed by The Saint (saintly@innocent.com). - I have also expanded the Junction section to make it more detail. It will also explains why you can't equip a menu ability on the character. - Finally, here is the list of FF8 questions that are still being asked: - How to get the Lion Heart. - Where to locate the Deep Sea Research Center. - How to get GFs that you have forgotten to draw from BOSSES. - Where to locate the White SeeD Ship. - How to defeat Adel at low levels? - Is it possible to enter towns in Disc 4? - How to mug an item? - How to junction commands [well, it seems that I need to go to detail regarding the basic of basics...] - Where do General Caraway go after he brought you to the Gateway? - Who is Squall's father? [with proof, of course] - Rumours... - I have added a whole chunk of cheats for the PC version. Thanks to a helpful contributor. I had explained them in the Frequently Asked Questions. BTW, the reason, I am making the update is because I don't have the time to reply my e-mails. BTW, the next update will be the final update of this FAQ. [Scott Ong] _____ / III \_________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ffviii_003 ======================================================================== Code Start of the FAQ -Disclaimer top I Revision History 001 II Author's Note 002 III Table of Contents 003 IV Frequently Asked Questions [Game play] 004 1. Introduction - Story of Final Fantasy VIII 005 [1.1] Introduction and Final Fantasy VIII Data. [1.2] Characters of Final Fantasy VIII [1.3] Changes between Japanese and English version 2. Basic Tutorial 006 [2.1] The Basics [2.2] Playing the Game [2.3] Basic Configuration [2.5] Bonus Edition PC 3. Walkthrough for Disc 1 [3.1] Familizing yourself with Balamb Garden 007 [3.2] Fire Cavern - The Field Test 008 [3.3] Dollet Dukedom Parliament 009 [3.4] The Night at Balamb Garden 010 [3.5] The Train Trip - Mystery and Murder 011 [3.6] The Sorceress at Timber... 012 [3.7] Laguna's Dream Sequence #2 - Centra Evacuation Site 013 [3.8] Galbadia Garden 014 [3.9] Quest at the Tomb of Unknown King 015 [3.10] Assassination Plan 016 4. Walkthrough for Disc 2 [4.1] Winhill- Laguna's still alive! 017 [4.2] Held Captive 018 [4.3] Galbadia Missile Base- Prevent the Launch! 019 [4.4] Balamb Garden - War between Garden and SeeD Academy.. 020 [4.5] Arrival at Fisherman's Horizons 021 [4.6] World Tour for Disc 2 wt2 4.6a Card Quest at Balamb Garden 022 4.6b Zell's Love Quest 023 4.6c Deling: Still as busy as a bee 024 4.6d Dollet: It has become a busy town! 025 4.6e Timber: A mysterious journey... 026 4.6f Winhill: Still as quiet as ever... 027 4.6g Shumi Village 028 4.6h Centra Ruins 029 4.6i Chocobo Guide 030 [4.7] Balamb under Galbadian Occupation 031 [4.8] Trabia - Childhood Memories at the Orphanage 032 [4.9] The Garden Crash 033 5. Walkthrough for Disc 3 [5.1] Edea's House - Truth Revealed! 034 [5.2] Trabia Canyon - Laguan's 4th Dream Sequence 035 [5.3] White SeeD Ship - Trip to Legendary Esthar 036 [5.4] Great Salt Lake - The Gateway to the Legendary Esthar 037 City [5.5] Laguna's 5th Dream Sequence - At Esthar 038 [5.6] Esthar City - Seeking Treatment at Lunar Base 039 [5.7] Esthar Under Lunatic Pandora Attack! 040 [5.8] Lunar Base - The Lunar Cry Incident 041 [5.9] Sorceress Memorial Hall - Rescue Rinoa! 042 [5.10] The Great World Tour for Disc 3 wt3 5.10a Lunar Base Crash Area 043 5.10b Obel Lake Mystery 044 5.10c UFO Sighting Incident 045 5.10d Ultimate Weapon Upgrading 046 5.10c Cactaur's Island 047 5.10d Centra Ruins Revisited 048 5.10e Deep Sea Research Center 049 5.10f Deep Sea Deposit 050 5.10g Shumi Village - Laguna's statue completion. 051 [5.11] Esthar Revisited - Meeting President of Esthar 052 [5.12] Final Showdown at Lunatic Pandora 053 6. Walkthrough for Disc 4 [6.1] The awakening of the Sorceress 054 [6.2] The Last Quest 055 [6.3] Ultimecia's Castle - The Sealed Truth 056 [6.4] The Battle of Destiny 057 7. Contact the Author 058 8. Rumours 059 9. Credits 060 End of FAQ end ======================================================================== ____ / IV \__________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== Frequently Asked Questions [Game play] ffviii_004 ======================================================================== For this section, you will find all those frequently asked questions and the key events of the game. Note that these are the questions, which I will not reply anymore. BTW, if you have problems regarding BOSS fight, please check out Part II for the guides that you need. Last Updated: 14/10/2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The list may be expanded depends on the number of e-mails that I have recieved on that particular topic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. How do you junction commands? A: You can ONLY junction commands (such as Magic, Item, Draw, etc.) and abilities (Mag-J, Str-J, Str+20%, SumMag +20%, Counter, Cover, etc) if you have a GF equipped for the characters. To equip a GF, select the character and Junction from the main menu. Next pick a GF and you will be able to equip the command! You can more help from the Tutorial Menu in the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. How many GFs are there? A: There are a total of 16 GFs [GFs with abilities] and the miscellaneous GFs. I have include the list and the brief method on getting them. The sixteen Guardian Forces ------------------------------------------------------------------- Name Method Location/ Conditions Disc ------------------------------------------------------------------- Quezacotl Access Balamb Garden Network, 1~3 Balamb Garden 2F Classroom, Squall's desk Shiva Access Balamb Garden Network, 1~3 Balamb Garden 2F Classroom, Squall's desk Ifrit Defeat it Fire Cavern 1 Siren Draw Dollet Communication 1 Towers, BOSS: Elvoret Brothers Defeat it Tomb of Unknown King 1~4 Diablos Defeat it Magical Lamp - gain 1~4 from Cid before SeeD mission. Use it. Carbuncle Draw President's Residence, 1 Deling City, BOSS: Iguion Leviathan Draw Balamb Garden Basement, 2 BOSS: NORG Pandemona Draw Balamb Town, BOSS: 2 Fujin Cerberus Defeat it Galbadia Garden, Main Hall 2 Alexander Draw Galbadia Garden, 2 Auditorium, BOSS: Edea Doomtrain Access Solomon's Ring found at 3~4 Tear's Point. Get 6x Malboro's Tentacle, 6x Steel Pipe and 6x Remedy+ Bahamut Defeat it Deep Sea Research Center, 3~4 Must have Ragnarok airship. Cactuar Defeat it Cactuar's Island 3~4 Must have Ragnarok airship. Tonberry Defeat it Centra Ruins, defeat 20 3~4 Tonberries and King Tonberry. Must get Odin Eden Draw Deep Sea Deposit, BOSS: 3~4 Ultima Weapon. Must get Bahamut. Must have Ragnarok airship ------------------------------------------------------------------- Miscellaneous GFs ------------------------------------------------------------------- Name Method Location Disc ------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicobo Item Summon Mother Chocobo. 2~4 (Gyshal Greens) Use item, Gysahl Greens to summon it. Gysahl Greens can brought from Chocoboy at Chocobo Forests. Moomba Item Get Friendship item using 2~4 (Friendship) Pocketstation. MiniMog Command Get Mog's Amulet using 2~4 (Mog's Amulet) Pocketstation. Use the item on one of the 16 GFs. Use command to summon it. [MiniMog] Phoenix Item Get it by solving puzzles 2~4 (Phoenix at Shumi Village or Pinion) WinHill. Get it by refining 3x Mega Phoenix --> 1x Phoenix Pinion via Siren's Tool-RF. Odin Battle Defeat it at Centra Ruins. 2~4 (based on It will appear randomly at Luck and no. beginning of the battle. of Death Spirit items) Gilgamesh Battle Defeat Seifer with Odin 3 acquired. Note: Odin will be lost. If you haven't gotten Odin at that time, Gilgamesh will be lost. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. I had forgotten to draw a GF! Are there any other methods to get it? A: YES! You can get the GF by drawing it from the BOSSES found in the Ultimecia's Castle. Refer to Disc 4 walkthrough for more information. I did not include in the walkthrough as this will help to avoid spoilers. BTW, some of GF summoning items [Solomon's Ring for Doomtrain and Magical Lamp for Diablos] can be retrieved from the Pocketstation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. I had sold the Magical Lamp! Is there a method to get it later in game? A: Unfortunately no. In fact, that's the only Magical Lamp you can get from playing the game. You can get more Magical Lamps as you can get it from the Pocketstation. [Refer to Pocketstation guides that found in GameFAQs. You can find more information under the Pocketstation section in Part II. Please note that I don't own a Pocketstation.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. What is the purpose of SeeD tests? A: Note for all new players, you can only get cash through your SeeD salary. You will get your salary, once Squall has become an official SeeD member after Dollet's test at Disc 1. The SeeD level will change if you do any of following: SeeD Test ------------------------------------------------------------------- Method Effect ------------------------------------------------------------------- Answering SeeD tests with correct answers. Access Increase SeeD test from Tutorial menu --> TEST menu. SeeD level. Continue with the story of the game Increase SeeD level. Finish Train sequence in Disc 1 upon first try SeeD level +1 Walking around the world map, field terrains without Decrease doing anything. SeeD level ------------------------------------------------------------------- SeeD levels do not increase every time. In fact, it increases based on the number of steps that Squall walk on the terrains. Hence, do not try to not overdo it as it will decrease your SeeD level. The higher SeeD level, the more cash [in gil] that you will receive each time. For the test answers, refer to the walkthrough for disc 1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. I have seen a UFO moving around in a random battle and nothing happens.. What was that? A: It is the UFO Sighting Incident. There are four sighting spots which is being marked on the world map found at . Just go there with Diablo's Enc-None and move around to have a random battle. For more details, refer to the World Tour under the Disc 3 Walkthrough. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Why I can't convert 100x Curse Spikes into Dark Matter through GF Siren's Tool-RF, in order learn Quistis' last Limit Break, Shockwave Pulsar? A: In order to do that, GF Siren must reach LV 100. Otherwise, you will not be able to do the refinement. As for the help in getting Curse Spikes, you need to defeat the Imp, Forbidden or Malboro. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Is it true that you can't have both items obtained from stealing and defeat monsters? A: Yes. You can get only get one of the items. For example, let's says you encountered a battle with 2x Adamantoises, you defeat them without any characters using the Mug command. You will get the item won from battle, such as Adamantine, Whisper, Orichalons based on Squall's level. If you mug any of the Adamantoises, you will DEFINATELY NOT get Adamantine [which can only be obtained by defeating both Adamantoises]. Instead, you will get other items such as Whispers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. How do I get Squall's ultimate weapon and Limit Break, Lion Heart? A: To get Squall's ultimate weapon, you must have the following items: 1x Adamantine 3x Dragon Fang 12x Pulse Ammo << Recommended Methods >> - these are the easiest methods Adamantine - you can get this by defeat Adamantoises found shores of Dollet, Long Horn Island [to find the location of Long Horn Island, view the world map at http://risland.virtualave.net]. Dragon Fang - head towards Trabia area where you find the Shumi Village. Note that from the world map's point of view, you will find a row of mountains behind the village. Just walk closely against mountains and you will encounter Blue Dragons. Defeat it to get Dragon Fang. Pulse Ammo - you need to get Energy Crystal. Get 20x Elynole's card via card playing and you can convert them into 2x Energy Crystals through Quezacotl's Card-Mod RF. Next convert the Energy Crystals through Ifrit's Ammo-RF. You will get 20x Pulse Ammo. Now go to any of the junk shops found in the game and pay 2000 gil to remodel Squall's gunblade into Lion Heart. I have explained in more details under the Ultimate Weapon Upgrading section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Where are the Islands closest to Heaven / Hell? A: It is kind of difficult to explain using words. You can get find the locations of them on a world map at my website . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. I can't locate the Deep Sea Research Center! Where can I find it? A: To locate the Deep Sea Research Center, you need the Ragnarok airship. Pilot the airship to the extreme low-left corner of the world map. Move the Ragnarok low by press Down button. When you move the Ragnarok, you should see water splashing... Next navigate around that corner and you should find the Deep Sea Research Center. If you have any problems, get the world map mentioned in the above URL. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12. Why is there a screen showing "censored" when I used the Devour Command? A: It was just like that! ^_^; ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13. Question on Card Games A: Well, it consists of a huge portion of my e-mails. Here is a section for it: Rare Cards - it is true that there is only one version of rare cards, not after time compression has occurred. To get back the lost rare cards, you need to defeat the CC Group Members at Ragnarok airship in Disc 4. (provided that you have defeat them in Disc 2.). You can get them back even after you have refined the card using Quezacotl's Card-Mod. Card Queen - the Card Queen is really tough as she changes the card rules and moves from areas to areas, which made her an extremely tough opponent. If you need more help, get FF8 FAQ Part II at http://www.gamefaqs.com and refer to the Card Queen's Side Quest. Obtaining cards - besides getting it by winning the card game, you can also get cards by defeating enemies or using the card command to convert dying enemies into cards [does not work on BOSS and human beings] Card Rules - It will be very difficult to explain the rules in a few sentences, hence there is a need to read the Card section of FF8 FAQ Part II. Abolish a Card Rule - a lot of gamers get frustrated regarding the random rule as it will force you into a bad situation in the card game. To abolish that rule, you can either play in a region where there is no such rules. One perfect example is Balamb area. Rules will be added as soon as you started in an area where there are new rules. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14. Tough Battles - answers found at my Monsters FAQ @ GameFAQs A: It seems that a lot of people are having trouble regarding combat in FF8. There are a few reasons for the toughness and one of them is that monsters levelling up as your character does. There are few methods to be stronger than your enemy: The hints are: - by remodelling the characters' weapons - get stronger spells via item refining. You can get a lot of rare items via cards. This means if you want an easy life in the game, play cards often! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15. Can I get into the cities during Disc 4? A: There is no way that you can get into the cities in Disc 4. Those barriers do not allow you to make contact with the city. I know the following question will definitely pop up if this happens... * how do I remodel my weapons? - you can remodel your weapons by using GF Tonberry's Call Shop or Call Junk Shop menu ability via the Ability menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 16. I have sold the Magical Lamp. Is there any other way to get it? A: Finally found the answers for this... You can't draw Diablos from any of the bosses [bosses at Lunatic Pandora and Boss Sphinxaur in Ultimecia's Castle]. Once you sold it, you got to reset if you don't own a Pocketstation or Gameshark. It is still possible to complete the game without GF Diablos, but it will definitely be tougher. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 17. Where are weapon monthly magazines? A: You don't need these items as it is compulsory to remodel your characters' weapon. In fact, the weapon's name will appear in the Junk Shop's menu once you have obtained its requirements. Here is a short list of weapon magazines: Weapon Monthly March - you will get this by defeating Elvoret at Dollet's Communication Tower in Disc 1. Weapon Monthly April - you will get this from Squall's desk after completing the sequence in Training Center. (after the ball dance) Weapon Monthly May - you can find this in the sewers while controlling Rinoa. Refer to walkthrough for more information. Weapon Monthly June - defeat BGHZ51F2 at Missile Base Weapon Monthly July - found it in Balamb Garden's Training Center after Disc 2. Weapon Monthly August - found it near the Gargoyle in Trabia Garden. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 18. Why I can't get the second vase piece (found at the statue) in Winhill? A: Well, this is really my error and thanks to those whom have help me in solving this and that is you really need to have Irvine in your party. I guess it was perhaps due to the itching hands of Irvine ^_^;) Remember the time when he messes up the guns in Zell's room [for those whom have Irvine in your party] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 19. Where can I locate the Tomb of Unknown King? A: It seems that this type of question is one of hardiest for me to answer. Imagine explaining the location using words. It was actually located on a peninsula, which is northeast from Deling. The tomb is quite small in size and if you still have the problem, get the world map found at . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 20. How do I use the character's Limit Breaks? A: First of all, your characters need to get to "Crisis" conditions. It will be fulfilled when: - the character's HP turns red/yellow - Aura is being cast on the character Next to use the Limit Break, just tap Circle button (menu button) and you will eventually see a golden triangle on the right side of "Attack" or "Mug". Press right and you will be able to execute the Limit Break. General Tip on getting Aura. Aura is a magic that allows your character to get Limit Breaks easily. To get Aura magic, you need to get Fury Fragments which can be mugged from Blue Dragon found at the mountains near Shumi Village. [you don't need to stand on the mountain, just go near it]. Next just convert the Fury Fragment into 5x Aura magic through Leviathan's Supt Mag-RF ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 21. How do I return back to the Lunatic Pandora after I have finished the "Ragnarok crash scene" in Disc 3? A: You can choose to exit the Pandora after your Ragnarok has made its way to the Lunatic Pandora in Disc 3. To exit, just to talk to Selphie. From there, you can enjoy yourself for the quests or do some level up. After you are done, proceed to the bridge [or controls room] and talk to Selphie and you will be back at the Lunatic Pandora! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 22. Is it possible to do the Lion Heart Limit Break each time once you have acquired the Lion Heart gunblade? A: No. The occurence of the Lion Heart Limit Break depends on chance. You can't control it. But Lion Heart seems to appear more frequently, once the entire party is down to critical status. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 23. How do I get Limit Breaks for every characters? A: Squall - Upgrade his gunblade and Squall will learn new Limit Breaks. [see Part II for more details.] Quistis - Get Blue Magic Items [refer to Part II item bestiary on how to get them] and use it on Quistis. Zell - Get Combat Kings and select the item and Zell will learn the new Limit Breaks automatically. Selphie - Get it from her Limit Breaks. While you are choosing the type of spells, you can find her Limit Breaks [including those that are not uncovered.]. Cast it and Selphie will have that Limit Breaks. Rinoa - Get Pet Pals and select the item. Next check the status screen and select the limit break that you wish to teach Angelo. Hence walk around on the terrain for a while. Once the gauge has built up, Rinoa will learn the Limit Break! Irvine - Get the Ammo and he will have new Limit Breaks. Some of the rare ammo are quite hard to get. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 24. How do I enhance my character's statistics? A: Through the junction system. The junction system is a system that could enfuse magic to your character's atttributes, hence making them stronger. See Basic Tutorial for more information. BTW, the effects of Junction are affected by the following: . Number of magic: The more you have, the better the effect of the junction system. . Types of spell: The stronger the spell you have, the better the effect the junction has on the character. Junction also allows your characters to equip commands and abilities. There is no accessories/armor in the game. Please read the Basic Tutorial thoroughly. You need to have junction abilities [i.e. abilities that are ended with "-J"] for boosting your character's statistics. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 25. How do I upgrade my weapons in FF8? A: You can't buy new weapons instead you can tune them up through Junk Shops. But in order to do this, you need to have specific ingredients such as M-Stone Piece, Sharp Spike, Dragon Fang, etc. Of course, not everything in the world is free. You need to pay a small sum to upgrade them to new models [you can choose to upgrade or downgrade.] Everytime you attempt to remodel the weapon, the ingredients will be used up. If you want to upgrade back to the same weapon, you need to get new ingredients. To upgrade a weapon in Disc 4, just get GF Doomtrain [Call Junk Shop menu ability] and do the following: 1) Activate your menu. 2) Select the Ability header. 3) Select Call Junk Shop 4) Do what you normally do at Junk Shops. It's pretty simple huh? BTW, don't try to force your way in the towns, as it is impossible! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 26. How I mug an item? A: This one is pretty hard to explain if you don't know anything about junction commands or abilities. First of all, you need to get a GF ability called "Mug" [from Bahamut or Diablos, requires 200 AP to master]. Next equip GF Bahamut or Diablos with the mastered Mug ability. After you have equipped the commands, you will be able to select the type of character/party abilities. Choose Mug and add it to one of the ability slots. If you equip the ability, you should see the attack command is being replaced with Mug. If that happens, you are on the right track. Just go to a random battle and look for the monster that you want to steal an item from. Remember to watch for the top status bar after your character has performed the attack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 27. How do I junctioned commands? A: Before I start this, I need to explain that GFs are extremely important as they worked like Materia in FF7. Without them, you can't have other commands besides attack. First of all, you need to get a GF. [If you have seen through the ability list in Part II, you should noticed that all the 16 GFs have Magic, GF and Draw.] To equip a command, do the following step-by-step and make sure that you are in the main menu. 1) Select Junction from the main menu 2) Select the character who you want to junction GFs with. 3) Select Junction command from the Junction Menu. Select the GFs that you want to equip with. Press Triangle once you are done. 4) You should be brought to the Auto screen if you have magic in that character's magic inventory. Choose either Atk, Def or Mag. If your character don't have any magic, you will be brought to the Ability sub-menu directly. Press Triangle once you are done. 5) At the ability screen, you should see the command list of the character with the slots along with ability slots. On the right is the list of commands available (if the cursor is pointing at either one of the three command slots, they are found under the Attack command) and list of abilities available (if the cursor is pointing at either one of ability slots.) Just pick and choose from the list. Duplicate commands will only appear once. [For example, as I had mentioned earlier, that all 16 GFs have the 3 basic commands, GF, Magic and Draw. These commands will appear only once even if you have more than 1 GFs equipped.] Press Triangle once you are done. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 28. Where do General Caraway go after he had brought you to the Gateway? A: It is pretty funny that I got such e-mails more than twice ^_^;). After Caraway have move away from the Gateway, head towards the left side of the screen. You should be brought to the front screen where you see crowds and the gateway. Notice that there is no people on the left side of the crowd. Just walk down and exit from the screen. You will meet Caraway there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 29. Who is Squall's father? A: This may be a piece of spoiler [heck, anyway by typing out the FAQ, I had already spoiled the game...]. There is my evidence to support that Laguna Loire is Squall's father! A) If you re-visit Winhill, you will found out that the photo of the family (Laguna, Raine, "Squall" and Ellone) is missing. The photo is found at Raine's House [next to the pub] B) Laguna has probably left Squall in the hands of Edea before leaving for his journey to rescue Ellone. You had see sequences of Squall standing in the rain feeling bored and Laguna talking to Edea... (btw, this may be wrong as it is my own assumption) C) If you talk to Ward or Kiros, you make get more information leaked out about Squall and Laguna [that's a pretty good hint by the way...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 30. Have you heard any rumours about FF8? A: Definitely yes! Of course, FF8 is such a great RPG and there are also have some loopholes just like FF7 and so you can expect some rumours about the game. A) Getting Cloud Strife Well, I myself is also a fan of Cloud. But I don't have sufficient proof that Cloud is in the game. But based on gameshark, it is not possible to have Cloud. This always works btw. But here are some rumours [they seems a bit reasonable...] 1) Have 16 gameovers at the Island closest to Hell. Upon the 16th continue, Cloud will appear... My Reply: This is definitely not true! 2) During the battle against the Iron Clad [the BOSS at the missile base], you can mug an item from the BOSS which allows you to summon Cloud Strife! [Cloud will appears and do his Omnislash Limit Break!] My Reply: Haven't tested it yet as my party was too strong... I have killed that stupid Iron Clad with a few attacks... B) Getting GF Griever/ a hidden GF You can get GF Griever in Lunatic Pandora. You must have all the weapons, 666 items or something to that nature. Also in Balamb, next to Zell's house, an old man makes reference to an old story/ legend. My Reply: . About the ridiculous 666 item: This isn't true as it is impossible to have 666 of an item type. So give up your hopes... [That 666 items requirement is actually taken from Occult Fan III, which refers to GF Doomtrain ^_^; If you break the numbers up along with other issues, you should get 6x Steel Pipes, 6x Malboro Tentacles, 6x Remedy+] . An old man... Well, I guessed this may be partly right... I'm not sure about this anyway. But since half of the rumour is wrong, it is just as good as the rumour is false. C) Getting Seifer after Dollet Mission I know that there will be a lot of Seifer's fan hoping that this could be true. Well, I have recently received a rumour regarding this... Luckily for us, FAQ writers for FF8, Rinoa did not die in the game... Otherwise we may be facing problems like resurrecting Rinoa... *Phew* I have excluded some of rumours to save me from e-mails probing... BTW, here is a point of advice from me and that is don't be cheated by rumours. (Provided that there is sufficient proof to prove it... at least a screenshot of the rumour. Like showing Cloud fighting against any monster that's included in FF8.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 31. Why can't I equip Card Mod-RF on my character? A: You can't equipped that on a character. There are several types of abilities and below is a short summary on the abilities types: Type How to use it? Character You need to equip it to enable its effect. Go to Junction menu and choose the fourth tab, Abilities. GF Automatically takes effect once the GF has mastered the ability. Note that the learnt ability only applies to that GF, which has the ability in its slot. Junction It allows some of the Junction options to be enable on the Junction status screen. For example, if the equipped GFs does not have any Str-J, the Str option will be greyed out. There is no need to equip the ability, just equiped GF to enable its effect. Menu One of the abilities that can't be equipped. You can access this ability under Ability sub-menu of the main menu. [Card Mod-RF is a type of menu ability] Party Same as character ability, need to equip, followed the same method as character. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 32. Is it possible to defeat the BOSS at lower levels compared to the statistics that you have given in the FAQ? A: Of course, you don't need to go to that extreme ^_^;). This is one of the reasons which makes FF8 different from FF7. Monsters, including BOSSES get level up as your characters level up [in proportion to Squall's level.], which means the higher Squall's level is, the more HP or level will be the BOSS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 33. How do I get Mog's Amulet? A: This is one time that can only be achieved by playing the Choco World. Besides, I have stressed on this many times... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 34. How do I get more Rosetta Stones? A: To get more Rosetta Stones, you can either use the refinement method or search method. Rosetta Stones can be refined using a Menu Ability. [please refer to Menu abilities, FF8 Part II FAQ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 35. How do I get Zell's Armageddon Fist? A: This is actually a move that invented by one of FF8 gamers, Kaze Yagami [beats me why everyone choose to use to this name...]. It is actually a chain between Punch Rush, Booya, Punch Rush, Booya.... [I guess you should know that flow...]. It is named this, because of its killing effect. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 36. How do I exit from Ultimecia's Castle in Disc 4? A: A simple analogy... How do you exit from your home? Of course, through the door! or the window [unless you are Spiderman or theft, otherwise I have no comments ^_^]. Just go back to the main hall and exit the door. Go to the chain and choose any of the doors to get back to the world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 37. Must I followed the story sequence based on the walkthrough? A: YES! All except for World Tours [or sub-quest which other FAQ writers call it.]. If you don't follow in order, like going to Galbadia Garden before you have finished up with Timber story sequence, you will find Galbadia Soldiers surrounding the building. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 38. Does Ultimecia's castle contains every single enemy? A: YES! You can find virtually all the monsters that is available in the game. But some of them don't appear that frequently like Malboros, Tonberries and Elynoles. I have managed to encounter an Elynole on my trip up the clock tower... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 39. When and where is the best place to level up all your characters? A: It depends only on your character current level. IMO, I guess it is best not to stress on your character's current level, as certain enemies are really a killer even it is only a level 15 monsters. The area where you get most EXP is from the enemies in the Island closest to Hell and Heaven, don't know where it is? Refer to the maps found at my website ! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 40. No Alexander, No Doomtrain? --> Getting Remedy + A: Getting Doomtrain is one of hardiest feature in FF8, you need to get in pursuit of items and met its requirement to get it. First of all, you need to get all the requirements of 6x Steel Pipes, 6x Malboro Tentacles and 6x Remedy+ (!). After gotten the requirements, use the item "Solomon's Ring" to get GF Doomtrain. The key link between Alexander and Doomtrain is the requirement of Remedy+. If you don't have Remedy+, you can't get GF Doomtrain. To get Remedy+, you need to use Med LV Up [menu ability] to convert 60x Remedy [which can be bought from shops]. As for the other requirements, please refer to the walkthrough or FF8 FAQ Part II. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 41. Gilgamesh interrupted my fight against Adel and kill Rinoa! A: One comments: The gamer is really unlucky ^_^;) You really needs to depend on luck and pray hard that Gilgamesh does not appear. Actually, IMO, I guess you need to make sure that at least one of members has most of the HP as this reduces the appearance of Gilgamesh. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 42. How to get back Odin after I have gotten Gilgamesh? A: Sorry pals, as there is no way to get back Odin after Gilgamesh... Odin is already killed in half by Seifer in the battle at Lunatic Pandora [Disc 3], that's why Odin can never appear, beside its sword is already taken by Gilgamesh ^_^; so how is it going to attack? Besides in FF8, there is no lance for Odin... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 43. How does the Rare Item takes it effect? A: It is one of doubts which still remains a mystery for me... Typically, Rare Item is party ability and takes effect after you have finished the random battles and just increase the "chances" [ I don't how it was being measured, but according to my gameplay, it seems to give me more GF type items and rarer items, but decreases the rate of junk items (which is more cheaper...)] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 44. Why I have never found Selphie's Limit Break ? A: IMO, you need to take a lot of patience in getting this. The End appears about 1 out of 100 tries while using the Slots. You need to press "Do over" [1st option] and switch and switch... until you found the spell... But if you miss it, it WILL take you more longer to find it again in next try! Besides you can't use The End at your will since it is an instant killer spell! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 45. Is it possible to complete the game without all GFs? A: Of course, the completion of the game depends on your will. If you want to have an easy fight, I would recommend you to get all GFs. In other words, it is not necessary to get all GFs to complete the game. The aim of this walkthrough is just to give you a clearer picture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Important Notes Things can't be done without a gameshark/pocketstation: - Get Apocalypse magic before the fight against True form of Ultimecia. - Get another Magical Lamp besides the one you get it from Cid. - Get Ribbon/Mog's Amulet/Friendship item. - Rare GF Abilities such as Supt Mag-RF, Discount, Awarness, etc. Things that never can be done... - Enter towns in Disc 4 - Find the gateways to the chain road in front of Ultimecia's Castle before Disc 4. - Find the white SeeD Ship after you return from space visit. - Read the Girl Next Door (it is a junk item...) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, let's proceed onto this epic RPG journey.. _____ / 1.0 \_________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== Introduction - Story of Final Fantasy VIII ffviii_005 ======================================================================== My personal review of FF8 -------------------------- Well before I begin the speech.. I have 5 words to say "Final Fantasy VIII is great!". Indeed it is great.. for those whom can stand long time training, I guess your opinion will be different. As I gotten my US copy on the 10th of September, I was very eager to play and the game was simply a fantastic piece of work. As you guys know that I have replay this game more than 10 times for Japanese version, I have managed to did it for the NA version. The only key in completing the game, is your determination in stocking of spells, training and best of all, attention. The script of FF8 is really exciting and a couple of humorous jokes from characters. It also shows the development of characters in the game. The Junction System is easy to learn for NA version as there are online tutorials about it! The draw system seems a bit tiring but it is worth the try. There are also a couple of things that I did not try out in the Japanese version, such as getting Occult Fan III and Occult Fan IV, the bone quest at Dollet, recovering lost GFs, Zell's love quest, Obel Lake's Mystery at Morded Plains, Chocobo Forest Quests and much more. Here are the ratings of the categories: Storyline: 9 /10 - it is really great! Graphics: 7.5/10 - the graphics is not too nicely rendered unlike those PC screenshots as compared to the PSX screenshots. Music 7.5/10 - the soundtrack is nice and fantastic. Especially, Faye Wong's Eyes on Me! Game Play 7/10 - The Junction system is really good, if you managed to understand. There are sub quests such as the card game, chocobo forests, UFO.... more than 10 hours of leisure. For those whom own the Pocketstation, you can get to enjoy the Chocobo World sub quest.. Overall: 8.0 /10 - it really deserves it... Learning Curve: Medium - quite hard.. Otherwise, I don't have to come up with such a long FAQ... _____ / 1.1 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi folks, Final Fantasy VIII US version is finally out! The long eagerly awaited FF8 has finally arrived and we die-hard RPG fans can enjoy this epic RPG! It has been about 2 years since the release of Final Fantasy VII.(well, 7 months for those whom have brought the Japanese version) Here is the story of Final Fantasy VIII: A member of the Elite mercenary Squall is forced into the conflict beyond imagination. To survive, he must contend with a desperate rival, a powerful sorceress, and his own mysterious dreams. > Realistic detail characters and background enhanced by a breathtaking musical score. > An epic story based on the theme of love, set in a massive new world. > New Junction System allows characters to be customized with powerful magic spells drawn from enemies. > Nearly an hour of stunning motion-captured CG cinemas seamlessly integrated into the game play. ______________________________________________________________________ / \ |--------------------<<< Final Fantasy VIII Data >>>-------------------| | | |Genre: Role-Playing (RPG) | |Memory blocks requirement: 1 ~ 15 blocks | |Company: Squaresoft | | Square Electronic Arts. L.C.C | |Release Date: 9th of September 1999 | |Discs: 4 | |Support: Analog Control Compatible | | Vibration Function Compatible | |Age Group: Teen | | - Animated Violence | | - Mild Language | | - Suggestive Themes | | | |-----------------F i n a l F a n t a s y V I I I------------------| \_____________________________________________________________________/ _____ / 1.2 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Characters of Final Fantasy VIII ------------------------------------------------------------------------ These are the characters who will depart on your strange adventure... Well.. here is the character bestiary. I have also added the characters' Limit Break and Initial Weapon equipment info. List of Character Bestiary ______________________________________________________________________ /----------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Main Party | Dream Party | |----------------------------------|-----------------------------------| |1.2.1 Squall Leonhart | 1.2.7 Laguna Loire | |1.2.2 Rinoa Heartilly | 1.2.8 Ward Zaback | |1.2.3 Zell Dincht | 1.2.9 Kiros Seagul | |1.2.4 Irvine Kinneas | | |1.2.5 Selphie Tilmitt | | |1.2.6 Quistis Trepe | | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | Others | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| |1.2.10 Sorceress Edea |1.2.11 Seifer Almasy | |1.2.12 Fujin |1.2.13 Raijin | |1.2.14 Cid Kramer |1.2.15 Ellone | |__________________________________|___________________________________| \______________________________________________________________________/ M A I N P A R T Y _______ / 1.2.1 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S q u a l l L e o n h a r t ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 17 Sex: Male Height: 5'10" [177 cm] Birthdate: August 23 Blood Type: AB Weapon: Gunblade Limit Break: Renzoukuken Initial Weapon: Revolver Occupation: SeeD Mercenary (Balamb) Description: The story's hero unsociable and expressionless. The hero of the game, a cadet in the SeeD Special Forces attached to Balamb Garden. Antisocial and stone-faced. Besides his aloof personality, he is very self centred and a person who hates influenced deeply by strangers. _______ / 1.2.2 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ R i n o a H e a r t i l l y ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 17 Sex: Female Height: 5'4" [163 cm] Birthdate: March 3rd Weapon: Blaster Edge Limit Break: Combine Initial Weapon: Pinwheel Occupation: Princess of "The Forest Owls" Description: A beautiful and enigmatic woman, kind-hearted and driven to succeed. A cheerful girl who possesses a "mood-making" liveliness and gentleness that touches people without discrimination. She's honest about her feelings and readily speaks what she thinks. However, in time, she ends up becoming warped... By the way, Rinoa has a pet dog called Angelo. _______ / 1.2.3 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Z e l l D i n c h t ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 17 Sex: Male Height: 5'6" [167cm] Birthdate: March 17th Blood Type: B Weapon: Glove Limit Break: Duel Initial Weapon: Metal Knuckle Occupation: SeeD Mercenary (Balamb) Description: A master of comprehensive wrestling skills whom was admitted to the Garden. He has entered the Garden when he was only 13 years old out of admiration of his grandfather, who was an excellent soldier. He is the type who does everything with enthusiasm, but the reason is his weak point. However, at heart he is gentle and has a serious personality. _______ / 1.2.4 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I r v i n e K i n n e a s ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 18 Sex: Male Height: 6'0" [185cm] Birthdate: November 24th Blood Type: O Weapon: Shotgun Limit Break: Shot Initial Weapon: Variant Occupation: SeeD Mercenary (Galbadia) Description: A young man, well-liked by women who's strongest point is his marksmanship. A cadet at the Galbadia Garden, he self-styles himself as the "No. 1 gunslinger in the Garden" His shooting arm seems sure and he is the girls' favourite because he is full of confidence. He seems callous to simple men, but in truth, he is unexpectedly sensitive and seems to have a serious personality. _______ / 1.2.5 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S e l p h i e T i l m i t t ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 17 Sex: Female Height: 5'1" [157cm] Birthdate: July 16 Blood Type: B Weapon: Nunchaku Limit Break: Slots Initial Weapon: Flail Occupation: Trabia Cadet -> SeeD Mercenary (Balamb) Description: A naive girl with flightily nature and capable character. A girl with skilled personality to the extent that you can't believe that she's a student at the military academy. Usually she has a carefree way of speaking and is frequently disturbed by the pace of her surroundings. _______ / 1.2.6 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q u i s t i s T r e p e ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 18 Sex: Female Height: 5'6" [172cm] Birthdate: October 4 Blood Type: A Weapon: Whip Limit Break: Blue Magic Initial Weapon: Chain Whip Occupation: Instructor -> SeeD Mercenary (Balamb) Description: An Elite who serves as Squall's advisor. She has joined SeeD at the age of 15 and is now the guidance counsellor of Squall and his friends. In opposition to her cool spirit and strong facade, she gets depressed easily about trivial matters since she is unused to setbacks. D R E A M P A R T Y _______ / 1.2.7 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ L a g u n a L o i r e ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 27 Sex: Male Height: 5'11" [181 cm] Birthdate: January 3rd Blood Type: B Weapon: Machine Gun Limit Break: Desparado Initial Weapon: Machine Gun Occupation: Soldier --> Journalist --> President of Esthar Description: A hot-blooded man who fights with a pen instead a sword. Kind out of compassion for humanity, he's a man full of courage who helps the faint-hearted and crushes the arrogant. A journalist of military origins, he swapped his sword for a pen and fights boldly against the evils of the world. _______ / 1.2.8 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ W a r d Z a b a c k ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 25 Sex: Male Height: 217 cm Birthdate: February 25th Blood Type: A Weapon: Harpoon Limit Break: Massive Anchor Initial Weapon: Harpoon Occupation: Soldier --> Janitor --> Minister of Esthar Description: Ex-Galbadian soldier. He is one of Laguna's best pals. You can only use him in battles during Laguna's Dream Sequences. Don't look down on him, as he looks huge and scary. He has work as a janitor in the D-District Prison.. (funny guy huh?) _______ / 1.2.9 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ K i r o s S e a g u l ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 23 Sex: Male Height: 191 cm Birthdate: July 6th Blood Type: O Weapons: Daggers Limit Break: Blood Pain Initial Weapon: Katal Occupation: Soldier --> Minister of Esthar Description: Ex-Galbadian soldier. He is one of Laguna's best pals. You can only use him in battles during Laguna's dream sequence. He is rather a helpful lad in Laguna's friend. He is considered as Laguna's most concerning friend where he consults Laguna for his failure in love with a pianist called Julia Heartilly. O T H E R S ________ / 1.2.10 \______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S o r c e r e s s E d e a ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Edea, wife of Cid Kramer is the sorceress of the game. She possesses the great power of magic and is consider the best user when comes to magic. She is rather mysterious and secretive. As if she is final boss, you will find out soon..... Limit Break: Ice Strike Weapon: Magic. Occupation: Matron --> Sorceress --> Matron ________ / 1.2.11 \______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S e i f e r A l m a s y ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Age: 18 Sex: Male Height: 6'1" (188 cm) Birthdate: December 22nd Blood Type: A Weapon: Gunblade Limit Break: Cross Sword >> No Mercy Initial Weapon: Hyperion Occupation: Balamb Cadet -> Sorceress' Knight Description: A troublemaker who views Squall as his rival. A SeeD cadet who is treated as a problem child because he lacks composure and the ability to follow orders, even though he has the disposition to excel. On the other hand, he appreciates Squall's abilities highly and adamantly considers him a rival. ________ / 1.2.12 \_____________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- F u u j i n ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A groupie that usually mess around with Seifer and Raijin. She is really hot-tempered and no person whom you can mess with. Always kick Raijin's ankle when Raijin say something wrong.. She has a strong affection with powerful of the Wind. Weapon: Shuriken Elemental: Wind Occupation: Balamb Garden Discipline Committee ________ / 1.2.13 \_____________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- R a i j i n ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Although appearing huge and strong, this guy really has a brawn brain. Always laugh if he find something funny and of course always get kicked by the fury Fujin. He has a strong affection with the powerful of Thunder. Weapon: Pole Elemental: Thunder Occupation: Balamb Garden Discipline Committee ________ / 1.2.14 \____________________________________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C i d K r a m e r ---------------------------------------------------------------------- An influential man and a person whom is meant for extremely long talks He is the headmaster of Balamb Garden, Cid Kramer. As we know that Cid is a character that appears in all Final Fantasies.. but this Cid is not the battle-sort type. He has build up the Garden to produce training for the SeeD, the elite military mercenaries. Weapon: n/a Occupation: Headmaster of Balamb Garden ________ / 1.2.15 \______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ E l l o n e ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Addressed Laguna Loire as "Uncle Laguna". Have been in close relationship with Laguna since young. Living in a Pub found in Winhill with a close friend called Raine. Have the powers to bring people back to the past.. Currently under the protection by the Sorceress' SeeD. _____ / 1.3 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Changes between Japanese Version and English Version ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here are the changes that I have found after completing the game. There are rather a lot of changes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Control Configuration Changes Affects: All Discs I was really frustrated when I keep on pressing Circle while there is no response.. then I refer to my manual and I was really bluffed.. It is X that is the action button (p:). You can find new control configuration in the next section ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Online-Tutorial Affects: Disc 1 only Well, I guess Online Tutorials only last until Disc 1 ^_^;. You will be given Tutorials about junctioning, Squall's Renzokuken, Zell's Duel, Rinoa's Limit Breaks, Elemental Arts, Status Magic Junction, etc. It will be rather nice to pay attention to them.. if you are too lazy, Section 2.0 should answer most of your questions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. New name inputs Affects: Disc 1 only You can only change the names of these two characters.. Squall, Rinoa and her dog Angelo. You will be allow to input the following letterings - English (well, if you don't understand this, you won't be able to read the FAQ ^_^;) - Symbols ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. New Icons.. Affects: All Discs This rather interesting.. Icons are used to represent elementals shown by the Scan Analyse Screen and also there is a lot more changes in the GF menu icons. For example, in the Japanese version, the icon for Junction Ability represented by "J" however it is represented by a "UP" for the US. Fortunately the icons for items remain unchanged. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. New colouring for Gerogero Affects: All Discs Well, if you are observant enough (like me..), you will noticed that the colour of this monster, Gerogero (the monster that Fake President has morphed into) has changed from red to blue.. this also applies its cards. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. No more bugs for Centra Ruins. Affects: All Discs Hmm, this is good if you are very frustrated in getting the Odin. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Different draw spells at different areas... Affects: All Discs There are too many to emulate.. For example, in the Japanese version, you can get to draw Life from the draw point found in the main compound of Centra Ruins. Now instead, you will draw Drain from it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Junction Bug doesn't exist for North American version Affects: All Disc. Well, as the discs are free of bugs and it makes sense that it does not exists. ^_^; ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Re-Draw of GFs at Ultemicia Castle Affects: Disc 4 If you have forgetten to get the GFs that obtained through this method, you can re-draw them back in Ultemicia's Castle. Great if you want to get Eden from a easier boss, Tiamat instead of the Ultima Weapon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _____ / 2.0 \_________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== Basic Tutorial ffviii_006 ======================================================================== Here you will find broad guideline to guide you beginners in great players for this epic RPG game. If you already understood, skip this section and proceed to the main walkthrough. _____ / 2.1 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Basics stuff that you should know... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ <<< Playing the Game from the Beginning >>> Point the cursor at the first Option [NEW GAME] and enter your decision with the X button. You will need to press any button to skip the Staff Introduction Movie to proceed to the title screen. <<< Continue from Save Data >>> When you want to play using SAVE DATA to continue from the previous point, select the 2nd option [Continue] and press X. You will be brought to the Save Menu. You can only save up to a maximum of 15 slots Have fun with your Memory Card: If you view your Memory Card from the Playstation, you will find pictures of the characters in Final Fantasy VIII. Here is the list of the pictures. Thanks to Steven Juwono (squall_lh@hotmail.com) _______________________________________ /---------------------------------------| Slot | Picture | ----------------------------------------| 1 | Squall Leonhart | 2 | Zell Dincht | 3 | Irvine Kinneas | 4 | Quistis Trepe | 5 | Rinoa Heartilly | 6 | Selphie Tilmitt | 7 | Seifer Almasy | 8 | Sorceress Edea | 9 | Laguna Loire | 10 | Kiros Seagul | 11 | Ward Zaback | 12 | Raijin | 13 | Fujin | 14 | Cid Kramer | 15 | Angelo | _______|________________________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ <<< Changing Disc Warnings >>> As you proceed through the adventure. Do NOT turn off your Playstation Console. Just open the Playstation Lid and pop in the next disc and the game will automatically resumes itself. _____ / 2.2 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Playing the Game ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Main Menu is a very important section as it allows you to use items, view stats of your characters and GF, saving your game, adjust game settings, etc. Read this if you have any enquires about the game. << MAIN MENU >> Here is the brief explanation of the functions of the sub-headings of the main menu. Junction: Allows you to set up your Guardian Forces and abilities Item: Allows you to use items or rearranged your items Magic: Allows you to use and trade magic with other characters Status: Allows you to view the stats of your characters. GF: Allows you to view the Guardian Force's level and to develop your monsters' job skills. Abilities: Allows you to use the abilities learned by the GFs. Party Change: Allows you to change your party at the World Map or at the Save Point. Cards: Allows you to view the cards that you have. Configuration: Allows you to adjust your game settings. Tutorial: A very precise learning guide on how to play FF8. Save: Allows you to save your game. This option will only be selectable if you have approached a Save Point and at the World Map. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Diagram 2.2A: The Main Menu ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ____________________________________________________________________ |Help | | |__________________________________________________| Junction | |Status | | | Zell LV 22 HP: 2411 / 1922 | Item | |--------------------------------------------------| | |Status | Magic | | Squall LV 31 HP: 2415 / 2551 | | |--------------------------------------------------| Status | |Status | | | Rinoa LV 20 HP: 1100 / 1930 | GF | |--------------------------------------------------| | | Irvine Quistis | Ability | | LV 20 HP 977 LV 22 HP 1059 | | | --------- --------- | Switch | | | | | Selphie | Card | | LV 17 HP 824 | | | --------- | Config | | | | | | Tutorial | | | | | | Save | |__________________________________________________|_________________| _________________________________________________ | Play 24:15 | | || S.LV 30 | | B-Garden - Training Center || 446470 G | |_________________________________________________||_________________| Well, recently just discovered this... You can actually change your characters' formation. Squall is not necessary needed to stand in the middle. Just select the character that you wished to switch and you can have some fun! _______ / 2.2.1 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ J u n c t i o n M e n u ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Diagram 2.2B: Junction Menu _______________________________________________________________ | Junction Remove Auto Ability | Junction | |__________________________________________________|____________| _________ __________ | Photo | Squall | Command | | of | | Attack | | Squall | Lv 31 |^| | Magic | | | | GF | |_________| HP 2415 / 2551 | Item | _______________________________________________________|__________| | HP Blizzaga 2551 [ST-Atk] [ST-Def] [E-Atk] [E-Def] | | Str ------------- 78 Spd --------------- 25 | | Vit ------------- 20 Eva --------------- 2 % | | Mag ------------- 45 Hit --------------- 225 | | Spr ------------- 35 Luck --------------- 17 | |__________________________________________________________________| Meaning of Abbreviations - these are the abbreviations used by Squaresoft! _________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | Str | Strength | Hit | Hit % | | Vit | Vitality | Luck | Luck | | Mag | Magic | ST-Atk | Status Attack | | Spr | Spirit | ST-Def | Status Defense | | Spd | Speed | E-Atk | Elemental Attack | | Eva | Evasion/ Evade | E-Def | Elemental Defense | |________|_____________________|________|_________________________| What is their purpose? ** Strength ** This factor affects the attacking power of your character. The higher the stats, the more damage your character will inflict with the Attack Command. ** Vitality ** This factor effects the defensive power of your character. The higher the defensive stats, the lesser the amount of damage inflicted by your opponent. ** Magic ** This factor effects the magic attacking power of your character. The higher the stats, the more damage your character will inflict when using magic. ** Spirit ** This factor effects the magic defensive power of your character. The higher the stats, the lesser the amount of damage inflicted by your opponent when it uses magic. ** Speed ** This factor effect the speed of your time bar or ATB (also known Active Time Bar). The higher the stats, the faster the ATB is. ** Evasion/ Evade ** This factor effect the rate whether your character will escape from an enemy's attack [causing a MISS in the opponent's attack]. The higher the stats, the more chance your character will dodge from an attack. ** Hit ** This factor effect the rate whether your character will hit your opponent with the Attack Command. The higher the stats, the lesser chance that your character will miss an attack. Gunblades have 255% hit rate. ** Luck ** This one I not quite sure. But I think that it will effect the rate whether the Odin will appear. It also effect the rate whether your character could escape from status ailments such as death. If you have the luck stats of 100+, you will be able to see the Gilgamesh in between battles! I guess it also affects the critical hit rates. ** Status Attack ** This is similar to FF7's Elemental combo on your character's weapon Your character will inflict damage and also causes status ailments on your opponent. For example if you want to cause Sleep with your character attack, junction Sleep to your Status Attack with ST-Atk-J. The above-mentioned combo is the key to survive for this game. ** Status Defense ** I myself preferred this than status attack. This works like FF7's Elemental combo on your character's armor. Your character will receive protection against the status that you have junctioned. For example if you want your character to be protected against Confuse, junction Confuse to your status defense (ST-Def-J) ** Elemental Attack ** This is rather USELESS. If you want to do more damage against Fire- based monsters such as the Bomb, junction Blizzard to your junction as Blizzard works well against Fire. However, ice-based monsters will nullifies the attack, thus you are helping them to restore lost HP! The Elem-Atk is pretty helpful if you know about the BOSS beforehand. ** Elemental Defense ** This is much preferred against Elemental Attack. As you can received no damage from elementals or nullifies it and restore your HP. This ability could make your life easier. If you junction 100x Ultima to your Elemental defense, you will be able to nullify any kind of magic. For example if you want your character to protect well against Fire, junction Fire to the character's Elemental Defense. (Elem-Def-J) Well, since you already know what the abbreviations stands for, I will now proceed to the sub-menu headings J u n c t i o n ----------------------------------------------------------------------0 Once you have chosen Junction, you will have this menu. Press X and choose the "Junction" tap. The top tool bar will have the following options: Diagram 2.2C: Junction Tab ___________________________________________________ | | | Junction | < GF > < Magic > |_____________|_____________________________________ < GF > This allows you to set the GF monsters that you would like the character to use and this will lead to the Auto and Ability Menu. After selecting this command you will have the following screen: Diagram 2.2D: Guardian Force selection tab. ______________________________________________ | Well, let's get started. G.F Page No. 1 G.F Page No. 2 | Here is the layout of _________________ __________________ | all the GFs. [] |Quezacotl [] | |Brothers | | represents a character |Shiva | |Diablos | | has already picked the |Ifrit [] | |Carbuncle | | GF If you point the |Siren | |Leviathan | | cursor next to it, you |_________________| |__________________| | will see the name of | the character that the G.F Page No. 3 G.F Page No. 4 | GF is currently _________________ __________________ | equipped with. Press |Pandemona | |Bahamut | | D-Pad right or left |Cerberus | |Cactaur | | to change pages. Press |Alexander | |Tonberry | | X to select the GF and |Doomtrain | |Eden | | Press Circle after you |_________________| |__________________| | you have equipping your | Guardian Forces ______________________________________________| --> Auto Menu. < Magic > If you have acquired Junction abilities [icons with "UP" sign], you will find that you can junction magic to bolster your character's stats. This is rather difficult and here is a part of it. Press X and you will see the Magic Inventory Pages on the right of character's photo. Diagram 2.2E: Magic Inventory fused with Junction Menu A portion of the screen... ------------------------------------------- ________ __________________ | | |Magic P1 Num | I have "cut" the screen to a small | Photo | |Fira 100 | part as what I am saying will be | of | |Blizzard 100 | focusing on within this area. For | Squall | |Thunder 100 | example if you want to junction 100x |________| |Blizzaga 100 | Fira to your Strength [provided that ________|__________________| you have acquired Strength J]. Select | <-- Elem-Atk/Elem Def | Str and select the magic from the |___________________________| character's magic pages [1~8]. Press Left and you will see the following screen [below]. You will also see a "[]" next to the magic. Elemental Attack/ Defense Junction Window ------------------------------------------ ___________________________ Tip: Press Left to change back to |<-- ST Atk/Def ABILITY >| Status chart. Press Right to |___________________________|_____________________ Return.. | Fire 100% Poison 0 % | Elem-Atk ----- | Ice 0 % Wind 0 % | |>Elem-Def Fira | Thunder 0 % Water 0 % | Elem-Def ----- | Earth 0 % Holy 0% | |__________________________________| Status Attack Junction Window ------------------------------------------ ___________________________ Tip: Press Right to change back to | Elem Atk/Def-->| Elemental chart. |___________________________|__________________________________ | Death 0% Zombie 0% | |>ST-Atk Silence | Poison 0% Sleep 0% | ST-Def ----- | Petrify 0% Slow 0% | ST-Def ----- | Blind 0% Stop 0% | | Silence 100% Confuse 0% | | Berserk 0% Drain 0% | |_______________________________________________| Status Defense Junction Window ------------------------------------------ ___________________________ Tip: Press Right to change back to | Elem Atk/Def-->| Elemental chart. |___________________________|__________________________________ | Death 0% Zombie 0% | |>ST-Atk Silence | Poison 0% Sleep 0% | |>ST-Def Confuse | Petrify 0% Curse 0% | ST-Def ----- | Darkness 0% Slow 0% | | Silence 0% Stop 0% | | Berserk 0% Confuse 100% | | Drain 0% | |_______________________________________________| Occasionally, if you junction 100x of a spell to the characters' attributes defense, you will see a green-colour star. This marks that the spell being cast on the equipped character will be absorbed. A green star marks 100% protection against the spell [which means it does 0 HP damage.] Over 100% will instantly absorb the spell. Thanks to fuuie for his precise guide on magic junctioning. R e m o v e ----------------------------------------------------------------------0 Removes all the spells are set using the Junction Menu. Your character stats will change back to it's original. The numbers of the stats also decreases. You will be given a message box, if you have junctioned magic to the character's maximum HP through HP-J. Removes all equipped Commands [GF command, Magic command, Item command, Draw command, GFs command such as Recover set that is by using the Junction Option. And of course the magic spells that are junction to your character's stats. It removes the equipped GFs. This option works well when you want to transport all GFs to another character. A u t o ----------------------------------------------------------------------0 Optimises the spells by configuring according to the attacking power. The character's attacking stats are the highest by using the best spells to Str-J (if available) Optimises spells for the highest magic attack and defense. Junction better magic [also giving you better results] to the Mag-J (if available) Optimises spells for highest defensive power. Junction the better magic [also giving you better results] to the character's Vit-J (if available) A b i l i t y ----------------------------------------------------------------------0 This option is the only way to configure what other actions, that your character could perform besides the normal attacks and special attacks. Once you have equipped a GF, you will have 4 four commands being set. Here is the list of "Basic" commands [all GFs have it and mastered them!] It allows your characters to cast the spells that you have drawn from opponents or Draw Points. BTW, you must have the draw command in order to draw magic! It allows you to summon the Guardian Forces. There you will see the HP of the GF replacing the HP of the commanding character. There is a time bar in blue. The monster will automatically being summoned as all the blue bar has been used up. This can be cancel if the monster's HP reaches zero, being under Confuse/Silence/Sleep/Berserk status. |One of the most important commands used in the game. With this command, |you can "draw" magic such as Fire, Fira and much more from enemies. |NOTE: You must have this command in order to draw magic from the Draw | Points [purple translucent bubbles]. |----[Stock] |Saves the magic for later use. Up to the maximum number of 9 spells |that can be drawn, this will depend on the level of your opponent, the |level of your character and your luck. It will work better if you tap |X repeatedly (it works for me..) | |----[Cast] |One charge can be drawn in this way, but the spell will immediately |expelled. The spell is being used at half of the damage. But this |situation is good for if you want to cast a spell that you have not |drawn before. There is a high possibility of failure for you to draw |hidden spells from enemies. It allow you to use items such as Potions, Phoenix Downs when engaged in combat. These are pretty handy when your character is unable to use magic [e.g. being silenced]. Also allow you to summon some special monsters or guardian forces such as the Phoenix and Moomba. For the usage of other commands, refer to Part II for more details. The Basic Junctioning of Commands. ---------------------------------- This is rather similar compared to the Japanese version. It is just that I have illustrated in a simpler manner. After you have firstly selected the desired GF to junction with, press Triangle and you will be brought to the Auto screen [if you have magic]. Press Triangle again and you will be brought to Ability Screen and it should look something like ASCII art below. Please note that all the list of abilities are not the permanent list as you can alter the abilities using Amnesia Greens. _________________ ___________________ | Commands | |Commands P1 | Of course, this isn't the | Attack | |! Magic | full screen ^_^;). You can |. Magic | |! Item | list of commands on the right |. Draw | |! Draw | side if the pointer is being |. Treatment <| | |! Defend | located at any of the command |_________________| |! Devour | slots. Each character is only | Ability | |! Revive | entitled to have 3 commands. |. | |! Treatment <|| If you observe carefully, |. | |! Kamikaze | noticed that none of other |. | | | abilities are found in the |. | | | list. |_________________| |___________________| The Basic Junctioning of Abilities ---------------------------------- Here you will find the abilities lists. I have decided to add an ASCII diagram to make my explanation easier. On the list, you will find ALL the characters' abilities (c) and party abilities (p) that is found within the GFs EQUIPPED. There is however one special ability that you need to take note of... Mug. This ability will causes the "Attack" to be changed to "Mug" as shown below. If you disarm "Mug" and you will find that the "Mug" has switched back to "Attack". There is other notes of these abilities. You will find these abilities appear on the right-hand side of the slots if the cursor is pointing at any of the ability slots. _________________ ___________________ | Commands | |Ability P1| This section shows the list | Mug | |c Str Bonus | of abilities on the right. | . Magic | |c Mag Bonus | The number of slots will | . Draw | |c Vit Bonus | differ a bit whether the GF | . Treatment | |c Spr Bonus | has Ability x3 or Ability x4 |_________________| |c HP Bonus | If the GF does not have any | Ability | |c Mug <|| of them, then it means it |. Mug <|| |c Str +60% | has only 2 abilities slots as |. | |c Mag +60% | a default for the 16 GFs that |. | |p Move-Find | are found with abilities. |. | |p Rare Item | |_________________| |___________________| _______ / 2.2.2 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I t e m ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Items apparently are one of the most important factors in FF8. They will help you to restore HP, cure status disorder and helps in battles, allow GFs to learn new abilities, get GFs etc. I have classified them into six major groups MEDICINE : Healing items such as Potions, Phoenix Downs and Elixirs. JUNK : Items such as M-Stone Piece, Magic Stone and Screws. These items cannot be use through the item command, however some of them provide some Limit Breaks for Quistis. These items are also important for Weapon Upgrading. They can also refine into magic through Magic Refinement Menu Abilities like T-Mag RF. You can't view items such as Naughty Magazine as it is a junk item. GF : Item used in restoring GF's lost HP or Life and allows GFs to learn new abilities. Provide that you have enough space.. BATTLE : Items that are only useable through the item command. One good example is the Gyshal Greens. FIELD : Items that are group-based type, and only useable at Save Points, examples are Tents, Pet Houses and Cottages. BOOKS : Useful booklets which tells you requirements on Weapon Upgrading, new moves for Rinoa and new moves for Zell. Press X to view them. AMMO : These items are only use battles through Irvine's Limit Break, Shot. Most of them can be gotten through Ammo-RF Drawing a full ASCII Art of the Item menu requires time, so I have only draw out the Tool Bar. Diagram 2.2F: Item Menu __________________________________________________________________ | Use Rearrange Sort Command | Item | |_______________________________________________________|__________| This will enable you to use the items directly from the item menu. Only healing items such as Potions can be used from here. You can also view books, activate the item, Magical Lamp to fight the Diablos from here! To summon GF Doomtrain, use the Solomon's Ring through this command. [make sure you have met the requirements. You can also use items to let Quistis to learn special moves, improve GF compatibility by using GF compatibility items, upgrade character's stats with Str Ups and allows you to view booklets like Occult Fan I ~ IV. Allow you to arrange the items in your preferred way. Doing this will be much easier while in searching for the items that you wished to use. You can arranged the items by switching places and placing them in a blank space. There are about 25 item pages. This will cause the computer to arrange the items. Useable and important ones will be the top of the menu, while those unusable ones will be arranged at the lower section. Practically it is arranged in this order: [MEDICINE]-[GF]-[BATTLE]-[FIELD]-[AMMO]-[JUNK]-[BOOKS] This section allows you to arrange what you want to appear at the item pages [through item commands] Allows you to arrange the items in your own preference. Well looks something like this: ________________________ |ITEM P1 NUM. | To change it's position, just simply |Potion 100 | the item on the top left screen and select |Phoenix Down 20 | another item [the spot where you want to |Remedy 6 | place the first item] There are about 10 |Gyshal Greens 1 | pages for items. You can use stones such |________________________| as Holy Stone as you are casting Holy! _______ / 2.2.3 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ M a g i c ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Magic apparently is an important factor in battles. Magic does decent amount of damage and some does massive amount of damage to a group of enemies, e.g. the Ultima Magic. Well, here is the ASCII Toolbar of the Magic Menu. ______________________________________________________________________ | Use Exchg All Rearrange | Magic | |___________________________________________________________|__________| Allows you to use magic from the menu directly. NOTE: You can't use attacking magic such as Thunder, Fira, Blizzaga, Aero, Ultima, Protect, etc. You can only use all healing magic except for Regen. Usable magic will have white-colour fonts. |Allows you to trade magic even a particular member is not currently in |your present party. There are a total of 3 commands from this section | |----[Give All] |Gives all the amount of a particular magic from an existing character |to the selected character in the lower row. Firstly select your |character and then select the magic spell you want to trade and then |select the character you want to give to and select the space where |you want to put the magic [All the amount of the current magic will be |given to the other character, e.g. If Squall has 3 Cure magic and you |trade Cure with Quistis, Quistis will have all the 3 Cure magic] |REMOVE MAGIC!!! by Mark Andrews. Press Square to move the whole stack. |Note: upon removing the magic, you can't get them back! | |----[Take All] |Gives the top character to receive the amount of a particular spell |from the character at the bottom row. E.g. Squall is the top character, |and Quistis is the lower character. Select Quistis and the spell you |want to trade to Squall. Squall will have all the selected spell that |Quistis originally has. | |----[Split] A better command. This option allows you to specify the number of magic that each of the character will receive. It is NOT necessary for that character to have that spell in his/her own magic inventory. Press UP to increase and DOWN to decrease. Allows the above character to receive all the magic from the bottom character. Very useful if you want to transfer all the spells from a character whom isn't in your party to the other character. Well, I simply love this as it save you the trouble for getting magic for ALL characters and you need to get magic for ONLY three characters. Save 50% of your time. A very common command used in arranging placing your magic in order for easy access during combat. Each character has 8 magic pages for Magic. To remove magic, press Square to discard it! [you will remove the entire lot..] ___________________ |MAGIC P1 NUM | Manual |Ultima 45 | Attack . Restore . Indirect |Thundaga 100 | Restore . Attack . Indirect |Firaga 100 | Restore . Indirect . Attack |Triple 100 | Indirect . Attack . Restore |___________________| Indirect . Restore . Attack _______ / 2.2.4 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S t a t u s ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This menu allows you to view the various abilities of your characters. Press the X button to open the Status Window. You can switch your characters with L1 or R1 buttons. <<<< Status 1st Window >>>> ___________________________________________ |Help | Status | |__________________________________|________| | ______ _________ | ||Photo | Squall |Command | | || of | Lv 7 | Attack | | ||Squall| HP: 486 / 486 | | | ||______| ____|_________| | | Current EXP: 6500p | Revolver | | | Next Level: 500p |______________| | | Str 17 Spd 21 | | Vit 8 Luck 10 | | Mag 6 Eva 1% | | Spr 5 Hit 255% | |___________________________________________| This allows you to get to know your character's basic abilities points like your character's name, level, current HP vs. its Maximum HP, the amount of EXP your character has gained, the experience points needed to reach the next level, attributes, the weapon that they are currently equipped with and the ability that they have acquired. <<<< Status 2nd Window >>>> Elemental/Status Chart This allows you to view the character's resistance against elements such as Poison and Blizzard. It also allows you to view their resistance against magic that causes status disorder such as Sleep and Blind. Occasionally you will see a star at your character's Elemental Defense stats. That means that your character can nullifies that kind of elemental damage or protect from the status ailment 100%! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elemental Resistance Chart ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ________________________________________________ | | | | Fire | Poison | | Ice | Wind | | Thunder | Water | | Earth | Holy | |______________________|_______________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Elemental Chart Explanation ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fire : Fire magic is weak against Fire-based monsters, but is good against Cold/Ice/Water-based monsters. Ice : Ice magic is weak against Cold/Ice/Water-based monsters, but is pretty good against Fire-based monsters. Thunder : Thunder elemental is weak against Thunder-based monsters, but great against mechanical beasts. Well, common sense, you will get electric shock as metal conducts electricity. Earth : Earth elemental is useless against flying creatures but great against standing opponents except for Earth-based monsters. Poison : Poison elemental is useless against mechanical beast but great against humans except for Poison-based monsters. Wind : Wind elemental is great against flying creatures, but weak against wind-based monsters. Sometimes, Wind does not work well against flying creatures like Thrustaveis Water : Water elemental is great against monsters located at desert and mechanical beasts. Water works well against Fire-based monster. Holy : Holy elemental works well against the undead ["false HP"]. Cure is an example of Life/Holy Magic. If you junction this to your character's Elemental Attack.. heee.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Status Disorder Resistance Explanation ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ________________________________________________ | | Zombie | | Death | Sleep | | Poison | Slow | | Petrify | Curse | | Darkness | Stop | | Silence | Confuse | | Berserk | Drain | |________________________|_______________________| * Curse only appears under the ST-Def-J screen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Status Disorder Chart ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Death: Your character will be killed instantly, HP drops to zero. Very damaging. Instant KO Status Poison: A green cloud appears on head of your character. HP drops in chunks as the character reaches his turn. This status aliment also occurs in the field and the battle. Petrify: The character becomes a solid stone and ATB stops [which means that you can't used that character.] Game over if all characters are petrified. Darkness: A black cloud surrounds the forehead of your character. Your character will misses his/her attacks frequently. Hit rate decreases tremendously. Silence: A tiny bubble speech that says "..." Your character can only use Attack Command and the GF's Abilities Command. Berserk: Steam rushes out from the red-hot character. You will lost the control of the effected character as the character just attacked with the ATTACK command. Zombie: The affected character will turn greenish and becomes an undead and causes them to be weak against healing magic or life magic. Sleep: The character's ATB will stop and "zzzz" appears from the character. The character will only awake when under attack or a Remedy or Esuna is used on him/her Curse: The colour of the character darkens and thus ATB bar slows down. [There isn't any magic that you can junction to your Elementals attack, that's reason why this status is being left. Cast Aura to remove the status ailments. It also prevents your character from using his/her Limit Breaks. Slow: The ATB gauge [or known as the Time Bar] moves slower, changing purple in colour. [about at 1/2 the time of the regular ATB..] Stop: The ATB gauge freezes as the effected character stopped moving [even the super hyperactive Zell stops shaking!] Confuse: Your character turns around in circles and will attack your party even himself/herself! Drain: Finally found the usage. This depends on character's defense against life drain attacks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ <<<< Status 3rd Window >>>> Allow you to glance through the GF that the characters have currently being junctioned. Also allow you to view the GF's compatibility. towards the equipped character. The GF affection ratings can be improved by using GF affection items such as Dynamo Rock, refer to Part II for more details. GF affection could also be improved by summoning a couple of times. Regular summoning of a particular GF will improves affection with the character. The higher the compatibility the faster the GF will be summoned. <<<< Status 4th Window >>>> This allows you to view the names of the character's Limit Breaks and set to auto-function. You can press Square to access it. * Limit Break For the case of Squall, you have trigger into the box, you will receive the amount of hits from 0 to perfect. If Squall has more than one hit, he will then perform his Limit Breaks. For Zell, you have to input keys to inflict more damage to your enemy. If you want the input to be done automatically, move the cursor to ON, and decide with the X button. Refer to Part II for more details. - TIP: You could press Square to jump to this status window. _______ / 2.2.5 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ G u a r d i a n F o r c e s ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GF stands for Guardian Forces. Guardians are just the summoned monsters from FF7 and FFT [Final Fantasy Tactics]. They possesses powerful and devastating magic. Use them wisely. There is a difference between FF7 and FF8 is that now summoning a guardian will requires time as a blue bar will overleap your present time bar and the HP of the Guardian will be covering the character's HP. Last of all, summoning a monster does not required to use MP anymore! Select your monsters and this will lead to the Learn sub-menu. |As you battles, you will gain AP, which is mentioned in Part II. AP is |similar to FFT's job points, which allows you, gain when the job is |being completed. Guardians also gain EXP to level up and AP to gain |new abilities. In this screen, you will be given a lot of list, which |the GF required to learn and how much AP is needed. | |--- [Junction] | Allows spells to be selected through the Junction and Magic menu. | This will increases you character's statistics. The more amount of | magic you have, the greater your character's stats will increase. | Note: NOT all characters can be boosted by the same spells. Auto | effect when a GF is being junctioned to the character. |----[Command] | This can be selected through the Junction's sub-menu Ability | for the use in combat. More commands in other words. A character | can have up the maximum 4 commands [including the Attack command] |----[Character] {C} | This can be selected through the Junction's sub-menu Ability | but these are selected on the bottoms abilities window. Your | character's ability will automatically in effect when selected. | You can get better results, such as equip Str +40% and Str +20% | This will result that the character's Strength increases by 60%. |----[Guardian Force]{GF} | No need to be selected. In fact, it will take effect once they | were learnt. Boost is a crucial ability |----[Menu] {M} Menu abilities can be selected directly from the main menu. Different Guardian Forces will serve different functions. The symbols will be seen in the icon next to the ability. Details about these abilities will be described in detail in Part II _______ / 2.2.6 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A b i l i t y ------------------------------------------------------------------------ During the beginning of the game, the option is being greyed out. To use this menu, learn GF's Menu abilities and you will be able to use it. This menu allows you to make items such as Ammo for Irvine and Tools. It also allows you to change card into items. Refer to Part II for more details. Just simply select the menus... BTW, this section is your only hope to upgrade your weapons in Disc 4. Once you open up the menu, you should get a list of the following menu abilities: ___________________________ |Ability P1 | |Call Shop | |Call Junk Shop | |Familiar* | |Haggle* | |Sell High* | |T Mag-RF | |I Mag-RF |F Mag-RF | |Forbid Mag-RF | _______ / 2.2.7 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S w i t c h ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Exchanging of party members can only be done at a Save Point or at the World Map. This option is available after Rinoa has joined you. Just select a party member at the stock and choose the character that you want to replace with. Sometimes the characters are compulsory, the picture of the character will grey out [which means that you can't have that character's misplaced.] SPECIAL ABOUT FF8 There are special sequences called Laguna's Dream sequences, where you will be transported to the past and you will sometime sees an arrow like which present character [part of Squall's team] is replacing whom in the past [part of Laguna's team, Kiros and Ward] for Laguna Dream Sequence # 4. _______ / 2.2.8 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ C a r d ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For this section, you will be able to view the card. The card origins from a psychic called Orlan where they will be able to play cards. To know more about the rules, refer to Part II or the Tutorial Section. BTW, here is a brief idea explaination of the Triple Triad. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scott's Explaination on the card game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Objective of the Card Game: To own as many cards as possible Accessories: Each player requires a minimum of 5 cards to start a card game. Next press Square button to talk to a person to play a card game. The card game is being played on 3 squares by 3 squares board [i.e. a total of 9 squares]. The objective is turn over the opponent's card to your side. To do this, your card's attacking number must be larger as compared to your opponents' defending number. Each card contains 4 numbers, and the numbers ranged from 1 to A. However as you can into later part of the game, you experience intermediate rules being added to the card game, and the game will become much tougher, refer to FAQ Part II, where details of the card game are being explained in detail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [a] [b] _______ _______ Let's says Card [b] is the attacking card.[i.e. | 9 | | 9 | second card to be placed on the 3x3 board] As | 8 5 | | 7 2 | the left number of card [b] (which is number 7) | 1 | | 3 | is greater/bigger than card [a]'s number 5. |_______| |_______| Well, if you don't understand a dime of what I am talking, let's zoom into the focus: DEFENSE ATTACK ______ ______ | | | | Clear? As you see the attack side's no. 7 is | 5 | | 7 | definately larger than 5. Remember that in FF8, | | | | the largest is A [which represents 10] and the |______| |______|gamga smallest is 1. SCENARIO A ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______ BTW, take note on how the attacking is done. | 9 | [a] You can attack the side from four directions | 8 5 | DEFENSE based on where the defending card is being | 1 | placed. |_______| Note the numbers that are involved in this _______ scenario. It's card [a]'s 1 and card [b]'s 9. | 9 | Simple huh? | 7 2 | [b] I guessed you may think what will happened if | 3 | ATTACK the SCENARIO C happens? Will Card [b] be able to |_______| turn the card over? SCENARIO B ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [b] [a] Before I begin my explaination, which are the ATTACK DEFENSE cards that you should be focus on? _______ _______ [a] 2 & 8 [b] 9 & 9 [c] 7 & 5 | 9 | | 9 | | 7 2 | | 8 5 | It is card [b]'s 2 and card [a]'s 8. | 3 | | 1 | For this case, no cards will be flipped over! |_______| |_______| Unless [b] is defending card [if this happens [b] will turn over to [a]'s side.] SCENARIO C ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______ / 2.2.9 \_______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ C o n f i g ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can now change your settings during the game, but NOT during battles, except for ON/OFF the vibration if you have a Dual Shock controller. Here is the section down the list: 1. Sound: You can switch between Stereo and Mono 2. Controller: You can set the settings on Normal [default] or Customize [assign the buttons by yourself] 3. Cursor: Cursor is automatically being placed at the last command. [Initial or Memory] 4. ATB: Switch between [Active] where they flow normally or [Wait] where the time bar stops automatically while selecting a command. 5. Scan: Choosing the second option, the labeller will appear for those monsters/enemies that have been labelled once. 6. Camera Movement: Allows you to regulate from 0 % to 100 %. Higher percentage, the better the camera view is. 7. Battle Speed: Regulates the speed of the battle. 8. Battle Message: Regulates the speed of messages during battle. 9. Field Message: Regulates the speed of messages during on the field. 10. Analog Input: Regulates the reaction speed of the stick input 11. Vibration: Turns the vibration ON/OFF (applies to only Dual Shock controllers.) The controllers vibrates when you are summoning GFs. It is feeling good to have a message. ________ / 2.2.10 \______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ T u t o r i a l ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A precise guide in playing FF8. Teach you to play FF8, explain on how play the card games. The TEST will only be selectable after you have received the first progress sheet [the time when Squall is officially an SeeD member.] This section is crucial when comes to getting money for your games ^_^;) Basic Operation Battle Operation Online Help - you will get more sections as you progress Card Game Rules - how to play the card game! TEST - the SeeD test about 30 or so and you can also do a re-test! Review - The test reviews. Icon Explanation - Squaresoft has used a lot of icons in this game.. Information - more and more as you play card players like CC Card. Also includes Magician Joker and The Battler Masters at D-District Prison. This is where you find the Battle Meter and GF information, etc. If you are new to FF8, remember to go through this section! ________ / 2.2.11 \______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S a v e ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saves your game in a Memory Card. Well you can used two memory cards for your console.. But I would recommend the normal 15 blocks memory card for the others are very unstable. _____ / 2.3 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Basic Configuration ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here you will find the basic configuration of FF8. [PSX] **** Direction Pad **** Field Screen 1) Moves your character in the Field Screen or in the World Map screen. 2) Select your options / messages 3) Select items while in a shop Menu Screen: 1) Moves the cursor. It is used to switch attack, defense status and Junction attribute attacks / Defense menus when Junction Magic is present from the Junction Menu Battle Screen: 1) Use to move your cursor to select your commands during combat. **** Start button **** Field Screen 1) Use to pause the game and provides the Help Function and use to turn on/off the vibration Menu Screen 1) N/A Battle Screen 1) Use to pause the game and provides the Help Function and use to turn on/off the vibration **** Select Button **** Field Screen 1) Turns on the World Map when you have a vehicle. Menu Screen 1) N/A Battle Screen 1) Turn off the command menu display when being pressed only. **** X Button **** Field Screen 1) Use to talk to people 2) Use to attempt to draw magic from Draw Points 3) Selecting your