On; FFVIII
 

I am starting a new Final Fantasy 8 file, and was wanting to try something a little different.

FF8 is known in part for the unique ability to junction magic to stats, effectivly replacing armour/weapons in that respect. Also, the leveling system differs as the game's enemies gain levels as your party does. I was told of a strategy wherein not leveling up was a primary aspect, but I'm unsure how to execute it, becuase fighting loads of battles seems to be the only way to gain AP for GF abilities, a by-product of which is leveling up - quickly, I might add.

So... any clues, anyone?

Also; thoughts on continuation of the FF8 story? FF7 get's 'AC' and a slew of other game sequels... 8 was popular, although to a far smaller degree... Is it possible that it might receive the sequel treatment?

FF8 isn't hard so you don't need to limit yourself. If you want to play the gamethe smartest way you can, what you do is you play the game and level yourself to lvl 99 (instead of 100) so that Ultemecia will be at lvl 90 and you will be lvl 99 when fighting her. All enemies in the game 'level' by 10 so when you hit something divisable by 10, that's what level the monsters will be for the next 10 levels (if you're level 65, then all the Monsters are lvl 60). If you level to lvl 100, she and all the other enemies will become lvl 100. However, leveling to lvl 99 will be fine and you won't miss any important skill in that last lvl (should have all the skills you need before lvl 70 anyway).

But again, the game isn't hard. First time through, I leveled all the way to 100 and beat the game just fine. I even leveled up about 10 levels before the first mission (spider boss) and still got one level below thetop you can get on the SeeD rank.

You can draw magic and GFs to a maximum amount without killing them. Of course, you have to kill A FEW, but given a few dozen horribly long battles you can have every character junctioned with the best magic using your GF abilities of converting lower draws to higher draws.

For instance, in my most recent game I just got past Ifrit and my Squall has 100 Firaga junctioned to his Strength, but he isn't very high level (though I don't really mind leveling either).

Use Quezacotl's "card" ability on all enemies and you can get AP but no experience.

Also, Cactuars are a very good source of AP. when (if) yoyu have all the GF's you want to get, go there, junction them all to your party, and for every one you beat that's 20 AP (although the critters run fast). They don't give much XP either, which is good for smaller leveling.

Regardless of leveling up though, there is no way that you can avoid the first 12 levels. Other than that you can avoid with things like ENC-NONE.

There probably won't be. With FFX-2 flopping and AC making a billion bucks an hour (or something), then they are just gonna ride the FF7 horse until it's pregnant. The FF8 story doesen't appeal to people who aren't mature enough for games based on romance. FF8 was too early for it's time, so it was pushed under the rug. If you don't like FF8, you probably have not played it (or you are a Cloud/Aeris/Sephy fanboy/girl, in which case, you need a daiper change).

Besides, they might be able to make a sequal based on the Rinoa=Ultimecia theory but it would probably end up butchering it.

Ultimately, it falls down to magic and GF abilities. My theory is that your Magic stat affects your ability to draw magic from monsters.

Later on disc 3 when you finally get the vehicle to end all vehicles, you can go to Cactuar Island where the Cactuars give you a whopping 20 AP per kill. Squall's maximized (even when blind) Accuracy guarentees at least one kill per fight and they fall rather readily to GFs.

A lot of the good spells for junctioning are more safely earned from magic refining. Still, some can be earned from battles if you're hardcore enough (like drawing Demi, Holy, and Flare from Diablos).

But, when it comes down to it, the one with the strongest magic for junctioning and the GF abilities usually stands on top, especially if they have the lowest levels. You can get a lot of items you might need for magic refining by card modding if you feel like playing Triple Triad a lot.

Trust me. I've played this game all the way through about a gajillion different times. I'm not looking for an easy way to beat it, just a different way to.

Good tip. Thanks.

I actually figured out what it was I wanted to do;

Since the monster's level will be based on the level of my party, and my Squall is leveled up much higher than my other charecters (He's at 20 now, with Zell coming in a far 2nd at 14, and Selphie at level 8) Squall will then have much easier kills. What this means for me, is that I can have my other two charecters kill themselves (0 HP). That way, they gain no EXP, or AP for their GFs.

I then re-equip their GFs to Squall - now Squall has all the GFs who will all gain the same amount of AP during battles. Squall levels up, but no one else does, and my GFs still get to learn all of their abilities.

With all of my other charecters at low levels, but Squall ultra-powerful, most or all battles are a breeze. PLUS! Most-to-all of my GF abilities are equiped to those low-level charecters, meaning I can up their stats with high-level magic, making them far more powerful than they would normally be at such low levels. Have them summon a few times to up their GF compatibility, and they're ready to start running away from all battles except those now-easy bosses after stealing magic and items! Whoo!

I love triple triad. Feel like playing me sometime?

That theory is almost the only thing that makes the love story interesting. Although Sqaure refuses to comfirm things like that, it's amazing how much is insinuated in the script if you look at many of Rinoa's lines, and the circumstances of Ultemecia's rise to power.

My take on it, is that while there is a little conflicting info - like how far into the future Ultemecia is, vs. how old Rinoa could reasonably age to, a lot of it is somewhat non-specific or might even be chalked up to mistranslation... the essential connection between Ultemecia and Rinoa is unchanged... I mean, she ENDS the game with those powers, they dont go away.

I could really go for an FF8 movie. Even a game sequel. Something. Rinoa is teh hotn3ss./

Final Fantasy 8 is not hard at all... with just some smart thinking you can be invencible in any battle... (especially if the opponent has Draw - Cure or Cura or Curaga )

Build up your HP with junction and massive Draws during battle, keep someone in your group as a magic user, someone else as a item user, and Squall with most GF's and everyhting else you like, put someoen in yor group to Draw spells, and someone to cure everybody... and there... sweet invencibility...

Not so much of a challenge... also... i felt that the Discs are all short (Content-wise)... as the sidequests and laguna Story aint all that... its more like a "StraightFoward Action-Romance interactive Novel" than a RPG per se...

I don't think they could make a sequel or prequel to FFVIII simply because FFVIII was only popular (in the FFVII/X sense) in Japan. FFVIII was just as popular as FFVII was when it came out in Japan. But the same didn't happen in America. I think that's why they're making so much FFVII sequels, prequels, remake rumors, because they know anything FFVII will sell in both countries.

Also, the end of FFVIII wrapped things up perfectly. FF7 left for speculation (aka Square screwed up =P)

not necessarily... lefting things behind on the sortyline is not always a problem nor a bad thing... sometimes it can atually help the story... or even to rise its "lengedary" status

But speculation is half the fun for me! Square didn't screw up, they made shitloads of money.

No speculation my ass, I have a friend who will argue up and down all day that Squall died, and that Rinoa was seeing his ghost.

But I do agree, Seven had a more speculative ending than Eight. In fact now that I reflect on all the Final Fantasies I think it is pretty much the only one without a straightforward ending.

I don't think FFVII ended on anything that should have been expanded on.

Soul Reaver did. That's why SR 2 and Defiance made me more eager to play them.

@ Nique: Sure, I'm game. I think the link to the online card game is on Wikipedia. I gotta figure some stuff out.

Here's what you do.

First off, in your first real mission, KILL Zell and Squall. Have Seifer fight to gain AP with all GF's junctioned until you know the various magic levelling up abilities (like fire to firaga). Once that is done, go about having him draw 100 of everything repeatedly, improve it, and repeat until you have 100 of every draw magic you can get.

That SHOULD allow you to survive until you get to the cactuar GF, who already has four slots for character abilities.

You'll have to fly your little spaceship over and fight/defeat him. Done?

Wonderful.

Now use all those spaces for various stat + things (off your other previously leveled GFs). Which ones is up to you. Now take your character who has it equipped, kill the other two party members, and get odin.

Now head on over to island closest to hell and level the fuck up, as that with four character abilities for stat + your levels FAR outdo those of the monsters (and you still get to junction shit to your stats after that).

Save between EVERY battle. Odin will be summoned a lot to take out the enemies and your buffified character will have a chance on his own at around level 25.

Once he hits 100, move the stuff over to another character... because he'll be invincible as can be, anyway.

What I did was start with squall and ifrits STR things, and then junctioned other GFs to him while I was levelling him up there, to learn other abilities.

The other route is the card ability.

However, I'm impatient and that annoyed me.

I have the program that gets into the game disc itself for the card game. To play with someone it requires inputting your oppoents IP or something weird, I think, so that could get messy. I'll look it up on wiki and see about another way...

Seeing as my 8+ hour file just got corrupted, I think I'll do just that.

But; why save between every battle on the ICtH?

Because if Odin doesn't activate until you hit level 40 or so, there's a good chance your ass gets creamed and you die. And even after that there's a chance, as that you're fighting level 100 beasties alone. On the plus side, hitting level 40 or so doesn't take too long, and neither does 100... and once you get a full team of level 100s made like that you'll kill everything with ease. Horrible horrible ease.

I just bought FF VIII. It was the first copy my store has received in almost a year, so I bought it right away. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the Trigger thing. I'm not sure when I'm supposed to press it, aside from when the blade is about the strike. But it never does anythng...

That's what you have to figure out. If it told you when, you'd get criticals every hit.

Edit: All of this makes me want to play FF8, but I hate getting up to the point where **spoiler** Balamb becomes mobile.

I was way too weak at the end of the game, so I deleted my good file.

If you hit it right when the blade hits the enemy it makes an explosion effect and does more damage. There's around a second long opening. Just vary the timing until you get it right. That's what I did.

Also, the renzoukuken has a little thing that moves across the bottom and into a square. You have to hit it when it's in the square during the limit breaks.

I've never played Final Fantasy 8 before, but I heard from a friend that monster's levels are based on Squall's level. He said he kept Squall dead the whole time and wailed on everything with the other two part members he had. I'm not sure how reliable this is, considering I haven't seen it myself, but it's worth a shot.

Monster levels are actually based on the average level of your current group.

So with squall dead the whole time and your other two members at level 100, the monsters are going to be about level 75-76. Which still makes them considerably easier than normal--but the difference in strength is no where near as vast as my method.

Triple Triad

For anyone who is interested in playing it against real people.