Gaming Final Fantasy VIII

[PWNED]

[QUOTE=LeonWolf]Hey everyone, I'm new to this board and just wanted to say hey and hope I am doing this right.

I have played and beaten other Final Fantasy games, but right now I'm currently playing Final Fantasy 8 and this is my first time playing it. This game is awesome so far, but I have to ask, where do you find more GFs? I mean I know you can fight, draw, or find them, but I still have Quezacotl, Shiva, and Ifrit and I just started on the second disc. Thanks for your help and also what do you guys think about the game in general? I mean, Final Fantasy 4(2 for SNES), 6(3 for SNES), and 7 were great games and some of my favorite RPGs and now Final Fantasy 8 is starting to be one of my favorites also. I wasn't really interested when it first came out. So recently my friend got me interested in it and this message board too. So thanks again for the help. [/QUOTE]

You have missed Carbuncle which can be drawn from a boss on disk one but I cannot remember which so don't ask me.

[Sol-Blade]

[SIZE=-3]I seem to remember Carbuncle being drawn from the Fake President on the Train, when he morphs into Gregano or something like that. I'm probably way off on the name...but I'm doing this by memory. :D[/SIZE]

[Sandy]

Actually, Carbuncle is drawed from [spoiler]either Iguion you fight when you go save Rinoa in Galbadia.[/spoiler]

LeonWolf, you should go to the Tomb of the Lost King, there you'll get a GF if you solve the maze. Also, use the Magic Lamp Cid gave you at some point, but beware: the battle inside it isn't an easy one. I don't recal any other GFs you could get without drawing them from the bosses, at least not as early in the game as you are.

But don't worry: when I played FFVIII for the first time, I missed a whole lot of stuff, mainly because the secrets of the game are often something you just have to KNOW, it's pretty darn hard to just bump into them (for example, encountering PuPu the Alien). To my opinion this is the biggest problem of this game.

Otherwise I really learned to love the story and the characters (especially all the hunk-a-licious guys!!!) when I played it the second time around. It really deserves it's FF-title. :)

[Desbreko]

[quote name='LeonWolf']Hey everyone, I'm new to this board and just wanted to say hey and hope I am doing this right.[/quote][color=#4B0082]Hey, welcome to OtakuBoards. And yeah, that was a nice post. Only thing is, there's already a thread about FFVIII from way back, so I've merged them.

Just a little tip for easily finding out if there's already a thread on the same topic as one you'd like to create: Click the Search this Forum button on the main forum page, then click Advanced Search. With an advanced search, you can select to search in thread titles only, which works a lot better for finding old game-specific threads.

Have fun posting.[/color]

[Dagger]

I just started playing FFVIII, and while I'm still at a very early point in the game, I'm loving it. Squall is already challenging Zidane for his (somewhat) exalted position as my favorite FF hero, simply because he's such a jerk that it's hilarious. I can't even dislike him for it--the guy is a humor machine. Well, not really; I just find his bitter, biting inner thoughts to be a nearly endless source of amusement.

The funny thing is that going into FFVIII, I thought Seifer would be this ultra-obnoxious rival type and that he and Squall would constantly be at loggerheads, so I crack up just about every time they agree with one another (which is really pretty often; needless to say, I had no idea that they were going to start off as pals).

Okay, so this whole post sounds weird, but in all seriousness, I'm enjoying the game so far. Although obviously I haven't gotten the chance to really exploit the junction system, it seems like a lot of fun and is actually pretty intuitive once you get past the way they use the word "junction," haha.

I absolutely love the fact that you stock spells instead of having MP. Getting to draw from just about every kind of enemy is cool in and of itself, but it's especially suited to my tastes because I tend to be very stingy with MP. In the other RPGs that I've played, I tended to avoid using magic and instead relied on strength (as much as I could, that is). Doing it this way encourages me to use magic much more often than I normally would. I also like the flexibility it entails.

Plus, I love how you can use GFs as much or as little as you want (again, without losing MP). I usually shy away from summoning, but I've been using it almost wantonly in FFVIII. What fun.

~Dagger~

[Tatsubei Yagyu]

[COLOR=Navy][FONT=Comic Sans MS]It's been a while since i thought about #8, considering I'm playing the SNES one's right now... :rolleyes:

Well, I don't see what most people didn't like about 8. It had a lot of different elements that made it stand-out a bit from the rest, and that should be reason enough to like it a bit more than the rest.

The only thing I didn't like about the Draw system, is that you can run out of magic in a very dire moment...I know it's happened many times before to me... :animesigh

I still never beat it, but if I can get another copy of it, than I shall.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Goodbye, Face]

[font=trebuchet ms]I can't say I have a favorite FF game, but VIII is one of my most beloved ones. I mainly like the characters and the places more than any other FF.

And personally, I disliked the Draw/Junction system. The most useful and powerful spells get the highest point values, so of course you'll want to junction them to your stats. While it's usually not a big deal, it's stupid later in the game to run low on Ultima spells, watch your attack stat suffer, and either equip a different spell that you're going to use until you can find more draw points. I also thought that giving every character the ability to cast magic and their own GF's subtracted from the worth of each character. The only time you'd really need to switch characters was when you needed a different Limit Break, say, Selphie's Slots for a Full Cure spell.

I've only really played all the way through it once. I usually get so far into it then I start playing and get caught up with another game. I've been wanting to try out the strategy where you don't level through the whole game so the enemies don't grow. I'm not sure if it'd be easier or harder, but it'd be different. XD[/font]

[Sandy]

[quote name='RiflesAtRecess][font=trebuchet ms']I've been wanting to try out the strategy where you don't level through the whole game so the enemies don't grow. I'm not sure if it'd be easier or harder, but it'd be different. XD[/font][/quote]

It's kinda impossible [I]not[/I] to level up in FF VIII, because there's no experience curve, all levels only take 1000 EXP to gain. You'd have to escape all the time, and because the enemies level up as you do, it wouldn't be much easier.

As an analogy, a Goblin can be just as hard when you're in level 1 as Omega Weapon when you're in level 99.

[Goodbye, Face]

[font=trebuchet ms]Apparently you balance out the difficulty through weapons upgrades and limit breaks. Also, as the enemies higher in level, they learn new attacks. Fire is weaker than Firaga no matter what level you're at. Even a lot of bosses end up underpowered at low levels. And yes, the idea is to run from every fight, fighting only bosses.[/font]

[Sandy]

[quote name='RiflesAtRecess][font=trebuchet ms']Apparently you balance out the difficulty through weapons upgrades and limit breaks. Also, as the enemies higher in level, they learn new attacks. Fire is weaker than Firaga no matter what level you're at. Even a lot of bosses end up underpowered at low levels. And yes, the idea is to run from every fight, fighting only bosses.[/font][/quote]

But without fighting normal enemies on a high level, you can't get many of the items needed for the more powerful weapons/Limit Breaks.

It's definitely a challenge...

[Magus]

FFVIII is by far my favorite out of the whole FF franchise. Even though the whole stocking / drawing spells thing takes hours, (draw magic till you're at 100 from each new monster...... That's long in itself.) I do like it over the materia concept thing as well.

I still haven't beaten it either. Last month I just brought the game again. But yeah, the game is time consuming with the whole [draw] concept. By the time you hit the 5th new monster, you're ready to take a break. That is if you're like me anyway.

[Boo]

[size=1]I have played it until a certain point. Then I started over as I wanted to try out that strategy where you don't level up. I got pretty far already, but now that I have a new PC, the game stopped working (it doesn't recognize my disks).

The idea, as far as I know, is to stay low level until you reach the desert. There you fight a lot of cactuar, since they give loads of .. I forgot the name (AP or something, right?). That way you can get loads of junctions that increase your stats per level. Then it's a matter of leveling up, I suppose.

It's not that hard, really. Any boss is rather weak when you're weak (Example: Diablo. You shouldn't wait too long with fighting him, or he'll just increase in strength as you do). It's just a bit odd to run away from everything you meet. :P

But yeah. I want to play it again. I want my computer to recognize the disks. >:|[/size]

[Dagger]

Wow, disc 1 went by really fast. Well, there are three left, so I don't have to worry about the game being over too soon. I was really intrigued and hooked by the sequences with Laguna, so I'm looking forward to seeing what all that's about.

Right now I have Squall, Zell and Irvine about ten or fifteen levels higher than the female characters. I don't like Irvine--although he rose a bit in my estimation when it turned out that he was actually [spoiler]a total wimp[/spoiler]--but I do like having him in my party.

This is very silly, but I've been keeping the female characters out of rotation because I really hate their outfits (except for Rinoa's, which is why I've used her more than Selphie or Quistis). In my firm and unbiased opinion, Quistis should be wearing something much more skimpy, and Selphie should be wearing something much less plain. Those orangey-yellow colors deeply trouble my soul. Zell's outfit is also a bit too Kingdom Hearts for my taste (haha, anachronism), but I can live with it.

I hope that [spoiler]Rinoa will have gotten all awesome and powerful now that there's been a time skip.[/spoiler] We'll see.

Also, is it just me, or does this game have the dorkiest victory dances ever? :animeswea

~Dagger~

[Sangome]

[font=arial]In many forums I go to, they either love FFVII and hate FFVIII, or love FFVIII and hate FFVII. I seem to be one of the very few that loves both games.

Granted, though, it's been awhile since I've played it. I can't even remember what disc I'm on! I think I'm at the end of the second disc...not sure...

But, regardless, I find it really, really easy. You can go through the whole game at level one and kill all enemies just using your summons. Not that I'm really complaining, though.

This is also a game where I don't hate any characters!...Wait, I take that back. I can't stand Seifer (No offense to fans). When I saw him in KHII, I about died. In a bad way.[/font]

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR=SeaGreen]Well now that I finally have a Playstation 2 I?ve been getting into this game. I?ve seen it before and even played a tiny bit, but it just wasn?t the same. I?m finding it?s horribly addicting. Even though the graphics are older I love the summon sequences and how you can pretty much equip anyone with [spoiler]a GF.[/spoiler][QUOTE=Dagger]Also, is it just me, or does this game have the dorkiest victory dances ever? :animeswea

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]No I?d definitely say its not just you. In what I?ve played so far Zell and Selphie are almost ridiculous with their little victory dance. Even Seifer was a bit weird. I?m not far enough to see the others yet.

Anyway, I?m to the point where Squall, Zell and Selphie just [spoiler] graduated and became official members of seeD[/spoiler] so I?m really looking forward to seeing what?s next. ^_^ The one thing I?ve found useful is that one of my friends told me to make sure one of your GF?s learns[spoiler] item and magic refine abilities first[/spoiler] so it?s really useful as you can go ahead and [spoiler]use stronger magic that you got from refining items and low level spells.[/spoiler] The only drawback, it?s time consuming as you have to fight battles to get the items and the initial spells needed. [/COLOR]

[Guest MaRk-0wN3Z-YoU]

I have played this game but havnt beaten it yet...I havnt been working on this game for a while now because I got into other RPG games. Well I think im at the part where [spoiler]Squall and his team were in a prison and they all escaped and the rockets were shooting at a building I forgot what it was called its been a while since I have played it last...[/spoiler] Well after I beat Xenosaga ill probably start working on this game again hopefully.

[Dagger]

I'm somewhere in disc 3 now. This game makes me go out of my way to a much greater extent than I normally would--I even did the stupid [spoiler]Shumi village[/spoiler] sidequest (okay, it was actually kind of fun, but still). After getting [spoiler]the Ragnarok,[/spoiler] I took a short break to recruit [spoiler]the Tonberry King and the giant Cactuar[/spoiler] as GFs. It's hard to decide whose attack I like better; they're both hilarious. It would've been nice if [spoiler]Odin had showed up to kill some of those twenty-something Tonberries I had to get through before getting to the king, though.[/spoiler]

Although my characters ended up leveling up a lot (right now I have Squall at 75 and Zell at 73 or 74), due to my propensity for dawdling and getting lost, I didn't have any trouble with the regular enemies until a day or two ago, when I [spoiler]started heading back to the main city in Esthar to... actually, I've kind of forgotten what I'm supposed to be doing, haha, but I think it has something to do with the next big task after Squall rescues Rinoa from being sealed away.[/spoiler] Then all of a sudden these [spoiler]Iron Giants and tigers and such started showing up.[/spoiler] While it was an abrupt transition to much more powerful enemies, I think it's nice to be challenged a little after so much of the usual mindless slaughter.

I ended up wanting to use Rinoa as my third main party member, but because I kept switching between her and Irvine, both of them are at a significantly lower level than Squall and Zell. The nice thing is that once you load them up with GFs and spells, the difference isn't as striking. Right now I'm using about four GFs per party member (two complete, two still learning abilities) and will be adding more as more are completed.

I'd really like to fill up that GF screen, so I have my fingers crossed that I didn't miss the opportunity to recruit one at an earlier point in the game.

On a different note, getting to use [spoiler]Matron/Edea[/spoiler] as a temporary party member was ever so awesome. <3

~Dagger~

[Sandy]

[QUOTE=Dagger]
I'd really like to fill up that GF screen, so I have my fingers crossed that I didn't miss the opportunity to recruit one at an earlier point in the game.
[/QUOTE]

If you did, you can actually draw almost all the missed GFs from the minibosses in the final dungeon. Of course by then you are at the end of the game, and you don't probably want to level them up anymore.

But honestly, you'll do just fine with the GFs from the beginning and the hard-to-get GFs from the end. All the rest are just fillers who give you extra junction-slots.

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=Sandy]
But honestly, you'll do just fine with the GFs from the beginning and the hard-to-get GFs from the end. All the rest are just fillers who give you extra junction-slots.[/QUOTE]
It's just my inner completionist talking, heh; I guess it's because getting all the GFs seems like a more achievable and rewarding (and easy!) goal than comparable RPG tasks, such as finding every single item/treasure or synthesizing the highest-level weapon(s). But thanks for the tip--that'll save me a little angst. :animesmil

~Dagger~

[JT Darkfire]

I personally found this to be one of the better FF games. Sure, at times times it seemed WAY too long and tedious, but it was the constant training that made it a great way to pass an hour or two when I was bored. I'll have to admit, though...there was a lot of searching involved. It got annoying at times. Also, a lot of the random encounters were just as hard as bosses. That's because bosses leveled up with you, while the overworld monsters got harder as the story progressed.

I discovered a lot of little tips that made the game easier as I went along, however.

There is one hardcore strategy that you can get later on in the game. And by later on I mean WAY later on. It is, to me, one of the best defensive strategies there is. If you want a handy tip, pay attention. If not, that's what the spoiler tags are for.

[Spoiler]Have everyone in your main party junctioned with a GF that has learned Elem Def Jx4.This is crucial. After this, Junction Ultima, Shell, Full Life, and Life. I know most of you like to Junction Ultima to Attack. Still,which would you prefer, high attack or 190% resistance to all elements? (that's 90% absorption of all damage from elemental spells and attacks). All in all, it depends on your style of fighting. [/Spoiler]

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR=SeaGreen][quote name='Dagger']I'm somewhere in disc 3 now. [/quote]You guys are fast! I?m still on disk two shortly after you [spoiler]save the Garden from being destroyed by missiles.[/spoiler] So far I?ve been making a point to check every boss so I have around [spoiler] nine GF?s. Including one I got by solving a puzzle at the King?s Tomb before you attempt to assassinate the sorceress at the end of disk one. [/spoiler] My most recent acquisition was [spoiler]Leviathan though I?ve yet to actually see what he does when summoned. [/spoiler]I assume it?s normal that some of the GF?s seem to [spoiler] dislike each other? I?ve noticed that since Squall has had Shiva the whole time that his compatibility with Ifrit has dropped to zero. Are there any other GF?s who don?t get along like that? [/spoiler]

Anyway, I suppose the most irritating aspect is trying to find the materials to upgrade your weapons. I don?t really use them a lot but I?d like to eventually have everyone upgraded. I guess I need to look online for help on that issue.

Oh and about the victory dances you mentioned earlier Dagger?You are so right, dorky doesn?t even begin to cover it. [/COLOR]

[Magus]

[QUOTE=Aaryanna][COLOR=SeaGreen]You guys are fast! I?m still on disk two shortly after you [spoiler]save the Garden from being destroyed by missiles.[/spoiler] So far I?ve been making a point to check every boss so I have around [spoiler] nine GF?s. Including one I got by solving a puzzle at the King?s Tomb before you attempt to assassinate the sorceress at the end of disk one. [/spoiler] My most recent acquisition was [spoiler]Leviathan though I?ve yet to actually see what he does when summoned. [/spoiler]I assume it?s normal that some of the GF?s seem to [spoiler] dislike each other? I?ve noticed that since Squall has had Shiva the whole time that his compatibility with Ifrit has dropped to zero. Are there any other GF?s who don?t get along like that? [/spoiler]

Anyway, I suppose the most irritating aspect is trying to find the materials to upgrade your weapons. I don?t really use them a lot but I?d like to eventually have everyone upgraded. I guess I need to look online for help on that issue.

[/COLOR][/QUOTE]
Uhh.... I never noticed anything about GF's not liking each other. (And I've made it all the way to disc 4 back when I 1st had it, but started over because I was missing items) But yeah, I wouldn't really say that GF's don't like each other. It could be, but I don't know. But my question to you is how many times have you used Shiva with Squall and vice versa with Ifrit? I could be wrong about this, but I think if you neglect to use a GF, you would lose compatiblity with that GF. (If you think about it that way, it makes sense.)

And as far as the item finding and whatnot. I think it is best to go searching online to find out the items you need. But if you have [spoiler]Diablos[/spoiler] and have learned the [spoiler]Mug ability[/spoiler], it'll make searching just a little easier. The reason I say a little easier is because most of the times, the enemies wants to be selfish and not give the items up.

As I said, I started over because I missed out on a couple of items and I was already fighting [spoiler]Ultimecia (cheating heffa).[/spoiler] So I'm currently on disc 1, and just reaching the part where I get on the train for the 1st time.

Question to anyone that's playing FFVIII. What do you think about the card game? For me, it's ok, but when you get to random rules, it's really tedious.

To Dagger. You want a challenge. Stay in Esthar and walk around till you fight a giant plant like monster. It's called Malbaro or Mallboro or something like that. If you beat that thing without the assistance of [spoiler]Odin[/spoiler] let me know how you did it because that monster is the cheapest of cheapness, and till this day I still haven't been able to beat nor steal [spoiler]6 malboro tentacles[/spoiler] from them.

To anyone that knows how to beat them things. Any tips? lol

[Sandy]

[QUOTE=Bullet]
To Dagger. You want a challenge. Stay in Esthar and walk around till you fight a giant plant like monster. It's called Malbaro or Mallboro or something like that. If you beat that thing without the assistance of [spoiler]Odin[/spoiler] let me know how you did it because that monster is the cheapest of cheapness, and till this day I still haven't been able to beat nor steal 6 malboro tentacles from them.

To anyone that knows how to beat them things. Any tips? lol[/QUOTE]

You must be new to the series if you aren't familiar with Malboros. Seriously, no spoiler tags needed, Malboros have appeared in every FF-game ever since the sixth. ;P

Malboros are the cheapness materialized, yes, and their appearance still horrifies me. Their Bad Breath causes every status ailment in the book, so the only defence against them is to [B]junction resistance to all statuses[/B]. (You could just equip a Ribbon in other FFs to protect you, but there're no accessories in this game.) Once you have the proper protection, they shouldn't be able to harm you.
[SIZE=1]
[B]Hint:[/B] most Malboros in FF8 reside in the jungle area only accessible through one of the gates outside Ultimecia's Castle, guarding the entrance to the [spoiler]final Chocobo Forest[/spoiler].[/SIZE]

[Magus]

[quote name='Sandy']You must be new to the series if you aren't familiar with Malboros. Seriously, no spoiler tags needed, Malboros have appeared in every FF-game ever since the sixth. ;P[/quote]
I guess you can say I'm fairly new. Only played FF7 and 8 ^^. But I only used spoiler tags because I saw tags around the GF's, but ok. I won't use tags around the monsters... I guess.

[quote]Malboros are the cheapness materialized, yes, and their appearance still horrifies me. Their Bad Breath causes every status ailment in the book, so the only defence against them is to junction resistance to all statuses.[/quote]
Agreed. And it's really crappy too because I don't ever get the initiative. Someone at another forum told me to do something with Quistis, but I forgot....

[Aaryanna]

[COLOR=SeaGreen][quote name='Bullet]Uhh.... I never noticed anything about GF's not liking each other. (And I've made it all the way to disc 4 back when I 1st had it, but started over because I was missing items) But yeah, I wouldn't really say that GF's don't like each other. It could be, but I don't know. But my question to you is how many times have you used Shiva with Squall and vice versa with Ifrit? I could be wrong about this, but I think if you neglect to use a GF, you would lose compatiblity with that GF. (If you think about it that way, it makes sense.)[/QUOTE]That's what I thought at first too, but I tried having them both with Squall at the same time and every time I used[spoiler] Ifrit, my compatibility with Shiva would go down. [/spoiler]To put it in perspective, I have other GF's with Sqall and other than a few points they are all at 1000 which usually means the time for summoning them is fairly quick. But for what ever reason both [spoiler]Shiva and Ifrit will not have a high compatibility with the same person.[/spoiler] Also other GF's that Squall hasn't used because I've primarily had them with other characters haven't dropped to zero, they have stayed someone where in the middle like they were when I first got them. Which is why I was thinking those two [spoiler]GF?s didn?t like each other. [/spoiler][QUOTE=Bullet']To anyone that knows how to beat them things. Any tips? lol[/quote]I have yet to encounter one since I?m not far enough into the game. But SunfallE was telling me that you have one of your characters[spoiler] junctioned to protect against confusion or which every status it is that makes you lose control of your character. Then she said to make sure that the same character you have protected has Siren as a GF as it has the ability ?Treatment? that you can use as a command to cure a character of all ailments. With that you first treat yourself and then the others in your group so that you gain enough control to attack with GF?s and other magic and though it takes a while as the monster keeps attacking you with it?s bad breath, you can defeat them.[/spoiler] ^_^[/COLOR]