The Atomic Raven's Cheap and Cheesy Guide to Squaresoft's
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF 888888
FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF 88888888
FF FF 88 88
FFFFFF FFFFFF 888888
FFFFFF FFFFFF 88 88
FF FF 88888888
FF FF 888888
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
FAQ Version 1.10 January 1, 2006
===============================================================================
Another in a long line of smash hit console RPGs from Squaresoft. Like its
immediate predecessor, FF 7, the game was finally released as a PC port for
Windows a couple of years after the inital console version. (Sadly, it seems
the only future development in this area will be multiplayer online games, of
which I'm no longer a fan.) It struck me as I examined the available guides
that no one had written one dealing with the PC version! I couldn't resist
passing on my evil wisdom to anyone who either digs up this classic or finds
it in the bargain bin--the plot, character development, and unusual combat/
powerup system are well worth repeated replays. This guide will help you
enjoy stomping through the game without breaking a sweat, no matter what
opponents you face.
The Atomic Raven is proud to be known among fellow gamers as a "munchkin":
the kind of player who mathematically minimizes penalties and maximizes
benefits no matter what sort of rules apply to any given situation. Some call
this approach cheap, or cheesy. But let's face it--you're not concerned with
how honorable your victory over the CPU is, you just want to win, right?
Listen to my advice, and your journey from a classroom in Balamb Garden to
the final confrontation with "timeless" (ha ha) evil will be a walk in the
park.
Legal Statements:
The Atomic Raven is not an employee and has no relation to the corporations
who created Final Fantasy 8. Their names and trademarks are entirely their
property.
Copyright 2006 Blair Burroughs. All rights reserved. This text may be not be
reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may
not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without
advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a
part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of
copyright.
The following sites are permitted to host a copy of this document for
public access:
GameFAQS.com
Neoseeker.com
DLH.net
1up.com
Supercheats.com
To request hosting permission, make comments, ask questions, or suggest
corrections contact the Atomic Raven at blair afaproject org.
INDEX
=====
I. Enlighten Yourself
II. Higher Level Characters DON'T Make Combat Easier
III. Pimp Your Deck
IV. Cheating with Chicobos, or "255 without magic?!"
V. Crush Your Opponents with Cheap Junctioning
VI. Cheap Tricks for More Advanced Users
SECTION THE FIRST
In which the purpose of the guide is revealed.
===============================================================================
For the purpose of this document, I assume basic familiarity with gameplay.
If you see words or abbreviations that are incomprehensible, look through the
manual and check out the in-game tutorial, then start reading again. (The
"Junctioning" system is very non-intuitive, but the tutorial deals with it
quite well.) I have, however, decided to include instructions for Junctioning
as it relates to making a practically unstoppable party. This document is NOT
a comprehensive walkthrough because there were NO plot changes and very few
detail changes other than spelling modification between the console version
and the PC version, and there is no point in duplicating all that
information. On the other hand, with the tactics you're about to learn from
me, you may not even NEED a walkthrough unless you want to make sure you don't
miss any side quests.
[In fact, you will notice a number of players--including some on this very
site--who say it's easier to beat this iteration of Final Fantasy than any
other so far. They have suggested challenges such as "No junctioning magic"
and even "No junctioning GFs" to make the gameplay much harder. Please! You
don't want harder, or you wouldn't be looking for help, right?]
SECTION THE SECOND
In which the inadvisability of gaining experience points is exposed.
===============================================================================
Many who play console RPG-style games engage in a practice known variously as
"borging", "farming", and some even less complimentary terms. This refers to
repeatedly engaging in random encounters or otherwise repeatable battles for
the sole purpose of gaining experience points. The obvious purpose for doing
so is to make your party of characters gain power so that combat becomes much
easier. Do not attempt this in FF 8! Why? Because the power level of the
opponents you encounter, both randomly and in fixed locations, is based
entirely on your party's average character level. The tougher you are, the
tougher THEY are... which is very bad news, since in this game, your
characters' combat statistics do not increase very much each time they gain a
level, but the statistics of most monsters improve substantially with just a
few levels of difference. Higher level monsters also get better physical and
magical attack options, and use the more deadly ones far more often.
"But," you say, "how can I avoid getting experience?! Surely you don't
suggest I run away from every battle! I'd never get anywhere." Too true.
But it is possible to win 99+% of the battles you may be involved in while
gaining 0 XP. And the rest can be arranged to grant minimal XP. Just follow
these instructions:
1.) At the very beginning of the game, make sure that the first ability the
Quezacotl GF learns is [Card]. Equip the [Card] command immediately as soon
as it is gained, because with it you can destroy monsters without receiving XP
for them. Your GFs still receive AP for carded monsters, and the appropriate
items are still dropped, so there is no disadvantage to winning combats in
this manner. You will also occasionally get a really cool card to add to your
collection, such as an endgame boss or a much tougher and rarer monster. It
takes some practice and some patience to card monsters; the command is not
successful all the time. Specifically, it depends on the monster's health--
undamaged beasts practically never turn into a card, while on those which are
almost dead already it almost always works. Especially early in the game you
may want to have Squall, without Strength boosts, attack physically the
monster you wish to card. If you skip triggering his Gunblade, you have a
fairly fine control over how much damage you deal, and can avoid killing the
target and accidentally gaining XP. While using this method it's a good idea
to save often, especially on entering an unfamiliar area. Scan your enemies
before you start attacking to see how much damage they can withstand, too. If
you acquire a {Gambler Spirit} item you can teach another GF how to card
opponents as well, making it much quicker and easier to finish no-XP combat.
2.) The next ability that can be used to avoid experience gains is [Devour].
The Eden GF knows this ability when you [Draw] it from Ultima Weapon late in
the game. Unlike [Card], [Devour] can often destroy weaker opponents with a
single command, especially if the character using it has stats much better
than the monster's defense. A devoured opponent, just like a carded one,
grants no XP; you gain AP normally, but usually no items (guess you ate
them...oh well). Additionally, the character who devoured the monster
experiences a side effect. Monsters which are yummy will heal the character
either partially or fully, whereas monsters that are toxic will inflict damage
or negative status effects. A few types of monsters, if they are high enough
level, will actually permanently increase one of the character's statistics!
If you acquire a {Hungry Cookpot} item you can teach the [Devour] ability to
another GF.
(For those too lazy to look in another FAQ and find out on their own, you
can't get stat boosts from eating monsters until they are at least level 30.
Tonberry's [LV Up] command may prove useful here. Munch on Ruby Dragons for
Hit Points, T-Rexaurs for Strength, Adamantoises for Vitality, Behemoths for
Magic, and Malboros for Spirit.)
3.) Neither [Card] nor [Devour] works on boss monsters or human opponents,
such as Galbadian Soldiers. This isn't a problem with bosses, since those
fights generally grant loads of AP but 0 XP. In the early stages of the game,
you can minimize XP gain from fighting human foes if you finish them off by
summoning GFs (winning combat this way grants less experience for some
reason). Shortly after beginning Disc 2, however, you can obtain the Tonberry
GF through a simple side quest. It comes equipped with the [LV Down] command
ability, which lowers the targeted opponent's level by half (rounded up). Its
best use is against non-cardable/non-edible opponents; simply reduce their
levels until they are level 1 and finish them off with a summoned GF, which
should result in a gain of only 1 XP.
4.) Do NOT perform the Odin side quest in the Centra Ruins. He can't kill
boss monsters, and when he kills normal monsters before you have a chance to
act you get stuck with the XP. If you absolutely MUST get Gilgamesh, I
recommend you wait to do the quest until just before you enter Lunatic Pandora
with the Ragnarok on Disc 3.
5.) You CAN, however, advance 13 of the 16 GFs to level 100 without causing
long-term problems. This should be done near the beginning of Disc 3 when
Rinoa is incapacitated and the party is escorting Edea through the Great Salt
Lake. Simply kill off the other two active members of the party the first
time you enter combat. Finishing every battle with only Edea standing
ensures only she (and the party's GFs of course) will gain XP, and you will
not have her in your party for much longer. If you use Tonberry's [LV Up]
command to make all the Rightys and Vysages you face here level 100 Edea and
the GFs will gain large amounts of XP quickly. (I recommend killing off all
the Leftys before doing so, since they can sometimes [Draw] magic that will
be difficult to restock until after you have the Ragnarok.) Even after she
can no longer advance, however, the party's equipped GFs still divide that
experience among themselves. This process can take several sessions of play
to get all your GFs to level 100, but despite how tedious it may seem the
massive boost in effectiveness for your otherwise low-powered summons is
worth the work.
SECTION THE THIRD
In which the benefit of early card sharking is made clear.
===============================================================================
There's no need to try to get one of every card in your deck right away. In
fact, you simply can't do so until much later in the game. But right at the
beginning, before you've even officially become a SeeD, you can use the
Quezacotl GF's [Card Mod] ability to dramatically power up your beginning
party. All you have to do is play cards!
[Card Mod] is a menu ability that destroys one or more cards from your
collection and transforms them into usable items. These items can be used to
remodel your early weapons into far more dangerous and cooler looking
armaments, increase compatibility with GFs quickly, or teach Quistis some of
the nastier Blue Magic limit break options. Some can also be refined into
spells to boost your magic stock, which is especially handy to get nasty
Junction-boosted stats. There are several excellent FAQs discussing the rules
and strategy of the Triple Triad card game, and I won't go into the topic
here. I have found that the easiest and fastest way to acquire many of the
kind of cards you need is to wait until you have Quistis, Ifrit, and some
Bombs to fill out your starting deck. Then, go to the Card Queen in front of
Balamb's train station and challenge her until her trade rule is "All". After
winning once, go play against your favorite victim (different folks in the area
have different types of cards they use) and win. Poof, five new cards every
time. Note that after you beat the same person several times and take many
cards from them, they will go back to using the trade rule "One". At this
point, just go back to the Card Queen and use her to reset the area's trade
rule to "All" again. This speeds up the process of collecting important cards
immensely.
Cards you should try to acquire and [Card Mod] before the SeeD test (or before
leaving for Timber, at the latest) and what to do with them:
3 Adamantoise --> 1 Turtle Shell, to remodel Squall's weapon. (If you have
extras, use Tool-RF to acquire 10 Protect Stones from each.)
10 Behemoths --> 1 Barrier, to teach Quistis the Mighty Guard attack.
4 Blitzes --> 4 Dynamo Stones, to remodel Irvine's weapon. (If you have
extras, use T Mag-RF to acquire 20 Thundaga spells from each.)
2 Caterchipillars --> 2 Spider Webs, to teach Quistis the Ultra Waves attack
and to remodel Zell's weapon. (If you have extras, use Time Mag-RF to acquire
20 Slow spells from each.)
1 Cockatrice --> 1 Cockatrice Pinion, to remodel Rinoa's weapon. (If you
have extras, use ST Mag-RF to acquire 20 Break spells from each.)
1 Creeps --> 1 Coral Fragment, to teach Quistis the Electrocute attack.
9 Death Claw/9 Grand Mantis --> 9 Sharp Spikes, to remodel Quistis, Rinoa, and
Selphie's weapons.
1 Elastoid --> 1 Steel Pipe, to remodel Irvine's weapon. (If you have extras,
use Tool-RF to acquire 1 Aura Stone from each.)
40 Elnoyles --> 4 Energy Crystals, to remodel Quistis's weapon.
1 Fastitocalon/5 Fastitocalon-Fs --> 1 Water Crystal, to teach Quistis the
| |
|
This page in english]
