==================================================== Final Fantasy VIII for Sony Playstation(NORTH AMERICAN VERSION) FAQ/Walkthrough Written by Mordruk(Mordruk@hotmail.com) Ver 0.3 (1/23/00) Copyright 1999-2000 ==================================================== I N D E X 1-V E R S I O N I N F O 2-I N T R O D U C T I O N 3-W A L K T H R O U G H 3.1-Intro 3.2-Fire Cavern 3.3-Dollet Mission 3.4-Graduation 3.5-Flashback and Train Car 3.6-Another Flashback! 4-S E E D R A N K I N G 4.1-What is SeeD ranking? 4.2-Test Answers 4.3-Rank Salary 5-O P T I O N A L S T U F F 5.1-Magical Lamp/Diablos 6-C O M I N G U P ! 7-C O P Y R I G H T ==================================================== 1- V E R S I O N I N F O ==================================================== 0.1-First version of it, finished up to Dollet Mission 0.2-Finished up to the Graduation 0.3-3 months went by and this is all I have to show for it?! Finished up to section 3.5 and added the OPTIONAL STUFF section with Diablos in it. 0.4-Finished up to Section 3.6, maybe not another update till the weekend:( ==================================================== 2-I N T R O D U C T I O N ==================================================== Ok, well this will indeed by a long guide for me but this will NOT slow up any progress of any of my other FAQs so don't wory. I will most likely finish them unless something really bad happens in my personal life. First of all you should know that I really don't like to waste time and space to put things in guides that are found in instruction manuals and things like that. I generally don't do that and that is why I generally don't write FAQs/Walkthroughs. I really don't think you should try to drag on a walkthrough to make the file longer. I do, however, try to explain things several ways and simply so you can get it and it isn't complicated. That is(what people tell me) what they like about my FAQs. So I will try to stick to that in this FAQ/Walkthrough since it is a great game. So without furthur notes here is my guide. ==================================================== 3- W A L K T H R O U G H ==================================================== ----------------------------------- 3.1-Intro ----------------------------------- !OPENING MOVIE! Nice movie, eh? Well after that there is some dialogue with the main character Squall. Which as always you can rename him here. Now after this another movie sequence starts. !MOVIE! After this just keep walking down as you read the text. !MOVIE! They really like to dazzle you in the beggining:p After that scene go up to Quistis and talk to her. If this is your first time playing you can go to your desk and review the basics but after that exit the classroom and go down the hall and watch the scene. If you choose to give her a tour then you'll end up below. If you didn't like I chose to then go right and head down the elevator to the ground floor. Go down the stairs and head out or save it if you want to which is on the left. Go down and exit out of the thing that is red and says "out". The others won't open. Just keep running down till you get to the entrance where Quistis is waiting. On your way you see purple stuff floating. That is a draw point where you can get magic, however, you can't draw yet so move along. Talk to Quistis and your on your way to the Fire Cavern. ----------------------------------- 3.2-Fire Cavern ----------------------------------- Make sure you payed attention to Quisis's demonstration of Gfs because I'm not going over it, just make sure you juctioned a GF to you and Quistis. Go down to exit onto the map. Keep running right until you find the Fire Cavern. You will run into some easy battles but stay awhile so you can level up to survive this part of the game. Once your on the subscreen of the Fire Cavern listen to the tuturial and go up to the two guys that look like Raiden. The less time you pick to complete gives you a higher ranking for your SeeD ranking which gives you more money. It is easy to complete it in the lowest time but if you want to roam around pick another. Once your inside just follow the main path up. The side paths either end or lead you to an item which you can get if you feel unprepared. Once your in the center you'll fight your first boss which happens to be a GF. Boss:Ifrit Location:Fire Cavern HP:1000 Notes:Have Shiva junctioned Strategy:Your first real boss that you can't really die at but you have to kill him in the given time. I chose 10 minutes the first time and got it with 20 secs to spare. You'll notice your attacks don't do much damage to him and then you might think, hmmm, what is good against fire, oh yeah, ice. So wipe out your Shiva GF and hit him with it. He'll start saying stuff like "Oh no! You have Shiva!" which kinda tips you off you should use it. Keep using it and he will decide to join you instead of being defeated. After that Quistis will explain some stuff again and then make your way out and onto the world map. Again just go left until you reach the garden. Walk up a little and watch the scene and tutorial. ----------------------------------- 3.3-Dollet Mission ----------------------------------- Walk up the stairs and keep going till you reach the center where the map is and a save point. Go left and up to the gray walkway that marks the dormitory. Go up to it and continue up the stairs to enter your room. Go to the bed and change into your uniform. Exit your room and go out and watch the scene at the map. Here you will meet Zell. !MOVIE! Now you will hear about Zell's limit and stuff like that. After this scene with Headmaster Cid and Seifer go down and watch the scene with the car. In the world map just follow the road down to the city of Balamb. After the scene you can walk around and buy some stuff if you wish. When your done go to the harber and enter the Submarine after the scene. After this long scene prepare for a very cool chain of events. !MOVIE! After that awsome movie go left to exit the screen. Go to the right and up the stairs to a save point. Save if you want but continue on where you have to fight 2 guards. After that run up and follow Seifer. Keep going up until some more soldiers jump down and fight you. After you kill them procceed up to the central square. Here you will fight some more soldiers. After the scene go to the right path and fight another soldier. After you kill him go back and talk to Seifer. Keep talking to him until you choose to go to the tower. Go ahead and take the left path down the street. Cross the bridge to the left and procceed up the stairs till you fight an anaconda. After you kill it go up the rest of the stairs. Keep going up until you reach the Communication Tower. !MOVIE! After the scene with Selphie go to the right and down to the tower. If you jump off the cliff you lose points on your ranking:( Go and talk to Selphie and then make sure she is equiped with a GF. Go through the door and then you can save here. Take the elevator up to the top of the tower. After the scene with Wedge and Biggs watch the movie. !MOVIE! Boss:Biggs Location:Dollet Communication Tower HP:700 Notes:Stock up on Cures from Fire Cavern Strategy:This one is a little tougher because when you scan him it won't list a weakness since he isn't a monster. Just use normal attacks because GF isn't that useful and keep your HP above 250 just to be safe. After awhile Wedge will come(hey, another similarity between the two games) but when I faught him he didn't hit me at all???? Just keep hitting Biggs and I don't think Wedge will bother you. After awhile they will get swept away by the real boss. Boss:Elvoret Location:Dollet Communication Tower HP:2000 Notes:Make sure Selphie has "draw", you can draw Siren Strategy:This guy is tough. Now remember that all my HPs are around that much. The game varies HP but this one is a big differenc of up to a 2000 difference in HP. With that in mind if he get's in the 3000 range it would be better to start a new game if you can't beat him since it is still early in the game. This guy has a new draw technique called "double" that is useful but isn't really useful in this battle. He also has cure, Woo hoo! You can now designate Selphie as the medic and keep drawing cures and have Squall as a backup with any cures you have left from the Fire Cavern. He doesn't have a weakness though which makes this an annoying battle so just keep using the GFs. I haven't had a GF die yet but Shiva got to 9 life when I stopped using her because the boss only had 100 HP left. You can also get a GF from this guy called Siren which you will regret if you didn't get it like I did:( After this you'll find out who the real boss is, but he is split up to be easy. When you win this battle you'll notice that you picked up the WEAPONS MON MAR magazine in case you were wondering for all you magazine collecters out there. After this boss watch the scene and go down the lift. Remember you only have 30 minutes. When your down I would save(unless you want to fight those bosses over again) and then head out the front door. Boss:X-ATM092(Robot Spider) Location:Chases you through Dollet HP:5,500 Notes:Selphie has Quezacotl and Squall has Thunder Strategy:So he has the most HP in the game so far, but unlike Elvoret he does has a weakness-lightning. So use Quez. against him and that will do around 500 each time and use some thunder also. This guy is split up into 3 battles that you MUST fight him. You can fight him however many times you want but you only have to fight him 3. Between fights use potions and cure on your party members and any of that other stuff that you need to do. When you do around 1000 damage to him it will say flee so hold R2 and L2 to run away. After you fight him the third time on the bridge go down to the blue car. !MOVIE! Continue down pass the store and watch the scene. Continue running down the street to the sub. !MOVIE! ----------------------------------- 3.4-Graduation ----------------------------------- After the scene you can wander around but in the end just walk back to the garden. Once your back watch the scene and then go to the main entrance where the directory is. After the scene go to the right and talk to Seifer. After the scene go back to the directory and head up the stairs to the elevator. Head left and to the hall and talk to all the people. After you talk to all the people watch the scene. Afterwards get the Battle Meter from Cid and exit the room. Go left and watch the scene with Seifer. Then you will receive your SeeD rank. For more info on your SeeD ranking please look in section 4. After that go to your bed in your dorm and select "Get Changed". After you are in your graduation uniform go back out and talk to Selphie to switch to the party scene. After the scene with Zell, Selphie will ask if you want to join the Festival Commitee. After you choose get ready for a pretty cool line of movies. !MOVIE! After that you'll have a short conversation with an unknown girl(we'll call her Rinoa for now though:p) and another fantastic movie. !MOVIE! Now you'll see a scene with Quistis which afterwards exit back to your dorm and change clothes again. Exit back to the main area and go to the Training Center like Quistis told you. There, Quistis will tell you about Status-J with a little tutorial and join your party. Remember to JUNCTION A GF with her or she won't be able to use items or magic. Enter the Training Center and go to the right. Go up in the next screen and to the left. Now go up through the bright passage. If you happen to run into T-Rexaur like Quistis mentioned......RUN!!!! He is waaaaay too strong for you now. Save if you want to before you go up because you might die at the next part. After the scene with Quistis exit and go back to the entrance of the Training Center for a boss fight! Boss:Granaldo Location:Garden Training Center HP:1500-10,000 Notes:Make sure you have some sleep stocked but even if you don't you can get some from Granaldo Strategy:I don't think that is the actual range of the boss but it is based on level and I was lv 14 when I faught this guy. You'll also see 3 Raldos that he picks up and throws at you. Whatever you do don't kill Granaldo before the Raldos. The Raldos had aroun 200 HP when I faught them and Granaldo had no more than 2000 so it was an easy battle but I had fun with it. Use sleep on Granaldo so he or the Raldos can't attack. With him asleep you can take out the Raldos one by one safely and then just woop Granaldo with GFs. Pretty easy huh?:) After that fun boss watch the scene with that girl who we're referring to as "Rinoa" for now. Why???? No reason at...except that's her name but you don't know it yet. Now go back to the dorm and enter your brand new room to get some sleep. What a night! ----------------------------------- 3.5-Flashback and Train Car ----------------------------------- When you wake up go to the desk and pick up WEAPONS MON APR magazine for more weapon info! Also save if you want to and exit the dorm to the main center. From here go to the front gate where everyone is waiting. After the scene about your first mission talk to Cid again to get the MAGICAL LAMP.(Go to Optional Stuff for more info on the Magical Lamp) Exit the garden to the world map and follow the road back to Balamb. There, go to the right pass the gas station, then down and to the left to the train station. Go up the stairs and buy a ticket from the conductor for 3,000 Gil. Now go up and into the train and watch the scene. Afterwards, go up and into the private SeeD cabin and talk to Zell. You'll get PET PALS VOL 1 magazine as you enter which will be explained later. Zell will ask you if you know about Timber. Select "Not too much" if you want to hear the history of it or just select the "I don't care" one and it will pass. Eventually everyone will get tired and fall asleep at the end of the scene swithcing you to the flashback. ________________________ As Laguna, run up the paths and draw any magic along the way until you get to the scene where Ward and Kiros ask if you got them lost again. After the scene, continue forward and get inside the car which will then transport you to Deling(you'll be coming back here later). There you will unload the car and now would be a good time to mention that your parties level directly mirrors Laguna's party with magic and GFs. So if Squall is level 21 then Laguna will be level 21 and so forth. When you exit the vehicle go to the right and then follow the road up to the next screen. Here you will see "Galbadia Hotel", go up and through the door to enter the hotel. Inside, go down the stairs to the right and talk to the waitress with the blue shirt on. Select "(Alright, I'm there!)" to sit down at a table and start the main scene. Afterwards, go up to the piano that Julia is playing at and another scene will happen. Go back down and talk to Kiros and Ward and another scene will start with you and Julia. After the scene go back up the stairs and talk to the manager of the hotel about Julia's room and you'll be transported there. In her room, keep talking to Julia to watch scene after scene and then you and your party will wake up from the flashback. ________________________ After your party decides that it is impossible to make sense out of this and to keep going exit the train and start down the stairs. A man will interrupt you saying his part of the secret password. Respond by saying "But the owls are still around" and then follow him down to the next area. Watch the scene and then on board the train they will ask you to wake their princess. Go up and enter the hall and go all the way back to the last room that is covered in pink and watch the scene with Rinoa. Here you will find out that her name is Rinoa and will be given a chance to rename it as well as rename her dog which acts as her limit break. She will explain about it and now would be a good time to read that PET PALS VOL 1 that you got on the SeeD train. Talk to Rinoa again and go back down and they will all enter the strategy room. Follow them and you will hear about the mission to capture the president of Galbadia. After you hear everything(and listen carefully to it!) you will be given a chance to walk around a little. Go to the bulletin board on the wall to read all the issues of ANARCHIST MONTHLY which is another history lesson about Galbadia and a look of the events to come. When your all ready go to Watts and tell him your ready to behin the mission. NOTE-it is wise to save before this incase you screw up and you don't miss the chance to raise you SeeD ranking. Steps- 1)Sneak on board 2nd escort 2)Proceed cautiously across the roof of the 2nd escort 3)Proceed across the roof of the president car 4)Uncouple the 1st escort car 5)Have the dummy car and our base move in after uncoupling 6)Uncouple the 2nd escort car 7)escape with the president car and our base 1)In the action sequence just go to the other side of the car and follow Rinoa to complete Step 1 2)Listen to the conversation of the soldiers to find out that there "high and mighty" sensors aren't working so you can just run by that(so much for Step 2) 3)Again just run to the roof of the next car by following Rinoa 4)This is the first hard part. Press DOWN to enter the code and then enter the first of the 3 random codes by pressing the corresponding buttons. Then press UP and if neither Zell nor Selphie yell that the guards are coming press DOWN again and input the second code. Wait for the guards to pass and then go down and enter the last code to seperate the first cars. !MOVIE! 5)This is an automatic step that will happen in the movie sequence 6)Now you have to look out for yourself. Hold R1 while inputting the 5 codes and make sure you don't cut yourself too short that the guards see you. If you have plenty of time just wait between every one or two. After you have inputted the last of the 5 codes within the 5 minute time limit the last step will follow automatically. 7)The last car sequence will unlock and the mission will be over. Congrats! !MOVIE! If you completed this mission without messing up you should raise one level in your SeeD ranking. If you did mess up you will have to do it again and not get the level up. So if you followed my advice and saved before you did it and messed up just load your game and try again for the level up in your SeeD ranking. Once you've done that it is time for you to face the president. Equip everyone with a GF and make sure someone has the "Item" ability equiped. When your ready go in the car and face the "fake" president. Boss:Gerogero Location:President's Pricate Car HP:500-3500 Notes:Have "Item" equiped so you can cure adnormal status Strategy:Not much to really say here-no trick, no special magic, nothing! So you can just hit him with magic and stuff like that which is what I did but my friend said that if you use cure or cura on him since he is undead it will actually kill him! I tried it out and it works great:) You can even put on the double command and hit him with all your guys for a total of 6 cures a round which will kill him in no time. You can also use a Phoenix Down on Gerogero and it will kill him instantly. Note that it sometimes misses...Good luck! ----------------------------------- 3.6-Another Flashback! ----------------------------------- Coming....later:p ==================================================== 4- S E E D R A N K I N G ==================================================== ----------------------------------- 4.1-What is SeeD ranking? ----------------------------------- After you complete the Dollet Mission you get a SeeD ranking because you are officially SeeD now. This determines how much money you get periodically in the game. The higher the level the more money. To raise your rank you need to take a test in the Tutorial section in the options menu. There are 10 questions in every test, and there are 30 tests. You must get every question correct to raise your SeeD ranking. You cannot take all 30 tests until you reach level 30. You get to take a test for every level, in other words, if you are level 10 you can take up to Test 10. That pretty much explains the whole SeeD ranking:) ----------------------------------- 4.2-Test Answers ----------------------------------- These tests get extremely tough so below are answers along with how much money you get if your at that level. All of the questions are yes and no questions. Therefore, Y stands for yes and N stands for no. Please contact me if any of these are wrong. Test 1 Y N Y Y Y N N Y N N Test 2 Y N Y Y Y N Y Y N N Test 3 N N Y N Y Y Y N Y N Test 4 N Y Y Y N N Y Y N N Test 5 N N N Y Y N N Y Y Y Test 6 Y N Y Y N N Y Y N Y Test 7 Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y N Test 8 N Y N N Y Y N N Y N Test 9 N Y N N N N N N Y Y Test 10 Y N N N N N N N Y N Test 11 Y Y N Y Y N Y N N Y Test 12 N Y N N Y N Y N Y N Test 13 Y N N N Y N N N N N Test 14 Y Y Y Y N Y Y N Y N Test 15 Y Y N N N N N Y N Y Test 16 Y N N Y N Y N N Y N Test 17 Y N N N Y N N Y N N Test 18 Y N N N Y N N N N N Test 19 Y N N Y N N N N N Y Test 20 Y Y N Y N Y Y Y N N Test 21 Y Y Y Y N N Y Y Y N Test 22 N N N Y N N N Y Y N Test 23 Y N N N N Y Y Y Y Y Test 24 Y Y N N Y Y N N N Y Test 25 Y N Y Y Y N N Y N N Test 26 Y Y N Y N Y N Y N N Test 27 N Y N N N N Y N Y N Test 28 Y N N Y Y Y N Y N N Test 29 N N N Y Y N N N Y N Test 30 N Y N N N N Y N N N ----------------------------------- 4.3-Rank Salary ----------------------------------- Rank 1-500 Rank 2-1000 Rank 3-1500 Rank 4-2000 Rank 5-3000 Rank 6-4000 Rank 7-5000 Rank 8-6000 Rank 9-7000 Rank 10-8000 Rank 11-9000 Rank 12-10,000 Rank 13-11,000 Rank 14-12,000 Rank 15-12,500 Rank 16-13,000 Rank 17-13,500 Rank 18-14,000 Rank 19-14,500 Rank 20-15,000 Rank 21-15,500 Rank 22-16,000 Rank 23-16,500 Rank 24-17,000 Rank 25-17,500 Rank 26-18,000 Rank 27-18,500 Rank 28-19,000 Rank 29-19,500 Rank 30-20,000 Rank A-30,000 ==================================================== 5- O P T I O N A L S T U F F ==================================================== ----------------------------------- 5.1-Magical Lamp/Diablos ----------------------------------- You get the Magical Lamp right before your first mission from Cid. The Magical Lamp is just a device to take you to a battle with Diablos, an optional GF to get.(and a very hard one) You can fight Diablos ANYTIME during the game but his HP rises the longer you wait. To fight Diablos just go into the options menu and click on the Magical Lamp in the items menu and you will be transported to him. Below is a boss strategy for Diablos when and IF you want to fight him. Boss:Diablos Location:Magic Lamp you get from Cid HP:15,000-80,000 Notes:This is a submission strategy Submission Strategy:anyway, to defeat diablos, just simply cast blind on him, if you're lucky he'll go blind. all you have to do is just wait until he keeps on using demi or the other magic (both lowers HP to 75%). when your hp reaches critical just keep on using limit breaks. take note that demi and the other attack will NOT kill nor damage you unless your hp is more than 1. when it gets to 1, he won't be able to kill you with magic and physical (since he's blinded). If he kills your character with the physical attack just cast life and keep on using limit breaks until he's dead. ==================================================== 6- C O M I N G U P ! ==================================================== Sorry that I haven't been updating for...well...3 months but I'll get back into it since I'm bored again with all my other games. Maybe another update tomorrow...or in another 3 months...You just never know with me:p ==================================================== 7- C O P Y R I G H T ==================================================== This FAQ is mine and cannot be copied and sold for profit or promotional purposes in any way. I do not want this published in books, magazines, guides, etc without my permission. It can be printed(please 1 copy per person) Unlike my other FAQs I DO NOT want this one posted on any websites at all besides www.gamefaqs.com, www.psxpit.com which is a website I help out with, and www.rpgfan.com so please don't ask me permission. If you see this on another site please notify me. If you are using my FAQ as a premise for yours just give me credit:) Thank you for following my copyright.