======================================================================== 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 1.6 By Scott Ong E-mail: kangning@mbox5.singnet.com.sg http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Frontier/5344 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ <<<< DISCLAIMER >>>> 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 Any offenders will be severly dealt with This FAQ is made by me, Scott Ong (kangning@mbox5.singnet.com.sg) Unpublished work of Scott Ong 1999. 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! These FAQs are not meant for sale! This is Part I of Final Fantasy VIII FAQ for the US version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ <<<< Versions >>>> -[1.0]- First appearance of FAQ. Added complete Disc 1 Walkthrough Completed Tutorial Guide -[1.1]- Added partial 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 subquest. Enhance 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ can be found in following locations: GameFAQs http://www.gamefaqs.com QUATZ Adoption http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Frontier/ 5344 Game Winners http://www.gamewinners.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- <<<< Author's Note >>>> I could say that this update will probably be the last update. I can't really confirm as I don't know when I am going to end this FAQ... But there is not much difference compared to version 1.5 to version 1.6 as it just contains a bit more information compared to the previous version. [Scott Ong] ======================================================================== T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ======================================================================== 1. Introduction - Story of Final Fantasy VIII [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 [2.1] The Basics [2.2] Playing the Game [2.3] Basic Configuration 3. Walkthrough for Disc 1 [3.1] Familizing yourself with Balamb Garden [3.2] Fire Cavern - The Field Test [3.3] Dollet Dukedom Parilament [3.4] The Night at Balamb Garden [3.5] The Train Trip - Mystery and Murder [3.6] The Sorceress at Timber... [3.7] Laguna's Dream Sequence #2 - Centra Evacuation Site [3.8] Galbadia Garden [3.9] Quest at the Tomb of Unknown King [3.10] Assassination Plan 4. Walkthrough for Disc 2 [4.1] Winhill- Laguna's still alive! [4.2] Held Captive [4.3] Galbadia Missile Base- Prevent the Launch! [4.4] Balamb Garden - War between Garden and SeeD Academy.. [4.5] Arrival at Fisherman's Horizons [4.6] World Tour for Disc 2 4.6a Card Quest at Balamb Garden 4.6b Zell's Love Quest 4.6c Deling: Still as busy as a bee 4.6d Dollet: It has become a busy town! 4.6e Timber: A mysterious jounery... 4.6f Winhill: Still as quiet as ever... 4.6g Shumi Village 4.6h Centra Ruins 4.6i Chocobo Guide [4.7] Balamb under Galbadian Occupation [4.8] Trabia - Childhood Memories at the Orphanage [4.9] The Garden Crash 5. Walkthrough for Disc 3 [5.1] Edea's House - Truth Revealed! [5.2] Trabia Canyon - Laguan's 4th Dream Sequence [5.3] White SeeD Ship - Trip to Legendary Esthar [5.4] Great Salt Lake - The Gateway to the Legendary Esthar City [5.5] Laguna's 5th Dream Sequence - At Esthar [5.6] Esthar City - Seeking Treatment at Lunar Base [5.7] Esthar Under Lunatic Pandora Attack! [5.8] Lunar Base - The Lunar Cry Incident [5.9] Sorceress Memorial Hall - Rescue Rinoa! [5.10] The Great World Tour for Disc 3 5.10a Lunar Base Crash Area 5.10b Obel Lake Mystery 5.10c UFO Sighting Incident 5.10d Ultimate Weapon Upgrading 5.10c Cactaur's Island 5.10d Centra Ruins Revisited 5.10e Deep Sea Research Center 5.10f Deep Sea Deposit 5.10g Shumi Village - Laguna's statue completion. [5.11] Esthar Revisited - Meeting President of Esthar [5.12] Final Showdown at Lunatic Pandora 6. Walkthrough for Disc 4 [6.1] The awakening of the Sorceress [6.2] Ultimecia's Castle - The Sealed Truth [6.3] The Battle of Destiny 7. Credits ======================================================================== Well, onto this epic RPG jounery.. ======================================================================== [1.0] Introduction - Story of Final Fantasy VIII ======================================================================== 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 spells from characters. It also shows the development of characters in the game. The Junction System is easy to learn for NA version as there is 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 is the ratings of the catergories: Storyline: 9 /10 - it is really great! Graphics: 7.5/10 - the graphics is not too nicely rendered unlike those PC screenshots and 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 subquests 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 Subquest.. Overall: 8.0 /10 - it really deserves it... Learning Curve: Medium - quite hard.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [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 gameplay. ______________________________________________________________________ / \ |--------------------<<< 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 whom will depart on your strange adventure... Well.. here is the character besitary. I have also added the character's Limit Break and Initial Weapon equipment info. List of Character Besitary ______________________________________________________________________ /----------------------------------------------------------------------\ | 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 Fuujin |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 Mercernary (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 centered 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 Mercernary (Galbadia) Description: A young man, well-liked by women whose 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' favorite 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 counselor 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 --> Jounralist --> 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 pianoist 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: ???? Weapon: Magic. Occupation: Sorceress ________ / 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 j i n ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A groupy 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 Fuujin. 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 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Address 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. Has 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 Disc 1. 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 bluff.. 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 Analyze 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 remains 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 anyway. ======================================================================== 2.0 Basic Tutorial ======================================================================== Here you will find broad guideline to guide you begineers 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 | Fuujin | 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 explaination 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 G.F. 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 discover 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 _________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | 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 | 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 inflicit 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 inflicited by your opponent. ** Magic ** This factor effects the magic attacking power of your character. The higher the stats, the more damage your character will inflicit when using magic. ** Spirit ** This factor effects the magic defensive power of your character. The higher the stats, the lesser the amount of damage inflicited 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 ** 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 inflicit 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 prefered 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 recieved 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 |Pandemonium | |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 ______________________________________________| --> Optimize 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% | |_______________________________________________| Ocassionally, 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 Optimizes 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 avaliable) Optimizes spells for the highest magic attack and defense. Junction better magic [also giving you better results] to the Mag-J (if avaliable) Optimizes spells for highest defensive power. Junction the better magic [also giving you better results] to the character's Vit-J (if avaliable) 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!] Allows your characters to cast the spells that you have drawn from opponents or Draw Points. Must have the draw command in order to draw magic! 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/Sleepel/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. Allows you to use items such as Potions, Phoenix Downs when engaged in combat. This are pretty handy when your character is unable to use magic [e.g. being silenced]. Also allows you to summon some special monsters such as the Phoenix. For the usage of other commands, refer to Part II for more details. _______ / 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 can not be use through the item command, however some of them provides 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 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. 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 compatbility items, upgrade character's stats with Str Ups and allows you to view booklets like Occult Fan I ~ IV. Allows 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 at 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 peference. Well look 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-color 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. | |----[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 recieve. 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 Explaination ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 mechnical 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 mechnical 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 mechnical 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 Resistence Explaination ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ________________________________________________ | | Zombie | | Death | Sleep | | Poison | Slow | | Petrify | Curse | | Darkness | Stop | | Silence | Confuse | | Berserk | Drain | |________________________|_______________________| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 occur 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.] Gameover 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 tremedously. 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 guage [or known as the Time Bar] moves slower, changing purple in color. [about at 1/2 the time of the regular ATB..] Stop: The ATB guage 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 >>>> Allows you to glance through the GF that the characters have currently being junctioned. Also allows you to view the GF's compatiablity. 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 summonining a couple of times. Regular summoning of a particular GF will improves affection with the character. The higher the comptability 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 thr 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 begining 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. _______ / 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 character 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 psyhic called Orlan where they will be able to play cards. To know more about the rules, refer to Part II or the Tutorial Section. _______ / 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 or Mono 2. Controller: You can set the settings on Normal [default] or Customize [assign the buttons by yourself] 3. Cursor: Cursor will automatically being placed at the last command. [Initial or Memory] 4. ATB: Switch between [Active] where they flows normally or [Wait] where the time stops automatically while selecting a command. 5. Scan: Choosing the second option, the labeler will appear for those monsters/enemies that have been labeled 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 summon GFs. ________ / 2.2.10 \______________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ T u t o r i a l ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A precise guide in playing FF8. Teaches 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 Explaination - 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. ________ / 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **** 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 commands. 4) Use to examine items, examine a ladder, press Up to climb up the ladder and Down to climb down the ladder 5) Confirms the selection of the items that you want to sell or buy in the shops. 6) Allows your character to board the elevator. Menu Screen 1) Use to confirmed selected command Battle Screen 1) Use to confirmed selected command **** Circle Button **** Field Screen 1) When holding O, it will cause Squall and party to walk slowly, in a serious manner! Menu Screen 1) Cancels your commands Battle Screen 1) Cancels your battle commands **** Square Button **** Field Screen 1) Use to challenge opponents to play the Card Game [available after receiving the cards from the man near the elevator of 2nd Floor of Garden Academy.] Menu Screen 1) Allows you jump between menus. Battle Screen 1) Use to raise the GF attacking strength when pressed with a good timing, available after learnt GF ability's "Boost" **** Triangle Button **** Field Screen 1) Activates the Menu Screen Menu Screen 1) N/A Battle Screen 1) Change to the character whom still be able to accept commands. **** L1 Button **** Field Screen 1) Rotates the camera view Menu Screen 1) Switches target character/G.F. [right direction] 2) Switches language from Katakana, Hiragana, English during input your character's name. [towards left] Battle Screen 1) Uses to turn on/off the Target window. **** R1 Button **** Field Screen 1) Rotates the camera view Menu Screen 1) Switches target character/G.F. [left direction] 2) Switches language from Katakana, Hiragana, English during input your character's name [right direction] Battle Screen 1) Trigger [in Squall's Limit Break] **** L2 Button **** Field Screen 1) Rotates the camera view Menu Screen 1) N/A Battle Screen 1) Escape from battles [hold together with R2 button] **** R2 Button **** Field Screen 1) Rotates the camera view. Menu Screen 1) N/A Battle Screen 1) Escape from battles [hold together with L2 button] Now you are ready, let's begin with the walkthrough! _____ / 3.0 \_________________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== WALKTHROUGH FOR DISC 1 ======================================================================== What a mess, I have created for my previous FAQs. Tons of translations needed to be corrected. However this FAQ will be a totally different walkthrough from the previous one! This walkthrough has removed the following areas: - CGIs - someone told me that describing this spoils the game.. Added the following areas: - Monster List Besitary - only draw points, and location. - Items Summary - even there are no treasure chest.. this turn out be amazed me! There are tons of items for you collect! - GF Recruit - so that you will be mentally prepared to get that GFs. Now need to read the walkthrough.. _____ / 3.1 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Familizing yourself with Balamb Garden ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Items: 6x Potion, 4x Phoenix Down, 2x Remedy, 1x Tent, (1x Geezard, 1x Funguar, 1x Red Bat, 1x Gayla, 1x Gesper, 1x Fastitocalon-F, 1x Caterchipillar) 7x Cards, 1x Occult Fan I Magic: Esuna - at the library Blizzard - at the Training Center Cure - at the frontyard [Central Gate] GF: Quezacotl, Shiva Save Pts: B-Garden - Dormitory B-Garden - Hall [Lobby] B-Garden - Training Center ------------------------------------------------------------------------ B-Garden Training Center Grat: Sleep, Silence, [Berserk], {Confuse} T-Rexaur: Fire*, Thunder* {Quake} Balamb - Acauld Plains Bite Bug: Fire*, Scan Caterchipillar: Thunder*, Cure*, [Slow], {Stop} (forests) Glaccid Eye: Blizzard*, Cure*, Scan (near mountains) T-Rexaur: Fire*, Thunder*, {Quake} (forests) Rinaul Shores Fastitocalon: Blizzard*, Sleep, {Water}, Scan ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was a battle in the morning between our hero, Squall Leonhart and his rival, Seifer Almasy. Squall got injured in the process as Seifer results to a cheap shot.. using magic is not allowed in a battle. Squall will be lying unconscious at the Infirmary when he was inspected by the doctor of Balamb Garden [Dr. Kadowaki]. Dr. Kadowaki will be asking Squall whether he is alright or not, pick any one for Squall's reply and you will be given a chance to name your character [Squall]. * Ok. I guess * My forehead hurts After a short conversation, Dr Kadowaki will phone Squall's instructor, and you will have a CGI introduction of Quistis Trepe (also known as Instructor Trepe in Balamb) [Pay attention to that sequence.. there is a girl dressed in blue peeped into the Infirmary] Guess what? Squall's misfortune fall on the day that he is going for his SeeD examinations... Squall have to follow her back to the classroom. Along the walkway, you will be able to talk to her by pressing the X button. Next you will have another CGI ... [it is about life in Balamb Garden] Now Squall will be walking to the classroom, noticed how sloppy Squall was! At the back row of the classroom, you will see Squall along with his rival, Seifer. Quistis will talk to the class that they will begin the SeeD final examinations in 1600 hrs time. [The SeeD examinations is critical for those whom want to be fully-pledged SeeD mercernaries] After that talk, you will be regaining control of Squall. This time, you will be able to view your menu [pressing Circle button]. Now talk to Quistis whom is surrounded by a group of students. [that are the Trepies, hmm.. nice name huh?] She will tell Squall that he need to go to the Fire Cavern before he could start his SeeD Examinations. (Squall intend to go this morning but was challenged by Seifer..) Head back to your seat and watch the Tutorial, and tried to get a slight idea on how to use the Junction system. [Balamb Garden Network, Tutorial Menu] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ********************* Balamb Garden Network **************************** ======================================================================== [Study Panel] The network was user-friendly and easy to use. Just simply get back to Squall's desk, pressing X on the study panel and you will be able access the student's network. Next pick the first option [Tutorial], and you will be able to take your first two Guardian Forces: GF Quezacotl and GF Shiva. You will be asked to name the GF and thus being brought to the screen where you name your characters. Next you can spend your time browsing the other options. Here is an ASCII art of the screen: ___________________________________________ | Balamb Garden Network main index | Notice: | ==========================================| | | The School Festival | Tutorial (NEW) | Commitee is only | The Basics | available after you | About Garden | have gotten the first | A Message from Garden | copy of the Timber | _____ Garden Square | Maniacs as soon as you | |SeeD | _______________________________ | have recruited Selphie | |Logo | \ School Festival Commitee \ | Tilmitt. It got some | |_____| \------------------------------\ | good stuffs! |___________________________________________| ______________________________________________________________________ |----------------------------------------------------------------------| \____________________________________________________________________/ After collecting the first two GFs, it is time to equip them. You must equipped GFs before you can equip any of the basics commands beside Attack. To exit the tutorial, simply press Circle and then choose the first option. I guess you may need to take a look at the Basic Tutorial before proceeding on further. Now exit the classroom. At the walkway, head south a bit... Squall will eventually knocked into a girl (this girl is a future member...) and you will given two options - "Are you OK?" - ".........." After some chit chat, you will find out that this girl wants you to take her a tour around Balamb Garden. She has been just transferred from Trabia to here just for Garden School Festival Committee. - "Sure." - results a tour around Balamb Garden - "Don't have time" - you navigate Garden yourself No matter what choice you have make, it does not affect the game.. Now walk right.. you will find a man and he will tell you that his brother has given him some cards... and he will give the 7 cards. (I have list them up in the headings..). Press Square button to challenge everyone for the card game. Now head inside the elevator. The elevator will take you to the 1F of the Garden. If you choose option 1, you will have a short sequence about the explainations of Garden. It is just your first base for your game. ____________________________________________________________________ / \ |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | M a p o f B a l a m b G a r d e n | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| This is the layout of the 1F of the Garden. It is arranged in a hexagon- shaped structure with passages leading to different areas. There are a couple of card players found in this main hall and their appearance is random (well because no one can't stand at a spot for too long ^_^:). Note that you can go to the Training Center [but it will be a bit too risky..]. Those colour encoding marked in brackets is actually the colour coding on the ground. The Map ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dormitory | Legend [1] |------------ Cafteria [8] | [2] Parking Lot |[] Areas \ | / |E Elevator Quad [7]- - - E - - -[3] Training Center |L Lobby / L \ | Infirmary [6] | [4] Library | [5] | Central Gate | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1] Dormitory: You can changed your clothes here or sleep [to recover lost HP, GFs has auto walk and recover!] when needed. [Grey]. There is a Save Point in this area. Always head here to rest as it restores your HP! Cadets of Garden all lives in Dormitory. Your dormitory is on the left. ______________ | | | | | "S" is your dormitory. | |__| S |__| SP stands for Save Point. |_ ____|_ ___| | SP| | | [2] Parking Lot: The place where you parked the vehicles [Yellow]. You will always head there where you are on a mission. No significant purpose in the game. Gee.. this place is only use once for the entire game! [3] Training Center: It's a huge jungle with huge rocks and pipes. The first time that you have entered, you will find two gates. There is a Save Point found here. [Green]. There is also a Draw Point found here. [Blizzard], it is somewhere near the ledge. N L e g e n d W-|-E _X____________ SP Save Point S | SP xxxxx |==\\ DP Draw Point / xxxxx DP / \\ xxx Grasslands/Rocks / /xxxxxxxxx| || || bridge / |xxxxxxxxx| /--/ /--/ Metal walkway | |xxxxxxxxx| /--/ [GG|GG] Gates \ \xxxxxxxxx//--/ X The "forbidden" Area [GG|GG] [GG|GG] [4] Library: The place for bookworms and to do your research. There is a Draw Point located in between the bookshelves. You have to walk towards the picture in order to uncover the draw point [Esuna]. You will find Occult Fan I in one of bookshelves.. (get your clue from the two students and the study area. [Blue] N __________________ L e g e n d W-|-E | XX| DP|XX| \_\ XX Shelves S | XX| |*X| |_| DP Draw Point _____ |_| |_| desks |_____\ X|_____/_/ * Occult Fan I [5] Central Gate: The entrance of SeeD school. It does not lead to World Map directly! A Draw Point is found near the fountain [Cure]. [Dark Blue]. To get IN and OUT pay attention to the admission gates! |R | | Legend |__|_||_||_|__| R Receptionist | \ []==[] Framework of Balamb | | |--| Stairs | []=========[]| FFF Fountain | |----|----| | DP Draw Point | |----|----| | |/ \| Gate | | Q Quistis Trepe | FFF | | DP | \ / \__|/ \|__/ Q [6] Infirmary: The place, where you will find the doctor and the room where sick/injured people were attended by Dr. Kadowaki. [Purple]. You can always find Dr. Kadowaki there. [7] Quad: This is like a gathering area for students of Balamb Garden. There is a stage there which is meant for the Garden Festival Committee. [Pink]. [8] Cafeteria: The canteen of Garden. [Red] You will meet Seifer and his pals. [Fuujin and Raijin], the first time you have been to there. The hotdogs found here irresistable... [E] Elevator: This will allow Squall to head for the second floor, where you will find the classroom. You can also access the Tutorial menu from Balamb Garden Student Network. [L] Lobby: The place where you can find the Directory of Balamb Garden. At the beginning of the game, there is a Save point near it. Press X to view the map. You will always held gatherings with important meetings with the headmaster, instructors etc. Save Points have also changed its designs from FF7. To save your game, just proceed to the Save Point. Tired of walking? Here is the trick (applies for Disc 1 only). Just simply examine the Directory (or map) and you will find a hand cursor. Point to the locations that you wished to go.. Now just head for the Central Gate. Refer to the [5] marked on the map. You will find gates [like when you board a train.] Just simply hold forward at the red gate and Squall will knocked open the gate. You will find the area in front of Garden... Head for the section that is marked Q on the map. You will find a lady dressed in orange, she is no other than your instructor, Quistis Trepe. You will have a Tutorial about Junctioning GF to your characters. (That's something new. I guess the reason why Square did not add Tutorials for Japanese version because the instructions are in Japanese) Well.. if you want to know more, check the Tutorial. ______________________________________________________________________ / \ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ G e t t i n g S t a r t e d .... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Part I 1.1 "Squall's Renzokuken" When Squall's HP is low (you will see that his stats are coloured (red or yellow). Tap Circle repeatedly and you will see a tiny blinking triangle on the right. Press Right and you will see this word "Renzoku- ken". Press X to select it and Squall will use his basic Limit Break. You will next see boxes.. for you trigger. Press R1 to inflicit more damage. Occassionally you will see Squall using finishing moves like Rough Divide. 1.2 "Quistis Blue Magic" Quistis is one of the best characters for her skills works like the Enemy Skill Materia in FF7. However the learning method is different. Instead you need to look for items known as "Blue Magic Items" You can get one from the Caterchipillar [Ultra Waves learned by using the item, "Spider Web"] There are a lot of items. I will use the following sign (like one below) to remind you guys: (Blue Magic: Ultra Waves): Getting Spider Web by defeating the Caterchipillar. You can get this by stealing or defeating it. (steal will avaliable after you have gotten Mug Ability) 1.3 "Stocking of Magic" How to junction commands? Refer to Section 2.2 for more details. Junction the "Draw" Command. Now enter a battle and select Draw from the command. Let's say you decide to draw from the Bite Bug (this diagram can be also found in Part II): ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ________ Select Draw command and select |Command | the spell that you wished to |Attack | _______ ________ stock. Next you will see the |Magic | |Fire <| --> |Stock | box on the extreme right. You |GF |-> |Scan | |Cast | can choose either one (refer |Draw <| |_______| |________| to Basic Tutorial for more |________| info. If it is a new spell, it is marked by "????" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ << Drawing Failures >> You will encounter this frequently for weak magic users like Quistis. The situation occurs when either one occurs: - The monster is being killed and you have selected the Draw command - A new powerful spell [e.g. Quake, Ultima, Full-Life, Demi] To counter this situation there are a couple of methods.. here they are: 1. Increase the character's Mag stats through junctioning magic to Mag-J. The powerful and more your stock, the better the effect of the Junction [it is really crucial!, you can view a chart of it at Part II] 2. Use items like Mag Up to increase your characters Mag stats. It is rather difficult to find, therefore option one is still the best. 3. Have a strong magic user stock the magic for the weak magic user. This one looks good.. but it really make a difficult situation for you as later in the game. Tip from Scott: So it is REALLY ADVISIBLE for you to stock up 100x kind of that spell as the higher the amount of spell and stronger the spell, the better the junction. How junction magic? Refer to Section 2.2 or have the Tutorial at the Fire Cavern.. 1.4 GF Management >>> Learning Abilities This is VERY important for you know. From the GF screen, you will be able to select your GF and and choose the ability to learn. If the GF has Boost, choose to learn that skill first. To learn this you need to get AP (which I guess it stands for "Ability Points"). Boost is VERY important, refer to Part II for more details. [It makes whole lot difference when you play the game.) >>> Restore GF HP Stupid me.. for knowing this only after getting the English Version. GF has auto-walk recover! They restore HP by walking on the field. It works like taking them for walk! To better effects, choose to sleep in the Dormitory or Hotels. Better still, use GF items like G-Potions. >>> Improve Compatibility I would recommend you junction Shiva with Quistis and have her summon GF Shiva for every battle.. Summon GF frequently improves GF compability with that character. Compatibility is very important as it determines the speed of ATB of GF! You can get up 1000 compatibility. 1.5 World Map You will encounter random monsters while walking on the World Map [ unless you have equipped Enc-Nothing from GF Diablos]. Different Monsters nab you different EXP, AP and items. So it is your interest to meet them. AP allows GF to learn ability. EXP which stands "Experience Points" allows your character and GF to level up. Classficiation of Items will be discuss in detail in Part II 1.6 Magic Upgrades Just like FF7 Materia.. as you level up the Materia level, you get an intermediate version of spell. For the case of FF8, as your character level up, you will be able to draw more powerful spells, like instead of Fire you can get Fira! I have marked "*" for this types of spells. Spells appears in brackets only appears for intermediate levels. Level 1 ~ 20 - gets the primary spells. Level 21 ~30 - gets you the secondary spells and the secondary class spells marked by "[ ]" Level 31 ^ - gets you the most powerful spells and the spells are marked by "{ }". You also see conversions of spells. (final class) Abbreviation of conversion {Scan > Dispel} This results a change from Scan to Dispel in the final levels. Easy to understand huh? If not contact me. |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | You can find the subsequent Tutorial at Fire Cavern Section | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| \____________________________________________________________________/ Press SELECT to view the World Map. Press it again and you will be able to view the full size of the World Map. The Fire Cavern is just behind the forests located near Balamb. Encounter rate in forests is higher compared to grasslands.. It is quite safe to walk on the road. _____ / 3.2 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fire Cavern - The Field Test ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Items: 4x G-Returners, 1x Ifrit's Card Magic: Fire - on the right path of the three-way path of the Cavern. GF: Ifrit Save Pts: n/a ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fire Cavern Red Bat: Thunder*, Scan*, {Drain} Bomb: Fire, [Fira], {Firaga}, {Meltdown} Buel: Fire*, Thunder*, Blizzard*, {Death} Ifrit: Fire*, Cure*, Scan (BOSS) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ At the path leading to the Cavern, Quistis is prompt you a question whether she have teaches you about Squall's Renzoukuken. Pick the 1st option to proceed. Next head to the entrance. BTW, you will also be given a Junction Tutorial on junction magic to your character.. You will find two Garden Faculties. Talk to them and they are asked you whether you are ready or not. Pick 1st option to say yes and you will see the SeeD salution.. Now pick your time limit. It is pretty easy, you are allow to choose between the intervals from 10 ~ 40 minutes. Choose between 20 minutes and 30 minutes. Quistis will be your support. Make sure that you have a couple of Phoenix Downs and Potions. The layout of pathway is rather straightforward.. but with a nagging Quistis tagging along. Just simply walk until you saw the path being split into three. The right path allows you to find another Draw Points, draw magic [Fire] from it. Now here is another important battle tip: The monsters here are mostly weak against Cold. Be careful of Bombs as if you hit too much, It will use a move called Suicide which will perish with one of your characters! From the three way path, head back and make a move to north. You will find a deep pit.. Suddenly a volcano-like eruption begins.. A GF burst out! It is your first BOSS Fight! ________ / BOSS 1 \______________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== Ifrit | Status: Level 6 HP: 1,068 ======================================================================== Description: A Fire G.F uses Fire Magic. It's a strong opponent but as it is a part of Garden's exams, not impossible to defeat it. Facts: Weak against Cold/Ice. Absorbs Fire. Draw: Fire*, Cure*, Scan Attacks: Fire*, (Claw Swipe), (Jumper Claw Dive) Win: 4x G-Returner, Ifrit's Card, 20 AP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ifrit's Data Info [||||||||||||||| < HP > |||||||||||||||] [||||||||||||| STR DEF |||] [| INT SPI |||||||||||||||] [ DEX EVA Strategy Well, our first BOSS turns out to be an GF... BTW, GFs talks! First of all, don't bother to scan and I have already did it for you ^_^;. This BOSS is quite easy.. as remember this phrase "Same elemental monsters absorbs same elements." That means the Fire spells which can be drawn from the BOSS is quite useless.. First of all, summon GF Shiva [which easily inflicit up 300+ HP damage maximum at Level 2 with Boost ability . The Ifrit will say "They have Shiva?" upon the first summon of GF Shiva. Blizzard does quite a handy sum of damage to the BOSS [about 103+ HP damage.. if your character's magic strength is 16+]. The Ifrit will also says "hmm.. not bad for humans" upon first casting of Blizzard. The only strengths of this BOSS is the following techniques: "Impudent Humans!" --> The Ifrit will perform the "Jumper Claw Dive" which is my name for it. The Ifrit will leap up high into the mid-air and come slashing down with a claw swipe.. does about 100+ damage. "Fire" --> it does approximately 50+ HP damage. Fire-element. This battle is not that tough.. as you can draw Cure [which is a healing magic] from the BOSS. If you want to play safe, I would suggest that you have either Quistis and Squall have the Item as their fourth command. After the battle, the Ifrit will says "Ugh.. I underestimate Shiva.. I'll join you" Therefore, now you have another GF! Note that BOSS Fights does not give your HP and their HP is variable based on Squall's Level. I have battle the Ifrit on Level 9. ======================================================================== After the battle, Quistis will teach you something new.. it is about Elemental Arts [which is *very* useful later in the game.] Notice that the time limit has stopped... here is another difference. Junction Ifrit to one character and has Blizzard junction to the chaarcter's Elemental Attack. Exit the cavern and you will find the Garden Faculties are gone. Head back to Alcauld Plains and get some training for your new GF or if you want head back to Balamb Garden. _____ / 3.3 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dollet Dukedom Parliament ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Items: 4x Potions, 4x M-Stone Piece or 2x Venom Fang, 2x Elixir, 2x Cottage, 3x G-Returner. Magic: Blind - 1F of Communications Tower Cure - Balamb Town, Vessel's dock Thunder - at the main square of Balamb Town Save Pts: Communication Towers GF: Siren ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dollet Town (this period only) G-Soldier: Fire*, Blizzard*, Thunder*, Cure* Geezard: Thunder*, [Thundara*], Cure*, [Cura*] Elite Soldier: Fire*, Blizzard*, Thunder*, Scan > {Dispel} Anacandour: Fire*, Cure*, [Bio] Biggs: Fire*, Blizzard*, Thunder*, Esuna Wedge: Fire*, Blizzard*, Thunder*, Cure Elvoret: Thunder*, Cure*, Double, Siren ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Return back to Garden and at the gate, Quistis will leave your party. Next she will tell Squall to meet her in the Lobby since that you have completed the field test. She will tell you to change into your SeeD uniform. So head for the Dormitory. At the your dorm, head for the bed and positioned Squall next to the bed and press the X, choose the 2nd option. Exit the Dormitory. The screen will switches to the Lobby where you will recruit a new partner, Zell Dincht. He will also give a Tutorial about his Limit Break, Duel. Noticed Squall is rather cold-blooded [he doesn't care about anyone else feelings and always kept to his own world] as he just simply give Zell a cold shoulder. Zell also rather dislike Seifer and comments to Squall about their mutual hate for Seifer. However, Quistis gives him a piece of surprising news, that is the leader for this mission is no other than Seifer Almasy! Seifer comes along with his pals, Fuujin and Raijin. Seifer is rather unfriendly and rude person, for he has been classified as a "problem" child. Now the headmaster of Balamb Garden will eventually shows up, his name is Cid Kramer. Cid will briefly tell them about their mission. [heck.. basically about the glory of SeeD!] After the little chit-chat, Seifer and his company plus Zell leave the lobby. Squall will head for the Parking Lot and you will get into a vehicle. You are being grouped to Squad B.. Inside the vehicle, enjoy some funny conversation between the trio and also Quistis Trepe. Zell will keep on asking that he wants to see Squall's gunblade. Squall does not respond, making Zell rather frustrated (well, this guy just can't sit still!) and gets up swaying a couple of punches. Seifer tells him to sit down and shut up, also insult him as "chicken-wuss" ^_^. Now the screen will switch to the World Map and you will be able to control the vehicle. Well, here are the controls of the vehicle ........................................................................ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTROLS OF Vehicles IN FF8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Square: Moves your vehicle forwards. Triangle: Moves your vehicle backwards. X: Get in/ Get Out of vehicle. Circle: Main Menu R2: Changes the Point of View (POW) Select: World Map [Spot view, Side map, enlarged World Map] I did not encounter any monsters while in a vehicle. At this moment of time, you can't get off from the vehicle. Just followed the road and make contact with the structure [there are only three structures in this continent, so its pretty easy to find Balamb Town] S o m e f a c t s They are the basic transport in FF8, allows you to head for forests and around the world safety. Cars have a limited amount of fuel! Use a Fuel to replenish it. You will see a textbox appearing and a Fuel will be used automatically. [you will see that the car move slowly.. and this means you need to replenish it with a Fuel] Fuel can be brought at Towns. ........................................................................ Just simply drive your vehicle to the Balamb Town. You will eventually ended up at the Dock. You have to enter the vessel, a submarine-like ship. Just as everyone have moved off, head up the stairs and enter the vessel (note that you can opened up the Junction menu...) Inside the vessel, you will given a talk by a SeeD member called Xu whom will brief you about your examinations. [Notice that Seifer has been to the test before.. well to know the reason, play the game!] For the past 72 hours, Dollet City has been under-attacked by the Galbadian army. After 18 hours from outbreak of the war, the city of Dollet has been evacuated. At present, the people are hurrying to take refuge at the outlying of mountainous areas. The troop will disembark from Lapin Beach. Ask to eliminate any enemy soldiers. Asked to penetrate through the city and eliminate any enemy troops. After the briefing, Sue leaves. Squall decide to do something, that's is talk to who ? You will be given 4 options: -> Talk to Quistis -> Talk to Seifer -> Talk to Zell -> Do Nothing Seifer will now asked Squall to take a look outside the vessel. Choose the following option "....OK" (bare with it.. as it is your leader.) Once arrived on the beach, just follow Seifer. You will be able to control Squall and Zell will follow you. Note that you are to get junction each GF to each character. Junction Ifrit to Squall. And give each character each GF. Have them the following commands: Magic, GF, Draw. Trade Quistis' magic to either one of them or might as split up and stock up magic from the G-Soldiers. Now walk up the stairs (don't talk.. just walk up), use the Save Point if you feel the need to do so. You will fight 2 G-Soldiers, each of them being armed with a sword. They are quite simple not that tough, just simply throw in what you got. This will nab you 2 AP and 2x Potions. Draw magic from them and stock it up for later use. There is rather a high probability, you will encounter random battles, so be always on your guard. Continue following Seifer into the city. In the screen where you see a bar, you will find a bridge and were ambushed another 2 G-Soldiers. [get you another Potion and 2 AP] Continue in following Seifer and he will talk more at the screen where you find a shop named "Noutlius" and there is a car there.. Good work, Zell ^_^; At the Town Square where you find a fountain, there you will be attacked by another G-Soldier (nab 1x Potion and 1 AP). Now your leader will give you some orders that's to scout for enemies. At the upper right-hand corner, you will meet another G-Soldier [it's somewhere near the car]. (nab you only 1 AP). Next talk to Seifer, wait until Seifer start to comment on the mission started to get bored. Just wait there for a while, where you will find the dog irritating Seifer. To prevent the dog from being hurt, talk to the dog! Now the party will hide at one corner, approach Seifer... Getting rather frustrated, Seifer chases the dog away and causes the dog to bark. Six Galbadian soldiers started to march towards left. Seifer will tell both Zell and Squall to chase them. Zell did not wished to do that [as they will not following the orders..] But surprisingly, Squall agrees with Seifer... (for 1 reason, Seifer is their leader) So chase after them, and keep on following Seifer. Next you will be crossing a bridge and keep on heading left. You will encounter random battles there rather frequently. Whew! you have finally caught up with Seifer. Talk to the wounded Dollet soldiers. As you talk to the person, who is crawling on the stairs, and the soldier will get ripped up! Beware, as you are going to battle a Anacandour, a huge snake-type creature. _______ / FIGHT \_______________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== Anacandour | Status: Level 8 HP: 1,248 ======================================================================== Description: A large venemous snake that uses squeeze attacks. Use Caution when its HP is low, its splits poisonous fluid. Facts: Absorbs Poison. Weak against Cold. Draw: Fire*, Cure*, [Bio] Attacks: (whip), Squeeze, Dark Mist Squall's Lv: 11 Win: 4x M-Stone Piece or 2x Venom Fang ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anacandour's Data Information [||||||||| < HP > |||||||||] [|||| STR DEF |] [ INT SPI ] [ DEX EVA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Strategy This BOSS isn't really tough. You can draw healing magic from this guy. Just use your GF to toast the BOSS. Beware of the Dark Mist as it does a massive amount of damage + poison-status effect. Do not use Bio (if you have the spell) on the BOSS. Use GF Shiva with the "Boost" ability for more damage. Refer to Part II about Boost for more details. Junction 100x magic to booast the characters. The BOSS can cause a lot of mischief with its Dark Mist, use a Remedy or Antidote to fix that status ailments. Seifer's No Mercy! Yep.. Seifer is indeed different. He can unleash his Limit Break: No Mercy even if his HP is only 40% of his total HP. He has a gunblade trigger just like Squall.. just keep on tap R1 while he was generating the energy field. This is perhaps the last battle that you are using as Seifer Almasy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Continue up the stairs and head for the Communications Tower. Proceed up the screen.. and you will find a huge tower with 3 Galbadians Soldiers talking about a huge monster living there... Your teammates will try to stay under cover at the cliff found in front of the Tower. Seifer wants to head on and goes off on his own (does not make decision wisely huh?), Next you will be introduced to a new party member... in a funny CGI movie. The girl's name is Selphie. She is formerly a member of Squad A. Well she will also thank you for taking her around Balamb Garden if you have did so... if not, say bye for that thanks ^_^; She will jump off the cliff and asked you to follow her. Examine the cliff with X and you can get two options. You can also move right which leads to a winding path to the tower.. Make your choice. Now she will join your party once you talk to her. NOTE that she will have all spells that you stocked. Junction Quezacotl to her and try to build up the compatibility. Enter the Tower and you will find Seifer chasing out the G-Soldiers from the Tower ^_^; Enter the tower to follow Seifer. I would recommend you have someone with item as their fourth command for you don't Life Magic. Next the scene was transferred to the conversation between Wedge and Major Biggs. Now head inside the tower, equip Guardian Forces for each of them. Draw from the Draw Point found on the left of the elevator [Blind]. There is also a Save Point located on the right of the elevator. Proceed towards the elevator and use the elevator by choosing the top option with the X button. At the top of tower, you will have another CGI feast... Biggs is surprised that you were there and he called for Wedge but no response. ^_^; try to escaped but his plan is backfired by Seifer.... It is your 2nd BOSS Fight! ________ / BOSS 2 \______________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== Biggs | Status: Level 10 HP: 705 Wedge | Status: Level 12 HP: 703 Elvoret | Status: Level 8 HP: 2,872 ======================================================================== Description: A monster that lives in the abandoned Dollet Communication Tower. No one has known where it come from. (Elvoret) Facts: (Elvoret) Weak against Wind. Poison has no effect. (Wedge) Poison has no effect Draw: (Elvoret): Thunder*, Cure*, Double, Siren (Biggs): Fire*, Thunder*, Blizzard*, Esuna (Wedge): Fire*, Thunder*, Blizzard*, Cure* Attack: (Elvoret): (claw swipe), Thunder*, Fire*, Mist Breath (Biggs): (gunfire), (charge), Cure*, Thunder*, Protect (Wedge): (sword slash), Fire* Squall's Lv: 11 Win: 2x Elixir, 2x Cottage, 3x G-Returner, 1x Weapon Mon Mar AP gained: 18 AP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Biggs' Data Information [||||||| < HP > |||||||] [||| STR DEF |||||] [||| INT SPI |||||||] [ DEX EVA |] Wedge's Data Information [||||||| < HP > |||||||] [||| STR DEF |||||] [| INT SPI |||||||] [ DEX EVA |] Elvoret's Data Information [||||||||| < HP > |||||||||] [||| STR DEF ] [||| INT SPI |||||||||] [ DEX EVA ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Strategy >>> Fighting against Biggs and Wedge You firstly face Biggs and just simply attack him with attacks and magic. As he was seriously wounded in the process, he will call for Wedge (well, a pretty amusing sequence). Just keep on focus your attacks on one of them. After defeating one of them and you will eventually meet up with the main BOSS of this section. Biggs have the probability of casting Cure on Wedge if both of them is seriously injured. Kill Biggs first! Draw Cure to maintain your character's HP at its maximum. Draw Esuna from Wedge and stock it up. >>> Fighting against the Elvoret It took me a while to figure this way to defeat this cookie in a few minutes time.. Notice that its Defensive stats as being scan is *very* low, this means that "Limit Breaks are the killer weapon!" Just draw GF Siren (there is a way to get it after this battle...) and stock up Double if you want to make your life easy.. Have Selphie and Squall as healers that is to draw Cure* from the BOSS to restore HP. Selphie is a great character for her Limit Breaks are very strong where comes to offense or defense. Target to get Full-cure first just to continue your stocking up of Double [20+ Mag stats should have no problem...]. Use Squall's Renzokuken at the maximum of 2 times only [junction any 100x Fire or other element to his Str through Str-J] as the BOSS will use its Mist Breath which does ~100 HP to all characters. Upon the first time, have Zell/Selphie using Draw Cure and Cast. In this way it is no sweat! Once your HP is back to its maximum, continue your stock up Double run... ======================================================================== As you are done with the BOSS, you will have a short conversation. Seifer will leave... Why? Actually Selphie is a messenger from Squad A and to inform Squad B to evacuate with 30 minutes time to head back to Lapin Beach where the vessel is docked. So hurry! Examine the elevator and pick the first option. (don't forget to Junction Siren to Squall, this GF is really good) As Squall and his members were heading to the ground floor, you will have a scene of Biggs activating the controls, thus summoning the "Black Widow" to attack your party. Back at the ground floor of the tower, save your game and use Potions/Cure to restore lost HP. Head for the entrance and you will encounter the "Black Widow" It will be more advisible to use a Tent at the Save Point. Note that the time limit still continues during the battles with the BOSS. Do worry, there is no random battles during this sequence. ________ / BOSS 3 \______________________________________________________________ ======================================================================== X-ATM092 | Status: Level 8 HP: 5,580 ======================================================================== Description: Galbadia Mobile attack weapon AKA "Black Widow". Does not stop untill it kills all enemies in its path. Facts: Weak against Thunder. Poison has no effect on the BOSS. Draw List: Fire*, Blizzard*, Cure*, Protect Attacks: Arm Crash, (swipe), Ray-Bomb, Clash Squall's Lv: 11 Win: n/a AP Gained: 50 [defeat the BOSS' HP to zero upon first encounter] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ X-ATM092's Data Information [||||||||| < HP > |||||||||] [||| STR DEF ||||||] [| INT SPI |] [ DEX EVA ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Strategy #1 Well, it is pretty easy (but not easy to knock it down with such low levels and advance spells). I have classified them into two strategies: The BOSS' main weakest is Thunder. So cast Thunder and summon GF Quezacotl is your key weapon in your arsenal... To finish it off quickly, summon Quezacotl along with "Boost" ability. Once the BOSS is down, you will heard from Zell saying press L2 and R2 to escape.. that's to run.. proceed the "Mad Run Chase" Junction Thunder to your character's Elem-Atk-J [Ifrit have that ability] Contine with the "Mad Run Chase" Strategy #2: Defeat "Black Widow" Strategy Beforehand preparations Defeating this guy is not impossible but you really need to level up to Level 18+. You must gotten make Mid Class Mag-RF from the Quezacotl, SumMag +20%, Elemental Attack for 2 characters and Ability with BOSS. Convert 5x Thunder to Thundara using the menu. Get 100x of Thundara to junction to Squall's Elem-Atk-J and junction 100x of another mid-class magic to his Str-J. Junction 100x Double to Selphie's Mag Stats and her affection with Quezacotl at about 900+. Have Squall under critical status (let Squall die in the battle against the Elvoret and use a Phoenix Down). At the battle, keep on using Renzokuken and have the rest using Cure to restore Squall's health at least about 240+. Continue with the "Mad Run Chase" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Mad Run Chase" Well, I have only did once to fight against the BOSS only once.. but I still can't skip one of them...You will encounter the BOSS at least 2 times if you follow my instructions.. - First fall.. can't escape. This is a compulsory battle. - The path on the right... just keep on walking down. - The cliff .. hold Left when you reach that screen. - The steps.. The floor vibrates as you walk down.. try to walk by holding down triangle. Thanks a lot pals. (See Credits section) - the path where the wounded soldier is being squeeze to death.., just walk down.. - The bridge.. It works like this.. Turn on your TV speakers a bit lounder so that you can heard the footsteps of X-ATM092... Just simply move right until you heard a loud thud [the X-ATM092 jump across your party]. Move left and once it jump... make a RIGHT TURN! It take time to practices this.. - The Town Square.. save the dog, but examining it with X button - The area with the car.. just walk south and enjoy a CGI of the car being squashed! - Outside the Pub.. Just walk south.. - The main street.. this is really scary.. HOLD the D-Pad's DOWN! *End of Chase* (Phew!) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Watch a CGI on how Quistis stop this monster.... Now your party are back safe and sound. Back at the harbour, Seifer returns back to his normal self. His pals will come to the harbour and praises him for the victory. Quistis will congratulate Squall and the rest for doing a great job. However, the unfriendly Seifer and his company just simply uses your only transport, thus leaving your party back at the harbour. Now you have to walk back to Balamb Garden..... Exit the area and you will be at a winding path and there is a Hotel. Pay 100 gil to stay in the Hotel [as resting at the inn, will help to recover all your lost HP, but it also does provide help to your G.Fs]. If you want to save your game, use the Save Point found at the corner of the room. [There is also a copy of the Timber Maniacs.] Rest as you must be tired and has lost quite a lot of HP [pick the first option and pay 100 gil]. Head left and you will enter the main compound of Balamb Town. There is a Draw Point here, draw some magic. [Thunder] If you talk to the man sitting on the bench, you will find out that he seems rather familiar to Zell. Actually, this is Zell's hometown! There are three houses found within the main compound. Here is a map of Balamb. ____________________________________________________________________ / \ |---------------------------------------------------------------------| | Map of Balamb Town | |---------------------------------------------------------------------| | __ __ ______ | | | | D | | | | | _______ DP--| | | | | | E | _________| * | | | ___________________| _______|___| | | | | | | | | | |||| | H | | | | |__| A | B | F | | | | | | C 2 |___|__ __| |_________ft| ____________ | | | | \SP tm / | | | |______|______|___DP___________________ \== G / / | | \ \______/1 / | | \____________/ | | Legend | | A Balamb Shop ft Fake Timber Maniacs | | B Balamb Junk Shop tm Timber Maniacs | | C Train Station ||| stairs * you are here | | D Rent-A-Car Shop -- Dock Berth | | E Residence DP Draw Point | | F Zell's House == steps | | G Balamb Hotel SP Save Point | | H Dock Area 2 -> Queen 1 -> Hotel Owner | |_____________________________________________________________________| After you have done with browsing the town, proceed to the Gas Station. There you can rent a vehicle for 3,500 gil ! Pick first or second option to rent a vehicle OR pick the third to quit. Here is the summary of the place. Timber Maniacs: head to Balamb Hotel and enter the room on the left. Check the table on the right. There is also a Save Point Here. Fake Maniacs: You can find this in Zell's House. BTW, you can't enter his yet ^_^; (want to what Zell says? watch..) Card Queen: Where card is concern.. this character is vitial. More information about her in Part II. Hotel Cost: 100 gil Rent-A-Car: 3500 gil. --> Sky Blue Car Classic Car ...Forget it ____________ Balamb Shop \___________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name of Item Functions Cost (gil) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Potion Restores HP by 200 100 Hi-Potion Restores HP by 1000 500 Phoenix Down Revives KO Status 500 Antidote Cure Poison 100 EyeDrops Cure Darkness 100 Soft Cure Petrify 100 Echo Screen Cure Silence 100 Holy Water Cure Zombie, Curse 100 Remedy Cure abnormal status 1000 Tent Fully restores abnormal status and HP 1000 to all. Fuel Fuel for rental car 3000 Normal Ammo Ammo that attacks one opponent 20 Shotgun Ammo Ammo that attack all opponent 40 G-Potion Restores 200 HP to GF 200 G-Returner Revives GF from KO 500 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ________________________________________________________________________ If you want to level up your party, well it is a good time to do so. If you rent a car, parked it outside Balamb Garden as only cars from Garden are allow to enter Balamb Garden.. so park it in the wild. Tied with your limited cash? Just walk on the road.. it is pretty safe ^_^; _____ / 3.4 \_________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Night at Balamb Garden ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Items: Battle Meter, 16x Wizard Stones, 1x Magical Lamp, 1x Diablo's Card, 8x G-Returner, 1x Weapon Mon Apr, 1x Pet Pals Vol. 1 Magic: Same as Section 3.1 Save Pts: Same as Section 3.1 GF: Diablos ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Balamb Garden - Training Center Grat: Silence, Sleep, [Berserk], {Confuse} T-Rexaur: Fire*, Thunder*, {Quake} Granaldo: Blind, Sleep, Shell Raldo: World of Darkness Diablos: Demi, Cure* (BOSS) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proceed towards the Lobby. You will meet Quistis, Cid and Xu near the Directory of Balamb Garden. Talk to them and you will be given the following options: - Felt good - Sacred to death - ... Whatever Here is a piece of good news. The SeeD mission is being held successfully! Talk to Cid and he will speak for a short while. Now head right from here and you will meet Seifer at the entrance of the path that is leading towards the library. Talk to him... Noticed Seifer's expressions... He seems rather fed up. You want to know why? Here comes the answer.. Cid will enter this area and talk to Seifer, the reason why he has failed the SeeD test mainly because he like to do things on his own. Seifer's hatred is being stirred and stays at within that area. Now head for the elevator and you will hear the announcement as all Garden cadets are asked to head outside the classroom located on the 2nd floor. Now talk to everyone whom is within the area outside the classroom. Noticed that Zell is walking back and forth? He is rather nervous about his results. After a while, a Garden Faculty will come up and announce the results to the group of anxious cadets. Announcing those whom has passed the SeeD test.... Zell of Squad B! and Squall of Squad B! Surprisingly, only Squall and Zell have passed the test among all, watch the expressions of those whom have failed the tests. Now the screen switches to the Cid's office where you have the inguration Ceremony. Only four Garden Cadets have passed the SeeD test Before you have left the area, talk to Cid. He will give you an item called the Battle Meter [it is something associated with your SeeD ranking, your battles (like how many times you have been KO, how many enemies that you have killed) which is accessible through the Balamb Garden Network or your Tutorial menu.] Next you will be shown the results of your performance at the Dollet Mission. [How to get full marks, read on..] From now onwards you do the test at any moment of the game. Squall is now an official SeeD member. You will receive money, based on the number of steps on that you walk on the field. The higher the SeeD ranking it is, the more money that you will earn. To gain higher ranks for SeeD levels, do the SeeD tests. You will be promoted by 1 level each time after gaining full marks for each test. Before you had received money, you will hear a ring and find those stats at the lower part of the screen. If you walk for too long without doing anything related to the story, your SeeD level will decrease! So avoid that as much as you can. If you have SeeD level A, you will received 30,000 gil each time! Here are the answers to the SeeD test: ______________________________________________________________________ /______________________________________________________________________\ Level 1: Y, N, Y, Y, Y, N, N, Y, N, N HOW TO DO THE TESTS? Level 2: Y, N, Y, Y, Y, N, Y, Y, N, N Level 3: N, N, Y, N, Y, Y, Y, N, Y, N Just select "TEST after Level 4: N, Y, Y, Y, N, N, Y, Y, N, N Squall has become a SeeD Level 5: N, N, N, Y, Y, N, N, Y, Y, Y member [completed the Dollet Level 6: Y, N, Y, Y, N, N, Y, Y, N, Y mission] from the TUTORIAL Level 7: Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y, N, Y, Y, N menu. There you will be Level 8: N, Y, N, N, Y, Y, N, N, Y, N receiving a question whether Level 9: N, Y, N, N, N, N, N, N, Y, Y you are doing the test or Level 10: Y, N, N, N, N, N, N, N, Y, N not? Pick the option on the Level 11: Y, Y, N, Y, Y, N, Y, N, N, Y left and you will be able Level 12: N, Y, N, N, Y, N, Y, N, Y, N to take the test. Level 13: Y, N, N, N, Y, N, N, N, N, N __________________________ Level 14: Y, Y, Y, Y, N, Y, Y, N, Y, N |SeeD Test No. 4 | Level 15: Y, Y, N, N, N, N, N, Y, N, Y | Q.2 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Level 16: Y, N, N, Y, N, Y, N, N, Y, N | xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Level 17: Y, N, N, N, Y, N, N, Y, N, N | | Level 18: Y, N, N, N, Y, N, N, N, N, N | [YES] [NO] | Level 19: Y, N, N, Y, N, N, N, N, N, Y |__________________________| Level 20: Y, Y, N, Y, N, Y, Y, Y, N, N Level 21: Y, Y, Y, Y, N, N, Y, Y, Y, N Above is an ASCII art on how Level 22: N, N, N, Y, N, N, N, Y, Y, N the screen should look like. Level 23: Y, N, N, N, N, Y, Y, Y, Y, Y Level 24: Y, Y, N, N, Y, Y, N, N, N, Y NOTES: Level 25: Y, N, Y, Y, Y, N, N, Y, N, N Once y