FFVIII Community Playthrough
- Thread starter The Twilight Mexican
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The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
I mostly just play against Trepe Groupie #3 (classroom) and the friend of Trepe Groupie #1 (cafeteria). Get Tri-Face and Abyss Worm cards from the latter, and a fuckton of Iron Giants, Ruby Dragons, Malboros, Snow Lions, Blitzes, Hexadragons and Elnoyles from the former.
I've already got like 14 Elnoyles and 10 Hexadragons in addition to more than 20 Ruby Dragons and Malboros, as well as something like 14 Snow Lions. I had 17 Blitz cards at one point.
Make sure you're spreading that Diff trading rule, though.
I've already got like 14 Elnoyles and 10 Hexadragons in addition to more than 20 Ruby Dragons and Malboros, as well as something like 14 Snow Lions. I had 17 Blitz cards at one point.
Make sure you're spreading that Diff trading rule, though.
Lex
Administrator
Of course 
I hate how sometimes it'll last for like 25 matches and then others it'll last for 6. I've found the odd time as well that "One" seems to come back for a game then when you quit you can get a "Diff" streak for a while before it disappears entirely. It's an odd mechanic to say the least.
I hate how sometimes it'll last for like 25 matches and then others it'll last for 6. I've found the odd time as well that "One" seems to come back for a game then when you quit you can get a "Diff" streak for a while before it disappears entirely. It's an odd mechanic to say the least.
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Well, I did manage to permanently spread it around the Garden, but now the Card Queen only wants to use either All or Direct. Going to be problematic for when I give her MiniMog.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
^^That was a pain. And even when I did get her to use Diff AND send her to Dollet, everyone in Balamb started using the One rule. Grrrr... that's going to be a nightmare to straighten out.
I tend to mod cards as I get them, so I usually have only one of any type of card at a time. I also modded cards off of the monsters in the area and got a couple of boss cards already which really help out. Only now I'm sick of just having the Open rule and want Same and Plus added in. I'm also using the same five cards: Zell, Diablos, Ifrit, Behemoth, and Elvoret.
And I'm playing on an emulator, so I'm really abusing the game by making a "save-state" right before the final conformation for a game, which is when the RNG stops running. Then I can just reload until a card is revealed that I need.
I tend to mod cards as I get them, so I usually have only one of any type of card at a time. I also modded cards off of the monsters in the area and got a couple of boss cards already which really help out. Only now I'm sick of just having the Open rule and want Same and Plus added in. I'm also using the same five cards: Zell, Diablos, Ifrit, Behemoth, and Elvoret.
And I'm playing on an emulator, so I'm really abusing the game by making a "save-state" right before the final conformation for a game, which is when the RNG stops running. Then I can just reload until a card is revealed that I need.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Chapter 3
Yes, first time I ever did all that (besides the detonator). I assume it will affect things later?
Not very well. While I enjoy the game of Triple Triad, I find the actual sidequest related to it to be rather tedious. Having to constantly spread and abolish new rules and win specific cards and lose specific cards.
It doesn't help that I haven't had very good luck with it so far either, haha. Almost every single game I've played has ended in a Draw. Grr.
It's a little more like I would expect a military academy to be, rather than the School Days-style Balamb. Obviously its supposed to be unsettling when you're there.
I've always liked him initially, his design, his gun, his limit break. I frequently use him too, but he kinda disappoints this chapter. Between his rampant, shameless manwhoring (seriously, even Edgar would be telling him to cool it), and his behavior at the end of the chapter.
Hm. I guess Deling, being able to ride the bus system is a cool touch. Good music, as well.
I notice that VIII uses a lot of very tight-angle prerendered screens for the towns. FFVII tended to put the whole town on one screen which had a way of making them feeling unnecessarily small. VIII's multiple up close screens definitely make the towns feel bigger, but the constant screen changes are a little annoying. I think FFIX perfected their prerendered town building. Where places like Lindblum had multiple screens that were nonetheless wide-angle with deep backgrounds to really make the city feel big. Or a scrolling camera map like Alexandria.
Yes, I remembered this from before. It makes it nice when you remember, but it's kind of annoying that that's all there is to it if you fork over all the cash for the bonus materials.
Yep, never got him before, I don't think.
It was getting pretty late so I just got a walkthrough for that part for speed's sake. However, while I was following the directions, it did seem awfully complicated and I wondered how I managed to do it the other times I've played this sequence.
While the characters continue to grate on me some (Aforementioned Irvine antics, do you really have to apologize RIGHT now Quistis?, etc.), I always liked this sequence.
Edea looks suitably imposing in all of her scenes. I love how she murders the President and tosses him to the side in the midst of her berating speech. Does she have the crowd enthralled in a spell here? Is that why they keep cheering?
The parade is delightfully unsettling. The music is freaking awesome and frightening, while the dancers move erratically and not particularly in beat to the music. As with the train mission the laid out plans are fun and interesting even if Irvine screws it up. It's also Squall's first occurrence of being badass to me when he just decides "&#$* it, I'll do it myself," wrecks that soldier, and speeds away in the car. Also, for a guy that has shown pretty lousy leadership skills so far, the way he handles Irvine is actually pretty astute. (Also, we need a gif of Squall's facepalm for TLS, it's a great one)
Yes, first time I ever did all that (besides the detonator). I assume it will affect things later?
Not very well. While I enjoy the game of Triple Triad, I find the actual sidequest related to it to be rather tedious. Having to constantly spread and abolish new rules and win specific cards and lose specific cards.
It doesn't help that I haven't had very good luck with it so far either, haha. Almost every single game I've played has ended in a Draw. Grr.
It's a little more like I would expect a military academy to be, rather than the School Days-style Balamb. Obviously its supposed to be unsettling when you're there.
I've always liked him initially, his design, his gun, his limit break. I frequently use him too, but he kinda disappoints this chapter. Between his rampant, shameless manwhoring (seriously, even Edgar would be telling him to cool it), and his behavior at the end of the chapter.
Now, I do know that he wusses out because he remembers Edea as their nanny. But, A) why doesn't he just say that? And B) why does he have no problem repeatedly blasting her at point blank with a shotgun moments later during the boss fight?
Hm. I guess Deling, being able to ride the bus system is a cool touch. Good music, as well.
I notice that VIII uses a lot of very tight-angle prerendered screens for the towns. FFVII tended to put the whole town on one screen which had a way of making them feeling unnecessarily small. VIII's multiple up close screens definitely make the towns feel bigger, but the constant screen changes are a little annoying. I think FFIX perfected their prerendered town building. Where places like Lindblum had multiple screens that were nonetheless wide-angle with deep backgrounds to really make the city feel big. Or a scrolling camera map like Alexandria.
Yes, I remembered this from before. It makes it nice when you remember, but it's kind of annoying that that's all there is to it if you fork over all the cash for the bonus materials.
Yep, never got him before, I don't think.
It was getting pretty late so I just got a walkthrough for that part for speed's sake. However, while I was following the directions, it did seem awfully complicated and I wondered how I managed to do it the other times I've played this sequence.
While the characters continue to grate on me some (Aforementioned Irvine antics, do you really have to apologize RIGHT now Quistis?, etc.), I always liked this sequence.
Edea looks suitably imposing in all of her scenes. I love how she murders the President and tosses him to the side in the midst of her berating speech. Does she have the crowd enthralled in a spell here? Is that why they keep cheering?
The parade is delightfully unsettling. The music is freaking awesome and frightening, while the dancers move erratically and not particularly in beat to the music. As with the train mission the laid out plans are fun and interesting even if Irvine screws it up. It's also Squall's first occurrence of being badass to me when he just decides "&#$* it, I'll do it myself," wrecks that soldier, and speeds away in the car. Also, for a guy that has shown pretty lousy leadership skills so far, the way he handles Irvine is actually pretty astute. (Also, we need a gif of Squall's facepalm for TLS, it's a great one
)
Lex
Administrator
I'm planning to do the card queen quest either the easy way, or not at all, because I hate that quest.
The easy way being get all the cards you need to lose to her, challenge her in balamb using the all trade rule then losing them all to her in one go and making sure she goes to dollet. Saves me chasing her about and it activates all the "new" cards at once.
Or I'll just skip it entirely and get the quest cards from the CC Group on disc 4 (even if you didn't do the quest they have all the cards that her father was supposed to have painted if you don't have them by that point).
I already have all the materials required for each character's ultimate weapon possible on Disc 1 aside from Irvine's obviously, since you can't get the Moon Stone until Disc 3 (I refined 70 elnoyle cards for energy crystals LOL).
The only ones that piss me off are Adamantine, Dragon Fangs and Dragon Skins. I'mnot levelling to 20-29 to get them off T-Rexaurs and I'm not levelling to 30 to get Adamantoises to drop Adamantine, so I'm going to mod the Minotaur card when I get it and... dare I say it...
farm Grendels (level 1-19) for Dragon Fangs and Dragon Skins. They have a really high dragon fang drop but their dragon skin drop is about 5%, and once they go above 20 they don't drop them at all. I really fucking wish I could card mod these items somehow. The reason these guys are really fucking annoying is that they barely ever show up even when you're in the right spot. I remember accidentally fighting Wendigos once for about an hour because I got confused.
And can you believe I have all that but I still don't have enough Abyss Worm and Blitz cards to give a SECOND character 100 Tornado/ Thundaga? Something about this is very skewed. Quistis even has Save the Queen.
I haven't done the SeeD test yet btw.
The easy way being get all the cards you need to lose to her, challenge her in balamb using the all trade rule then losing them all to her in one go and making sure she goes to dollet. Saves me chasing her about and it activates all the "new" cards at once.
Or I'll just skip it entirely and get the quest cards from the CC Group on disc 4 (even if you didn't do the quest they have all the cards that her father was supposed to have painted if you don't have them by that point).
I already have all the materials required for each character's ultimate weapon possible on Disc 1 aside from Irvine's obviously, since you can't get the Moon Stone until Disc 3 (I refined 70 elnoyle cards for energy crystals LOL).
The only ones that piss me off are Adamantine, Dragon Fangs and Dragon Skins. I'mnot levelling to 20-29 to get them off T-Rexaurs and I'm not levelling to 30 to get Adamantoises to drop Adamantine, so I'm going to mod the Minotaur card when I get it and... dare I say it...
farm Grendels (level 1-19) for Dragon Fangs and Dragon Skins. They have a really high dragon fang drop but their dragon skin drop is about 5%, and once they go above 20 they don't drop them at all. I really fucking wish I could card mod these items somehow. The reason these guys are really fucking annoying is that they barely ever show up even when you're in the right spot. I remember accidentally fighting Wendigos once for about an hour because I got confused.
And can you believe I have all that but I still don't have enough Abyss Worm and Blitz cards to give a SECOND character 100 Tornado/ Thundaga? Something about this is very skewed. Quistis even has Save the Queen.
I haven't done the SeeD test yet btw.
Ami
Playing All The Stuff!
- AKA
- Amizon, Commander Shepard, Ellie, Rinoa Heartilly, Xena, Clara Oswald, Gamora, Lana Kane, Tifa Lockhart, Jodie Holmes, Chloe Price.
Triple Triad is always the bane of my existence when it comes to this game. I think I might actually do this a lot when I get back into the swing of it.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Yeah, like I said, while the game is plenty enjoyable enough. The quest relating to it is such a pain in the ass that it hardly seems worth it. After all, my last playthrough I got to almost the end of the disc 3 without playing or even really drawing magic before I couldn't get any farther.
I forgot to put this in my writeup. I did look for Grendels briefly but when I didn't run into them I had moved on. But what I DID spend time trying to find was Forbiddens in the Tomb. They drop what I need for Squall's flame sword, the only one I want to make before getting the Lion Heart. Not a single one appeared, much less getting him to drop it (though it does seem like it's a fairly high chance of that). I eventually said screw it. I need a turtle shell from an Adamantoise too, but if trying to find Forbidden was any indication, I had no desire to go after it.
I have extremely minimal patience for farming in the first place, but if I'm supposed to farm something that hardly even appears? Meaning I have to keep running into other monsters and fighting or fleeing....no thanks.
You're crazy.
I forgot to put this in my writeup. I did look for Grendels briefly but when I didn't run into them I had moved on. But what I DID spend time trying to find was Forbiddens in the Tomb. They drop what I need for Squall's flame sword, the only one I want to make before getting the Lion Heart. Not a single one appeared, much less getting him to drop it (though it does seem like it's a fairly high chance of that). I eventually said screw it. I need a turtle shell from an Adamantoise too, but if trying to find Forbidden was any indication, I had no desire to go after it.
I have extremely minimal patience for farming in the first place, but if I'm supposed to farm something that hardly even appears? Meaning I have to keep running into other monsters and fighting or fleeing....no thanks.
You're crazy.
Ami
Playing All The Stuff!
- AKA
- Amizon, Commander Shepard, Ellie, Rinoa Heartilly, Xena, Clara Oswald, Gamora, Lana Kane, Tifa Lockhart, Jodie Holmes, Chloe Price.
I haven't either, just putting it out there.You're crazy.
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Dont flee from battles, even if it's not the enemy you want. That will lower your SeeD rank.
Lex: How the fuck do you have 70 Elnoyle cards and not those few measly Blitz and Abyss Worm cards? I acquired tons of those just in the course of getting the 20 Elnoyle cards needed for two Energy Crystals so I can get the Lionheart right after the Timber mission (I'm going to mug Adamantoises for the Adamantine).
I also ended up with several more Iron Giants, so I could go ahead and upgrade to the Punishment now, but there's very little point since there's only going to be one boss fight between now and when I get the Lionheart.
By the way, Lex, Anacondaurs drop Dragon Skins too. But possibly not at the low levels you're sticking to.
Me, I see no point in doing that. I have awesome junctions, Squall has Str Bonus on anyway, I'm not particularly worried about anyone else, and I'll keep Rinoa's levels low once I get her, then throw Cactaur on her once I get him.
Force: Irv didn't say anything because no one else remembered. And, yeah, the crowd was under a spell.
Lex: How the fuck do you have 70 Elnoyle cards and not those few measly Blitz and Abyss Worm cards? I acquired tons of those just in the course of getting the 20 Elnoyle cards needed for two Energy Crystals so I can get the Lionheart right after the Timber mission (I'm going to mug Adamantoises for the Adamantine).
I also ended up with several more Iron Giants, so I could go ahead and upgrade to the Punishment now, but there's very little point since there's only going to be one boss fight between now and when I get the Lionheart.
By the way, Lex, Anacondaurs drop Dragon Skins too. But possibly not at the low levels you're sticking to.
Me, I see no point in doing that. I have awesome junctions, Squall has Str Bonus on anyway, I'm not particularly worried about anyone else, and I'll keep Rinoa's levels low once I get her, then throw Cactaur on her once I get him.
Force: Irv didn't say anything because no one else remembered. And, yeah, the crowd was under a spell.
Roger
He/him
- AKA
- Minato
Well I've gotten caught up at least.
Didn't find the Old Keys, yes to everything else.
Not at all.
As Force says, much more appropriate.
He's in the better half of the cast.
Timber I guess, got the most fleshed out NPCs if you ask me.
Yup, and it was nice, there was a logical way of navigating to all the locations in maze if you thought clearly. Course I had Encounter/Half, probably more irritating without it.
Yup.
Not at all, Now the trapdoor and the hidden door in Caraways office I was kinda lost with. Totally forgot about both.
Edea and Squall are total badasses that gets things done, but both are surrounded by idiots. Which still makes them more fortunate then Kiros and Ward.
Lex
Administrator
Force, you're honestly better just modding the Minotaur card. It gives you all the Adamantine you need, you can win the card back later, and not only do Adamantoises have a shitty drop rate, but they also only appear in their location 5% of the time. The rest of that time will be spent fighting/ running away from Fastitocalons. I fucking hate those.
Tres, I honestly don't know what's wrong with the game. It could be some weird RNG fuckery because I'm playing it on the PS3 but I genuinely don't have a clue why its happening. Abyss Worm and Blitz cards just never show up. And I'm now splitting my time pretty equally between the classroom trepie, cafeteria trepie, kadowaki, gatekeeper and left hand cafeteria lady - who btw seems to drop them both more often. I'm aware of all their card pools but desperate times and all that
Well I'm not all that bothered. Tbh I'm probably going to mod the Quistis card as soon as I have Time Magic RF. I also thought about doing the "Seifer Trick" but I don't think I can actively damage my SeeD score and enjoy playing the game.
Anacondaurs have a great Dragon Skin drop rate, but the problem is that you require an average party level of 30. Which is another reason I considered using the "Seifer trick" (which is killing your party members and levelling Seifer alone so he can max out the GF's without your characters gaining levels - also he can draw all the aga magics (ncluding curaga which isn't available for a while) at higher levels. But he has to hit like level 60 so fuck that).
Also Tres NOOOOOOOOO DON'T FALL INTO THE TRAP ADAMANTINE CAN'T BE MUGGED IT CAN ONLY BE DROPPED SAVE YOURSELF THE HOURS OF TORTURE. Sorry bout that, but I've lost count of the number of times people go crazy because for some reason they just can't get the item by mugging and the reason is you can't get it by mugging - it has to drop it. The drop and mug items are usually different, and if you mug it, it doesn't drop anything.
Tres, I honestly don't know what's wrong with the game. It could be some weird RNG fuckery because I'm playing it on the PS3 but I genuinely don't have a clue why its happening. Abyss Worm and Blitz cards just never show up. And I'm now splitting my time pretty equally between the classroom trepie, cafeteria trepie, kadowaki, gatekeeper and left hand cafeteria lady - who btw seems to drop them both more often. I'm aware of all their card pools but desperate times and all that
Well I'm not all that bothered. Tbh I'm probably going to mod the Quistis card as soon as I have Time Magic RF. I also thought about doing the "Seifer Trick" but I don't think I can actively damage my SeeD score and enjoy playing the game.
Anacondaurs have a great Dragon Skin drop rate, but the problem is that you require an average party level of 30. Which is another reason I considered using the "Seifer trick" (which is killing your party members and levelling Seifer alone so he can max out the GF's without your characters gaining levels - also he can draw all the aga magics (ncluding curaga which isn't available for a while) at higher levels. But he has to hit like level 60 so fuck that).
Also Tres NOOOOOOOOO DON'T FALL INTO THE TRAP ADAMANTINE CAN'T BE MUGGED IT CAN ONLY BE DROPPED SAVE YOURSELF THE HOURS OF TORTURE. Sorry bout that, but I've lost count of the number of times people go crazy because for some reason they just can't get the item by mugging and the reason is you can't get it by mugging - it has to drop it. The drop and mug items are usually different, and if you mug it, it doesn't drop anything.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
So farming rare enemies takes even longer.
I did that already, actually. I need the turtle shell from the adamantoises. I see you can also steal them from those armored things in the tomb, but I was still learning Mug at the time...
Sprites
Waiting for something
- AKA
- Gems
OK another write up and this is the chapter that is insane because there was a lot of Card Ability used and A LOT of the Draw command used..all just in the excavation/dream sequence section, then I spent a lot of time mugging stuff after so... this became the chapter where I've become over levelled and really won't need to do much in terms of levelling for most of the game now...particularly for Squall as Junctions for the time being will be more than enough.
Can I just say that just before I went into the dream sequence I decided that it was the perfect time to teach Diablos Mug and rather than going and fighting Fastitocalons along the Hasberry plains to speed the process of getting AP I dove straight into the dream sequence where the most AP you get in a fight is 4Ap...smart move. So I spent about 7 hours in this place carding Elastoids to get AP without over levelling my characters too much to learn mug, so that I could finally Mug said Elastoids at level 30 for Laser canons which I always never do and which I only remebered this time as I went into the dream sequence and it's the Laser Canons I want for modifying into Pulse Ammo later, I also want to try and get Lion Heart a bit earlier than late disk3/4, just a personal goal to see if I can achieve it.
Of course because of that I ended up also getting all the 'ara' and 'aga' spells drawn in one sitting from Esthar Soldiers because I'm an idiot who refuses to let a chance like getting these spells early go to waste (I don't think I've ever got them this early) and then I finally came across some level 30+ Elastoids and decided "hmmm drawing Meltdown now seems like a good idea too, let's do that while mugging them for Laser Canons" and that right there is a perfect example on how the Junction system can easily be broken because you start junctioning stuff like Curaga to your SPR stat, Tornado to your STR stat ( I encountered level 30 Thrustaevis on the way to TOTUK) and meltdown to your VIT Stat and start getting insanely high stat numbers early into the game. Also once you have the Meltdown spell a lot of enemies are pretty much goners because their physical defence goes KERPLUNK. ON the plus side I have a very large amount of Elastoid cards which come in very handy for modifying into steel pipes
But yes as for this umm I pulled all levers and traps available to reduce the amount of fights at the very end of the dream sequence and it's the first time I've done it all properly, so I'm looking forward to the effect it has later.
Laguna is another character with some epic one liners, most of them absolutely hilarious.
I've got Ifrit, Diablos, Brothers and get this I've friggen got an 3 Ultima Weapon cards from when when I was Carding Elastoids. I had no idea that could ever happen and in all the times I've used the Card ability in playthroughs I've never changed a monster into any card but itself, my jaw completely dropped when I realised what the Elastoid had changed into. Course I've looked it up now and realised there's something like a 6% chance of some monsters turning into a boss card so guess that's what Elastoid becomes, it's no surprise with the amount I Carded I've something like 45 Elastoid cards in my deck.
Oh and I hate the random rule because it always picks my 5 of my shittiest cards and one good card which then ends up getting taken from me, this is why I hate this game.
It's VERY regimented and definitely more military than Balamb's high school feel, it's no wonder the g-soldiers are quite ruthless. B-Garden's colours are all nice and bright, G-Garden is definitely more on the darker side it feels more artifically lit from the inside whereas Balmab has an open air feel to it, even the music is a bit sinister sounding.
Balamb is probably my favourite town, it's so peaceful and relaxing, it's small but just a nice little seaside resort town, I love the song that plays here too, it reall just adds to the whole relaxed feel.
Yup, but I bought the X to mark the spot. I think the design is excellent, it's one of the more challenging areas because it's very easy to get lost, especially when you go backwards and have to remeber to change your sense of direction. Brothers are cool GFs their GF animation always makes me laugh and they have some nice abilities.
One thing I like about FFVIII is that all 6 of your main party characters get their own FMV introduction, it's kind of nice, Squall may not get his own individual one as such but he does feature in all of the opening and get several other FMVs with just him in them so it's not really a big deal that he doesn't get his own in the beginning whereas on the flip side I wish the FMV's did include a bit more of the other characters and not just Squall, Rinoa, Seifer or Edea.
Squall getting stabbed through the chest/shoulder with a giant icicle is pretty awesome, Edea is a badass let's face it, but what was Rinoa thinking going off on her own to give Edea something, I know she wants to prove a point but again she's immature about it. Part of me believes that while she really is fighting to free Timber she initially joined the Forest Owls just to spite her father due to his status as a Galbadian general. I'd love to know how Rinoa and her father's relationship became so strained, because he seems to want what's best for her in a way and she wants nothing to do with him.
So...Seifers done a bit of a u-turn then and now we know he's not really dead and it was just a clever ruse to make us go wtf? When he turns up again.
I mentioned it before but Irvine is a much more complex character than people think he is, he's so full of confidence as a character to the point where he comes off a little cocky in the beginning so it's interesting to see him break down the way he does when it's time for him to assassinate the sorceress which leads to an epic facepalm from Squall
Squall really isn't the cold hearted jerk he makes himself out to be really when you think about it..ok he has to be pushed to go and save Rinoa but then he tells her to stay close to him, and then when it comes to Irvine and his freezing up, he offers some pretty good encouragement. His thoughts are always pretty interesting too, , I quite liked his thoughs on there's no right or wrong just a different perspective, that's definitely one way of looking at things
Premonition is also one of my favourite Boss Battle soundtracks in the FFseries.
other stuff
After the dream sequence I also spent a lot of time fighting level 30+ Anacondaurs for Dragon Skin drops and the odd rare Star Fragment drop and mugging Ochu's for Ochu tentacles, did come card modding with a Tonberry Card to get a Chef's Knife and ended up with Punishment, Bismark (thanks to all the lower level Elastoids I mugged) and Red Scorpion, it's the earliest I've ever managed to get a character's 2nd most powerful weapons but it kinda shows how easy it is to get them if you know what you're looking for and that they're not really that powerful either unless you have spells junctioned to your strength stat, the only noticeable increase in power is Squall's so it's kinda pointless unless you're setting yourself a goal to get rarer components earlier which I am because I've done so many normal playthroughs. I've yet to attempt LionHeart on disc 1 but I would need to play a lot of Cards to get Fury Fragments for that which I'm not really willing to do so I can live without it. Rinoa I managed to upgrade her to Rising Sun as I mugged a Belhelmel for Saw Blades just as I was getting on the train.
Finally my SeeD rank automatically went up by 2 levels when I was leaving Gabadia Garden, I think it was all those fights I did in the dream sequence but obviously your SeeD rank can't increase or decrease during that time and then again whilst in the sewers so I'm now Rank 11.
Final note: It sounds like a couple of us are trying to see what we can do before disc1 and 2 end in terms of ultimate weapons, rare items and cards, but It's kind of fun to push it, I've done so many normal playthroughs of VIII in the past, it's fun to see how much I can break the system so early on
The only thing I refuse to do is any Card Quests
Can I just say that just before I went into the dream sequence I decided that it was the perfect time to teach Diablos Mug and rather than going and fighting Fastitocalons along the Hasberry plains to speed the process of getting AP I dove straight into the dream sequence where the most AP you get in a fight is 4Ap...smart move. So I spent about 7 hours in this place carding Elastoids to get AP without over levelling my characters too much to learn mug, so that I could finally Mug said Elastoids at level 30 for Laser canons which I always never do and which I only remebered this time as I went into the dream sequence and it's the Laser Canons I want for modifying into Pulse Ammo later, I also want to try and get Lion Heart a bit earlier than late disk3/4, just a personal goal to see if I can achieve it.
Of course because of that I ended up also getting all the 'ara' and 'aga' spells drawn in one sitting from Esthar Soldiers because I'm an idiot who refuses to let a chance like getting these spells early go to waste (I don't think I've ever got them this early) and then I finally came across some level 30+ Elastoids and decided "hmmm drawing Meltdown now seems like a good idea too, let's do that while mugging them for Laser Canons" and that right there is a perfect example on how the Junction system can easily be broken because you start junctioning stuff like Curaga to your SPR stat, Tornado to your STR stat ( I encountered level 30 Thrustaevis on the way to TOTUK) and meltdown to your VIT Stat and start getting insanely high stat numbers early into the game. Also once you have the Meltdown spell a lot of enemies are pretty much goners because their physical defence goes KERPLUNK. ON the plus side I have a very large amount of Elastoid cards which come in very handy for modifying into steel pipes
But yes as for this umm I pulled all levers and traps available to reduce the amount of fights at the very end of the dream sequence and it's the first time I've done it all properly, so I'm looking forward to the effect it has later.
Laguna is another character with some epic one liners, most of them absolutely hilarious.
I've got Ifrit, Diablos, Brothers and get this I've friggen got an 3 Ultima Weapon cards from when when I was Carding Elastoids. I had no idea that could ever happen and in all the times I've used the Card ability in playthroughs I've never changed a monster into any card but itself, my jaw completely dropped when I realised what the Elastoid had changed into. Course I've looked it up now and realised there's something like a 6% chance of some monsters turning into a boss card so guess that's what Elastoid becomes, it's no surprise with the amount I Carded I've something like 45 Elastoid cards in my deck.
Oh and I hate the random rule because it always picks my 5 of my shittiest cards and one good card which then ends up getting taken from me, this is why I hate this game.
It's VERY regimented and definitely more military than Balamb's high school feel, it's no wonder the g-soldiers are quite ruthless. B-Garden's colours are all nice and bright, G-Garden is definitely more on the darker side it feels more artifically lit from the inside whereas Balmab has an open air feel to it, even the music is a bit sinister sounding.
I like Irvine, I know he likes to think of himself as a 'ladies man' and he comes off as a bit of an annoyance in the beginning but he's actually a great guy and character, he's got good morals and he's much more complex than people think he is. After Quistis I think Irvine is another of my favourite characters. This is the first time I've decided to use him as an actual party member, I think he's gonna be a new favourite to use.
Balamb is probably my favourite town, it's so peaceful and relaxing, it's small but just a nice little seaside resort town, I love the song that plays here too, it reall just adds to the whole relaxed feel.
Yup, but I bought the X to mark the spot. I think the design is excellent, it's one of the more challenging areas because it's very easy to get lost, especially when you go backwards and have to remeber to change your sense of direction. Brothers are cool GFs their GF animation always makes me laugh and they have some nice abilities.
Yup yup, easy enough to Draw, such a handy GF to have right before facing Edea too. The Iguions really aren't that hard to beat
Nah, just keep heading north.
One thing I like about FFVIII is that all 6 of your main party characters get their own FMV introduction, it's kind of nice, Squall may not get his own individual one as such but he does feature in all of the opening and get several other FMVs with just him in them so it's not really a big deal that he doesn't get his own in the beginning whereas on the flip side I wish the FMV's did include a bit more of the other characters and not just Squall, Rinoa, Seifer or Edea.
Squall getting stabbed through the chest/shoulder with a giant icicle is pretty awesome, Edea is a badass let's face it, but what was Rinoa thinking going off on her own to give Edea something, I know she wants to prove a point but again she's immature about it. Part of me believes that while she really is fighting to free Timber she initially joined the Forest Owls just to spite her father due to his status as a Galbadian general. I'd love to know how Rinoa and her father's relationship became so strained, because he seems to want what's best for her in a way and she wants nothing to do with him.
So...Seifers done a bit of a u-turn then and now we know he's not really dead and it was just a clever ruse to make us go wtf? When he turns up again.
I mentioned it before but Irvine is a much more complex character than people think he is, he's so full of confidence as a character to the point where he comes off a little cocky in the beginning so it's interesting to see him break down the way he does when it's time for him to assassinate the sorceress which leads to an epic facepalm from Squall
Squall really isn't the cold hearted jerk he makes himself out to be really when you think about it..ok he has to be pushed to go and save Rinoa but then he tells her to stay close to him, and then when it comes to Irvine and his freezing up, he offers some pretty good encouragement. His thoughts are always pretty interesting too, , I quite liked his thoughs on there's no right or wrong just a different perspective, that's definitely one way of looking at things
Premonition is also one of my favourite Boss Battle soundtracks in the FFseries.
other stuff
After the dream sequence I also spent a lot of time fighting level 30+ Anacondaurs for Dragon Skin drops and the odd rare Star Fragment drop and mugging Ochu's for Ochu tentacles, did come card modding with a Tonberry Card to get a Chef's Knife and ended up with Punishment, Bismark (thanks to all the lower level Elastoids I mugged) and Red Scorpion, it's the earliest I've ever managed to get a character's 2nd most powerful weapons but it kinda shows how easy it is to get them if you know what you're looking for and that they're not really that powerful either unless you have spells junctioned to your strength stat, the only noticeable increase in power is Squall's so it's kinda pointless unless you're setting yourself a goal to get rarer components earlier which I am because I've done so many normal playthroughs. I've yet to attempt LionHeart on disc 1 but I would need to play a lot of Cards to get Fury Fragments for that which I'm not really willing to do so I can live without it. Rinoa I managed to upgrade her to Rising Sun as I mugged a Belhelmel for Saw Blades just as I was getting on the train.
Finally my SeeD rank automatically went up by 2 levels when I was leaving Gabadia Garden, I think it was all those fights I did in the dream sequence but obviously your SeeD rank can't increase or decrease during that time and then again whilst in the sewers so I'm now Rank 11.
Final note: It sounds like a couple of us are trying to see what we can do before disc1 and 2 end in terms of ultimate weapons, rare items and cards, but It's kind of fun to push it, I've done so many normal playthroughs of VIII in the past, it's fun to see how much I can break the system so early on
The only thing I refuse to do is any Card Quests
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Thanks for the correction about mugging tbose fuckers, Lex. I want to say I knew that, but got confused thinking about the Wendigos and their Steel Pipes, as they are also in that general area.
Anyhow, I do plan to get the Adamantine that way. I'm not modding any of my rare cards.
So, did you set out to get all the ultimate weapons (minus the Exeter, obviously) on Disc 1? Because ... why? Unless it was for shits and giggles, getting that many Elnoyle cards is somewhere between absurd and obscene. Getting the two Energy Crystals for the Pulse Ammo for Lionheart makes sense, but the rather irrelevant benefits of having Save the Queen and Wishing Star now don't make it a better idea than just waiting until after the Lunar Cry and whoring out that infinite Elnoyle battle.
Force: Get three Adamantoise cards and you'll have your Turtle Shell.
I want to say I knew that, but got confused thinking about the Wendigos and their Steel Pipes, as they are also in that general area.Anyhow, I do plan to get the Adamantine that way. I'm not modding any of my rare cards.
So, did you set out to get all the ultimate weapons (minus the Exeter, obviously) on Disc 1? Because ... why? Unless it was for shits and giggles, getting that many Elnoyle cards is somewhere between absurd and obscene. Getting the two Energy Crystals for the Pulse Ammo for Lionheart makes sense, but the rather irrelevant benefits of having Save the Queen and Wishing Star now don't make it a better idea than just waiting until after the Lunar Cry and whoring out that infinite Elnoyle battle.
Force: Get three Adamantoise cards and you'll have your Turtle Shell.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
^^I got 5 Energy Crystals just from playing around Balamb... unfortunately, Ifrit isn't yet at level 10, so I don't have Ammo making capabilities yet.
Last time I played the game, I manged to get everyone's best weapons by Disk 2. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see what the rest of their weapons looked like. So this time I'm getting everyone's weapons at least once. That said, the only things I need right now are all the drops/steals for the Ultimates...
Last time I played the game, I manged to get everyone's best weapons by Disk 2. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see what the rest of their weapons looked like. So this time I'm getting everyone's weapons at least once. That said, the only things I need right now are all the drops/steals for the Ultimates...
Lex
Administrator
Can you get a Moon Stone for the Exeter before Disc 3? I was sure you could only get one there.
Tres, I got Disc 1 Lionheart last time I played through the game and it was quite fun. I wasn't intending to get all the best weapons this early on but when I realised how many Elnoyle cards I had I just kind of went.... no point stopping now? I've even got all the star fragments I'll need from modding Iron Giant cards.
At this point, I have all the ingredients that it's possible to get for the weapons that can be modded from cards. The only things stopping me are the 3 I mentioned earlier. And I'm really annoyed about Dragon Skin/ Dragon Fangs, it pisses me off how annoying they are to get.
Tres, I got Disc 1 Lionheart last time I played through the game and it was quite fun. I wasn't intending to get all the best weapons this early on but when I realised how many Elnoyle cards I had I just kind of went.... no point stopping now? I've even got all the star fragments I'll need from modding Iron Giant cards.
At this point, I have all the ingredients that it's possible to get for the weapons that can be modded from cards. The only things stopping me are the 3 I mentioned earlier. And I'm really annoyed about Dragon Skin/ Dragon Fangs, it pisses me off how annoying they are to get.
Lex
Administrator
You're really not. Story wise I've only done the very first thing you're supposed to do and that's it. On a normal playthrough that's like... if you take away the mandatory parts (FMV's, scenes you can't skip) it's probably equivalent to about 10 minutes playtime. It'll take me about 3 hours of playing to catch up I think.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
You're not. Several of us are taking our sweet time bettering our stats. Some of us haven't even completed the 2nd chapter yet. I've got 24 hours on the clock and I still haven't left Balamb yet.Damn. Didn't know this was happening. Would love to join but looks like I'm too late.
Telcontar
Donator
You're not. Several of us are taking our sweet time bettering our stats. Some of us haven't even completed the 2nd chapter yet. I've got 24 hours on the clock and I still haven't left Balamb yet.
Interesting! Think I'll find my PSP and start tomorrow.
Selphie Tilmitt
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- Maidenofwar
Slacking on this because Lightning Returns New game is new 
New game is new
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Chapter Four: Arms Race
Target:
To be completed by start of: 12/11/2013
Target:
To be completed by start of: 12/11/2013
[Tip: Feel free to blow Laguna's 3,000 gil on whatever you want. The money won't carry back to Squall, but items purchased will.]
- How do you like controlling Laguna compared to Squall?
- Did you ask about Julia?
- Did you stand up for the Moomba?
- How did you have Squall handle the interrogation?
- Did you get your Battle Meter upgraded with the Character Report? Did you acquire anything else you found interesting in the prison?
- Who did you pick to send to the Missile Base?
- Did you head straight to the Missile Base or do a little wandering first?
- What time limit did you select in the base? Did you gain a SeeD rank? How many?
- Did you get the Rinoa card?
- What are your thoughts on these developments in the story?
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