FFVIII Community Playthrough

[Strangelove]

this still isn't helping me play the game you fucks

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I don't know what to tell you, man. I know nothing about emulators more advanced than SNES, absolutely nothing of ISOs, and I had to buy my copy for this playthrough off PSN because two of my black label discs got ruined years ago.

 

[Strangelove]

i am wondering if it is just this new laptop because stuff that once worked (like vagrant story or ffvii) no longer work despite using the same settings i had before because i just copied the emulator over

.bin files seem to work but i don't have them for ffviii and don't know how to make them

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

That sucks. =(

In other news, I've started the level whoring process and gotten Quistis from level 23 to 65 in a rather short amount of time using the Grendels in the Laguna dream forest (also went ahead and got a Force Armlet off a high level Ochu), but I've run into a dilemma.

Before starting this process, I made a separate save from just before I began in case I changed my mind about leveling up with the Str Bonus, Mag Bonus, Vit Bonus and Spr Bonus abilities. I was pretty sure I wouldn't change my mind, but now I'm undecided.

Using the infinite money trick and refinement shenanigans after I get to Esthar on Disc 3, I could max out everyone's HP, Str, Spr and Mag with little effort. It would take time, but that's it. I would end up with the same stats that leveling now woild give me, except bosses and random monsters wouldn't get the benefit of leveling up as well. Everyone's Vit would stay rather low, but I could just throw Meteor or Ultima on that along with a GF that has Vit+60% or something.

I've never maintained a low-level game all the way to the end, so this is an appealing idea to me.

On the other hand, with Enc-None random enemies aren't going to matter anyway unless I want them to, and boss fights would be painfully easy if I'm going in with max stats and their average levels are below 30. Tonberry King in particular makes for a fun fight if he's at level 100 when you take him on. He becomes fast as fuck, has high HP and his defenses are solid too (unless you hit him with Meltdown).

I'm not sure what to do. Do I abuse the game (and its boss fights) as much as it will let me, which I've never done before, or abuse the game a lot but still have a few interesting boss fights?

 

[ForceStealer]

I still don't have the Meltdown spell...is there a place/thing I can get it from besides all the card-playing I've skipped

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

If you really must insist on not playing Triple Triad, you can get Mystery Fluid items from Gayla monsters, which you can then refine into Meltdowns.

EDIT: Oh, and at higher levels, you can draw it from them and Bombs.

 

[Flintlock]

I never did get around to answering the story-based questions, as I said I would do before, but I suppose I can start going through them all now I'll keep my answers brief just in case someone actually wants to read through all this!

Spoiler: Chapter 1

What did you think of the opening sequence? How do you feel it compares to other FF opening sequences?

I like it. I nominated it for the "Seven best FMVs" article I put together earlier this year. I agree that it's more like a trailer for the game than a proper intro, but I still think it works, especially with the contrast of the calm, quiet infirmary that Squall wakes up in immediately afterwards.

Did you read the information available on Squall's study panel or just head on out into the game?

I got the two GFs and left it at that.

What do you think of the overall aesthetic in this game (character models, backgrounds, technology, etc.) compared to other FFs?

I thought they were super impressive when I first played the game, but all these years later, I miss the added variety that some of the less realistic games provide.

Did you start playing Triple Triad yet? What do you think of it?

I haven't played a single game yet and I'm mid-way through chapter 3

Did you take the transfer student on the tour as she requested?

Nope.

What time limit did you pick for the Fire Cavern? Were you successful with your first choice?

Ten minutes, and I finished it in about six and a half. Normally I'd wait until there were less than seven seconds left on the clock in order to get a better SeeD ranking, but I was just trying to go as quickly as possible this time.

Did you have any trouble beating the other time during the field exam?

Nah.

How many times did you fight X-ATM092? Did you try to destroy it? Were you successful?

Three times: the two that are mandatory, plus once on the bridge. I tried to avoid it by letting it jump over me, but it didn't make the "return" jump, and just caught up with me instead. Perhaps I was too close to the left side of the screen for it to jump over me again. I didn't try to destroy it because I knew I wasn't powerful enough.

Did you get the GF Siren?

Of course.

What do you think of the controls/exploration compared to other FF titles?

I swapped the roles of triangle and circle in the menu, so they feel just fine.

What about the battle system?

It's not bad. Nice and fast, at least, the wait trick isn't as exploitable as it was in VII, but I've still been summoning GFs to allow me time to cycle through Selphie's Slots in order to get the best result. Usually I plump for a Full Cure, and that's saved my bacon a number of times already. Elvoret is actually quite a hard fight when you haven't drawn or refined any magic beforehand! (Aside from draw points). I made sure to draw a couple of Double spells to speed up the subsequent X-ATMO92 fights.

Are you enjoying the story? What do you think of it so far?

The Dollet mission is one of my favourite parts of the game. I was thinking ahead to remember what other parts I really enjoy, and I had to go all the way to the return to Galbadia Garden at the end of disc two before finding the next one. The locations on the first two discs of the game are all quite annoying or just uninteresting. I could quite happily skip most of them.

Anything else of interest stand out to you?

I guess not. In chapter 2, I noticed that the TV station in Timber has a sign saying "Propaganda Tower", which I haven't spotted before.

Spoiler: Chapter 2

What were your exam scores? How do you feel about your performance?

I reached level 4, which is a bit crap, but as I already said, I chose not to waste time getting a better Judgement score, and my Attack score was zero because I ran away from every random battle in Dollet. The only random battle I have so far won in the game was against T-Rexaur in the training centre, because it felt appropriate to fight that one, I guess. It took ages though, so I probably should have skipped it.

Did you get the Battle Meter?

Yep.

Any trouble finding the "secret area" in the Training Center?

Nope.

Did you get the Magical Lamp? Did you use it?

Yes, and I fought and beat Diablos in Balamb, once I had the chance to buy a couple of Phoenix Downs (which I didn't need). That's the earliest I've ever done it.

What rare cards have you gotten so far?

None? I would say the Ifrit card, but it's unavoidable, so it's not really rare.

Did you give the Card Queen the MiniMog card?

Nope, didn't even get the MiniMog card.

Did Laguna fall asleep while talking to Julia or just talk too much?

He blathered on.

Did you perform the train mission flawlessly or have to do anything over?

Flawlessly, first time, though I wasted maybe twenty seconds entering the last codes because I thought there were only three of them and already came back up the rope

Did you take the cheap way out for the Gerogero boss fight?

Yes, after drawing a few times.

Did you visit Dollet again? What did you do there?

Didn't go back.

Did you get the Girl Next Door magazine?

Yes, and I promptly sold it for 12500 gil. I would never normally do that, but I'm not bothering to do the SeeD rank tests this time, so I'm going to be low on money for the whole game. And train tickets - which the Garden should really be paying for as an expense - aren't cheap!

What were your overall impressions of this chapter?

Not as much fun as the first. I don't really like any of the Laguna dream sequences, apart from the last couple (working in the prison, and shooting the film).

Spoiler: Chapter 3

During the dream sequence, did you fiddle with any of the levers? The detonator? The boulder? Did you find the Old Keys?

I didn't bother with the left-side lever, because it's a lot of time spent for an eventual Phoenix Pinion. I did the middle and right levers because I thought the time invested was worth the rewards (fewer battles at the end of the chapter, and in the case of the right lever, a rare Power Generator). I got both keys because they weren't really out of the way at all, and because one of them provides an Ultima draw point later on. Moved all the boulders for the same reason.

How is your card collection coming along? Have you come across any card rules you don't like in the card game?

What card collection? What card rules?

What do you think of Galbadia Garden as comapred to Balamb Garden?

The layout is not as intuitive as Balamb's, but from a student's perspective, it would be much faster to navigate once you've memorised it. No need to return to the central area all the time.

What do you think of Irvine?

Idiot.

What city/town is your favorite out of those you've visited so far? What do you like about it?

Dollet, not only for the story that takes place there, but also because it feels like the nicest town out of the ones I've visited so far. It's pretty, and it's by the sea.

Did you solve the puzzle of the Tomb of the Unknown King? What do you think of its design?

I take it that the puzzle was unlocking the GF? If so, yes, I solved it. The first Sacred fight took too long because I didn't have any Float spells yet. The second one went down nicely, though I used my entire stock of seven. Full Cure for the win once again.

NB: I haven't completed this chapter yet, but I'm going to answer these questions now anyway.

Did you acquire the GF Carbuncle?

Not yet, but I will.

Did you find it difficult navigating the sewers?

I usually have a little difficulty, but that's because I try to find everything. Now that I'm rushing through, I should be able to follow the path to the exit easily enough.

What do you think of the story so far?

Pretty interesting. A couple of things have been odd, but knowing what happens later, they all make sense. And that's more than I can say for some of the events on the remaining discs. Then again,

Spoiler

Squall is dead now

I love that theory, despite the holes in it. It makes the story design feel much more impressive than it is otherwise.

 

[ForceStealer]

If you really must insist on not playing Triple Triad, you can get Mystery Fluid items from Gayla monsters, which you can then refine into Meltdowns.

EDIT: Oh, and at higher levels, you can draw it from them and Bombs.

Thanks.

Like I said, I like Triple Triad well enough. But all this fiddling with abolishing and spreading rules and losing specific cards to specific people and performing this set of procedures to get a specific person to use a specific card....ugh.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Merry Christmas hito

I will try to do the latest chapter this weekend/before Christmas.

 

[ForceStealer]

So, that Cactuar farming, Sprites? Absurdly efficient. I learned nearly every GF skill I have in like 30-45 minutes.

Also, AP ammo is freaking awesome.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

So, no advice on which way to go with the leveling matter? I'm learning toward just going ahead with leveling up as originally planned. Seems somehow more awesome to demolish the bosses when they're at their best.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

I didn't answer because I wasn't here, I was visiting mum's and just ninjaing briefly on someone else's computer

Poor broken FFVIII, whatever did it do to you people to break it so hard?

Try that yeah, sounds like a plan though the game might just roll over and mostly take it anyway, it's kind of like that

I wish I could do

Spoiler

Ulti's castle

the whole game so I could have my fav Selphie/Quistis/Rinoa team

Chapter 4 -

How do you like controlling Laguna compared to Squall?

I enjoy it most of the time and the Winhill dream is one of my favourite ones. Last chapter, the LP dream I found myself finding Laguna and things more annoying than usual though. The immaturity, all the joking around, etc kind of fell flat this time. Maybe I'm just getting old More than made up for with the Winhill dream though. Chibi Ellone is so cute, Raine is lovely, and Laguna fumbling around about Raine and his interactions with Ellone, etc is adorable too.

I also love "Man With a Machine Gun", and Laguna's limit "Desperado"

I like Kiros and Ward a lot too, "Massive Anchor" <3 I also don't mind the new gear Kiros has, it always reminded me of some kind of tribal thing, which I think is neat.

Did you ask about Julia?

Yeah, and about Ward Asked about everything there was to ask about really.

Did you stand up for the Moomba?

Aye.

How did you have Squall handle the interrogation?

I picked the option where he tells the warden he has stinky breath and gets knocked out from the torture yeah.

Did you get your Battle Meter upgraded with the Character Report? Did you acquire anything else you found interesting in the prison?

Yeah, haven't checked it yet though. For shinies I winded up maxxing out on Potions, getting a Hi Potion+, a Mega Potion+, some Remedys, bunch of Eye Drops, two or three Holy Stones and a HP Up. I found draw points, a save point, and a box with something in it but I forget what. I didn't get a Rosetta Stone but I did wind up getting enough Red Dragons, Malboros and Elnoyles to get an Inferno Fang, Malboro Tentacle and Energy Crystal, from all that card playing. Also Healing Mail and other things from collecting enough card things. All and all by the time I finished with the prison Quistis had Fire Breath, Bad Breath and Micro Missiles added to her collection of Blue Magic.

Who did you pick to send to the Missile Base?

Irvine, and Zell (he's a mechanic you know~)

Did you head straight to the Missile Base or do a little wandering first?

Went back to Deling to get the Rinoa card yeah. Also Caraway is a dirty liar, he said he lost the Ifrit Card but he was there the whole time Although I just read on the wiki that his first name is Fury which ... is kind of ... hot?

What time limit did you select in the base? Did you gain a SeeD rank? How many?

Ten minutes. Yep, went up two SeeD ranks ( 7>9) ;o

Did you get the Rinoa card?

Indeed

What are your thoughts on these developments in the story?

I think like others that the characters really get a lot out of this stage of the game. I really like the stuff with Zell and Selphie especially. Zell's bravery in dealing with the wardens, and not giving them any satisfaction, remaining strong and not giving in/up to them even when he was getting the crap out of him. Selphie too with the bravery, in trying to remain strong and not give up, choosing action when she hears about Trabia, becoming the leader for carrying out an important mission, etc. So yeah <3

Also this cracked me up. Something like.

(Selphie teasing guard and asking to get into missile base on foot)

Guard "No. Besides you're not my type anyway, too young, I prefer someone more mature"
Selphie "Up yours!"

 

[Sprites]

@Force: Yeah it's pretty awesome, I'm not quite sure how I realised if you stand on that area the game thinks you're on Cactaur Island. I think I was saving my game before attacking Jumbo Cactuar and noticed it on the menu screen, it's such an easy way to learn abilities earlier in the game and not become too overlevelled, it;s like the AP 'peninsula of power'

although I can talk about being overlevelled, my Squall at the moment has ended up on level 65 and because I keep switching around the other character the others are all randomly in their level 30s, not intentionally it was from spending ages in that forest before you hit Galbadia Garden trying to run into an Ochu to get it to drop a Force Armlet and it took forever to show up so I kept fighting other enemies like cockatrices and funguar.

I'm trying to collect enough Elnoyle cards to get energy crystals although it's a feckin pain in the arse, WHY DOES SAVE THE QUEEN NEED FOUR BLOODY ENERGY CRYSTALS!!!

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

It's definitely the most nonsensical remodeling requirement.

 

[Kuja9001]

I'm trying to collect enough Elnoyle cards to get energy crystals although it's a feckin pain in the arse, WHY DOES SAVE THE QUEEN NEED FOUR BLOODY ENERGY CRYSTALS!!!

You can get Energy Crystals from the Elnoyle monster(located easily in Esthar) or a Ruby Dragon(I don't remember) located in the forests near Edea's orphanage.

 

[Sprites]

That Ruby Dragon encounter is hard to get though and it's harder to get them to drop Energy Crystals they tend to drop Fury Fragments more often that not plus it's Breath Attack can be a right bitch and I risk overlevelling myself even more if I encounter them too often as they give really good EXP. Elnoyle itself can only be gotten to towards the end of disc 3 and I'm trying to get everyone's ultimate weapon (apart from Irvine's of course which is only available from disc 3 onwards) before I finish Disc 2 heck before I even return to Balamb. It's a personal goal as I've never done it this early before, I've usually only managed to get them all towards the end of disc 3

Playing cards is addictive though, it's just needing 60 Elnoyle cards to modify for both Quistis and Rinoa is a bit of a pain.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Unfortunately, I'm a day late on this, but I don't think anyone was waiting on pens and needles anyway. Without further ado, here's the next one.

Chapter Seven: Victory & Defeat
Target:

To be completed by start of: January 1, 2014​

[Note: To close out this chapter, go back and save your game in the Great Salt Lake rather than proceeding on beyond this screen. Otherwise, it will be a little while before you can save again.]​

• Did you defeat the Galbadian Paratrooper on your first attempt? Did you enjoy this sequence?
• Did you get the GF Cerberus?
• Did you get the GF Alexander?
• What kind of exchanges did your party members have with Seifer?
• Was Ward in the dream sequence or was it just Kiros and Laguna?
• Have you acquired any full stocks of high-level spells (e.g. Meteor, Flare, Ultima) yet? How have your junctions benefitted?
• Did you give (or sell) Girl Next Door to Zone or just keep it?
• What method did you use to defeat Abadon?
• Feelings on developments in the story?

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I thought I put the new one up on Wednesday. Oops.

Well, I imagine we're all behind right now anyway, so hopefully it was no biggie. Here's the next one.

Chapter Eight: Never Let Go
Target:

To be completed by start of: January 10, 2014​

[Tip: Once you get the Ragnarok, you can start doing the remaining sidequests. You can either start doing them at the end of this chapter's story developments if you're ready or wait for next week's chapter, which will be all about getting ready for the endgame anyway. The choice is yours. DO NOT APPROACH LUNATIC PANDORA UNTIL YOU'RE FINISHED WITH YOUR SIDEQUESTING. KEEPING A SEPARATE SAVE FROM BEFORE YOU ENTER IS ALSO RECOMMENDED.]​

• What are your impressions of Esthar?​
• Did you get Doomtrain yet?​
• Do you like using Edea?​
• Did you have any troubles with the "Gravity"-esque sequence?​
• Were you able to easily eliminate the Propagators or were you stumped for a while?​
• We haven't checked in on your card collection in a couple of weeks. How is that going?​
• What are your thoughts on the story now? Were you surprised by a certain elected official's identity?​

 

[ForceStealer]

Yes, I am a bit behind, I'll catch up though

 

[Lex]

Annnnnnnnnnnnd it has happened, the eventual lull of players beyond the halfway point. Every single time, I shit you not

TO ARMS PEOPLE

PLAY THIS GAME

I certainly will (after I complete Dragon Age... should be in the next 6 hours or so )

 

[Flintlock]

We should play shorter games

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

^^ Or games with scene skip?

FFX/X-2 not happening

Well to be fair it was more a combination of being busy with Christmas/New Year's holidays/stuff and the lethargy in between/after, combined with reaching that part of the game, rather that the game alone. Now I'm back gaming I'm bouncing between projects, Legend of Dragoon JP version, Lightning Returns JP NG+ and this. I finished what I was currently working on in Lightning Returns (finally managing to get the Blue Mage outfit), and cleared disc one of LoD JP, so I picked this back up again. It's still kind of a struggle though because I know what's going to happen and goddammit Rinoa , but I had fun with the Shumi/Winhill quests at least

 

[Ami]

I'll get caught up with this eventually. With getting some incomplete PS3 games under my belt, this hasn't been the first thing on my mind. However, don't expect me to drop out now. This is still one of my favourite FF's and I WILL SEE IT TO THE END, GODDAMMIT.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

I'm confused ... I accidentally triggered the battle between gardens when trying to get to Edea's house so I reset because I thought I had to go to Edea's house first and see the Squall/Rinoa flower field/promise scene (and I was going to say now people complaining about the "suddeness" of the Squall/Rinoa relationship ship made more sense if that scene and the stuff if you take Rinoa back to Balamb instead of sending her to the missile base were both actually skippable/optional), but apparently I can't go in Edea's house yet So apparently that Squall/Rinoa stuff must be later on or something (I kind of wanted it to be now)

 

[Sprites]

@maiden: it happens in the next couple of chapters

I'm behind but I could get all my chapters I'm behind on done tonight