FFVIII Community Playthrough

[The Twilight Mexican]

The only reason I'm behind is because level-whoring is such a pain in the ass. I have 300 Ultimas now, though (from Shum Village, of course), Quistis is at level 100 and Squall is at 50-something. I also did a few chocobo forests and finished the Card Club Quest.

I am really hating the leveling, as I got sick of seeing Degenerator over and over, but I'll get there. Then the rest of the game will be a breeze.

 

[Kuja9001]

Oooh I almost forgot about this.

Spoiler: Chapter 6

Who was the third party member you took with you to Zell's room? What happened?

Irvine was like "Oh man these guns are sooo cool"

Where did you end up finding "the captain"? Were you surprised by this person's identity?

Harbor and train station. Not really.

Did you get the GF Pandemona?

No

What sidequests have you been doing? Are you enjoying them? What rewards have you reaped?

Picked up Odin

Have you checked out the School Festival Committe webpage/Selphie's diary through Squall's study panel?

No

Discover or see anything else you thought was interesting?

Galbadia Garden was flying.

Not a lot going on in the story this chapter, but what are your thoughts right now on what took place, what you anticipate is to come, and on the world setting (since you've had time to explore it further)?

Disc 2 is my favorite Disc.

Spoiler: Chapter 7

Did you defeat the Galbadian Paratrooper on your first attempt? Did you enjoy this sequence?

Yes, its one of my favorite moments in the series.

Did you get the GF Cerberus?

I died like 3 times but I tamed him.

Did you get the GF Alexander?

Yes

What kind of exchanges did your party members have with Seifer?

Seifer told Irvine to "get over here" or something.

Was Ward in the dream sequence or was it just Kiros and Laguna?

He was there too.

Have you acquired any full stocks of high-level spells (e.g. Meteor, Flare, Ultima) yet?

No.

How have your junctions benefitted?

No magic junctioned but I've been managing without them.

Did you give (or sell) Girl Next Door to Zone or just keep it?

Gave it to him for free.

What method did you use to defeat Abadon?

Used 3 Hi-Potions and finished it with an Elixir

Feelings on developments in the story?

Its the start of one my least favorite points.

Spoiler: Chapter 8

What are your impressions of Esthar?

Its one of my favorite cities in the series.

Did you get Doomtrain yet?

No, gave up due to the freakin Marlboros

Do you like using Edea?

I like her Limit Break.

Did you have any troubles with the "Gravity"-esque sequence?

No.

Were you able to easily eliminate the Propagators or were you stumped for a while?

I almost lost a few times and I had help from Odin.

We haven't checked in on your card collection in a couple of weeks. How is that going?

Haven't collected any.

What are your thoughts on the story now? Were you surprised by a certain elected official's identity?

I love the "Witch/Sorceress" concept. I was more surprised by his connection to a certain character.

 

[Sprites]

Who was the third party member you took with you to Zell's room? What happened?

Selphie, I never take her with me and I thought for once why don't I have my original party together for coming back to Balamb. I was nice to her when she started getting annoyed with Zell for not appreciating her being there in his room but it was mostly so I didn't loose a rank

Where did you end up finding "the captain"? Were you surprised by this person's identity?

There's only one place you can find the captain although there's two ways to do it, using the dog makes your rank points increase though
Nah I wasn't surprised, mostly because the Galbadians hint about the captain's speech patterns and then whereever he goes the commander goes. Doesn't really surprise me they've left Garden, they are loyal to Seifer after all.

Did you get the GF Pandemona?

Yup, SPD JUNCTION HERE I COME!

What sidequests have you been doing? Are you enjoying them? What rewards have you reaped?

I really haven't done much, I've done Winhill I've started the Pupu sidequest and I've been doing the CCquest. I guess one thing I did do was equipped enc-none and started exploring the continents on foot, finding some hidden drawpoints and stuff, plus it's kind of interesting to do it I sorta notice stuff I'd never notice if I didn't, for instance there's an area of trabia I noticed that the mountain was tinted a little purple, found an area near it to draw some flare spells from too, was awesome I have for the time being given up on getting Save the Queen for Quistis. I have Squall, Zell, Selphie and Rinoa's ultimates and the materials bar moonstone for Irvine's but I'm getting really frustrated with the lack of Elnoyle cards turning up during TT, I'd rather just get it at a much easier stage later in disc 3.

Have you checked out the School Festival Committee webpage/Selphie's diary through Squall's study panel?

Yup, I like this page, it's and it's actually a well thought out part, it feels like a proper blog. I like Selphie's thoughts and feelings she puts down and how she gets other people to leave a comment, like Irvine and Quistis

Discover or see anything else you thought was interesting?

Laguna's page is quite fun.

Not a lot going on in the story this chapter, but what are your thoughts right now on what took place, what you anticipate is to come, and on the world setting (since you've had time to explore it further)

This sounds a little harsh and I know the questions are just a guide but...Not a lot going on in the story????? There's not a lot that happens storywise in Balamb I agree but did Trabia get missed when making this chapter because a shit ton goes on in this chapter not as much on the action side of things but story wise in Trabia this is the big one where things start coming together. Selphie has a bit of a meltdown in Trabia, Irvine reveals to everyone that he's the only one who remembers the past then they ALL remember the past, Zell finds out he was adopted, Quistis realises she was never in love with Squall, Rinoa tells everyone how afraid she is of getting left behind, Squall let's his guard down even more around his (dare I say it) friends, they realise that they grew up with the same Ellone that takes them to the dream world and finally they have a new reason to fight, this isn't about their duty anymore this has become a much more personal fight. I'd say that's an awful lot to be going on with storywise for this chapter .

Let's talk about Trabia: Selphie...My heart goes out to her especially that bit in the graveyard, its really messed her up a lot, we're so used to her being really bubbly and bouncy and this is just her at an all time low but the thing I admire about her is that despite that, she picks herself up, if it were me I'd be in pieces. Seems like Selphie had a bit of an influence on some people in Trabia, she seems to be someone that the younger kids look up to and I guess her cheerful personality is hard to ignore considering her friend ends up telling you she didn't want Selphie to get upset when she went to visit the graves of her friends, so I'm guessing you'd know something was really wrong with Selphie if she ever seemed upset.

You know what, a lot of people hate the orphanage plot and thinks it's a ridiculous plot point to advance the story, but I really like it. I don't like how all it takes is for Irvine to only mention it and suddenly they all begin to remember things, I think it would have been done better if they'd made it so that Irvine had dropped hints from when he first met the group until this point about their shared past to make them start questioning why things he talks about seem familar. I do however like the connection that they all share, back then and now once reunited, it's done in a really good way to show that it was circumstance rather than fate that had them separate and then reunite and I actually like that there's a reason for why they forgot everything rather than just leaving it as an unanswered question
Irvine has some really nice speeches, this one in particular where he talks about choosing his own path rather than it being down to fate is one I really like, because that's something I believe in too. I like to think that there are some things out there that happen for a reason, but when it comes to stuff that concerns me and my own decisions I believe they happen because I make them or choose them, not down to fate.

Edea's connection to them just makes this battle all the more personal, I like that, she's not to them anymore just a cruel, evil, power hungry person bent on world dominations. She was once someone they all really loved and who loved them.

I'd love to know more about what they got up to in the orphange as children, because it seems like they includng Squall were all pretty close as children, it would be nice if SE made a prequel story or something just to let us know how they all ended up separated and also Cid and Edea's story would be really interesting.

 

[Sprites]

Double post

Sorry, maybe I'm just being picky but the last chapter posted seems very big to go through in one playthrough I mean you're doing Esthar, the first lunatic Pandora trip, the space station, the ragnarok stuff and then returning to Esthar and there's a lot of story events and dialogue to cover so it's very long, I just feel it might have been better to split this up into two chapters.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

I can has an airship

Whoo hoo we're flying!

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Double post

Sorry, maybe I'm just being picky but the last chapter posted seems very big to go through in one playthrough I mean you're doing Esthar, the first lunatic Pandora trip, the space station, the ragnarok stuff and then returning to Esthar and there's a lot of story events and dialogue to cover so it's very long, I just feel it might have been better to split this up into two chapters.

You may be right, but I did it that way precisely because it's all very dialogue heavy. I thought it would be better to get that out of the way now so that the next chapter could be primarily spent on sidequests and preparing for the endgame. This section of the game drags to a lot of people, so I thought it best to ask that participants trudge through in one go.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Chapter Five -

Spoiler

Did you junction any Fire spells to your attack in the MD level, like Squall talked about?

I forget I did use Fire Breath with Quistis vs the Oilboyles though.

Did you get the GF Leviathan?

Yes.

Did you meet the Master Fisherman and perform his errand? Listen to his story?

Yes.

Were you surprised by what we learned about a certain member of Garden's staff?

Not really this time, though I'm still a bit surprised that Edea is Cid's wife even after all this time. As for NORG/the Garden Faculty well you just knew they were covering something up

Were you surprised by what happened after the boss fight in FH?

No.

Have you already acquired the materials needed to make the Lion Heart?

No.

Did you reunite the Cafateria Lady with her son?

No. Didn't run into him this time

How did the concert go?

I chose to go for Eyes on Me because I wanted it ... I didn't really know what I was doing and winded up with mostly everyone on guitars It was going well at first but then Rinoa didn't like it later ...

Thoughts on the story?

It was nice to see Squall opening up more and starting to show more concern about others. I also like the stuff with/about Master Fisherman/Mayor Dobe/Esthar/FH.

Chapter Six -

Spoiler

Who was the third party member you took with you to Zell's room? What happened?

Selphie She made herself quite at home, enjoyed Zell's bed. I sided with Selphie. Silly Zell

Where did you end up finding "the captain"? Were you surprised by this person's identity?

In the train. I used the soldiers/dog investigative method by sleuthing around Balamb for clues and smells. I also found a reporter or something behind a vehicle and then got stuck there for a while trying to get back out.

Did you get the GF Pandemona?

Yes.

What sidequests have you been doing? Are you enjoying them? What rewards have you reaped?

Cards.

Have you checked out the School Festival Committe webpage/Selphie's diary through Squall's study panel?

Yeah!

Discover or see anything else you thought was interesting?

Sir Laguna's page!

Not a lot going on in the story this chapter, but what are your thoughts right now on what took place, what you anticipate is to come, and on the world setting (since you've had time to explore it further)?

I thought Zell's dilemma with his home town being occupied was interesting, and on the whole I liked having him there to help save Balamb. Felt more personal. I also found it interesting that you could still take Selphie on this mission even though you couldn't use her outside. I did try to visit Trabia before doing Balamb but nothing triggered since Selphie wasn't there to climb the fence.

You know this was kind of fun. I have been deliberately, at least at this stage trying not to really break the game, and playing on max speeds, and it was fun. The Balamb boss fight actually killed Squall and Zell on low HP and I was only able to recover and turn the tide of the fight because "I don't hit girls, ya know?" and I think Selphie had wind resistance and was protected from Fujin's wind spells at the time too, she had something junctioned that helped her out anyway.

All the major plot stuff, the orphanage twist, battle of the Gardens, etc up next!

 

[ForceStealer]

My plans for this weekend, starting friday, is an VIII marathon until I have caught up, because by the weekend I'll be another chapter behind. I have not forgotten, been lazy, or lost interest. Just been travelling a lot for work

 

[Sprites]

@ Tres: yeah I guess that makes sense, maybe it's just me because I can't help myself but feel the need to write essays about my thoughts on the story and looking at it I thought, how the hell am I going to go through talking about the story and my opinion of it without it turning into a dissertation anyhoo I digress, I'm gonna continue my playthrough...right now actually and then i'm now off for two days so I'll post it up over them then, hopefully I'll be caught up

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Chapter 7 -

Spoiler

Did you defeat the Galbadian Paratrooper on your first attempt? Did you enjoy this sequence?

No

Did you get the GF Cerberus?

Yes. He was a worthy challenge. I have a video of the winning fight and stuff which I'll link to later.

Did you get the GF Alexander?

Yes.

What kind of exchanges did your party members have with Seifer?

He hit on the girls

Was Ward in the dream sequence or was it just Kiros and Laguna?

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?

Nyet.

Did you give (or sell) Girl Next Door to Zone or just keep it?

Gave it to him. Yaay free stuff in return. Yaay Shiva card.

What method did you use to defeat Abadon?

Fought it normally. Highlight was Squall spending most of his time confused and actually casting a heal spell on it while under the status though

Feelings on developments in the story?

The scenes in Galbadia with Selphie, her friends and the kids were touching. Yaay teddy bear. Basketball/flashback stuffs kind of dragged but I did find it interesting that the only like remotively positive thing Squall had to say about the other kids when you examine their shades was about Selphie Battle of Gardens, etc was exciting in general but I still find the ring/Rinoa stuff kind of silly. At least I sort of made things less silly this time by taking her to fight the bosses instead of leaving her in the hall and being like I left you in the hall, what are you doing here in the audience chamber goddammit I've played this game a few times now and I don't always take her to the bosses but I do think it helps with things.

Chapter 8 -

Spoiler

What are your impressions of Esthar?

Bigger on the outside.

Did you get Doomtrain yet?

Nope.

Do you like using Edea?

Aww yeeah! Sexy lady rules. Sexy Ice Queen. I set her up so she had over 100 MAG so she was owning with spells. Ice Strike was doing over 5000~ damage too.

Did you have any troubles with the "Gravity"-esque sequence?

Rinoa was lost in space ... forever ...

Rinoa was lost in space ... forever ...

Rinoa was lost in space ... forever ...

Rinoa was lost in space ... forever ...

Rinoa was lost in space ... forever ...

Repeat, repeat, repeat, etc. Unless that's not what you meant

Were you able to easily eliminate the Propagators or were you stumped for a while?

Was owning them hardcore with most of them defeated until the green one on the elevator ... forgot to top up Squall's HP and the green one decided it was going to attack very fast in quick succession, owned Squall, then it was like attack, attack, attack Rinoa ded. Next time around I was more vigilant about keeping HPs topped up but still near/within the limit threshold. I also decided after doing the rest to do the green one by the save point instead of the one by the elevator first.

We haven't checked in on your card collection in a couple of weeks. How is that going?

It is going quite well now, thank you. Rares - Angelo, Gilgamesh, MiniMog, Shiva, Ifrit, Siren, Sacred, Minotaur, Carbuncle, Diablos, Leviathan, Cerberus, Alexander, Kiros, Laguna, Selphie, Quistis, Irvine, Zell, Rinoa, Edea, Seifer, Squall.

What are your thoughts on the story now? Were you surprised by a certain elected official's identity?

Save Rinoa, Save Rinoa, Save Rinoa, Rinoa, Rinoa, Rinoa. Ohh look it's a Laguna!

Ok, that is terrible, and I apologize to any big Rinoa fans. It's just that we have reached the stage where the game seems to accelerate in terms of save the damsel stuff with one thing after another, and knowing it's still not done yet, I'm just, goddammit game I think it's all the more maddening because there are actually stuffs/elements I like about Rinoa, I like having her in my battle party, she's an awesme fighter, mage, etc, I had fun with Angel Wings on the spaceship, I want to keep having a lot of fun with Angel Wings, etc this run. Stop messing with my active team dynamics game

Well I can understand why people would be frustrated with/wouldn't want to bother with all that switching around, etc all the time.

Also that save her in space section was just ... I always suck at that. I was actually really trying because I was looking forward to the Ragnarok but it still took me ages to finally manage to get/save her.

I was also two hours odd farting around with card rules/save/reload etc on the Lunar Base, trying to abolish Random, get my Zell and Irvine cards back, then win the Alexander and Laguna cards

 

[ForceStealer]

Spoiler

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Random stuffs I forgot to mention -

Spoiler

I liked making Zell the party leader when we had to split the group for the space/Esthar missions, I liked giving him the trust/responsibility.

I didn't board the Lunatic Pandora till the third contact point, I made it to the first contact point but I was trying to limit my EXP intake so I ran away when guards jumped out the Pandora, then the Lunatic Pandora did

Oh yeah! -

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0-L-Wk7FQUpnrZg8qsZAvMtwcBz26bMw

 

[Sprites]

Did you defeat the Galbadian Paratrooper on your first attempt? Did you enjoy this sequence?

Noooo I never get it right the first time...like EVER! I love that sequences, the transition from pixel style Squall to FMV Squall is so seamless and smooth, it works really well.

Did you get the GF Cerberus?

I love Cerberus, I think as a GF he's very handy for later when spell casting is more prominent and he has some really nice abilities.

Did you get the GF Alexander?

Yep, after all you can't really get Doomtrain at an earlier stage if you don't draw him now.

What kind of exchanges did your party members have with Seifer?

Took Rinoa and Irvine for this. Seifer is a conniving little fecker, look at him trying to butter Rinoa up with his "remember last summer" speech and then his "GET OVER HERE NOW!" at Irvine. I guess I like Rinoa's reaction, you can tell that as much as she cares about Seifer and I still believe at this point she has some feelings for him, she knows he's in the wrong and point blank refuses to indulge him. Irvine's reaction I like two, just that who "Nah...I think I like it better here thanks" reaction, in fact I get the feeling Irvine never really felt like a part of Galbadia, you go there and he doesn't mention anything about friends or people he's close to and then he goes to Balamb and has some of the closest friends he's ever met there.

ON a side note the battle was easy once I recovered from Maelstrom, but I mugged Edea for that Royal Crown as I have no need for the Force Armlet and Mag+60% is an excellent ability.

Was Ward in the dream sequence or was it just Kiros and Laguna?

I actually decided on this occasion not to take Ward in this dream sequence, I've heard that if you have less than three in your part that Red Dragon doesn't use Breath Attack and I'm at a high enough level that it would use it and be rather dangerous, so I chose not to have Ward with me on this occasion, I normally do bring him with me though because I always feel comfortable having these three close comrades together and I always thought it was weird that there was an option not to have Ward there but it makes more sense as an option to avoid Breath.

Have you acquired any full stocks of high-level spells (e.g. Meteor, Flare, Ultima) yet?

Ultima I've got some stock but not full stocks, I couldn't be annoyed drawing for each character for 5000gil and waiting for the refils, but that Ruby Dragon was high levelled and I drew two full stocks of Flare and Meteor for two characters but it did take some time to do, I'll do the rest when I get Forbid-mag RF.

How have your junctions benefitted?
very well, I'll say no more.

Did you give (or sell) Girl Next Door to Zone or just keep it?

Gave it to him, I really don't need any more gil and I wanted my Shiva Card, I also beat Ward for the Angelo card.

What method did you use to defeat Abadon?

I went old school and decided not to defeat him on the spot, for the kicks

Feelings on developments in the story?

Lots of development,

Griever, Can I just say the first time I saw the fact that Griever was able to be named, I got really excited and thought OMG I can't wait to get hold of this GF I mean it has to be a GF they wouldn't let you name a ring for no good reason and then I remember that I got the Solomon Ring and I hadn't read any of the Occult fans and had no idea about Doom Train so all I could think was THIS MUST BE SOMETHING TO DO WITH GRIEVER JUST LIKE THAT LAMP THING SUMMONED DIABLOS. Oh how wrong was I, I never did figure out on that first playthrough what that ring did and I remember raging about Griever...I'll say no more


I like that everyone is weary of Edea, there's no kind of trust right away just because she was their Matron and she similarly warns them of that, that they shouldn't trust her because there's every chance at this point she could turn on them.

The possession storyline is interesting because even Edea doesn't know much about Ultimecia, she's able to tell the group a little bit about her goals but can't fully explain why Ultimecia chose to possess her so there's still this air of mystery about who she is and what she wants. It's different because you spend the first two discs chasing someone who you believe is your enemy even after finding out she used to be the groups Matron and your expecting some sort of backlash from her during your next battle and instead it does a 360. Edea ends up being the good, kind woman she once was and you find out you've a different enemy that you really don't know much about to start pursuing instead. It ends up leaving you rather stumped kind of like how the characters feel about her right now, there's this air of "what do we do now?" both for the characters and the gamer, because you sort of wonder where you should go and even trying to find the White Seed ship is for a first time incredibly difficult, it's quite well hidden.

BIG BIG NEWS!
SQUALL LOVES RINOA!

Yeah ok...I did find it a bit weird that it took her to fall into a coma for this to happen, but I guess it's that whole thing of you never realise what you have until it's gone. Squall doesn't realise how much he needs Rinoa in his life until she's all silent, still and not around to tease him, I guess it's kind of sweet because he spends a lot of disc two denying he likes her in any sort of way, whereas she's very forward about her feelings and then he has this very honest conversation with her (granted she's unconscious) about how he really feels and why he is the way he is and it's quite sweet and I guess you can kind of see why Squall has such a hard time expressing his feelings and emotions, you get that from his idea to go off and save Rinoa on his own rather than asking for help but it's still a big leap in his development as a character. What helps too is that no one berates him for it, they instead tease him and say 'let's do this together' it's their way of telling him, he doesn't need to do everything alone and they're quietly there for him, that's friendship for ya alright.

Yeah that's all I can think of for this chapter to talk about...MOVING ON!

 

[ForceStealer]

All right. ARE YOU READY?!

Chapter 6: Drifting
Target:

Spoiler

Who was the third party member you took with you to Zell's room? What happened?

Rinoa. She pointed out the picture of his grandfather and he says how he admires the man for always keeping cool in intense situations to which Squall pointed out, "So, basically, the opposite of you." It has been the one time Squall got a smirk out of me. This game needs more camaraderie.

Where did you end up finding "the captain"? Were you surprised by this person's identity?

I used the dog. And not especially, no. Amusing as Fujin is, she might be a slightly more compelling character if she spoke in, you know, sentences. Why are they SO loyal to Seifer? They were just in the disciplinary committee together at school. Speaking of, who thought the guy who breaks the most rules would be a good fit for the disciplinary committee? Or was the title self-appointed?

Did you get the GF Pandemona?

Yep. Weird summon animation, especially against something big.

What sidequests have you been doing? Are you enjoying them? What rewards have you reaped?

Obviously not playing a ton of cards has limited my sidequest experience. But I've done smaller ones. I've made a point of talking to everyone and visiting places I saw as Laguna with Squall. When I originally played VIII I never really made the connection that I could visit modern-day versions of places like Winhill. I've enjoyed every bit of world-building I could find.
I keep meaning to go to the Shumi Village and forgetting. But now that I have the Ragnarok that shouldn't be too hard.

Have you checked out the School Festival Committe webpage/Selphie's diary through Squall's study panel?

Only because of your suggestion. I never knew about it before. I never knew what finding those Timber Maniacs issues did. So that was really interesting, thanks.

Discover or see anything else you thought was interesting?

Uh...I don't remember after my VIII marathon this weekend what was unique to this chapter. Besides the absurdly efficient cactuar farming (especially once you learn initiative).

Not a lot going on in the story this chapter, but what are your thoughts right now on what took place, what you anticipate is to come, and on the world setting (since you've had time to explore it further)?

The Garden is excruciatingly slow. Especially when you don't know exactly where you're going, haha.

Anyway, this chapter is the infamous plot twist I always complain about. The fact that I actually found a few references to GF-related memory loss earlier in the game makes it a LITTLE better, but it still comes off as an asspull. And I don't see why it was even necessary. There had to be less clumsy ways of showing that Edea isn't really as evil as she appears. Even if she was just Irvine's Matron. But ALL of them? Why does he NEVER mention it? It's one hell of a coincidence that all of them wound up on the same team completely unwittingly without any memory of each other and he can't even ask one of them privately? Or try and stir their memories? And if he's so concerned about bringing it up, why does he do so so readily when he does?
And yes, one could make a similar argument about how Tifa neglects to tell Cloud the truth. But Tifa has indications that there are clearly problems with Cloud's memory and his mental state. As far as Irvine can tell, they are all 100% fine except for apparently not recognizing one another from childhood.

Chapter Seven: Victory & Defeat
Target:

Spoiler

Did you defeat the Galbadian Paratrooper on your first attempt? Did you enjoy this sequence?

Yes, I remembered from my last game. Gotta get those deathblows.
I always loved the whole dueling Gardens sequence. Giving orders, holding perimeters, Gardens ramming each other, good stuff.
The amount of time that Rinoa is left dangling off the side of the Garden, even during rammings is a bit ridiculous and is example of all that is silly in JRPGs. Why does Zell run all the way to Squall to tell him she's in danger just to be ordered a back there and react like what a solid plan that is.

Also, why does the cast browbeat Squall so hard for focusing on LEADING THE DAMN GARDEN despite his friend/love being in mortal danger. He was doing EXACTLY what he should have been doing, focusing on protecting everyone in the Garden that he was responsible for while Zell and Irvine berate him for not dropping everything to go after her. The cast in this game is dumb.

The way he ends up saving her is fun though

Did you get the GF Cerberus?

Yup. It never actually occurred to me that it's optional. I just saw it and thought, "Welp, boss time." *charge*

Did you get the GF Alexander?

Yep. Always liked the FF8 animation for Alexander. The iconic living castle walking over a mountain range? Sweet.

What kind of exchanges did your party members have with Seifer?

I had Rinoa and Irvine, as they've comprised my "main" party for most of the game. So, what Sprites said. Thinking he could order Irvine over to his side (what made him think he could do that? It's not like Irvine has backed out on taking out the Sorceress before ). And appealing to Rinoa's memory of the sexing he gave her (or whatever they did )

Was Ward in the dream sequence or was it just Kiros and Laguna?

Yes he was. Like I said I didn't get around to going to Shumi village so I didn't get that Timber Maniacs. Sucks that permanently lost the ability to speak.

Have you acquired any full stocks of high-level spells (e.g. Meteor, Flare, Ultima) yet? How have your junctions benefitted?

No...I have stocks of all three, but they are pretty low. I tried levelling up the Red Dragon so I could draw Flare. But when I levelled it high enough, my Drawing always failed, so I said screw it. I did exploit the tent>mega potion>sell trick to get enough Power Wrists to fill everyone's stock of Aura spells, which did wonders for my attack.

Did you give (or sell) Girl Next Door to Zone or just keep it?

Yeah I gave it to him.

What method did you use to defeat Abadon?

The Recovery skill after drawing and mugging.

Feelings on developments in the story?

Here is where Squall turns the corner from standoffish jerk to lovesick teenager. It's okay, it just doesn't do anything more to endear him to me. He finally opens up to a comatose Rinoa and thus the player, but it's still stupid of him to just run off without everyone when he has zero reason to. They've all already established that they're headed to Esthar and are ready to go, so...why not just go with them? Regardless, some of what he says is good character stuff with some actual specifics instead of his usual "don't have expectations so you can't be disappointed" stuff.

Chapter Eight: Never Let Go
Target:

Spoiler

What are your impressions of Esthar?

Pretty cool. I like the cloaked city. I like how even on the world map it's a huge. I actually rented a car to go to the Lunar Gate cause it seemed so much better than running all those raised streets. The traversal lifts are fun.
VIII is so idiosyncratic, man. All the FFs are, but I don't know if any have a disparity in technology like this one. How did Esthar NOT curbstomp Galbadia in the war? Honestly, I know some people don't like how futuristic FF13 is, but I think 8 might have benefitted from being like Esthar all over.

Did you get Doomtrain yet?

No, I have Solomon's Ring, but I don't have any Malboro tentacles and I couldn't seem to run into one. I didn't feel like going all the way back to a place where they were more prevalent and figured I'd just wait to have the airship. Even then, I'm not looking forward to fighting them...

Do you like using Edea?

It's fun to have the villain on your party. VII does it in a flashback, X does it at Operation Mi'ihen, this is the only one where you have the villain turned good. I like how her normal attack is magical. I like how her limit break is the ice spikes she hit Squall with

Did you have any troubles with the "Gravity"-esque sequence?

Not...really, but it's so long before you can figure out that you're actually doing anything that the timer was kinda freakin me out.

Were you able to easily eliminate the Propagators or were you stumped for a while?

I remembered. But I still accidentally fought that red one immediately after the purple one at first.

We haven't checked in on your card collection in a couple of weeks. How is that going?

lol. Still not playing, and I haven't been able to resist refining most good cards I've come across.

What are your thoughts on the story now? Were you surprised by a certain elected official's identity?

My first time I was, yeah. I was struck this playthrough in being fascinated by the whole Sorceress process as well as the Lunar Cry. My general assumption was always that there was one at a time but Edea/Rinoa were exceptions due to things that are revealed in the ending. But apparently that's not the case and Adel isn't the ONLY one for this era? Also, her tomb is kinda awesome. The Lunar Cry is...interesting. Are all of the planet's monsters from the moon? Or are lunar creatures unique? Crazy idea though.

As I said in the chapter 6 thing, the cast still lacks the camaraderie so prevalent in other FFs. Apart from everyone trying to hook up Squall and Rinoa and the occasional ribbing by Squall towards Zell or Irvine, there is nothing resembling Zidane's relationship with "Rusty," Vivi and Steiner Wakka and Tidus, Auron and Lulu, Cloud and Barret, Red XIII and Tifa, Sabin and Shadow, etc.
They just don't feel like 'friends', despite Selphie's proclamations to the contrary. So I think my problems with the plot will always come back to that, because like I said, the Sorceresses and the Lunar Tear are really fascinating concepts, and I like the way they are presented.

Phew. Now I gotta get dragon fangs, energy crystals, malboro tentacles, etc. Any suggestions are welcome

 

[Kuja9001]

To get Dragon Fangs go to the forest where you have the 2nd Laguna sequence and touch the mountain while run through the forest and you should encounter Grendels.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

We're heading into the home stretch here, folks. Major kudos to those of who you are caught up. I still have some work to do.​

This is going to be another sidequest week before the big finish.​

Chapter Nine: Killing Time
Target:

To be completed by start of: 1/19/2014

• What sidequests did you complete?​
• Are you satisfied with your stats and junctions for going into the final stages of the game?​
• Did you get everyone's ultimate weapons?​
• Is there anything you wish you'd had time for that you didn't get to do (or will save for later)?​
• Notice anything interesting as you explore the world one final time?​

 

[Ami]

Oh feck, I'm so behind and only in the middle of chapter five. I really need to make this a priority, as I really want to catch up with everyone!

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

I see how it is!

Can I be Selphie please?

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

And so it was.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Thanks!

Appropriate picture action taken

 

[ForceStealer]

Ah, I see a theme has started. Surprised it took this long, actually

 

[Lex]

Thanks!

Appropriate picture action taken

Could you update your AKA field in your profile with your previous username please? Just so people can work out who you are

 

[Sprites]

I'm on the theme bandwagon

Force: I'm gonna state the obvious but go to Island closest to hell for Dragon Fangs facing Blue Dragons, if you face them at a high level they drop them pretty regularly at anything between 2-4 at a time, use the infinite Elnoyle area in Esthar for Energy Crystals and either play cards for the safe option for Malboro Tentacles OR do the difficult thing, equip your characters wth GF status defx4 abilities and equip 100 pains, confuse, Beserk and Zombie, that's what I normally do to prevent the worst from happening as soon as that Bad Breath hits, equip Initiative, Mug and then run

 

[Lex]

As much as I like to groan and mumble unintelligible expletives every time someone changes their username, I actually approve of these ones. We need a Zell and Irvine, post-haste.

Still not going to be me though

 

[Sprites]

I think we should get in there with it every time we do a play through