FFVIII: The Dark Horse FF

[Blade]

Okay more impressions:

---Rinoa said something that really made me think of FF1's 2000 year time loop: "What would happen if someone inherited Ultimecia's power?" When, ironically Rinoa DID inherit that power (Ultimecia > ??? > Edea > Rinoa > Adel > Rinoa)

---At the Lunatic Pandora. Though it's a semi-organic mining facility-looking place...I still say the Great Crystal dungeon in Giruvegan (FFXII) is far superior to this place. The monsters are mostly weak around here except for Behemoths which I can EAT now. Nice little nostalgia trip going into the areas Laguna and crew visited, but still kinda weird how everything is flipped sideways now, which makes me wonder how the elevator and tunnel systems were installed in the first place...there's even a few pathways that DIDN'T change from Laguna's flashback.

---My headcanon sense is telling me Fujin has a crush on Seifer, though she's tough on the outside, she kinda softened and gave a speech to him which is totally unlike her. Would be nice to know what happened to the Posse after all is said and done.

---FINALLY ODIN IS DEAD...HE KEPT INTERRUPTING COOL MOMENTS IN THIS GAME. No, not really, he's saved me plenty...but now it's MORPHIN' TIME! (Okay maybe sorta not, but Gilgamesh is pretty cool...he just takes a while to show up). Does anyone know how Gilgamesh's appearance odds are calculated or if there's a way to manipulate that?

---Seifer you rotten sonova--! And to think Rinoa liked you at one point!? Adel is kinda creepy though, breaking out of her seal bubble like that...

I just have to wonder what kind of life Adel lead that made her such a spiteful person?

---Here's a brain twister: How does something like compressed time become unstable then stabilize? I know it's supposedly a reference to Salvador Dali's "Persistence of Memory" but the thing is...you can't pull light out of your own eye, much less take the future into the past if it hasn't happened yet.

Just seems to me that reality is only stable for the SeeD team because they will it to be so. (Coming from the theory that the Ego is an entirely dominant force in all existence and that the only thing that can stop one Ego is another Ego.)

This further is complicated by the purposes of the Gates in the compressed world. Why do they exist? Why does the Ragnarok still exist? Why do Chocobos and monsters still exist in this compressed world while other things do not? (Yes, yes for the purpose of beating the game...lol but that's not the point).

Here's a thought: If nobody knew what to expect in Disc 4 and they were stuck wandering the world until they came across a Gate...how difficult would it be (assuming they hadn't found Tonberry and discovered Diablos and learned their abilities)? What if they never found the Ragnarok? Or the Card Queen for that matter?

Well, the "chain" leading up to Ultimecia's Castle is still a major clue of where to go thankfully...but still...not knowing where all the gates are makes it easy to think you could be stuck in that Compressed World forever...(with time running out so to speak).

Oh yeah, and ironically, as soon as I started Disc 4, my In-game clock reset to a RED 0:00 and started counting again.

Thank goodness I have all these GFs and the CC Club to help me boost my GFs and things, anyways...

UP NEXT: ULTIMECIA'S CASTLE

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Rinoa said something that really made me think of FF1's 2000 year time loop: "What would happen if someone inherited Ultimecia's power?" When, ironically Rinoa DID inherit that power (Ultimecia > ??? > Edea > Rinoa > Adel > Rinoa)

More accurately:

Adel
\
Rinoa-->the witches fought as Squall and co. travel to the future-->Ultimecia-->Edea
/
Edea

 

[Blade]

Okay so, right now I've decided to camp out over by Tears' Point for a short while, since I fell behind in my Behemoth farming.

Remember my setup for Malboro-Eating? Well, right here I've decided to swap out Break for Death junctioned to my Status Defense, since the Torama here can get especially wiley with Level 5 Death Blue Magic.

Since my entire party is Level 100 that's a guaranteed wipeout unless I get lucky with Phoenix, so Death defense it is.

Okay, here's my strategy for Behemoth EATING:

---------
Initiative + Pain it to minimize any threat (make sure it's silenced otherwise it's gonna chuck Meteors at you). Then, I throw it an Antidote, same as the T-Rexaur. Chances are good that you can smack him with Zombie too...just don't cast Regen on him by accident or he'll act like he's poisoned again.

All that's left is his high HP. So hitting him with Recover at least 3 times or until he casts Mighty Guard on himself...now here's where it gets hit-or-miss.

Sometimes I might resort to casting Scan on him, just to make sure I do the precise amount of damage I need to to prep him for Devour, since Demi doesn't work on him. So long as you don't pull the trigger, Squall's attacks will always remain non-critical, so you can mitigate the damage a bit that way.

Stealing Barriers for Eva-J also helps the process. Then just EAT and hope it works.

You could probably use a similar method for Adamantoise so long as you juncioned Ultima to your Elemental Defense and have plenty of Demis to soften them up.
---------

Okay, with that out of the way...on to Ultimecia's Castle!

First let me just say this is one of my all-time favorite FF Dungeons. I daresay it stylistically almost beats out Kefka's tower (only reason Kefka's Tower wins is because you had more characters per party to play with in that area). If I get too descriptive, don't mind it, just me chewing on the scenery.

---The music is far and above the best thing about this place...just makes me think of Phantom of the Opera.

---Creepy misty doors ahoy. Just the fact this place is floating IN THE SKY is just...wow. And I LOVE gothic-victorian decor. Sorry I just do.

---You just get the feeling Ultimecia is this messed up perverted chick by the way she had her front hall steps designed so twistedly. And the chairs nearby made me think of a guest hall.

---Ohh yeahhh and her "minions" sealing away my abilities instantly reminded me of Rita Repulsa (Oh come on you've watched Power Rangers, haven't you?), I find it interesting that she locked several of them away...was it because she didn't want them found by SeeD or was it because they were incompetent bungling fools? (cue evil scowl)

---I'm sorry but the Trophy Corridor is just wayyyy too scary. I still jump a few times (mostly because I forgot where exactly you fight Catoblepas and thought he was IN that hallway somehow).

---Does anyone know who the artist(s) were for Ultimecia's Art Gallery? I kinda liked some of the works. Especially the large mural.

---I just have to wonder why Ultimecia would let the castle fall in to disarray with holes and decay and such if her sense of style indicated otherwise (unless she's very sadistic). Though I suppose the pictures kindof illustrate that conflict of her tastes well enough. Both pretty and grotesque.

---You kindof have to feel sorry for anyone who was in the Armory and Dungeon long before the White SeeDs showed up (some didn't even make it to the castle door!), just what kind of place is she running here?

---I find it interesting that they deliberately chose to create a Seal for Saving, Resurrection, and Limit Breaks...I suppose because Drawing GFs from the fiends here would be the only means of getting them if you missed out on them earlier...mainly because when all is said and done you still have 1 ability you won't be able to use throughout the entire process of unsealing your abilities...assuming you chose to unseal Draw LAST you wouldn't get any of those GFs (well, technically no...you can still obtain Doomtrain, Brothers, Diablos, Cactuar, Tonberry, and I think you can still access the Deep Sea Research Center in Disc 4, so missing Bahamut is impossible). I suppose if you didn't bother with Odin until Disc 4 he'd be your only help in regular battles...whereas Gilgamesh can actually help during boss fights (or miss depending on the sword he picks...still don't know what the math is for that).

---This is the only FF I can think of where your entire active Party's combined body weight comes in to question (for the elevator), I like those little touches. Even the bell mechanic for Omega and party switching makes this game probably the most unique FF I've ever played (aside from FF6's party switching).

---It took me a few tries...but I did it...even on the PSP, I managed to get the Rosetta Stone via the Organ trick from the floodgate. It's a lot harder to do on a PSP though.

---Another nice touch: I like how each individual fiend has their own personality as you fight. Poor Red Giant: NO MORE DEMI! PLEASE! I seem to recall something about Bahamut and Tiamat and their relationship (but I don't know the details). It's also nice that they drop rare GF items to boot.

---Went back to Ragnarok to Card Mod and win back any modded cards...it's really a nice system...too bad it doesn't seem to work for the PuPu card (according to the menu it says you can only obtain the card from PuPu and nothing else...it just says "Used Up" ambiguously and doesn't say where it might have gone. I think further testing is needed though. Also, for some reason Card Queen never did show up on Ragnarok (even though I completed the quest, I'm not sure what happened but she was back at the Lunar Crash Site).

---Beefed up my GFs and probably going to eat some more monsters before I take on Omega and then Ultimecia. Still love wandering the world at the end/beginning of days. Feels like World B in Dissidia Duodecim lol. As Garland would say THE CYCLE SHALL CONTINUE.

Alright, that's it for now.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Odin can show up in Boss battles. Which is why it's tactically better not to get him until you defeat Siefer for the last time, that way it's always an instant kill...

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Odin can show up in Boss battles. Which is why it's tactically better not to get him until you defeat Siefer for the last time, that way it's always an instant kill...

You've got it backwards, I think. Gilgamesh is the one who will show up even during boss battles. Odin only appears for normal enemies.

That being said, he will appear in Ultimecia's Castle on Disc 4 to kill even some of the enemies who were previously bosses (e.g. Oilboyles and Raldos), and he will show up in space to kill Propagators.

---Went back to Ragnarok to Card Mod and win back any modded cards...it's really a nice system...too bad it doesn't seem to work for the PuPu card (according to the menu it says you can only obtain the card from PuPu and nothing else...it just says "Used Up" ambiguously and doesn't say where it might have gone. I think further testing is needed though. Also, for some reason Card Queen never did show up on Ragnarok (even though I completed the quest, I'm not sure what happened but she was back at the Lunar Crash Site).

That's where she is supposed to be. The card club members will show up on the Ragnarok, but the Card Queen never will.

And, yeah, you're right about the PuPu card -- it's gone forever once it's been modified.

 

[Kuja9001]

I don't think it's just Ellone that was born with special powers... all the girls have some sort of non-sorceress and non-GF based magic for their Limit Breaks. Selphie has her weird "I can cast spells I've never even heard of multiple times" thing going on. Quistis has her Blue Magic and Rinoa has all those attacks she can do with Angelo... especially that last attack...

And Seifer is somehow using a Fire attack as a Limit Break even before he meets Ultimacia.

I'd say Ellone just has the most extreme special power out of everyone...

Seifer uses Chi(the fire spell) during his limit breaks.

 

[Kermitu Kleric Katie]

I think FFVIII is a pretty cool guy. Eh fights Siefer and doesnt afraid of anything.

 

[Farron]

I think FFVIII is a pretty cool guy.

eH ?

I didn't notice that Final Fantasy VIII was a human male ! I thought that it was a game !

 

[Blade]

>_< It's....a meme...and yeah go die in a fire, meme.

I'll post something relevant later.

 

[Blade]

Okay, I'm at a crossroads.

I've done everything except beat Omega and Ultimecia.

Should I continue eating monsters or move on?

(I'm thinking about playing Final Fantasy 3 next, since I never got to play that one on PSP).

 

[Cait Sith]

I'm not trying to nitpick or anything.. But.

The bit about Irvine admitting he can't shoot shows that he's too young for that stuff..
My dad was in Vietnam when barely older than Irvine and Squall. No one wants to go to war, or be put in that position. It doesn't necessarily matter what age you are.

And when you enroll in a school like Garden (or, military school, in the real world), learning how to be a soldier is part of the curriculum. Those kids may not necessarily learn battle tactics, but they go through the same PT and drills just like regular soldiers in the Army and have to go by Army standards in their barracks with the same inspections.

 

[ForceStealer]

The bigger problem is that he was fine blowing people away in the random encounters to that point.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

^^Incidentally, Irvine isn't in SeeD...

and that scene make a lot more sense the second time you play FFVIII...

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Yeah, he broke down not because he had to shoot someone, but because it was Matron. And it's no wonder, really -- he meets up with all his old childhood friends, they don't recognize him, and then the next thing he knows, he's supposed to blow away the woman who looked after them with no understanding of what's going on.

Shit had to be weird for him. Not at all odd that he buckled under the pressure.

 

[ForceStealer]

That is correct, I did forget about that fact, whoops. Though I still don't get why he never mentions that to anyone.

 

[Blade]

I think even if he did they wouldn't understand, much less know what to do about it at that point.

 

[ForceStealer]

I guess, but why not mention it at all? How could he prevent himself from saying their names when they first met up? Or asking more prodding questions, anything, other than just hitting on the chicks he grew up with

 

[Obsidian Fire]

Irvine: "Hey Squall, Selphie, Quistis and Zell! How's everyone doing?"

Squall and Co.: "Who the heck are you?"

Irvine: "You don't recognize me?"

Squall and Co.: "Nope!"

Irvine: "Well this is a problem..."

I do think Irvine should have talked to them earlier as they eventually do remember him and Edea and the Orphanage. It might have caused them to handle Seifer and Edea/Ultimacia differently in Galbania.

 

[Blade]

I guess, but why not mention it at all? How could he prevent himself from saying their names when they first met up? Or asking more prodding questions, anything, other than just hitting on the chicks he grew up with

Probably for the same reason Luneth and Co. in FFIII don't realize they're orphans until much later. It didn't occur to them to think about it.

 

[Cthulhu]

It would pull the dun dun dunnn plot twist all the way back to disc 1, can't have that,

 

[Farron]

I think that it would of been awkward. I mean what if they didn't believe him ? What if they thought that he was crazy and/ or making up shit ? They don't seem to remember and also what if Irvine's childhood/ memory was a lie ?

Irvine most likely kept in hidden for those reasons and only mentioned it when he noticed how down and depressed Selphie was and he made a huge risk to try and cheer her up.

Irvine is a underated character imo

 

[ForceStealer]

It certainly would have made the reveal seem like a lot less of an asspull though.

 

[Lex]

I think I was too young to really realise that the reveal was an asspull, and the feeling of shock and wonder and excitement still lingers to this day because I still don't feel like it was an asspull.

Don't get me wrong, I can very clearly and logically see why people think that, but it never bothered me

 

[Obsidian Fire]

^^Same here... heck, I played FFVIII as an adult and I didn't think it was asspull, just that it could have been worded a lot better in English.

 

[Cait Sith]

I didn't even think about the Matron aspect of Irvine freaking out. And then I read what whoever said about it - coincidentally, I've just passed that part where Irvine is all "Ta-Da! I know you, you, you, you, and you!" . ... .. ..

Irvine's always been my fav. He's just so dead sexy.