Final Fantasy VIII No Level Up Challenge (This whole thread may contain spoilers)

[Necronopticous]

I've decided this will be my next challenge. I started earlier tonight and I'm done for the night. So far I just got done with the SeeD Party after the Dollet mission.

As usual, I'll keep anyone interested updated on my progress. I am thinking about making this a high stat challenge after I reach the end of the game at starting levels, although I haven't decided yet. As of now my goal is to simply reach Ultimecia and beat her without ever gaining a single level.

Wish me luck.

[Xzirox]

Good luck! :D

EDIT: Keep me updated ;)

[Ultima Shadow]

This will be your absolutely easiest challange so far. I guess you're aware of that, right? ;)
But good luck anyway. Altough I'm sure you don't need any good luck to success this time. ;)

[Alexander]

Well, if you beat Ozma with a Level One3 Party, you can do anything XD

But....a question: How can you avoid EXP without avoiding AP in FFVIII?

[seiyuimore]

Well, if you beat Ozma with a Level One3 Party, you can do anything XD

But....a question: How can you avoid EXP without avoiding AP in FFVIII?


Simple. By "Card"ing the enemy. I done that thousand of times to avoid getting Squall increase the level too high while the Balamb garden still immobile

[Alexander]

Simple. By "Card"ing the enemy. I done that thousand of times to avoid getting Squall increase the level too high while the Balamb garden still immobile

But how will you earn the needed AP to learn Quezacotl's "Card" ability without gaining Exp? >_<

[seiyuimore]

But how will you earn the needed AP to learn Quezacotl's "Card" ability without gaining Exp? >_<


By the time you finish SEED field exam, you will already have "Card" ability as defeating AXTMO. . . something (Sorry for miss spelling) you have high AP. I think for defeating ifrit and Elvroyt (Sorry for being typo) also have high AP with no exp acquired

[Necronopticous]

By the time you finish SEED field exam, you will already have "Card" ability as defeating AXTMO. . . something (Sorry for miss spelling) you have high AP. I think for defeating ifrit and Elvroyt (Sorry for being typo) also have high AP with no exp acquired
Exactly, I already have the card ability, although I'm going to hold off just a little bit before I start gaining abilities.

[SeeDRankLou]

But how will you earn the needed AP to learn Quezacotl's "Card" ability without gaining Exp? >_<
It is also possible to get the Card ability by going straight to Ifrit and beating him, getting the 20 AP from that. Then go to the Balamb Island shore and fight those Fastocalon-Fs. A pair gives 6 AP. Switch between having Squall KOed and Quistis KOed at the end of each battle, always having a GF kill the monsters. You should be able to learn Card without leveling up, that's what I did when I did this challenge. After that, there are a select few other places where you have to gain EXP, which can be skewed in different ways to not let anyone level up.

[rubah]

Of course there's also the 'Don't fight any battles until Dollet then have Seifer do everything with zell and squall knocked out.'

Ironic that that's what square tells you to do, and people tend to want to have squall get the extra exp instead.

*coughs* not that I've actually done that. I'm content with levelling as little as possible then going on long sprees at the islands closest to hell+heaven to get everyone's stats through the roof^_^

[JunotDe]

I dont get it how is it possible

[Necronopticous]

I dont get it how is it possible
Since monsters and bosses in Final Fantasy VIII have a level according to your character's levels, this is one of the least difficult challenges I've done so far. The main challenge lies on the player's part to avoid gaining a level at any point, to handle situations in which EXP might be earned there are many possibilities:

Run from random encounters.

Card the enemy making them give you AP only instead of AP and EXP.

Give the enemy Petrification status, avoiding EXP.

Level Down the enemy enough to give you minimal exp so that no members of your party would gain a level.

And that's basically the order in which I would try to do them and resort to the next if I couldn't do the previous...

[Xaven]

I suggest going to the desert on the continent below Estar and fighting cactuars. They don't give very much Exp but give 10 Ap each. While doing that, get Diablos to learn the Enc-None ability. That way no more random battles forever!!

[Necronopticous]

I suggest going to the desert on the continent below Estar and fighting cactuars. They don't give very much Exp but give 10 Ap each. While doing that, get Diablos to learn the Enc-None ability. That way no more random battles forever!!

ENC-none is definately in my mind to pick up but it takes a lot of AP to learn since you have to learn ENC-half first, I might hold off on picking it up for awhile but it will definitely be nice once I have it under my belt.

[rubah]

Oh man. . .
It just struck me how HIDEOUSLY long it would be to get max stats at the minimum level.

Especially if you don't have the pocket station.

Maybe you'll want to try that at the tail end of your no level game?

[seiyuimore]

ENC-none is definately in my mind to pick up but it takes a lot of AP to learn since you have to learn ENC-half first, I might hold off on picking it up for awhile but it will definately be nice once I have it under my belt.


Don't forget to "mug" Or modified card so you could upgrade your weapons to fight BOSSes

[Necronopticous]

Oh man. . .
It just struck me how HIDEOUSLY long it would be to get max stats at the minimum level.

Especially if you don't have the pocket station.

Maybe you'll want to try that at the tail end of your no level game?
I meant utilizing the fact that I have base levels to level up and get max stats after I complete the game with no levelups


Don't forget to "mug" Or modified card so you could upgrade your weapons to fight BOSSes
I will use Card Mod.

[KamiTidus]

If you think this is easy, youre idiotically mistaken it took me a year to do this. So good luck on it. It is possible but indeed very hard process. So anyone taking the beating of FF8 on level one as easy you need to try it for yourself.

And heres some help for you. Gte items to put your luck up, equip magic to you luk, get luv luv g's for highest GF compat. so Card will work better. Keep Regen available along with hella louds of potions, and make sure you find as many of that item that makes you invicible.

Following this and figuring out the process is the key.

You hold the lock.

[seiyuimore]

Kamitidus right. Junction high and strong magic. . . Like water for example

[Halenite]

One slight problem I thought of.
Deep Sea Research Lab.
The random battles afte you fight Bahamut are forced upon you.
Even with Enc-None.

[Necronopticous]

If you think this is easy, youre idiotically mistaken it took me a year to do this. So good luck on it. It is possible but indeed very hard process. So anyone taking the beating of FF8 on level one as easy you need to try it for yourself.I didn't say the challenge was easy, I said it was easier than the other challenges I've recently done. This challenge will obviously be more difficult than usual but compared to the difficulty of the Final Fantasy IX and X challenges I did before this, this one will be a break for me. And it DEFINITELY will not take me a year.

[SeeDRankLou]

If you think this is easy, youre idiotically mistaken it took me a year to do this. So good luck on it. It is possible but indeed very hard process. So anyone taking the beating of FF8 on level one as easy you need to try it for yourself.
I'd have to disagree and say that this is easy, infact I think it's a stretch to call this a challenge. It's really just more of a technique than anything. You can be insanely strong at level 7 while the enemies stay weak. I would call this challenge more of a technique for leveling up, except you don't ever do the level up part. When I play FFVIII occassionally I like to do this just to maximize the leveling up process that I do later, not even thinking about it. Carding is rather simple to do, especially once you get Demi magic, and that's really the long and the short of this whole process. It's only starts to get kind of challenging at the end of disc 3, and that's about it.


One slight problem I thought of.
Deep Sea Research Lab.
The random battles afte you fight Bahamut are forced upon you.
Even with Enc-None.
I'm fairly certain you can card them.

[Halenite]

Good point.

[Necronopticous]

I finally got some good time into this and reached Balamb after accepting the first SeeD mission, got Diabolos, got some abilities out of my GFs by carding those fish on the beach for a while, got bored, then started playing cards and played for a solid 6 hours, my end results are...

Squalls Punishment gunblade as well as Selphie, Quistis, and Zell's weapon upgrades.

100 Regen on HP stat, 100 Meltdowns on VIT stat, 100 Quake on STR stat, 100 Death on MAG stat, etc.

My HP are nealy 3000 with each character, my STR is well over 100 with Squall, etc.

I'm tired now and I have work in the morning but tomorrow I plan on putting some more time into cards to best myself before progressing, I figure I can buff up enough in Balamb to never have to fight a random encounter or build up any more until Disc 3 or so. Who called me an idiot for saying this challenge was easy? I wish to reflect that statement. I could probably kill every boss for a long time with just the stats I have now in a single turn.

[Ultima Shadow]

If you think this is easy, youre idiotically mistaken it took me a year to do this. So good luck on it. It is possible but indeed very hard process. So anyone taking the beating of FF8 on level one as easy you need to try it for yourself.

And heres some help for you. Gte items to put your luck up, equip magic to you luk, get luv luv g's for highest GF compat. so Card will work better. Keep Regen available along with hella louds of potions, and make sure you find as many of that item that makes you invicible.

Following this and figuring out the process is the key.

You hold the lock.
Well... I only played the first disc this way with solo Squall... and the reason I stoped after the first disc was because it got too boring because of the lack of challange. If you have good junctioning... then atleast the first disc is nothing but so easy that it's nothing but patetic. Maybe it gets harder later on? But still... with good junctioning it will be a cakewalk. And hero-cheat items really shouldn't be needed. :tongue:
Take this example:


Squalls Punishment gunblade as well as Selphie, Quistis, and Zell's weapon upgrades.

100 Regen on HP stat, 100 Meltdowns on VIT stat, 100 Quake on STR stat, 100 Death on MAG stat, etc.

My HP are nealy 3000 with each character, my STR is well over 100 with Squall, etc.

And the monsters are still at low levels and weak...

[SeeDRankLou]

then started playing cards and played for a solid 6 hours
What did that do to your SeeD Rank?

[Necronopticous]

What did that do to your SeeD Rank?
My SeeD rank has already been decided, it was first given to me at rank 5, then went up to rank 6 and I did the 7 SeeD tests allowed ending me at rank 14 where I am now, playing cards for 6 hours afterward didn't make a difference :D

Balamb is very easygoing when it comes to my salary apparently.

[Captain Maxx Power]

You won't face any problems up to the 4th disc. Seriously, I do a "No-Level" game everytime I play FF8. I'm a sucker for stat gaining.

[Teek]

If you think this is easy, youre idiotically mistaken it took me a year to do this. So good luck on it. It is possible but indeed very hard process. So anyone taking the beating of FF8 on level one as easy you need to try it for yourself.

OK, no. This is the only way I play the game. It's not hard at all.

[finalheaven]

ok ..thats sounds cool..i owuld do that but i cant b bbothered atm as im playing 6o_O anyway good luck .kep us posted of ur progress..i wanna see if this has an affect of th e gaming ..hmmm

[Necronopticous]

I finished off my powering up at Balamb and made it all the way to Galbadia Garden really quick which is where I'm leaving off for the night.

[Necronopticous]

Beat disc 2... left off right as you're about to break out of prison.

[PearlRose]

You're doing well with this one... I started following your challenges when you first started the IX one.

Kinda of skimming though your previous X one at the moment. Shame it wasn't doable.

Sounds like you're having fun with this one, though.

[Sepho]

I don't imagine that this challenge is very hard, and you seem to be handling it well.

If you still have Quake junctioned to Str (doubtful if you beat Disk 2), try winning many Abyss Worm cards, refining them into Windmills, and then in-turn refining the Windmills into Tornado spells. It's a tad bit more effective than Quake for junctioning.

Another easy spell to stock up on, and that's fairly useful for junctioning is Death (which can be refined from Chef's knife, which can be card modded from both Tonberries and Tonberry Kings).

[Ultima Shadow]

Another easy spell to stock up on, and that's fairly useful for junctioning is Death (which can be refined from Chef's knife, which can be card modded from both Tonberries and Tonberry Kings).
Or you could just kill some tonberries... since they give no EXP.

[Sepho]

True, but I had the advice in mind before I read his most recent post stating that he had gotten far enough to do so.

[udsuna]

A real FF8 challenge is the no GF one. Can't use ANY gf, any gf abilities, which includes junctions, drawing or using magic, refinements, or anything else. I tried it once.... ouch. I'm not entirely sure it's possible to beat Adel at all that way. Keeping Rinoa alive is such a chore.

[Ultima Shadow]

A real FF8 challenge is the no GF one. Can't use ANY gf, any gf abilities, which includes junctions, drawing or using magic, refinements, or anything else. I tried it once.... ouch. I'm not entirely sure it's possible to beat Adel at all that way. Keeping Rinoa alive is such a chore.
Ofcourse it's possible and she's a complete wimp compared to Ultimecia... and Ultimecia is pice of cake compared to Omega and Ultima Weapon. :cool: But they are all possible to defeat. I've done this challange... but I prefere my own "command only", no weapon upgrading, no drawing in battle, no cardrefining and no bite bug frying challange. :cool: This means that you can equip GFs, yes... but you are only allowed to junction commands like Item, Magic and GF etc. Any other form of junctioning is forbidden. No Str+60% and no Curagas at HP etc. ONLY commands. AND to make it even more intressting you're not allowed to upgrade your weapons so you have to stick with old, crappy weapons for the rest of the game (NO LIONHEART!!! Mwahahaha) AND you're not allowed to refine cards (NO HERO-CHEAT ITEMS!!! Bwahahahaha). And finally... the ultimate rule... NEVER cast firaga on a Bite Bug!!!

This challange is more intressting since it allows you to take advantage of all abilities and even the most underused spells can be usefull. It's much funnier than Attack and Limmitbreak only. Oh, and it's still a good challange because of the lack of attack strength since you won't upgrade your weapons (which you'll do in the Attack and Limmitbreak only challange). Oh, and you can't get all the GFs since you're not allowed to draw in battle. MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

ps: you don't need to follow the rule about frying Bite Bugs if you really don't want to... I know it's hard to resist. :cool: