A question for you all....

[BlackWaltz]

What level was your entire list of characters at the end of the game? I have never completed 8 but in every other FF i powerlevel to make sure a am alot higher than required, but i hear that the monsters rise in level as your characters do, so i ask, is there any point training? also the rise in stats when leveling is minimal and the only reason i can think of leveling is to learn the GF's new moves. Also can someone let me know where to get the basic items for upgrading weapons such as screws, Thanks.

[McLovin']

Geezards in the plains next to Galbadia Garden.

I was at level 99 but you really only need to be over 60 around 70 and have a lot of Holy Wars and Heros. (You can refine a 100 Hero's from the Bahamut Card and 10 Holy Wars From the Gilgamesh card)

[Rantz]

I usually have my main characters at 30-40 and the others at 10-15 at the game ending. As long as you're properly junctioned there will be no need for Holy wars / Heros or high levels.

[McLovin']

Oh yeah. You can junction spells like Ultima to their HP tab and it will dramatically raise their HP. You can also use HP +BLAH% from GF's or use Steel Pipes. (or whatever item it is)

[Pharoh Amon Khan III]

I'm not sure about FFVIII. I was at the point of "get this over with", y'know?

But I DO remember I was at level 47 in FFVII. Irrelevant, but your question reminded me.... :D

[BlackWaltz]

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it. Okay so really all i have to worry about is being at a reasonable level at the end 50+ what about the other chars? dont every char have to fight at the end battle? wont they just get wiped? and should i just draw like 100 ultimas etc for each char so their stats are at the max?

[Arrianna]

That's what I do and it works great. I try and have my other characters within 10 levels of Squall as well. The combination is lethal.

[licence]

I had 3 main characters - Squall, Irvine and Zell all in the late 50s/early 60s

And the rest at levels 10 - 20

[Hambone]

Squall-level 100
Quistis-level 100
Zell-level 100
Irvine-level 12
Selphie-level 9
Rinoa-level 12

I had nothing better to do than get my main party to level 100 since I had done everything else.

[rubah]

The idea is to wait to level your party until you get stat raising abilities.

[licence]

I've never really used the bonus abilities. I just opt for some percentage ones and good junctioning. Devour as well.

[BardTard]

77

[Lynx]

level doesnt matter just ahve to junction correctly which doesnt take a genius.

[Disco Potato]

My last time through all my characters except Squall were level 42 (he was 43). I had a pretty easy time :). Like other people have said it's just a matter of junctioning well.

[Xurts]

All of mine were at 100. My main party was Squall, Zell, and Irvine. I occasionaly switch Irvine and Selphie for variety.

BlackWaltz, your level at the end is irrelevant, really. All that matters is that you have good Junctions. I've heard of people that fought Ultimecia AND Omega with their initial levels. If you have weak Junctions, then leveling up is just going to make it harder.

There is a way to gain AP and no EXP after battles. All you have to do is depleat an enemy's HP by at least half, and then use the Card command to turn them into a card. You'll get the normal amount of AP, but no EXP.

[rubah]

or casting break:)

[crazybayman]

And you can go fight Cactuars on Cactuar Island and in the Kashkabald Desert. Loads of AP while very little exp.

Be sure to draw and refine as much magic as possible throughout the game at every opportunity.

And yes, carding is a great way to go.

[Hyperion4444]

What level was your entire list of characters at the end of the game? I have never completed 8 but in every other FF i powerlevel to make sure a am alot higher than required, but i hear that the monsters rise in level as your characters do, so i ask, is there any point training? also the rise in stats when leveling is minimal and the only reason i can think of leveling is to learn the GF's new moves. Also can someone let me know where to get the basic items for upgrading weapons such as screws, Thanks.


First of all, it's actually a good thing that monsters lvl up as you do.
Because you don't want to be challenging the same lvl4 monsters that gives you 7expt. Monster LVL UP as you do but you're still WAY stronger your Lvl up than there's, if you had trouble with low lvl monsters at start, you'll find thoses same monsters way too easy to beat at lvl100 not to mension you can junction magic, abilities and ect.

Not getting my point? Go back to the fire cavern at lvl100 and beat some monsters there.
It's like I said...

So, first, you'll need to divide your 16GFs with 6 party members, ''if you hadn't done it before...'' and have thoses GFs Learn most of the Magic Junctions so that you can boost HP,STR,END,MAG,SPR,SPD(If you can), Elm AT, El DEFX4 (prefered), St AT, St DefX4 (prefered).
Hit is your accurancy to hit monsters minus the evasion of the monster.
(Squall is 255% accuancy and Blind decreases it by 100%, so Squall can still hit his enenies even when blinded.)
Selphie can also have 255%
Luck boost your chances of inflicting a critical strike. (Double Damage)


Ultima is good for all characters, except Rinoa (If you're like me, you'll use the Meteor Shower trick of Meteor/Angel Wing. 70k damage garanty long as she's alive)
Metor for all
All Curatif/Protectifs spells to all.

My party was always lvl100.

You should be able to beat the final boss, as long as You defeat some bosses first. Save is useless in battle.
here for all the item drop list (http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/final_fantasy_viii_monster_encyclopaedia.txt)

[BlackWaltz]

Thanks for everyones replies. Okay so i see that the most important thing is junctioning well. Throughout the game should i draw 100 magic of every new spell i find for all 3 chars? i was drawing 100 each and it gets so tedious, is this the way to go?

[Disco Potato]

GFs can learn abilities where they can make spells out of items and lower level spells. Later in the game you can also draw a lot of good spells from the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell :). But yeah, in the beginning I think you just have to draw a lot. It helps to have your Magic stat raised as much as possible.

[Arrianna]

It's not necessary to have 100 but it does help, alot.

I wouldn't worry about having that many for every character. You can swap spells around and only have so many junctions so I would usually specialize which characters had which spells and just make sure that they had alot of whatever that particular character was junctioned with.

[crazybayman]

Thanks for everyones replies. Okay so i see that the most important thing is junctioning well. Throughout the game should i draw 100 magic of every new spell i find for all 3 chars? i was drawing 100 each and it gets so tedious, is this the way to go?
You bet.

But as you gain new abilities, and find new items, you won't have to draw as much, because you'll be able to refine magic.

As well, if you card everything (and play cards), you can turn certain cards into certain tools, which can then be refined into spells.