How do you arrange your characters?

I am beginning Final Fantasy VIII again, and I am very particular about my characters. I have them each arranged a certain way. I also want them each to have 2 GF's, so I actually don't get every GF in game bcause of that (crazy, I know).

Do you arrange your characters a certain way? If so, how?

Here is how I do mine, aside from each having 2 GF's. I also take each magic spell and give 2 characters that spell. I try to make it so that they have an equal amount of spells (except Squall and Rinoa who have an extra because they are the main characters). Then I junction based on what is best. Because I'm a stickler for having 100 of each magic, I don't actually use magic other than for junctioning unless I can draw and cast it from the enemy. Which is kind of a bummer because I like magic.

As far as the GF's, they each have an order of characters they are assigned to, so that they always get points. Meaning, if Shiva is one of the two summons for Rinoa, if Rinoa is not in the party, I will send Shiva to character 2 on my list, if they aren't in the party, I send them to character 3, etc. But I don't allow the backup characters to actually summon the GF. It's just to have them junctioned so that they still get points.

Here is my character and GF setup if anyone cares:

Squall
Cerberus
Ifrit
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Aura
Blind
Break
Death
Demi
Double
Fire
Fira
Firaga
Flare
Pain
Protect
Quake
Slow
Stop
Triple
Ultima


Quistis
Carbuncle
Pandemona
---
Dispel
Double
Flare
Full-Life
Holy
Life
Pain
Reflect
Regen
Silence
Sleep
Thunder
Thundara
Thundaga
Tornado
Triple


Zell
Cactuar
Quezacotl
---
Aero
Berserk
Bio
Blind
Confuse
Drain
Haste
Meteor
Protect
Scan
Slow
Thunder
Thundara
Thundaga
Tornado
Zombie


Selphie
Alexander
Siren
---
Aura
Blizzard
Blizzara
Blizzaga
Cure
Cura
Curaga
Esuna
Float
Full-Life
Haste
Life
Meteor
Shell
Sleep
Water


Rinoa
Leviathan
Shiva
---
Blizzard
Blizzara
Blizzaga
Cure
Cura
Curaga
Dispel
Esuna
Float
Holy
Meltdown
Reflect
Regen
Shell
Silence
Ultima
Water


Irvine
Borthers
Diablos
---
Aero
Berserk
Bio
Break
Confuse
Death
Demi
Drain
Fire
Fira
Firaga
Meltdown
Quake
Scan
Stop
Zombie


GF's in order of which character they go to:

Alexander
Selphie
Rinoa
Quistis
Zell
Squall
Irvine


Brothers
Irvine
Squall
Zell
Quistis
Selphie
Rinoa


Cactuar
Zell
Selphie
Irvine
Quistis
Squall
Rinoa


Carbuncle
Quistis
Selphie
Rinoa
Zell
Irvine
Squall


Cerberus
Squall
Irvine
Quistis
Zell
Rinoa
Selphie


Diablos
Irvine
Squall
Quistis
Selphie
Zell
Rinoa


Ifrit
Squall
Irvine
Zell
Quistis
Rinoa
Selphie


Leviathan
Rinoa
Quistis
Selphie
Squall
Irvine
Zell


Pandemona
Quistis
Zell
Selphie
Irvine
Rinoa
Squall


Quezacotl
Zell
Quistis
Irvine
Selphie
Squall
Rinoa


Shiva
Rinoa
Quistis
Selphie
Irvine
Zell
Squall


Siren
Selphie
Rinoa
Quistis
Zell
Squall
Irvine

I always had Squall paired with Shiva, Zell with Ifrit and Selphie with Quetzalcoatl. Apart from that they didn't really have a specific setup. Can't for the life of me remember who I gave Diabolos to.

I always give Ifrit and Cerberus to Squall. Maximum Strength and Speed (not to mention Auto-Haste) for the character with the innate ability to hit for 150% damage seems great. Cerberus is pretty sick actually.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

I always had Squall paired with Shiva, Zell with Ifrit and Selphie with Quetzalcoatl.

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Same for me.

I did it based on themes. Well, maybe it was just coincidental. Squall was paired with Shiva because he's a cold guy, Ifrit went with Zell because of his fiery attitude, and Quezacotl went with Selphie because they were both yellow themed.

In other playthroughs, I color coded all of them. Squall got Diablos, Rinoa got Shiva and Leviathan, Quistis got Siren etc etc

As far as magic goes, it was just kind of first come first serve. I would check and see if the magic would improve Squall's stats, and if not, I'd give it to the next person in my party. The way that I drew magic was completely random. I just thought "I haven't selected this name in a while".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lone Wolf Leonhart

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

I always had Squall paired with Shiva, Zell with Ifrit and Selphie with Quetzalcoatl.

---

Same for me.

I did it based on themes. Well, maybe it was just coincidental. Squall was paired with Shiva because he's a cold guy, Ifrit went with Zell because of his fiery attitude, and Quezacotl went with Selphie because they were both yellow themed.

In other playthroughs, I color coded all of them. Squall got Diablos, Rinoa got Shiva and Leviathan, Quistis got Siren etc etc

As far as magic goes, it was just kind of first come first serve. I would check and see if the magic would improve Squall's stats, and if not, I'd give it to the next person in my party. The way that I drew magic was completely random. I just thought "I haven't selected this name in a while".

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Kid Me: Stats? What are those? *keeps pressing X*

I feel like I do something slightly different every time, but now I get in the habit of giving three of the characters all of the GFs. I then just junction exchange every time you have two parties you are switching control between. I do tend to always pair up each character of my main party with a character in the secondary party with junction exchange. Who I have in each party is different each time I play the game, though. The only time this could become an issue is with the Ultimecia fight since your party is random. Honestly, I still keep only 3 people junctioned with all of the GFs for that fight, and anyone who appears in the fight who isn't junctioned with anything I just personally kill off until the party I want is rotated in.

I actually give Squall Quetzalcoatl every time though, I'm pretty sure. That's what I did in my first playthrough and I just like to keep that tradition.

I have three guidelines

*GFs mostly distributed evenly between 3 active party members in a manner that lets them junction to as many stats as possible
*Prioritize strength oriented GFs/Magic for Zell, when he isn't in the party, switch his set to Irvine
*Prioritize magic for Rinoa, when she isn't in the party, switch her set to Selphie

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪

I have three guidelines

*GFs mostly distributed evenly between 3 active party members in a manner that lets them junction to as many stats as possible
*Prioritize strength oriented GFs/Magic for Zell, when he isn't in the party, switch his set to Irvine
*Prioritize magic for Rinoa, when she isn't in the party, switch her set to Selphie

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I do this pretty much exactly. My main three characters hold everything and are built to cover every stat and be as balls awesome as powerful, and then I just use the Switch command whenever the party set up changes. The other characters just exist as magic mules :monster:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ToriJ

Kid Me: Stats? What are those? *keeps pressing X*

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Now that I think about it, I was the same way in my earliest playthroughs. I just attacked my way through regular battles and spammed GFs for boss fights.

On my most recent playthrough I junctioned magic to myself and barely used GFs in battle, though I definitely learned their abilities. I used GFs on some boss fights simply because I liked that their HP shielded mine.