Finally Comprehending Junctions

So, FFVIII was my second JRPG ever, and I was in seventh grade-ish when I played it. I remember junctioning a GF to a person, but that's as far as my understanding went so I figured the rest of the 'stuff' wasn't important.

I decided to replay the game, and I can't believe just how much there is to junctioning and abilities to poke through. Even now, several and many many years later, I'm a little overwhelmed by how this system is set up. That isn't to say that I'm not getting used to it, but it just seems complicated. Maybe I'm just intimidated by all the grey boxes the menu is set up in?

How do you feel about the system now?

I never had many issues with the system beyond an engineer mindset that wants to fix it so it's a bit more balanced. Of anything I think I just discover new ways to break the game each playthrough, but I also figure out ways to make the game more interesting and actually challenging. I'll admit the amount of menus to do crap is a bit daunting and the actual tutorials are anything but user-friendly but the whole damn system is unnecessarily complicated.

I agree that it was overly complicated. I ended up buying the piggyback guide for this game and that explains it really well.

I've still not fully mastered it. And it doesn't help that weapons are hard to upgrade too. Also you need to grind/draw in battle so that there's magic for junctioning only, so you don't lose it and lower stats in the process.

Still not whacked Ultemecia, but that's the best final dungeon ever!

It took me a while to get used to it after VII. IT wasn't until my last play through many years after playing it that I really got the whole thing and how to abuse it.

It probably took me about half the game to figure it out. I just used auto junction a lot until that point. The second time i played it i broke the game completely.

I think I was starting to get the hang of it during my playthrough back in 2014 for a review, but soon forgot everything about it afterwards. Never understood it well enough to break it in the way a lot of other players did.

I just spammed GFs, anyway.

I'm still trying to get use to it. Gets a little confusing for me at times. That is when I get help from Escobert.

All you really need to do is look out for magic that is best for a stat. Like Meltdown is the best for vitality. You could try to junction yourself which may be hard seeing as you use a certain magic for 1 junction and then turn around and see it's better for another. Find a list of the magics best for a stat and stock 100 of those. Once you do you'll understand there is a perfect junction method and it isn't hard at all.

FF8 is my first FF game and it took years for me to master the junction system. It's one of the few games where you really have to pay attention to the tutorials. Once I did, everything became crystal clear. The main point of the system is to not use magic that you have junctioned at all, unless you're casting it off an enemy, or have some type of stone item.

Yeah, playing this straight after FFVII confused me the first time. I was casting all my good magic instead of junctioning it and just used GF's to attack. It was only on subsequent playthroughs that the system started to make sense. It is ridiculously easy when it finally clicks.

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Originally Posted by Ayen

I just spammed GFs, anyway.

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That's your problem right there.

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Originally Posted by BreakfastGrilledCheese

So, FFVIII was my second JRPG ever, and I was in seventh grade-ish when I played it. I remember junctioning a GF to a person, but that's as far as my understanding went so I figured the rest of the 'stuff' wasn't important.

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This was my exact experience. After playing it a few times and understanding how you could manipulate the trout out of your abilities with the junction system, I loved it, but it also made the game really easy, which disappointed me a little.

But I'd like to play more games with similar systems because I like it so much.

Figuring out complex character progression systems is half the fun in RPGs for me :p