Hello, fellow Pokemaniacs

[Yamaneko]

I never got around to beating this game back whenever and I'm in a particular mood that might attempt again. Now let's pretend I'm just completely clueless as to the gameplay mechanics and intricacies of what I recall to be a convoluted system I didn't particularly enjoy. Let us also pretend that I am interested in receiving advice as to preferred methods of play and strategy.

With the preliminaries out of the way, I am here to ask for help, tips, and whatever else you feel the need to tell me about the eighth installment in our beloved series. Just keep in mind I know very little. I read the tutorial at Squall's terminal, which pretty much confused me more than explained anything. I get the whole Junctioning thing is crucial to success, but beyond that, yeah. And the graphics are terrible, but I am a willing participant as long as I have you here to guide me. You talk, I listen.

This might be my first post in this forum.

[rubah]

Welcome to EoFF8, yamaneko!

1) make sure you always junction your GFs and check which abilities they are learning. Don't put a whole bunch on one person unless you want the ones on another person to level up faster.

2) try not to level up very much. If you remain at low levels and maintain excellent levels of spells for junctioning, the game gets so much easier! Here are some basic ways to do this:

• Run away (no exp, no ap)
• Cast Break (no exp, no ap)
• Use the !Card command (no exp, yes ap)
• Use GFs to kill monsters (no "finishing blow" extra exp, yes ap)

3) draw magic forever, but never cast it.

4) explore everywhere and talk to everyone and tell us every single cute little scene you discover and we can talk about our experiences with the same!

[Aerith's Knight]

sadly.. rubah is correct.. this game is very depressing in that aspect -_-

[Yamaneko]

What abilities are the ones I should focus on learning and how do I know which magic best junctions with a particular stat?

[Aerith's Knight]

from what i remember

cure/cura/curaga/life/full-life ---- HP
fire(etc)/thunder(etc)/blizzard(etc)/ultima/doom ---- Atk/magic
protect/shell --- def

death - atk-special
esuna - def-special

but i think you can find good combinations in guides.. and youll figure it out yourself along the way

[Bolivar]

I would just play straight through, don't get too caught up in drawing. You can draw a little as you go, your stats don't have to be overly exploited to continue.

As for which magic works best with which stat, its best for you to see for yourself and compare, since you can see how much it'll raise it whenever you highlight it with the cursor. That's better than memorizing or looking out for specific magics.

As far as abilities, pick whichever ones you want, it's made to customize your characters how you want them. I usually go for junctions for stats early on to get them out of the way, then maybe a command if it's useful, then stat bonuses and refining abilities, so you can make more magic from the loot you get in battle. But once you get Diablo, which you should try to get early on, focus on getting Mug, as stealing is a really valuable ability, you need it to get alot of tools to refine weapons.

But yeah, just play through the story, side-quests, too, just don't get too caught up drawing/magic refining because it can get pretty boring pretty quickly.

[rubah]

the gf HP abilities (not player hp) are probably the least worth while.

[Roto13]

The entire junction system:

Junction elemental spells to your attack and defense to boost your elemental attack and defense.

Junction status altering spells to your attack and defense to cause and resist status ailments.

Junction anything to your stats to increase them.

Junction support abilities to have support abilities.

The end.

[Comet]

And remember, there is an Occult Fan in one of the bookshelves in the library.

[Yamaneko]

Now obviously drawing magic and using it does not take away from your own stock, correct?

I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'm definitely spending more time in menus than I have in a FF game before. Just beat Ifrit on the 10min time limit.

[Marshall Banana]

If you like Triple Triad, you should play it to collect cards and refine them into items with Quezacotl's Card Mod ability. Items that are refined from cards also refine into magic spells or can be used to upgrade weapons. One Cockatrice card refines into one Cockatrice Pinion, which refines into twenty Break spells, for example; Cockatrice Pinion is also one of the items required for the upgrade of Rinoa's weapon to Cardinal.

Once you have Ifrit's card and Diablos' card (which you get after you defeat them), Triple Triad is super easy. In Balamb, Zell's mother and a student at the dock have good cards; the students in Galbadia Garden also have good cards.

[Aerith's Knight]

I never really got how that worked.. i did however, kick ass in FFIX card game.. so i blame FFVIII

[rubah]

triple triad is super easy and you can play it anywhere! (if you print out the cards anyways)

[Yamaneko]

Yeah, I still don't get how to play it. The tutorial is terrible at explaining the rules. I there a good guide online that maps out the rules effectively?

[Marshall Banana]

These pages seem helpful:

• Rules
• Sample game