Too Easy?

[Hollycat]

another thing that makes this game unpleasant to me is the lack of enemy variety on the world map. You can fight the mirage (?) things almost everywhere, along with bite bug, falstacion, and other enemies you fight on island one

[-JJ-]

Yeah, there are many bad qualities of this game, but I can't deny the fun i have playing it,
It was a huge change, it's all Sci-Fi etc.

But I think you guys know what I mean, On FFVI I couldn't wait to unlock Flare, Ultima, Fire 3, Quake etc, On VII I loved Contain & Comet, IX when Beatrix hands Garnet a well... Garnet.

But all the best magic is just available to early, T-Rexies "Drop" Quake, Fasticilations "Drop" water, Those birds on the second continent actually "drop" Aero and Tornadoes and my personal favorite is card modification, being able to unlock Leon's best weapon on disk one just by winning 20 elnoyle cards is a joke, and so is the ability to unlock 10 meltdowns a Gayla.

But I guess if someone played the game a first time it would be more enjoyable, I never went on the net to find these "Exploits" I just like to know what each monster drops or carries, so I explore places like the training center and coastlines etc. But my first time I played, I was between 6-10, I got stuck at the missile base! :P

[Polnareff]

I know I'll get laughed at but I actually find this game kind of challenging because I don't know where to begin to get all these junctions. (I should mention I'm not much of an FAQ user either)

Yeah. I also think the presence of the internet kind of kills a lot of FF8's nuances. Since all the information is so readily available, players really don't have to figure anything out. I think a lot of players wouldn't be complaining about how easy the game is if they hadn't, at some point, been spoiled to where all the great stuff can be found.

Yeah, this is what I meant to say.

Without the internet or a strategy guide, you're not gonna know where to get all this magic so quickly.

This is why I kinda struggled with the game. I knew about the Junction system but I didn't know where to find the higher-leveled stuff.

Meanwhile you can play other FF games and have them be extremely easy without having to spoil it with a guide.

EDIT: This isn't to say EVERYONE spoiled it with a guide, but the vast majority did and spread their knowledge onward. There were people like JJ though who legitimately kept track of monster drops and tried to see what worked.

[Loony BoB]

Yes, I would agree that VIII is the easiest of the series.

EDIT: And it's not merely the junction system. Card Mod means you can turn the Laguna card into 100 Hero Potions, capable of making your players invulnerable for a period of time. You can effectively spend the entire final dungeon using these things. It's ridiculous. The moment I found you could draw magic on the world map, I looked for those islands.

EDIT: And you don't need the internet to randomly roam the world's islands and thus discover the Islands closest to Heaven and Hell. Once you've done that, junctioning is a breeze.

[DMKA]

I must not know how you guys play the game. I've never found it terribly easy compared to the others.

I've always found X to be the easiest.

[Jiro]

The last time I played through was by far the easiest (and coincidentally the first time I finished it). Abusing Card Mod at the end makes it a cake walk. I spent the whole final boss fight invincible.

[Loony BoB]

Ditto. Aura, invincible and extremely low health. ;D

[Skyblade]

As long as we're listing off things that make the game super easy... Limit Breaks.

As if Junctions didn't make you powerful enough, should you manage to be weakened to the point where death becomes a possibility, you get nigh unlimited access to moves that can destroy anything in the game with basically one hit.


And, sorry, the Junction system is broken and unbalanced. No matter how you play, it becomes obvious almost immediately that more magic leads to stronger stats, and better magic leads to stats that are stronger still. Even without refinement, picking up 100 of most spells you encounter overpowers you, and the moment you discover item refinement, you will encounter ways to get your characters to have endgame stats on Disc 1.

As a side note, if anyone wants to see a similar system, but actually well done and balanced, pick up a Golden Sun game.

[Kyros]

I never used items ever. It's already super easy when you have your charas junctioned for max stats, so much speed that haste doesnt make you faster, absorb all elements, and immune/high resist vs all status effects. Ive never even used devour either since it isnt necessary, but if you use it then your stats are easier to max in the event you havent junctioned for that already. That being said this game is still one of my favorites based on the story and some of the boss fights can still give you problems if you dont do everything right.

[Mo-Nercy]

Even if you're playing the game without a strong knowledge of the Junction system, FF8's still pretty easy. I remember on my first playthrough, I was rather impatient with drawing but I liked Triple Triad a lot. I just junctioned magic to the HP and Str stats and pretty much ignored everything else. Because I wasn't fussed about modding rare cards, I got Lionheart early. I worked out there's no point teaching Angelo anything else besides Invincible Moon. I found out about Armageddon Fist somehow. Fast Ammo was easy to come across through card modding. And Selphie could Full-Cure whenever I felt my "constant critical health" strategy was getting a bit risky against a particular opponent.

oh and Degenerator.

[Jessweeee♪]

Yeah, FFVIII is so much fun to just crack wide open and exploit every little thing. I had a hard time with it playing for the first time at eight years old though xD

[*Laurelindo*]

If you know how to use this system then you will never, ever, need to use GFs a single time, even Ifrit can be killed in seconds just by attacking with Squall and throwing Blizzard spells with Quistis.
In fact the hardest part of that boss fight is to time it so you get exactly 0:07 seconds or less when you finish it if you are aiming for a perfect SeeD report.

The Draw system is also rather ridiculous - but fun!
I love when the enemies have spells like Haste, Regen and Triple so I can buff my characters for free.

[Mo-Nercy]

In fact the hardest part of that boss fight is to time it so you get exactly 0:07 seconds or less when you finish it if you are aiming for a perfect SeeD report.

The timer continues to tick down during the EXP screen. So if you defeat Ifrit with, say, 30 seconds to go. Just wait at the EXP screen for 30 seconds, or longer to be safe, and you'll get a perfect score for that particular part of the report (I think it's Judgement)

Another exploit! Gotta love FF8.

[gtrman79]

I know I'll get laughed at but I actually find this game kind of challenging because I don't know where to begin to get all these junctions. (I should mention I'm not much of an FAQ user either)

Whereas with FFVII, FFVI, and FFIX (which IMO are the easiest games in the series) FAQs and such aren't needed to beat those easily. Especially VII. VII slaps you in the face with how terribly easy it is.

I agree with this. I quit FF8 about 7 yrs ago cause I was getting frustrated on the difficulty cause I was used to basic RPG style. Well I happened to come across my save on an old mem card and I got it transferred to my PS3. I started back on it to finish it. I got 41 hours and am at the end of the 3rd disc. Shows you my turtle pace. But then I was used to FF1 for NES and Dragon Warrior, too. Just thought I would pop in to put my 2 cents.

[Mirage]

All games are easy when you know what to do, and getting lots of spells early on is just the same as overleveling in other games. FF7 isn't exactly hard either if you're level 40 by the end of the 1st disc.

-edit- oh lol, i didn't even realize that i had said almost the exact same earlier in the thread.