Purposes of maintainig level 7 ?

[OmegaPunisher]

Not the best gamer but I have been addicted to this masterpiece. Some advice would be greatly appreciative. Beat the game and destroyed Omega Weapon with ease but need a new challenge so I am trying to play with no levels.. please help

[Carl the Llama]

If you beat Omega Weapon with ease try fighting him with all 3 of your party at level 100, he becomes alot tougher (the mob's level depends on your level, so staying at level 7 will make no difference, all the other mobs you face will also be that level to).

[Karifean]

Omega Weapon is permanently Level 100 in the PSX version, he only scales with your level in the PC version.

I would say a No-Level-Up-Challenge is rather easy, thanks to Card and Stone, unless you don't get some AP for Quezacotl's Card early by simply killing off Squall and Zell and playing solely with Seifer. Then I guess it would be pretty challenging.

[Kyros]

It doesnt matter if you learn 'card' or any other instant kill / easy win moves since you can simply choose to not use them. I never use items, which tons of people are used to relying on, and the only time I use 'card' is when I actually want to collect the cards for card mod. Another way to make it harder on yourself is to use the characters you perceive as the worst (though theyre all pretty good), and if you choose to use Zell or Irvine (or both) dont abuse Zells limit for 23947324 attacks per second with his looping limit combos (aka just go for hit-hit-big finish) while with Irvine dont use his ultimate ammo (pulse ammo I think was his best but not sure since never liked him so didnt use him). Also take your time lving weapons instead of farming for the materials to upgrade them. If you use Rinoa use her 'angel wing' limit (it can be INCREDIBLE, but it takes effort and setup to do so) instead of 'angelo,' which would leave out invincible moon.

[APolaris]

Not leveling a lot also has some advantages if you're trying to raise a stronger final party, as you end with much higher max stats if you have the Bonus abilities (str, vit, mag, spr) as well as Ability x4 before you start to gain a lot of levels. However, it's still possible to max important stats without micromanaging your level gains. If you are looking for a greater challenge you could always play while using no Bonus abilities entirely, as well as without drawing more powerful junctioning magic like Flare, Tornado, Triple and Full-Life. Or you could try to recreate that file where a guy killed Omega before it could use Terra Break once.

[Roogle]

If you are looking for a new way to play the game, I suggest looking at the GameFAQs Message Board for Final Fantasy VIII and reviewing some of the challenges that the community there has completed. If I remember correctly, I think there is a No Junction challenge or something?

[Ultima Shadow]

I think there is a No Junction challenge or something?

While the "No Junction" challenge probably is the hardest, it's also kinda boring because of the very limited options in battle.
The challenge I personally prefere is therefore "No stat-junction", as in: allow "commands" such as "Draw", "Magic", "Item" etc to be junctioned, but nothing else. To add a bit more challenge to that, you can also stick with everyone's first weapons and never upgrade.

...and it's actually harder if you keep a normal level than if you stick to low levels.

[odranborg]

pretty challenging

[The Last Oath]

try a play through where each character has set magic/abilities they can use. For example I classed Squall as a Paladin - using recovery and protective magics only, and he could only use certain commands and GF abilities (such as cover, defend).

You can also try playing through a game where you cannot junction magic to stats. You still get to junction gf and use their abilities, just not junction magic to stats - made the game more challenging for me !

[Sylvie]

try a play through where each character has set magic/abilities they can use. For example I classed Squall as a Paladin - using recovery and protective magics only, and he could only use certain commands and GF abilities (such as cover, defend).

You can also try playing through a game where you cannot junction magic to stats. You still get to junction gf and use their abilities, just not junction magic to stats - made the game more challenging for me !

This is a pretty neat idea. Although, due to Junction, I have everyone draw whatever magic they can, so they all come across as Red Wizards in that aspect. As far as abilities go, however, Squall was definitely a bit of a Dark Knight for me.

[Meltdown]

You could try completing the game with no saves... *gets to Umtimecia's final form and dies*

[Evol]

Using Selphie's Limit Break "The End" is the fastest way to defeat Omega Weapon.