My Progress

[Polyonymous]

ya i got 50AP for it, i also beat him in 4 other fights just for the AP and it didnt explode. but he isnt supposed to explode in the other places right?

[Jolts]

If you beat him on the bridge (wear he jumps over you to cut you off), he should blow up and be defeated. If not, then I don't know what to tell you, other than there might be a bug in the programming or something.
I usually don't try defeating him on the bridge, though, because I like the FMV of Quistis showing that machine who's boss .

Anyway, an update:
I finally continued on with the story (I've been collecting cards and items). Now I'm just about to go to Galbadia Garden.
In the 'dreamworld,' in Julia's room, I saw Laguna passed out on the bed (there's another variation where he doesn't pass out). I completed the Presidential abduction flawlessly, so that boosted my SeeD rank by 1 . I was lucky enough to be able to draw 100 Berserks and Zombies with Squall (he already had 100 of the other two things...Double and Esuna) and 100 of all four of them with Zell and Selphie. I almost wasn't able to, though, because he put my montro powerful Zell in Berserk and I almost didn't get to use an Esuna in time (Gerogero only had about 280HP left after that). I got the Angelo card on the first try (that it showed up). I didn't forget to get the Girl Next Door magazine, but now I have to wait 'til disc3 to get the Shiva card... I went to Dollet after the broadcast incident and I was lucky enough to beat that bar owner to be able to go to his secret room so I could challenge him again for Siren. Then I didn't win Siren the first time it showed up, but I didn't lose either (it was a draw). The second time, however, I got what I was after (Siren), then I picked up the Occult Fan II magazine and left (had to leave and come back three or four times ). By the way, I hate the 'Random' rule , but it wasn't too bad; I refined all my useless cards into items (all the ones that I could refine and weren't rare). Oh, and I apparently played enough card games to upgrade Squall's weapon to the Cutting Trigger and Rinoa's weapon to the Cardinal (by refining cards), so I did that.

P.S. What the hell was making Zone's stomach hurt so much and so badly?

[SeeDRankLou]

What the hell was making Zone's stomach hurt so much and so badly?

Probably anxiety of going into battle. Or maybe he's faking it so he doesn't have to go into battle.

I have beaten X-ATM092 once. I lowered it's HP to zero like four or five times before it finally blew up, but I know I lowered it to zero, and the battle didn't end until it blew up. And this was the first encounter.

'cause the official guide book says that it can be defeated on the bridge and only on the bridge

The official guide says several things that aren't entirely accurate.

[Jolts]

[q=SeedRankLou]The official guide says several things that aren't entirely accurate.[/q]
Yeah, but they did do better than with the FFVII guide. Also, you're supposed to run away from the first encounter with X-ATM092, that's why Zell says something like "Let's get out of here!" Then, it tells you at the top of the screen how to run. Doesn't matter, I've never stuck with the battle as long as you say you have (four or five times), so I wouldn't know that much.

[SeeDRankLou]

but they did do better than with the FFVII guide

Oh yeah, way better than the FFVII one. The flaws in this one are rather minor and almost meaningless to the grand scheme of things. Like it says you have to wait until disc 3 to play the CC Card Quest, but you in fact don't. Very small things like that.

[Polyonymous]

In the 'dreamworld,' in Julia's room, I saw Laguna passed out on the bed (there's another variation where he doesn't pass out).

really? ive never seen anything like that (this is the second time you go to the dream world right? on your way to galbadia garden with rinoa in your party?) what do you have to do to see each scene?

[Mo-Nercy]

In the 'dreamworld,' in Julia's room, I saw Laguna passed out on the bed (there's another variation where he doesn't pass out).

The pass out scene has only happened once to me. It's actually the first time Squall goes to the dream world and Laguna takes his guys back to Deling City. I'm not sure what I did to make him do it because I remember the whole scene being completely linear with almost no choices.

Then again you can make Laguna be like, "What?", "Where am I?" when the waitress asks him things instead of getting on with it and sitting down. There's also the receptionist where you can make Laguna stutter or bail.

--

What the hell was making Zone's stomach hurt so much and so badly?

Zone's sickness? At some point in the game when Watts was in some near death situation which I don't particularly remember, he says something like, "I wish I hadn't given Zone that 3 year old cheeseburger."

--

Jolts. You're on your way to that perfect game. And it's not gonna get any harder from here. Almost everything about FF8 is simple and straight forward.

Have you beaten Diablos yet? It teaches Enc-None so it's important to get him as soon as possible.

[Zante]

I never got the scene where he doesn't pass out. What happens in it?

[Jolts]

Yeah, I got Diablos before I even left for Timber . I haven't even taught him Enc-Half yet. I was more focused on stuff like refining abilities and Mug.

GLR, in the scene where he doesn't pass out, he just yammers away some more and eventually asks Julia about her life and it continues on like the normal.

[Polaris]

Yeah, I got Diablos before I even left for Timber .

You are crazy!!

[Jolts]

Not really. He's pretty easy if you know his flaws.

One, he can be blinded, so make sure you blind him (there's a Blind draw point in the elevator room during the Dollet mission).
Two, If you draw Demi from him, then cast it on him, he will counter it by casting Curaga one whoever used Demi. However, don't do a direct cast from him, that won't work. It'll only work if you draw it from him, then cast it from your own supply.

It also helps to bring Selphie along, so she can use her Full-Cure when Diablos uses Gravija. That wasn't a problem for me, though, since you have no choice but to have her in your group at that point.

[Polaris]

But mine Diablos use Gravija lots of times!

[Jolts]

Okay, so use Full-Cure every time. Also, you don't have to worry about Gravija as much if he's blinded, 'cause that reduces his chances of hitting you with his physical attack, which is his only attack that can KO you. His other attacks are just % attacks, which are just Demi and Gravija, and they never KO the target. However, I've never fought him at higher levels, so I don't know if he might use Holy when he's at a level between 30-100, since you can draw Holy from him at those levels (or so says the Bradygames guide book).

[Polaris]

I defear him after the timber mission or during the Timber mission... but it's worst for me during than after

[Jolts]

On my first play through, I didn't know what the Magic Lamp did, so I ended up having to fight Diablos as Laguna, Ward, and Kiros . I won, but like I said before, I was using a GameShark (still had troubles though, 'cause I wasn't using any infinite health codes, only the "have all items" and "have all cards" codes).