My Progress

[Jolts]

As you may or may not know, I've just recently beat FFVII (again) and have restarted with FFVIII, and I just can't help myself, I just gotta' chat about it . So, here I am .

Now all the previous times I've played through FFVIII, I've used a GameShark (except once, but I didn't get far...), and this time, I'm going without cheating. That being said, I'm a little afraid to continue. I'm at the part where you have run away from X-ATM092 (the spider machine), and I have a bad feeling it's either gonna' wipe the floor with me, or I won't make it to shore on time. Fighting Elvoret was a bear. He never KOed any of my group, but I sure had to cure a lot . Every four or five turns, he used that Storm Breath attack (I think that's the name of it...), and since I took the time to draw 100 Doubles with Squall (the others' Magic was too low, I could only get 1 at a time with them, or it would fail), I had to cure quite a bit. Luckily, Quezicotl already had HP-J, and Squall had him equipped, so I didn't have to worry as much about Squall, but Selphie had only 520HP, and Zell only had 627HP, so they were getting pummeled left and right (Squall had 920HP). Once I finally got 100 Doubles and Siren, I was able to take Elvoret out pretty easily, but it took some time (Zell was my strongest attacker, and he was only doing about 110HP damage per attack).

Now to survive the first battle with X-ATM092 and avoid battling him after that...

[Polaris]

F*** man u're good but how can Zell take away 110HP to the enemy? You are at the begining right?

[Jolts]

Assuming you meant that 110 was a lot:
He's got the highest STR stat, and I gave him Ifrit, who happens to have the STR-J ability . Elvoret had over 3,000HP when I fought him, too (I used Scan), so 110 wasn't really all that much. My characters were all around level 10.
Also, during that battle, I used two or three Double-Cures, one potion, and a boat load of Cast-Cure , and I never used a single limit break .
Oh, and yeah, I'm near the beginning, where you go to Dollet, the SeeD exam.

[Polaris]

110 for the beginig it is a lot, my Squall only takes 80 HP, but I didn't need to cure coz Elvoret doesn't put Storm Breath to em alot! Last time he only put once!

[Jolts]

Squall was only doing about 80 (triggered) for me too. That's why I use Zell for most of my attacking . Other than Cast-Curing a lot, Selphie was pretty much useless in that battle, for me .

[Polaris]

If my Squall attacks with 80 my Zell with 50 and my Selphie with 49! It's horrible, I'm glad tahat I ahve G.Fs... Selphie at the begining it is a little useless but in the middle is pretty good! Just one thing did you run of teh spider machine?

[Jolts]

I haven't done the X-ATM092 part yet. I saved right after going down the elevator (saved it as a second file, just in case).

I've done that part now . It was surprisingly easy. I'm now about to go to Timber for the first time.
Battling Granaldo and the three Raldos was extremely easy as well. I even took the time to draw 100 Blinds, Shells, and Protects, and the battle was still painstakingly easy . Of course, once I got Siren, I learned the L Mag-RF and refined a bunch of Curagas from Tents. Junctioning 100 Curagas to your HP at level 15 really helps . After getting Diablos, I had three GFs that could learn HP-J (Quezacotl and Ifrit are the other two), so I've been beatin' the crap out of T-Rexaurs until I get enough Dino Bones to refine 100 Quakes for everyone (1 Dino Bone = 20 Quakes). Gerogero is gonna' get his ass kicked around that whole train :laugh: (he's weak to Earth, and Quake is the only magic I have that will allow me to attack with its element 100% right now).

P.S. With some clever junctioning, Zell now has an STR of 102 (100 Quakes to STR along with STR+20% and STR+40%), and I junctioned 100 Blizzards to his elemental attack. So, now he does about 1300 damage to T-Rexaur and has around 3,000HP at level 15 . I've also been carding a bunch of T-Rexaurs to avoid levelling up and so I can refine them into Dino Bones for the other two to get Quakes.

[Mo-Nercy]

Jolty, you're doing very well for someone who is playing FF8 for the first time (Let's face it, it kinda sorta is your first time.) You seem to be junctioning really well or if not, levelling a lot. Hopefully it's the former you're doing because levelling too much, too early will make the game harder than it could be (even though the game is still very easy all the way through)

It's also nice to see that you've taken to trying to make your characters fairly even across the board. Normally, people will just tank up Squall with uber-junctions while the rest of the party will keep doing 50 damage until about disc 2. Gerogero is undead by the way, you don't have to do it the Quaky way.

You've probably taken to doing these following things anyway, but I might as well bring it up. Take up the card game, become good at it. Learn all the rules, get used to seeing ahead and compensating for Plus and Same, it becomes very easy even when under the hardest rules once you get the hang of it. The card game offers a tonne of benefits including great refinements. Next, get that SeeD rank up, don't think Gil is useless in this game because items are very useful until you get Recover and Revive abilities, usually you won't want to use your magic (I always junction Curaga until I find better magic, casting it will lower my stats.) Be warned that the SeeD rank is susceptable to many factors which will lower it. Do NOT attack your own party members. Sounds straight forward enough, but I have met people who have thought that attacking Squall until he's on critical and then Renzokuken-ing is a great idea only to have their rank drop about 3 clicks afterwards. I'm not sure about this, but I think using too many GFs will lower the rank as well. You don't need to summon GFs anyway. Smart junctioning will take you much much further.

Good luck Joltz.

[Zante]

Your rank also gets down if you run from battles too often.

[Jolts]

[q=Mo-Nercy³]Gerogero is undead by the way, you don't have to do it the Quaky way[/q]
I know, but using healing items seems too cheap (to me), and I try not to use too much magic, because I might need to use it for junctioning later (I don't think you can get Holy this early).
[q=Mo-Nercy³]You seem to be junctioning really well or if not, levelling a lot.[/q]
Juctioning--I'm avoiding leveling up the best I can, that's why I've been carding T-Rexars instead of killing them (Carding them will make it so you don't gain EXP, but you still get items and AP). I do need to level up a little, so Siren can learn Treatment, though (she needs to be at level 12).
[q=Mo-Nercy³]Take up the card game, become good at it. Learn all the rules, get used to seeing ahead and compensating for Plus and Same, it becomes very easy even when under the hardest rules once you get the hang of it.[/q]
Already have been card playin', but I'm doing my best to keep the rules simple. If I can, I'm going to keep the rules at just Open, and get the trade rule to All (I did get it to Difference though, which is the next best thing ). I got lucky enough to get Seifer, Quistis, and Zell on my first trys (well, it took a few games for Trepe Groupie#1 to use Quistis, but I never lost to him...in fact, I've never lost at the card game yet...*knocks on wood*). My team of Seifer, Zell, Quistis, Diablos, Ifrit cards hasn't let me down so far. Then again, I've only been challenging the easy people. I had to challenge the Card Queen to get Difference, but she was using really weak cards.
[q=Mo-Nercy³]Next, get that SeeD rank up[/q]
Took all the tests I could, I'm currently at rank 23, and it hasn't gone down yet. I have had Squall attack Selphie a few times, so I could use Full-Cure, but that hasn't mattered much yet *knocking on wood like crazy*. I think it's when you finish battles at low HP that causes your points to go down. As for the GF usage, yes using them too much is frowned upon, I read that somewhere in the "Tutorial -> Information" thing.
[q=GLR]Your rank also gets down if you run from battles too often.[/q]
So far, the only battle I've run from is the one that's mandatory (the first battle against X-ATM092). I didn't defeat X-ATM092 though, 'cause I wanted to watch Quistis take it out (if you didn't already know, you can defeat it on the bridge, if you can actually get its HP to 0 before it repairs itself).

Phew, that's a lot of crap to read, did you really read it all?

P.S. I looked up the word cumulate (didn't know what it meant), because the Bradygames guide says that the stat boosting abilities (like STR+20%) are cumulative. According to that, using STR+20% ang STR+40% at the same time is equivalent to a STR+60%. Then I did some calculations to prove it:

Base STR: 24 + 40 (100 Quakes) = 64
Calc1
64 * 0.2 = 12.8 (20%)
64 * 0.4 = 25.6 (40%)
64 + 12.8 + 25.6 = 102.4 (+20%, +40%)
Calc2
64 + 12.8 = 76.8 * 0.4 = 30.72 (20%, then 40% of the sum)
76.8 + 30.72 = 107.52 (+20%, +40% of sum)
Calc3
64 + 25.6 = 89.6 * 0.2 = 17.92 (40%, then 20% of the sum)
89.6 + 17.92 = 107.52 (+40%, +20% of sum)
Calc4
64 * 0.6 = 38.4 (60%)
64 + 38.4 = 102.4 (+60%)
Results:
Calc1 and Calc4 result with the same answer of 102.4.
Calc2 and Calc3 result with the same answer of 107.52.
Conclusion:
I wish they would've used Calc2 or Calc3 .

P.P.S. I did the calculation of Calc1/Calc4 with 24 (before adding the 40 for having 100 Quakes junctioned), and it only came up with 38.4 + 40 = 78.4. So, now we know the game adds magic junctioning before ability junctioning, because my Zell with 100 Quakes, STR+20%, and STR+40% with the base stat of 24 has a total stat of 102 .

[Zante]

if you didn't already know, you can defeat it on the bridge, if you can actually get its HP to 0 before it repairs itself

What happens when you defeat it?

[SeeDRankLou]

if you didn't already know, you can defeat it on the bridge, if you can actually get its HP to 0 before it repairs itself

You can defeat it anywhere you run into it, I don't know how this got around that the only place you can defeat it is on the bridge. In fact, you can defeat it the first time you encounter it, I have done it before. When you defeat it, It blows up. You don't get that cool FMV with Quistis and the big gun, but you do get an addition grade on your SeeD Exam Report, and depending on how you did with everything else may get a better SeeD rank.

I lost Quistis to Zell's mom trying to get Zell's Card once. But I won it back. Also, when I was attempting to get the Doomtrain card in Timber (I think), they guy would always play it in the corner, and they were using the Direct rule so there was no way to get it. I figured it out though.

[Jolts]

[q=SeedRankLou]You can defeat it anywhere you run into it, I don't know how this got around that the only place you can defeat it is on the bridge. In fact, you can defeat it the first time you encounter it, I have done it before. When you defeat it, It blows up. You don't get that cool FMV with Quistis and the big gun, but you do get an addition grade on your SeeD Exam Report, and depending on how you did with everything else may get a better SeeD rank.[/q]
Remember, the first few times I played this game, I used a GameShark, so I was pretty beefed up when I fought X-ATM092, and I remember him not being defeated unless it was on the bridge. If you drop his HP down to 0 while not on the bridge, he will still fork over 50AP, but he won't blow up unless you're on the bridge (or in the FMV).

[Polyonymous]

If you drop his HP down to 0 while not on the bridge, he will still fork over 50AP, but he won't blow up unless you're on the bridge (or in the FMV).

hmmmm, i beat X-ATM092 on the bridge but he never exploded.

[Jolts]

Are you sure you beat it? Did it give you 50AP?
If it did, then maybe there's a bug or something, 'cause the official guide book says that it can be defeated on the bridge and only on the bridge.

...hmm...