Questions

[jennifer]

This is my first time through playing FFVIII, and I have a couple of questions. Should I level up more or leave it the way I am since the enemies level up with me? Squall is at Level 46 and all the others are in their 30's or 20's. Another thing is, is there a way to make there HP go up higher? I'm on disk three but I never really understood the junction system, is there some kind of trick to it? If anyone can help, then I would galdly appreciate it

[disapointedchild]

Ok, it not that complicated.

First you need your gf's to learn there abilities, like str, and vit and all the things so you can use them to your advantage.

Ok, when the things on your junction screen are white, you can use them. What you do is go junction, magic, then you just put the magic in the slots. Diff magics put diff amounts of the stat to go up. For example, putting 100 ultimas to a slot will make it go much higher than putting 100 fires. You just mix and match to your liking. I can give you the best magics to junction to each stat if you want but i am to lazy right now.

In this way you can raise your hp, also by putting on abilities such as hp+*80% or something like that on your auot abilities screen. Try not to level up, and learn how to use the junction to attain all your power.

[Nod]

yeah, level up all your characters to around the same level, i alwats found it annoying having one character who was much stronger than all the rest.

[crazybayman]

I'd level up as much as possible if you want to do side quests such as defeating and aquiring the GF Bahumut, and defeating the Ultima Weapon. You'll need high levels for this. (I had to do some levelling up, after a few attempts at killing the Ruby Dragon, you'll see this if/when you go to the Deep Sea Research centre). Plus, the more you level up, the more abilities your GFs learn, which means more abilities and magic you can junction, as described by.... *checks thread* Dissapointed Child

Be sure to check out the walkthrough on this site. There's lots of side stuff to do, which will make you more powerful (by aquiring more GFs) besides just going finishing the game.

Be sure to draw as much powerful magic from enemies as possible. (that's the best way to get 100 of each magic).

Ultima is the most powerful by far, and I found it most useful junctioned to my elemental defense, because combined with life (and flare and/or meteor, if you want) enables you to absorb elemental attacks (i.e. your HP goes up, instead of going down). you can do this when your GF learn such abilities as ELEM-DEF-X4

hope this helps

Ze Bayman

[rubah]

You'll want stuff like the powerful curing magics to raise your hp. (curing, health, hp?) Curaga, Regen, Full-Life, or meteor, even.

Offensive magics for strength-- Flare, Meteor, level3 elemental magic (firaga, blizzaga, thundaga)

Meltdown for Vitality.

Offensive magics for Magic-- Flare, Meteor, level3 elements, holy

One of the protective spells for Spirit-- Reflect, Shell, (actually there was one that surprised me on this, if it wasn't reflect, it might've been something like curaga, regen, or fulllife)

Speed likes Slow, Haste, Triple

Evasion wants strong magics-- Tornado, Meteor, anything you have left over from strength junctioning

Hit is automatically maxed with two ultimate weapons (squall and selphie's) so if you use those two, you only need one person junctioned with triple to get to 255%

Luck is good with Death.

If you're going to be hanging around the island closest to Hell, go and junction blizzaga to your elemental attack. Fire, and thunder are more or less the most important elmdefense there. Boost them up with some shell or protect if you want. If you're going to be at the island closest to heaven, just go and get rid of all the elemental attacks-_- The chimaera's seeml ike they absorb everything anyways.

For status attacks, your best bet would be Pain, if you want to kill everything by smacking it to death. Otherwise, if you're going for fastness, use Break or Death, I believe.
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The above won't max all of your stats, but it's a combination that will get most of them very high. I think right now I've got this junctioned to the three in my party:

HP: Meteor | Meteor | Flare
STR: Flare | Flare | Flare |
VIT: Meltdown | Meltdown | Meltdown
MAG: Curaga | Ultima | Ultima
SPR: Ultima | Reflect | Curaga
SPD: Haste | Triple | Triple
EVA: Tornado | Null | Meteor
HIT: Triple | Null | Null
LUK: Null | Null | Death
ELM-A: Blizzaga | Blizzaga | Blizzaga
ELM-D: Firaga | Firaga | Firaga
ELM-D2: Thundaga | Thundaga| Thundaga
ELM-D3: Shell | Shell | Null
ELM-D4: Quake | Quake | Null
ST-A: Pain | Blind | Stop
ST-D: Bio | Berserk | Berserk
ST-D2: Berserk | Confuse | Confuse
ST-D3: Null | Sleep | Sleep
ST-D4: Null | Silence | I have no friggin' clue.
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Of course, all three of those (Rinoa, Squall, Selphie) have had the four stat+ level to 100! treatment, so some stats can get more attention than others (like only having flare on strength, and having ultima on spirit)

And don't forget about your junction abilities-- Spirit+40%, Vitality+40%, Strength+40%, Spd+40%, etc. (or 60 if you're using bahamut or excessively refining)

[jennifer]

Thank you so much! that helps me a lot, thanks everyone!