| ======================================================================== IV. B A T T L E T U T O R I A L ======================================================================== [Battle Basics] At anytime on the Overworld (with the exception of paved roads and railway tracks) or in a dungeon field screen, you run the risk of encountering enemies. It's essential you master the Battle System in ff 8; I'll start by giving a diagram of the battle layout, and explaining some of the more basic features. Here's what you usually see at the bottom of a battle screen: -COMMAND------------------------- |Attack/Mug --> Limit Break | NAMES HP ACTIVE |Magic (or any other command) | OF VALUES TIME |Draw (or any other command) | PARTY BARS |Item (or any other command) | MEMBERS --------------------------------- The Active Time Battle System in ff 8 is based on the recognition that time does not stop for a party member to enter his or her commands; the enemy is likely to attack without conveniently waiting for you to make your decision. The Active Time Bars you see in the lower-right of the battle screen indicate the period of time left before a member has a chance to act. A yellow pyramid mark over a character's head signals that it is his or her turn to act. During battles, numbers will pop out of your characters and enemies. White numbers indicate damage, while green numbers indicate recovered HP (Health or Hit Points). The HP values represent a particular character's health; once this number reaches zero, that party member is considered to be 'disabled' (or KO'ed) and can no longer take part in battle. This condition can be remedied by a variety of spells and items. Tip: In ff 8, the enemies increase their levels in tandem with yours. This applies to both normal opponents and bosses. Thus, when I list down a boss's statistics later on in the Walkthrough section, it's only a rough estimate of what to expect. The first command lets you attack (duh) and when a party member takes a set amount of damage (having roughly 75% of their HPs depleted), they will have an alternate way of attacking. This is indicated by a tiny arrow by the side of the 'Attack' command. To access it, hit and hold right on the d-pad, and following that, their respective Limit Break will appear. Also, by switching to another character, the Limit Break icon is lost. However, if that character still retains his/her critical status, the icon can be recovered by tapping 'Circle' (U.S) or 'Triangle' (Japanese) repeatedly. Among the characters that join your party, Seifer's the only one who is capable of activating his limit break without reaching critical status. Generally, you have a chance of using his Fire Cross when his HP is depleted by 30 to 40 percent. New or improved Limit Breaks are learnt via magazines. These can be found in pet stores or on book shelves. Not all characters require such a method though; Squall's finishing blow to his Renzokuken is determined by the type of Gunblade he's carrying. The magnitude (and sometimes length) of Limit Breaks are also dependent on factors such as the character's current HP (i.e. Zell would have more time to input his button motions if his condition is critical, and lesser time if you simply cast an 'Aura' spell on a healthy Zell for him to use his 'Duel') and Luck parameter (i.e. Squall seems to perform a finishing blow more regularly with a higher Luck rating and when he's at critical status). The R1 button is used to activate double damage for Squall's Gunblade. The best time to do this is when Squall dashes across to the enemy, lifts his sword, and you hear the swish of his blade. Press R1 immediately and Squall should connect for 2x damage. Magic is a simple click-and-use procedure, and the amount of a particular magic you can cast is limited by the number appearing beside it. Press left or right on the d-pad to scroll if the character has additional spells. MP (Magic Points) values are non-existent in ff 8. The 'Draw' command is available to all junctioned characters. Clicking on it, then an enemy will produce a sub-window showing the enemy's magic list. Select the magic you want, and another sub-window appears. The 1st is 'Stock', whereby the member absorbs that particular spell from the enemy for later use. The absorbed spell, if any, will then be usable in the character's magic list. The 2nd option is 'Cast', which allows you to use the chosen spell on anyone. The magnitude of the spell, plus the amount you get when you try to stock a spell is determined by your character's 'Magic' parameter as well as 'Luck'. Both options may sometimes result in failure; you can try as many times as you wish, though. 'Guardian Force' is an ability that summons G.Fs under your command. Surprisingly enough, there is no limit to its usage; just note that whenever this command is used, the caster's HP will be converted to that of the summon monster, and any attacks on him or her during this period will be absorbed by the G.F. When this value falls to zero, the character loses the ability to summon the G.F. for that particular fight. And as any summoner would tell you, G.Fs don't appear immediately when they're called; the time it takes for them to come is shown by a blue bar, which replaces the summoner's active time bar. G.Fs regain lost HP via walking around or using G.F. items. Such items can be purchased from shops. You'll also need items to revive fallen G.Fs, or simply rest at a Hotel. Items are pretty basic. Select an item and decide whom to use it on. (note: Important!) In addition to the above battle commands, others are made available as you train up more Guardian Forces. I'll like to highlight 'Mug' here, which allows you to attack, then steal from the enemy. Enemies carry and drop (there IS a difference between these 2 terms) different items at different levels. So, say if I steal from a Wendigo, I might receive a Steel Pipe, but if I defeat it (without stealing from it previously!), it might drop a Steel Orb instead. Also note that once you've successfully stolen something from an enemy, don't expect it to drop anymore items when you do defeat it, except for cards. Another thing: what an enemy might drop can also be determined by G.F. Bahamut's 'Rare Item' party ability. So if an enemy isn't dropping what you're looking for, try equipping that ability if you have it. Likewise, if you've 'Rare Item' equipped but the enemy doesn't give up the item you want, try de-equipping that ability instead. If you still have trouble acquiring the items you want, I suggest using G.F. Quezacotl's 'Card' command ability on the enemy, followed by 'Card Mod.' menu ability to get the items. However, this tactic might not work on all enemies. Escaping is done by holding down R2 and L2. You cannot run away from boss encounters. The easiest method to escape is to start pressing down the buttons as soon as the battle begins, since you can often take advantage of the enemies' unpreparedness. Just note that you will be penalised for running away; refer to the SeeD Ranking section below for more details. In a normal encounter, your party members start off with their Active Time Bars partially filled. However, there exists 2 special battle situations in ff 8: First Strike -- Either the party or your enemies begin the fight with full time bars. Back Attack -- Similar to 1st Strike attacks in the sense that either the party or your enemies begin the fight with full time bars. In addition, the side caught by surprise will start with their backs turned. Both your party members and enemies take twice as much damage if attacked while their backs are turned. Your party's combined 'Luck' parameter seems to determine the frequency of such special battle situations. The battle ends when all of the members on either side are killed or petrified, or if the enemy or your party runs away. You receive EXP (Experience Points), AP (Ability Points) and Items from defeated opponents. For methods to obtain Gil, the form of currency in ff 8, refer to the SeeD Ranking section below. Incidentally, you need only 1,000 EXP to go up a level in ff 8. Unlike ff 7, characters not in your fighting party gain zero EXP... I'll advise you practise rotating your squad members to make sure nobody's too far ahead (or behind) in terms of levels. [Battle Tips] A majority of the enemies in ff 8 are weak against status ailments attacks such as Sleep, Stop or even Death. This becomes all the more apparent when you get to junction spells to Status Attack, so try experimenting on enemies with different maladies -- some of them can even work on bosses! A lot of people don't seem to realise they can switch between characters (provided their active time bars are full) using 'Circle' for the U.S version, and 'Triangle' for the Japanese version. This comes in handy when you want to use a specific party member either to heal or to attack. Using the target window in battle (hit L1) lets you accurately select which enemy to attack; it's also a great way to check the name of a particular monster. A hit in the back results in double damage; this applies to both your party members and enemies for physical attacks. In ff 8, you actually gain EXP when you flee from battle, depending on the amount of damage you did to your opponents. Any character that finishes off an enemy gets more EXP as well, so be sure to let Squall give up his easier kills to a weaker member. This situation also applies to G.Fs. Incidentally, if you think Squall is too far ahead in his levels, I suggest petrifying him for a few battles, since characters affected by petrifaction receive zero EXP and AP ^_^ Make sure to switch Squall's junctioned G.Fs (if any) over beforehand! They won't receive any EXP nor AP if Squall's petrified. Towards the end of the game, you'll come to rely heavily on Squall's Renzokuken to dish out the heavy damage. I've included a way to exploit this to your maximum advantage: 1. Junction Ultima x 100 to Strength, and learn Strength +60% character ability. This should raise Squall's offense to 255. Learn Auto Haste party ability from G.F. Cerberus. 2. Obtain Aura magic (drawable from Heaven/Hell Islands and Seifer at the end), or Aura Stones via G.F Siren's Tools Refinement menu ability (each Power Wrist gives you 10 Aura Stones; they can be bought from the Pet Store in Esthar). Also draw Meltdown (U.S) or Merton (Japanese) magic from high level Gaylas (white flying creatures with black stripes on the Trabia continent) and Bombs (in a forest near to Kashkabald Desert, or in the Fire Caverns). You might want to have a few Haste spells on hand too. 3. During confrontation, cast Haste on Squall (optional, especially if he has Auto Haste on already). Follow this up with Meltdown (Merton) on the enemy; this reduces its defense rating to zero. Finally, use Aura (Stones) on Squall. 4. Repeatedly tap Circle (U.S) or Triangle (Japanese) for Squall's Limit Break to appear. Each cut, coupled with the R1 Trigger, should do over 9,000 damage. If Squall finishes with 'Lion Heart' (equip his 'Lion Heart' gunblade first), you should be able to do damage amounting to something like 234,000 in one Renzokuken. [List of Elements] Final Fantasy's VIII battle system does somewhat rely on other external factors (apart from the Strength and Magic ratings of a character, anyway) to calculate damage. Some enemies carry weaknesses against a certain type of element; others may be protected from them instead. Here's a list detailing the 11 types of elements found in ff 8: NON-ELEMENTAL Non-elemental attacks ignore the magical defense values (and sometimes defense values) of an opponent; they'll be your most common form of offense in ff 8. Sources: All non-Elemental Attack junctioned weapon strikes, Flare, Meteor, Meltdown (Merton), Ultima spells, G.F Siren, G.F. Tonberry, G.F. Cactuar, G.F. Bahamut, G.F. Eden, Gatling Gun E. Skill, Ray-Bomb E. Skill, Shockwave Pulsar E. Skill, etc. GRAVITY Suprisingly, Gravity-typed attacks work well against a notable percentage of opponents. Just take note that it's still useless on mechanical monsters. Sources: Demi (Gravite) spell, G.F. Diablos, Micro Missile E. Skill, etc. HEAL Most players will use heal-typed spells simply to recover their party's HPs... unless they know undeads are weak against the healing elements as well. Sources: Cure spells, heal-typed items, Recover command ability, etc. FIRE Fire works best against ice, undeads, aquatic creatures, beasts and vegetation. Sources: Fire spells, G.F. Ifrit, G.F Phoenix, Fire Breath E. Skill, etc. ICE Use against fire-based creatures (i.e. Bombs). Sources: Blizzard spells, G.F. Shiva, etc. THUNDER Mechanical and aquatic beasts are susceptible to lightning. Sources: Thunder spells, G.F. Quezacotl, Electrocute E. Skill, etc. EARTH Earth-typed attacks are limited in their effectiveness. Never use them on flying creatures. Sources: Quake spell, G.F. Brothers, etc. POISON Human opponents are weak against Poison; useless against mechanical beasts. Sources: Bio spell, G.F. Doomtrain (Ghoulish), etc. WIND Flying creatures are at the mercy of wind-typed attacks. Sources: Aero spell, Tornado spell, G.F. Pandemona (Pandemonium), etc. WATER Only a handful of fire-based enemies have a weakness to Water. Sources: Water spell, G.F. Leviathan, Aqua Breath E. Skill, etc. HOLY Try using Holy-typed attacks on undeads. Sources: Holy spell, G.F. Alexander, etc. Enemies assaulted by an element they're weak against take twice as much damage. On the other hand, if the enemy is resistant to an element, it means that the damage they take from that element can either be halved, void or even absorbed instead as HP. [List of Status Conditions] Status changes can occur both in and out of battle, and can affect both your party members and enemies. A few disappear after battle or after a set period of time, but most carry over their effects to the next fight unless you remedy them. The various conditions include: DISABLED (KO'ed) Effect Character lies on the ground, unable to take any further part in battle Remedy Life-typed magic, Phoenix-typed items, Revive command ability, spending the night at a Hotel (note: disabled characters at the end of a fight gain zero EXP and AP) DOOM Effect Character dies after red timer above his or her head expires Remedy Elixir-typed items, Remedy Plus, Treatment (Chiryou) command ability CRITICAL Effect Character falls to his or her knees, HP value turns yellow and rate of Specials being made available increases Remedy Cure-typed magic and items, White Wind E. Skill POISON Effect Green bubbles appear over a character; he or she takes a small amount of damage for every turn in battle Remedy Esuna magic, Antidote, Remedy-typed items, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability PETRIFY Effect Character becomes cast in stone, unable to take any further part in battle Remedy Esuna magic, Soft (Gold Needle), Remedy-typed items, Elixir -typed items, Treatment command ability (note: petrified characters at the end of a fight gain zero EXP and AP) PETRIFYING Effect Character becomes cast in stone after white timer above his or her head expires Remedy Esuna magic, Soft (Gold Needle), Remedy-typed items, Elixir -typed items, Treatment command ability DARKNESS Effect A cloud of smoke covers the character's eyes; Hit parameter is halved Remedy Esuna magic, Eye Drops, Remedy-typed items, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability SILENCE Effect A "...." bubble appears over the character's head; Magic, Draw and G.F. command abilities are sealed off Remedy Esuna magic, Echo Screen, Remedy-typed items, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability BERSERK Effect Character turns fuming-red; Attack power is raised, but character automatically attacks for every turn Remedy Esuna magic, Remedy-typed items, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability ZOMBIE Effect Character takes on a greyish-green shade of colour; Attack power is raised, but character is now susceptible to Heal -typed spells and items; a single Phoenix Down instantly kills the affected character. Using Drain magic or an Absorb command ability on a zombified character results in damage to the caster instead Remedy Esuna magic, Holy Water, Remedy-typed items, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability SLEEP Effect A "Zzzz" sign appears over the character's head; unable to enter any command abilities Remedy Physical attacks, Esuna magic, Remedy-typed items, Elixir -typed items, Treatment command ability CONFUSE Effect Character spins around in circles; attacks both ally and enemy randomly Remedy Physical attacks, Esuna magic, Remedy-typed items, Elixir -typed items, Treatment command ability VITALITY ZERO Effect Character takes on a shade of purple and Vitality parameter drops to zero; caused only by Meltdown (Merton) spell Remedy Esuna magic, Remedy Plus, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability SLOW Effect Character's Active Time Bar turns blue and fills slower Remedy Dispell magic, Haste magic, Esuna magic, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability STOP Effect Character's Active Time Bar stops filling; unable to act Remedy Dispell magic, Haste magic, Esuna magic, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability HASTE Effect Character's Active Time Bar turns red and fills faster Remedy Dispell magic REGEN Effect Character gradually recovers HP during the course of the fight Remedy Dispell magic FLOAT Effect Character floats in mid-air; invulnerable to all Earth-typed attacks Remedy Dispell magic PROTECT Effect A blue shield parries any physical attack on the character, reducing damage taken by half Remedy Dispell magic SHELL Effect A purple shield parries any magical attack on the character, reducing damage taken by half Remedy Dispell magic REFLECT Effect A yellowish-green shield reflects most magical spells cast on the character back to the caster; useless for some of the more powerful spells such as Meteor, Ultima and G.Fs Remedy Dispell magic CURSE Effect Character falls to his or her knees and takes on a shade of black; unable to use Limit Breaks Remedy Esuna magic, Holy Water, Remedy-typed items, Elixir-typed items, Treatment command ability AURA Effect Character takes on a shade of gold; rate of Limit Breaks being made available increases Remedy Dispell magic DEFEND Effect Character assumes a defensive stance; invulnerable to all physical attacks and reduces all magical attacks by half Remedy Disappears after one active turn DOUBLE, TRIPLE Effect Character has the ability to cast 2 or 3 spells of the same type in a single turn Remedy Dispell magic INVINCIBLE Effect Character becomes translucent; all physical and magical attacks are useless on him or her Remedy None Well, that's all for the battle tutorial. ======================================================================== V. C A R D B A T T L E ======================================================================== [Triple Triad System] When walking around town, you can engage other NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) in card battles via the 'Square' button. Cards are obtained through victories, special events or enemies, and some are very difficult to find. Either way, here's the entire playing procedure: 1. Win a card, or turn an enemy into one via Quezacotl's 'Card' command ability. Look for a card player, and talk to him or her using 'Square'. 2. Select 5 cards from your deck (not applicable for Random rule). 3. The computer will randomly decide who gets to start first. 4. The game is played on a 3 by 3 tiled board, with the blue cards belonging to you; the pink ones, your opponent. ---------------- | | | | | | | | ---------------- PINK | | | | BLUE DECK | | | | DECK ---------------- | | | | | | | | ---------------- 5. You'll notice 4 sets of numbers on each card, the center row having 2 numbers side by side. The maximum value for each side is A (equals 10). 6. When 2 opposing cards are placed adjacent to each other, 'Card Battle' commences. 7. The computer will compare these 4 sets of values, and victory is allotted to the card with the higher value. Here's an example, assuming the pink card is the attacking card. --------- --------- | 8 | | 2 | |9 2| |3 1| | 7 | | 4 | --------- --------- (Blue) (Pink) The values represent the attack power of the card on each of the 4 sides. In the above diagram, the blue card (which has been placed on the left of the pink one) seems to have the upper hand, but the value on its right (2) is lower than the value on the left of the pink card (3). Thus, the winner here is the pink card (3>2), and the losing blue card is flipped to show a pink one. 8. Press 'Triangle' to view the Rules if you've forgotten what they were. 9. When all 9 tiles are filled, the player with the majority of the cards in their respective colour wins. [Rules Details] Rules vary from region to region, although you can abolish some of the more troublesome ones via winning a game in that territory or paying the Card Queen at Balamb City's train station 30,000 Gil. Special rules include: (Important: In all cases assume the blue card is the attacking card!) SAME: When a card is placed adjacent to 2 or more cards, and the values on the sides of that particular card facing the rest are equal, the attacking card wins. --------- --------- | 5 | | 8 | |1 3| |3 4| | 7 | | 9 | --------- --------- (Blue) (Pink) --------- | 7 | |6 A| | A | --------- (Pink) Look at the right and bottom values of the blue card, which are identical to the values of the pink cards directly facing them (3 & 3, 7 & 7). In this case both the pink cards are flipped. PLUS: When a card is placed adjacent to 2 or more cards, and the values on 2 or more of the sides in contact add up to the same figure, the attacking card wins. --------- --------- | 5 | | 2 | |1 4| |5 A| | 1 | | 4 | --------- --------- (Blue) (Pink) --------- | 8 | |9 3| | 7 | --------- (Pink) Take note of the right and bottom values of the blue one. When you add the values of the pink cards directly facing them, the numbers calculated are the same, i.e. 4+5=9 and 1+8=9. In this case both the pink cards are flipped. SAME WALL: The vertical and horizontal sides of the playing field are taken as having a value of 'A'. Same Wall is extremely rare, and occurs in conjunction with the Same and Plus rule. | --------- | | 7 | A| |1 6| | | 1 | | --------- | (Pink) | | --------- | | 1 | A| |A 3| | | 5 | | --------- | (Blue) | | --------- | | 5 | A| |7 4| | | 7 | | --------- | (Pink) Look at the left, upper and bottom values of the blue card. Under the 'Same Wall and 'Same' rule, the value of the playing field directly facing the blue card, bottom value of the pink card above the blue card and upper value of the pink card below the blue card are identical (A & A, 1 & 1, 5 & 5 respectively). Both pink cards are thus flipped. COMBO: When a card changes colour under the Same, Plus or Same Wall rules, its values now affect the cards with the opposing colour. Thus, one can actually set a card, flip the opponent's, and the flipped card will also act against those around it, flipping them as well within a single turn. You can set up multiple chains in this way. --------- --------- | 8 | | 2 | |9 3| |3 1| | 7 | | 4 | --------- --------- (Blue) (Pink) --------- --------- | 7 | | 2 | |1 4| |5 A| | A | | 4 | --------- --------- (Pink) (Pink) --------- | 8 | |9 3| | 7 | --------- (Pink) Under the Same rule, the blue card in the upper-left should flip both the pink cards to the right and bottom of it. Now look at the bottom value of the card to the right of the blue card. Having been flipped, the now blue card should act upon the pink card directly beneath it, flipping it in the process (4>2). The same also applies to the (now blue) card to the bottom of the initial attacking blue card, thus the pink card in the lower-left is flipped (A>8). Chains are set up in this way, and can often turn near-defeats into victories in Card Battles. ELEMENTAL: Some cards such as Ifrit's have an elemental to them (in this case Fire). When placed on a tile with the 'Fire' element symbol on it, the values of the card increase by 1 on all 4 sides. Other than that, if the element symbol on the tile does not correspond to the card's elemental, the values of the card on all 4 sides will decrease by 1 instead. However, the Same, Plus and Same Wall rules ignore the added or decreased (if any) values of a card; keep that in mind the next time you want to activate such rules. Open: All cards can be seen. Random: All cards are randomly picked. Sudden Death: The game goes on in the event of a Draw. Players retain only the cards in their respective colour from the end of the previous Card Battle. Trade Rules: These range from being able to pick and keep zero to all cards from the loser. Cards are useful via Quezacotl's 'Card Mod.' menu ability; many of them grant the items required to upgrade your weapons, characters or G.Fs. There's a total of 110 different cards to collect, btw. If you've completed your collection of cards, a star will appear next to the Card command in the menu screen. And even if you destroy one of your cards using 'Card Mod.', the star will still remain there. [Card Tips] Try to prevent some of the more cumbersome rules from spreading, i.e 'Random' or 'Sudden Death'. Rules that you want to spread are 'Open' (Balamb region has it), or even 'Same' if you're an experienced player. To prevent rules from spreading, just keep saying 'No' when an NPC suggests combining rules. He or she will eventually play you with the particular region's rules alone. Initially, you won't have much good cards to begin with, so Card Battle on Disc One should be kept to a minimum. However, by the end of Disc One, you should have amassed 4 rare cards: Ifrit, Sacred, Minotaur and Diablos. Disc Two should be when you start trashing people in Card Battle with the above cards. As always, try to win the rare cards in regions with friendlier rules first, then go for the difficult to obtain cards such as Edea, which is played under the Random rule. You can usually tell a good card player apart from the rest when he or she takes their time deciding which card to play. Inexperienced players (i.e. most townspeople) simply rashly place their cards without much thought. You can over-power such players using a good deck of cards, but defeating a seasoned card player requires some strategy. When playing with the 'Same', 'Plus' or 'Same Wall' rules, always check to see if your opponent has the chance to use such rules on you. You can usually tell when an experienced player places a card in a seemingly strange position, when he/she could have used that card to flip over one of yours. However, playing these rules to your advantage requires a lot on planning ahead, or just plain luck. There's really no easy way about it; your best bet is experience. |