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Some people you meet will sometimes try to help you by giving you items or leading you into hidden places.  Usually, such items and sub quests will make the main quest easier.  By going on Side Quests you can find awesome GFs that are stronger then the other GFs.  You can also find rare items and cards.  No matter how you look at it, exploring is one of the most important things.  Here are some basic things you should know while exploring.


Improving Your Characters:

Improving you characters works a bit differently in Final Fantasy VIII.  In the past FF games, every time you level up, you need even more experience to go up another level.  In FFVIII, all you need to go up another level is 1000 experience points, regardless of the level you are trying to achieve.  The bad thing is that your characters' stats increase less from level to level.

Since you increase less, you'll have to rely more on junctioning with Guardian Forces (GFs).  By junctioning magic to a GF, you can quickly raise a character's stats, but what you raise and how much is determined by the GF you have and how much magic you've stocked.  Raising a character's stats can be very time consuming and requires a lot of patience.

One thing you have a large amount of control over is the remodeling of weapons.  Remodeling requires specific items in certain amounts.  Once you have the right number of the specific items, you can go to a Junk Shop to remodel your weapons.  Remodeling isn't expensive, but finding the items you need can take some time.

One of the best ways to find the items you need is to collect cards.  Some cards you need can be found by playing the Triple Triad with various people in the game.  After collecting some cards you can use the Card Mod ability to transform the card into items.  For other items, you'll need to find, steal, or defeat certain enemies.  Here are some things you might want to know about improving your characters.


The Draw System:

In Final Fantasy VIII, you can draw magic spells, instead of using Magic Points (MP).  You are no longer limited to the spells characters can learn.  Instead, magic is drawn from enemies, Draw Points, and refined from items.  Outside battles, you can stock magic for later use.  In battles, you can either draw magic for immediate use or stock up.

There are some things you need to know about Draw Points.  There are blue/white or purple/white points found all around the world.  A character junctioned with a Draw command can stock magic from a Draw Point for later use.  Some Draw Points have weak magic, while others have stronger magic that are harder to find.  After drawing from a Draw Point, it may take a while before it regenerates.

There are three types of Draw Points: Seen, Unseen, and Hidden.  Seen Draw Points are ones where you can see without special abilities.  Unseen Draw Points are are those hidden behind something, like a bookshelf.  Unseen Draw Points are those which you cannot see without the Move-Find ability.  Although you may not be able to see them, it doesn't mean that they're invisible.  They are the hardest to find since they're usually out in the open.  All Draw Points will provide you from 1 to 15 of a spell.  This is often determined by the Draw Point's refill rate and by the length of time since you last drew magic from it.

The most common way to build up your magic is to draw from enemies.  During battle, you can use the Draw command to draw spells from your enemies.  The number drawn can be from 1 to 9.  It's also possible that an attempt at drawing may fail.  This usually happens because of the character's low magic skill, but can sometimes be caused by the type of magic.  Higher level magic is tougher to draw than lower level magic.  Here are some more things to know about the Draw System.


Acquiring and Using Items:

There are a ton of items in Final Fantasy VIII.  Items con in all sorts of forms and can be used in many ways.  You can also refine items into better items.  It takes a large stock of an item to do any refining, but it has made this game easier from other Final Fantasy games.

Most items are dropped by enemies after battles.  The item an enemy drops depends on the level its level.  Another way to get items is to steal them from enemies.  You can use the Mug ability.  The items you steal can be rare and different from the items that they drop.

The maximum number of items you can hold of any one item is 100.  If you already have 100 of an item, and you acquire more of that item in battle, the additional items are thrown away.  If you have 100 of an item you don't use much, try refining it into something else or selling some of it.

Enemies can have at the most of four items that they randomly drop.  The items an enemy drops depends on its level.  To determine its level, use Scan.


Basics of Battling:

Battles are another huge part of Final Fantasy games.  Early in the game, you will have the chance to learn how battles work.  As you go further into the game, you should work on your speed and setup.  For more information about battling click here.