/vr/ - Retro Games

>>3038173
Alright bucko first and foremost whats your junctions looking like? I usually have 100 firaga's on Zells strength stat

>>3038185
To be honest with you, I really have no idea how the fuck this junction system works. Almost everything on the junction screen is grayed out.

>>3038189
What stats you can junction to is determined by your equipped GF. Look at their abilities and see which ones have STR-J.

http://jegged.com/Games/Final-Fantasy-VIII/Magic-Junction-Guide.html

So yes, you're playing it wrong.

>>3038173
>am I doing something wrong
Yes. FF8 is an unusual JRPG because your characters start at maximum strength and get weaker every time you level up. Avoid non-boss battles, or use the Card ability to avoid the experience points.

The most powerful attack is Zell's limit break. By alternating the two most simple inputs you can do stupidly high damage. If you're really good you can one-shot the optional bosses. You can use a limit break whenever you like by mashing the character change button until it activates. Don't waste your time with GF summons, limit breaks are always better.

The best way to get powerful magic for junctioning is with the Refine ability. Notably, you can get tents very early, and 10 tents gets you 100 curagas, which gives you a massive HP boost early game. You can also get lots of very powerful items by using Card Mod on rare cards.

>>3038173
>I'm at the end of disc 2
>>3038189

Good grief.

>>3038231
>10 tents gets you 100 curagas
Siren has L Mag-RF, and Siren is missable (you have to draw from the boss at the end of the SeeD exam). Draw isn't usually worth the time, but always Draw bosses to check if they have GFs.

>>3038173
You're playing wrong. It usually takes people getting stuck and starting over and actually paying attention to the tutorials to finally get shit right. A lot of people drop the game and call it shit because they never took the time to understand the junction system.
Hell you have people who bitch about FFX's grid system which is ridiculously straight foreword so god knows this would make their heads explode.

More early game breaking Card Mod/Refine:

Win the Quistis card from one of the Quistis fans in the starting garden. Card Mod with Ifrit into 3 Samantha Souls. Time Mag-RF with Diablos for 180 Triples. Win the Zell card from Zell's mom. Card Mod into 3 Rocket Engines, Time Mag-RF for another 150 Triples. Because you can only use 300 at once for junctioning you even have a few spares for casting.

>>3038173
>>3038189
Definitely playing it wrong. Look up some Junctioning guides.

More early game breaking Card Mod/Refine:

Win the Quistis card from one of the Quistis fans in the starting garden. Card Mod with Ifrit into 3 Samantha Souls. Time Mag-RF with Diablos for 180 Triples. Don't waste any of these for casting, they are more valuable for junctioning.

I almost always mod the Kiros card during the Queen of Cards quest to get Auto-Haste party wide

You can win Zell's card from his mom early game, and Card Mod into 3 Hyper Wrists, which teach GFs Str +60%, which is awesome. Zell with 100 Triples on strength and Str +60% active destroys everything even if you don't have perfect timing on his limit break.

Don't sweat it dog, I didn't bother with junctioning until late game either. It's okay to consult a guide.

What's the ideal FFVIII party?

>>3038302
I always take Zell.

>>3038302
Squall for Renzokuken spam
Zell for Duel spam
Quistis for Mighty Guard/White Wind spam

>>3038302
All you need is Zell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZEjtJ-Tfsw

>>3038302
Quistis because top qt
Rinoa because it just feels right

>>3038189
How the fuck do so many think the junction system is difficult?

YOU EQUIP MAGIC ON YOUR STATS TO MAKE THE NUMBERS HIGHER.

Squall, Zell then a constantly rotating thrid member (Usually Irvine or Selphie)

>>3038173
The story and characters suck balls but the gameplay is very complex and innovative. When you get the ability to use the flying school you should use a guide to get the Lion Heart (Squall's best weapon) ASAP.

>>3038516
what incredibly bad advice that would ruin the balance of the game for a new player, what little there is

>>3038524
Who cares about balance in a game with fucking level scaling?

>>3038516
>>3038524
You don't just "get" Lionheart as soon as possible. Unless you're using a cheat device or exploiting something you shouldn't it's not that simple.
>>3038302
Never neglect Selphie keep her leveled with everyone else because she becomes a invaluable when you learn how to exploit her ability Slot.

>>3038516
>>3038590
>main character's name is Squall Leonheart
>best weapon is called Lionheart
This game is and always has been utter trash.

Learn to junction and learn to abuse the aura spell. Also refine your cards for good items.

VIII can be the easiest game in the series very quickly.

>>3038610
Forgot to add, not sure if you can do this where you are in disc 2. But, if you return back to Dollet you can fight soldiers there who have all the basic magic to draw, scaled to your level to get you up to speed.

>>3038609

>>3038625
That bear could make a better game.

>>3038590
>You don't just "get" Lionheart as soon as possible. Unless you're using a cheat device or exploiting something you shouldn't it's not that simple.

Getting Lionheart on disc 1 is pretty straightforward and doesn't involve any cheats or exploits. The game is just that open to the player. You can start refining the highest-level magic and items right from the beginning of the game.

>>3038634
>>3038609
You sound like someone who hasn't played it or was too dumb to use junctions.

>all these suggestions to turn cards into items
It's like you hate Triple Triad or something

>>3038231
>You can use a limit break whenever you like by mashing the character change button until it activates.

I did not know this, thanks anon.

>>3038640
Beat it. Emo faggot game. Nice graphics at the time, shitty EVERYTHING else.

>>3038380
that fucking audio

>>3038652
>Emo faggot game.
Yeah you didn't beat it.

>>3038652
Did you hate FF7 too anon?

>>3038660
FF7 was actually fun. The 'innovation' they did was less gay. If not for any other reason, 8 sucked because of GFs, the leveling system and magic.However there were reasons. Many of them.

>>3038637
You can't refine weapons you lunatic pandora.

>>3038667
>innovation
FF7 is overrated.

>Quistis can learn devour using blue magic
>she can use it on many human enemies
>it's canon that Quistis eats people and digests them so they turn into her poop

>>3038302
Squall for Renzokuken
Selphie because she's a qt
Irvine because his limit break is good too

>>3038686
He said items, not weapons.

Though you CAN get weapon upgrade components way sooner than you should through refinement.

>>3038719
Yeah but that also means you can't get Lionheart in disc 1 because you only get the appropriate magazine in disc 3.

>>3038173
> I am only doing roughly 200 damage per attack, both physical and magic.
>>3038189
>I really have no idea how the fuck this junction system works

welcome to FF8

your stats are boosted from junctioning magic to your stats. You can see what goes up when you do.

Enemies are based of Squall's lvl. Personally, even if you do everything right it still feels like a weak game, gameplay-wise, because everything feels like its getting stronger and with more HP and you're staying the same. So what I did was use GameShark to boost Squall's stats (no level) to max so I could match the bosses hit for hit and I raised everyone else to lvl 99 (which doesnt do much, it gives them like +2000hp and the hit 10% harder)

also disc 2 huh? wait till disc 3 when it gets boooooooring and u lose a character for half the game. If u make it to disc 4 you've made it... cause disc 4 is literally just the final fight and the ending VMU. I kid u not.

>>3038774
oh i forgot

once u figure out junctioning and cna level up your summons, get your Diablos leveled and unlock Mug. You'll need it to get items to upgrade your weapons. Its stupid, i know... but if u dont you'll be hitting for 200dmg instead of 300dmg lol

>>3038714
Zell's limit break is better.

>>3038516
You can get the Lionheart before even finishing Disc 1 if you know what you're doing.
In fact you can get everyone bar Irvine's best weapons before Disc 2.

>>3038761
You can unlock a weapon by getting all of it's components even without reading a magazine. Once you have all the items it becomes available in the shop.
Through a shitload of card playing you can even get Quistis' Save the Queen before the Fire Cavern.

>>3038189
You're not alone - this is every FF8 thread

>>3038173
Tip for life, anon: make lots of magic Draws on the beginning of the game; Then learn GF abilities to refine items obtained from enemies into magic, you won't have to make as many draws then.

>>3038946
>You can unlock a weapon by getting all of it's components even without reading a magazine.

This, I did not know. I don't think it's even in the strategy guide. Thanks.

>>3038302
Unless it's Zombie President or Ultimecia's final form, all you need is Selphie (and her The End) to one-shot any boss.

>kids skipping the tutorials then complaining about the game when they don't understand how it works

Every single VIII thread.

>>3041210
Tutorials do a great job of not explaining anything.

>>3041210
Tutorials in FF8 do a great job of not explaining anything.

>>3038189
FFVIII was my first final fantasy game and I felt it was easy as hell. Could clear the whole game in twelve hours after a couple of playthroughs.

Junctioning is super easy. Really not any more complicated than materia. What you can junction is just based on which GF you have instead of what weapon you have.

Plus, FFVIII has the best cutscenes. Gameplay really is only so-so, but I honestly masturbated to Rinoa and Selphie a lot as a teen.

>>3041241
>Could clear the whole game in twelve hours after a couple of playthroughs.

You can clear FF4 in twelve hours on your first playthrough.

>>3041258
Without grinding at the end? No way.

>>3041260
You don't need to grind at the end at all - once you're making the final run against the boss you're already strong enough to take him down.

All grinding does is make the approach to the boss easier. You could just as easily run from all the battles and still beat Zeromus. I figured that out from the absolutely pathetic XP rates the creatures in the final dungeon give - why fight them if they don't reward you for defeating them?

>>3038709
Quistis learns blue magics through items, devour is mostly used to farm stat points.

>>3041268
I don't remember well, if anything you'd want to grind to buy stat boosting consumables and better equipment at the dwarf village.

>>3041258
One guy on Twitch does 100% speed runs of FF7 in about 14 hours.

>>3041241
quistis best fap

>>3038189
this is what yours should look like

>>3041313
Sell all your old shit and you'll be fine, seriously.

It's like Zeromus was 15 levels lower than the mooks in his dungeon. Don't even fight them, just go straight in and kick his ass, he's disappointingly easy.

>>3042512
>junctioning Hit on Squall

Squall has innate 255% hit and cannot miss. Junctioning your doubles to hit is worthless.

>>3042530
i just did it for completeness sake
its not like i use double for anything

Squal dies at the end of disk 1.

Edea kills him.

The game is his dying vision carried out by his ego as he falls.

>>3042641
nice meme
let me guess, ultimecia is actually rinoa?

>>3042903

yes

prove it isn't the case and do so without resorting to "definitive" shit like WELL THE CREATORS SAID THAT THEORY IS BULLSHIT EVEN THOUGH IT HELPS THE GAME MAKE SOME SENSE.

>>3042909
you're the one who needs to prove shit if you're denying what the creators themselves say
the game already makes perfect sense once you realize it takes place in a time loop, and consequently the 'coincidences' and 'plot holes' like the orphanage thing are not actually coincidental

>>3042903
Ultimecia isn't real. Its just a figment of Squall's imagination.

Also it isn't a meme. He took an icicle through the chest and fell to the ground.

>>3042641

I genuinely hope horrible things will happen to you.

>>3042917

>actually believing the creators
>implying they know better

What are you, some kind of stormtrooper? Be more like Finn.

>>3042925
Sorry m8, my life is killer.

Enjoy the game, though

>>3042925
That entire post is bullshit, though. Literally "Ash is in a coma"-tier fan conjecture.

>>3042934
Squall was actually killed and shown dying.

So we all know "Squall is dead" is bullshit, but what about R=U?

>>3042946
He was killed on screen. Deny all you want, but you're wrong.

>>3042940
When he gets hit by Edea's ice spell? Oh, please. It pierced his shoulder. Obviously not a mortal wound.

>>3042948
>shoulder
Lung

>>3042948
Yeah just like how Cloud was killed on screen at the Nibelheim incident, right? Or that time he fell more than 50 feet during the second bombing mission?

>>3038173
this game literally makes the enemies in battle (even boss fights) on par with what level you are at, so the trick is ignore the random battles (run away every time).
ie. you don't need to level up or upgrade your weapons, you just need to junction powerful magic to your stats, by breaking down items you collect or find. there's a speed run on speed run archive where the player breaks down everything he did to get to the end of the game in like 12 hours. just use it as a faq.
it's kind of a stupid game

>>3042950
>>3042948
>>3042948
>>3042949
>In a world of magic where you can conjure ice out of mid air, buildings can fly, and you can summon GF by pulling them out of your mind.
>Theres no way Squall could have survived what probably wouldn't even be a lethal wound in our world if you got medical attention

>>3042953

this

I plan on getting that default squal level achievement at some point and have that exact guide bookmarked

FF8 ain't hard and the story/aesthetic is actually pretty unique(for a jrpg anyway). Alright game but I just have no idea what they were smoking when making its systems.

>>3042954
He died, and the game is about reconciling his feelings.

It's obvious. Look at how the relationships changed immediately after.

This isn't even the first work of fiction to use this plot.

>>3042954
And that's not even getting into the stupid shit from the other games i.e blitzball.

So in other news:

Cloud died during the second bombing run, him meeting the flower girl again was just a dream.

Tidus died when he-oh wait, that really did happen. Never mind.

>>3042959
Edea/Ultimecia wouldn't have killed Squall because he knows Ellone, the person she's looking for. She needed him alive for questioning.

So was Rinoa really Ultimecia or was she really just some stupid spoiled whore with barely actual relevance to the plot?

>>3042641
>>3042940
>>3042948
>>3042959
why didn't squall shed any blood when he got hit by the icicle? he's shown bleeding in the opening cinematic when seifer scars him.

>>3042974
Because he was dead the whole time, like Tidus.

>>3042975
>>3042974
>he STILL doesn't know Squall was killed by Seifer in the intro
wew

>>3042980
>wew

I always imagined it sounds like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87uLDb4f3wY

>>3042965
Rinoa isn't Ultimecia. Ultimecia was born in the future, and only passed away when she gave her power to Edea, starting the endless cycle in which Edea creates SeeD, Squall defeats Ultimecia, and Ultimecia travels back in time to pass her powers onto Edea, trapping her into an endless cycle of repeating death like a faggot who saved his game instead of loading it in an unwinnable situation.

>doesn't understand junction system
>OMG THIS GAME SUCKS!11!
Every FFVIII hater

>>3043185
Except me. I thought the junction system was really innovative and pretty much required the play to get really into the game and make the most out of in instead of simply grinding2win. I wish Square dedicated more time to tweaking the gameplay and less on the convoluted shitsoup story and annoying unlikable characters.

>>3038189
You're fucked. Start over.

>>3038173
It's a JRPG. You have to power-level, max stats, and get the best weapons you can to do the most damage.

>>3044382
>power-level
>ff8

don't listen to this fucker, op

>>3044387
There are ways to power level in FF8, it's just not intuitive at all.

>Don't level at all until SeeD exam
>During SeeD exam, kill of Zell and Squall and kill everything exclusively with Seifer, learn all the GF's junctions
>After the SeeD exam, immediately get Diablo and learn encounter-none, while grinding enc-none only have Diablo junctioned as afaik GF levels and AP gains are distributed in some weird way when you have multiple GF's junctioned, only grind on mobs that give high AP, but relatively low HP (I think Fastocalions do, right outside garden)
>Play cards for good cards, off the top of my heard: Abyss Worms for Tornado's should be a high priority, grab any Elnoyle cards you see.
>Junction Tornado's to strength, Curaga's to HP (can refine from tents), and whatever other strong magic you've gotten (you can refine lower tier into higher tier magic), and you're pretty much set with Enc-None the rest of the game
>You have another opporunity to grind your GF's in Great Salt Lake when Edea is in your party, kill the other 2 members and grind GF's to your hearts content

All the benefits of grinding, while still being ridiculously low level.

Thats the true way to min/max FF8

I used to have pain (poison+blindness+mute) junctioned to Selphie's state attack. Also if you don't have at least one character with death in the state attack you're simply playing the game wrong.

>>3045256

Why? Almost every single battle devolves into Limit Break spam.

>>3042950
Good thing he has another.

>>3044409
>while grinding enc-none only have Diablo junctioned as afaik GF levels and AP gains are distributed in some weird way when you have multiple GF's junctioned
all GFs gain all the ap you get from an encounter. if you had every GF junctioned to one character and gained 10 ap, each gf would gain 10 ap on whatever ability they were learning

>>3045256
Put Death on Selphie's ultimate weapon (Strange Vision-255% accuracy) to instakill almost everything bar bosses and Malboros.

>>3038189
I will never understand how anyone could have problems with the junctioning, it's perfectly explained.

>GFs gain abilities while in battle
>If you read what abilities these are, you'll see some of them enable junctioning. Basically, if a GF has a J-STR ability, it means that if you equip that GF to a character, he'll be able to Junction magics to STR
>Equip GF
>Junction magics or just use the AUTO function
>Done
>The same logic applies with abilities that allow you to junction elemental or status magic to your weapons, like Quistish explained to you like three thousand times.
And no, don't go around using DRAW for four hours like everyone thinks the game is supposed to be played. Craft your shit, there's a simple and yet fairly useful crafting system that allows you to make everything, especially overpowered items for Quistish blue magic.

Selphie Best Girl

>>3044409
>Minmaxing in a game where minmaxing is absolutely useless

Just junction death/tornado or some other overpowered shit and you're good to go until the end of disk 3.

>>3045568
>And no, don't go around using DRAW for four hours like everyone thinks the game is supposed to be played.

Do at least check the draw list of a boss though, some of them have GF's. From memory:

Elvoret (Siren)
Iguions (Carbuncle)
NORG (Leviathan)
Fujin in Balamb (Pandemona)
Edea Disc 2 (Alexander)
Ultima Weapon (Eden)

>>3042951
the dream starts when cloud wakes to the prostitute again, but shes in a church and shes an actual flower girl...

>>3045871
>again

There was only one time that happened.

>>3041230
Except how it works which they are explaining.

>>3038173
>>3038189
Why do people act like this is ok? Is it because you were too retarded to figure this shit out yourselves when you played it so you can't get too mad at him?

Fuck every single retard who gave this game a bad name because they were too fucking retarded to understand junctioning.
FUCKING.
JUNCTIONING.

>>3045568
Junctioning isn't hard. It's just tedious. Materia was fun because when you found a new one, you wanted to see what it did, and you bought it from stores or found it on the map. Junctioning required extending an already tedious battle system that was filled with ridiculously long summons or gaming the system to get cards.

>>3038173
You can break the game by the end of disk 2 if you just max out all of your draws. FF8 is the easiest grind in any RPG.

>>3045965
as long as you arent retarded, you can break the game before you go to the fire cavern

>>3045965
>You can break the game by the end of disk 2
>disk 2

Why is the difference between disk and disc apparently so difficult for so many people to grasp? It's even printed on the fucking DISC.

Disk = Hard Disk Drive, magnetic storage, Flash storage
Disc = Optical media (CD, DVD)

>>3038173
there is actually a reasonably in-depth tutorial that quistis gives you on junctioning right before or after the first dungeon (been a while). and even then its just a matter of seeing which spells affect which stats more. no guide or walkthrough necessary.

but you probably just mashed x through the tutorial, didnt you?

>>3038774
>cause disc 4 is literally just the final fight and the ending VMU
Nigga, Ultimecia's mansion in disc 4 is the best part of the game. But yeah it's just that, plus the final boss and it's over.

>>3045986

The difference is a company's branding, like calling tissues kleenex. Nobody cares, in reality, which letter is used to describe it, since it's entirely simple to understand which is being discussed contextually.

>>3045986
you know, with that one post, youve completely shattered my reality.

i need a shower

>>3045974
as long as you're not retarded you can break the game before the squaresoft logo appears

>>3045986
This bothers me as well but on the bright side, it usually reveals the underage and the braindead.

>>3046013
as long as you're not retarded you can completely break the game by not playing it and doing something with your life instead

>>3046013
>>3046021

>>3041210
To be honest, FFVIII has extremely long tutorials that are basically just text. Nobody wants to read a hundred-page manual before they boot up their game.

I'm also not a fan of modern-day tutorials that always start with "use the control stick to move your character try it now!" but good game design uses gameplay rather than walls of text to teach the player the concepts of the game.

>>3038538
This. It's like this game just attracts idiocy from both ends of the spectrum.

>>3046035
My thoughts on the matter >>3038483