Final Fantasy VIII Disc 1

My First Mission

My First Job

As soon as Squall wakes up, look on the desk. Here is where you get your copy of . This magazine teaches you the recipes for the , , , and weapons. Refer to the Weapons Section or the tooltips for each weapon to see what items you’ll need for the upgrades. Remember, playing the allows you win cards which can be modded into various items. It’s usually a lot easier to win specific cards than it is to find those items in the wild. See the Card Mod Reference Section for a list of what the various cards mod into. If you want to play cards to get your weapons upgrade, getting the Zell Card and the Seifer Card (see below) before playing a bunch of games will help make that go faster.

Now that you have the stuff you need to get cool weapons, go to the front gate. Just FYI, I was still unable to begin the Balam Card Club side quest at this point in the game. You will get your mission from Headmaster Cid. WHEN HE IS DONE TALK TO HIM. That’s how you get the Magic Lamp that allows you to call Diablos. Leave Balam Garden via the front gate, then make sure your characters all have some junctioned.

Before Boarding the Train in Balam

Note that once you leave Balam you won’t be able to return to this are for a while, It’s a good idea to take advantage of the time here to master the and equip your characters for the journey ahead.

Optional: Seifer Card and Zell Card

If you are playing the , you can win a very powerful card at this time. As soon as you appear on the main map, head back in and go to the elevator, you can ride it to the 3rd floor and card-battle Cid. He plays with the Seifer card, and winning that NOW will be 100 times easier than winning it later. When you have it, head back outside.

This is also a great time to try and win the Zell card from Zell’s mom. She’s in Balam, in the second house down on the right after you enter the town. Be aware that she very rarely uses this card, so you’re probably going to have to play a lot of games to win this card early on. Be sure to refer to the Card Game Section for more information.

Now you can leave, but don’t forget do a junction switch between Quistis and Selphie. I was able to defeat Diablos as soon as I got out of Balam, but I don’t know that I would recommend novices try it.

Magic Refinement Unlocked

If you do beat now, set him to learn and . Once those are unlocked, quickly becomes unbalanced:

Magic	Refine
20x Tornado	from	1x Abyss Worm Card
10x Pain	from	1x Tri-Face Card
20x Berserk	from	1x Elastoid Card

This is the point where the starts turning into suspiciously powerful junction magic instead of just a fun little distraction.

Optional GF: Diablos

Boss Fight Prep

If you want to try and defeat Diablos, your best bet is to junction for high HP and high magic and make sure your characters can use the .

Boss Fight: Diablos

Steal	n/a
Weak / Absorbs	Weak to Wind; Gravity magic also damages him.
Reward	20 AP, the , and Diablos Card
Drops	8 at levels 1–29
Strategy	Stock Demi, then cast it to cut down his HP while prompting him to Curaga the caster. Blind and Slow help; finish with physical attacks or a .

Draw-cast Demi on him until it’s only doing less than 100 HP each time. As far as I can tell, this spell actually does UP TO A MAXIMUM OF 1/4 of the enemies CURRENT HP. (In other words, multiply whatever number comes up by 3 to see what the enemies’ MINIMUM HP currently are; it seems this only does about 1/8th of max damage to Diablos - maybe he’s got 50% immunity.) In any event, have Squall Draw and cast Demi on him, and have Zell beat him up. Selphie should just wait around until the Gravitija attack, or until her HP get low. Keep having her re-roll her random spells until she gets “Full-Cure 1 time(s).” That will cure everyone and keep you from getting killed off. For my battle, Squall and Zell had HP over 2000, and had the HP Junction ability, and I had 100 Curaga spells. Once you have , be sure to junction him to someone and set him to learn and the .

Once you have learned refine abilities, you can mod various cards to get items that can turn into Haste, Double, Quake, Demi and other great spells. can net you Berserk, confuse, bio, pain (really cool!), meltdown, and break. I cannot overemphasise the importance of mastering the at this time. If you haven’t already, head to to the cards section and check out the strategy area. When I went into the next area, the HP stats on my guys were: Squall at 5716 (LV 17 w/ Full-life junction), Zell at 3585 (LV 9 w/ Tornado Junction), and Selphie at 3482 (LV 8 w/ Tornado Junction).

Optimizing GF Distribution with Diablos

Group 1: Ifrit, Siren

Group 2: Quetz

Group 3: Shiva, Diablos

Strategy: Keeps Diablos separate so Abilityx3 does not overlap later.

Ability Priority: ST Mag-RF, Time Mag-RF, Enc-Half, Enc-None, Mug, HP-J. Full list.

Optional: Queen of Cards Side Quest

If you are going to participate in the Queen of Cards side quest, be sure you have won the Mini Mog card from the kid running laps around the middle of Balam Garden, then SAVE (yes - it’s important), then lose that card to the Queen of Cards in Balam City. Talk to her after - she’ll either head to Dollet, or Deling City. Reload your save if she didn’t go to Dollet and try again. Strictly speaking it’s not 100% necessary to start at this time, but it will make this side quest a bit easier. I always save before I lose a card so I can see where she’s going next and restart if it’s not my next destination. I’ll let you know when the opportunity arises and where she should head next.

Cash for Cards:

If you’ve been playing the , there’s a good bet you have a Cactuar Card or two that can be modded into . If so - and if is at least level 10 - you can use ability to get 80 for only 2 thorns. If you don’t have enough gil to do other things you want, you should be able to sell those for decent cash. You can also use to convert any Wedge, Biggs cards that you earned into , which will sell for 2,500 gil each.

Magic Refinement Unlocked

Once learns , the starts solving HP problems. If you can afford it, head to the store and Refine/Sell/Buy until you have 30 in your inventory. Next, use to refine them into 100 Curaga for all three characters. This is the best “Cure” medicine, and if you junction it to Squall’s HP-Junct you can get around 100 HP for every level he is.

Goal	Refine Chain	Why Care
Curaga	from or	Easy HP junction; 30 gives all three characters 100 Curaga.
Full-Life	from — from Chimera Card	Huge HP junction if you’ve been playing enough cards.
Regen	from — from Mesmerize Card	Nice early Vit junction.
Death	from or — from Belheml, Tonberry, or Tonberry King Cards	Excellent Mag junction, and useful later for status tricks.
Life	from — from Torama Card	Good support magic before the game expects you to have it.

Depending on your level, Tornado might be a better HP junction than Curaga for now. Even so, having really high HP makes it easier to maintain around 1/4 your Max HP - meaning Squall can call Renzokuken without living quite so aggressively on the edge.

When you are done with refining, be sure to experiment with Junctions for best effect. I like Tornado for HP, Regen for Vit, Death for Magic, and Curaga for Spirit. Now head back to Balam Garden. If you wanna beat things up or explore the island, now is the time to do it. Want some more Esuana? Follow the train tracks behind the town into the cave and press the ‘talk’ (not ‘card’) button. You should find it.

Final Prep

Do one last check before jumping on the train. Buy items if you need, hit up the and remodel any weapons if you’ve got the required items, and double check that all your and magic are junctioned the way you want.

Pro-Tip: The amount of magic you can draw is tied to your Magic stat. If you have and both learn Magic-J, your characters will draw magic from enemies MUCH faster. Note that if one or two characters still have trouble drawing, you can always flee when one character fills up and re-distribute the magic to the other two. Most of the time you can even transfer to people who aren’t in your party.

When you’re ready, head all the way left to the train station, buy a ticket for 3,000 Gil and head inside the station and board the train from Balam station to Timber. Notice the cool flickering of Telephone poles screaming by… While you travel under water. Hmmm. Anyway, talk to Selphie and then go into the cabin. You should recieve from Zell during this scene. If you believe in a higher being, pray that your machine doesn’t crash while the annoying We-Are-Going-To-Sleep-Now sound effect is playing. THAT’S IRRITATING!!!

Who are we now?

You now have control of some guy named Laguna his two best friends. Laguna will have Squall’s junctions, Ward have Selphie’s, and Kiros will have Zell’s.

Cardable Enemies in This Area

Enemy	Location	Common Card	Rare Card
Funguar	Laguna dream forest	Fungar Card	Wedge, Biggs Card
Geezard	Laguna dream forest	Geezard Card

Since this area only seems to have Funguar and Geezard enemies, I usually set for the forest. Double-check your junctions, then go forward and follow the path until you find a car. There’s a Cure draw point and a Water draw point along the way. You shouldn’t need the ability to see these. When you get to the car you’ll head to Deling City. The city is a bit of a maze, but there are only two places really worth visiting at this time. You should exit the car on a screen with a fountain.

Optional: Get a Life!

Cardable Enemies in Deling City Sewers

Enemy	Location	Common Card	Rare Card
Creeps	Deling City Sewers	Creeps Card	Sphinxara Card
Grand Mantis	Deling City Sewers	Grand Mantis Card	BGH251F2 Card
Red Bat	Deling City Sewers	Red Bat Card	X-ATM092 Card

If you want to draw all three characters up to 100 Life magic, you have a chance here. If you go up one screen from the fountain, you can see the arch over the road. Go up one more screen and you’ll see a doorway on the right in the arch. You can go in there and go down the ladder in the building you find yourself in. There’s a save point down there, and you can fight sewer monsters. If you happen across a “creeps” you can draw life from it. If you didn’t already acquire Life magic from Card Modding Torma cards, this is a good place to get it. Besides, if the Crepes kills one of your characters off, well you know you can use that spell on them, right? If you cross the bridge and head down you’ll see a magazine that you can’t get yet. Just file away that fact for later. When you’re finished drawing up Life, head back up the ladder, exit the building, and head back down two screens to the fountain.

To get to the next area, head Right, then Forward. Then go into the hotel and head down the stairs to the right. Talk to the lady and sit down, then after you stand go talk to Julia and sit back down again. After she invites you up to her room and leaves, follow her up. Talk to the Receptionist, then talk to her over and over, listen to Laguna be a dork and then wake up on the train. Be aware that the system may unjunction one or more of your characters when go go in and out of Laguna land. Be sure to check them all thoroughly.

Long and Boring Train Ride

When the train stops, talk to the guy in the blue cap and vest. Tell him “but the owls are still around.” Follow him to the train. Once on board, you can win the Angelo Card from Watts. Go wake up ‘the princess.’ Now go back to everyone else. After a long drawn out discussion of what you have to do, return to “the princess’s” cabin for . Read both (yes, you actually have to read them to be able to set the skill), and then view Rinoa’s Status Screen where you can set Angelo to learn whatever you want.

Then go talk to Watts; if you want, save the game before talking to him - so that you don’t have to listen to the stupid schpeel again.

I’ve never failed at this; it’s pretty easy.

A quick word of caution. If you have reset the keys or buttons, you’ll have to figure out which ones are which. The pattern on the screen didn’t match my system (I remapped the controler I was using to resemble an actual PS controler.) Once you finish the train scene be sure to save your game before Rinoa begins her “serious negotiations” because, let’s be honest, do you want to do that stupid train thing again? You have another opportunity to win the Angelo card from Watts (the guy by the door) here, so if you’re playing the , take advantage of the opportunity. Also, a bit of preparation is in order…

Boss Fight Prep

I like to make sure that Bio is not junctioned to Elem-Atk, as this enemy is immune. Do make sure everyone can draw, through, if you need Esuna or Double.

Boss Fight: Gerogero

Steal	2
Weak / Absorbs	Weak to Holy, Fire, and Earth; absorbs Poison.
Reward	20 AP
Drops	8
Strategy	Check junctions, then draw Esuna and Double before attacking. Cure magic or a kills this undead boss quickly; do not junction Bio to Elem-Atk.

When you are ready, talk to Rinoa. She’ll lead the way to almost certain peril. This is a two part battle. The first part is fairly easy, but the second one will cast a lot of nasty status ailments at your guys.

If you can keep your guys alive (and cohererent), you can draw Esuana, Double, Berserk, and Zombie. Invariably one character will finish drawing before the others. When that happens, I like to have that character just hang out while the others draw. That way if someone is hit with Berserk/Silence, they can still draw-cast esuana. When you’ve drawn all you want, draw cast double on someon with high magic, and have then double cast cura for insta-kill. After the battle, you’ll come back to the ‘strategy meeting.” Go over and talk to Selphie and Zell then go talk to Rinoa. You will get to see the contract between these guys and Garden. When that’s over, talk to Watts again.

Assaulting the TV Station

Once you leave the train, you can go to the pet store (one screen up from the train drop off) and buy and if you want. I’d recommend buying at least 5-10 too. With those, you can force a to forget an ability. Like knows and . You only need him to know , so if you make him forget the other, you can add cool abilities later (like , etc.) NOTE: DON’T HAVE THE FORGET IF YOU DON’T ALREADY KNOW , otherwise you won’t be able to learn it.

Now head over to Timber Maniacs HQ (one screen right from the train drop off) and get the magazine (search the closest stack directly in front of you. You’ll need it later if you want to get the Shiva Card. It should be in one of the stacks in the lobby. For more fun, read all the back issues of you can find. By the way, if you are wondering about these magazines, read all of them that you come across. They’ll show up when Selphie updates the bulletin board back at Garden. It’s a random side plot, but worth the effort (at least in my opinion) as they help you understand WHAT THE HECK is going on with this whole Laguna thing.

Anyway, head over to the bar (from Timber Maniacs HQ, go right one screen and up one screen) and beat up the guys who just harassed the drunk (they’ll attack you). Give him his card back and he’ll let you through the alley. (Or you can buy him his favorite beer to accomplish the same thing. For this game it was Mimette, but it may change. You should be able to guess it in a few tries if you talk to everyone in the bar.) Now head out the door the drunk was blocking and save your game. If you are playing a lot of , you can get page 3 (Forbidden, Armadodo, Tri-Face, Snow Lion, Abyss Worm) stuff from him - good for ’ing into Tornado, Pain, Zombie, Death, etc (via capability).

Follow the alley up to the big TV and try to read it. I found “I’ll never let you forget about me,” “Bring me back there,” I am alive here,” and “Remember me.” Anyone else read anything worth seeing? BTW: If you junctioned to Rinoa earlier, you can switch your junction back to Selphie or Zell at this time if it makes you feel better. I never ran into any fights here, though. Now head up the stairs and forward. When you have control of your guys after the Seifer incident, follow him left and watch the cut scene.

Go through the whole Seifer thing then get back to the bar. You’ll get an offer to be put up by some lady. Follow the lady to her house, then talk to everyone when you are in the bedroom. You may have to talk to Quistis twice. When you can come down stairs, try to leave the house. Quistis will tell you where you can go. Next go outside and talk to the ‘guard’ out there. If you go down two screens, then right, you can get to the shopping/inn area. There’s a girl at the Inn who plays with Page 4 cards (you can get major Thundaga by ’ing Dynamo Stons from a Blitz.

Now head right toward the train station. Talk to the ‘old man’ out there. Now you should have everything you need to leave town. Head right one screen and up the stairs, then across the bridge and down one screen. Keep talking to everyone in the main car. The system ask you if you want to “let Zell be,” accept that and you’ll ride to East Academy Station (Get off there). Now that you’ve ridden the train, you can actually back-track to Timber and stay at the Inn to obtain a .

Timber Area

Cardable Enemies in the Timber Area

Enemy	Location	Common Card	Rare Card
Anacondaur	Timber/Galbadia area	Anacondaur Card	Mobile Type 8 Card
Cockatrice	Timber/Galbadia area	Cockatrice Card	Oilboyle Card
Geezard	Timber/Galbadia area	Geezard Card
Ochu	Timber forests	Ochu Card	Elvoret Card
Thrustaevis	Timber/Galbadia area	Thrustaevis Card	Gargantua Card

Warning

Your SeeD salary is tied to your conduct as a SeeD. Every time the game pays you a salary, it deducts 10 SeeD points. Every time you defeat an enemy (yes, Card Modding counts) you earn 1 SeeD point back. If you are playing the low-level route, be aware that using “Enc-None” all the time will mean you probably lose SeeD ranks over time if you don’t stop to get beligerant from time to time. While it’s true that your SeeD salary isn’t going to be your main source of income in this game, it’s basically free money. If your rank drops and you want to avoid getting worse salary over time, take one of the written SeeD tests via the menu to raise the level back up after it drops.

Optional: Dollet, Queen of Cards, and the Siren Card

After getting off the train, Dollet can be found in the north-east corner of this continent. When you get there, take the left-most route down. Go two more screens down and follow the young boy into the house. Look at the painting, then head to the beach and listen to the old man and the young girl. The girl will tell you that the bone points out the location of a dog’s hiding spot. Now, head back up to the fountain screen and talk to the dog. You’ll get a treat. You can go back and look at another painting, then find the dog one screen up from the painter’s house for another treat. Repeat one more time for one last treat. If you go to the inn and stay for the night, you’ll be able to read an issue of upstairs. If you go to the restaurant, you can find another issue of upstairs on the poker table. You can earn the Siren card from the owner here if you beat him by the tables and play him in the back room, but… playing cards in Dollet is tricky because of the . That being said, you can remove the here if you’re patient - see the Dollet Pub Owner section on the Queen of Cards Quest section for more info. If you beat the guy there at cards, you can get escorted to his back room. This is important for the “Queen of Cards” quest later on. I don’t recommend playing cards in Dollet without abolishing the first.

Optional: Obel Lake Side Quest

You can start the side quest for Obel Lake here.

When you’re ready to continue the story, head over the little bridge when you get off the train at East Academy Station. You should see a small woods to the West. It’s time for another Laguna adventure, so prep your junctions before you walk into the Forest. This time you want to just junction everything to Squall, Selphie, and Quistis. Zell and Rinoa won’t need or magic for this bit.