Final Fantasy VIII Disc 2
Winhill/Prison
Return to Laguna (Who is Blue?)
Disc II opens in LocationQuiet village tied to Laguna, Raine, and Ellone. Squall can complete a Disc 2 vase-piece side quest here.. Let’s take a break from the end of the world and learn a bit more about Laguna and his friends. There’s a save point here and a Curaga draw point directly in front of the dresser. Follow the girl downstairs and talk to her, then head outside. Just next door on the left is a bar. Head to the front door, walk inside, and meet “a stranger.” Ask about Julia, then junction up and head outside. You’re going to patrol from this end of town to the other end (toward the viewer), then come back to the bar. You’ll Do what you can to rid the town of monsters (or just run away from them and continue on). As far as I can tell, there aren’t any items you need to look out for during this segment.
GF Distibution Note
Since you’re only playing as two characters during this section, group your SystemGuardian Forces are FF8's summons and the source of most junction, command, support, refine, and stat-growth abilities. for two instead of three:
- Laguna: Guardian ForceGuardian Force drawn from Elvoret during the Dollet mission. Her L Mag-RF and Tool-RF abilities are extremely useful for refining life magic and useful items., Guardian ForceGuardian Force drawn from the Iguion fight in Deling City. Carbuncle focuses on reflection, status junctioning, and Vit Bonus., Guardian ForceLightning-element Guardian Force available from Squall's classroom terminal at the start. Its Card and Card Mod abilities are the backbone of the early no-EXP power route., Guardian ForceFire-element Guardian Force earned in the Fire Cave. His F Mag-RF and Ammo-RF abilities open up fire magic and ammunition refinement.
- Kiros: Guardian ForceIce-element Guardian Force available from Squall's classroom terminal at the start. Her I Mag-RF ability turns items into ice and water magic for early junction boosts., Guardian ForceGravity-themed Guardian Force from the Magical Lamp. Diablos brings Enc-Half, Enc-None, Mug, and key time/status magic refinement abilities., Guardian ForceEarth-element Guardian Force earned in the Tomb of the Unknown King. Brothers brings HP-J, HP Bonus, and sturdy physical support.
Area Enemies: Winhill
| Enemy | Location | Card / Rare Card | Useful Draws |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bite Bug | LocationQuiet village tied to Laguna, Raine, and Ellone. Squall can complete a Disc 2 vase-piece side quest here.: Laguna patrol | Bug-Bite Card / Elvoret Card | Scan, Fire |
| Caterchipillar | LocationQuiet village tied to Laguna, Raine, and Ellone. Squall can complete a Disc 2 vase-piece side quest here.: Laguna patrol | Caterchipillar Card / Trauma Card | Lv 1-19: Thunder, Cure; Lv 20-29: Thundara, Cura, Slow; Lv 30+: Thundaga, Curaga, Slow, Stop |
Outside the bar is a Dispel draw point in the lower right of the screen. The next screen down has a Drain draw point and a flower shop. One screen right of the Drain draw point is a Reflect draw point. Down a screen from the Reflect draw point is an empty house and an empty hotel.
At the very bottom of the town you can find a store on the left. Bear in mind that Laguna has his own money, but any items he buys will show up in your inventory when you’re returned to the other characters, so try and spend all his money! When Laguna says the circuit is complete, head back to the bar and report to Raine and Ellone. Well, Ellone tells you to report to Raine. Once you’ve made your report, after getting caught eavesdropping, head back to the room you first woke up in. I decided to see what happens if you keep GF AbilityPrevents most random encounters. Learned by Diablos. equipped. Laguna proudly announces he’s exterminated no monsters, and Raine is thrilled…?
Wake up and smell the prison
The next scene opens up in jail. You are Zell. Talk to Quistis, then Selphie, then Rinoa, then Rinoa again. You’ll press enter a lot and jump back and forth between perspectives. Have Zell help a Moomba and have Squall refuse to talk and choose to just let him die. Eventually you’ll be able to have Zell talk to his friends. Talk to Selphie twice (“I hope it won’t hurt!”), then talk to Quistis. Finally, you can do something again! Use your get out of jail free card.
Junction Zell, then go up one screen and get your weapons. Come back and distribute the weapons, and distribute your SystemGuardian Forces are FF8's summons and the source of most junction, command, support, refine, and stat-growth abilities. Junctions. You’re getting ready for…
Boss Fight Prep
Make sure the party is junctioned and at least one character can use Draw before returning the weapons. Once the cell opens, the fight starts quickly; this is your last quiet setup beat.
This should not be a difficult fight. Just GF AbilityReplaces Attack with a stealing attack. Learned by Diablos and Bahamut. from both of them, then draw anything you need, then take them out. Or if you have confuse magic, use that on them and go pop some pop corn. XD
Jail Break Phase Two
Now that you have three usable guys, I recommend you play around for a bit. Unlike most locations, you cannot come back to the prison. EVER. So, since there are some cool things here, pay attention and get some fun toys. First, go back down to level 6 and save your game. Now descend to level 1 and head up from there, opening all the doors you can and looting the place.
| Floor | Left Cell | Right Cell |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Save Point (GF AbilityReveals hidden save points and draw points. Learned by Siren.) Thanks Zach! | MagazineCombat King issue: Disc 2; for Zell; found at Level 1: Prison; can be bought at Esthar Book Store; unlocks Dolphin Blow. (Zell learns Dolphin Blow) |
| 2 | Box with ItemChanges pet's name | Box with Strength Up |
| 3 | Cannot open door | Box with Pethouse |
| 4 | Box with ItemFully restores abnormal status and HP to all | Cannot open door |
| 5 | Cannot open door | Man - Floor 5 |
| 6 | Cannot open door | Cannot open door |
| 7 | Nothing; you started here | Cannot open door |
| 8 | Man - Floor 8 | Cannot open door |
| 9 | Cannot open door | Berserk draw point |
| 10 | Save point | Man - Floor 10 |
| 11 | Man - Floor 11 | Thundaga (GF AbilityReveals hidden save points and draw points. Learned by Siren.) draw point |
| 12 | Cannot open door | Cannot open door |
Man - Floor 5: This is a guy who doesn’t want to escape, but has no problem letting you. I guess he’s wounded REALLY bad, but whatever. You’ll notice you don’t see this place PACKED with prisoners, do you? So, um, why are the local tax payers paying for this complex? Whatever. Anyway, you can play cards against him. He charges you 500 gil a game to play cards, but for every time you win, he gives you something. I have received a ItemRaises Strength (1 pt) Manufacturing chain: buy 100 Power Wrist at Esthar Pet Shop, use GFAbl Med-RF into 10 Hyper Wrist, then Forbid Med-RF into 1 Str Up., ItemRaises Luck (1 pt), and a ItemRemoves KO Status from all members. But even if you like the SystemFF8's card game. Winning cards feeds Card Mod, which feeds items, magic, weapons, GF abilities, and all sorts of nonsense in the best way. this is probably not the best place to spend your time playing it. See the note on Man - Level 11.
Man - Floor 8: This is the guy from Garden that runs the store. I’m not sure what he is doing here, but you can buy and sell stuff here. This guy is the only non-enemy you will run into that can’t play cards with. You’ll be driving around a little bit later, so be sure to buy some ItemFuel for a rental car from him. One was enough to get me to the base. If you’re playing lots of cards, you might be refining some of your cards into ammo. You can sell that here for enough money to fund your continued card playing.
Man - Floor 10: This is another of the guys that will play cards with you - for 300 gil. If you win, the first time he will upgrade your battle-meter. Don’t bother playing him after that.
Man - Floor 11: Yet another card player. He charges 200 gil. This is far and away the best place to play the game. You can save on the next level down, and if you beat this guy there’s a minor chance he’ll give you a ItemGF learns abilityx4 ability, which will allow one of your SystemGuardian Forces are FF8's summons and the source of most junction, command, support, refine, and stat-growth abilities. to learn how to junction 4 abilities at once. It’s very hard to get these in this game, so if you like playing cards, be sure to just mute the machine and spend the time to get at least one. If you are playing the low-level route, you pretty much have to earn at least one. I like to play cards as Zell on the first trip up, but you can also play after the Irvine/Sand conversation.
To make it more likely you’ll win one, head to the save point on level 10 and save your game. Power-off the console and reload to reset the RNG. When loaded, you run up to the room this guy is in as fast as possible (you have to take less than 40 seconds so don’t touch walls or rails and set GF AbilityPrevents most random encounters. Learned by Diablos.). Challenge and refuse 54 times. Challenge again and win. He should give you a ItemGF learns abilityx4 ability if you ran a perfect route. If not, power down and try again.
Emulator Note: ItemGF learns abilityx4 ability RNG
If you are playing on an emulator, you can further increase your chances of winning the ItemGF learns abilityx4 ability. Follow the steps above to save, power off the console, load, and run up to the room with the card player. Then:
- Challenge and refuse 51 times.
- Make an emulator save.
- Challenge and win.
- If you don’t get the ItemGF learns abilityx4 ability, revert to the emulator save, challenge and refuse one time, then repeat steps 2-4. If you don’t get it by attempt 56, your timing was bad on the run.
I was able to win three of them this way in a relatively short period of time. See Emulator Notes for more save-state and RNG notes.
If you manage to get one or more ItemGF learns abilityx4 ability, use them to teach your SystemGuardian Forces are FF8's summons and the source of most junction, command, support, refine, and stat-growth abilities. Junction AbilityAllows a character to equip four character abilities at once. Learned by Bahamut.. If you only got one, teach Guardian ForceLightning-element Guardian Force available from Squall's classroom terminal at the start. Its Card and Card Mod abilities are the backbone of the early no-EXP power route. (Guardian ForceGuardian Force drawn from the Iguion fight in Deling City. Carbuncle focuses on reflection, status junctioning, and Vit Bonus. and Guardian ForceGravity-themed Guardian Force from the Magical Lamp. Diablos brings Enc-Half, Enc-None, Mug, and key time/status magic refinement abilities. already have x3 for the other two characters). If you got two ItemGF learns abilityx4 ability, teach Guardian ForceGuardian Force drawn from the Iguion fight in Deling City. Carbuncle focuses on reflection, status junctioning, and Vit Bonus. after using an ItemMakes GF forget an ability to erase Junction AbilityAllows a character to equip three character abilities at once. Learned by Diablos, Carbuncle, Cerberus, and Alexander.. If you got 3, do the same for Guardian ForceGravity-themed Guardian Force from the Magical Lamp. Diablos brings Enc-Half, Enc-None, Mug, and key time/status magic refinement abilities..
Paying to Play
I know it seems expensive to pay hundreds of gil for each game you play, but… If you take three Guardian ForceGuardian Force earned by defeating enough Tonberries in the Centra Ruins. Tonberry brings LV Up, LV Down, shop abilities, and useful economy tricks. or Tonberry King cards, you can use Guardian ForceFire-element Guardian Force earned in the Fire Cave. His F Mag-RF and Ammo-RF abilities open up fire magic and ammunition refinement. Refine AbilityRefines ammunition from items. Learned by Ifrit. skill to turn those into 90 ItemArmor-piercing ammo, which you can sell to the guy on level 8 for upwards of 5,000 gil. Other cards that make sense to sell: ItemFully Restores HP from Wedge, Biggs, Fujin, and Raijin, and the ammo you can refine from Trauma, Oilboyle, and Guardian ForceGuardian Force from Cactuar Island. Cactuar is the prize for stat-bonus leveling because it knows HP, Str, Vit, Mag, and Spr Bonus abilities.. Also, the magic you can get from refining Chimera, Ruby Dragon, Krysta, etc. are worth WAY more than the money (or time, for that matter) you spend to get them. In addition to this, if you leave every hour or so to go save your game, you’re going to earn your SystemBalamb Garden's mercenary rank system. Higher SeeD levels mean higher salary payments. salary of up to 30k. The bottom line is, I always leave the jail with WAY more money than I came. As always, YMMV.
When you’re ready to advance the story, head to the 13th floor. ItemQuistis can learn Blue Magic, Mighty Guard start out on floors 2-6 and 9-12.
Prison has its Ups and Downs
When you get to Squall on Level 13, he is called Laguna by the little creature (Moomba). Then, he asks you to give them floors to make short cuts to. Be sure to talk to all the Moombas. Have them remove the ItemQuistis can learn Blue Magic, Mighty Guard on floors 12, 6, and 4 to make your life easier later. Just keep talking to the Moomba and recommending floors to make short cuts. After that, leave, and watch some dialog.
Eventually, you and Selphie and Quistis will board the crane, with Zell up top. Don’t bother junctioning to Squall here; you’ll have to junction back to Zell before there’s any action. When you press the button, go forward and examine a spot on the right side of the console to start moving. In a little bit, you will end up at the bottom of the shaft. If you are paranoid about getting in battles, junction, otherwise just move right and then forward. Open the door to see the sand. When you hear gun fire, head back. See Zell. See Zell run. RUN ZELL RUN! If you are just going to run, don’t bother junctioning here. Otherwise, go ahead. Continue on around the center hole in a clockwise direction. Get SMACKED. Squall comes to the rescue, then gets ridiculed by Quistis. Everyone gets pinned down nicely and life more or less sucks.
Enter Irvine and Rinoa. After a brief discussion, interrupted by gunfire, Squall and Rinoa go up, taking 1 other person with them. I chose Quistis, so I will use those names to explain the rest of this scene. Junction everyone you have chosen, and head up to the top level. Try to leave, and the scene should switch to the other three. JUNCTION THEM! From this point on, your activity in the prison is basically on rails.
When you’re ready to move on, descend toward level 3 where the thingy is waiting. STOP! READ THIS NOW!!! Now you should be back to Squall, Rinoa and Quistis. If you talk to the Moomba up and left, you’ll get a ItemSame effect as Tent plus restores all GF. The one just below the stairs down will give you a ItemChanges GF's name. He also is trying to tell you that the guy just ahead will use confuse magic, and that you should run. Junction again, then head up the small stairs and save at the save point off to your right. If you have Guardian ForceGravity-themed Guardian Force from the Magical Lamp. Diablos brings Enc-Half, Enc-None, Mug, and key time/status magic refinement abilities. Refine AbilityRefines status magic from items. Learned by Diablos. handy, try and Refine AbilityRefines status magic from items. Learned by Diablos. some ItemSword that betrays allies to get Confuse magic. Junction that to Junction AbilityAllows one magic spell to be junctioned to status defense. Learned by Siren, Carbuncle, and Cerberus. or Junction AbilityAllows two magic spells to be junctioned to status defense. Learned by Carbuncle and Cerberus. for best results. Head up another flight of stairs until your characters notice the catwalk. Try to head out across the catwalk and prepare for…
Boss Fight Prep
Keep your junctions on the active party before heading onto the catwalk. The GIM52As can use Micro Missiles, which halves a character’s current HP.
READ THIS ALL: After the fight, go back inside and, after a brief conversation over the radio, try to leave again. You’ll get a cut scene, then a break, then when the music starts, the tower will collapse stranding Squall. As soon as any CG starts, hold down the right arrow key, or controller equivalent. As the CG progresses you will begin to see a green light at the far right end of the catwalk. Squall should be moving toward it. Once he passes it, he should disappear. If you don’t keep holding right, you’ll take massive damage.
Divided we Stand
After the scene comes back into focus, you will all discuss stuff then leave in stolen cars. After a while you will park and have more meaningful discussions near an Aero draw point. You really shouldn’t need to draw that by this point, but whatever. When you can move again, go climb up on the abandoned vehicle and talk to Selphie. After a brief cut scene, talk to her again. You will need to choose 3 characters here. I chose Squall, Quistis and Rinoa to be on one team, and Zell, Selphie and Irvine to make the second team, so my dialogue will reflect that.
Confirm you like whatever you chose, and then the scene cuts. When you see Squall, walk to the left, past the turnstile, and hijack the train by hopping aboard and examining the controls. Some wuss will try to out-run the train to stop you. Then you become the other team. Before you start driving, you can exit the car. Once you start driving, though, you’re committed.
Optional Rinoa Card
If you want to try to win the Rinoa Card from General Caraway, exit the car, head over the bridge to the city of Galbadia. Head to Caraway’s mansion and challenge him to cards. If you lose the Ifrit card to him, he’ll start playing with the Rinoa Card and you can win it. Don’t worry about the Ifrit Card - it’s not gone forever. I’ll tell you when you can get it back. While you’re in town, don’t for get to sell/buy/junk. Head back to the car you abandoned.
Area Enemies: Galbadia World Map
| Enemy | Location | Card / Rare Card | Useful Draws |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abyss Worm | Galbadia: Dingo Desert; Galbadia: Great Plains of Galbadia | Abyss Worm Card / Abadon Card | Lv 1-29: Aero; Lv 30+: Aero, Tornado, Quake |
If the car runs out of ItemFuel for a rental car, it will start moving at a painfully slow rate. So when you’re ready to go on, head forward and around the inlet of water, following it until you get to the Missile Base. Feel free to use the map if you need to see where exactly you are going. When you get there, you will be allowed in by the security guards because of your amazing skills at subterfuge. Or possibly just their incompetence.