Final Fantasy VIII

Getting Started

This is a walkthrough of Final Fantasy 8. As with any walkthrough, this document contains spoilers! It was developed for FF8 English Language Version on the PC and verified on the PS1 version. Things should probably work just fine on steam or alternate language versions as well.

My primary impetus for writing this walkthough was a lack of good Final Fantasy walkthoughs on the internet. Of course, that was decades ago, and there have been a few good sites go up since then. At any rate, I still think mine is the best Final Fantasy VIII walkthrough around, though I will be the first to admit that I’m biased. ;)

Walkthrough Notes

As I said above, all walkthroughs contain spoilers. What I’ve tried to do here is set this site up so that you can get the information you need without having to read the whole document. Please see the points below for things you’ll want to know about that DON’T involve spoilers. I recommend reading them before even starting the game. If you both want to avoid spoilers, but also hate missing anything good, you can read each section first, saving at every possible point. When you finish a section, go back to the walkthrough and see if there is anything you missed. I’ll include various hints, tips, tricks and cheats I may have noticed along the way.

Points to Remember

IE: Things I wish someone had told me starting out!

If you want to waltz through over powered, or if you want to overpower a second play through, be sure to concentrate on learning the ! In the first few hours of play, you can 20x or 30x various stats - that’s not an exagguration.
If you use a in a battle, your compatability with it goes up by 20; for every other GF currently junctioned, it goes DOWN by 2.
The “Boost” skill lets you spend the summon screen trying to make your attack more damaging.
When you go to the character menu, you can click on Tutorial then Information to learn about everything from battle stats to descriptions of people/places you have found. It’s VERY usefull.
Counterintuitively to players familiar with the franchise, leveling up early in the game makes it harder. See the Level-Up Strategy page for more details.
It is best to read each section BEFORE you have to use it. I know this is against most of your ethics, but how about a compromise? If you save your game in each section, you can then try the next one until you get stuck. THEN you can read the whole thing, eh? Also note that after you have completed a section, you may want to come back and read it to see if you missed anything crucial.
When Rinoa is in your party, listen while you walk around for a little “sproing-oing-oing” sound. This means Angelo learned a skill. Go to Rinoa’s status screen and set him to learn a new one. (You get skills to teach him from “Pet Pals” magazines.)
Card Strategy: If you want to seriously CRUSH the game, get good at the card mini-game, and read the rules. If you just want the bare minimum - try to keep random from spreading, but let open spread. See the card section for more info.
If Rinoa gets “Angle Wing” as a limit break, she can cast a Demi spell that can kill. This is (to my knowledge) the only time a Demi is leathal.
When Squall’s Level goes up, be sure to use the Tutorial Testing section to bring his up to match. The higher your , the higher your “salary.”

When you’re ready, start the walkthrough in Balam Garden.