August Reviews: Role-Playing
	Final Fantasy 8 Overall Rating: 3.5 Gameplay: 3 Tilt: 3 Sound: 4 Graphics: 3 Value: 4

Review:  My least favorite between 7,8,9 and 10, but still a really good game.  Magic in this game is much different.  You draw it from enemies and you have a certain number of times to use it.  Like in 7, the main character is cold and doesn't care about anyone or anything at first, but gets better throughout the game.  The supporting characters have a life-like feel about them, the way they talk and move and act.  better looking than the last one.  Down side is, It's very easy to miss attaining GF's (The summon monsters) and not being able to go back and get them.   Also, there are points where it's hard to tell where your supposed to go next.  And the team splits up too much.  I give it 3.5 stars.


 

Hints:

Quick movement in Balamb Garden:
When first at Balamb Garden, after you give the tour
to Selphie, approach the the directory and press Action.
When the directory screen appears, move the pointer to
where to wish to go and press Action. You will appear in
the hallway in front of that location. Note: This only
works at the beginning of the game.

Changing items into magic:
Changing the Samasa's Soul item (from changing Seifer's Card)
will create 60 Triple magic. Triple is one of the best magics
to junction. Changing 50 Phoenix feathers with Eden's Elaborate
G.F. items ability will create a Phoenix Soul. This teaches the
Revive ability to one of your G.F. (Easy if you have a lot of gil.)

Good offensive junction:
The following junction will help against all enemies
except for Bosses. Junction 100 Pain spells on your
Elemental Attack. This way, you will always Blind,
Poison, and Silence your enemy. This will drastically
reduce their accuracy and will prevent them from using
magic. This is especially helpful on the Islands Closest
to Heaven and Hell. Alternatively, you can junction 100
Pain spells to Elemental Defense. This way, you cannot
be Silenced, Poisoned, or Blinded. Pain spells can be
found on the Island Closest to Heaven and Island Closest
to Hell using Siren's "Move-Find" Ability, and Diablos's
"No-Enc" ability. The Draw points regenerate extremely fast.
Easy gil:
Tonberry's Haggle and Sell High abilities as well as
Carbuncle's Recovery Medicine Refining ability must be
learned for this trick. Obtain 75,000 gil and by 100 Tents
from any shop. Refine them into 25 Mega-Potions, which can
be sold for 7,500 gil each. This results in a profit of
105,000 gil.

Ending scene:
Allow the credits to complete after the final FMV sequence
to see Squall and Rinoa.

Easy experience:
Equip one character with Auto-Haste, Initiative, and
Junction 100 Pain spells to their attack. They will go
first, and blind/poison/silence the target monster (this
works well against Behemoths). Have another character
cast Zombie on the helpless monster, and have the third
character use the Revive ability on the Zombied monster.
Behemoths cannot see to counter attack, and Silence keeps
them from using their high-level magic. In all Final Fantasy
games, undead monsters are injured by curative magic, and
killed by Life spells, Phoenix Downs, etc. Use this technique
when fighting the Behemoths in the Deep Sea Research Center
on the south-western-most corner of the world map to accumulate
experience and build your characters. Note: This only works
on monsters that are susceptible to Death magic. Bosses are
immune to this trick, as are Ruby Dragons and Imps. Those
opponents must be killed by traditional means; however the
Diablos summon kills most Imps in one hit.

Ending scene:
Allow the credits to complete after the final FMV sequence
to see Squall and Rinoa.

Increasing stats:
You can increase all your stats by using GF Eden's Devour
ability by eating the following:



Hp: Rinoa in Adel + 10 HP, Ruby Dragon + 10 HP
Str: T-Rexaur + 1 Str
Vit: Adamantoise + 1 Vit
Mag: Behemoth + 1 Mag
Spr: Malboro + 1 Spr
Spd: Pu Pu + 1 Spd

Low level advantages:
Since the enemies level up as you do, try to keep your level
as low as possible for easier battles. As long as your magic
is good, defeating your opponents will not be a problem.
Draw high level magic when your level is low to increase
your status

Making full use of the Status Junction:
Pain magic is one of the best magics for junction to Status
Attack. It can take charge of most of the monsters in the
Islands Closest To Heaven and Hell. For example, the T-Rex
that is weak against status attack (will miss all attacks
with Blind and he will be unable to cast magic) and Behemoths.
For a major effect, junction 100 Pain so will not miss. This
does not work against monsters like Rubulmdragons (absorbs
St-Attack) and Morboros. Drain magic is the best magic to
junction to Status Attack, because it will heal your character
while attacking.100 Drain is a must when on the Islands Closest
To Heaven and Hell. It works well against T-Rex, Molboros, and
other less dangerous monsters. It does not work against
Rubulmdragons (will heal him) and Melth Dragons (you will
be harmed cause it is a zombie-based monster).