Alright...I've had and loved this game since it came out (I was small, but I clearly remember watching my dad play it)...The problem is that we've never been able to finish it/defeat Ultimicia. That final battle always gets us.

Right now, I'm trying to play through the game myself, for nostalgic reasons, but I haven't been able to find a good guide that helps me understand the different statuses and ways to customize the character's abilities. Also, I've become much too dependent on GFs. I know there's a level cap with the bosses, but level grinding is the bane of my existence.

I'm actually a little upset at how inactive the VIII section of this forum is, considering it's my favourite game :( I thought I could maybe try rousing up some activity here.

Anyways, my inquiry is: Do you know any good guides that were written for laymen?

GFs are good mostly for Junction, you'll stop to use them as "attack-forces" soon: the game explains well enough all you need to know about Junction+Status Effects through in-game tutorials and in-game guides, so fire it up and get reading. As a general rule, once you reach the final part(s) of the game, remove any Spell you might have linked to Elemental+Status-Attack, enemies will mostly absorb the former and nullify the latter (the safest ones to use are Non-elemental spells like Ultima, but getting 300 units of those might turn out to be a tedious/risky process).

As far as defeating Ultimecia/Artemisia goes, it would be nice to know at which point of the game you currently are (same goes for the CD), at any rate, here's a short list of noob-proof tips:

- Learn the Quezacotl/Quetzal's ability which allows you to transform cards you've collected into items, if memory serves me correctly, it's one of those skills needing 40 APs to be "mastered".

- Reach CD #3, quickly search for a guide telling you how to recruit the GF Bahamut and do that. It's a pretty good GF, all things considered, but for the sake of finishing the game easily you're really interested only in its Card, which you get upon defeating it.

- Transform that very card with Quezy's skill and you should have 100 Megalixir(s) [They recover HP completely and also cure you of any negative Status Effect enemies might have inflicted].

- The fights with Ultimecia/Artemisia and her puppy Griever will become a simple matter of getting your Hit Points to a critical/yellow level, unleash techniques like Renzokuken+Duel on the poor couple, heal yourself and repeat.

Ahh, you are a godsend; I really wasn't made for older games and how complicated they can get, so I should probably try to restart and take notes as I go. Thank you for replying :D

The way the Junction System works looks more complicated than it actually is. Unfortunately I can't be very helpful with explaining a bit the basics, because as luck would have it, FFⅧ was the first entry in the series to get translated in Italian (and with the translation came name-changes for Spells and other stuff). Here's what I usually do when I start a new game:

- Collect 100 Units of Cure (or whatever the healing magic is called)/Thunder/Fire.

- Junction Ifrit/Ifrid to Squall as soon as I get it and have that learn skills Strength +20% and Strength +40% ("Bundle" them with the Renzokuken and you're fine for a good chunk of the game).

- Level-up a bit prior to undertaking the SeeD exam. Yeah, I know what one might think: that's making it harder on yourself, I say THAT's bullshit. 1) Common enemies get stronger? So do the Spells they "carry" (a Galbadian soldier which normally has a simple Fire with him now comes with a Firaga). My Squall is at level 40, Zell/Xell and Selphie are around level 10 and can't draw Spells from enemies. Ha! So what? That's easily solved: scarred brat is most likely strong enough to gather 8-9 units of Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga by that point, going to be a "comrade" and give the Spells I've collected to the other two members of the team, going to get mine back soon enough.

- Play the Card Mini-game a lot and try to collect as many cards as I can. Those, coupled with the Quezacotl skill I've mentioned in my previous post, may help with either getting items for stronger weapons/decent amounts of Spells without drawing them from enemies.


With Junction, see what a Spell does (there's some kind of tool-tip with the description) and, hm, use a bit the head. Cure Spells recover your Hit Points, they happen to provide a nice boost to HP [Junction] for the starting portion of the game / Protect will cut the damage you receive from physical attacks by half, so you'll want to Junction that to your Physical Def. / Same goes for its Magic counterpart: Shell will be a decent choice for you J-Elemental Def. and so on. I reiterate, see what a Spell does and in most cases you'll know to which Stats. is best to Junction it.

If you still are having problems, there are scans of the official Piggyback strategy guide for FFⅧ spread around the Internet (seen the Italian, English and German versions).

Cure was Cura in the English version, I believe.

Ahh, see, a part of the problem I (and my dad) have is we junctioned the GFs to the characters who we thought fit with them aesthetically rather than by best compatibility (we also gave them odd nicknames, so I had to look up the real names of come of the ones you mentioned here.)

Another thing I wasn't very good at was the card game x_____x Time to practice, as well as look for the official guide (we brought it a while ago, but alas: it is lost somewhere...)

Thank you again for your help/information! <3