'Lo All! I've started playing FFVIII for the first time this afternoon. I was wondering if there are any points in the game where it is possible to miss collecting a GF/item, and not have a second chance to get it. Personally, there's nothing more irritating to have played through a game, only to look online and discover that there's a horde of Summons and/or weapons that I've missed out along the way.

Secondly, do you get many items from playing the card game? I've only had a couple of games so far, but it looks so confusing and pointless...

Finally, does anyone have any hints/tips for a first time player of FFVIII? No spoilers though, please!

Thanks in advance for any help. I wish I weren't such a completionist! :S

There are plenty of hidden GFs to get throughout the game. But giving details about all of them could potentially give spoilers away.

Most of them are the rewards for side-quests. But a few come when you draw them from Bosses. One of which is from a Boss early on. Have you done the first SeeD mission yet?

The card game is mostly for fun. But later in the game, one of your GFs learns the ability to turn cards into items. The rare cards can be turned into rare items which help towards making great weapons. It's worth playing it for the fun/collecting alone.

As for tips, I'll give a few:-


Learn to use the Junction System correctly and the game is easy
Make sure you get into the card game. I rate is as being in my top 3 FF Mini-games
Draw magic whenever you can. I found that I never had too much



Edit* I forgot to say, welcome to the forums.

Welcome to the board.

The following is not a spoiler as such, but if you read Cloud's post lower down you will see the reasoning behind it. I have basically stated the five drawable GF's and the opponents whom to draw them from. There is nothing to spoil the plot.

Concerning GF's that can be missed. Siren is available from Elnoyle on the radio tower mission in Dollet. Ensure you draw Carbuncle from the pair of Iguion during the sorceress assasination mission, and later during the game draw Alexander from Edea in the Galbadia Garden. Leviathan is drawable GF from NORG in the Balamb Garden whilst Pandemona is available from Fujin during the military lock down of Balamb.

That is it for drawable GF's. Remember though, if you do miss any of them, you will be able given a second chance to obtain during the finale before the final boss. (Recommend against this as the difficulty is certainly increased without them).

As for tips, I suggest manually selecting the abilities that your GF's are learning as opposed to letting the game automatically sift through them in order of it's own reckoning of importance. You will find that learning the RF (refine) abilities and producing higher quantities of magic, and superior magic depending on your item inventory, your stats will be greatly improved via the junction system. GF's are more useful for their abilities than they are in battle, once you get to grips with the junction system. Best of luck, and enjoy.

Oh hey Jarosik. Pretty sure the OP asked for no spoilers. Otherwise I would have told her where to get them all.

Maybe you should edit before he/she comes back on and has the game ruined for him/her?

Oh hey Jarosik. Pretty sure the OP asked for no spoilers. Otherwise I would have told her where to get them all.

Maybe you should edit before he/she comes back on and has the game ruined for him/her?

I did note that Cloud - but my post seems spoiler free to me. Apart from one little thing...

Edit - Edited. ;) Are you sure offering the locations of the ones that could be missed constitute spoiling the game? Otherwise, we might as well suggest just using the draw command every time a boss comes along. Spoilproofed completely though.

Thanks for the quick replies, guys! No need to worry about the above post, as when I say spoiler I meant in a plot sense. Other than drawing GF's from certain bosses, there's not much else to miss out on then? Hoping that's the case! What about ultimate weapons? I still remember how annoyed I was whilst playing FFVII, when I found that Cait Sith's best weapon was still in that locker in the Shinra building and irretrievable!

And as for how far I am: I've not even left the Garden, yet. I thought it best to ask this the first time around, instead of getting halfway through and then posting! ;)

Thanks for the help!

Weapons rely entirely on remodelling which can be done at any Junk Shop. Certain items are a pain the arse to obtain but as far as I am aware none of them are unattainable after certain points of the game HOWEVER, access to the actual junk shops may be impossible. In come the abilities of a certain GF. ;)

One further note on GF's - Doomtrain will be nigh on impossible to obtain without any reference to guides/FAQ's. Literally.

Doomtrain. Check. This is exactly the type of thing I was talking about. Thanks!

I'm now outside the Garden, on my way to the Fire Caves. I read in a thread on how to Junction, that Drawing 100 of each type of spell is not the way forward. Can someone tell me why that's the case? I know that some spells are better than others to junction to set abilities, but isn't it worth collecting as many of the basic spells as I can to begin with?

No doubt I'll post a few more questions here when they arise, too. ;)

Until you learn the first three refine abilities from Quetzacotl, Shiva and Ifrit, you have little other choice other than to draw from your enemies. The magic available is not particularly good but still improves your basic stats. With that said, little at this stage in the game is going to challenge you to the point of needing improved stats though so it is at your discretion. Those who advise against it, in my opinion are just lazy fuckers. It is worth noting that the only improvable/junctionable stats are the ones learned by the GF's you currently have and at this point in the game with only three GF's you will only have three seperate junction abilities, and likely just one for each player. Of the three, Str-J is the most useful at this stage, so stick Ifrit with Squall and junction it up with the best of the lousy magic available and have him walk around with next no HP at testing points (bosses etc) and spam the old Renzokuken if you want. ;)

Thanks for all the pointers, Guys! Unfortunatly, I've not played much of VIII recently, and I have just beaten the X-ATM092 boss. I've read online that it's actually possible to beat the beast. I can't seem to find details of what you actrually gain from this though. As I'm not wanting to miss much, can someone fill me in? Is it worth taking down the X-ATM092? He's really hard!

Leave him and leg it. Plenty of AP opportunities elsewhere.

The trick to taking him down is having a good magic junctioned to Squall's attack stat and spamming Renzokuken at him (yellow health and hitting the "switch party member" button will do the trick). To get a good enough magic for this, you have to prepare heavily for it beforehand by learning the T mag rf, card, and card mod abilities for Quezacoatl and then winning a bunch of Abyss Worm cards, which mod into windmills which mod into 20 tornados apiece.

From the sound of it, you don't have a save file early enough to do that, so don't worry about it. Beating him earns you 50 AP and a big bonus for your SeeD rank, but it's not that important.

As for drawing low-level magic, it's basically a waste of your time. It's weak, and you can get infinitely better spells without too much more effort anyway. I can give you a rundown of how to get them, but the thing to remember is that the best way to get upper-level magic is through GF refining abilities and not from drawing from monsters until around the second disc.

The game is bloody easy if you play card games.

You can get 100 tornadoes, 100 of each aga, and 100 quakes just after the fire cavern if you have the patience!

This makes the entire thing a pushover to play through, though. :(