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Well, if you're still breathing after that totally awesome movie at the beginning you're in good shape. Remember this isn't really a walkthrough.
When Quistis tells you to meet her at the front gate, don't go right away. Instead visit the library and the cafeteria. In the cafeteria you'll meet up with your best friend Seifer! (pronunced Sai-fer, not Seffer like I used to say!) And who's he with, why Raijin and Fujin of course. Zell even pops in (even though you don't really know him...) Anyway, it's really funny.
The Beginning
Begin the game by not reading Quistis' boring and confusing explanations on how to junction. Before heading out of the Garden, make sure you junction Quezecotl to Squall--that will be his staple GF for the game. Give Shiva to Quistis. Set both GF's up so they're learning boost. Give Squall and Quistis the draw ability as well. Then you're ready for the real world.
Before Entering the Fire Cavern....
There are 3 different types of strategies
you can follow before going into the fire cavern. Here they are in laziness
order (I usually use the 2nd one myself.)
1. THE LAZY STRATEGY: head left
after exiting the Garden and head through or around the woods to the fire
cavern, fighting only the enemies you meet up with on the way.
2. THE SEMI-DEDICATED STRATEGY:
walk around the island of Balamb encountering, drawing from and destroying
every enemy you meet up with. You don't head for the fire cavern until
you have had both GF's learn boost and are only about 5 AP away from learning
summagic 10%. Then you head for the cavern
3. THE COMPLETELY DEDICATED STRATEGY
(for people who have *way* too much time on their hands.) Walk around Balamb
like in the last strategy, but you don't head for the cavern until your
GF's have learned boost, summagic 10% and are nearly done learning summagic
20%.
Anyway, around Balamb you'll find
bite bugs, catcherpillars (in the forests) and these stupid fish creatures
on the beaches. The bite bugs don't really have great magic, and they're
only both 1 AP, but kill 'em anyway. The catcherpillars have Cure magic
that you should draw like crazy. They're worth 2 AP. The stupid fish things
are worth 3 AP and have blizzard magic that you should draw a lot of too.
They're a little harder to kill using just your weapons, so you might want
to give your GF some practice here.
I recommend that you treat these
battles lightly. Have one character attack while the other draws about
3 times, then switch (if the enemy is still alive.) Since you gave Shiva
to Quistis, I recommend that Squall get a majority of the blizzard magic,
but not all of it. Also, make sure they both have a good amount of cure.
When you're ready to go into the
fire cavern, Quistis will explain how to junction magic and asks him if
he knows how to use his gunblade. My question here is, Squall is going
to be taking the See-D exam in a few hours. The written test, if you talk
to anyone at Garden, was supposedly a killer. SHOULDN'T HE KNOW ALL THIS
STUFF BY NOW? ESPECIALLY HOW TO USE HIS FREAKIN' WEAPON!? I mean, sure
you're new to the game and don't know this stuff, but don't treat Squall
like he's dumb. Anyway, do not, unless you're absolutely crazy, choose
a 10 minute time limit for the fire cavern. It's far too short. 20 is plenty
of time, so that's a good best. Just keep walking when you get inside.
Kill anything you come in contact with using physical attacks, except if
you run into ugly, red flying creatures known as Bombs (when you meet up
with one, Quistis will make a comment.) Use your blizzard magic on these
guys. It kills em in one shot. Don't stop to use any draw points or anything
either. You can get those on the way back.
IFRIT
Difficulty level: Easy
Who I used: Squall and Quistis (You have no
choice)
Times I died: 0
Ifrit is really easy. And he's not even a very good GF. Just summon Shiva and boost her as high as you can. Squall can use blizzard magic on him or draw cure magic. The less amount of time remaining on the clock when you defeat him, the more points you'll get on your See-D exam (but don't worry too much about it, Squall's definitely going to pass the exam, no matter what happens. Still, you want to try and get a good score.)
The See-D Exam....
Are you ready? Don't be scared! Remember, you can't *possibly* flunk!
Meet Quistis after changing and
you'll meet Zell Dincht, one of the members of your party. (Feel free to
laugh at his entrance animation. hehe) The more I play FF8 the more I like
Zell. Even if he has some problems. Squall's not too keen on working with
Zell, but just wait until you hear who the 3rd member of your party it.
A little friend of Squall's named Seifer Almasy. Zell's apparently not
a fan of Seifer either, so imagine his dismay when they discover he's the
Squad Leader! (Who's the brainiac who came up with this team assignment,
I want to know.)
Here's are 2 See-D exam tips: 1)
always do whatever Seifer tells you, no matter what and 2) don't talk to
anyone except Seifer or Zell during the exam. Doing so will cause you to
lose points.
When you land on the beach give
Zell Ifrit. Set him up so he can draw and make sure you draw cure and thunder
magic during your journey. Give Shiva to either Zell or Squall. Give Seifer
squat. Don't even give him any commands but attack.
Yeah, that's right. You'll have
to fight with Seifer. (If you go back and play the game again after you
best it, fighting with Seifer in your party will totally weird you out.)
You can use the R1 trigger with him too, but he uses his gunblade backwards,
so it's a little tricky.
The soldiers die a little too easily.
Draw magic using Squall and Zell and have Seifer do most of the attacking.
(He enjoys it anyway.) When you're on your way to the Communication tower
and fight the Anacondor, summon Shiva to kill it quickly.
Once you meet Selphie, that's it
for Seifer. I don't like Selphie too much, but I like her slightly more
each time I play. Don't follow her off the cliff, go around instead (You
lose points for jumping off the cliff. No, I don't know why.) When Zell
asks Squall if he would normally jump off a cliff, choose "Well I don't
know..." and you'll get a humorous dialogue of making fun of Zell.
From now until the exam is over
Selphie will be fighting with you so give her Shiva and the draw command.
Go inside, use the draw point, save your game, and go up the lift.
Biggs and Wedge
Difficulty Level: Easy
Who I Used: Squall, Selphie and Zell (required)
Times I Died: 0
You'll fight only Biggs at first. Draw Ensuna and hit him with GF's for a quick battle. When you've done a lot of damage to Biggs, Wedge will arrive to help. Draw cure from Wedge and summon your best GF. When Wedge and Biggs are mysteriously sucked into the air, you're in trouble.
Elovert
Difficulty Level: Hard
Who I Used: Squall, Selphie and Zell (required)
Times I Died: 0, but I lost GF's
I've played the beginning of the game 4 times, and this guy has never been easy. Draw the Siren GF and lots of double magic out of Elovert. I do not recommend summoning more than 1 GF at a time. Elovert has a storm breath attack that causes 100+ pts of damage, which isn't good for your characters or their GF's with HP around 500. One time I played I screwed up big time and storm breath killed all 3 of my GF's. You don't want that to happen. This boss will take you awhile to kill using the GF's. Have Selphie continuously summon Shiva, while Squall draws double or uses physical attacks. Have Zell summon his GF if you wish, or draw. Heal your characters when they're hit with storm breath (Elovert has the cure spell.) Don't use Quezecotl no matter what. You'll need that GF for later.
What?! 30 minutes to get to shore?! Don't' panic, it's plenty of time. Go back down, save your game, heal, walk outside, and get ready to *run*.
X-ATM092
Difficulty Level: Easy
Who I used: Squall, Selphie and Zell (required)
Times I Died: 0
There's only one way to kill this thing: thunder magic. Have Squall immediately summon Quezecotl, while having Zell or Selphie hit it with a thunder spell or 2. Have the 3rd character draw Protect magic from the machine. Once Quezecotl's attack animation begins cease all attacks and boost the GF as high as you can. This should make it slump down (if not hit it with some more thunder spells.) When Zell says, "let's get the hell out of here!" Hold down R2 and L2 and run for your life. You should run into the machine about 3 more times (yeah, it follows you.) and use the same strategy each time. There are ways to escape battle, but I've never been able to pull it off, so just fight the damn thing and run. When you reach the central square press the X button rapidly as you run into the dog. If you don't save the dog, you lose points. Don't run into the cafe to hide either. Just keep charging forward and you'll be rewarded with a kick ass movie.
Is Seifer Crying???
When you get back to Garden, head
towards the library and talk to Seifer. Xu, one of the instructors, will
come over and scold Seifer, telling him "he'll never be a See-D". Seifer
then hangs his head in shame and it looks as though he's crying. You won't
be able to talk to him after that.
So you made See-D (by the way, is
it See D or Seed? Some people say it's called Seed, which makes sense cause
it's called Garden and all, but I say See D, cause what's up with the D
being capitolized and all?). Congrats. (Even though you could have completely
flunked every section and still passed...makes you wonder what everyone
else was doing during the exam...) Talk to Cid right after graduation to
get a battle meter. Zell's a little *too* happy to be a See-D (he starts
walking like chicken...) When you reach the 2nd floor hallway talk to Nida
(he's standing near the elevator off to the left in the shadows). He thinks
he's gonna be head of Garden?! What's up with that?! Moron. ::Ahem:: Excuse
me. Anyway, looks like Seifer failed again. (I mean come on though, not
only does he endanger the lives of his team, he's also a crappy fighter
anyway.) Check out Seifer and his creepy friends clapping for you. Kinda
freaky.
Change into your really nice See-D
uniform and go to the party. (It's my opinion that they should always wear
those uniforms. Their clothes are terrible. I mean, Zell looks like M.C
Hammer gone wrong. They should always wear the nice uniforms and leave
their tacky, mismatched outfits at home.) The party is one of my favorite
parts of the game. The animation is beautiful. Pay attention to the girl
Squall's dancing with, you'll see her later.
The Secret Area...
A.K.A The make-out room
After the party, change and meet Quistis at the training center. She wants to go to the "secret area" with Squall. (Which is *so* a make-out room. Can it get any more obvious that she has a thing for him?!) She'll *again* try to explain some junctioning crap to you (geez...he's a fricken See-D now! Give it up!) Then walk through the training center, fighting stuff. The make-out--er..."secret area" is in the back, near the save point. Go inside, and Quistis will pour her heart out. Squall could totally care less. He actually tells Quistis to go talk to a wall! Geez. When she's done continue through the rest of the training center and you'll hear a scream for help. Oh no! A damsel in distress! It's Squall to the rescue!
Raldos
Difficulty Level: Easy
Who I used: Squall and Quistis (required)
Times I Died: 0
This battle is soooooooo freakin easy. Just summon Quezecotl twice and it's game over for Raldos. Pay attention to the girl you just saved...you'll be seeing her later...or does she already look familiar....
"But the Owls are Still around..."
Wow, your first assignment! Already?!
On the train ride there Squall,
Zell and Selphie will all pass out (I told them to lay off the liquor!
Oops.) and it's off to dream world for you! Who's this Laguna guy? Feel
free to make fun of him, Squall certainly does. Also, pay attention to
the song Julia plays on the piano and her conversation with Laguna in her
room. Then later on you'll feel really smart.
Oh well. In Timber greet the guy
blabbering about the forests with the owl line. Prepare to meet 2 more
one-sided, one liner characters: (ya know, AFFIMATIVE...these guys always
come in two's.) Zone, (ow, my stomach!) and Watts (yes, sir!) You also
get to meet Rinoa and her dog Angelo. I'm a fan of both. Does Rinoa look
familiar? She should. Remember the girl I told you to remember at the dance?
That's her! Turns out she was looking for Seifer (?!) and wants to know
if "he's" here. Squall happily gets to answer, that no, he's not a See-D
and therefore is not here (what an ego boost!) So the train operation is
explained, and Zone and Watts both volunteer *not* to go. (You know for
2 guys who're so gung-ho to free Timber, they kinda don't wanna do anything.)
The train is easy, so I'm not going to explain it.
The Fake President and Gerogero
Difficulty Level: Easy/Hard
Who I Used: Selphie, Zell and Squall (required)
Times I died: 0
The first time I fought this creature I had a
lot of trouble. The fake President is easy, it's when it morphs into that
disgusting undead creature that it gets hard. Notice I said undead creature.
Keep that in mind. If something's already dead, then something that brings
life to something would kill something that's living dead. Huh? Got phoenix
down? Once the fake President has morphed into it's undead alter ego, part
with a phoenix down for a one hit kill. Make sure someone in your party
has the Item command.
If you don't have phoenix down, be prepared for
a tough fight. This is pretty embarrassing to admit, but I almost died
the first time I fought this freak. I didn't know about the one hit kill,
and it's attacks are pretty powerful. Plus, it hits you with abnormal status
effects, like berserk and silence. This is written in all caps in the book,
so I'll do it here too. DON'T LEAVE AN ABNORMAL STATUS EFFECT ON A CHARACTER!!
DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT THIS WHOLE BATTLE WITH PHYSICAL ATTACKS?! I DIDN'T
THINK SO! THAT'S HOW I ALMOST DIED! IT'S CALLED A REMEDY, PEOPLE!
Timber
Now you'll have to find your way through Timber. Good luck. It's almost as bad as Esthar. Steal some magazines from the Timber Maniacs building and go down through the pub to get to the tv station.
That's Seifer...
Looks like Seifer has escaped the
Garden disciplinary area (what are you picturing? A bunch of people meditating
or a small room with padded walls? I'm seeing the padded walls myself.)
and now he's gonna try his hand at killing President Deling (and that's
bad why?...oh yeah. He may get in trouble for it.) And dammit, Zell the
chicken wuss has to go and blab how they're all from Garden. Grrreeeaaat.
But soft! What yonder comes from the swirling mist? Why it's the Sorceress,
the new "ambassador"! Uh....what's she doing with Seifer? Noooooo!! Oh
well, at least she's saving Headmaster Cid another headache.
Nobody seems to care that Seifer
has been mysteriously abducted by the Sorceress. Now you go hide in somebody's
house, where Zell crouched in the corner, wallowing in self pity, Selphie
makes a rude comment (that comment about the mother's beauty being a legend
was totally uncalled for!) and Squall shows off his skill of being able
to quote any section of the Garden Code.
Since you can't go back to Balamb,
you'll have to go to the nearest Garden. The nearest Garden is, unfortunately,
Galbadia Garden, a place I thoroughly despise. Take the tickets from Zone
(who says he'll go hide in a bathroom somewhere, appropriate since his
stomach is always bothering him. Also, he threatens to kill you if anything
happens to Rinoa. Take that to heart, he means it. Maybe he has a thing
for her...he does collect porn.) and get on the train.
Get off at East Academy Station
and go through the woods between the two plateaus. Oh no....another dream...
Laguna and his pals are lost again. Head through the maze and pay attention to your surroundings. You'll be back. Towards the end of the dream Kiros and Ward will get hit with a Soul Crash attack that leaves them with 1 HP. When you get back to reality, heal Selphie and Quistis, cause they'll have 1 HP too.
Are You Ready?
Go into Galbadia Garden and head
for the reception room. Don't talk to anyone. These people all suck.
While you're upstairs you'll hear
some terrible news. Seifer's dead. Everyone expresses regret (even Zell!),
especially Rinoa. Turns out she was in love with Seifer. Before you start
freaking out about Seifer being executed, (and Rinoa being in love with
him), think a minute. Would they slap Seifer's face everywhere just to
kill him by the middle of disc 1? I think not.
When Squall storms out of the room,
head downstairs and talk to Rajin and Fujin. They seem to be up to something,
and they don't think Seifer's dead, ya know? Besides, if he really was
dead, imagine how Fujin would react. Not only is she insane, she's also
in love with him (at least I think so).
When you're called to the front
gate, save on your way out. Prepare to meet the best character in the game,
the only thing not evil about Galbadia Garden, Irvine Kinneas.
We love you, Irvine....Oh yes we do....
Aw. Isn't he cute? Your character
repertoire is now complete. Unfortunately, Irvine is not very popular at
first among the other characters. Only Squall seems to give a chance. Oh
well, what do they know! Now you must get started on your mission, which
is to kill the sorceress. Ack! Looks like you'll have to haul your ass
over to Deling City. Exit Galbadia Garden and head west to the train station
over there. You'll have to take a train. It's the only way.
Irvine will suggest a party of
Selphie, Rinoa and himself. Hey, he's a ladies man! If you don't mind hanging
out with Zell and Quistis, tell Irvine his party is fine. The results are
hysterical.
Deling City is easy to get around
in, but only because of the buses. Hop on the bus headed to Caraway's Mansion.
Turns out the General wants you to head into the tomb of the unknown king
to prove how worthy you are to carry out the Sorceress job. Geez. Whatever.
We're See-D's here. We don't have to pass any dumb tests! Not like this
Sorceress job's so darn great anyway.
Leave the city and hike west towards
the end of the peninsula. As you go you should run into a flying blue bird
called Thrustaevis. Draw the float spell from it, and draw a lot of it.
You're gonna need it.
Diablos
Difficulty Level: Hard
Who I used: Zell, Squall and Irvine, or Squall,
Irvine and Selphie
Times I died: 1
Now's a good time to add Diablos to your GF list. You're going to need both him and his abilities very soon. Put Selphie in your party, cause her limit break is great in this battle. This is a battle for life. Diablos has attacks that will drain 3/4 of your HP. It can also physically attack you causing 300+ points of damage. Make sure you have lots of cure and access the magical lamp. Put protect on everyone right away. Summon Shiva and keep on using her. Draw Diablos' demi magic and use it on him. Keep everyone's HP over 500. Selphie's full-cure limit break will come in handy when everyone's HP are low. Keep everyone healthy and soon Diablos will get sleepy and give up. Once you have access to him, set up so he's learning MUG.
The Tomb
When you enter the tomb you'll encounter a draw point, a save point and two people who run screaming "float!" from the tomb. Uh-oh. Don't panic. Draw, save and head inside. Not far from the entrance you'll find a sword type object lying on the ground. Inspect it, and you'll find the I.D # of the Galbadia Garden student. (The guy got lost 5 feet from the entrance? How much of a wimp was he? And they say they have instructors who suck at Balamb Garden?) If you're lazy, turn around and go back now. However, if you're interested in getting a great GF, read on.
The Brothers
Difficulty level: Medium
Who I Used: Squall, Irvine and Rinoa, or Squall,
Irvine and Zell.
Times I died: 0
Ok, fine. Since it's such a pain to get to the
fight, I'll walk you through it.
From the entrance keep on heading right. You'll
come face to face with a purple bull like creature. This is Sacred. Cast
float on him to cut off his contact with the ground. Because Sacred (and
his bro) is Earth elemental, the ground restores his HP. Once Sacred's
flying, whack at him and he'll run away. Now here's the annoying part.
Leave the area where you fought Sacred and keep on going right until you
reach the flood gate room. Take Squall to the left side of the room and
press X. He should open the floodgates (when this happens water will come
flooding out.) After you do this, exit the room and continue to go right.
You'll come to another room with a wheel. Go to the right this time and
press X. When the wheel starts to turn, you've lowered the drawbridge.
Leave the room and continue going right at every turn. Exit the tomb, turn
around and head back inside. This time keep going straight. Go straight
in the middle section.
If you have a lot of float spells you won't have
much trouble. Cast float on *everyone*- the Brothers and your characters.
This way you cut off the brother's supply of regenerating HP, and protect
your characters from the Mad Cow Special (I want to know who sits around
and thinks up these names for attacks.) Then cast Protect on your characters.
After that use whatever you want to knock the brothers in submission. Make
sure you cast float again whenever it wears off on someone. I can't stress
that enough.
Operation: Kill Sorceress
Ok, hope you remembered that I.D
#! Back at the Caraway mansion you'll meet General Caraway, who also happens
to be Rinoa's father (then why are their last names different?) Father
and daughter don't really get along, and he doesn't want Rinoa to help
with the assassination.
when Quistis' team is about to
leave for their post, Rinoa interrupts and offers to help. Quistis blows
her off and they leave. Later, she decides to apologize, claiming they
have plenty of time. (Ok, that's real responsible. Now's not the time!
Wait till later! I almost threw a fit at this point. Maybe Squall should
have put Zell in charge.) You have to go back into the mansion. Push comes
to shove and you end up getting locked in one of the mansion's rooms. Grrreeeaaat.
Thanks, Quistis!
Rinoa's taken matters into her
own hands. Climb up the building, but don't forget to save!
Get out of the room by placing
a glass in the statue's hands. Prepare to go into the sewers (make sure
whoever you are currently controlling is junctioned! You'll be switching
back and forth for the rest of the disc.) and be ready to stumble around
aimlessly. By this time the parade has begun and it looks like Rinoa's
in trouble! It also looks like Seifer is alive and well. What's he doing
up there?
Have Squall and Irvine follow the
same path Rinoa did and head inside.
Iguions
Difficulty Level: Easy
Who I Used: Squall and Irvine
(required)
Times I Died: 1
Ok, first of all, make sure you can draw! There's
a new GF a foot, and you'll need it very shortly! Also be sure Quezecotl
is healthy and ready to go. If you want insurance, keep the Brothers handy.
The Iguions will cast petrify on you. This is
*bad*. If you see numbers appear over your head draw Ensuna and use it!
I didn't know what the countdown meant, so I had two lovely statues of
Squall and Irvine at the end of the first battle. Draw Carbuncle first
thing and summon Quezecotl and the Brothers. You can also draw some break
magic if you want. It's a great thing to stock up on. Just most quickly,
and you should be fine. Actually, if Quezecotl has learned summagic 10%,
20% and 30% and you don't screw up boosting it you can kill the Igunions
in one shot. That's why you should be sure to draw the GF first thing!
After the battle, proceed back and
open the hatch on the floor. What does Irvine *mean* he can't do it?! Come
on, Irvine! Get your act together man!
Find your way through the sewers
and bring Quistis and the gang up to the room they have to pull the lever
in. Go to the top of the ladder and you'll be happy to know you "just made
it." When Zell tells you too, pull the lever.
Squall manages to convince Irvine
to take the shot. Irvine pulls it off, but it's no good. The Sorceress
has stopped the bullet. (Did this ever occur to them--that maybe she was
pretty damn powerful?)
Squall then has a showdown....
Seifer
He's Ba-ack
Difficulty Level: Easy
Used: Squall (required)
Times I died: 0
I love Seifer. Don't get me wrong. But besides being arrogant and not following directions. I can see why Seifer never became a See-D. He sucks. He is a terrible fighter! Why the Sorceress picked him for a knight, I don't know. Just summon your GF's, whack at him, whatever you want. Draw some magic from him too. Seifer's a pushover. You'll be glad you're fighting him and he's not on your team.
Edea
Difficulty Level: Easy
Who I used: Squall, Rinoa and
Irvine (required)
Times I died: 0
Remember that new Carbuncle GF that
casts lovely reflect magic? Make sure he's junctioned to someone (Rinoa's
a good pick.) cause this is one of the two times you'll actually use it.
Summon Carbuncle to protect you from Edea's spells. Use Shiva or Quezecotl
or whatever against her. If you have Diablos, *don't* use it. He's not
effective in this battle for some reason. Edea will cast dispel to get
rid of reflect. Simply summon Carbuncle again. Remember though, your cure
spells won't work when reflect is in effect.
Ah! What happened to Squall!? Make a grab for disc 2!
Time it took me to get through the
disc: 8 hours and 28 minutes
Level Squall was on at the end:
18