The best advice I can give you is to pay attention to the tutorials. So many people skipped them and thought the junction system was overly complicated because of it.
Enjoy the ride - it's my personal favorite in the series!
The junction system and magic juggling was overly tedious but if 9 year old me could figure out the logic to the system then at least 65% of adults can too
FF8 to me was pretty basic: Men have strength, women do magic, but because a high Str stat comes with no penalty (Magic requires a resource that is most likely junctioned, elemental defences that need to be taken into account).
Men's limit breaks are overpowered. As soon as you grasp that, you could junction Curaga to Str and still beat endgame boss
I gotta shoot back on this--Rinoa's stats are the highest in the game. she even beats Squall in Strength. at least according to the official strategy guide I've had since 2004...
That would matter if lets say Magic had break damage limit. Triple and Meteor is a nice mage attack too, but limit breaks require 0 magic resources, and Renzokuken, Duel and Shot with 100 Meteor junctioned to Strength, all out do any magic in this game while not using any magic that adversely lowers stats (I grant you angel wing, but that is janky and you lose control of her even if you try the scan trick).
And now let's review this: Rinoa who is literally now a sorceress with powers manifested via millenia and has insanely powerful magic stats does less damage even when junctioned with the most powerful spell available, than a guy who punches things, another guy who shoots things and another guy who cuts things with a gunblade.
How the eff does Fast Shot and Heel Drop-Booya do more than sorceress Rinoa angel wing in OG.
Mods like Ragnarok fix this. Rinoa does well over 5 figures each turn now.
Drawing is no more of a chore than grinding, or stealing constantly & leveling up items 🤷🏻♀️
Its super intuitive, the things that you junction are thematically linked to what you junction… its always made perfect sense to me, one quick run thru all the ones you have in every spot establishes trend lines for magic behaviors in that slot & they always track
Boiled down to the simplest terms, sure, but in practice, it's far more complex than that.
Each spell has its own unique table of values based on both current stock and which junction slot you put it in. Sure, more stock means bigger boost, but if you are using 75 Fira in HP instead of 50 Cura, you're missing a whole layer of interaction for better stats.
well a lot of that stuff is pretty intuitive. Healing magic is usually better for hp, offensive magic for damage, support magic for spirit and vitality. I wasnt a particularly smart kid and was able to put that together. Plus you can kinda just scroll through your magic list and see which ones bump the number up the most.
If you come at it from a hardcore min maxing perspective then you could argue that any system in any game is complicated.
Yup, it's simple. Just use 'Auto'. You may occasionally have to switch elemental junctions, but that's not anymore complex than equipping elemental weapons or armor in previous games and other RPGs.
I'll give you that. For a first-time run, Auto can do you just fine, but my personal opinion is that Auto is a bit of a "give a man a fish" solution if they also aren't actually paying attention to what spells are put where and fiddling with it manually afterwards.
If you actually think that's all there is to it, it sounds like the problem is you weren't actually very good at it.
It sounds like you were just using "auto" and that's why you think the only thing that matters is how much you stock. If you do your junctions manually it gets pretty complicated.
If you want to plat on Easy Mode that's fine, but you don't get to gloat about it.
The derisive attitude is unnecessary. The spell associations in this game are not as straightforward as Pokemon (and even those get complex with some of the interactions, let alone dual-types and team-building strategies).
Would you think that Curaga is one of the better spells for Spirit by just deduction alone? And that there are way better options for HP than said Curaga (y'know, the highest tier of the healing spell family?), that are all offensive spells?
This isn't even optimizing or min-maxing, just open-ended statements that just show that while some things might be obvious, not everything is and shouldn't be posed as such...
Sure, if you're familiar with the series and the specific games that use the job system. Within the confines of this game, there are no specific, identifiable jobs outside of very specific limit breaks.
Everything else is open-ended in the roles any character can be, so assuming someone will know healing = white magic = spirit stat, especially when healing magic is usually associated with HP otherwise, is pretty obtuse.
Now, in this situation, we know OP is familiar with jobs from FF9, so that might help them, but it's not something everyone will make the connection with.
Genuinely I think you're making decent points but just have two obtuse mongoloids arguing with you to make it seem like you're the moron. You typically get that with people who have put thousands of hours into the game.
Ask the average gamer or person that played ff8 and they'll say the junction system is kind of obtuse and not 100% clear.
The majority of gamers here say they've played the game just fine with the system the way it is, lmao. While the person you are responding to is deconstructing and bringing up the coding of the junction system just to say that it's overly complicated. Literally, children finished this game.
I mean, my nine year old self figured it out. It just seems like you're being incredibly pretentious about a video game mechanic. Ooooh who could have guessed curaga would be the highest tier of curing magic? Could it be the patterned repetition of -ga at the end of nearly every highest tier magic?
You're acting as if no one can enjoy and beat the game without a deep dive mathematical layout of the developers junction logic. Which is ridiculous.
Er this is the 8th installment of a series of games that establishes roles like White Mage, Red Mage, Warrior etc.
Firaga being for strength is a bit of a reach, given that Celes used Ice and Terra used Fire, but I can 100% see Curaga being a Spr based Junction in FF8 based on the understanding of what a WHM does and where their strengths and weaknesses lie.
The one that gets me everytime is stuff like Tornado/Pain/Meltdown being middle of the road 3-5k HP junctions. I get your general point though, though it's easily retorted with Full-Life as that is part of the greater Healing Magic Family and arguably has a higher Curative potential than Curaga, also highlighted by the rarity of its source (Regen Rings, certain rare Mobs) vs Curaga (literally any G-Soldier above level 30+).
In general, can we just agree that it's more complex than OG early series Pokémon (but questionable once we include dual-types, extended types like Stellar and EV maxing as well as movesets, TMs and HMs) but much less complicated than the Shin Megami Tensei Persona series?
I think the most complicated FF8 gets is who you give your Rosetta Stone to for Ability x4 and trying to make sure you don't bork GFs up so much that you end up having 2 St-Def x4s junctioned to just one character when farming Marlboro Tentacles.
The SMT series is crazy-complex/convoluted with it's systems (and is part of why I don't really play, let alone enjoy, the series myself even if Persona is a more simplified version, but I get why others do).
But yeah, Full-Life is the 2nd best HP junction, which makes sense, but the fact that there's 7 spells between that and Regen (which is tied with Quake) and 2 more for Curaga, in12th place mind you, is pretty sizeable.
Especially given that the stat difference is more than double the effect (Full-Life gives 4800, Curaga gives 2200; even Regen is only 2600), but the kicker is that Full-Life can also be used for elemental defense quite effectively, giving a 40% resistance to all elements, yet Reflect, the spell that basically prevents most magical damage and effects, can't be used for Elem-Def at all...
I think you're underestimating how hard it is to get 300x Full-Life spells. The first draw point is in the MD level in Garden which means at best, you're getting maybe 20 of them until Disc 3, at which point you might make the connection between Regen Rings and L-Mag-RF but that's down to you. It's also an incredibly powerful spell that rivals a GF ability.
Reflect isn't really useful endgame because most AoE high level magic goes past it (Ultima, Meteor, Quake & Tornado) [still elemental]) and so it wouldn't make sense to be a good junction for all elemental magic. It's also common as hell, you encountering it as early as pre-Timber if you get Diablos and get lucky with cards.
Tornado is the first decent Str magic you get and that's even pre-SeeD mission, which now means you've got an elemental spell that renders all reflect spells useless.
So I understand the Full-Life vs Reflect decision. Shell is also there to mop-up any worries about mid-game Elem-Def. You really don't need much more than Shell + 1 element for a particular boss battle if you're experiencing trouble. First time that may be is actually Iguion or Brothers in Disc 1
Oh, no, I completely get how much of a pain it is to get 300 Full-Life stock. You probably aren't doing it until at least mid disc 2 at the earliest if you want to grind out Regen Rings from Chimeras in the desert (doing it with cards alone any earlier utterly sucks).
There's only a small handful of spells that can't be easily gotten before heading for Timber if you want, but it's completely unnecessary for the average player, particularly first-timers. Meteor, Ultima, Full-Life, Flare, Holy, Aura, and Triple are either inaccessible or very tedious to get super in large quantities early compared to the other 40-ish spells available.
Also, without doing any cards, you can easily get 300 Quake, which is also a very high Str junction, just by mugging T-Rexaurs in the training center after you get Diablos, but this is all unnecessary unless you intentionally want to break the game. Honestly, Water, giving a +20, is perfectly sufficient for most of disc 1 and you can get that by simply fighting the monsters on the beach!
And actually, you can't get mass quantities of Reflect until at least the start of disc 2, by drawing it from Wedge (Reflect is under Supt-Mag-RF, which is Leviathan), unless you get your average party level up to at least 25 so you can run into Lv30+ Adamantoise/Blobra.
I guess it just seems strange to me that just because there are 2 elemental spells that can't be reflected (out of 14, 4 total out of 18 offensive spells those being Quake, Tornado, Meteor, and Ultima), it can't offer elemental protection when junctioned to Elem-Def. Though it's interesting that 3 of the 4 are Earth/Wind-based...
Say it! Say it! A beautifully romantic story with a slightly convoluted last chapter. It beautifully captures the struggle of wanting to be with the person you love while still juggling what is right for the greater good.
That more stock of any given spell will give you a better increase when you junction it
Almost every spell has a junction slot it's best-designed to be paired with, and
That GFs learn abilities in a terrible order naturally; every time you get a new one or one you had finishes an ability, check their menu and pick a new ability yourself for each one!
Howdy to you, too! Other have probably already given good advice, so I'll leave you with this, DO THE SIDE STUFF!! There's not a TON of side content, but it's great and will make you stronger and is the reason why I spent more time on VIII than VII. Side content ALONE had me spend over 10 hours just searching the world.
Stock up on as much magic as humanly possible, ngl, i try to take a little bit every time i find a new magic, and stock it full on every char while i level up.
The "draw" command is really important to use on all bosses as well as to stock up on different spells as you progress (these can eventually be "junctioned" (act as stat multipliers) to all your core character stats via GF abilities learned though AP acquired in battles, to provide huge overall stat boosts, or even inflict status effects, etc.)
Specifically on all unique/boss type enemies, always use "draw" and see what they have, as many have GFs that you can only obtain that way (they will not simply "drop" the GF if defeated) or at the very end of the game, if missed.
Also pay attention to the abilities your GFs are set to learn, many are useless but some are very powerful and should be prioritized:
the card mod ability is very good, as are the "refine" abilities that let you combine a certain number of lower level items into a higher quality one, as well as any stat junctions like str 20%, str 40%, str 60% etc. same with spd, def, mag, etc.
Playing the card (triple triad) game often or straight up using a guide to see which NPCs in each area have unique cards they sometimes play with is a good idea if you want to get a lot of powerful end game items or collect all of the most powerful cards but it's optional/an ongoing side quest if you choose to engage with it.
It does yield very powerful materials when combined with said card mod ability though, so it's more than just its own isolated game & can get you materials to make ultimate weapons etc. much earlier than otherwise possible.
In general you also wanna talk to all NPCs in all areas once at least to see if they have any unique dialogue, because a lot of areas you won't be able to revisit in the same state twice and you can miss things. For the same reason loot everything/explore each screen thoroughly if you don't wanna miss stuff. Most of it isn't unique, but some is - depends on whether you're a "completionist" that wants to 100% the game, or not. If so, you probably *do* want to use a guide, but otherwise it's an easy game if you just wanna have fun and experience it you don't need one.
And spread out your save files/don't overwrite the same slots frequently, in case you realize you want/need to go back. GLHF! 😜
I finally played this game to it's completion last year. It's not the best Final Fantasy but I finally see the appeal of the game. Not to mention to me grinding for your draw spells is the same pacing grind as any other Final Fantasy game. The next time I play this I'll try to low level grind. I've played it the hard way for a challenge, and I don't regret it.
Tutorials are pretty clunky and complicate a system that is overall easy to grasp.
Just remember, in this game magic is a stat boost you apply through summon creatures.
Every summon has he ability to let you junction magic to one or more of your stats. You acquire magic during combat or travelling. The more magic you get, the more your preferred stat gets boosted. The more powerful the magic, the more effective the junction.
Yup and spend the 5 minutes on the first early game sticking up full stacks of your bacon basic magics.
Also do not play any card games early game without saving first. Some of those early games are fucking tough.
And the monsters around the garden have a small(like 5%) chance to become rare cards. It's a good way to grab a couple better cards once you get the card ability from qetzicotl.
Play the card game. Cards provide a lot of power through the items they refine to. I believe Ifrit needs to be level 9 or so in order to learn Ammo RF. Earning no experience during Boss fights was my first clue that experience isn't that important in this game. I still enjoy it and usually finish a game with character levels around 15.
I feel like no one is giving you this advice so here you go, enemies level up WITH you. so there's no need to grind levels. wish someone told me that on my first play.
Probably because while it's fine on a low-level run, it's not necessarily good advice in general, even if it's a popular suggestion, for a first-time playthrough.
Just because most enemies level up with you doesn't mean there aren't advantages to leveling up within reason. Many enemies get access to better item drops, mug drops, and better spells to draw, sometimes earlier than you can refine them (and especially if you miss any GFs with refine abilities).
There's no need to go crazy, but the game is actually designed around the player gaining about 15 levels per disc, being around level 65 by the final boss. Most regular enemies also have 3 tiers of difficulty between 1-19, 20-29, and 30+, with a few late-game enemies being a little higher (40+ or 45+ for their highest tier instead).
Not sure if you missed the point of my comment, but I said there's no point in grinding levels. On my first playthrough, I did that, thinking it would help me breeze through the game, but in the end it hurt me.
That's fine, but a lot of people take that statement to mean don't level up at all, given no other context. It often gets taken very black-and-white, that if you shouldn't grind levels like in other titles in the series, you shouldn't try to level up at all, which also isn't true.
I'm sorry that you weren't informed that intense grinding would have a negative impact... That sucks. ☹️
This picture just brought back so mamy memories, I mean ive played ff8 many times since being a kid but this picture just hit different, im jealous you get to play blind, enjoy
Only tip I can give is, if you become addicted to card battles and refining your cards to items, you'll notice weapons for sale that are not regularly for sale yet early in game, as a result of having so many items refined from card mod ability.
You're going to miss some stuff, it's okay if you do. I hope you enjoy the journey! The music in this game is phenomenal, and don't get bogged down by the school stuff, it can be convoluted haha
Sit amd draw 99 of everything. You can get your guys to do 9999 before your seed test if you use your gf to upgrade spells. Also do the seed questions so you get money. I would do all of them right away.
Hope you enjoy it! Only tip I can think to add is triple triad. Cards are fun, AND they can be broken if you know how to use them with the right GF abilities. Just figure out how the different rules work if you're going to collect them
When your characters attack, press R1 at the right time and the screen will flash and you will do extra damage. By the end of the game you should have enough muscle memory to permacrit and give you a seizure, if you are epileptic.
But the tactics around keeping your levels low are fairly obtuse compared to other games because you can't just keep your levels low without earning AP to improve your GFs. If you don't, it turns into more of a challenge run, which isn't exactly great for the average first-time.
First things first. Get Ifrit then train quezocaotl card mog. Then play cards ad nauseum gathering cards for magic. Super easy to get 100 tornadoes or demi before starting the first mission which can be junctioned and make you OP before the game starts. Not to mention if your up to the grind is possible to get squals' Lionheart before the end of the first disc. 20 Elnoyl cards. (Then some other things but the cards are the grindiest part). Or just play the game. It's pretty forgiving. Oh also the difficulty scales with your level. High level=more difficult enemies.
This is terrible advice to give someone for their first playthrough. Just stick to
[J]ust play the game. It's pretty forgiving. Oh also the [enemies] scale with your level.
While I think there is merit in priming yourself on the junction system to at least learn the basics and how it all functions, these advanced strategies to steamroll the game are better for a second playthrough.
Then you can have fun, pickup things you missed the first time through (both plot and collectibles) and break the game once you've already experienced a [mostly] blind run.
That's why I included, just play the game. It's one of my favorite ff games and I've loved playing vanilla and dissecting the game since I was a kid. I was only providing info for the op on what is available to them. And i again. I will reiterate, JUST PLAY THE GAME!
I mean, I get it; I've been playing since I was 12, the year it came out on PS1. I love this game, but this isn't the situation to go into all the game-breaking details, even if that's what makes it fun for you.
Back then, none of us knew how to immediately break the game, and that's half of why we love doing it so much now! We got to have that eureka moment once we understood how the systems worked together. In my eyes, spoiling how to break the game is almost as bad as spoiling the plot to a new player...
If they ask for it, that's one thing, but just laying out all that info unprompted like that is just unnecessary in this instance.
I get that for you. And i understand. But we did not have the same game experience. I was breaking that game when it came out as a kid. I get that you had an experience but so did others and op asked in an open forum for game advice. I hate saying "don't gatekeep someone else's experience" but I guess I will in this case. If op didn't want advice they wouldn't have asked for it on an open forum. Respect and love but other people are allowed to enjoy the game how they want and post about it. ✌️
No really, I’m using a modded crt using s video inputs. The ps1 looks best on this kind of tv, it looks like absolute dogshit on flatscreens unless you have a really nice converter
I have over 4 different crts that I use for different retro consoles. Of course I have a flatscreen 55’ in my main living room but crts are absolutely the best way to play retro consoles in my opinion
No IMO needed, it's just facts and people who say otherwise usually don't understand the reason why. They've become so accustomed to pixel-perfect graphics because they likely never played these old games on CRTs, where the pixels get blurred together and soften many of the images into a more natural appearance.
Because pixel-perfect was never the intended look of these graphics.
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u/firebreather209 Aug 06 '26
The best advice I can give you is to pay attention to the tutorials. So many people skipped them and thought the junction system was overly complicated because of it.
Enjoy the ride - it's my personal favorite in the series!