Board 8 > what is going on in that ffviii intro (playthrough/spoilers)

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SeabassDebeste
06/23/20 7:55:57 PM
#151:


man is there any way to stop/lessen the effect of gravitas

diablos's physical attack is just so powerful - gravitas + physical attack = guaranteed death
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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LeonhartFour
06/23/20 8:14:14 PM
#152:


SeabassDebeste posted...
man is there any way to stop/lessen the effect of gravitas

diablos's physical attack is just so powerful - gravitas + physical attack = guaranteed death

Just cast Demi on him and he'll cure you.

And have Selphie use Full Cure with her Limit Break.

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Drakeryn
06/23/20 9:21:50 PM
#153:


whoa I forgot TCA existed
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Leonhart4
06/23/20 9:24:36 PM
#154:


Drakeryn posted...
whoa I forgot TCA existed

I've never forgotten an FFVIII fan. Not even Kyle Bowen.

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Cavedweller2000
06/24/20 2:29:52 AM
#155:


Tip for Diablos - Cast blind on him and it will render him almost useless as Demi can't actually kill you (may take a few attempts for blind to stick)

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SeabassDebeste
06/24/20 11:37:40 AM
#156:


hmm, so i wound up not blinding him, but did beat him

i'd been trying to cast demi on him using draw (since i don't have any other demi stored). issue with this is that draw failed a LOT. also, if you cast demi as stored magic, he'll cast curaga in response... but not if you cast demi using draw. weird!

anyway, i finally got slightly luckier with draw and took him out

Leonhart4 posted...


I've never forgotten an FFVIII fan. Not even Kyle Bowen.

my condolences!
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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SeabassDebeste
06/27/20 6:31:10 PM
#157:


probably wasn't supposed to take me 30+ min to find and enter the missile base
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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LeonhartFour
06/27/20 6:31:39 PM
#158:


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SeabassDebeste
06/27/20 6:34:47 PM
#159:


i got out of the car and got into about 50 random encounters immediately. high encounter rate + murderous camera + didn't check the zoomed out world map view (who knew you could see locations you'd never been to?!) + a trip to delin city... even made it to the missile base on foot before i realized you needed to drive the car in.
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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WazzupGenius00
06/28/20 7:58:32 AM
#160:


Diablos learns abilities to reduce encounter rate though I would recommend not using Enc-None on a first playthrough

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Leonhart4
06/28/20 8:34:27 AM
#161:


If he's playing the Remastered version, there's already an option to turn off all encounters from the start!

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SeabassDebeste
06/28/20 8:46:22 AM
#162:


Leonhart4 posted...
If he's playing the Remastered version, there's already an option to turn off all encounters from the start!

couldn't find it! this was definitely what i wanted to do while i searched for the missile base

if i'd stayed in the car, it wouldn't have been a problem. but i definitely am disliking the punishing overworld.
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LeonhartFour
06/28/20 9:31:45 AM
#163:


it's only as "punishing" as literally every JRPG with a world map ever

if anything FFVIII is one of the least punishing JRPGs ever because no encounters is a readily accessible option

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LeonhartFour
06/28/20 9:41:48 AM
#164:


but anyway if you want to use the cheats the game has made readily accessible for you (I think you're playing the Switch version, right?):

Press in left analog stick - 3x Speed
Press in right analog stick - Battle assist (Max HP, full ATB gauge, instant Limit Breaks)
Press in both analog sticks - No encounters

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SeabassDebeste
06/28/20 9:56:44 AM
#165:


ah, there you go. i know about clicking eachh individually (and resorted to turbo mode for this section)

the random encounter rate felt unusually high, maybe because there's no fixed camera angle. do they appear less frequently if you fight them instead of running? (specifically, it feels higher than 6 or 7 in the same series)
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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Leonhart4
06/28/20 10:20:04 AM
#166:


I don't think it's particularly any higher than any other game in the series. It probably just feels more frequent when you're trying to find something and can't find it.

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Cavedweller2000
06/28/20 10:54:33 AM
#167:


Doubt it's relevant now but in case you weren't aware, you don't have random encounters when running on roads or train tracks.

Also, Fun Fact: Diablos' Enc-Half ability actually reduces encounters to a quarter

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WazzupGenius00
06/28/20 10:01:36 PM
#168:


Theres only one place I can think of that the encounter rate feels especially high, and its optional and partially preventable

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Cavedweller2000
06/29/20 8:38:46 AM
#169:


There are 2 places where its off the scale!

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Grand Kirby
07/02/20 3:31:31 PM
#170:


It definitely feels like if you run away from a battle you don't have the advantage of the "buffer" that prevents a new encounter from popping up immediately.

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SeabassDebeste
07/02/20 3:56:03 PM
#171:


in the two areas i'm currently at, random encounter rate hasn't been an issue. more when i reach a save point...
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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SeabassDebeste
07/02/20 6:13:58 PM
#172:


Okay, so a bit of progress. Storming the missile base is pretty entertaining; Selphie is utterly unconvincing as the lead soldier. (It's kinda weird that they seemingly have no female soldiers, yet take no issue with Selphie and Quistis.) Nonetheless, we're able to hang out with the soldiers as they just do mundane stuff. In particular, I'm sent on a runaround between two groups of lazy soldiers who really don't want to do the missile adjustments personally.

That gives us our opportunity, and sure enough, we're made. We take out a dedicated captain and his extremely loyal underlings (they call out to each other when they die, and use potions to help one another.) Then after some typing (which Selphie looks extremely awkward doing, like many 90s actors) we disable the missiles and set a self-destruct timer of ten minutes. Cool! As we escape, though, the defeated soldiers launch the missiles anyway. Back in we go. Garnering the RESPECT of a defeated soldier, we use his ID and the password to up the error margin for the missiles and change to a less reliable weapon.

The first time around, I run out of time as I'm escaping after working this annoying computer. Whoops.

The second time around, I set the timer to 40 minutes - no ego - and then, when I get out, I get stomped by three bozos in a tank.

The third time around, I'm so over it I play everything in turbo mode up until the tank boss. Disillusioned, I just use GFs to wipe out the captain and his two mates. Then with the boss, I diligently cast Protect and start chipping away with Level 1/2 magic. The charge-up move still winds up wrecking my shit, though, so eventually I get impatient and opt to do 4x-8x the damage using GFs. Bit by bit the tank blows up.

The clock is turned off for self-destruct. I wander around a little bit, but it looks like we're locked in. Everyone bemoans how they were unable to do anything, and how this is why they didn't get chosen to come along with Squall. Selphie wonders if Squall will run the school festival... and then the base self-destructs. (Presumably our heroes survive this.)

Without a save opp, we're back at Balamb Garden with Squall, Rinoa, and Zell. The moment we get in, things are crazy - students are running everywhere, and the creepy floating dudes are talking about the GARDEN MASTER and hunting the Headmaster. What. It's a civil war. The most striking moment to me, beyond the sprinting dudes and the creepy floaters, is actually the first time I run into a random encounter of a monster within the Balamb grounds. Now that breaks the peace. I also run into Raijin and Fujin. Raijin wants to split immediately after hearing about the missiles. I mean, that sounds like a great idea to me...

My first instinct is to look for a save point, which I seem to recall in Squall's dorm. I immediately try to go to the center thingy, but they tell me to hunt the Headmaster on the first floor instead. I start from the bottom left and go clockwise, finding sympathizers and enemies alike in (respectively) the hospital, the school festival area, and the cafeteria. This latter area is of note; Xu apparently convinced a bunch of SeeDs to hang out there and pretend they're guarding Cid, who's actually fled. Who was Xu again...? This was an instructor along with Quistis, right?

The next area is actually someone's dorm. Oops, guess it was on the first floor after all! And it's got a save point, so 'til next time!
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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Leonhart4
07/02/20 6:28:39 PM
#173:


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ffmasterjose
07/07/20 6:27:29 AM
#174:


Bumpara

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SeabassDebeste
07/07/20 9:54:42 PM
#175:


ugh i knocked down some ladder and can't figure out where to to now...
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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Leonhart4
07/07/20 9:59:38 PM
#176:


Follow the ladder. You were supposed to knock it down.

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SeabassDebeste
07/07/20 10:06:12 PM
#177:


found some fence i could open since it had a glowing dot
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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SeabassDebeste
07/09/20 12:42:20 PM
#178:


So last time we left off we were right in the middle of a civil war in Balamb Garden. We continue to make our way through all the wings. We save a few children getting harassed by a floaty priest dude, and he sets a much more powerful random enemy on us. At first I do it the straight-up way, but realizing how powerful it is, I remember the advice from before and use Sleep on it. Then I go full GF to polish it off.

Someone appears to be a hologram and I'm not sure who it is. But eventually, I complete the rounds, and we find Xu. She tells us that Cid is here after all, just in his room. Uh, sure. What a great hiding spot. We go there and he's hinting at going down with the ship in a way... but in reality he wants to test out Balamb garden's bunker capability. Which he's never explored before, despite running an academy that puts out mercenaries whose primary aims are destabilizing regimes. For some reason it's seen as heroic for us to want to head to the bunker instead - not sure why, but the music here is pretty awesome.

On the way down, the power is cut in the elevator. It seems like a set piece scene is coming but... nope, we just crawl down with no real issues. Squall tips us to junction on some Fire to our Attack, and after crawling down a few more tiers, we run into an enemy creature that nearly murders us. We run from it, but when we finally reach the control center, we encounter another dual enemy. I'd love to say I had a strategy here, but I totally just spammed GFs again. I don't like dying.

Squall is unable to figure out how to operate the bunker tech, but I guess it responds directly to the missiles, because the entire Garden suddenly goes Howl's Moving Castle on us, soaring until it lands peacefully (and buoyantly) on the ocean.

Cool.
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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Leonhart4
07/09/20 12:45:00 PM
#179:


Those bosses are weak to fire, hence Squall's suggestion. They're also vulnerable to sleep.

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Leonhart4
07/09/20 1:16:06 PM
#180:


Also just going to warn you that GF spamming stops being a viable strategy later in the game with several bosses. It'll help to learn how to junction properly.

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pjbasis
07/09/20 1:28:17 PM
#181:


The game really should have de-incentivized GF spamming somehow.

The game wants you to play with all the junctioning, but GF spamming is also so sufficient it's not hard to imagine why people do it.

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Leonhart4
07/09/20 1:29:50 PM
#182:


Oh, I get why people do it. I know I did it the first time I played, but some late game bosses will absolutely punish you if you don't know how to adapt.

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pjbasis
07/09/20 1:35:17 PM
#183:


It's been a while since I've actually summoned a GF at all, is it because of bosses that blow away your summons automatically?

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Leonhart4
07/09/20 1:40:33 PM
#184:


pjbasis posted...
It's been a while since I've actually summoned a GF at all, is it because of bosses that blow away your summons automatically?

That, and Adel with Rinoa won't let you spam GFs either.

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SeabassDebeste
07/10/20 9:11:21 AM
#185:


i guess i should be refining more high-level spells, but i'm paranoid about non-renewable resources. i have major hoarding issues.

plus doesn't casting big spells reduce your junctioned strength?
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Leonhart4
07/10/20 10:50:16 AM
#186:


SeabassDebeste posted...
i guess i should be refining more high-level spells, but i'm paranoid about non-renewable resources. i have major hoarding issues.

plus doesn't casting big spells reduce your junctioned strength?

1 spell isn't going to break you, and you'll have plenty of non-junctioned stuff to use, too. You can't afford to be a hoarder in FFVIII. There's very little in the game that is truly non-renewable.

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SeabassDebeste
07/11/20 11:30:58 AM
#187:


just died to norg

i should probably refine some stronger spells and juction item. also anti-silence for ST defense, though no idea if that will actually work.

there's no spell i hate more than silence.

also cid and edea are married what
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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Leonhart4
07/11/20 11:33:13 AM
#188:


Keep attacking the orbs when they change colors and NORG will go down quite easily. He tells you how to beat him at the start of the fight!

(Or you can just use Carbuncle to cast Reflect on everyone)

Also he has a GF so make sure you get it

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Cavedweller2000
07/11/20 1:16:03 PM
#189:


Leonhart4 posted...
Also he has a GF so make sure you get it
When his pod opens

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Leonhart4
07/11/20 3:50:54 PM
#190:


Oh right I forgot you have to crack the pod open first

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SeabassDebeste
07/11/20 4:46:54 PM
#191:


yeah i'd tried drawing before i cracked open the shell, and i was very disappointed. by the time the shell opened, i was silenced

i didn't really understand what they were saying about red/yellow/blue, but will reread
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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LeonhartFour
07/11/20 4:50:19 PM
#192:


basically he doesn't use good spells until the orbs are red, so if you just attack them whenever they turn yellow, NORG is a pushover

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SeabassDebeste
07/11/20 11:36:36 PM
#193:


died again - NORG himself certainly didn't get any easier after i KO'd the shell a second time. he still can cast silence and slow and all his strong spells independent of the orbs...
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yet all azuarc of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness
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Leonhart4
07/11/20 11:38:51 PM
#194:


Then use Carbuncle like I said

Literally none of those spells can get through Reflect

(Or you could just, you know, heal the status effects as they happen)

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redrocket
07/12/20 12:01:00 AM
#195:


Literally 100 silence junctioned to Stat Def

Norg goes down so easy!

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Cavedweller2000
07/12/20 5:02:39 AM
#196:


Out of curiosity, what are your HP and Str levels at?

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Leonhart4
07/12/20 10:15:18 AM
#197:


Do you even have HP and Str junctions unlocked for all three party members?

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SeabassDebeste
07/12/20 11:22:56 AM
#198:


i'll double-check my junction stuff when i play next.

wasted NORG last night but haven't done anything since. i didn't get silenced so i used ice3 (blizzaga is ice3, right?) once the shell cracked.

carbuncle was def helpful, though it didn't stop NORG from hitting me with the psychoblast or whatever. he killed rinoa toward the end, so i did rely on a few GF strikes as well
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SeabassDebeste
07/12/20 7:40:15 PM
#199:


rinoa (15) has ifrit, brothers, diablos

HP - dispel (x16)
str - blizzard (x46)
mag - sleep (x98)
spr - cur (x37)

EL A - thunder (28)
EL D - fire (x24)

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squall (19) has queztlcoatl, carbuncle

HP - dispel (x26)
vit - cure (x28)
mag - protect (x57)

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zell (13) has shiva, siren

str - thunder (x98)
vit - shell (x41)
mag - zombie (x8)
spr - sleep (x44)

EL A - fire (x79)

ST A - berserk (x15))
ST D - silence (x4) - just added this
ST D - slow (x6)
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Leonhart4
07/12/20 7:55:31 PM
#200:


Yikes, literally using base level spells halfway through the game.

Refine better stuff immediately

Also did you not get Leviathan from NORG

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