grandjackal Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 (edited) Awwww yeah, time to get cracktastic up in here! FF8's not a game known for it's balance, what with all the crap it has and with how little of it is actually useful, along with character identity being tossed down the shitter. It's story is also...Yeah. So what redeeming features could it possibly have? Well, it's cracktastic, that's what! It is just so out of this world wacky that even despite the fact it sucks, everything sparks intrigue! There are schools that raise kids to be soldiers of fortune, there are sorceresses ruling a futuristically modern world, monsters are moon loogies, the end is signaled by a giant freezer box, and time is somehow "compressed". It is up to Squall and his band of teenage halfwits to explore this world for all the what the fuck it has. That being said, FF8 when it comes to gameplay is a very unique game in the series, and is just unique as an RPG in general. While it all came together to make something not solid at all, it still has this strange effect where it still somehow feels fun. FF8 is meh, but it beats the shit out of FF3 and 12 (I wanted to like 12...But they went and made it so boring) in all their boring tripe. FF8's bad, but not in a boring fashion if that makes snese. You can still derive entertainment from it, and thus it is this reason I am going to riff on what I can, along with sharing some personal musings to at least hope it makes things interesting while I go through the gameplay to see what I can't muster up. So we start off with the pre-rendered trailer they were too cheap to take out of the final build of the game that tricked many a people who just came onto the series from FF7, and how itall comes to explain jack shit and generally not bring an ounce of interest to the characters displayed. At least it has good music, thank you Uematsu. We then see the world's dumbest weapon fall to hit the ground, our emo hero comes to pick up and slashes to make a bunch of feathers come out, showing his weapon is a glorified pillow,and that he and his sparring pal are having a glorified pillow fight. Of course, our hero is the only wanker t ever suffer a wound from a pillow. Also, gotta love the epic music that plays during what has to be the most awkward sword fight ever, or how Squall charges with free hand extended as if to say "feel free to lob this off, I won't need it". His sparring buddy doesn't even entertain the notion, he just blasts him with fire while wearing a smile that says "I pity da foo'". Our "hero" for some reason even stops to shield himself, as if the rest of his arm is going to take being lit on fire any better than the rest of him. This just comes to show our "hero" is a dumbass who could not dodge the easiest thing in the world to dodge, and opted instead to just stand still and take it like a bitch. The sparring partner then takes the time to strike our "hero" across the forehead to cause a scar and a good splotch of blood sprays out, our "hero" suddenly getting an adrenaline spike to stand up and return the favor before passing out. Now, there is a theory out and about that says Squall dies when he gets impaled by ice by the sorceress, and I recall that theory being shut down. However, I would just like to point out some things. When it comes to a dream state, the mind is not know to be direct when in an unconcious state, as dreams can often take a symbolistic approach (with a bit of wish fulfillment sprinkled on top), and that no one said it had to be when the ice strikes him is when precisely he died. I would like to muse this notion across that Squall dies when Seifer fatally wounds him in the opening scene, because as we know, shit makes no sense from the very beginning. The proof may indeed be in the pudding, because the scar is constantly referenced to throughout the game. But enough of my blabberings onto what, and get on with more of an example as proof of point. We wake up in an infirmary. This is a logical progression. Squall has been injured, he passed out, surely he would be in the infirmary unless his comrade were to leave him to the buzzards (which case, we wouldn't be having this story). He is met by some random woman visiting, but more importantly checked up on by his instructor to make sure her students aren't murdering eachother. But if we take a dream approach to this scene...Thin of it as squall's brain reacting to the situation on the fly. "OH FUCK! OH FUCK! Please let me wake up in the infirmary, oh please by all things holy let me wake up in the infirmary! Ok, ok calm down...I'm fine...Head hurts, but I'm fine...Doctor comes to check up on me, head hurts, but fine...Girl comes by to see if I'm alright...*Ellone comes in* Scratch that, hot chick comes in. *Ellone leaves, Quistis comes in* Oh yes, hot sexy chick...Into chain whips too...Mpph, ooh gimme some sexual healin~<3" I'm sorry to have brought up Squall enjoying getting his ass whipped by chains, but it's a basic example that gets the point across. It's logical for now, but as the brain breaks down, we'll start getting into more serious shit. So I sit here, wondering when the game's going to start, watching Squall go through the Balamb Garden, which is a rather beautiful, if impractical, mercenary training facility. If we're back to fantasizing in the dream, you could consider it perhaps more wish fulfillment in that his college is actually a mercenary training ground, and that's why he and his friend were playing with their professionally made showcase only swords they got off their holiday cash. Even sillier is the "exam" of which involves slaying the local badass demon who apparently is liscensed to get his ass kicked or kill those who fail the exam of slaying him. At least we know Squall's a bit of a metalhead if this is the version of Ifrit he dreamed up, but what a lame-ass execution. He's an exam for trainee student? Squall, even your good ideas are riddled with failure. And obviously, his friend is pissed that he can't turn Squall into his personal punching bag anymore because Squall's dream girlfriend said so, so from now on Seifer and him are enemies. This is the brain's reaction, as in "WHY THE FUCK DID HE CUT MY FUCKING FOREHEAD OPEN!?". So, the game finally decides to begin! Start by sitting back down at your desk and powering it back on, going into the "tutorial" which is not a tutorial, but rather the file that contains your...Summons. More of Squall's dreamstate in action. At least he's pretty creative if you think about it. "Oh, I'm a soldier of fortune that kills fire demons and can summon thunderbirds and ice goddesses...as a side arm." So, I junction them both for now. Oh I'm sorry, what the fuck do I mean by junctioning? What, it's not correct english grammar to use "junction" like that? I know it's not, but this is a dream, so shut up. Basically, junctioning is another word for equipping. Why they didn't just use equip, I don't know or care. How one junctions summons is beyond me, but I think I can get the general idea kinda sorta with junctioning magic to a stat. For example, equipping a magic to Str. Fire to Squall's sword, makes sort of a searing blade, or Demi uses gravity to make the blade fall to deal a blow with a heavier crushing impact. Well, that's the only logical thought I can put into it. That, and it allows me to make this reference joke. Zell: AH SURVE THE FLAIMIN' FIYIST! So, I equip the two and I notice two things. Shiva allows me to unction Spirit (Magical defense), and Quetzacotl allows me to junction Magic (Self explanitory). I take a look at what abilities they can learn, and I notice that Quetz can learn junctions to HP and Vitality (Defense), along with Card (This is more helpful than it sounds),and Thunder Magic Refill. Shiva can also learn to junction vitality, but more importantly she can learn to junction to Strength. She can also learn Ice MAgic Refill. Now in this game, basic elemental spells are actually kind of assy (or at least I remember them being assy), but I'm trying to be semi-efficient here, so I'll have to see as it comes. Str-J means Shiva is going right to Squall, since he's the one who can bolster his damage with a critical hit, so he gets the most out of it. Quetz will be going to Quistis. I set Shiva to learn Str-J and Quetz to learning Card. Anyways, I leave the classroom, bump into someone I absolutely do not care about, and shrug her off since being nice to her leads to an unecessary tutorial (Know what I love most about FF9? No tutorials). On your way to the elevator, talk to the guy just standing around. He'll give you 7 cards...And yes, unfortunately the card game is kind of important. You see, Quetz learns Card, which in turn lets you learn Card Mod, which means you can turn cards to items, and thus you can turn items into magic. Magic is important for stats, so...But it's more important than that still! For you see, some cards give you rare items, and those items can be used to either modify your weapons to a stronger form (you don't buy weapons in this game, you craft them from items), or teach your summons new abilities which in turn could help your quest be easier, or give you a stat junction earlier. Trust me, this is more annoying than it sounds. Now, down the elevator is a save point, so save so you don't have to go through all that again, and wait for a kid to run by, and challenge him to a card game. Yes, what an exciting start to an adventure, eh? Card games! Wellm not really. I'd wait till you get Ifrit before you bother trying to get these cards, mainly because the cards you get absolutely suck, and there's like no way to win against the players with the cards you actually want, and instead of card grinding, we can just go get Ifrit and it's all cool. Think of cards as treasure chests. As you walk along to leave the garden, you'll find pink sparking air. This is a draw point, and it happens to hold Cure. I only get 3, so I kinda curse my luck there. Lucky me though that GFs are near useless in this game, so I'll just have to rely on my few potions for now. I go out, recruit Quistis, and I head out. Looking at stats, I notice some things. She is a level higher than Squall, having 15 more HP, 2 more Str, 1 less Vit, the same magic, 1 more spirit, 1 less speed, 1 less luck, and a LOT less hit (Squall basically cannot miss). So needless to say, she seems actually worse than Squall in just about every way outside of having a weird 2 more Str. I junction Quetz to Quistis for the coming magic boost for when I get enough of some sort of magic. I do as instructed and head east for the cavern. Before the cave are 2 managers that will ask how much time you'll want. I say 20 minutes, because I don't remember much about how long fights last in this game. Fire Cavern Bombs-Fire Red Bats-Thunder, Scan Buels-Fire, Thunder, Blizzard My strat is to have Quistis draw what she can while Squall bashes in what he can. I'm not gonna sit and draw grind, but I'm also gonna make use of Draw when I can. I would not worry about dying. Enemies do like 5 damage to your 500 HP. That's a 100HKO. Pathetic. Red Bats carry Thunder and Scan. There is a draw point where there are a few splits, and they contain Fire. I score big with 14 fires. I junction them to magic for now, wishing I had blizzard. Bombs carry fire, obviously, but they also take a lot of time to take down, and they love casting fire which actually does sizeable damage to you. Buels have Blizzard, so make sure you at least get SOME for the upcoming boss fight for Quistis. If you're lke me, you took opportunity out of a bomb fight to stock up on fires for Quistis's magic. Speaking of who, makre sure Squall's got GF equipped, and Quistis has her Blizzards. You come up to his lair pretty casually, and it's more than apparent that he doesn't like ice. Boss: Ifrit HP: 1068 (I love having Scan that doesn't suck again) Stocks: Fire, Cure, Scan You obviously have a time limit, but here's the thing. You want it to get as low as possible without it hitting 0 for a higher SeeD ranking later, which ups your pay. So don't worry about using long animations like Shiva, long as you do it within a timeframe. Shiva does 158 damage to him, so about 7 of those will do him in. Take the time to stock up on Cures if you wish. Oh, and his physical attack HURTS! 144 damage is no laughing matter. As for a thing about how summons work in this game, if you're really abusing Shiva, she's eventually gonna be too frail to summon eventually, so from there just switch to Quistis casting Blizzard while Squall draws either fire or Cure. I'd suggest Cure. With how much magic I boosted up for Quistis, Blizzard now does...82 damage...Still more damage than whatever Squall's doing (a crit is only 55 damage). Once you cast all your Blizzards (I had 8), and Shiva's done for and Shiva's too frail to bring back out, either have Sqall switch to attack while Quistis draws out fire, or go all out if you feel short on time. Magic offense sucks in this game because I forgot how high boss spirit is. Funny I say that when Blizzard was doing more damage than the attack, but do note I was hitting weakness, and my magic was boosted while my physical attack wasn't. You'll get a G-Returner (Phoenix Down for summons) his card for your troubles, along with 20 AP. Finished with 5 minutes on the clock. Probably could have let it run more to get more stocking done. IFRIT GET! Ifrit has Str-J off the bat, so I give Shiva over to Quistis in case she would need it more, because Squall gets dibs on Str-J. I have like no magic currently to do that with, but it's there. He can learn HP-J, Elem-Def-J, has Elem-Atk-J so I can have Squall do elemental damage too, and Fire Magic Refill. I actually go for the Refill first, since HP can wait. The amount of HP I have is ludicrous, as I went through that entire part without having to heal once. Actually, you know what? I just give Quistis's fires over to Squall and have him equip that to Str. 17 Str to 25. Delicious boost. From 8HKOing Bombs to 4HKOing. In exchange, I give her all my Thunder and Cures. Got there and back without leveling once, Card is about 4 points from mastered, and Str-J about 14 points away. Taking a break here. Name Lvl HP Str Vit Mag Spr Spd Lck Squall 7 486 26* 6 6 5 21 16 Fire 95* Str Quistis 8 501 19 5 8* 15* 20 15 Cure 61* Spr, Thunder 20* Mag, 4 Scan Edited January 1, 2011 by Amaterasu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momo Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 If you don't renzokuken every single turn, you're doing it wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 1, 2011 Author Share Posted January 1, 2011 If you don't renzokuken every single turn, you're doing it wrong. I would think that's actually a foolish idea in random encounters, unless the enemy is for some reason exponentially tough. Continuing on! I return back to Balamb, I am to change into my uniform, but first some side stuff. I get the draw point and get some Cure (5), I return to the save point and save before taking on the kid running around the circle on the ground floor for the Mini-Mog card. He doesn't choose to give it up immediately though, so I get a Cactuar Card, an Armadoddo Card, and an Abyss Worm Card in my attempts. Head for the cafeteria next, as one of the Quistes groupies has a card of...Quistis. It's the groupie to the far right. However, he will nto relinquish it easy either. I nab a Behemoth Card, a Grendel Card (I recall being able to refine them for something good, I could be a fool though because FF8 has a lot to keep track of), a Belhelmel Card, another Grendel Card, an Elnoyle Card, another Grendle Card (GIVE UP QUISTIS ALREADY!!), and FINALLY he gives it up! Sweet, now I don't have to worry about these damned cards for a while! Head for the library next, cause I recall there being a drawpoint there, along with specific books. The drawpoint has Esuna (Seriously, this early? I get 11 of them no less), an Occult Fan 1 (Loads of money!), and then return to your dormitory as instructed. Change into your uniform, and then exit to get your next mission, and be introduced to moron #1: Zell Dincht! Seifer's your squad captain, and while I wouldn't find it fitting that the guy who slashed my fucking head to be leading me now (Seriously, how the fuck is he not dismissed from this academy for something like purposeful friendly...fire?). Zell flips out though, like Quistis just told him his mom's a whore. We're introduced to Fuujin and Raijin who sit there and be mute, then Robin Williams briefs us on a war mission we're about to be thrust into as part of our continued exam. We ride in Seifer's piece of shit car to Balamb the actual town, where nothing really of importance will happen at the moment. Go back, draw some Thunders (12), and continue on. Impressions on Zell's initial bases: Zell's HP is the best, but for some reason he has the worst Vitality. His spirit is ass too, but he's got Squall's speed, and pretty damn high Str of 19. That's without boosts, so Zell's not worried in the slightest about his offense. It's those defenses that seem weird to me. Right now though, they're mere 1 points, but I don't know how growth works for characters in this game. We get in the boat, get brief about our mission in Dollet, Seifer pulls rank on you almost immediately, and then we hit the shores for WAR! Squall can't possibly think he's this badass just because he has some lame ass toy sword. We get attacked just upon hitting town by two Galbadian Soldiers, who are absolute derps. Now, later on Seifer will point out how letting him take the kills will mean the EXP mostly goes towards him, and generally you actually want him to take what kills he can while Zell and Squall draw up what they can. Seifer's very similar to Squall in how his attack works, and he's a pretty strong hit regardless. He should be able to OHKO these fools with a crit. Fire Maxed! Quetzacotl learned Card! Card Mod is next, and I'll wait to equip Card, since there's no cardable enemies in Delling, aside from the Anacondaur Thunder Maxed! We reach the fountain, clear the area out and simply standby to take on any scrabblers while we hear the real war go on in the back. Seifer grows a bit impatient, wanting some action. It's then Seifer gets the bright idea to go storm the tower like a moron. Squall and Seifer have a strange moment before moving on. We get interrupted on the way by a Dollet soldier trying to escape from something, but he didn't run fast enough it seems. Mini-Boss: Anacondaur HP: 1178, weak to Ice, strong to Fire. Poison absorb is no issue Stock: Fire, Cure Just draw, let Seifer take care of the details until it's HP is very low, then you Card it. You'll get no EXP, but you'll get a card for refining and the AP. The no EXP is a good thing in this game. Also, either Seifer's limit break is ludicrously easy for him to whip out (3 times in a row when he was barely at half health seems inhuman, and I could abuse it like he had Aura on no less), or it's just for this battle because I didn't take long on it. 4 M-Stone Pieces and 4 AP. Not bad. I continue on towards the tower, fighting baddies on my way. Shiva learned Str-J! Now learning Ice magic Refill. I equip my now maxed Thunder to Zell's attack for a juicy 29 Str God, watching the character interaction in this game is cringeworthy, and it's made no better by Selphie's appearance, who joins the team, much to my dismay. Fire Maxed! First impressions on Selphie: Weakest physical caracter so far, and horrid speed on top of it. Though, she does have absurd Luck (Not sure what that does, I'm assuming crits), and a nice juicy 10 magic. I give her Quetz, along with all of Zell's Fire, and all the Blizzard I had along with Squall's spare Cures. 20 magic, not bad. Too bad magic sucks (and I will keep hammering this point down). So, now we're at the tower, and we are to climb up it. Simple enough. Seifer scares out the initial guards as I wish he were back on my team again over this failure schoolgirl. There's a drawpoint nere the elevator, by the way. It contains Blind, and I draw 10 of them. These will be helpful, both soon and a moment in the future. Whoa, one of hte soldiers dropped Normal Ammo! I didn't know they did that. Well, cool I guess. Now save up, heal up(if you want, it's actually rather beneficial to keep health low for limit breaks), and take the elevator. Before you do though, make sure you have Draw equipped. Ifrit mastered Fire Magic Refill! I have him learn HP Junction now. So we climb up, see Galbadia has repaired the tower, setting up a satellite to broadcast after many years of the signal being distrupted, which is...Weird. But anyways, seems these two aren't about to let all their hard work go to waste. Bosses: Biggs & Wedge, interrupted by Elvoret Biggs: Has Esuna Elvoret HP: Didn't check Elvoret Stock: Thunder, Cure, Double, Siren Biggs and Wedge are glorified soldiers, and it's the Elvoret you need to be worried about. Hmmm...Seems the higher your magic is, the more you tend to draw. Zell and Squall can barely get Esunas out of Biggs, but Selphie can manage 4 or 5 on average. Have Selphie draw what Esunas she can while Zell and Squall do the fighting. Once Elvoret shows up, nab what Doubles you can with Selphie while Zell and Squall bust out limit breaks on this fool. NAB SIREN FIRST! Not a hard fight at all. Storm Breath sucks though if you're trying to keep low health though. 180 damage is nothing to scoff. You get 2 Elixers, 2 G-Returners, 2 Cottages and Weapons Monthly March Issue along with 18 AP. Siren Aquired! The magazine is mainly just money, because it just shows off basic weapons as if you'd ever want to return back to them. Ride the elevator back down, heal up (you have no reason to be low health anymore), and get the hell out of there! You'll have to deal with a robotic spider on the way however. Quetzy auto handles it. However, it has Protects, so have Squall and Zell get as much of it as they can get their hands on. When it malfunctions, run! Keep running, and if you fight it again on accident, just repeat the process. You'll get to the boat while the terminator's pet spider comes to kill you, but Quistis on the machine gun lights this thing up. (WHY ARE WE NOT USING REAL WEAPONS!? Quistis just rambo'd the thing that had us running for our lives!). So we return to Balamb after that catastrafuck of a mission. I had Siren set to learn Life Magic Refill I believe. Returning to Balamb, seems that the Radio Tower was important, but it seems that Galbadia now has Dollet occupied. Seifer gets called out for being an idiot who ignored a direct order and nearly got his comrades killed (We were not even remotely close to being in danger, let's not kid ourselves). So, Seifer gets canned (Seifer's always looking for a fight, wounding Squall in the forehead, Squall's brain is still on a logical thinking level, but it lagged a bit to just spit it out and realize that Squall thinks that Seifer should get canned for it, so in his dream he finally did. As for the Fire Caverns since I missed it, sort of a searing pain sort of thing"). So, I head up to the second floor to get the test results, see what rank I got. Cid gives you a Battle Meter to go with it. Conduct: 50 Judgement: 50 Attack: 30 Spirit: 50 Attitude: 80 SeeD Rank: 5 Break tiiiiiime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momo Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 I would think that's actually a foolish idea in random encounters, unless the enemy is for some reason exponentially tough. Why do you say that? It's not like you have any risk of dying as soon as you can buy tents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Dear FF8. Card is broken. That is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Why do you say that? It's not like you have any risk of dying as soon as you can buy tents. The idea is to keep your levels low and your junction magic high, this way you can just smack things out of existence. Why would I need to Renzokuken when A. I don't want to kill in the first place, and B. When I don't need to? Dear FF8. Card is broken. That is all. Technically it's not broken, it's just stupidly centralizing. So we return, and it's the ball scene. The biggest waste of time in a video game ever. Here we see Rinoa, showing that indeed her finger point. I sit and wait for the game to tire itself out before I can start playing again, tapping my foot and waiting patiently. I suppose in the dream state, this is more Squall wishing for a girlfriend who doesn't take his crap and forces him to do things he doesn't want to feel alive. I think we can conclude here that Squall's a masochist, at least on a minor level...WHOA, I did not notice that before! There are banners in the dance hall, and the top things that hang the banner look like Adell's prison! It's not like a minor thing I noticed, the damn things were glowing red, had the same shape and everything, as if trying to get your attention. Either that is a massive coinkidink, or it's proof for my case. After Quistis tries to pass some hints to Squall, with Squall being a moron, we're off to the secret area in the training facility (Why would they hide it in the training facility?). I switch all my junctions from Zell and Selphie to Quistis, along with the magics they collected. To the right is a draw point, so we'll be going that way first. Grats should take a crit then a normal hit before being carded, and have Sleep+Silence. I'd stock up on Sleep. I equip Sleep to defenses actually, as I would prefer not to get Sleep from the gas that Grats cause, and my chances of running into a T-Rexaur are teeny tiny. Besides, even if I DID run into one, sure as hell not staying to fight one! Well, might nab some magic before running off, but I'd rather not fight a T-Rexaur. Aaaaaand just as I say it, I run into one. My second freaking encounter? Really, game? Well...I decide to get a bit risky and fight it, since I have plenty of sleeps. I decide to just keep casting it's own Thunder on it (it's got Fire and Thunder, if you need to stock up, but I don't need to) while it slept, and to my surprise, Quistis's Thunder is doing more than Squall's crit. In fact, I'm doing astounding damage with magic. I decide to forget about the fight, because it is going to take WAY too long. Draw point has Blizzard, as a note. So we're at the secret place, pretending something important is happening with Quistis becoming a basic SeeD from lack of leadership qualities (What the fuck? Ok, 1. She's an instructor, what does she need leadership qualities for? 2. Even if she did, how is she lacking? What, not booting Seifer earlier?). The scene goes as quickly as it came, and goes back to being from nowhere as I leave this dump. Shiva learned Ice Magic Refill! Vit-J is next. We hear someone cry for help, and we see some unholy dragonfly attacking a lady in distress! Squall plays hero with chain whip wielding girlfriend #1. Boss: Granaldo, x3 Raldos Raldo Stock: Fire, Thunder, Protect Granaldo Stock: Sleep, Blind, Shell Squall under Renzokuken can kill Raldos in one shot, Rough Divide or not. Just have Quistis steal what protects and shells she can before Squall mauls everything. 2 Renzos on Granaldo. This is an obviously easy fight. 16 Wizard Stones (Jeez!), and 14 AP for the battle. That fight was just a pinata. Some white clad stagehands come to help the just saved womanup and out of here,while I return to whatever the hell I was doing. Why did they give me this many Wizard Stones? Now I just have 80 Firagas to do whatever the hell I want with. 42 Str on Squall this early. I go back to the dorms, get told I have a no room, take a sleep and pick up a weapons monthly off my desk. April issue actually has upgrades, such as the ShearTrigger (1 Steel Pipe, 4 Screws), Maverick Knuckles (1 Dragon Fin, 1 Spider Web). The other two are useless. So now we get briefed by Robin Williams to go to Timber, and support a resistance that has hired us. When they say "Man, the forest sure has changed", you say "But the owls are still around". You will find it doesn't matter what you say. Talk to Cid, and he gives you a magic lamp that houses great power, but is cursed. I head outside and use it. Know what I find? THE DEVIL!! Boss: Diablos Seriously, wtf Cid!? Whatever, just Blind it and have Squall maul it to death. With 40 Str, shouldn't be hard. It has Cure and Demi in it's stock, so stock up on lots of Demi if you can (Though due to how much he really doesn't want to part with them, it's easier said than done). With it blinded, it can't do anything other than reduce you to limit health, where you just annihilate this idiot. Seriously, with all that Firaga, Squall's doing up to 1550 damage under Renzokuken. Ridiculous. 8 G-Returners, Diablos Card, and 20 AP. Ifrit mastered HP-J! Siren learned Life Magic Refill! Now for Tool Refill. DIABLOS GET! Time Magic Refill comes first for him. Giving him to Zell. On my way to Balamb, I get a raise along with my pay, netting me 4000 Gil. I visit Zell's houseand challenge his mom to cards in order to get Zell's card, and I get it first game played. Before stopping at the train station, I buy 30 Tents and refine them all into full Curagas for hte team, assigning them to stats of which they'd be most needed. Of course, I have to pay for my own ticket, cheap bastards. So, I ride the train heading for Timber, pick up a Pet Pals vol. 1, and we're off to lala land. We then cut to a band of 3 morons in the midst of battle as Galbadian soldiers. With one blast of pepper from Laguna/Squall or Keiros/Zell should be enough to Card whatever enemy may lurk around here. Though, you may want Keiros taking out Geezards, since Geezrds are pretty fragile. Second thought, have Ward do it. Quetz learned Card Mod! Now for Thunder Magic Refill. Take this time to modify any cards not your prized set. When Random starts showing up as a rule in cards, it's good to have no shitty cards in your deck, not like there's a point to doing so anyways. During this hallucination, you can stock up on Cure, Sleep, and Water. So, we hop aboard a military personel carrier, go AWOL, take part in illegal parking. I save here and break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 So we return to see Laguna messing around. Mayhaps this is Squall's brain wondering how his mom met his dad (yes, he's an oprhan, but if we think about how this is a dream, perhaps symbolically it's his hate of having a dad like that. Some idiot who would go AWOL in war and is generally a careless goon, spawns Squall on a random one night stand? Mayhaps Squall when he's awake is to a single mother, and this is just him thinking who his dad might be, and the initial thought is someone careless enough to have an accident like this happen and then just walk away. Later on, it's a point returned to,because for all he knows, Squall's dad could be the president of some future town for all he knows). We wake from this nightmare and back into our original one (both literally and figuratively), and we arrive at Timber. Watts is by the train, and he "asks for the password". We meet Zone as well, and for a resistance force, these guys seem kinda...Derpy. Mayhaps this is more symbology, in that this resistance is immature. Perhaps symbolizing an immature rebellious nature towards some sort of authority (perhaps he is indeed raised by a mother and father, and this is him being introspective towards his father, since Timber resists Galbadia, of which Laguna is a soldier of in the recent dream). He sees this resistance, and sees how stupid it is. Mayhaps it is him finding his own rebelliousness stupid, immature, and regretting it as he is dying after Seifer sliced his head open. Speaking of which, it seems Rinoa is leading the resistance. If we're to accept that Rinoa is a wishful thought on what he would want in a companion of deep affection, then I think the big sign here is when she says she was with Seifer. If we are to take that link, it is perhaps saying that Seifer is what suckered him into this rebellious phase, perhaps idolizing him as "the cool guy I wished I always was", and Rinoa is his brain's way of telling himself "I could have had better influences" (as immature as this resistance is, she's actually doing something important in leading for a cause, while Seifer is busy being a dropout). On a comedic note, anyone noticing how many people that seem close to Squall are people busy leading him around in some way? Quistis is one who leads because it is what the instructor instructs, and instructor has a chain whip, Seifer leads because Squall's his idolizing bitch, and Rinoa is his princess who leads with a cause in mind and cash in her pocket. Squall seems to have some serious repressed submissiveness. So, we go to discuss the plan, of which Selphie brings up why don't we just take a rocket launcher and blow the shit out f the Galbadian President's train? Childish, but seriously. This is a resistance, isn't it? That's not exactly a hard thing to pull off, and it would accomplish the mission. I'm beginning to think how Selphie and Zell are symbolic in Squall's head, and Selphie must be childishness. Thinks simply, but at times, what more do you need than simplicity? Zell? No clue. Maybe vive, or something. Sure he's a loud and annoying douche, but who's more fun to be around, him or Squall? Anyways, the plan is rock stupid, in that they are going to dislink the president's car while it's moving, replace the car with a dummy while they abduct the president's car, then just run away back on a seperate track...As if the guards would not notice any of this taking place. Seriously, the reason they won't just do the simple but effective "just blow it the fuck up with a rocket launcher" sounds more effective, because both are gonna start an international incident, but this plan is going to start an incident while at the same time accomplishing nothing. What, are they just gonna hold the president hostage? Galbadia's a military nation from the sound of it, just capturing the president's not just gonna make them surrender when they could just find a way to infiltrate your shitty operation and rescue him while you're all dead. Or hell, maybe this sparks war all the same, and you're caught being the morons who started it. Whatever though, this is a dream, so let's do it. Before you go though, go back to Rinoa's room to find Pet Pals vol 2. If you manage to do it before 3 minutes pass overall, your SeeD rank goes up 1. If you do it without getting caught or mucking up the codes, it goes up by 2. So, saving up, we go to interrogate the president. However, it seems they even knew ahead of time we were coming, and had a body double take the president's place. See? Galbadia's pretty competent. Mayhaps Galbadia is symbolic of adulthood in general (Seifer having gotten there first because of the whole dropping out and suddenly having to deal with real life thing while Squall's still a student, though the dream takes that to a whole new level). Oh, right, make sure you have Item equipped. Boss: Body Double, Gerogero Stock: Esuna, Double, Berserk, Zombie The fake president has nothing of value, and a Renzokuken should deal with him adequately. Then, he becomes a mutated zombie! He's got new spells, but neither are of any value. Toss a Phoenix Down on him. You win! 8 Zombie Powders and 20 AP are your reward for...that. Shiva learned Vit-J! Elem-Atk-J is next They can't believe it was a trap (Seriously?), and they find out the reason the president's here is to prodcast from the news station. Rinoa asks why here when they could have in Galbadia, and then act surprised that the Dollet communication tower revived all broadcasting (the reason no one broadcasts nowdays is because radio waves for some reason or another got messed up in the atmosphere, so they simply stopped broadcasting). Makes even less sense for Timber to still have a tv news station if tv is basically dead. This is the first sign that Squall's mind is starting to slip. Also, it seems that Robin Williams gave us to Timber under the dumbest contract ever, saying we're under their command until Timber gains it's independence...Which means we're never going to be out of the command of this resistance. Robin Williams has technically married the group to the resistance, and unfortunately Zell's gonna have to pair up with either Zone or Watts, since we know who Rinoa's going with. First impressions on Rinoa: She is basically superior to Selphie in every way aside from Luck (which means dick to me), and even leading the party in HP (if not for Squall having Curaga to HP). Whopping 5 magic base over Selphie too, and 22 Str is not too shabby in the least. Her downside though is her higher level. Lvl 11 makes her the highest level of my team, which means her existence on my team is making enemies slightly stronger, though I don't think it'll be by enough to matter. It's a team of Squall, Zell and Rinoa. But before I go, I challenge Watts to cards, saying I want to have Open in Timber. Back in Balamb, if you are asked to spread rules, SAY NO. Balamb has the best rules, and you'll always want to spread Open. If you're coming from a place with shitty rules, simply refuse to play with those rules until the person stops asking. In Timber, it's no biggie. Timber has the Same rule, of which works like this. Let's say in a row, 2 cards are next to eachother that both have a 7 on the left side. If you plant a card that completes the row that also has a 7 on the right side, you will get Same, and flip both cards. Anyways, gonna play Watts for Angelo Card. Nab it on the first try. Angelo as a card is like Minimog except it trades a bottom 9 for a 7 in exchange for having 3 on the left and 5 on the right instead of 2 on the left and 3 on the right. Overall, Angelo is a more solid card, but if you find you prefer Minimog, keep it. Angelo can be refined to 100 Elixers (overkill), and Minimog can be refined to 100 Pet Houses (MONEY!). I find Zombie's a good thing to equip to Vit now, as Curaga would be overkill (I DO want to have some ability to actually limit break with Zell after all, 71 Vit would make him like...immortal). Anyways, you are to find the station behind Timber Maniacs, and also visit the pet store to buy Pet Pals vol 4 (The reason you don't want to learn Angelo Strike and Invincible Moon is because these in turn make Wishing Star happen far less in the future, and Wishing Star is awesome). Now head down form the train station, visit the weapon's shop. If you're like me, you had the stuff to get Zell his new Mavericks. Oh right, there are enemies about town. Too bad they're soldiers you can't card. Try to get out of town quick before you get too much EXP. Siren learned Tool Refill! Diablos learned Time Magic Refill! Next is Move-Find, and Status Magic Refill! I turn my 3 Magic Stones into 15 Hastes, and I leave it at that. Oh right, south is the wrong way (Damned weapon's store and its siren call!), go to the right of the train station. Visit the Timber Maniacs, as there's actually a few important things while you're here. Pick up the Girls Next Door mag from one of the stacks at the entrance (Zone will thank you later with a card), and a room to the right carries Blizzagas. I draw 3 for Rinoa for some side nukes in case I need them, and I leave. I get payed as I walk, gaining a sweet 9000 Gil. As you continue, you run into some soldiers in front of the pub. Kick their asses. I pick up a Buel Card off them. Weird. Quetzacotl learned Thunder Magic Refill! Next is Mid Magic Refill Buy 20 Holy Waters from the shop for 40 more Zombies for whoever isn't capped off from the 8 powders Gerogero gave you. I now have 2 full stocks of Zombie, and I equip it to Squall's magic for now (since Curaga's better than Zombie there for Rinoa). Drawpoint has Cures if you still need any. Go inside the pub, some drunk is talking about how some soldiers stole his card (The Buel Card), so show it to him, and he allows you to keep it while giving you a Tonberry Card! Refine both these cards (Your super cards are so good, you should need nothing else) for a Magic Stone and a Chef's Knife. This will be helpful for forging Squall's Punisher. If you're not interested in it though, you can turn the knife into 30 Deaths (which is kinda pointless, since we don't want to kill anything, be it in it's use or via junctioning), or AP ammo (which can be pretty good, considering how early in the game it is). Head up the walkway to see a giant tv (why is it still hooked up when it's not been of use for years?) broadcasting a message to the citizens from the president. Rinoa is shocked to learn that the president would have the place guarded when he's doing his broadcast(...), and once he's down, she'll take that opportunity to do a broadcast for the resistance. Rinoa makes an interesting statement on how easy life must be to just take orders (more of your wishful thinking coming up eh Squall?). Squall gets fed up with this crap and says what's on everyone's minds, that the Timber Owls are insanely incompetent. She runs off, canceling whatever plan she had, saying they'll disperse, since taking Galbadia head on would be suicide (There's the clear head). She runs off, Selphie comes in to replace her (DAMMIT!!), and we see the speech of which he says there will be an ambassador to discuss "peace talks" with other nations when Seifer busts in and holds a blade to the president's throat, Quistis coming in after him. WHOA, that came out of left field. Again, Squall wishing he were badass enough to do it. Seifer could do it. Quistis could do it. Why not Squally? Cause Squall's a loser stuck with princess Rinoa. Perhaps he is trying to reason with himself why he find Seifer cool in the first place, and the reason being is because apparently he thinks Seifer is badass enough to hold a weapon to a person of national importance in front of a worldwide audience. So, we go in to help. Seems Seifer broke out from the "discipline room" (Wasn't he canned? Also, discipline room with Quistis? Why Squall, your kink is showing, and you wanting Seifer getting dominated is saying quite a lot about you.), and has come to do what a whole team of morons can't do. It is here we meet The Sorceress...In a strange room of purple of which she comes out of some covering. Now things are getting interesting. If we take another symbolic look here, captain badass is holding the leader of Galbadia (Adulthood) hostage with a blade to his neck, and in comes the sorceress. What does she do? Why, she mocks him, calling him a child (interesting, no?). Funny thing is? This works. He lets the president go, and wonders off with the sorceress. Now one normally would find this stupid for being the equivelent of calling someone a chicken, but if we think about it symbolically, it makes sense (Or I'm insane in seeing patterns where there are none. But alas, this is a dream, no? Things don't make sense in dreamland). So what the hell IS The Sorceress a symbol of? Well, we can't quite get to it at the moment, since there's a looooot to talk about when we finally start unmucking all that crap. So Seifer vanishes off to join the adults, and Squall is left with his childishness, annoyingness,and wishing or dominance. So, now it's time to leave Timber, since the base is destroyed. But, Rinoa says we have to stay, as an order from a superior. On the way back, there's a drawpoint for Scans. We get offered a place to hold up, so we hide upstairs like we're hiding from the nazis, except we're incompetent at staying silent. I've noticed around here that there are random flashes, like the tv static when entering the tv station, or the flash when leaving, and another flash that just happens randomly in the middle of a conversation. Perhaps a sign that Squall's brain is starting to get a bit nebulous as more blood is leaving that wound on his head. While we're upstairs, a conversation goes onabout how Seifer basically badassed his way form Balamb to the president's neck, and how Rinoa feels sorry for him ( "Seifer would hate to hear you say that" is an odd way Squall responds in his own head, since rarely would one use a name in a statement like that when trying to be casual. Squall seems obsessive). He remarks on how Seifer may already be dead (logical conclusion), and Rinoa calls him a meanine...and Squall apologizes? (Illogical). Rather immature way to take death of a "loved one", and kind of a stupid reason to apologize back with. Man, Squall's repressed submissiveness is seriously that bad? Lol, how dare I make the princess feel bad! So, we try to decide where to head next, and we decide upon going to the next garden (after Quistis asks Squall if he remembers his codes, like a good lil' student. I'mma milk this thing as often as possible, folks). The nearest Garden happens to be...Galbadia. This seems ass backwards to me, so I decide to sit on the train till we arrive at Dollet. Hope no one recognizes us. But before I do anything in Dollet, I'll be taking a break. One thing I have to say about this game is that it's nowhere near as slow as I'd thought it'd be. It's not awesome paced like 9, but it's bearable. What pisses me off though is that there is not much game being played on disk 1 so far. There are rarely the chance for random encounters, and even fewer chances with encounters you actually want with monsters. Human enemies are annoying as hell, because you can't card them and essentially are punishing you with leveling you up just for taking too long at a point in time with human enemies. This constitutes like half of Disk 1's encounters, so disk 1 has little to no action in it. I find it rather annoying that the game is punishing me for wanting to play the game. As for battle, at the moment anyways, it seems to revolve around 1 person doing actual fighting, others are basically drawing or carding. In a boss fight though, it's more one person draws, the other person supports the combatant, and the combatant does all the actual work. This combatant is in all likeliness Squall, since for carding he can adjust between crits and non-crits at will, and he will never miss on top of it, AND his limit break is the most consistent for multi-hits outside of Zell's and Irvine's. Needless to say, this doesn't exactly make gameplay riveting, and gameplay is nothing close to deep. This game is not off to a good start, not that it's a shock to any of you. Disk 1 so far is ultimately what I would call a dull experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momo Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 I won't have anyone talking about me in the past tense!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 I don't mind 8's battle system but I don't abuse Renzozuken at all. My problems stem from 2 things: 1. The entire orphanage scene. I find it completely stupid that 5 people who barely knew each other (Zell and Squall weren't friends and Quistis was kinda distant due to her being an instructor) all suddenly realize (well, not Irvine since he knew) that they all grew up with each other and their foster mother is the same woman they need to kill. There's coincidence and then there's stupid. Clyde and Relm fighting in the same team against Kefka can be written off as coincidence. Galuf travelling with Dorgann and then Bartz can be coincidence. I'd say the same about Auron and Tidus but Jecht asked Auron to do it so fuck that one. But 5 people who grew up together? I just call bullshit. 2. This one also applies to FFVII. There's very little that makes characters special in these two games aside from Limit Breaks, weapons and personalities... oh and base stats. FFVI and FFIX both had very distinct characters, especially in battle. FFVIII doesn't and there's no real incentive to use anyone aside for specific tasks aside from what the plot requires. Fuck, even FFXIII was better in this regard (even when all 6 l'Cie had access to all the classes, they are still used for different purposes). I know that I seem hypocritical when I then say that FFV is my favourite game in the series since that also suffers from the same problem. But the difference is that you have to build your team in that game (somewhat). So... yeah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 I don't mind 8's battle system but I don't abuse Renzozuken at all. Limits are so easy to abuse, it's not funny. Mainly because unlike in FF7, you aren't actually forced to use it. It's an option you can bust out whenever. Renzokuken's like the most ridiculous thing in the series. My problems stem from 2 things:1. The entire orphanage scene. I find it completely stupid that 5 people who barely knew each other (Zell and Squall weren't friends and Quistis was kinda distant due to her being an instructor) all suddenly realize (well, not Irvine since he knew) that they all grew up with each other and their foster mother is the same woman they need to kill. There's coincidence and then there's stupid. Clyde and Relm fighting in the same team against Kefka can be written off as coincidence. Galuf travelling with Dorgann and then Bartz can be coincidence. I'd say the same about Auron and Tidus but Jecht asked Auron to do it so fuck that one. But 5 people who grew up together? I just call bullshit. On a logical standpoint, yeah, it's insanely stupid and a cop-out. But if we're going with my theory on this whole thing being symbolic, this would most likely be more that these characters (who are singular aspects of Squall's mind, since they are all 1 dimensional) are all singular aspects of Squall's mind. So of course they'd have "grown up together", they're all part of Squall's mind. 2. This one also applies to FFVII. There's very little that makes characters special in these two games aside from Limit Breaks, weapons and personalities... oh and base stats. FFVI and FFIX both had very distinct characters, especially in battle. FFVIII doesn't and there's no real incentive to use anyone aside for specific tasks aside from what the plot requires. Fuck, even FFXIII was better in this regard (even when all 6 l'Cie had access to all the classes, they are still used for different purposes). I actually think FF7's a bit more unique than that. Sure, materia can hamper hte purpose of character identity, but certain minor things can come together to keep identity alive. Base stats are one (base stats are a minor point in FF8 because junctioning gives such ludicrous boosts, and only physical stats matter), as is back and front row determining more about the character (it's a key difference between Sith and Vincent, since Vincent's gun allows him the back row, so essentially he's the tougher mage as they both have the same exact stats), Limit Breaks are actually varied and give characters different utilities, materia slots for when you get certain weapons, etc. FF8's uniqueness is even worse than "limit breaks", it's "You're Squall, or you're not Squall". I know that I seem hypocritical when I then say that FFV is my favourite game in the series since that also suffers from the same problem. But the difference is that you have to build your team in that game (somewhat). So... yeah. FF5's a solid game, imo, because it expects you to do something with your TEAM. FF8 doesn't have a team, it has Squall with people tagging along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 Moving on I suppose. So, what was the point of going to Dollet? To change the rules of the card game there, and spread Open to it. You see, Dollet has the rules Random and Elemental, both of which are devestatingly awful rules. However, I'm unsure if I really care all that much, due to the nature of how low I'm keeping my card deck. What's the point if I'm gonna have nothing but awesome cards? Well in the least, I want Elemental gone, and Open spread. I spread Open easily, and then I save to head back to Timber to make sure no Dollet rules spread, then I go back to Dollet to start abolishing rules, hoping to either get rid of Elemental or Random. I goback to Timber, challenge a guard until he stops asking to change rules. I win a Blitz, and I head back to Dollet. I turn it into a Dynamo Stone, and refine it into 20 Thundagas for Rinoa. I go back to Dollet and I abolish the Random rule basically in an instant. I thank my stars, challenge her to a game for her troubles, and win a Blue Dragon (I'll need to get 4 for a Fury Fragment for Zell)....Bleh, I go back to Timber to do it over again to abolish Elemental,because it's annoying. I go back to the gard, win another Blue Dragon. I go back to Dollet, try to banish the Elemental rule, but it takes a bit longer. I think maybe the time spent should be to try to abolish Element rather than Random, now that I notice how long this is taking. Random wouldn't really hurt me, now that I see it. Ehh, screw it, I don't need Element phased out that badly. Anyways, go to the east from the train station before Dollet in order to enter a forest, which starts our next Laguna adventure. Seems we're still Galbadian soldiers, and we're dealing with being in Esthar for some ungodly reason (how badly did they get lost?). There are a miriad of reasons this place sucks. 1. You just got fully healed, Squall and Zell are pissed about that. 2. Quistis and Selphie, so if you don't have magic on them, you're sort of semi-boned unless you're like me and had Squall stock on some spare spells. 3. Enemies are mostly uncardable Esthar Soldiers, be they cyborg or human. First area has a Sleep drawpoint, which never hurts. Esthar Soldiers are basically glorified Galbadian Grunts, since they have the same stock, just with more attack (though still not even remotely dangerous). Head down the straight path (the right path doesn't lead anywhere, the left path is a bit more important), and you'll hit a for with 2 paths. The one straight ahead is the way forward, and to the right s a Confuse drawpoint, nabbing me 7 Confuses. No idea how handy they'll be, but never hurts to have some on hand I guess. Go down the ladder, hug the left side of the screen as you go down and keep hitting X until you find an OldKey. You'll lose it as quick as you found it, but there's a purpose. As you pass over some trap doors, feel over one of the latches to hatch a plan, tampering with one of the latches to make a trap for Esthar. 2 screens after, search the bit of rubble for the Old Key again, only to lose it again (AGAIN, there is a purpose that will come later). It's at this point I have to wonder what point Esthar hs in the symbology of Squall's dream, and how his "dad" and friends are there, and escaped. Perhaps this strange place is the cold touch of death, and this is Laguna and his friends barely escaping it. Or, it's the passage to the other side. I think the passage is the more accurate statement. Cyborg Soldiers are actually pretty tough. They can survive 2 hits from Laguna, and they have -Ara spells. Unfortunately, you can't draw ara spells off them, only basic ones. Head north from the first boulder and past the second until you find a detonator. Hit the red switch first, then the blue. Red switch traps a soldier further down the line in the canyon below, and the other will plug up the hole. I believe this opens a way to a drawpoint and an item later, so do be sure to do it. Keep going north until you find a path out of here. Oh, you'll find a boulder to kick, which unlocks a Cure drawpoint. Maxed out another set of Thunder on the way. Oh, and mighty important! Card whatever Elastoids and Gespers you find!Not only does it save you from leveling up, but they can be modded into important items! Gespers make Black Holes, which can be made into Demis, in turn being the best thing to equip to Str. Elastoids make Steel Pipes, which are important for several weapons, and Doomtrain. Gespers also have Shell and Protect, so that's cool. An attack from Ward equipped with a maxed out basic element spell should be enough to knock it into card range. When you reach the exit, you'll be confronted by 2 Esthar guards, one of which when you kill will start Soul Crushing Ward and Kiros, who both are felled to 1 HP. Random when you consider this is the only time an enemy does this. Perhaps further showing that this place is related to death. So then Laguna proceeds to be a moron, throws his severely wounded friends off a cliff into salty ocean waters, and then we wake up. More magic in tow, but having to rearrange everything again. At the other end of the forest is the military academy of Galbadia Garden. For how many academic rooms this place has, it makes Balamb look like a two-bit school. Save, head to the hall to the right and take the right door to find 2 guys and a girl talking about cards. Challenge the girl if you find youself needing Lvl 6 cards. Looking at the lvl 6 cards, none of them are worth it. However, I bring her up so that you can return to Galbadian flat rules, and to help change the rules in Trabia with the help of a transfer student just across the hockey rink. This will be mighty helpful later when you want to get Selphie's card. I win a Gayla (Mystery Fluid=Meltdown), some Life from a draw point, and an Abaddon (Abaddon=DarkAmmo=Pain, a wonderful status spell) in my quest to rid Trabia of it's shitty Same/Plus rule, and spread Open. So, return to the central room to save up, check the holy light for more Haste, and head up the central hallway. Head up the stairs and take the nearby door to trigger the next series of events. Balamb is not being held responsible from Seifer's maniacal actions (which is weird, considering his reasons for doing it were to help with the resistance. In the least, Timber's fucked). Well, Timber and Seifer's fucked, as Seifer's to be executed. Seifer gets talked about in past tense, and Squall bolts out because for some reason this just sorta shocks him the most. Even Rinoa, of whom Seifer basically sacrificed himself for, is not taking it as ba as Squall's little outburst there. More support for my little crazy theory, and also reinforces the original theory about how the biggest point was Squall being afraid of death. It hits a bit home harder though under my theory, because Squall is dying as this scene takes place. His brain is having a panic attack, and it reflects in the dream. And yes, he comes off like a big baby in this scene. So...Simply leave Garden. We get met up by Fuujin and Raijin. They laugh at the notion of Seifer getting put on trial, much less up for execution. We're told to head out to the front gate for our new mission to assassinate Queen Amida-I mean, Sorceress Edea. We are to basically just hide a sniper during a parade in her honor to take her head off while the other half of us trap her in the archways of Delling City. Sounds simple enough. Our sniper? Irvine! Irvine is not Zell or Rinoa, so he will not be making it into my team. It's also funny how the head of Galbadia's army is saying that the Sorceress's goal is world domination, which seems a lofty goal. When you consider that adulthood wants her gone before she takes over the world, it makes me think more of the symbology. What would adulthood want from taking over it's world? I suppose we;ll think about it more later. Anyways, Delling City, and the whole "go to the tomb of hte unknown king" to get summons in a dungeon while actually walking on the world map! OMG! What thrilling excitement! I am nearly done with disk 1 and I have YET TO DO THAT!! Fucking A', game! A whole 1/4 of your RPG is not an RPG, it's a game that punishes me for playing the fucking game! I finally get to actually DO something other than try to avoid combat and deal with your dumbass story that's so bad I have to completely look at it a different way and riff it just to bear it! Speaing of whcih, Irvine s a pretty clear indication of being the Libido if Squall's brain. Looks charming and calm while trying to seem cool, but is trying to hump everything and is a desperate punk who can't get any because he doesn't seem to actually know how (Squall's a virgin is what I'm saying, though I'm sure you're not surprised). So, off we go! Frst impressions of Irvine for Humor: His Str's not that much worse than Zell's (and Zell's rocking a better weapon than base), has more HP and Vit AND Spr, while also being more accurate (Zell has the chance of missing even when 0% evade is implied). Zell's only winning factor is his limit and 1 more Luck. Luckily, that limit is the clencher here, so Irvine can go fuck himself. There's a train station like right next to you, so board it (again, paying for your own fuckng tickets). You get on board, Irvine tries to get into Selphie's lack of pants, then we arrive at Delling after telling us how being a sharpshooter is about being a loner and begins describing taking the shot as if it were an orgasm ("Pouring our whole being into 1 shot" eh? Funny how later he makes the point that he's never done this before), and Zell gets mad enough to punch the ground for...Some reason. I like how only Selphie (childishness) falls for his very pathetic moves (of saying it's fate and love, and...merely leaving it at that). Deling is where Laguna was in hte first dream, and if we recall, Laguna had some sexng with Julia here that made Squall, and we come here right after Irving, and how upon coming here have to "explore the tomb", and our mission here is to "shoot at a woman of great power". No wonder Deling looks like the sort of town that would have hookers everywhere. Perhaps in Squall's dying moments, his brain could at least try in hte most unconcious roundabout confusing way try to "satisfy some wishful thoughts" to help cope, but unsurprisingly it will go unfilfilled (OH, DID I SPOIL ANYTHING FOR YOU!?) The immediate first bus will take you to Caraway's mansion, but the guard won't go in until your skills have been tested in the tomb (BAHAHAHAHAAA!!). We have to come back with a ID from a dropped weapon (in short, we have to "find the right spot" ). Don't leave Deling just yet though. Take a bus to the Shopping Arcade, and get to the left side of the street to find a guy in a black suit. I forgot to get some card stuff done earlier in the game in order to get the Kiros Card from this guy (DAMMIT!! No auto-haste for me!). I go there and play him anyways, and I wanna get some shopping done anyways. I get a Geezard card, because I need some Screws. I automatically am able to get Rinoa's Rising Sun weapon thanks to that Belhelmel card giving me a Saw Blade. Save at the hotel, as there is a woman in a green dress across the street who is from Fisherman's Horizon. The rules there are Sudden Death and Elemental. My only problem is Elemental, but even then I'm not broken up about it. I win a Wendigo off her to spread the Open rule. I refine it to a Steel Orb for 15 more Demis, and I equip it to Squall's Str, passing Firaga over to Zell to equip to his Str. NOW we leave. Ahhhh, the open air. Random encounters that are actually good for me, and a time to be on my own. I'm tempted to just say screw playing hte game efficiently, because playing FF8 efficiently is just not fun. It's basically avoiding playing the game, and what I'm left with is FF8's shitty story told in horrid dialogue. Head east of Deling to reach the tomb. I'd actually consider killing a few Wendigos for steel pipes, since the only other way to get them is via Elastoid Cards. You'll want at least 6 before leaving Deling (don't bother with Shear Trigger). Stock up on Berserks if you wish. They'll also drop Steel Orbs, so feel free to turn those into Demis. Once you have 6 Steel Pipes though, just start carding them like normal. That is, if you run into enough to get 6 pipes and then MORE. I should also mention that I am loving the fact I equipped Sleep to attack this early, because it makes fights laughable. Err, wait, I forgot you can still get items even when carding...Shit. I'm stupid. Oh well, maxed out Demi! Wendigos have about 1100 HP, so at least 2 attacks from Squall with 1 from Zell should do the carding trick. Tomb of the Unknown King You see two girls run out, saying FLOAT (gee thanks), and there is a draw point with Protect (I have enough to make it better than Zombie for Vitality, which now I equip to Magic for Zell), and I venture forth into the tomb. Basically, head right at every point. But first, soon after the entrance is a weapon, the ID you need is on it. ID is 99. But I'm not done here quite yet. Eventually a Minotaur. Boss: Sacred Stock: Shell, Protect, Life, Berserk Oh, pardon me. He's got some good spells to stock up on, and you can complete your Protect stock for Zell while you're here. Feel free to collect whatever else you may need, as this guy's pretty laughable. Also, since his feet are on the ground, he recovers about 100 HP a turn (Big whoop). In fact, he'll eventually just run away. Stock up, take advantage of it really. You can't lose. So anyways, leave and head right like usual. Armadodos habe about 1000 HP anda ton of defense. They lose defense when knocked on their back. Armadodo cards are valuable because I recall Quake is an incredibly good equip spell. Ifrit mastered Str+20%! Now for Str+40% Anyways, keep heading right until you find a drawpoint and a chain. Undo the chain, and get some Floats from the drawpoint (I got 6, should be more than enough), of which I hand over to Rinoa. Diablos learned Status Magic Refill! Now for Mug. I take the time to make Meltdowns from my Mystery Fluids, totalling up to 20. Should last me a good while, and will come in handy mighty soon. Keep heading right again until you see a water wheel. Pull out the stopper, and in the corner find a hidden drawpoint for Cura (I just happened to remember this from a long while ago). This time, when you leave, just go straight forward until you see a pillar in the middle of a pond. Leave that screen, go left 3 times to find a bridge to said pillar. Now for a fight. Boss: Minotaur and Sacred Minotaur Stock: Shell, Protect, Berserk, Double Sacred's stock is the same. This time, it's a bit more serious. 50 damage is not a lot, but it piles on, and is at least 6RKOing you altogether (well, everyone aside from Squall and his luzy 2000 HP). Minotaur also recovers a whopping 300 HP a turn, so be sure to Float them. One at a time though, take them out individually. I'd suggest Minotaur. I decide to test out a 80 Quake-boosted Blizagga here, and 650 is doing more than Squall's 500 with a crit. I'm rather shocked, actually. My pocket nukes are paying off. Minotaur goes down in 1 round to a Squall crit, a Blizagga nuke, and a lucky crit from Zell. I take this time to cap off my stock of Shell and Life, Rinoa stocking up Berserk while Squall returns to combat, all the while Zell knocking some teeth in. 8 G-Returners, 8 G-Hi-Potions, and Sacred's Card along with 40 AP. Juicy. Quezacotl learned Mid Mag-Refill! I had readjusted some skills to make benefit of the huge AP bosses give now, instead of stupidly letting skills get capped off and basically waste the AP, but now I'm basically 1/5 of the way done with Mug already! HP-J is next After that, the huge coffin in the center of the floor opens up, and the ghost gives me Minotaur's Card. As for the Brothers themselves, they are essentially the summons with the physical stats for the last member of your team that doesn't have them yet, in this case Rinoa. Cover can be a helpful ability too, what with how much we want to abuse limits in this game. But first, Str-J takes precedence over that, since I can get by surviving fine. Nothing comes close to damaging me bad enough to do any real damage. Once you're done with that though, just head straight out, checking the weapon agan if you need a reminder. I return to Deling city, but I save before entering to take a break. Siren learned Move-Find! Now for Status Def J x2! Also, it's Screw Christmas! Kinda pissed I didn't get steel pipes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anouleth Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) Anyways, go to the east from the train station before Dollet in order to enter a forest, which starts our next Laguna adventure. Seems we're still Galbadian soldiers, and we're dealing with being in Esthar for some ungodly reason (how badly did they get lost?). iirc, they're not in Esthar. There are just Esthar soldiers there. (Also, I think FF12 is a lot more interesting than this one.) Edited January 4, 2011 by Mr. Know-it-all-Anouleth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 iirc, they're not in Esthar. There are just Esthar soldiers there. Whatever man, I'm not gonna care that much. Just gonna to continue making witty observations about squall's mindscape. (Also, I think FF12 is a lot more interesting than this one.) FF12's story was decent until around El-Cid, then it came to a complete halt and forgot what it's doing. FF8 is consistently moronic, but too cracky not to be entertaining. It's the sort of game that could be for mystery science theatre 3000. As for gameplay, both are rock stupid. FF8 you have Squall do everything, and in FF12 you just need Reverse/Distract, and you'll win the game. FF12 has a far more interesting world, but being more interesting than FF8 is like being more interesting than drywall. Anyways, continuing on. So after getting the password, we wait for Caraway, Rinoa gets impatient and goes to look for him while we're stuck in here. Rinoa says this is her house...Wait, what? So let me get this straight, she is leading a group that is to liberate Timber form Galbadia...and her father is the general of the army "oppressing" Timber. It comes to show that perhaps in Squall's mind he was doing everything that he was just to rebel against some negligent father. Thing is, Caraway doesn't even seem that upset about it. Irvine has him cut to the point to avoid needless drama (THANK you), and we get to the plan on how to assassinate the sorceress, of which I had outlined earlier. Now for some reason you have to make a team here, but there's no real reason to. You're going to switch it later anyways. So, after the game decides to waste our time, we're back at his mansion waiting for the proper time. Sniper team is Squall and Irvine, and the other is Zell, Quistis and Selphie. So now I'm Quistis, and I try to leave only to run into Rinoa having a rock stupid plan. Her plan is to slip an Odine Bangle onto Edea (tricking her into thinking it's a gift, as if a sorceress and an ambassador to other nations isn't going to recognize what an Odine Bangle is), of which then it will surpress her power (Esthar is a place that has basically killed or neutralized any sort of magical people ever since Adel was mprisoned. Makes me wonder the symbology there). Funny thing is, she doesn't even know if the damn thing will work, but Zell recognizes the brand name,and figures it will be effective (what, is this common?). Quistis, having a brain and all, finds this as the dumbest plan ever (because it is), and letting her know that they have the better plan of just putting a bullet in the sorceress's head, of which they have to execute this moment. They leave Rinoa to be braindead in her own house. Rinoa says she knows it's not a game (f a father/daughter quarrel), saying she had a plan and everything. A stupid plan, but it makes me wonder the meaning of this as well, since it seems everyone has some sort of plan against the sorceress. As we go to our designated spot, I musea bit on how Irvine says if Squall doesn't care if maybe the sorceress could be pure of heart. Funny he mentions this considerin what we discover later and all, but more about the symbology (since we know what Irvine is, what happens, what Deling's all about, etc.), and Squall reflects that it doesn't matter. Your true thoughts betray you, sir submissive to 3 seperate ideas in your own brain. A final musing is a wondering as to why the sorceress would hold such an extravagant parade, and the reason is because she is using Galbadia as her base, and figured it deserved a party (so the sorceress is most related with adulthood. Noted). Quistis begins having second thoughts about going off on Rinoa (why!?! She deserved an ass kicking! Maybe Squall's mind is again having second thoughts about what he truly wants in a significant other. Namely someone stupid but sweethearted, replacing "not caring" with "not knowing" .). She goes to apologize (Hey, no pressure guys! Just leaving our post for a not very important ASSASSINATION MISSION), and they end up getting trapped in the mansion since even Caraway thinks Rinoa is so stupid a lock mechanism sets off in which it was made in order to lock in Rinoa. You'll get control of Rinoa, but before going up the boxes, go down the ladder. There are enemies down here, but navigate until you find the Weapons Monthly May Issue, then head back up. It shows upgrades for Squall's Cutting Trigger requiring a Mesmerize Blade and 8 screws (stupidly easy if you're interested, just find a Mesmerize card, refine it, and you basically have this weapon), Rinoa's Valkyrie requiring a Magic Stone and a Shear Feather (You should have Rising Sun by now, so that's irrelevent), and Irvine and Quistis's I don't care. Switch her junctions over to Quistis if you haven't already, then head up the boxes. She scales the side of the building up to find hte Sorceress's current room of stay, a simple empty circular room with a throne in the center. As if this room was made only for her. Rinoa walks up to her, offering a gift as the general's daughter, only to get blown away and seemingly possessed. She comes to address her people, with the president andpossessed Rinoa by her side, after passing through a door without so much as touching it. She takes to the stand to...insult those that cheer for her. The president asks if she's alright, since this s clearly...astrange way to address the nation. She responds thoughtfully by ramming her hand through his chest and lifting him up, proceeding to burn him alive. This is reality she claims, and tells us to sit back and enjoy the show. This is probably the most unusual scene so far, since it seems so blatant. The dream so far has had symbology, but the progression of the dream itself has so far remained at least semi-logical up until this point. It's all at least formed a straightforward story. Then the sorceress comes in and in one stabbing motion brieftly reminds us that something is wrong, and that this is merely a show. Perhaps the sorceress is...Reality. In a seemingly logical dream, she of course would be reality because a dream is still a dream, no matter how logical. She seems out of place in a logical world, but that is because this isn't a logical world, yadda yadda I'm rambling, let's get on with it. The crowd erupts into cheering (as weird as the sorceress is,perhaps she was being funny in an ironic sort of way, which case she hits with most of the generation. That, or they're just glad that at least Deling is dead, if even Galbadia hated the guy). Rest assured, their time will come, and that it's only a matter of it. She will have us live out a fantasy beyond our imagination. Is she talking to the crowd, or is she talking to Squall?...She decides to end the night with a sacrifice, bringing statues to life of which charge for the center stage in order to feast on Rinoa. Perhaps it's to say Squall needs to wake up and realize that Rinoa's not real, and should not get so attached. We return to Quistis, whom is still trapped in the mansion. Take a glass from the shelf, and place it in the statue's hand to open a secret passage. There be monsters down here, asa note. Grand Mantises have around 5K health, and have Water. In the least you'll want hte cards, and their Spikes from their cards are multi-use items. Having Quistis at low HP is great for fights with them, since with high magic she can do upwards to 1700 damage in one blast of Laser Eye (about 1/3 their HP). When you enter the sewers, take the wheel up (I know it makes no sense when they could just easily climb the ledge, but get used to interacting with the backround). As you go down that path is when the parade starts. But who is on the float with the sorceress but Seifer, the man we thought dead. Nonsense, he merely had to face reality and serve as part of it as all. Or maybe it's his mind saying that he thinks maybe Seifer knows something he doesn't, something possibly agrivating him in reality that would cause him to strike Squall as such. So we go to Rinoa's rescue (notice that Irvine, our symbol of libido is getting ahead of Squall, and generally seeming more worried). Switch Quistis's stuff over to Irvine (there's a reason I'm giving him the more magical stuff, relax). Those lizard lion things looked mean. Boss: Lizardons Stock: Cure, Esuna, Break, Carbuncle DRAW CARBUNCLE!! Now, these things actually pack quite a punch, capable of doing damage up to 250. Being low health s a bt dangerous, but you'll manage. Reason I had Qustis send her stuff to Irvine was because of Break, since the Lizardons are weak to it. But, it seems that 2 cuts from Squall and some Sharpshooting from Irvine does the job too. Not a hard fight, but their damage output can throw you off. 8 G-Returners and 20 AP CARBUNCLE GET! Make sure you have it equipped to either Rinoa, Squall or Irvine before you take part in the next cutscene. It has mainly defensive junctions, with Vit+, but more importantly it has Counter. Give it to Irvine for now, and have it learn Counter. Upon the next cutscene, we have Irvine "concentrating", and Squall discusses with Rinoa how he might have to kill Seifer to get to the sorceress in case Irvine fucks up. Rinoa asks if the both of them prepared (weird, why would she say both? Oh right, Squall got killed, would he be prepared to kill back if he had the chance). Rinoa would prefer it not happen though. Now we're back to Quistis, and I hate navigating these damned sewers. Head left, knock over a ladder and go down, finding a path across to a wheel and a drawpoint containing Esuna. As a note, if you run into Creeps, make sure you card whatever you can. I recall their Coral Fragments being important for certain weapons, and Electrocute is awesome to learn. After that, go back around to the latter, go up and go left again, ths time climbing up the ledge (this part makes no fucking sense! I remember this being stupid my first time around, how would anyone know?). So now go right, and feel free to round about to get the Zombie drawpoint if you're really low on Zombie (hint, you shouldn't be). Go back a screen after that, take the waterwheels to the other side to enter the other pathway after taking the normal one for some more magic (I missed it x.x). Take the water wheel down, and go down for another water wheel to go down, of which you continue to go down. Now you see two ladders, one of which you can knock over to reach the other. Quezacotl learned HP-J! Brothers learn Str-J! Now for Vit-J and Spr-J! WHOA, SPHINXAURA CARD! Yes, seems I got a rare card out of the creeps, netting me Sphinxaura! However, Sphinxaura is just not a good card. t's only good factor is a 8 on the left, and it doesn't even refine into a good item (G-Mega-Potion). I get lucky and gyped at the same time. So I take the ladder to find...I WENT IN A COMPLETE FUCKING CIRCLE!! Why would they do this!? RRRR!! I take the fallen ladder and I go right this time. Take the waterwheel up, and NOW we're almost out of here. What a fucking tease. But before I go up, I get lucky with a Red Bat by getting an X-ATM09 Card! Too bad I need 2 to make an item out of it, that being a Turtle Shell (has it's ups and downs I guess). Junction all your crap back to the other team, and make sure abilities that need a lot more AP are set to be learned as to not waste any AP. Climb up the ladder twice to get to the part with the switch. We watch the parade and see the clock hit 2000 hours, causing the tower Squall and co are hiding in. Ready to throw the switch, ready to take the shot. Of course, Irvine chokes and takes way too fucking long with the shot so the sorceress knows exactly what the fuck was going to happen, and simply bitchslaps the bullet aside. So now we charge in for da kill! But first, we gotta bone to pick with a certain lapdog. Boss: Seifer Unfortunately, the game decides to fully heal you before this fight, so you can't just open up with a Renzokuken and just waste him. He's got no stock, so don't bother checking. He's an utter joke anyways, 2 shots and he's on his ass. Now for the real fight. Power Boss: Edea Premonition is admittedly an awesome theme. Anyways, the fight's pretty simple. Summon Carbuncle, go nuts. Sure has Cure, Life, Double and Dispel. After Carbuncle, have Rinoa draw Dispels while Irvine and Squall do the fighting, letting Rinoa be freely prepared for another Carbuncle for when it's needed, and at the moment, Irvine's limit is better than Rinoa's. She has Aga spells, and it's going to suck for her more than you. Even without reflect up, it's only doing 300 damage, which is a danger to one of you, and it's not really a danger when the point is you want to limit anyways. This battle is easy enough without reflect, actually. 3 rounds is all it should take. 20 AP is nice. Ifrit learned Elem-Def-J! So, we end disk one with the sorceress simply laughing at our attempts to beat her, and she forms spears of ice, of whch she launches into Squa;;'s chest. Some say Squall dies here, but how silly. Don't you know? Omae wa mou, shinderu! So ends disk 1. I think my greatest complaint so far is that there is more story than game, and the story is boring/stupid. It's fun to muse, but chances are the writers thought we were to take this stupid shit seriously, and I find it insulting. I find it funny that this was a game made with "teenage problems" in mind, when the funny thing is the situations seem pretty adult (assassination, war, oppression, rebellion), and yet the characters within it (our teenagers) act like small children, and we're to believe they're mercenaries on top of it. have very little interest in the characters, and my musings are merely a way with coping. As for the gameplay? Here's the weird part: I'm growing to like it. While Squall is the hard hitter, that's not unusual in a team. One is a supporter, with support spells and Card with drawing in mind. Again, support team members is not a bad thing. What I dislike is the fact that a second team member outside of ludicrously tough enemies seems largely irrelevent. The third member is just sort of there to fill in whatever gaps. I was wrong in assuming magic is useless, as in reality with how early you can get some powerbomb spells, magic is actually pretty good. As with how you equip certain spells, the idea is more to simply not equip stuff you would normally use at the moment, and the game gives you a loooooot of leeway with how early you can get power spells to equip to stats. This basically gives you access to stuff like ara spells to use normally while you got power stuff like aga spells and Quake to use as backup. It's ridiculous in just how fast this game is getting ahead of me with the spells. It's only the end of disk 1, and I'm already tossing out aga spells at bosses. I feel like the game should be done with already (and technically, it should be). As for the enemies, they are progressing in power despite me not leveling in a typical final fantasy pace. However, with about 2-3K HP, I'm still not in danger of dying to them so far. However, I find that maintaining low HP despite it is sort of what you want to do during boss fights, so coming in pre-prepared with low HP means tht the HP equip is largely not for the huge HP roof, but rather the ease of being able to whip out limits. When you raise your max HP, it doesn't heal you to match it, so it's very easy to get someone into limit range. Despite the fact that I can get huge boosts in power with mag and str by equipping spells, the game actually punishes for killing outside of other ways like Card or Devour (Devour is gonna be insanely important, now that I think about it. Will give my third member a reason to actually exist), so one shotting is generally a bad idea. Even if I wanted to, with how much monsters power up on their own by ther own fortitude, only Squall actually could with a crit, and even then it's weaker monsters like Creeps (Wendigos and Armadodos certainly were taking hits), and he doesn't even need to crit since you can manipulate if he does or not. In fact, all this does when meshed together builds a pace in leveling, monster strength and power that is about...A normal final fantasy (outside of the ridiculous freedom I have with magic for this early in the game, and needing Card/Devour for finishing kills). It's fucking weird, but that's how I'm seeing it. However, I still have yet to feel even a hint of urgency, since I am basically as powerful as I'll ever be, and hte problem is just that currently I'm on disk 1. Will the game get harder as I get further in? Who knows, but we'll find out. Just wish there was...Ya know...More actual gameplay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Disk 2 starts with a Laguna bout. He speaks with some kid named Elle, discussing about how Kiros is at the bar and discussing hte troubles of random encounters. So, it's time to go to the pub to speaking with Kiros and Raine, apparently the woman Laguna shacked up with in this tiny house in this tiny town, helping take care of little kid Elle. It seems that Laguna's actually quite good with kids (probably because he has the mind of one), and it should be noted that Elle's real parents are dead. I have to wonder what this town symbolizes. Perhaps Squall's wondering if his real father (as in in real life, he has a step father) is out there generally actually being a good father, perhaps his thoughts on what a father SHOULD be like. Hell, maybe this town is ust Happiness. Simple small town, noting that happiness isn't really glorious, but this place is peaceful, and that's all it really needs. There are monsters about probably because in Squall's mind, happiness would involve some practice on combat, Squall seems the type that would at least want to keep in shape and all. So we find Kiros, dressed up like a stagehand for Madonna, and before I can begin to wonder if suddenly smoke generators and smoky lights come on with Raine busting out the cone cupped bra before realizing I'm on monster patrol duty! By the way Anouleth, turns out it was Cetra they were at. Oh, and Julia went with Caraway, so Rinoa and Squall are brothers. Real simple here. Go to the end of town, come back. Easy peasy. Also, more proof that this place might be happiness, much as Squall would like somepractice, notice how the monsters are very unthreatening Cattachipplars and Bite Bugs. I set Ifrit to now learn Str+40%. Oh, and place is called Winhill. Pretty epic name for a quiet little hamlet like this. Leave the carder unequpped for dealing with bite bugs. Laguna can take care of the catterpillars with a shot to card. On the way down the path, there's a draw point that has Drain, which is a nifty little thing to have I guess. I can't help but notice I'm getting kills on complete accident. A crit even with an unjunctioned Str Kiros is randomly going to kill bite bugs, and HP varying for the fat things means that it will either be a 3 shot or a 4 shot for an underequpped Laguna (since with Demi, I just straight up 2HKO the thing, but not by a big enough margin that one shot is cardable). I felt kinda bumbling around here, but even with equipping weaker stuff to just flat out nothing, accidents just came out. Rarghrargh. We sneak in on Raine and Elle talking about if they would want Laguna to stay with them nstead of world traveling, Raine says would be nice but doesn't think he has it in him, and then Laguna runs up and with the subtlety that only Jim Carey knows of and pretends to be out of breath as if he just ran in. We go to take a nap, and we wake up as Squall. Congratulations, the game has just wasted time! I'm glad I'm using coping methods, or else I would be absolutely furious at this portion for basically showing a cockload of nothing into my brain. LOL, open the door to my house, monsters attack! We wake up and goddammt, we're Zell. So, switch Squall's junk over to Zell, and the carder stuff to Rinoa. Really, do whatever with your third wheel. Since this is D-District prison and most of the place is either galbadian human characters or tough to take down robots, might as well make them a hard hitter. We then cut to Squall, and he mentions that there is no wound...Despite feeling the cold touch of death impaling his heart. FOO', that was just a flash of your brain fading out! You already dead, sucka'! As he curses Seifer of all people (that assclown's not the guy who killed you!), his cell is lifted to the top floor. We then return to Zell and co, see a mean guy (no seriously, game calls him Mean Guy). It's around this point we see that this place might be Trauma, or Abuse from a higher up, such as an adult (Galbadia and all), or someone who is simply dominant of you (Seifer, since Squall's a bitch as we've gone over many times), be it for spite, reason, or just plain sadisism. Oh I'm sorry, did you plan on having Rinoa on your team? Too bad, she's taken away! Goddammit, I forgot that part. So we return to see Squall, and we get put up to a wall to be electrocuted in order to find out what SeeD is (what the fuck, Seifer you dingbat! No wonder you dropped out you fucking burnout, you should know what a SeeD is!). He claims his reason is that there must be some sort of secret to SeeDs that is not ade obvious out of the SeeDs themselves. Well Squall, guess you're finally getting your wish of electroplay with your master, but it's a bit more violent than you thought it'd be. Seifer than goes on a bit of a monologue saying his dream came true, of being the sorceress's knight. The knight of reality? He killed Squall, because that's what the reality is, get it? Bahaha, the game is telling me my own point! His romantic dream of killing Squall! It was MURRRRRDERRRR! *dundunduuuun!* premeditated murder to be exact. Perhaps Squall's thinking the rat bastard planned to kill him up on...that random mountain top. Selphie tries to draw cure from Zell (why?), but it hurts him because there's an anti-magic field in here (how convenient, especially since you are actually fully capable of magic in battle). It's then some weird orange furry creature known as a Moomba comes in to give us our prison swill...Yeah, you heard me right, some orange furry thing, like it's some weird anthro lion. So, Squall is a furry. We'll reflect more on this later, but until then this is kinda awkward. The fuck do they signify? We know they know of Laguna, but how do they know of Laguna, and what are they doing in the prison of abuse? In adult land? They only know one word, are klutzy, and they only know of Laguna. It is therefore that I deem Moombas to be the reflection of Idiocy, and they show as sort of a blurring of his head where his brain sort of forgets logic and makes them, his brain going a bit stupid from the cold flash of death Squall just had, and sort of mixing up his "adults/dad's stupid" opinion he has with the dream he's having. This is a rather major change, because moombas are an incredibly fantasy creature for this sort of situation, even WITH monsters in mind. Guard kicks his facein, Zell stands up to him along with Quistis and Selphie, and hte guard gets walked off. Selphie casts cure on the fuzzy thing, and it...works? Wait, what the hell man! Whatever, more proof that logic is starting to leave Squall's brain. Seifer asks why do SeeDs oppose the sorceress. Good question, because it's Galbadia having hired us. That snake Caraway, he sold us out!? D-District is just flat out bad luck. There are even missiles pointed at Balamb Garden. Dawww, Squall's dreams are going down the shitter. Clearly, Squall's mind s succumbing to despair right now. It's around here it asks me if I want Squall to say "just let me die" or "lie, i must live". Lie to the warden, or himself to stay alive? Hehheh. I want Squall to die, so I opt for that. Squall tells the warden his breath stinks instead of something funny, and decides to just black out when he gets electrocuted to hell. We then return to Zell and co which is now added a moomba (apparently moombas get imprisoned for klutziness). Selphie wants to skin the moomba and wear it as a disguise (Selphie's insane). We can't rely on magic, despite the fact magic works just fine around here, and that we have to get back our weapons. Perfectly fine, since Zell's weapons are those fists o' his. Zell tricks a guard by making him think the others were bitten by snakes (dumbass guard had it coming), and gets socked hard enough in the gut to knock hm out. Zell's rocking the hokuto no ken it seems, and this guy's innards are most likely gravy now. Oh I'm sorry, does it sound like I'm only talking about the story? Because that'sall there is! Motherfuck, let me PLAY THE DAMN GAME! Goddammit game, I wanna hve fun please! Cocksucker game. So, we walk out and go upstairs to see the guards just playing with our weapons. Well, they got swords and Zell's got his fists and a furry, so Zell obviously wins this fight with his magic equipped fists in a place where magic shouldn't work. This place is fucking stupid. The guards around here are now stocked differently, having Sleep, Silence, Blind and Cure. Thought you ought to know in case you wanna stock up for status defenses. We return, we get our weapons,we get amped, and oh right, the game. Mini-Boss: Biggs and Wedge, Da Return Seems they've gotten abuse from their higher ups to. Got demoted to this hellhole. Wedge has Fire, Shell, Protect and Reflect, and Biggs has Cure, Haste, Slow, and Regen. Stock up on whatever you need, preferrably Slow and Reflect (I recall Reflect being good as some sort of junction, but I could be wrong). A sad battle that ends with 2 Duels. 8 Remedies, 8 Elixers and 10 AP are our reward. Quez learned Vit-J! Siren learned St-Def-J x2! Brothers learned Spr-J! Now for Mag+20%, St Med Refill, and Elem-Atk-J! It should be noted that even as I speak, I am 120 AP with Mug, so getting Mug within disk 2 doesn't sound unreasonable. So after that collosal waste of time, and now we're basically on a dungeon that repeats itself up many many many floors of annoyance. We go upstairs to go find him, fair enough. But the alarm goes off as Biggs sets it off! Anti-Magic Field is shut off (not that it was ever on) to catch us. Don't quite go upstairs yet, let's pick up some goodies on the next few floors (since for the most part, there's not many floors below us, and wills save time later for when things get more annoying). Ignore the guy on the fifth floor. Shiva learned Elem-Atk-J! Now for Spr+20% 4th floor has a box with a Tent in it. Third floor has a Pet House. As I walk, my rank goes up. 2nd floor has a Pet Nametag and a Strength Up (Squall should enjoy this one). Floor 1 has a Combat King 001 for Zell's limit break, so that's greatly appreciated. It teaches Dolphin Blow, a water elemental attack that is a normal link rather than a finisher. Once you read it, you are free to sell it when you get the chance. I run up to the 6th floor and save for a break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anouleth Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 So we find Kiros, dressed up like a stagehand for Madonna, and before I can begin to wonder if suddenly smoke generators and smoky lights come on with Raine busting out the cone cupped bra before realizing I'm on monster patrol duty! By the way Anouleth, turns out it was Cetra they were at. Oh, and Julia went with Caraway, so Rinoa and Squall are brothers. Real simple here. Go to the end of town, come back. Easy peasy. Also, more proof that this place might be happiness, much as Squall would like somepractice, notice how the monsters are very unthreatening Cattachipplars and Bite Bugs. I set Ifrit to now learn Str+40%. Oh, and place is called Winhill. Pretty epic name for a quiet little hamlet like this. Leave the carder unequpped for dealing with bite bugs. Laguna can take care of the catterpillars with a shot to card. Isn't that what they call the Ancients in FF7? :confused: Oh I'm sorry, did you plan on having Rinoa on your team? Too bad, she's taken away! Yeah, this game loves forbidding you to use Rinoa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momo Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Laguna being in the new Dissidia is proof they're going to make a VIII prequel starring him. I can dream, can't I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 Isn't that what they call the Ancients in FF7? :confused: They called them the Cetra, this is CeNtra Laguna being in the new Dissidia is proof they're going to make a VIII prequel starring him. I can dream, can't I Sounds more like a nightmare to me. Moving on! Goddamn, Zell's Dual is awesome. I just wish I wasn't fighting enemies I can't card (I can't card the higher model GIM bots). On the 8th floor you'll find a guy who sells stuff. Sell crap you no longer need, and buy enough Remedies so that in the end you'll have 36 (it'll matter later, if you're confused). Remember this guy for when you go to Balamb. Siren learned Status Med Refill! Now for Mag+20%! 9th floor there's a drawpoint for Berserk (I nab 9). 10th floor, there's a guy who will charge you 300 gil for a card game, and if you win he upgrades your battle meter. He plays by Fisherman's Horizon rules though, so be careful. I win a Mesmerize card off him for the Cutting Trigger later. I play another game, because I want a Malboro card. Unfortunately I don't get one and I give up, nabbing a Geezard off hm cause you can never have too many screws. 10th floor also has a save point. 11th floor has another dude playing cards, 200 gil this time. However, he's different from the other guys, in that he gives an item along with a card if you win. He's one of the only ways to get a Rosetta Stone, of which gives Ability x4 to a GF, so it's insanely valuable. I play him a bit, getting an Elastoind (Potion), a Death Claw (Potion), a Blue Dragon (Almost there! Also, Hi-Potion+), a Gayla (For more mystery fluid of course, and a Potion), an Ochu (Potion), a Grendal (Potion), an Abyss Worm (a Potion), and then I give up because this is going to take way too long. Least I got one of the steel pipes and another blue dragon. We finally head upstairs to find Squall looking like shit. Talk to the moombas and they'll ask what floors you want shortcuts on. You only get 3 floors to pick, but it doesn't really matter. Anyshortcuts shorten your journey here. We take the cell lift downstairs, finding that the door only leads to sand. Seems we're underground (Though I think we're a bit more than 6 feet under ha-cha-cha-cha-cha). We hear gunfire, and we only think Zell is in trouble since he's the one guy we left up there. You are now Zell, and you are alone. If you're like me and have most of your guys at low health, to be careful. If you get into a fight with too many, don't be afraid to whip out some healing. The Warden however socks Zell in the gut (VENGEANCE PUNCH!), and has Zell on the ground with a gun to his head before Squall swoops in to save the day! Wait a fucknugget, you were on the bottom floo,r this is like the nnth! How the hell did you get up here! Oh right, this is a dream and you're starting to blurr facts. Then Selphie and Quistis come from upstairs, WTF!?! Then as gunfire's being layed upon us to keep us pinned, Irvine comes in and saves teh day! Before Rinoa kicks him down the stairs because Irvine is pathetic like that. Apparently, Irvine was being disagreable, and had he just done as Rinoa said, we might have been helped out quite a bit earlier. Thanks, dickhead. It's around this point you start to notice that a bit of logic has gone out the window, so it can be clear that around the point that the spear hit Squall that a bit of his brain died and things aren't getting linked right. He's suffering a bit of dimensia you could say. Oh right, the game. Start heading upstairs, since the exit's up there. I have also learned that learning Angelo Recover is a bad idea until maybe later in the game. We then return to Irvine to go down to the bottom floor to take the arm back up (how would we expect them?). Talk to the moombas when you regain control of Squall, they'll give you a Cottage and a Rename Tag. There's a hidden save point near the control panel if you need it. It's around here I start to notice a weakness of Rinoa's, namely her "helpful" dog rushing in to hurt shit I don't want getting hurt. Makes carding more annoying than it needs to be. Quez learned Mag+20%! Shiva learned Spr+20%! Now for Elem-Def-J and Vit+20! We try to leave, but dammit they just want us back in! Mini-Boss: Elite Guard and 2 New Model GIMs You should have 3 people at limit mode by now, and if you don't that's ok. This fight is a joke. Nothing really worth drawing from them either, not anything you haven't got a lot of stock of already anyways. 4 Screws, 1 Cottage,1 Missile and 8 AP are my rewards. We get a call from Irvine on the panel, we help them up, and we escape. We take a view of the outside desert, then the damn thing starts to whir into action, so just hold right. We discuss the sorceress's mission to launch missiles at Balamb, and we decide to split up into groups, one to return to balamb and the other to at least try to sabotauge the missiles in some way since they're already launched. Selphie says they're gonna hit Trabia too (Wait, how the fuck does Selphie know that?). Squall's basically made leader (though he doesn't remember asking, or knows why). The missiles meant for Trabia launch, and Selphie is obviously distressed. Selphie without a doubt is going to the missile base (not that I'd want her going to Balamb). Something to note. Most of the missile base is Galbadians, so you'll want to send the low level folk there, and the boss is better dealt with magically. Thus, the team is Rinoa, Quistis and Selphie for them (Reason for Rinoa pertains to her damned dog, that and she's STILL lower leveled than Irvine). Squall and co hijack the most ol' timey train ever in the dustiest place on earth, and the scene's at least a bit entertaining and explains how they get back to Garden. If you're wondering where the missile base is, just head to the left of where you start off as Selphie. Simple as that. They let you in despite your horrid misfitting disguises, and finding a card in our belongings. Give Squall's stuff to Rinoa (since her limit break is not magic oriented), and the other stuff to the others (the more magical stuff to Selphie). Keep going till you reach a red hallway. Go down there for a Blind drawpoint, and talk to the two guards there. They tell you to deliver a message to the guys near the missile launchers that they can't make it there for maintenance. There's a hidden drawpoint by the launcher that contains Full-Life, which is fucking sweet. Guy there tells you to tell the maintenance guys that he's not quite ready to go with it. They ask you to go in their place (even though we're generally inexperienced, the slackers). Go back upstairs to the first guard you walked past and enter that door in their place. The maintenance room has a hidden Blizzara drawpoint (Sweet, 13), Try hitting a few buttons here and there, andbe finesseful. Anyone else think tampering with MISSILES is a bad idea when you're surrounded by them? We get the power off...So we're lucky. Talk your way out of it when the guards, since we don't want to cause shit immediately. Help out with the missile loading before tampering with the controls, head upstairs and NOW it's time to lay some smacking of the down! Set the Error Ratio to max, and then upload the data (this is madness! There are other things it could hit if we set teh error ratio to max!). Then, leave the terminal and head upstairs for some pimpslapping action! Mini Boss: Elite Soldier and 2 Infantry They all got confuse, and the elite soldier is the kind who has Reflect, so make sure to nab what Reflect you can. I swear it was good for something. Oh well, not like any of their other spells are worth a damn. Just kick some ass, simple as that. In fact, one Angelo Cannon does the trick. 8 Normal Ammo, 1 Cottage and 4 AP is our reward. Now setting self destruct, I set it to 20 minutes. I walk right out the door to escape, but we hit a snag... Boss: Galbadian Tank Stock: Protect, Shell, Stop I call it that because I forget the actual name, and it IS a tank. If you're low health like I am for limit breaks, this fight is quite hard, since it's normal attack packs one hell of a punch. Funny thing is, I actually get The End from Selphie's limit on the first slot on the first attempt. Kinda anti-climactic, but it gets the tank dead. The basic guards and elite guard come out, and they're the gruntiest of grunts, so just kill them. I think if I had set it to 10 minutes, I might be barbeque had I not gotten The End there, since I finish witht eh clock at 12:55 My reward is Weapons Monthly June, a Potion, and 24 AP. Siren learned Mag+20%! Now for Mag+40%! Explore the parking lot here, realize you're locked in, and contemplate the doom you feel as the base blows up. I notice regret is a big thing here, and hte line I notice most is wanting to have done more before dying, stuff like sending incapable people in your place to repair stuff, not killing the guards to keep the missiles disabled, not wanting to face the wrath of the sorceress (reality biting back for bad karma, etc.). Oh right, switch all your shit back to Squall's group, have Irvine be your carder. We come back to see Balamb in utter upheaval. Not out of evacuation, but because some punk named NORG is pissed off about Cid doing something or other. It's not made clear, but apparently the school faculty is split and raising hell. The dudes with the funny hats arethe perpetrators here, and they sick monsters on you. So what I meant by Card being more important here? Take your time here to stock up on status magics and do your carding. Your mission here is to basically go down all the halls to stop all the faculty. You'll also get prizes for doing so. There's random encounters here too. Ifrit mastered Str+40%! Diablos mastered Mug! Now for Str Bonus and Mag+20%! Mug the Granaldo that gets sicked on you when you take the lower left path to the infirmary, you'll get a delicious 8 Wizard Stones. Unfortunately, no carding. Next is the Quad. Fight the faculty Glacial Eye and Bomb, then talk to the guys in the quad itself for an X-Potion. Next up's the cafeteria. Shiva mastered Vit+20%! Now for Vit+40%! This faculty member has a bomb, so Zell and Card it. Go to the cafe and get some Gyshal Greens from one of the SeeDs there, then head for the dorms. This guy decides to sick a catachiplar on you. Now for the Parking Lot. The dude sicks a fucking Grendel on you! About 4K HP, and has Double, so stock up on those if you wish. Guy there will give you a Tent. Now for the Training Ground. Carbuncle learned Counter! Should be helpful n a boss fight. Now for HP-J! The faculty member here sicks a T-Rexaur on you, to no surprise. Remember to sleep the bastard, since these guys have a lot of HP. Basically just have Squall equip Blizarra to his element and wail on it, then card it. You can mug a dino bone off it too, for extra Quake. 10 AP too, very nice. The SeeD there gives a Remedy too. Now finally, the library. Diablos learned Mag+20! Now for Mag+40%! Last faculty sends a Grat at you, Zell punching it upside the head should set it up for a carding. Draw what Sleeps you can though. One of the students there (if you have Zell on your team it seems) will give you a sweet Mega Phoenix. On my way out, I card a Grat to get a Shumi Tribe Card! Yaaay, rare cards! Unfortunately, I need 5 for a Gambler's Spirit. Now, time to head upstairs now that we've taken care of most of hte trouble down here. As I walk, I get a sweet raise. Quez learned Elem-Def-J! Brothers learned Elem-Atk-J! Now for Mag+40% and HP+40%! Head upstairs, go around to go find Xu. She tells you to head for Cid's office on the third floor. He tells you there may still be a way to stop the missiles, noting a way that in the lower levels is a mechanism that turns this thing into a vehicle. Remember that line where Edea said we would experience a fantasy beyond our imaginations? Yeah, anyways after he's done blabbing, he gives you a key to the basement, and we go down there. Elevator crashes however, but there's a panel underneath for escaping in an emergency. We go down the emergency latter before the damned elevator falls on us. We find an oil stratum, and Squall makes note that enemies down here might be weak to fire. Ignore him,since we don't care since we don't want to kill, and move on. Turn a wheel (a pain in the ass), and climb down the latter. Gown down the stairs to a big circular room with a pillar and a Full Life drawpoint (12, alright!). Head to the left to find a rickety ladder. Squall alone is all that's needed to check it out. Climb the ladder, watch it fall over and fiddle with the controls there. You'll open up the curcular area below, and now you can access the lower levels. Climb back down the ladder, and find a portion of the rail with a light to go down further. NOW we make sure Fire is equipped to the elemental attack. Boss: Oilboyles. Sock: Esuna, Blind, Cure, Confuse Nothing worth stealing, just blow them out of the...Oil. This fight is annoying if you're keeping at low health though, since they hit pretty hard, there's 2 of them, and they got Sonic Wave which hits your team. 8 Wizard Stones and 20 AP are your reward. Mmmmm, Tri-Faces...8 AP, Curse Spikes and their cards make more Curse Spikes. What could be better? Carbuncle learned HP-J! Oh Triface, you are too kind. Now for HP+20%! Now, time to jumpstart this sucker. Now we got a vehicle! Sorta. We can't drive it quite yet. We got a future 2 boss fights and totally unecessary scene to complete first. We just barely evade what looks to be nuclear holocaust, and we drift out to see, sort of stranded out there. Cid STILL won't challenge me to cards, teh asshole! We go out to the elevator (gee, that got fixed quick, didn't it!?) to go downstairs, to check out what's going on outside on the deck (as if the front view mirror weren't enough). We notice that we're about to crash into town, and notice that everyone suddenly...expects Squall to do something about it. I'm noticing an unusual dependence on Squall all of a sudden. Squall contemplates in his room the fact he's bored being trapped in the garden, noting how when he's got nothing to do, he thinks too much (Winhill anybody?). Before we start thinking how the hell the garden keeps supplied for so many people while we're out at sea, I take the time to save for a break. Phew! That was a surprising amount of game in a short amount of time. The start of disk 2 has mroe game than disk 1 has I feel assured of it, and I am feeling happy about it. D-District and Balamb gave me stuff to actually do while playing an actual game. I'm still a bit pissed it took this long, but I'm done complaining about it, since now I have actual game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I still don't get how to abuse Limits. Do you just have to be kneeling for Limits to get activated or do you need to take a hit and end up kneeling? Because everytime I think it's the first, it's the second and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 I still don't get how to abuse Limits. Do you just have to be kneeling for Limits to get activated or do you need to take a hit and end up kneeling? Because everytime I think it's the first, it's the second and vice versa. It's real simple. I'm sure you know how to get your guys in the low health, what with resetting HP via unequipping then re-equipping Curaga and all that. But as for how to abuse it in battle, here's some real simple tips. 1. If your health is in the yellow, you're bound to get limits frequently. Rare occasions will you get it when your health is white. 2. Lower your health is, the more likely you are to increase your Crisis Level. Crisis Level is basically how likely you are to increase the effectiveness or likeliness of certain things concerning limits. Zell's crisis level is higher, his Dueling lasts longer (same with Irvine's Shooting). Higher Selphie's limit is, more likely she will roll good stuff. Higher crisis level Squall's is, the more shots he lands in Renzokuken and more likely to land stuff like Lionheart. Rinoa, more likely to land stuff like Wishing Star and the more active Angelo is in general (Good thing about Sorceress Wing is that it doesn't matter, you just get straight up x5 bonus to your magic stat, and works like magical berserk), Quistis's Blue Magic becomes more potent (I noticed that during a fight in Deling against a Grand Mantis, 1 laser eye did around 750 damage, and the next did 1400 damage, so upping the crisis level damn near doubles the power). 3. Circle button is your friend when it comes to abusing limits. Circle is that button that lets you cycle through to your next character if you don't want the current highlighted character to do anything just yet. You can keep hitting this even during attack animations for anything until the limit hits up. 4. Aura is insane for a reason. It basically ups your Crisis Level by 1 level. This means that even in the white when you're not in danger, you can get limits (but they'll be the weakest kind). So when you're low on health and in aura, you get the juiciest kinds of limits consistently. This should be all you need to know about limit abuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 So, before we deal with the thing growing mold in the basement, it's time for a slight little side quest, the Card Club of Balamb! The card is named after the royalty of norml playing cards, Jack, Queen (not to be mistaken with the Queen of Cards), King, Ace and Joker. You are to fnd them lazing about Balamb, and challenge them to cards. One of them even has a Leviathan Card, so we know we want it! The king has Gilgamesh, which can be refined into a ridiculous item that grants invulnerability (Though I doubt I'll need them for anything, unless I feel stupid enough to fight Omega for some damned reason). This is how to find who and where. Jack: By the directory in front of the elevator, casually walking into screen. He's a dude in a pre-Seed uniform. If he has to explain the CC group to you, you haven't played enough card games. Play until he recognizes your awesomeness and finally reveals himself as the Jack. All you have to do is beat him once, but feel free to beat cards out of him like they're candy and he's a pinata. You need to win 15 games as a note. If you want good stuff out of it, to the right of the directory is a dude sitting on a bench. He's got some juicy prize cards. Off the bench guy I win a Tonberry King, a Cactuar, an Elnoyle, a Gayla, a Cockatrice, an Imp, another Imp, a Behemoth, a Belhemel, and win back Zell that I accidentally lost (what an embaressing loss), another Belhelmel and an Elastoid Card off him, and from the Jack I win an Imp card off him. I feel kinda gyped, so I play him again for a Shumi Tribe. Whatever, I go to save and find the next card clubber. Club: Around the northern half of the ring, between the parking lot, dorms and cafeteria, some black haired dude. I win an Elastoid off him because you can never have enough Steel Pipes. Joker: This crazy bastard is the item seller from the district prison, and he takes up residency in the training area. Take a right, and head for a plank seemingly placed for no reason. He's got the Leviathan Card, so keep playing him until you nab it. He'll even upgrade your battle meter if you win. In the process, I win a Malboro, and an Iron Giant Card in the process. In all honesty, the Leviathan card is kind of assy. It's got two 7s on the top and left with an A on the right, but it has a 1 on the bottom, and you have much better ways to force a lockdown with your current hand. Refine it for 3 Doc's Codes. These will teach Med Data which doubles the effects of medicine, so you don't have to waste spellcasting to heal. It's not much, but better than keeping the card. Diamond: The two girls who always hang out by the directory. They basically use lvl 7 cards a lot, and lvl 7 cards can be kinda juicy. Feel free to farm them if you wish. I win a Torama off them, and I leave it at that. You can't reach Spade untl after you take care of whatever problem's going down in the basement, so time to take care of it. It should be noted that while you're down here, there's a drawpoint. So, we see Robin Williams get shoved off by the faculty that seems to be pissed about someone being a money grubbing son-of-a-bitch. Essentially, Norg is pissed about the whole mess that's happened under his investment to the garden (wait, how the fuck did we not notice this guy was in the basement? WHY is he in the basement? Perhaps he is an underlying fear for the theme of growing up Balamb has. Perhaps Norg is Doubt). In fact, Norg's biggest problem is with us for causing this mess in the first place. He says we were fooled, since why would Galbadia and Balamb join up, especially since there is a question as to why Cid would want his own wife dead. And yes, Edea is Cid's wife. Seeing as that Cid is one whohands us over and based this entire garden thing off a dream, I am empted to say that it is a union of dreams and reality, and the nonsense poetecism that comes with it. Seems she and Martine had been allied, whleMArtine pretended to be Norg's subordinate in order to place the assassination attempt on Norg....What good does this do? Absolutely nothing, but it says a lot about Squall's cynicism (reality trying to destroy the growing dreams of Squalll's generation, he's a punk like that). Edea threatened with a missile strike, Norg now has to compensate by handing the SeeDs who attempted to kill her their heads... ...Uh oh. Boss: Norg/Defensive Shell Right Orb Stock: Dispel, Confuse, Slow Left Orb Stock: Thunder, Life Main Shell Stock: Cure Norg: Leviathan, Shell, Esuna, Protect It's simple. The orbs become red, they start bombing with magic. Hit them, they go down a color. Hit the shell enugh, it opens up to reveal Norg. Easy peasy. 1 Renzokuken should open up the shell, and be sure to mug all these targets. That's probably what would turn this into an endurance round rather than a joke of a fight as Squall proceeds to murder Norg. GET LEVIATHAN! Norg's got a Circlet, Right Orb has 2 Spr Ups, andLeft Orb has 1 Mag Up. Stock up on magic as Squall proceeds to murder Norg. Norg doesn't go quietly though, as he takes 2 Renzokukens. That's more than just about every boss fight so far. 20 AP gets Str Bonus learned! Now for Elem-Defx2! Leviathan get! Leviathan is a magic oriented GF, already having Spr-J learned, and can learn Mag-J. I'd learn Support Magic Refill first though. Refill abilities are always awesome. I give it to Zell, since he lacks a Magic boosting summon. Now to just find an Str summon for my carder. Would give him Ifrit or brothers, but they're being too good on Squall for now, and Zell's not giving his 1 up. Norg dies, and instantly becomes some weird shelled thing that glows and throbs...Kinda gross actually. What the hell just happened? Huh. Well, this will always be in teh back of my mind then (much like doubt can be), but I don't think this will be a problem that will bother us ever again. Now head for the second floor to play Spade. Remember the guy who gave you your first cards and claimed he never played? Well, he's a damned liar, so go challenge his ass and tell him what's up. Even funnier is that he has some pretty awesome cards. I get an Iguoin card off him for the Cockatrice Pinion. Break if I recall kills without giving me EXP, so getting Break as I ca now will help me greatly in the future. Now head for...Well, the game sort of forgets to tell you where to go from here. Go to the infirmary to see Cid finish up with his well...Breaking down. It seems he's distrought about hte fact that SeeD must kill his wife eventually, and that is the entire point of SeeDs, to train and kill sorceresses as an elite mercenary unit (That Edea herself helped make,even though she's been a magical being since childhood...what?). So now...Rest I guess? No, that doesn't work. Hey thanks game for letting me what to do next! I run around aimlessly until we hit a scene at the directory with Xu, tells us to head for hte observation deck. We're boarded by Edea's SeeDs (what? What the fuck, what? How, why, what reason?). They wish to see Cid,and he comes to meet him (how did they find us? Oh right, it's a dream). They come for Ellone, who seems to be hte girl from Winhill. Why's she here? No clue. She's at the library, since no one gives you a fucking hint. You meet with her, she knows your name,and they act as i they've known eachother a long time despite this being technically their first meeting. He asks what the hell the point of...Whatever the hell she's been doing to us is, and she says it'shard to explain. However, we know we view the past through her powers. She apparently sent us in hopes that we would help change hte past, despite the fact that's inevitable. Perhaps Ellone is regret (wanting to make amends with with those he's wronged, Squall does. End Yoda impersonation). Squall feels a slight shock that someone is depending on him due to his submissive nature. He's used to following blindly rather than of his own accord. He deals with this shock in his sleep, having a flashback to a time when he was as a child completely alone. Perhaps symbolic of lack of relation, or cold distant parents in real life that even though despite the fact he had parents he felt like an orphan of sorts due to alienation? So we wake up, see Zell in our room and he decides he wants to help Squall get over his troubles with a lively bit of asskicking in the training grounds. I'm tempted for some resources, but I tell him to piss off because there's no resources there that I want. He leaves peacefully though, and keeps the offer open. We walk out, and see that the PA's still on to Robin William's delight. However, before he can say whatever message he wanted to get across, we wind up colliding into the town of Fisherman's Horizon. On the bright side, we at least aren't drifting anymore. Cid orders you to go down and apologize, and that we come in peace. Fair enough, but first some cards. Our mission is to get Seifer's Card off him. I win an Elnoyle, an X-ATM09 (needed 2 to refine, now I don't have to deal with those cards anymore), an Iron Giant, an Iguoin (I'm gonna rob you blind, old man!), Shumi Tribe (3 out of 5!), and an Elastoid (COME OOOOOOON!!) in the process. Seifer is basically a 100% better version of Diablos, so feel free to refine Diablos now for infinity Demis. However, I have no real need for it now, so I decide to keep it for the hell of it. Refining Seifer's card for Diamond Armor isn't really worth it. So, head for the observation deck and head out to the horizon. Seems the garden was made at the horizon (perhaps the horizon is nostalgia. Kinda funny, considering that there are people called Familiar Face, and it's noted that people stop by here before going to Esthar. That, or perhaps Maturity). Go meet with the mayor. The mayor's house is pretty easy to spot, considering it's in a gigantic dish of solar panels. Go deliver your message, but more importantly, play him for cards to get Quezecotl. Also, his house has a hidden drawpoint that has freaking ULTIMA!! Keep this in your backpocket for when you just need to blow something the fuck up. I get 10 and jump for joy. Also, if you lost Sacred to the Queen of Cards earlier, you can speak to his wife Flo in a card game to get Irvine, which can basically replace a card that was already good. You can decide to keep one and refine the other if you wish. 3 Jet Engines sounds pretty tasty. I win an Elnoyle, a Malboro, an Iron Giant (Yaaaaaay, Star Fragment!), a Shumi Tribe, a Cockatrice, a Tonberry King, another Tonberry King (FOR FUCKS SAKES MAN!), ANOTHER Tonberry King (GIMME QUEZY!!), another Elnoyle, a Torama, a Cockatrice, another Elnoyle (RRRRR!!), and an Imp for my troubles(Old people do not relinquish their good cards so easily). Quetzy is basically a better version of Diablos, but worse than Seifer still. You can refine it into 100 Dynamo Stones for infinite Thundaga. So anyways, he tells us that guys will help us maintain our floating tub so we can get the hell out of here, because FH does not want military in it's town. Fair enough. As we return though, we notice that Galbadia got here real quick to kick some ass. Man, you'd think those white seeds we saw earlier sold us off or something. The mayor decides that peceful negotiations are called for (it won't go so well, showing that adulthood does not necessarily mean maturity), Squall assured that the man is toast. So, time to go save his dumb ass. There's a save point on the way, along with a drawpoint containing Regen. Zell draws 15 (Dayamn), and I move on. There are enemies about called SAM08Gs, and not only are they pretty mean, they've got some slight bulk. However, should be no problem to card thanks to Squall. You can mug Running Fires off them, as a note, and that is what their cards refine into. There's plenty of familiar faces from the prison too. Siren learned Mag+40%! Now for Mag Bonus! Before I go on to chase after him however, I stop by a shop to upgrade Squall's weapon to a Cutting Trigger (Would choose Flame Saber, but I had no Betrayal Swords, and I don't care because I'm gong to quickly get a much better weapon). So, we stop by and see the mayor talking about how she doesn't know a girl named Ellone. Weird, so the White SeeDs didn't tip them off. So then, why are they hear, and what the fuck is up with Edea. Regardless, they certainly don't care much if this city burns our not in hopes to flush her out. In fact, this was...Edea's orders. Edea is clearly having some conflicting issues. The mayor gets on his knees and begs (so much for maturity). Time to go in and help out. So we aim to help out, but they have a tank to help out in the fight. An old busted up tank. But first, we deal with some punk soldiers. Take them out easy peasy. Boss: Iron Clad Wow, they recovered this thing, and it jumps at us. That was fucking weird. This fight's a joke though, just steal Adamantite off it (VASTLY IMPORTANT), and then just kill it. Renzokuken+Duel. 20 AP is our reward, and it lets me learn Vit+40% for Shiva, HP+20% for Carbuncle, and Support Magic Refill for Leviathan! Now for Spr+40%, HP+40% and Mag-J! So we destroy the tank beyond repair, it slides off into the ocean like a toy, and...out comes Rinoa, Selphie and Quistis!? See what I mean by Squall's mind slipping? Talk to Rinoa, pretend to have a moment, and go up the stairs in the back for a drawpont containing Haste. Go back to the store and talk to the kid in the boat a few times until he remarks about how you should tell the master he finally got it (that, and the scene is pretty funny). Go to the right of hte mayor's house, and you'll curiously enough find Martine. Apparently he got the boot considering his aid in the "plot". Remember him for later, though for now you're free to nab lvl 6-8 cards off him. On the way back to Balamb, we run into Irvine, and he asks if perhaps it would be alright ot have the FH mechanics work on some other stuff. We gotta talk to Selphie because yadda yadda, pointless scene coming up. Cid tells you to get your ass up to his office, you make your report, and woohoo, Garden's mobile! But before this, Robin Williams basically declares war officially on Galbadia after so long of avoiding. Who does he put as the new leader around here as commander-in-chief? Squall of course! It's his dream after all, and he's finally having his chance to be depended on (though he is clearly surprised by this. He, in real life, has never actually had that experience before after all). I'm not gonna bother mentioning the pointless scene...Goddamn this game for this scene. Worst part is, I know something worse is coming up. Anyways, not the garden is mobile. First thing I want to do is complete the card quest here. So who's Hearts? Why, it's Xu! If you think that's surprising, wait till we find out who the King is. Fight Xu until she gives up her Carbuncle Card. Xu's also got some insanely good cards to go with it, so be a bit careful when tangling with her. I win an Elastoid (1 more to go!!), an Abyss Worm (I know she had good cards, but lvl 7 cards are rarely having an item worth refining over stuff like Windmills), an Elnoyle, and a Tonberry King before she relinquishes it. Carbuncle is a pretty assy card, an inferior Zell, so refine it for Glow Curtains. Auto-Reflect is a useless ability, so refine them for the 100 Reflects they give. Reflect gives a ridiculous amount of spirit(Squall is at 87), so it's quite worth it. Announce for departure (the elevator won't let you down), then go back in, and head for Dr. Kadowaki, the former king. She tells you she passed the title to someone else 4 years ago. Go back to your room, save, and rest. Keep resting until the king challenges you. Who is the king? QUISTIS! As if her dominant symbolism wasn't enough (early on, anyways), she challenges you as the king (despite being female), and in her SeeD military uniform no less. She most likely will play Gilgamesh, but if she doesn't you're free to challenge her again on the bridge. Gilgamesh is again just an inferior Seifer, so refine it for HOLY WARS!! Break time. However, allow me to take this time to ask you fine people reading my playthrough of this weird-ass game. The Centra Ruins are now open. It is a double sidequest, and it involves getting Odin and the Tonberry King. Should I do so? It will be largely inefficient. In fact, may be the most inefficient thing ever. Why? 1. Odin shows up at random, and kills. This means exp,and it levels me up. This is generally a bad thing. Only good thing it's for is if I'm hunting Malboros for their tentacles, and I don't like dealing with Bad Breath. It's insane in this game. 2. It also means Gilgamesh shows up later. Not entirely a bad thing, but it becomes an issue with the Adel fight, and in giving Rinoa a possible deadly cut with Masamune. 3. Tonberry not only sucks, it takes forever to get. What I must do is slowly whittle and kill an assload of them (it's between 20 and 25, and I have to fight them 1 at a time). This is a lot of time that could be spent not doing this insane quest. The only benefit I get out of it is Haggle, Rare Item, and Call Shop (which saves me time navigating Esthar, the worst town ever to navigate). I'll do Jumbo Cactuar, I know that much. Should I do this anyways for the 100%? Or should I just move on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 God damn, why is the card game so important to this fucking game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anouleth Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 God damn, why is the card game so important to this fucking game? Because killing monsters and saving the world are obviously far less interesting than playing card games, so the game penalises you for killing monsters and rewards you for playing card games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 God damn, why is the card game so important to this fucking game? I treat them more like treasure chests in this game...Treasure chests that take many attempts to get the prize inside, but chests nonetheless. That, and cards can give some ridiculous stuff (pulling 87 spirit out of my ass is not an easy feat unless we get Carbuncle's Card). Just wish I could get more Elnoyles.Energy Crystals are stupidly important,and unfortunately it takes 10 of these damn things to make 1. Because killing monsters and saving the world are obviously far less interesting than playing card games, so the game penalises you for killing monsters and rewards you for playing card games. This, pretty much. By the way, thanks for answering my question, guys. You know, about the Centra Ruins? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anouleth Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 I treat them more like treasure chests in this game...Treasure chests that take many attempts to get the prize inside, but chests nonetheless. That, and cards can give some ridiculous stuff (pulling 87 spirit out of my ass is not an easy feat unless we get Carbuncle's Card). Just wish I could get more Elnoyles.Energy Crystals are stupidly important,and unfortunately it takes 10 of these damn things to make 1. See, this is why Fire Emblem is awesome. It doesn't try to distract you with stupid shit like card games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandjackal Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 See, this is why Fire Emblem is awesome. It doesn't try to distract you with stupid shit like card games. It's also the main reason FF8 sucks, because not only is it important, it's tedious and rock stupid. Seifer/Zell/Quistis/Sacred/Minotaur shuts down basically all competition, it's impossible to lose unless you fall prey to some stupid-ass rule. Then there's the fact that people just might not opt to give up their card immediately. I might be missing out on stuff like Auto-Haste, but fuck Queen of Cards. Anyways, as for Centra Ruins, decided I'll do it later. It can wait, and I don't want Odin fucking shit up with killing things. It's not like I need Tonberry right away, though I would like that ability that gets rare items at the shop from him. I recall you can get some stuff for weapon crafting at the Esthar Pet Shop if you have it. Bleh. I'll be patient I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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