Final Fantasy VIII - Learning To Play / Basics / Hints / Tips

Category: Final Fantasy 8

This section gives you information you will need to know before you play the game. It contains information about character development, making progress, transport, battle, status effects. It is a brief explanation of basically everything in the game to help you out when you start. Everything is categorized into sub sections throughout the site if you are looking into that category in more detail.

Making Progress

basically you will have three characters in your party, some will leave at certain points in the game and some will appear. You will have to alter them by junctioning GF's, magic and altering with stats. these are explained further on the site, look at the relevant sections. At certain points you will witness cinematics (Fmv's) these beautifully rendered scenes show crucial moments of the story. follow them closely to understand how the plot unfolds.

Triggering Events

You will generally find that most of the time, events and plots are straightforward, but from time to time you will have to trigger them yourself. Visit all areas accessible to you, even go out of the villages into the world map and roam forests and other towns, talk to people usually with the X button. Examine all switches, panels exits and the likes to uncover valuable items and find out information that could help you or help progress the story some more. Often things are hidden, and you will need to be at a certain angle to uncover items etc.

Additional Information

To find out more, the game does contain tutorials itself, switch on Squall's study panel in the 2F classroom at Balamb Garden every now and then to uncover new hints and tips. Take a good look at the tutorial section on the main menu too, which will contain large amounts of text and animated tutorials about how to equip your characters etc. Don't take it all in at once, there will be times when you are bored and want to do something else. Visit the tutorials to uncover more.

Saving

You can save anywhere on the world map by entering the main menu and selecting save at the bottom of the screen. Within locations however you will only be able to save at a hidden save point. These are spheres colored yellow and blue and can easily be seen. There are hidden save points in the game in various locations. In order to see these you will have needed to have learnt the party ability: Move-find. this can be learnt by Siren (draw from Elvoret at the start of the game in Dollet). My advice is to save very often and if in doubt on different slots as you may have missed something. That way you can go back and uncover it.

Talking To People

Talking is the most important part of the adventure. I advise talking to everyone at least 4 times to make sure that they have nothing else to say. Maybe get a notepad and jot some things down if what they are saying is important or helpful to you. If you press square when talking to them and they say the same comment as they would when you press X then these are people that do not want to play cards.

Seed Rank And Test

SeeD Rank determines Salary, determination and mainly the rank you are. It is first determined by the Dollet and fire cavern missions. You will need to achieve a good grade on them (see the appropriate category later - in secrets) Your rank will increase and you will gain more money the more you do. If you endlessly run around playing cards and not doing random battles, then it can decrease and you salary will go down with it. My best advice is to run around fighting lots of battles, then play cards if need be. SeeD Rank can also be raised upto a maximum grade of A rank 31. This can be done by endless fighting and hard work or you can cheat and rise it via a test on the main menu. Answer all 15 questions correctly and you raise a level. BEWARE THIS IS A BAD IDEA. WAIT TILL THE END OF THE GAME UNTIL USING THE TEST AS IF YOU GO TO RANK A (31) AND YOU START PLAYING CARDS, IT COULD DECREASE AND YOU CANNOT DO THE TESTS AGAIN. In my opinion, you do not need the test at all, it is worthless and if you are attempting to complete the game totally, it is better to show you can raise your rank without it.

Making Money

The best way to make money is to fight as many battles as you can and selling any unwanted or invaluable items. Whilst you fight your Seed Rank will increase and you will obtain massive amounts of Gil. Check everywhere for Gil too, there may be some in villages etc.

Moving around

In a village, you will see all three characters in your party moving around, whereas in the world map it will only be squall. You can use vehicles such as 4x4 vehicles in which you will have to buy fuel for them. Towns such as Balamb or Dollet have car rental stations. Here you can rent one for 3500 Gil. Cars mean no monsters so you can roam around without be harassed. You can also ride trains and pick them up at certain spots within the world map. train rides cost 3000 Gil.
Later on though, you will receive an airship which can land anywhere except the ocean and forests and will nearly give you total freedom where you can go.