Oritsuru » Final Fantasy VIII » Battle System
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Like other games in the series, Final Fantasy VIII utilizes a type of turn-based combat system. In a turned based system characters line up and take turns based on their speed. Enemies will line on one side while the members of your party are on the other. It's a fairly simple concept, however, some things in the game make it just a bit more difficult than button mashing. This page is devoted to explaining just how to get the most out of your battles if you are unfamiliar with this game.
The Very Basics
There are a few commands and terms you'll need to know before going into battle.
Level: Level is very basic. As a character levels up they become stronger and gain more base stats. You'll want to make sure your character is leveled up as much as possible so you'll be able to defeat foes with ease!
Expirence (exp): Expirence of a character determines when they level up. For every 1000 points of exp gained, a character will gain a level and in the process become stronger. Not all monsters give expirence in the game.
Hit Points (HP): HP represents the 'life' of your character. The higher the number the better the chance your character will survive confrotations with enemies. During battle opponents will attack your characters using various diffrent means. When they do so some of their HP will be depleted. If a character's HP reaches 0, they will be knocked unconcious (KO) and unable to perform in battle. If all party members are KO'd, the game will automatically be over. You'll want to make sure your characters have a hefty supply of HP throughout the course of the game. During battles HP can be healed with items purchased in shops such as potions. It can also be healed with life magic such as cure.
In KO'd, a character can also be revived with a phoenix down or the life spell. It can be used by any active party member on the deceased.
Attack: Attack is the most basic command in the game. You'll probably be using this more than any other throughout the course of your adventure. When attack characters will use their physical strength to attack an opponent with their weapon. When doing so it will cause physical damage to a target. At the begining a character's attack will not be very powerful, however, as they level up they will gain more strength.
Item: Characters can used items they they purchased in shops or found after a battle. Items that cure status effects and heal HP can be used in battle.
Junction a GF for more power!
Final Fantasy VIII is unique to where every character can junction a Guardian Force (GF) and become stronger! When junctioning a GF you can aquire the use of numerous abilities and be able to call your GF to aid your character in battle. Not only that, but using the GF to junction magic can greatly raise a character's stats!
Junctioning a GF is a very simple process. In the Junction menu you will want to select the junction command. A screen will pop-up with the words "GF - Magic"
Of course, you'll want to select GF, as if they don't have one equiped, it is the only avaliable command anyway. When you junction a GF you can select from any of the ones you currently have aquired. Select a GF. You'll notice that after selecting one you will get to set what abilities you want to take with you into battle. These can include "Magic, GF, Draw, and Item" You will want to utilize these the best you can! Below is what these abilities not listed above do:
GF: The GF command allows you to call your guardian force to aid you in battle. Calling a GF will cause for a slight delay. During this delay that the character is 'summoning' a GF, the character's HP guage will be replaced by the one of the GF they are summoning. Whenever an enemy attacks the character, the GF will take damage instead of your character during the entire summon process. Once a GF is completly summoned, however, it will act, most the time launching attacks at all enemies and then return to normal. Your character will then again take the damage until you summon your GF again. GFs, just like characters, can go into KO stat and become unusable in battle, so make sure to watch their HP guage as well. They can only be healed outside of battle with GF healing items.
Draw: The draw command is very complex yet so simple. When the draw command is selected, a character can extract magic from monsters in battle. What magic is drawn from a monster is dependent on the level, location, and type it is. Diffrent monsters have diffrent magic that can be drawn. For example, a fire type monster will probably have the spell 'fire' while an ice based on will probably have blizzard. You won't know what a spell is before you have drawn it for the first time.
Characters are unable to stock every type of magic avaliable in the game, but, they can stock many pages of spells.
The rest of the junction system is a bit more difficult than what is explained above. For example, junctioning magic. It can be automatically done with the junction menu, which works well most of the time, however, you'll want to sometimes manually junction magic to your character. It might be difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's a breeze. Have fun testing the magic junctioning system out! You'll definitly want to utilize it if you wish to make steady progress throughout the game.
Status Effects
Characters can get nasty status effects set against them in battle. Thankfully, there are ways to cure every one of them. Below is a list of the negative status effects held in the game. Most of these effects can also be cured with the spell Esuna.
| Status | Effect | Item Cure |
| Silence | Unable to use magic/GF | Echo Screen |
| Confusion | Character loses control; acts randomly without direction | Remedy |
| Poison | Character gradually loses HP after every turn | Antidote |
| Berserk | Character loses control and attacks randomly | Remedy |
| Slow | The Character's turn comes less often | Remedy |
| Blind | Hit rate reduced | Eye Drops |
| Slow Death | Counter appears over head; KO'd when it reaches 0 | Dispel Magic |
| Petrify | Character turned to stone; cannot act | Soft |
| Zombie | Healing items/spells damage character | Holy Water |
| Slow Petrify | Like Slow death but with petrify | Soft |
| Sleep | Character put to sleep and cannot act | Physical Attack |
| Curse | Unable to use limit breaks | Holy Water |
Anything Else?
In battle characters can use limit breaks. These are special attacks unique to each character than can cause devistating damage to an enemy. Usually you must be in a critical state for the limit break command to come up, however, with a spell called 'Aura" they can be used more often.
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