How the fuck do I play this game and have fun? The mechanics

>>3870168

Man, you suck at this game. I wasn't even that bad when it first came out in my early teenage years.

>>3870203
I know I'm pretty bad at video games, but I didn't have that much trouble with 1-7, 13, 14, and 15.

Dunno. I always loved it and do my yearly playthrough.

Guess it's not for you. I never had to ''force'' myself to love it.

>>3870168
ok, so here's what you do
>eventually you'll get more GFs, of course you can't juntion to any start just beginning. Try to distribute to your characters. Ifrit for your physical attacker, Siren for your mage, shiva & quetzacoalt (or whatever its name is) for the remaining one (assuming you haven't got Diablos)
>you can get new cards by defeating enemies or using the Card command for quetzacoalt
>after that, you can learn Card Mod from the same GF to refine cards into items, which can be refined into magic through other GF abilities and speed up the process of getting magic
>play through battles, the game isn't that hard even if your enemies level up with you
>if you don't want to level up but still want to gain AP, you can petrify your enemies with the Break magic, that way you'll win the battle and AP but get no EXP
>money barely matters in this game

the game is a bit shit though, it's the most divisive FF for a reason. Don't feel bad if you're unable to enjoy it

>>3870168
That's not even the hardest part of the game anon.
It's when your stuck on martial lockdown with raijin and fuijin in balamb. Shit I never figure out the right sequences to keep going. I mean even the last castle and turning on the garden to avoid missles was easier then that.

The game sure feels like the most ''experimental'' of the FF series. That's where it gets me.

>>3870269
I really don't know what they were thinking with a lot of the gameplay. I guess when you're trying to follow-up one of the most hailed and successful RPGs of all time you want to change things up a bit so people don't just compare you to the predecessor, but everything they did fell flat.

>>3870168

It's a card game. You play Triple Triad mainly and sometimes there are other activities which allow you to get more cards.

Play with this mentality and it will all fall into place.

>>3870742
I feels. That's how some video games are. Like harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone for PS1. The story is a side mission. All Harry really cares about are collecting every famous witches and wizards cards.

I like asking people to play cards at inappropriate times. Like right when your characters are supposed to be preparing for battle, just go ask everyone if they want to play cards. It makes Squall kind of a funny guy.

You know what else? This game is kind of like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1. There's a lot of wandering without any idea how to beat the sorceress aka voldemort. Its a charming game. Get into the cards. That's how I have fun.

>>3870168
Use a guide to get the lionheart on disc 1, that should help you truck through the game.

Honestly if I were you I would just stop playing altogether, it's by far the worst Final Fantasy of the Golden Era Squaresoft and one of the worst in general. So don't feel bad if you give up on it.

>>3870168
>I'm not supposed to get exp, I
Somebody got memed. I can't beleive you would think this. Look, it doesn't matter if you level up. And you need to win battles to make your GFs grow.

Gaining levels is only going to fuck you over if you totally ignore junctioning (and again, you can't juunction shit if you don't let your GFs learn new abilities).
>I got so little money,
Because you keep running from fights. You deserve the rank demotions you keep getting.

Now, stop playing like an idiot and kill some monsters.

Fuck, delete your save and start again, you've probably fucked so much shit up by falling for this shit.

>>3872408
>>3870168

How do you even have troubles in FF8?

Its like the easiest RPG available on the console barring Persona 2 Innocent Sin.

>>3872428
Dude FF7 is way easier, as much as I love that game even a 10 year old who never played an RPG before could breeze through it.

i've never played ff8 but i always hear about how easy it is to break the game ... you must be doing something wrong

People who think level ing up in FF8 is counterproductive are retards.

Lvling up affects all this:
>all your base stats increase (more if you use stat boosts later in the game)
>enemies have better, and more, magics you can draw from them
>as you level up it becomes easier to draw 9 magic every turn
>you'll also get more, and better, item drops at the end of fights, meaning more and better magic you can turn from items
>some limit breaks also require that you win fights to learn them
>level ing up also means MUCH easier access to AP. Without leveling up you can only get AP through bosses or through retarded means like turning enemies into cards or fighting only Cactuar, which are only available very late in game.
>with easier access to AP, you can teach your GFs to junction more stats, you can tech them bonuses like stat increasing by 10 to 50 %, you can teach them new and better ways to turn items and cards into magics.

People who think lvling up is counterproductive are retards who don't understand the entire scope of the game. Even past lvl50 it's still productive, because even if you don't have anything new to gain from enemies or this point, your base stats will increase faster especially if you equip stat boosts+ abilities.

Also, if you remain low level you're locking yourself out of all the cool abilities and magics to use in battle, rendering the game boring.

YES - it's true that you can end up stronger, in comparison with enemies, if you remain low lvl and do some heavy exploits. But that doesn't mean that a normal playthrough punishes lvl up.

File: Rinoa.jpg (52KB, 484x640px) Image search: [Google]

52KB, 484x640px

>>3870168

I love FF8 and okay mate here is how to not suck at it.

1.) As soon as you first exit the Balamb garden you fucking draw 100 of each spell of EACH for EACH character.
2.) You realize that in this game spells are not to cast but to junction to your stats. You don´t need them anyway.
3.) As soon as you encounter a new ??? you draw that fucker. Hint: Bosses sometimes have drawable GFs.
4.) All your characters have 100 of each spell now. This is your new life.
5.) You go and play Triple Triad. A lot. Now. Before you first exit the garden I expect you to have the golden Mogry card from the little kid running around in circles.
6.) The first thing you teach Quezacoatl is the ability to turn CARDS to ITEMS.
7.) The first thing you teach EVERY GF is the ability to turn ITEMS into SPELLS.
8.) Now you have the best spells (with the best junctioned stats) very early in the game.
9.) You use the auto-equip spells and prefer your ATK.
10.) Now you win every fight by just pressing attack. If that doesn´t work you spam Squalls limit breaks.
11.) You read a guide to where to find all the crafting books.
12.) You craft a lionheart
13.) On disc 3 you should have:
Best weapons for all characters
300x Ultima
300x Flare
300x Vitra
300x Regena
300x Meteor
14.) You junction that shit again to your ATK
15.) You kill literally everything there is with auto attacks and limit breaks.
16.) Should that fail cast (the only exception) HASTE.
17.) Kill Artemisia in 2 minutes and solo her GF in 5 min with Squall alone.
18.) Congratulations you beat the game


Want a challenge? Finish the game WITHOUT Triple Traid and WITHOUT Cards. This will be a drawing-grindfest but at least you will see some boss dialogue you skipped on your first playthrough because you oneshot everything.

????
Profit

>>3872927
That is so boring and such a waste. The strength of FF8 is exactly the freedom and the depth of its system. If you don't feel like experimenting with it and would rather use the "AUTO" feature I'm afraid you just don't like RPGs.

>>3872927

Also to this day FF8 has the best story (up to disc 4 the end is kind of retarded) and most loveable characters. Fuck the haters, enjoy the game.

>>3872927
inb4 ban

>>3872932

Bullshit. There is no freedom. In most FFs you can attack, cast and summon. Well casting is out of the question as it does no damage anyway and summoning is out of the door because of FUCKING UNSKIPABLE SUMMONS. Spam attack is pretty much the only way not to die because of boredom. I really love the game and the story but I don´t play this sucker for the combat.

>>3872941
This board doesn't have mods.

>>3872993
Yeah they do, anything that's not retro gets banned almost immediately.

>>3873002

But Rhinoas cunt is retro. She would be 35 by now.

>>3873027
Rinoa IS a cunt

>>3872865
Nah FF8 is far easier, at least FF7 had some challenges like facing the midgard serpent instead of avoiding it and bosses like the Wall one in the Cetra ruins.

The only challenging fight in 8 are the weapons and Marlboro.

>>3872942
>There is no freedom.
Yes there is which is why Junction is the best system of the FF of its time.

FF9 and FF4 are the ones with no freedom whatsoever that are glorified railroad simulator.

>>3872927
why the fuck would you waste time drawing from the crap magic around Balamb? All that time you could just play cards and get much better magics. Tornado, Quake and all the -ga spells without having to get enemies to level 30

>>3872927
Here is how to actually start FF8
>get your first 2 gfs
>junction them start learning card and Ice magic refine
>go to the fire caverns and get ifrit
>from here decide if you want to kill the robot spider
>if yes, learn str-j, elem atk and the str +% abilities, then play cards until you can boost zells strength with tornados and thundagas for elem atk
>go to dollet, draw siren and the one blind draw point kill the robot
>if no, go to dollet draw siren and the one blind draw point run from the robot
>get back and play more cards
>use the magic lamp and cast blind on diablos until it connects, win battle at your leisure
>before you leave for timber you should have the mini mog, ifrit, quistis, zell, seifer and diablos cards along with every card below level 7(except Pu-Pu)

>>3873534
>>3873558
IIRC the cards available at the very start of the game are very basic. With the same card game opponents, it's only after going to Dollet to you'll find the cards which can give Tornado, Quake etc. Maybe the Mini-Mog card as well, I'm not sure.

>>3873558
>if you want a disc one lionheart, you'll need to level up until t-rexaurs drop dragon fangs and you have 4 of them before leaving for timber

I was like 11 years old when this game came out and I remember it being so easy that I was disappointed with it. Chrono Cross was better.

>>3873565
it depends on who you play, i havent played the game for a few years but im pretty sure some opponents use level 6 cards before dollet, if they dont, abyss worm is only a level 3 card anyway

>>3873578
I remember seeing my brother play this when i was little and not getting why he liked it, then i learned enough english to play it and being that easy helped me a lot.

Loved the game a ton and it got me into RPGs. I believe FF 8 is the best babbys first RPG on PS1.

>>3873584
I could be remembering wrong, but I swear there is no way to get Quake magic or the Mini Mog until after Dollet. You can battle the right opponents on and on and they'll never use have those cards.

For Tornado I'm not sure though.

>>3873594
I could be wrong about quake but thunder magic refinement on windmills from abyss worm cards give 20 tornado each

>he actually draws magic

that's like, only a rare occassion for an out of reach spell, or a GF. You get plenty of items to refine any magic you'd ever need, no need to waste any time drawing.

>>3873752
Ultima, flare, meteor, holy, and aura are the only magics worth drawing in battle.

>>3873841
Meltdown is one I draw, can't remember from who, I think the Lefty/Righty combos by the mountains on the Galbadia continent...

Maybe a Stop/Haste if I come across that, too early game. I haven't played in a long time.

>>3870168
>The mechanics are fucked
>have been sitting in battles for 30 minutes to draw magic for junctioning
>I'm not supposed to get exp
>Every battle is farming magic and running
>How the fuck do I play this game and have fun?
How about you just play the game and try to figure out yourself how it works. You don't need to do any of this. Just play the game "normal".
You can worry about using the mechanics to your advantage after you've finished it once and want to replay it.