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Patter Song posted:Will this be a 100%ish run? I've been planning to start playing this game in December and I want a good, goony walkthrough to play alongside. If it isn't, I'll fill in the gaps with text. I know most everything by heart at this point.
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Nov 25, 2014 01:33
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While I have some issues with this game, I really do enjoy it. Looking forward to seeing more!
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Nov 25, 2014 01:39
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Looking forward to this. I started my first FF8 file about 4 years ago, got a few hours into disc 2 before stopping, then restarted about 2 years ago and stopped playing around same part. This summer I had two weeks off where I resumed from my save point and played right through to the end. And I loved every minute of it. The game is definitely flawed and has lots of unfulfilled ideas, but it stands out as one of the most unique FF games for both the battle system and its setting. I vote for Default names because I'm boring that way.
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Nov 25, 2014 02:15
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Patter Song posted:Will this be a 100%ish run? I've been planning to start playing this game in December and I want a good, goony walkthrough to play alongside. Probably.
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Nov 25, 2014 02:18
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Part Three: Information Dump "Daze" Okay, so, here we are outside the classroom.  But, let's take a step back before that. Like I mentioned earlier, there's some good info here that's easily missed.  Let's start with a tutorial about tutorials, just in case you've never encountered the word before.  There are a couple things in the tutorial menu that are important, with this being one of them. The "Information" sub-menu is a place where lore lives. We're not going to go over it right now, and you may never actually see a screen of the contents. But it's there.  If we back out to the top menu and choose the message from the garden festival committee, we get to read this. But in the end, there was no Garden Festival. That's 'cause no one volunteered to help out. But I only have myself to blame. I thought I could pull it off. I'll be starting a new life, but I sincerely hope someone will take over the Garden Festival committee! Good-bye Balamb Garden! Wimbly Donner The important thing here is that whoever wrote this is named Wimbly, possibly the nerdiest name you could have.  In addition to the few actual interesting/salient tidbits on the computer, there is a loving ton of bullshit that there is no reason to give one gently caress about.  Like, a loving ton. There's a blurb for every one of these things.  Did you want to know about Balamb Garden's admission policies? Here ya go, have fun.  Here's a bit on the administration of Balamb Garden. Now you know the headmaster's name.  Some important lore lives here that makes a couple things clearer.  'Para-magic' was developed by Dr. Odine. He was the first scientist to research the nature of magic by studying a sorceress. Finally, an RPG where we cast science instead of magic. This skill can be gained through proper training. However, with magic, it is difficult to achieve power levels that are comparable to conventional weapons. Using magic is pretty situational in this game, and there are honestly more reasons not to do it than there are to do it.  Correction: In a previous update, I stated that GF stood for "Gameplay Feature". This should have read "Guardian Forces". Also, when I read that line about not being proven, I take it more as "inconvenient for Garden to admit". It's an interesting tidbit, I think.  "What's a sorceress? A woman who has a sorceress's powers, gently caress off."  Hyne is an allusion to Hein from Final Fantasy III, which is my personal favourite FF game.  Here's the first seed of a sidequest: nick somebody's library reservations.  Also on the study computer, we can find the Balamb Garden forums, where the first post is one of those Trepie fucks.  All forums are poo poo.  This page contains characterisation - Almasy is Seifer's last name, and like I said, he's the head of the disciplinary committee.  Hot dogs are of vital importance to the world of Final Fantasy VIII.  Whoever Z.D. is, it looks like they're taking today's exam. Maybe we'll run into them.  And now we're done with the computer! Back to the hallway!   On our way to leave, we run into someone who tears rear end directly into Squall's chest. Doesn't she know he almost died this morning? Have a little fuckin' respect, eh?  Come on, he's not that bad looking.  Squall isn't a silent protagonist by any stretch, but I feel like this early bit of the game has more dialogue choices than FF games usually do.  This is a 100% good manners run.   If you're not polite, she has a brain aneurysm and just dies. That's why you should always be polite. No poo poo. In a Hurry: Oh yeah! Hey, did you just come from that class? There are no other doors in this hallway. In a Hurry: Is...... homeroom over? Woo, oh nooo... Hey, don't worry, she didn't actually teach anything. In a Hurry: This place is soooo much bigger than my last Garden! If you read all the lore, you know which garden she was in last.In a Hurry: Oh, hey, hey. I just transferred here. Do you think you could give me a quick tour of this Garden?  You get a choice on this one, but like I said:  This is a 100% good manners run.  The girl is very excited to hear this. You know, I think that student orientation is the one thing that the computer doesn't cover.  "Can you give me a tour?" "I can show you a map."  Now we have the girl following us around.  It's not required, but talking to this guy is a good idea.  See, he gives you cards.   Playing cards is generally pretty easy.  I think this is the first Final Fantasy game that had a minigame like this that just spanned the whole world.  It's true, he doesn't.  Anyway, cards: cards are one of the keys to completely breaking the game. I won't be doing that, but I'll try to show off some of the good poo poo you can get from cards.  The cards he gives you suck, though. Boo bad cards.  Mr. Cards: And you still haven't gone to the Fire Cavern? Are you just taking it easy?   If you answer like a cool guy, he thinks you're cool.    The other option is to answer like a stoner, which just confuses him.  Now for the elevator. First floor, progress!  The elevator gets its own special camera angle on the first floor.  "You've been shown it."  Sure is, Squall.  I always get lost like an rear end in a top hat in this place, I don't know why. It's not hard to find your way. Maybe I'm just an rear end in a top hat. In a Hurry: I have a question! How do you use this? As much as I'd like to make fun of her for not understanding maps, she's actually talking about the directory's fast travel system.  : Move the cursor and press X to select. In a Hurry: Yes, sir!  : A majority of the students live in the dorms. There aren't too many who commute.The reason nobody commutes to Garden is probably because there's only one town on the entire continent. In a Hurry: Yeah, I'm in the dorms, too! Wait, you live here and you don't even know your way around? : You can rest and change in there.You can rest and change anywhere if you're not a prude.  You can rest and change in there. : There's always a big rush for the hot dogs. You better get used to waiting in line. In Japan, these were not hot dogs, but ホットドッグ.They were actually flavoured breads. In a Hurry: Got it!  Finally, we talk about an exciting part of Garden. : We usually take the Garden car when a mission comes up.Why do they even need a parking lot if nobody commutes?  : (That's right... I have to go meet Instructor Trepe at the front gate.)This is mildly interesting because it shows how formal Squall considers his relationship with Quistis. In a Hurry: Hm? What's the matter? : Nothing...He's mad that he won't get free time.  Garden uses a radical new quad philosophy of placing it a) indoors and b) not in a central area. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a quad traditionalist. : There's an event being planned there...In a Hurry: I know! I know! It's the Garden Festival! It's going to be great! I'm planning to be on the committee. You wanna help out, too!? Well, someone's excited for the Garden Festival. : Let's just continue.Hint: it's not Squall.  You can go there when some rear end in a top hat sticks a sword in your skull. : This is where you get treated for your injuries, but a lot of students just come here for advice.What the hell goes on at Garden that you need to go to the infirmary for advice? In a Hurry: What's the doctor's name? : Doctor Kadowaki. The East Block-West Block feuds are famous at Garden.  Look, if you get sick and it's after nine, you can fuckin' wait for morning. : It's used for training, and they have real monsters running loose there.Look, if you go to the one place that's open late and get hosed up by monsters, you can fuckin' wait for morning. : If you don't take it seriously, you may end up dead. Just be careful.Who the hell allowed that to be built? Even just from an economic standpoint, it's bad if your students are killed. In a Hurry: (gulp)...Okay.  There are also monsters in the library, to toughen up the nerds. : There's a lot of material you can look up here, but the terminals in the classroom are a lot more efficient.You can't even get a GF from a book. That's some rear end-backward poo poo.  Garden, being a school big enough to have dorms, has only one classroom. In a Hurry: Yep, I remember that one. : By the way, the headmaster's office is located on the 3F. You need permission to get in.In a Hurry: Another question. What's the headmaster's name? : Headmaster Cid.Wouldn't that make him Headmaster Headmaster Cid? Someone's parents were loving astute as hell.  In a Hurry: Got it! And that's the whole tour. Now we know about Garden.  : Yeah.In a Hurry: Then maybe I'll see you again, later. I've already finished my training at my previous Garden. I'm taking the SeeD exam today, too. Good luck to both of us, huh! Thanks a lot!  Having been enlightened about the Garden's layout, she heads off to... let's say the library.  And we get to check out this weird globe.  It's a save point! That's as good a place to wrap it up as any! Next time: maybe the Fire Cavern. Cool Ghost fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Dec 16, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 06:43
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I couldn't find a good place to fit it into the update, but is anyone interested in the other information from the classroom computer and the chitchat/area descriptions from Squall's travel guide? Edit: as a bonus update. Cool Ghost fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 06:47
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Holy poo poo, a new FF VIII LP! I actually enjoyed some of what Leovinus tried to do, even if a lot of the jokes were stale. Never saw Azure_Horizon's take but I assume it was terrible. I'm glad to see you're taking this on, Cool Ghost. This game needs a steady hand to do a moderately serious LP. I look forward to debating stupid lore and insufferable fan theories in the future!
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Nov 25, 2014 10:50
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Weird BIAS posted:One was pulled by Leovinus for being homophobic and not as funny as it was back in the day, the other one was because Azure Horizon did lovely things to people irl and got banned from SA for being a creep. This I don't get. Ok, fine, drop the unfunny homophobic one, that's curating for quality. Why drop the other one just because the author became a shitlord? If you don't like creations because the people behind them are terrible, never look up in depth info on any of your favorite artists, writers, actors or musicians. Hate the artist, not the art. That aside, I don't think I ever perused that LP, so maybe it was just lovely anyway. E: I borrowed this game from a friend once. I gave it back to him the next day. Pvt.Scott fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 19:24
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Pvt.Scott posted:This I don't get. Ok, fine, drop the unfunny homophobic one, that's curating for quality. Why drop the other one just because the author became a shitlord? If you don't like creations because the people behind them are terrible, never look up in depth info on any of your favorite artists, writers, actors or musicians. Hate the artist, not the art. That aside, I don't think I ever perused that LP, so maybe it was just lovely anyway. IIRC Azure Horizon was literally a rapist. Having him on the LP Archive was probably not something people were comfortable with.
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Nov 25, 2014 19:40
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I remember following Azure Horizon's LP of this and it wasn't bad. There was a lot of piss taking on the game but that's to be expected. I'm pretty sure he did all the sidequests as well so it was fairly in depth. That said, gently caress him for what he did.
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Nov 25, 2014 20:19
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Boardroom Jimmy posted:I remember following Azure Horizon's LP of this and it wasn't bad. There was a lot of piss taking on the game but that's to be expected. I'm pretty sure he did all the sidequests as well so it was fairly in depth. That said, gently caress him for what he did. Yeah it did have a lot going for it. It was really informative about how to break the game, if a little dry. The updates were really regular too I remember. But yeah, rapist.
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Nov 25, 2014 20:55
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I never knew you could fast-travel. Huh.
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Nov 25, 2014 22:24
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sleepy.eyes posted:I never knew you could fast-travel. Huh. I don't know when exactly but I could swear this ability disappears at some point.
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Nov 25, 2014 22:58
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Part Four: Exploring Balamb Garden So, here we are, in the front hallway of Balamb Garden. We could just head out and meet Quistis at this point, and there's no reason not to, but let's have a real look around, first. It's a pretty nice place, and I like it. I think this game has some pretty good towns in general, actually.  Well, first first, let's rename some GFs: Quetzalcoatl, whose missing letters I always forget, becomes QuesoCola.  And Shiva becomes IcyNips.  I also do some control wrangling, because: a, FFVIII has a weird control setup where circle opens the menu and triangle is cancel and I hate it; b, the way the controller inputs resolve means that I can't escape battles if I leave the input as the default (R2 & L2 together), so I have to remap it.  Now we can finally get around to hassling people.  lol squall's id ends in 69  Garden Faculty: And you're making Instructor Trepe wait! What are you still doing here!? I'm not letting her take my free time away.    I hope that works out for you.  Balamb Garden has a lot of hallways, and I think some of them are pretty nice looking. That's right, I'm secretly the most boring person on Earth.  This guy doesn't shy away from the controversy.  This guy just thinks Squall is stupid.   Library Girl with a Pigtail: And also... 4. Avoid late returns. 5. No fighting over seats. I have to go over the library rules with the children, next period. I'm very nervous. I hope they understand...   gently caress your rules!  A+ Student: So what happened to this sorceress? Did someone overthrow the sorceress? Did we learn about this in class? I think I cut class that day, so, like, I have no idea what this sorceress is about. Good luck with pumping gas, my dude.  Hey, what's that purple sparkly thing?  Oh. (We'll cover draw points in a bit.)  Literati: Kinda like the one that girl with a pigtail recommended. That romance novel was pretty good. Do you mean the library staffer? It would be pretty lovely of her to recommend a book that isn't in the library.  Waiting Girl: I'll get in trouble if she doesn't come back soon.  This is a yawn. Needs Coffee: I have a test comin' up. It's actually a make-up test. It's the worst, man... I'm the only one takin' it. The exams at Balamb Garden are apparently very difficult.  I think you'll be okay. Can't Count: There's always a lot of people in the reading room. And not everyone's there to read books, either! Students at Balamb Garden are apparently so boring that they just go to the library to hang out.  This is the most interesting thing in the library, by far. There are several types of magazine you can collect in Final Fantasy VIII, and Occult Fan is probably the most important of all of them.  Where else are you going to get hard-hitting journalism like this?  Our next destination: the training centre.  Oh, hey guys, what's up?   Oh. Hm.  Yeah, this seems to be more my speed.  Wait, no, this is stupid.  Jesus Christ, be careful where you're running.  Let's run together.  Oh hey, talkin' 'bout the SeeD exam?  Yeah, that's cool, I'm just gonna stand here and listen.  Hope you don't mind.  Hm, yeah, you should get on that. You don't want to end up taking a whole 'nother term just for one class or something.  Oh, well, I guess maybe you guys aren't as old as I thought.   Well, anyway, nice talking to you.  This is Squall's room. Pretty, uh, sparse, isn't it?  "Hi, I'm Squall Leonhart and this is my crib." If you're an attentive viewer, you can see that Squall has taken off the bandages he had on in the infirmary. He actually doesn't have them after that first hallway scene with Quistis. You can also see the scar he got from Seifer here. gently caress you, Quistis, I'm going to have my free time.  This is Squall's roommate's room. You cannot be an rear end in a top hat and sleep in his bed. gently caress this game, 0/10.  Oh man I never noticed that guy there until just now. My 100% hassling run, ruined...   Walking into the cafeteria, we're treated to a fun little scene with Seifey Seifs and the Funky Disciplinary Committee.   What's up, guys? Fujin: ...IGNORE. In Japanese, Fujin spoke only using kanji, which was translated into English like this. I feel like it doesn't really work in English, and I don't know a lot of Japanese, but I feel like it wouldn't go super well in that language, either. Seifer: .........  Oh, you know, just sayin' hi.  Hey, Raijin. What's goin' on? Raijin: Oh yeah, Fujin's gonna treat, ya know? Want somethin'? Raijin's vocal quirk is that he uses the tag question "ya know" a lot. It's a lot less weird and stilted than Fujin's whole thing.  Fujin does not like people offering things on her behalf.  So she kicks Raijin in the shin. Raijin: !!!!!!!!! Ahh...Ouuu...Ahh...  Hey Seifer, kiss my rear end.  Hot dogs are very popular in the Balamb Garden cafeteria.  I feel like Balamb Garden has a lot of people, and it conveys the scale of its population better than a lot of places in RPGs.  I'd rather not check out anything associated with the Trepies. Friend of Trepe Groupie #1: This guy used to be the cream of the crop. Now look at him... All over one woman.  We can also talk to the Trepie for this creepy soliloquy. Trepe Groupie #1: I cannot sleep at night thinking of your radiating beauty... That is why I am always falling asleep in class... Oh...how sinful you are...  Yes, this is established. SeeD Hopeful #2: I choked last time... I was way too nervous. SeeD Hopeful #1: At least you made it to the field exam! I can't even pass my written test yet! I just want to point out that Squall isn't talking to any of these people, he's just standing there, listening to their conversation and staring at them. Squall is cool like that. SeeD Hopeful #2: I guess you're not as smart as I am. SeeD Hopeful #1: Yeah, right! You're in study hall today, too! SeeD Hopeful #3: Yeah...so am I... I guess we all just suck.  This is a line that wouldn't work in a game with voice acting. In fact, the whole SeeD thing wouldn't work out loud. SeeD Hopeful #2: SaaaaaaaaaD... SeeD Hopeful #3: Sad people like us, all we do is complain in the cafeteria... SaaaaaaaaaD... Well, good luck with that, guys.  The quad is kind of nice.  Well, I understand the theory of a piano, if you consider that to be playing an instrument.  You can't actually initiate dialogue with the girl, she only talks when she runs into Squall.  I see you also took the long way around to the quad, then.  How the gently caress did that happen? You don't even know how to get to class.  Transfer Student: It's my dream to form my own band.  There's a girl roller-skating over here, but you can't talk to her. Transfer Student: Of course I'll need four people... Wanna join? Unfortunately, we cannot join the band.  Well, I guess that explains how the transfer student got a position. Garden Festival Committee Information Weekly: That transfer student seems to be really enthusiastic about it, but...  If we go talk to the transfer student by the stage, we get the chance to blow her off.  This is non-canon.  Remember, this is a 100% good manners run.  We cannot join the Garden Festival committee right now.  The quad is a very safe place to be.  Classic play, if you're sick.  Hey, thanks, buddy.  Not really, I just don't want to talk to Quistis. She'll make me do stuff. I hate that.  Dr. Kadowaki: Oh, Squall. Your exam's today, right? How's that forehead doing?   Uh, no, I know. I just want to know if you know.  Everyone is making fun of Squall today.  Like the exams, maps at Balamb Garden are very difficult.  Thanks! Anyway, we've now been all around the garden and talked to pretty much every person, so I guess there's nothing left to do but talk to Quistis... Next time! Cool Ghost fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Nov 27, 2014 |
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Nov 27, 2014 08:06
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When I first played this game I always imagined Fujin to scream every word she says in some really deep, female Louis Armstrong style voice. The reason she only said one word was because her throat was dried out as she was always trying to sound more macho, being in a male dominated environment an all.
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Nov 27, 2014 17:32
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You got two pictures of the guy who likes books, no matter the era.
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Nov 27, 2014 17:40
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The bit about Para-magic is vaguely interesting, because you do get human enemies that cast magic at you despite your characters presumably having the only means for humans to cast magic (GFs). From the description it sounds like it's possible for humans to train to unlock some latent ability to cast magic, but it's never fully explored.
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Nov 27, 2014 18:14
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I thought that was explained at some point, but I guess we'll see when we get there.
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Nov 27, 2014 18:16
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Nihilarian posted:You got two pictures of the guy who likes books, no matter the era. Thanks for pointing this out, it's fixed now.
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Nov 27, 2014 18:31
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I guess they don't offer art classes at Anime Mercenary High School.
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Nov 28, 2014 07:10
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I always thought the ALL CAPS with Fujin made her sound like a robot, or one of those smokers who has to use those special voice thingies. It's actually shown off when her character in Kingdom Hearts 2 gets a voice actor, but failure to make it unique in any way instead makes her sound slow and boring. Also, I didn't know until many years later that Fujin was a chick. I thought it was some weird pirate-looking guy friend.
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Nov 28, 2014 07:25
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Thanks a ton to Boardroom Jimmy and ultrafilter for helping me to find this. FFVIII is...it's the worst FF ever, in my humble opinion. That doesn't mean it is completely without good features. There are several things I like about it and I am glad to see someone daring to undertake this mess. But man oh man, even by JRPG standards, the beginning is slow and boring. I find this a very common trait in JRPGs because the first hour or two is the most basic character establishment and worldbuilding. It simply informs you of the most mundane and uninteresting poo poo. Maybe it was cool the first time around but on a second playthrough I just want to skip through all of it and get to the big plot reveals and the like. But in FFIV you had fighting some monsters on an airship after you attacked a town and stole their magic stone. Then the king immediately sends you out and you burn down another town. FFVI saw you playing as the invaders in a small town, kinda like if it had been playable when Dark Knight Cecil attacked Mysidia FFVII had you frickin' terrorist bombing a reactor. FFVIII? Stand in line for hotdogs and go to the library and play some card games. NikkolasKing fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Nov 29, 2014 |
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Nov 29, 2014 00:10
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Part Five: The Fire Cavern Well, we just spent two updates screwing around in Balamb Garden like a dunce.  Today, we're going to go outside. However, we cannot be assholes and leave through the incoming gate.  We can talk to the reception guy, though. He's an important guy around Garden, and it's nice to say hi.  Well, let's go to the dark zone.  Balamb Garden has a lot of screens. It's large.  This guy's asleep.  And now he's gone, because I went inside and came back to talk to these girls.  They're discussing their lunch plans, and Squall is going to listen like crazy.   At this point, I decided to stop following them. They decide to go someplace that serves sweet stuff, one girl just started a diet but can start again tomorrow, everybody laughs, &c. On a second run, I found out that these girls have another conversation:   Where they talk about going to see a movie!  Ghost Fact: I haven't seen a movie in the theatre in almost 3 years.   Sorceress & Knight sounds like a classic movie.  Ugh, nevermind.  Well, see ya. With this one, I actually managed to capture the whole conversation!   No, what happened yesterday?  Fine, don't tell me. gently caress you guys.  This guy appreciates me.  The woman in the dress is Quistis. She changed into street clothes just to take Squall on this outing.   : GF gives us strength. The stronger the GF, the stronger we become.This is about half right. GF doesn't really give you much in itself, but it allows you to get things, and it is very important. : ...So, here's a brief explanation on junctioning a GF. In this tutorial, you can see Quistis's stats at level 6 (where she has 420 HP  ) but she joins your party at level 8. A nice thing about this game is you can skip tutorials, so you don't have to sit through them. They're in the menu, though, if you forget (or skip one by accident).  Junctioning magic is 99% of the point of junctioning a GF, so it's really cool that the game doesn't tell you about it here.  This is a way to get magic, but if you rely on drawing in battle, you're a chump. The game doesn't tell you about that, either, though.  I have nothing else to do this afternoon.  There are only three things on this entire continent.  Okay! Before we head to the Fire Cavern, I'm going to explain junctioning.  Junctioning is basically equipping a GF to a character. It is very important to do, and if you forget...you're hosed!  Once you junction a GF, you get the chance to junction abilities. Every GF starts out with these four basic ones, but there are a lot of specialty abilities you can get later. The top three slots are active abilities and the bottom slots are passive abilities.  We have no passives available right now, so I just set up Squall like this. Like Quistis implied earlier, you can junction magic as well as GFs, but we have no magic right now, so that'll have to wait.  Quistis gets IcyNips.  And we're on the road! Here's the world map music:   You can listen to that while I open a new menu up. This is the GF menu, where you can check your GFs' stats. As you can probably tell, GFs can level up, which increases their HP and the damage they do when you summon them in battle.  You can also change what ability the GF is learning here. The default is generally SumMag+10%, which boosts their damage in battle but isn't a priority.  I set QuesoCola to learn Card, which is generally pretty good because it lets you kill things without gaining EXP, and gets you new cards (it is mostly useful for the first thing).  IcyNips is on the path to learn I Mag-RF, which will let me make ice magic out of items instead of drawing it. Refinement is the best way to get magic in this game because, unlike drawing, it's reliable and doesn't take a million fuckin' years. Generally speaking, when you get a new GF, refinement abilities should be the first ones you set it to learn.  On my way to the Fire Cavern, I get another little tutorial from Qusitis. : The R2 button is the trigger. Pull it just as you strike. Same for the Renzokuken.This refers to the trigger of the gunblade. If you hit the button with the right timing, Squall gets a critical hit. Everyone else relies on the Luck stat for this, but with Squall you're in complete control; the tradeoff is that every other party member gets double damage on a critical, but Squall only gets 150%. The timing is pretty easy to get used to, but you can also set the gunblade to auto-trigger in the menu if you're not confident in yourself. As for Renzokuken, that's Squall's limit break, and it'll be explained when I get to it.  Now for drawing: this is one way to get magic; it's good here before you get any refinement abilities, or if an enemy has magic you can't refine yet. See, every enemy has a list of spells it's carrying around with it (they're all question points here because I've not drawn any of them, so I don't know what the spells are yet).  So you choose your spell, choose if you want to stock it or cast it...  ...And you get some spells! (Or cast the spell immediately from the enemy, if you choose Cast.)  You get different amounts of spells depending on your level, the enemy's level, the difficulty rating of the spell, and a small random factor. The minimum you can get is 0 (the draw fails), and the maximum is 9.  The reason spells come in quantities is because this game treats them as consumables. If you cast a spell, it is used up forever and you can't get it back. Spells like fire are everywhere, so you can go ahead and cast them 'til the cows come home, but for rarer spells, you have to be more conscientious.  Of course, with early enemies like these Bite Bugs, there's not much of a reason to cast spells anyway.  Okay, now levels: every level in FFVIII takes 1,000 EXP to gain. Squall and Quistis both start in the middle of their levels, so they only need 500 EXP to level up right now. In other news, every level takes 500 EXP for GF to gain, but the amount they get depends on how many are junctioned to the character.  We also get items! This M-Stone Piece is used for refining, which we can't do right now.  GF get AP after battles, which is how they learn new abilities.  Here we are at last: the Fire Cavern.  Oh Jesus H, Quistis. : I'll be explaining how to utilize the magic you have stocked. When you draw a new magic, try experimenting with it when you junction. This is how you become stronger.I'm skipping the tutorial here because I can explain better. : Ok, ready to go?Yeah, let's get a move on.  Of course.  Yes I know how to use my weapon. The scar is from a fight, not a lobotomy. : Oh, ok. I was just concerned, that's all.Duly noted. Let's get a move on. : Alright, let's go! So, junctioning magic.  Basically, instead of armour and poo poo, in Final Fantasy VIII, you equip spells to boost your stats. You can equip one spell to each stat.  The boost you get from junctioning magic depends on what spell you use, and how many. As you can see, junctioning 8 Fires does nothing for Magic.  25 Fires raises Quistis's Spirit by 1 point, though. Like Quistis said, junctioning magic is key to actually getting through this game, because your stats will always be poo poo if you just go by levels. On the other hand, enemies level up with Squall, and they get a lot more out of each level. So, you need to junction to stay ahead of enemies. In theory, though, you need to level up so that enemies get better magic for you to junction. Of course, because there are ways to get magic that don't depend on your level, you can also stay at a low level on purpose, get high-level magic to junction, and steamroll everything.  Now, let's get to the Fire Cavern proper.  These guys are Garden faculty members. : I'm ready.: I'm his support. Instructor No. 14, Quistis Trepe.Garden Faculty: Select a time limit. Choose one suited to your abilities. Challenging yet reasonable.  This is a timed mission. The less time there is on the clock when you finish in the Fire Cavern, the better you score. 10 minutes is more than enough, unless (maybe) it's your first time through the game. Then you might choose 20. 30 and 40 are both absolutely loving absurd, and there's no way you're getting a good score. Garden Faculty: Very well. Good luck. I chose 10.  Of course, the loving faculty's line already cost me 2 seconds!  Since we're going into a dungeon, here's a dungeon theme:   : Fine. : I guess my charm makes them nervous. Squall actually stops and turns to face Quistis here. : I'm just kidding! Trying to keep you relaxed, that's all.I like the banter between Squall and Quistis in the early part of the game. I think it sets up a pretty good dynamic; Quistis is confident and knows that Squall is capable, but lacks social skills. Squall is trying to be professional and lacks social skills, so he misses that Quistis is: a, trying to help him as a teacher; b, desperately trying to flirt.  Red Bats are a new enemy in the Fire Cavern. They are absolute poo poo and Squall and Quistis can both kill them with one physical attack.  For some reason, they have Thunder spells.  The Fire Cavern is very linear and very short. The only side path in the whole place is that one with a draw point on the right.  If you encounter a Bomb, Quistis tells you about it. : Use an ice attack for these. Check the monster's weakness with Scan.This is an introduction to the concept of elemental weaknesses, which is brand new for Final Fantasy VIII. If you hit an enemy's weakness with the type of attack it's weak to, it takes extra damage.  I don't have any ice attacks, and I don't feel like fighting four enemies anyway, so I just took a powder on this one.  This is the penultimate screen of the Fire Cavern.  And here we are. Let's face a GF, I guess. : You seem confident enough.  The hole in the ground puts on a little light show for us...   ...And out pops the boss!  Ifrit has Cure spells to draw, if you're in need. This is pretty nice, since he's probably the first thing that will come anywhere close to killing you.  Being a fire-elemental GF, Ifrit has a crippling weakness to Ice, so IcyNips is handy here.  It also lets me show off how summoning GF works. When you select the GF, you have to wait before they show up. During this time, a blue bar replaces the ATB (how close a character's turn is to coming up) and starts emptying out. The GF's HP also replaces the summoner's - if the summoner takes a hit while summoning, the GF takes the damage instead; this can be useful to soak up a dangerous attack, but the GF can be knocked out if its HP hits zero, so be careful.  Once the bar empties, the GF is summoned.  Each GF has its own attack, and a lot of them are elemental. IcyNips's is ice.  It does a lot of damage to Ifrit - he only has 1,068 HP (this is fixed - Ifrit is an exception, and does not level up with the player), so summoning IcyNips will tear him up fast.  Ifrit does not like nips.  His Fire spells can pack a punch, but you're not in much danger during this fight.  The idea of this battle is that you keep an eye on Ifrit's HP with Scan and don't defeat him until the last second; you need 10 seconds or less left on the clock to get the highest marks.  Ifrit also has a few lines in this fight; he says this before the first time he physically attacks.  His physicals are actually dangerous.  This is after you deplete his HP some more; if you don't have Scan, I guess you could use this to gauge how far you are in the fight.   And then he says this when you beat him.  Which I did with a minute left on the clock, because I'm a dunce.   As pointed out by thread poster ApplesandOranges, Ifrit has alternate dialogue if you defeat him with IcyNips.  And as pointed out by eating only apples, the timer still runs during the battle results, so even a poo poo time like this can be salvaged!  Bosses in Final Fantasy VIII do not give out EXP.  If your GF gets knocked out, you're probably using it too often. Get good, scrub.  Ifrit's card is our first good playing card.  20 AP is a lot.  We also get a chance to name Ifrit.  After the fight, Quistis has another tutorial for us. : Good, you got yourself a GF.This is a tutorial on how the past works. : If you junction that GF, you'll be able to use the Elem-J ability. Here's an explanation on Elements.Let's not and say we did. : There's a lot of Fire elemental monsters here, so junction Blizzard to your Elem-Atk. you'll have an easier time with the Fire elemental enemies.Basically, you can equip spells to your attacks as well as your stats, and elemental spells give your attacks elemental properties.  On my way out, I check out that draw point. Fire is apropos, I suppose, but not very useful.  Draw points give you more spells than enemies (generally), but take time to recharge after being used, so they're no good for grinding spells.  On the way out of the Fire Cavern, IcyNips learns I Mag-RF. Now we can make ice magic whenever we want (as long as we have the items for it)!  Next time: back to Balamb Garden. Cool Ghost fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Dec 16, 2014 |
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Nov 29, 2014 00:46
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FYI, you have until noon Monday to tell me what to name Ifrit.
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Nov 29, 2014 00:51
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Ifrit kinda looks like a lion in this game. Let's name him Mufasa.
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Nov 29, 2014 02:07
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FieryNips?
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Nov 29, 2014 02:20
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HotNHorny
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Nov 29, 2014 02:32
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Rigged Death Trap posted:HotNHorny I was thinking HornDog
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Nov 29, 2014 02:39
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The first thing I'd want to mod about this game (if I could mod) would be those tutorials. Ifrit shall be HotDoggin. quote:GF gives us strength. The stronger the GF, the stronger the GF, the stronger we become
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Nov 29, 2014 03:01
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Nihilarian posted:too many GF's Fixed, thanks.
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Nov 29, 2014 03:05
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Woo, An FF8 LP that'll hopefully make and stay on the archives! This excites me. Just remember Cool Ghost, don't stare too long into the abyss, lest it consume you in ...whatever.  Also seconding Mufasa
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Nov 29, 2014 04:58
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Actually forget that +1 to HotNips
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Nov 29, 2014 14:19
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Mufasa sounds good to me.
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Nov 29, 2014 14:55
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Azure Horizon's LP is really the best and it's a shame its not in the LP archive. It turns out he's probably a rapist but you don't see them take MJ's music off iTunes or Polanski movies off Netflix.  Cool Ghost posted:This game is kind of weird, mechanically; if you don't know what you're doing, it's a slog, and if you do, it's really easy to break it. I'm not planning on doing a lot of that second one, for two reasons: A, it's boring; B, it's boring to see someone just cheese the game. That's the preamble done I guess. Cool Ghost posted:
Also HotNips.
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Nov 29, 2014 15:07
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Cool Ghost posted:
You can actually sit around on the battle results screens and the timer will still invisibly tick down, and nothing will happen when it gets to zero. A better score!
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Nov 29, 2014 15:13
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Will be following this since I love this game. alsoQuantum Toast posted:Mufasa sounds good to me.
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Nov 29, 2014 17:05
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eating only apples posted:You can actually sit around on the battle results screens and the timer will still invisibly tick down, and nothing will happen when it gets to zero. A better score! Yeah, I found out about this verifying something yesterday. This run was the first time I've ever been over time on Ifrit.
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Nov 29, 2014 17:18
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Heran Bago posted:Azure Horizon's LP is really the best and it's a shame its not in the LP archive. It turns out he's probably a rapist but you don't see them take MJ's music off iTunes or Polanski movies off Netflix. Right? Michael Jackson has an amazing catalog and Polanski has a bunch of cool movies. They are both rapist scum. I still enjoy their work. I don't know if video game satire is everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoy it as well.
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Nov 29, 2014 17:47
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Mufasa did lose to someone with a scar so the name seems quite appropriate.
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Nov 29, 2014 18:19
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| # ? May 3, 2024 06:27 |
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Ifrit also has alternate text if you land the killing blow with
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Nov 29, 2014 18:31
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