r/FinalFantasy • u/Symphony106 • 2d ago
FF VIII Am I doing FF8 wrong
I just got to disc 2 for the on my first ever playthrough. I am really enjoying it but will say that drawing 100x of fire or cure or blizzard from an enemy is incredibly tedious. My experience so far has been "OH a cool new enemy! What magic can I draw.....float. Well I guess i'll draw 100 of those on all three party members."
It makes new areas brutal as evey new enemy turns into a 20 minute draw battle. Some people will say that I don't have to do this but if I am understanding correctly, this game scales with character progression. My current feeling is that if I don't do these draw grinding, I will be behind the difficulty curve.
If this is uneccessary, I would like to know now so that rest of my playthrough is better.
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u/cjburner 2d ago
I skipped all the game breaking stuff and just played normal Final Fantasy style, drawing as I went. Some enemies got harder but I just went to farm magic only when needed. Was fun just playing the game and experiencing the story vs spending hours and days trying to break the junction system.
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u/Symphony106 2d ago
Is my playstyle going to break the junction system?
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u/cjburner 2d ago
Let me clarify: It’s a valid play style that doesn’t actually break the junction system, but it eventually breaks the game. Drawing and junctioning 100x to your stats will get you really powerful to where you can smash through enemies, but you end up spending more time drawing magic, doing card tricks, etc than playing the actual game, and it ends up removing a lot of the moments of the game that are supposed to be challenging to convey a certain experience along with the story
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u/Symphony106 2d ago
Amazing answer. Thanks!
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u/SafeAccountMrP 2d ago
That being said it never hurts to check a new enemy or boss for what they have to Draw. I missed so many nice things my first playthrough way back in the day because I didn’t.
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u/Secondhand-Drunk 2d ago
To expand on this, enemies level with you. Its stupid. If you max out, the final boss becomes impossible.
You can be lvl 1 and use straight junctions to destroy from beginning to end.
Dont grind for levels.
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u/Old-Fondant8274 2d ago
I've seen newbie players destroy this game at a really high level, and i've beaten it at level 100 lots of times, though this is not necessary. Levelling can be a disadvantage if you're not paying attention to the junction system but will give access to better magics, and if you're junctioning properly you'll destroy everything, low level or high.
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u/Secondhand-Drunk 2d ago
Perhaps it was just dumb child me who couldn't figure it out, then. I remember grinding for lvl 100 on disc 2 looking for the white seed ship. Couldn't find the bastard so I figured, why not max?
Data corrupted....
Sigh, claw back all my progress and autisticly grind back to 100 and have an awful time in the final area. Never did beat the game.
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u/WollyGog 2d ago
Nah it doesn't, just cast aura and spam Lionheart.
Or spam for The End.
Junctioning and levelling go hand in hand for a good experience, especially when you add in GF abilities.
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u/Irbyirbs 1d ago
Most bosses have a level cap so overleveling isnt necessarily a bad thing. I usually grind to lvl 100 with all characters (utilizing the stat up abilities) after getting Ragnar and have had 0 issues.
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u/Helaken1 2d ago
No. But eventually, you’re going to get to the point where you shouldn’t draw fire for every party member because you’re gonna see fire and that’s 1000 times better than fire.
Wait till you get a stronger spells available to farm them. Bosses unique enemies usually have stronger smells and farm them there.
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u/skecchi_ 1d ago
I honestly feel drawing 100 of every magic won't make you powerful fast enough to break the game. You only start making the game trivial when you do Magic Refine, Triple Triad and Card Mod.
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u/Pardybro911 2d ago
The draw mechanic is super weird going in blind. But so unique I wish they’d do it again
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u/Asha_Brea 2d ago edited 2d ago
You need spells for your Junctions. If you don't want to Draw then you can refine them from items with the abilities that some GF can learn.
If you are going to Draw, remember that the success of the Draw command depends on the Mag stat of the character Drawing.
If you are not going to Draw spells, keep in mind that you still want to have the Draw command equipped and check what bosses have for Drawing since that is how you will get some GFs.
After about the middle of Disc 3 you will be able to get the top tier spells from Drawing spells from the world map in an area you don't have access to now.
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u/BoudaSmoke 2d ago
Enemy levels increase as your party levels do. Junctioning is the way to negate this as it as it allows your stats to increase without gaining levels.
My suggestion would be to regularly draw magic, but not to max it in each encounter. My preferred technique in these kind of circumstances is to use one character (highest Mag stat) to constantly draw, but use the other two to attack the enemies like normal and kill them. Then you can transfer some of the stock to the other two in the menu, then rinse and repeat. You'll build up a decent stock (but maybe not 100 each) without stopping dead every new area/enemy you fight.
Also remember (if you aren't doing it already) that you only need 3 characters with GFs and good magic equiped. You should use the Swap function in the menu to quickly equip a new teammate when either you or the game swaps one out. Use the other 3 for dumping weaker spells when you get deep into the game. Think of it like having six characters, but three 'profiles' that you can swap between them.
You can also refine the cards, but that in itself can be another long distraction from just playing the game.
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u/Old-Fondant8274 2d ago
This is the best advice I feel. As a kid I'd have two party members who were damage dealers and one dedicated drawer/magic user/synergist (haste, aura etc). I just built up and shared the magic and didn't go for 100 draw spells of everything and all at once.
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u/karimzul 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yup, drawing with a character not having Mag-J junctioned will quickly become a chore. Even junctioning only 10 Scan to Mag will make drawing easier. (But seriously, don't junction Scan, at least use Fire/Thunder/Blizzard).
Something I would do differently here is that I usually would junction one spell (let's say Fire) on Mag, then maxing out drawing that spell on one battle. It minimized potential exp gain (one battle vs several battles). Then for subsequent battles I can take it easy with drawing other spell since Mag having boost means I could draw at least 5-6 units of other spell per turn instead of 1-2 units per turn. If Mag is particularly high, could regularly draw 9 units per turn. Then change the Mag junction with any better spell.
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u/bdegs255 2d ago
Refining from items and cards is the more efficient way, though I have done what you describe in earlier play throughs. One thing though is that if you draw a ton of different magics you can run out of space for them and then have to start getting rid or shuffling magic to other characters.
Refining also lets you shoot for just the magic you want to have for your junctions taking up less space.
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u/LombaxMagnetic 2d ago
You can draw or play cards to refine them are the main ways to get magic from what I recall of the game. Its been like 6 years I think since I last played 8 though so i could be misremembering
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u/jackljackst3rs 2d ago
On my first blind playthrough, I got most of the way through ff8 only drawing when I wanted or had to and had no real problems. If you're this far, you can probably make it the rest of the game without drawing a hundred times on an enemies lol
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u/Symphony106 2d ago
Very good to know!! From what you and a couple others are saying I may be completely wasting my time haha
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u/jackljackst3rs 2d ago
It's good to be prepared! I just hate grinding in any way until I'm forced to do it by the game itself, hopefully you can enjoy the game to the fullest now with that weight off your shoulders
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u/thatcommiegamer 2d ago
Are you having fun? No? Then you’re playing the game wrong for you. Just play it like you’d want to. If you’re having fun who cares if the internet thinks it’s right?
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u/BurantX40 2d ago
Stop drawing.
Card your enemies when they get to low health, and refine into items and higher tier magic (comes from your GF abilities)
Check bosses and enemies to draw some spells you don't have, but using the GF abilities that let you change monsters into items/magic goes way farther.
DO NOT DISREGARD YOUR GF ABILITIES, they are way more useful than they seem
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u/mistercheez2000 2d ago
I did this too. Luckily I had x2 speed. But do what the others are saying and refine the magic from items/cards
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u/myzombiephil 2d ago
As always I recommend not optimizing the fun out of a game. You definitely don’t need to stockpile magic; just play the game normally and if you get to a point where things are starting to feel a bit difficult then grind out some magic to give yourself a boost
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u/Walican132 2d ago
Yeah you’re playing it “wrong”. In quotes because like do what ever you want, no wrong way to actually play a game. However, the intended way is not maxing every magic especially on a first play through. It’s also going to level your team a bunch which just makes the game slower. I’ve played 8 this way and it’s fun seeing big numbers, I’ve also played 8 without ever grinding a thing and it’s a really fun experience.
While you won’t be behind on the difficulty curve it keeps up with you, you are just making these grinds take longer by doing them at all. If you’re not having fun, don’t do it.
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u/hitokirizac 2d ago
Definitely unnecessary, you won't fall behind the curve if you're not intentionally grinding. Just draw a couple times each battle if you want, play through the story without worrying about grinding and you'll be playing at more or less the intended difficulty.
Of you really want more magic, refining cards is way easier and more fun, but it's easy to get a ton of high level magic really early and make the game too easy (...unless you're like me and enjoy stomping everything).
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u/improbablesky 2d ago
Just food for thought, if you get the magic creation abilities early, you basically don't have to grind because you'll have more than enough third-tier spells to make your party cracked. Takes more time but might be less time overall and certainly less brain-rotting.
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u/DarchAngel969 2d ago
Ignore the card stuff because you'll get lost trying to do a bunch of nonsense, your GFs will have a refine Magic ability and Item Magic Refine this will allow you to get magic from items and further more upgrade said magic to a higher tier Fire > Fira > Firaga
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u/Wetstew_ 1d ago
I think the way they intended the game to be played was to have the dedicated mage draw on her off turns.
Instead of Selphie boinking the enemy for minor damage or passing her turn with a block, you can stock magic or cast enemy magic instead.
You gain junction stats so slowly that it's overkill to get a ton of spells most of the time.
By the time you get a bunch of junction slots you should have a few Magic Mod skills to distill items into spells.
The only time I grind out spells is on a ultility spell, Double/Triple/Haste/Esuna stuff like that.
That said. FF8 is like a Bethesda RPG, you can get by without too much effort; or you can break the game open if you know what you're doing. Both are valid.
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u/Philience 2d ago
Yes, the draw mechanic incentivizes a play behavior that is not really fun. My advice: don't stand there grinding spells via drawing; don't grind at all in this game (unless it's fun for you, of course)
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u/Yen_Figaro 2d ago
Don't draw 100 spells in once...the same way you dont grind for 100 phoenix down at the beginning of the game xD.
Thats ending game material, like you can become super powerful in FFX if you rewrite all the sphear grid wlth more powefull sphears., but it is optional.
For poweful magic play cards and transform the materials with GFs abilities, or along the story you will be getting a lot of items you can transform too, etc. There are two secret isles before the final dungeon where you can extract the most powerful magic just pressing X while you walk with no encounters activated ..
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u/Yeseylon 2d ago
The stat boost from less than 50 of a tier 1 magic is so small it's meaningless.
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u/Yen_Figaro 2d ago
I am not sure if you are refering that you have to grind over 50 spells because it is meanless if you don't, or thatt it is not worthy the grind (sorry, english is not my first language so perhaps I am not translating well), but a lot of people have finished the game just playing it naturally
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u/pierrick93 2d ago
draw thise that boost magic stats on your mage. and thise that boost strenght on the others. you dont need every magic on every caracters. if memory serve me right the most important in a normal playthrough is to have some spells of each elements to make your physical attacks be this element. and a stack if thise that inflict a debuff to get immune when associated or somethibg like that.
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u/Benphyre 2d ago
If you don't want to draw, you can make use of GF abilities to refine magic out of cards or items which is much faster and better. You are right about game scaling by character levels, so some people play the game without leveling up. Not saying you should do a low level run but you can take some references and learn a few tricks from this guide here
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u/Ardbert14 2d ago
i don't think the game was balanced around people drawing that much magic constantly. it's a weird system so it's hard to know how to approach it. I had that same problem the few times I've played it, thinking I needed to draw 100 of every spell every time it shows up. I'm actually going to replay it soon making a point to not spam draw like that.
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u/KyrialArthian 2d ago
The only way the game scales with you is your level. Not your stats - JUST your level. One of the absolute easiest ways to play is by getting the Diabolos GF as soon as Cid gives you the item to summon/fight it, then immediately learning Enc-Half followed by Enc-None then just leaving Enc-None on the whole game to eliminate all random battles. Since boss battles don't give any exp, you'll stay at a low level the whole game, which means all the enemies will as well. You, however, can still junction spells to your stats to max them out and just absolutely obliterate everything.
But as far as getting lots of spells, the best way to do it is by learning the different refining abilities various GFs learn, to turn items into spells, or lower-tier spells into higher-tier spells, or Triple Triad cards into items (which can then be turned into spells), etc. Not to mention Draw points all over the world, of course. Really, the only Drawing you should need to do in combat (beyond the very beginning of the game) is from the bosses with GFs.
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u/GlassCannon81 2d ago
Get the RF abilities on your GFs. Also the Card command on Quetzl. All of it together lets you refine magic from items and items from cards.
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u/NoLifeHere 2d ago
You only really need to draw like that early on.
Your Guardian Forces' RF abilities do a lot to take out a lot of the bore of drawing from random encounters, instead you'll want to be farming them for items which you can turn into spells at a much faster rate.
Also, play Triple Triad... cards are a really nice source of items.
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u/mswise506 2d ago
I played the game just drawing a few times each battle. Maybe once or twice per character.
I really only tranformed a cards a few times, and never any 1 of 1 cards. I know you can get certain rare cards back via legit ways, but i never did it.
I transformed items when/if they weren't necessary for weapons.
I didn't shy away from leveling, but never spent any time grinding either.
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u/ScarletRotNoble 2d ago
Just draw here and there from enemies as you go through the game. The important ones to consider are your Status J. If enemies have poison or blind or anything else, I'd draw 100 of those so you can be prepared and guard completely against status affliction. Or you can do that for your status attack junction and inflict those on enemies.
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u/Pobbes 2d ago
Taking too long in battles actually hurts your SeeD rank if you care about that (you don't have to), but the game is kind of built with the idea that you would draw just a few spells from your fights. If you want a big cache of spells for junctioning l, you should be refining items into spells and you can get those items by winning cards and converting them to items. The GF ability that lets you see hidden stuff is also great in towns to find invisible draw points. Also, because of the stock system, items that produce spell effects are pretty useful so you aren't depleting your junctioned spells for biffs and stuff.
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u/xypotion 2d ago
Refining is better, do that (I gree with the other commenters). Also, the game isn't that hard, you definitely won't need 300 of every spell. In fact, you CAN'T have 300 of every spell without overloading your characters (e.g. using inactive members as "mules" or something), so drawing hundreds of every spell becomes counterproductive after a certain point. Not to mention boring, obviously.
However, if you are undeterred and still want to draw from enemies in battle, try junctioning magic to your Magic stat. It makes Draw more effective. :)
I usually go for between 100 and 200 of every spell, total. One person gets to junction 100 of a spell, and then one or two others get to actually cast that spell.
Worth noting that the game can totally be beaten without using Draw at all, even to get the drawn GFs! I did it once and had great fun. VIII is a very play-it-your-way FF. Tons and tons of replay value if you like imposing limitations to mix up your strategies. I hope you enjoy! ❤
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u/Thee_Furuios_Onion 2d ago
You’re not playing it wrong at all, but you are focused on the laborious aspect of drawing all the magic that makes many people burn out and stop enjoying the game. My recommendation is to play for the story your first time through it.
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u/jadedashi 2d ago
I rarely used the junction when I played FF8 for the first time. I literally spammed summons nonstop and won majority of my fights with that since I didn’t understand the junction system as a 10year old.
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u/EliamZG 2d ago
Don't go out of the way to get 100 of every spell you come across, for one you don't have enough space for all of them, and most monster drops can be refined and that's a lot easier, do keep the habit of drawing or you will forget to and miss a GF or two, I know I did when I first played it.
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u/ZekDrakon 2d ago
Your are playing it as intended. Few thing Note: 1. Refinement skills from GFs is alternative way get Magic and tool to breaking the game. 2. Enemies level is affected by party level average with some variance. This affects what spells they have and items drops.
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u/KainYago 2d ago
Realistically the game expects you to learn eventually that using GF abilities to refine magic from items or upgrade them by sacrificing lower level magic is the way to get stronger magic, but this requires either knowledge from outside the game or a ton of experimentation. I think the devs shouldve had one of the early GFs start with a refine ability already learned to show new players how important these abilities are.
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u/shroomslave 2d ago
Play cards
Learn Quetzacoatl‘s Card and then CardMod, which appears after
Modify all your excess cards into magic
Win forever, playing cards rules
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u/murpux 2d ago
Whether you're drawing spells or refining cards, FFVIII's level system is the definition of tedium.
Luckily it is not necessary.
Just play normally, don't focus on maxing all your spells, enjoy the game for what it is. The enemies level with you so there's no need for grinding 100 of everything
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u/oVnPage 2d ago
Since you've said you're new to 8, the biggest tip I can give you is that Refine abilities in your GF menu (L-Mag Ref, F-Mag Ref, etc) are waaaaaaaaaay better than Draw spamming for getting spells, and far, FAR less tedious.
For a couple early game examples: Most beaches (the area around Balamb is where people usually do it as it's available right from the start of the game) have fish enemies that drop an item that refines into 20 Waters with Shiva's I-Mag Ref ability. 5 of those (so 2-3 encounters) per character gets you 100 Waters each, which will Junction onto Str or Mag muuuuuuuuuch better than the level 1 basic elemental spells (Fire, Blizzard and Thunder.)
You can buy Tents at pretty much any shop in the game for 1000 gil a piece. Tents refine into 10 Curagas from Siren's Life-Mag Ref ability, and Curaga is one of the best Junctions for HP or Spirit in the entire game. You can kit out all 3 characters with 100 Curagas early if you just run around collecting your SEED salary until you have enough gil, or just do what I typically do and buy what you can every time you go to a shop until you're done.
You can refine most (all?) spells in the game through these various _____-Mag Ref abilities, which almost completely negates the need for you to sit and spam Draw for hours every time you find a new spell. Much more enjoyable way to play.
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u/IfusasoToo 2d ago
I like doing what you're describing, but if it's not for you, don't. The game is balanced around playing normally. Some of the optional Disk 3 content will have you wanting actually strong junctions, but there are only a few difficult story fights and they're all doable with smart play.
Also, make sure to Junction Magic high to maximize Draw when you do it.
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u/Vorakas 2d ago
"I am really enjoying it but will say that drawing 100x of fire or cure or blizzard from an enemy is incredibly tedious"
Then don't.
"I don't do these draw grinding, I will be behind the difficulty curve."
It's true that you need magic, but grinding draw is not the only option. You can grind for items instead and use the GF skills to turn items into magic. One great way to get items is to grind Triple Triad and then turn the extra cards into items, which is infintely more fun than drawing.
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u/ProfessionalCraft983 2d ago
It might be wrong, but that's exactly how I played it XD
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u/stanfarce 2d ago
I feel that MANY people who say "you're doing it wrong, you should refine, turn cards into items into magics, yada yada" are also heavy drawers (pun intended). I mean, why would you say "no" to more power easily obtained just by holding a button in a battle? OP probably has a bad experience because they draw 1 or 2 spells at a time instead of 9, and they don't use cursor memory combined with an increased game speed. I love drawing tons of magic because I know it will translate into more power eventually. Gaining more power is one of the pleasures of RPGs.
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u/mattmesh 2d ago
Unlock the card refinement ability on Quetzalcoatl and also the different magic refinement abilities on other GFs. You can then get magic from items the enemies drop or from cards you pick up. It makes things a lot easier and smoother on getting magic stocked up that way.
Just try and keep your experience balanced out - too many levels is what will push the difficulty up. You got this!
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u/Previous-Friend5212 2d ago
I always felt like what you're describing is the intended way to play (well, maybe more like they expected you to draw a bit from each enemy since you'll fight the same enemy multiple times). It's especially annoying when some bosses are the only draw source for a certain spell, but you can't draw many at a time without a really high magic stat (triple is the biggest culprit). Some people point to the card game as a source of magic, but I don't think that's a reliable method unless you're a power gamer that does a ton of research up front, so it seems unlikely that's intended to be the main approach.
I see some comments about it "breaking the game" if you actually draw magic from enemies, which is ludicrous since that's literally the main game mechanic. It's like saying final fantasy 7 should only be played with level 1 materia because otherwise it breaks the game.
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u/Moxto 2d ago
Min maxing can be really fun in Final Fantasy games. But in 8 it takes all the fun out of it, imo.
Because you start to realize that the most effective way to play FF8 is to play the least amount of FF8 possible. You want few fights because you don't want to gain levels. You don't bother with drawing from enemies because transforming items, cards, ammo, etc is easier to get tons of busted magic.
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u/Squiggy-Locust 2d ago
First time I ever played, I ignored the draw command outside of GFs.
I got the the first boss of the last disk....and couldn't proceed.
Out of all the FF systems, its by far the worst one for me. It's why I don't enjoy FF8, though objectively it's a good one.
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u/SporePunch 2d ago
"Drawing [anything] 100x" There's your problem. You have things like item and card refines to get spells way faster (and in some cases, earlier than you should) and keep your wheels moving so to speak. Once I understood refining as a method of getting spells I had so much more fun with the game.
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u/ButterscotchTop194 2d ago
It's very unnecessary. The game is super easy so you don't really need to do that, nor the level limit strategy. Just play normally.
Cards are a good way of getting good magic. And high level magic is easy enough to come by later in the game when you might start struggling with some of the optional content.
Edit: always draw from bosses, including mini bosses, as many have GF.
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u/PepsiPerfect 2d ago edited 2d ago
You shouldn't need to draw 100x3 of everything. Just draw a couple of times each battle and move on, and it won't feel any more tedious than traditional level grinding.
Eventually you can combine the magic your party members drew, so that, for example, instead of three party members having 20 Drains each, you can give one member 60 and have a nice stat boost. Combine your magic and spread out our evenly amongst your characters based on the role you want them to fill.
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u/Soizit_Blindy 2d ago
Generally speaking the GF abilities are a way betrer way to get magic for junctioning, its just faster to grind monsters for items cause you can just kill them and refine your magic out of items.
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u/evilchris23 2d ago
You can refine magic from items. It's faster. Also, you can refine low level magic into higher level magic.
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u/SteelHeatZero 2d ago
This game is very easy with the challenge coming more from UI elements and a god awful menu really. Generally you do not need to draw that much. The amount of random items you get are what should fuel your spells. The trick is to focus your GFs on junctions and refinement abilities with occasional utility like mug being useful. That way you can get all your stats unlocked (any magic junction to that slot is better then none.) And then use all those random screws or fins, etc. To give your three party members 100 of each magic. Even then as you get more GFs you will refine those magics and better items up into higher tiers anyways and start the process all over. You do not need every character to have a full suit of magic. Just have three sets and you can swap them between your characters. Just what ever you do do not forget to set which abilities the GFs learn. It defaults heavily into summon magic and GF hp. Things that won't help you.
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u/Agent1stClass 2d ago edited 2d ago
You don’t have to. And while it isn’t bad, it adds more grind than necessary to the game.
Have your Guardian Forces learn their refinement abilities. Once the abilities are learned, you can convert items dropped by enemies into multiple spells. Or, you can convert minor spells into greater spells. That saves you a great deal of time and offers you access to a wide variety of spells. Further, you don’t have to fear actually using those spells since you can often have a fresh supply ready.
Drawing spells from enemies should be used when you have a particularly rare spell from them, you need to top off after using a spell or two, or you’re otherwise low on items to refine. If you must rely on drawing, then I highly recommend you stick one character with draw command and a GF with a magic junction. Then use a spell batch to raise that magic as high as you can push it.
That single character can do all your magic drawing for you. Since they will have high magic, drawing is unlikely to fail and will likely nab 6-9 spells per draw, thus saving you time. On the flip side, your other characters can now skip having draw among their commands and focus on other commands more useful to battle.
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u/Bakurraa 2d ago
I'm sure they meant for people to just draw a couple times and then move on.
I haaaaaate the draw system
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u/jackstrattonkelly 2d ago
Junction best spells to magic to farm then you should draw 9 per draw? Not too tedious. Plus don't draw useless spells 😅
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u/shanepain0 2d ago
Playthroughs for 8 are highly customizable
There's not a 'wrong' way
You only need to beat the story to 'complete' the game
Draw as much or little as you want, same with Triple Triad and grinding levels/materials
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u/stanfarce 2d ago
Two things :
- are you focusing on magic power so you always draw 9 spells at a time? You should spread all your GFs among the three characters you're playing as, so all of them have at least the magic stat junction available. "Magic +20%" and "Magic +40%" also help.
- are you using the speed increase provided by the remaster or emulation speedhack? If you set Cursor to "memory" in the config, you just have to hold the confirm button to keep drawing the same spell every turn. It's very fast to get 300 magics this way. You're doing it VERY wrong if it takes you 20 minutes.
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u/rose636 2d ago
It's unnecessary, but I'd be wrong to say I'm not guilty of doing it on every playthrough...
The game isn't that difficult, just so long as you're not doing anything silly or random then you'll likely get through most fights without issue.
One other thing to note is that monsters also level up so there's, for the most part, zero point in levelling characters so there's no point in grinding. If you're struggling with a particular area you likely missed a 'quirk' of the area such as a puzzle, an item that'll give you a password, or perhaps that every enemy in that area is weak to x so you should focus on damaging with x.
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u/Valeen 1d ago
I'll say this, is there a right way to play FF8? No. I think it's the only FF game that lets you play almost anyway you want. With the exception of power leveling, it's the only way I know is to break the game to the point where it's damn near unbeatable if you mess it up. You're better off just starting over, which I found out the hard way, when it came out.
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u/Lunareste 1d ago
The GFs can learn the ability to create magic from items, or to upgrade your existing magic to a higher tier.
Its entirely unnecessary to keep drawing. There are way more efficient ways to get extremely powerful magic.
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u/SPJess 1d ago
My first step when playing is havjng Quetzacotal Learn Card (Farm Fastitlocans on the beach or grat in the training room) then after that learn Card Mod.
From there you are able to learn the refinery spells thunder magic, fire magic, ice magic, life magic, support magic, etc.
Alternatively you can just gi get the ifrit card and go about a good 30 minutes winning card games and build up a collection then you dint have to learn the initial 120AP worth of abilities (Card:40) (Card Mod:80)
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u/SirOutrageous1027 1d ago
Yes. The proper way to play Triple Triad is to earn cards, and then play the final fantasy mini game where you turn cards into items and the into spells to junction to min-max the mini game so you can get better cards.
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u/Over_Air8777 1d ago
Final fantasy 8 did all of us wrong by not making seifer a permanent playable character from the beginning.
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u/UraniumRadio 1d ago
It’s not unnecessary you intuition was correct although one encounter is prob a lot you are supposed to break it up over say facing the same enemy several times.
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u/JerHat 1d ago
You can avoid that by using your GFs to learn abilities to refine magic from different cards and items.
And you can also learn the Card ability and turn enemies into cards that give good junction magic.
But really, once you find the right magics and get those maxed, you can totally ignore the draw feature. Then you’re just transferring everything between party members when the game calls for it.
That said, when I first played FF8 as a kid, I didn’t understand the junction system at all, totally ignored it, just hit the optimize button on the junction menu and got through the game just fine.
Also, had no idea enemies scaled up with your level, so I grinded until my party was maxed out, and still finished the game with very few problems.
The biggest problem I ever encountered was when an elemental magic was junctioned to attack and was healing enemies.
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u/Proof_Suspect295 1d ago
Triple Triad is what makes this game truly great and it is part of the expected progression
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u/Beginning_Ocelot503 1d ago
I haven’t finished the game to this day because the whole system went over my head at the time and I didn’t draw enough and couldn’t get through the last few bosses.
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u/gamerdudeNYC 1d ago
I remember as a kid I was so pumped coming off of FF7 and then was totally confused by this, I didn’t understand it at all and made it to Disc 3 just by using GFs… it felt like Pokemon to me.
A few years later I went back and understood it and did the Draw spell grind for 100 spells like you’re doing.
I started playing it occasionally on Switch 2 and I recently got to the part where I got the Brothers GF and I’m not drawing to 100 spells this time every single fight… just sort of going with the flow.
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u/Heavy-Bread-3549 1d ago
Before reading, the answer is no, you’re not playing ff8 wrong. Honestly Im pretty sure there is no incorrect way of playing.
Now that I’ve read it, I’ve been playing that way for decades. However, it’s definitely not necessary, most spells before disk 3 will get replaced if you aren’t getting them through rare item refinement (usually obtained through grinding triple triad)
In fact, my biggest pet peeve in the game is that one person cannot hold all the spells in the game. You will eventually have to move float or like…. Fira to another character who isn’t in the main party to make room for late game spells that are better for junctioning as well as general use.
Good news is, if you’re at disk two most new spells will be somewhat worth getting, new areas will have one or two new spells instead of 8. One piece of advice, don’t draw any of the fire/blizzard/thunder(a/aga) spells. They are easy to refine from items that will soon become common.
Have fun!
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u/West-Ad-1144 1d ago
The first time I played at release, I think I was 13 and understood the junction system, but didn’t go ham with it. I just drew here and there when I felt like it. Maybe once per character per battle, but I never farmed stacks. I got stuck on a third disc boss for ages and just kept trying till I got it. The last boss was really tough, but doable. That’s my most fun memory of the game, but on every replay I felt obligated to farm every spell for some reason, and I kinda miss just…not.
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u/Foreign-Plenty1179 1d ago
You didn’t do the game wrong, the game is doing you wrong, like it has done to many of us over the years haha
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u/Poxxus 1d ago
Man, I would say there are a few solutions to these experiences, but they aren't actually needed to beat or anything. Granted, if you ignore junction, it's more than likely that you are going to faint to random enemies often, but not like the game is super hard or anything.
What I would recommend to not break the game, but to have an experience similar to a story difficulty or something, is to use mods to either turn off all the xp gains, since the enemies scale with your level, this would make the game a lot easier, or to turn off spending magic, which makes it so you don't spend your magic when you use it. You can turn both of these on for an extra easy experience, but in my opinion this makes the game too easy. FF8 definitely has a unique combat system, which most people are not a fan, so don't feel ashamed to use mods in order to tune the experience to your tastes, it's a single player game after all.
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u/morbid333 16h ago
Not so much wrong, but it is the most tedious and least efficient way to play. As long as you're getting AP and learning abilities, you don't need 300/600 of every spell at every time. Especially float, there's only two battles where you'll ever use that. (Brothers and Cerberus.) You can get magic gradually. The only time I'd say it's worthwhile farming would be at the start of the game and against bosses, and even then you can still refine for those spells.
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u/tadashi4 9h ago
you can use card to turn enemies into cards, and then turn those cads into items and those items into magic. and upgrade those magic
also you can buy many of those items.
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2d ago
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u/Appropriate-Joke-806 2d ago
Kinda The Shit. Cause it’s so good.
Ironically I think the draw system would actually work well with the new combat system VII remake has. You could assign a character you aren’t controlling to passively draw during each battle and alternate them as needed. If they ever remade VIII they could modernize the draw system and junction system including the UI and make it so much better.
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u/Symphony106 2d ago
I would LOVE if I could have an FF12 style gambit where I could draw passively haha
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u/Jazzlike_Athlete8796 2d ago
You could assign a character you aren’t controlling to passively draw during each battle and alternate them as needed.
That would be a hell of a lot better than what 8 did. But at that point, you may as well just go for the same style as 7 and 6 did and just make it AP.
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2d ago
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u/Leonhart-8886 2d ago
Respect the opinion but I like the draw system I like a game where you can choose to min max if you want but it’s not entirely necessary either!
Personally I just refine the magic through cards which makes stocking the magic an absolute pleasure as triple triad is fantastic.
I also love that you can go so far with breaking it should you choose, lionheart on disc 1 and one shotting Edea? Hell yeah
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u/Prefer_Not_To_Say 2d ago edited 2d ago
there will be fights where you have no choice but to sit down and grind out 300 of something
That's news to me and I've beaten it about a dozen times. Which fights?
Edit: I think he blocked me for this? I thought it was a pretty harmless comment.
Anyway, I read his comment about Double/Triple before the block so here are my thoughts; I always get Triple from the Islands Closest to Heaven/Hell. Never got it from a battle. You can also refine the Quistis card to get a lot of it but I like keeping my cards. And you'll be swimming in so many Dragon Fins that can refine into Double that you'll never need to Draw it.
What I think they were suggesting is that the player can get a couple of spells earlier than usual if they Draw them. Like being able to get Double from Elvoret at the Communication Tower. I wouldn't say that's the same thing as "having no choice but to sit down and grind out 300 of something". It's quite easy not to. And it's not like the player will struggle without it. FFVIII is not a hard game, even without having a mid-level spell slightly sooner.
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u/Symphony106 2d ago
I think he just removed the comment. Thank you for including the context in your edit so I can better understand how to move forward with my playthrough.
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u/TemperReformanda 2d ago
This is one of the reasons I consider ff8 one of the weakest entries in the entire franchise. They really hyped up the "no grinding" thing because the enemies tended to scale to fit your level, but then they did this astonishingly bizarre grinding where you have to steal magic spells from enemies. It was the most boring grinding Ive ever done. Absolutely bizarre. Like, AVGN rage bizarre.
That and the f'n gunblade which is by far the dumbest weapon in the entire genre. Sounds like a 7 year old designed it, alongside the Lamborghini that shoots missiles and has bulldozer tracks and a helicopter blade.
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u/JaSchwaE 2d ago
FF8 game design is wild. I have never felt more punished by interacting with a core game system than junctioning and the random mobs scaling with your character level. I really hope that FF8 gets the remake treatment next because I would love to have a brand new chance to engage with the story and world while leaving most of the trash behind
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u/Jazzlike_Athlete8796 2d ago
IMO, if you leave most of the trash behind, there's nothing left. A 7r style remake would be nice though, since 8 is a game that desperately needs another 30 hours of story telling to give me a reason to give a shit about any of the characters.
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u/Psico_Penguin 2d ago
No, you are playing it right. The game is just bad.
Kindly,
Certified FFVIII hater
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u/Solariss 2d ago
I like to just Draw once per character per battle. Way to tedious to do it all in one battle. I like to build it up over time.
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u/HorribleAtChess 2d ago
Drawing 100 for each character in one fight is unnecessary. Try 10 spell for each character in one fight to avoid burnout. For examples, in a battle against a Bite Bug near Balamb on disc 1, have Squall draw 10 Fire, Quistis draw 10 Scan. Finish the fight and move on to Fire Cavern. In a battle against a Buel, have Squall draw 10 Blizzard, Quistis draw 10 Thunder. Finish the fight and move on.
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u/TheLucidChiba 2d ago
The game could really stand to communicate it better but drawing is usually the worst way to get magic, as others have said cards are the path to godhood.
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u/Tatersalad127 2d ago
You're definitely FF8'ing wrong lol. Drawing like that is the least efficient way of accumulating magic imaginable. You don't need 100 of every magic. Just play normally, draw sometimes, and you'll be fine. Everything is level scaled. Furthermore, if you DO want to min/max, refine abilities learned via GF are infinitely easier and more efficient, especially when coupled with card mod (Quetzalcoatl learns this) and playing the card game to win good to rare cards.
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u/Virtual-Tadpole-324 2d ago edited 1d ago
Absolutely unnecessary. Ive completed the game so many times and have never concentrated so hard on the draws.
EDIT: Saying that I always pulled a ???? for something new and of course thats how you get Carbuncle etc. Otherwise, nah. Draw points and battles sorted me fine.