Final Fantasy VIII - Mega Party Building

FAQ
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| FINAL FANTASY VIII |
|How to have a party with 255 on every attributes|
| without a Gameshark |
| by EVILGIZMO (neofio@hotmail.com) |
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version 1

This FAQ 's been wrote on February 12th 2001

by EVILGIZMO

This trick requires you to be very patient and take up to he third CD

before being achieved. It also requires a certain knowledge of this
game to understand every points of this FAQ. If you have trouble
finding specific GFs, items or magics, please refer to a FAQ or
walktrough on GameFaqs to find a more detailed description on how to
get them.

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1.00- The first things to know...
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First, at the very beginning of the game, you mustn't do any battle
with normal enemies because they give EXP points and you must be at the
lowest level possible. You must only fight boss enemies since they
give 0 EXP points and battles that are absolutely necessary to engage.
If you want to upgrade your GFs'attributes, and I recommend it a lot,
you can always use the CARD command on monsters so you gain no EXP
but AP. If you want a better affinity with your GFs without killing
enemies, use them on absorb-elemental enemies. By example, cast Shiva
any number of times on Glacial Eye to boost your affinity and run away
when you are satisfied. It should help a lot on bosses with fast GFs
since your characters will be at low levels. Magic wil be a lot
important, you must draw the max number (100) of any new type of magic
met and junction to your abilities. Do not forget to draw the magic
then runaway to not gain EXP points. Running away at every battles
may seem really boring so you should try to get GF Diablos' ENC-NONE
ability as soon as possible. If you want to know how, procede to
the section 1.01. If you already know, go to 2.00.

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1.01- Getting Diablos
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After you've finished Assault on Dollet, you'll get on your first

SeeD assignment. In the scene where a Balamb Garden guard confiscates
Zell's board, Talk to Headmaster Cid before getting out on your quest.
He will give you a Magical Lamp. Now save your game and use the Lamp.
You should enter in Diablos' dimension and challenge him.
-Beating Diablos-

The only strategy I can give you is to draw Diablos' Demi and cast
it back on him. Sometime it does a tremendous amount of damage,
sometimes it does a tiny little one. If you want more info on how
beating Diablos, just search on a GameFaqs' walktrough.

Now that you got Diablos in your party, make him learn the ENC-
HALF ability. To do so, do some random battles having one of your
character equipped with the Card commmand. Use it on weakened enemies
to gain a card, no EXP and APs. When ENC-HALF is learned, go with ENC-
NONE ability. Once learned, equip it on a character and you won't run
into any battles except boss battles. That's it for Diablos' abilities
so let's get back to our 255 quest.

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2.00- The decision...
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You must now decide which 2 characters you want to have 255 on STR
(strenght), VIT(vitality), MAG (magic) and SPR(spirit). I personnally
prefer Irvine (AP Ammo is way powerful) and Rinoa (Invincible moon can
be useful)/ Quistis (Blue magics are effective). After this, try to
use them the less often possible to keep their level low.

-----IMPORTANT-----

From now on, you will have to continue the story up to when you'll
get the Ragnarok on CD 3. If you have any problem doing tasks, battles
or anything that blocks you, Here are some advices and things to
remember:

-Use this FAQ in conjunction with a walktrough.(look on GameFaqs)

-Do not forget any GF during the quest because they are really useful.
-Draw the most types of magics from monsters (even if they are
low-level magics) and don't forget to run away once you're finished.
-Use GF at your advantage, they can be the decisive weapon in battle.
-Don't fear to take a lot of time transforming enemies into cards to
learn new GFs abilities. As I said before, they are really useful.

If you now have the Ragnarok, you're ready to continue the quest.

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3.00- Cactuar and Bahamuth
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When you obtain the Ragnarok (you should be between level 20-30),
go on Cactuar Island (east of Great Desert-southeast of the map-)and
meet with Cactuar. If you think you can take him off of your own, pass
this section. If not, look below.

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3.01- Beating Cactuar
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Draw Meltdowns on him and use Renzokuken with Squall. Have

another character be equipped with Leviathan (Recover) and Alexander
(Revive) if there is any trouble. You can always cast Haste on Squall,
it should help you finish Cactuar faster. If you have any trouble
beating him, look at a GameFaqs' walktrough.

********************

When you finish him, he joins the Party. Now head for Forbidden
Island (completely southwest of the map) and go meet with Bahamuth.
You will have to challenge him, yes the king of GF is summoning you in
a battle. If you aren't really sure to beat him or you simply don't
know how to meet him read the following section, if you know how, pass
it.

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3.02- Meet & Beat Bahamuth
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To meet Bahamuth you must reach the spinning blue light (walk when
it doesn't spin to avoid battles) and talk to it. Answer the first
qusetion with the first choice of answer, the second question with the
second choice and the third question with the secret third answer (move
the cursor below the second choice). You will now battle with Bahamuth.

Cast Meltdown and use Renzokuken. Try to use approximately the

same strategy you used for Cactuar. If you still can't beat him, use
one of GameFaqs Walktrough or Boss strategies.

********************

When you kill him, (surprise!!!) he joins! Now you can start the
final process.

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4.00- Build Squall
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You now have to equip Bahamuth and Cactuar on Squall. Bahamuth

gives Ability4x and Cactuar gives every attributes bonuses. Equip
VIT-Bonus, STR-Bonus, SPR-Bonus and MAG-bonus. Now, it's time for
level-up!!! Now Squall will upgrade of 1 point in every of his
attributes from 70 to 80 times until he reaches level 100! If you want
to level-up faster, Go search GF Tonberry, he possesses the ability
LVL-UP who upgrades the level of enemies and by the same time the EXP
points you gain. If you don't know how to get Tonberry, read this
section. If you already know, pass this one.

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4.01- Get Tonberry
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Go to Odin's Tower (I don't remember the name of it) on the big

continent on the south. If you beat up to 20 Tonberry, you'll meet
with Tonberry King. He shouldn't be hard to beat, so I let this one in
your hands SeeD. After you beat him, you get the GF Tonberry and with
luck, the LVL-UP ability is already learned.

********************
 Now level-up Squall to level 100. Once this is done, he should be
between 100-140 in every attributes. You can now switch Bahamuth and
Cactuar to your second character. Upgrade him/her to level 100 and do
the same with your third. (You must upgrade them one after one because
there is only one who can equip Bahamuth and Cactuar at a time.)

After this, draw the best magics 100 times(aura, full-life,

curaga, meltdown,ultima, meteor,etc) with your three characters. Now
junction them on your attributes. At this point, your characters should
have between 230-255 in STR, VIT, MAG and SPR. We can say the goal is
theorically reached! You can celebrate!

Now start the process of customization. I let this one up to you

to experiment junction combinations. If you don't know where to draw
the best magics and find secret GFs, just search on a GameFaqs'
walktrough, it should be easier for you and better explained.
Eventually, you will always be able to customize even more your
characters with magics and GFs. Don't forget that it may help a lot in
beating Omega Weapon (Don't forget to CARD MOD Gilgamesh card in 10
holy wars) and you should be able to kill it with Renzokuken and AP
AMMOs.

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CREDITS
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-This FAQ has been entirely made by EVILGIZMO.

-GameFaqs for publishing MY VERY FIRST FAQ.
-Squaresoft to have made such a great game. I think it's one the best
game in this wonderful series.

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Contact Me
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-if you have any commments or questions feel free to ask them by
sending me an email to neofio@hotmail.com.

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COPYRIGHT 2001 EVILGIZMO
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Don't try to use this FAQ in any illegal stuff without my

permission. Thank you.

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HISTORY OF VERSIONS
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version 1 : February 12th 2001

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FOR THE NEXT VERSIONS
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- The best magics to junctions on each attributes.

- Where to draw them.
- Better strategies for bosses.
- A Strategy for Omega Weapon.(Well, this FAQ is been made for this)
- All the small things that could change between death and life.