So how is this game to build character stats on multiple playthroughs?

[VsX_101]

My situation is I finally completed the game on console 7 years ago (but this was after I had already made it pretty far years before but lost the memory card for ps1), but didn't really understand the whole junctioning thing, which made the game more difficult as you can imagine.


Cut to a couple of weeks ago, I completed it again FINALLY, this time on Steam, and did much better job with junctioning. But the reason I'm asking how you generally approach playing this game again, starting from the beginning, is I feel FF8 with its junctioning and enemies leveling up along side you, makes it an extra tedious grind to improve your stats to give you a chance against tougher enemies. I'm not one to try and max all stats and damage to 9999 cuz that would effectively remove any challenge afterwards, but based on how I played on the 2nd playthrough, I spent so much time drawing from enemies and then using card to gain AP and if I didn't want to spend time trying to card multiple enemies in an encounter I ran away to save time.


Is there really any other less tedious way of improving stats?

This is the main reason I really prefer FFX over VIII, but I did like this game's story and such, so if I can get some advice for future playthroughs I can maybe enjoy it more.

[KaosReigns]

Sadly no, the only way to gain stats is through the junction system. Being this is the main focus of FFVIII there isnt much room in the way of alternatives. There MIGHT be an item that gives you like 1pt into Str, Agi, Int and stuff, but they would be very rare.

There are a few things you can do that help at end game, but by that point, you are pretty much finished anyways, and there is no real point to continue on. Omega weapon is really the only thing left at that point, and fighting him at level 100 is just madness. Better to fight him when you go through and get Contrived Finish.

The only thing left when you hit this, is to get the last 2 achvs, which MOST people, will not fault you for cheating to get them.

1000 Enemies Defeated
10000 Enemies Defeated

I suggest you use a cheat tool of some kind for these 2 achvs specifically. As for the reason..... Basic math will tell you the reason.

1 Playthrough = 650-800 mobs. 1000 IF YOU ARE LUCKY and never run, literally ever.
1 Playthrough = 15-20 hours for a casual gamer.

10 Playthroughs at absolute minimum. Thats roughly 200 hours of simply grinding mobs.

Did I mention that all has to be done on 1 save file? Yeah, there is that too, its not culmutive, you have to do it all on 1 game file, no restarting, so its literally grinding mobs. I cheated, and I dont feel the slightest bit bad about having done so.

[r3d33m3r]

Originally posted by VsX_101:

Cut to a couple of weeks ago, I completed it again FINALLY, this time on Steam, and did much better job with junctioning. But the reason I'm asking how you generally approach playing this game again, starting from the beginning, is I feel FF8 with its junctioning and enemies leveling up along side you, makes it an extra tedious grind to improve your stats to give you a chance against tougher enemies. I'm not one to try and max all stats and damage to 9999 cuz that would effectively remove any challenge afterwards, but based on how I played on the 2nd playthrough, I spent so much time drawing from enemies and then using card to gain AP and if I didn't want to spend time trying to card multiple enemies in an encounter I ran away to save time.

Is there really any other less tedious way of improving stats?

Of course there is a way less tedious way. You don't need to level up, like ever, you don't even need to draw so much to get your desired magic. You don't even need most of the abilities that your G.F. learn so early. Play cards and turn them into your desired items and magic through refinement. If you want AP, the card command in battle, like you mentioned, will do the trick or just defeat monsters who give little EXP but a lot of AP.
The easiest way to get stuff is to wait for lategame, CD3 with Ragnarok in your hands.
Complete all teh card quests and get all the unique cards in the world and you can refine your cards an infinite amount of times in the lategame. Read the big guide on gamefaqs, it contains all the info you will ever need. It was written by bover_87.
Also, you actually do get stats by leveling up and not using any junctions, though the amount is very little (1-2 stat points per 3-5 levels or so) and the monsters gain way more stats than you.
For future playthroughs, just level with the monsters, the game is stupidly easy, so just get all your gear while leveling the enemy too. You can also wait until you get Cactor and learn all the +1 stat point when leveling up and only start to level up from there. You gain up to 100 stat points through this method when you level to level 100, having the stat point abilities junctioned to the character (up to 4x per character).
Do all the important side quests while also keeping an arsenal and slew of attacks and wasy to play the game. I still use G.F.s in my playthrough even though normal attacks and limit breaks are the strongest and fastest way to beat stuff in this game.
Also, ask yourself: Do you really need Lionheart on Disc 1 in every playthrough?

Originally posted by KaosReigns:

Sadly no, the only way to gain stats is through the junction system. Being this is the main focus of FFVIII there isnt much room in the way of alternatives. There MIGHT be an item that gives you like 1pt into Str, Agi, Int and stuff, but they would be very rare.

What do you mean with there "MIGHT" be? There are indeed items which increase your stat points by one, and you can farm them pretty easily later in the game.

Originally posted by KaosReigns:

There are a few things you can do that help at end game, but by that point, you are pretty much finished anyways, and there is no real point to continue on. Omega weapon is really the only thing left at that point, and fighting him at level 100 is just madness. Better to fight him when you go through and get Contrived Finish.

The only thing left when you hit this, is to get the last 2 achvs, which MOST people, will not fault you for cheating to get them.

1000 Enemies Defeated
10000 Enemies Defeated

Eh, just keep Squall dead most of the game and he won't get any EXP. You can grind the 1000 and 10000 kill achievements simply by using other party members. Or just Edea! That way you can get the contrived finish achievement while also reaching level 100 on one character and thousands of kills.

Originally posted by KaosReigns:

I suggest you use a cheat tool of some kind for these 2 achvs specifically. As for the reason..... Basic math will tell you the reason.

1 Playthrough = 650-800 mobs. 1000 IF YOU ARE LUCKY and never run, literally ever.
1 Playthrough = 15-20 hours for a casual gamer.

10 Playthroughs at absolute minimum. Thats roughly 200 hours of simply grinding mobs.

Sorry, but this is bullcrap. There are ways to only fight enemies which come in groups of 3, 4 or 5. If you use the hi-speed mode, you can reach 10000 Enemy kills quite easily. It might take a while but who cares? Cheating isn't required at all. It doesn't take hundreds or thousands of hours just to get 10000 kills.

Originally posted by KaosReigns:

Did I mention that all has to be done on 1 save file? Yeah, there is that too, its not culmutive, you have to do it all on 1 game file, no restarting, so its literally grinding mobs. I cheated, and I dont feel the slightest bit bad about having done so.

Eh sorry, but you are wrong man. It doesn't matter what save file you complete this on, every time you defeat monsters, the game will synchronize with the achievement server of the game and add the amount of monsters you just defeated. You could even reload the game and the amount of defeated monsters will not be abducted from your total.

Next time you give advice, please ask yourself if what you are going to say will be actually true.
Most of the information provided by you is simply false

[Xengre]

While it likely wont be obvious on first playthrough until late in the game card mod + item mod abilities are potent at boosting combat capability. Also junction the correct magic to the right stat (some boost certain stats far more than others).

On subsequent playthroughs when you have this knowledge you can get the following VERY early and very easily:

100% instant death on your basic attacks (to which almost every non-boss mob is vulnerable to it in this game, unlike most FF games even say... T-Rex at hundreds of thousands of HP).

255 (max value) on stats such as str (early triples + either zell or quistis card mod for +% str effect IIRC, might be another card if not his/her but around same time)

Meltdowns for 0 def on enemies and bosses.

Curaga (best heal other than item heals)

6k-9999 HP

Easy access of limit break spam while not being at dangerous HP values compared to enemy dmg output.

Ultimate weapons like Squall's (a bit more effort but still easy).

You can even have Zell doing 1,000,000+ limit break damage if you really want to go nuts (not that this is relevant, because even Omega Weapon would die in 1 hit to this... and it is long because it involves spamming two of his weakest moves in limit break super fast).

If you really put in the effort you an also achieve things like status immunity as you play and the ability to heal from all elemental type attacks (only neutral will hurt you).

Doing this even if enemies reached level 100 they would be totally trivial to you.

Also to put in perspective the junction system is the main way for the player to grow stronger while the leveling system is primarily intended to boost enemies so they remain relevant throughout the game and to also adjust what magic they carry. Typically, magic they carry scales harder than the enemies (bar a few specials like T-Rex, but they also tend to have extreme weaknesses like weak to instant death or vulnerable to blind).

[VsX_101]

thanks for all the input. But my god this game is overwhelming lol. Too much for me to master. I'll maybe play it again one day to experience the story (here's hoping they decide to do a remake), but looks like i'll need to plan out heavily how i want to play this game and take your posts into consideration

[DallasUnchained]

As much as I love this game, there are reasons why it is easily made fun of by fans of other games in the series. And why it continues to be a running TFS gag in a certain series of theirs. *grins*

The Junction system had a lot of neat ideas to stat-stack characters and customize in certain ways, but did lack some versatility in other ways that can be found in other systems (FF7's Materia system, for one example).