Squall initial level?

[Risen Wukong]

how do you keep squall at the initial level if he levels up with all the event battles at the start since you cant switch him out?

[cefcasans]

I think the idea is to always have him knocked out (except for boss battles) and have the other characters absorb the EXP.

[pre-eminence]

Originally posted by cefcasans:

I think the idea is to always have him knocked out (except for boss battles) and have the other characters absorb the EXP.

I ran away from most non-event fights til the end of disk 1, knocked Squall out for event battles within the first disk (think that was mostly Laguna fights though) then once you have the chance to draw 'break' from the Iguion (end of disk 1) make sure you get lots, cast break on Squall/Laguna every event fight after. I am also aware that you could just use the 'magic booster' option at the start and give yourself 100 'break' and others, but for me that would just make the game a joke even earlier than it already becomes one to me.

Also once you have Quistis blue magic 'micro missile', the whole stay low level thing is simple, keep quistis on low life so she can spam limits, use 'micro missile' repeatedly followed by card, with this method you never need to worry about killing the enemy and risking levels, thus Squall can be left alive and not in 'break.'

[Risen Wukong]

Originally posted by OwainTheGod:

Originally posted by cefcasans:

I think the idea is to always have him knocked out (except for boss battles) and have the other characters absorb the EXP.

I ran away from most non-event fights til the end of disk 1, knocked Squall out for event battles within the first disk (think that was mostly Laguna fights though) then once you have the chance to draw 'break' from the Iguion (end of disk 1) make sure you get lots, cast break on Squall/Laguna every event fight after. I am also aware that you could just use the 'magic booster' option at the start and give yourself 100 'break' and others, but for me that would just make the game a joke even earlier than it already becomes one to me.

Also once you have Quistis blue magic 'micro missile', the whole stay low level thing is simple, keep quistis on low life so she can spam limits, use 'micro missile' repeatedly followed by card, with this method you never need to worry about killing the enemy and risking levels, thus Squall can be left alive and not in 'break.'

Yeah this makes alot of sense actually thanks :)

[pre-eminence]

Originally posted by SlitherGod:

Originally posted by OwainTheGod:

I ran away from most non-event fights til the end of disk 1, knocked Squall out for event battles within the first disk (think that was mostly Laguna fights though) then once you have the chance to draw 'break' from the Iguion (end of disk 1) make sure you get lots, cast break on Squall/Laguna every event fight after. I am also aware that you could just use the 'magic booster' option at the start and give yourself 100 'break' and others, but for me that would just make the game a joke even earlier than it already becomes one to me.

Also once you have Quistis blue magic 'micro missile', the whole stay low level thing is simple, keep quistis on low life so she can spam limits, use 'micro missile' repeatedly followed by card, with this method you never need to worry about killing the enemy and risking levels, thus Squall can be left alive and not in 'break.'

Yeah this makes alot of sense actually thanks :)

No worries, glad to help, if you have any more questions feel free to ask I got most of the achievments in one playthrough pretty recently so its quite fresh in my mind ;)

[CheekyPeasant]

Keep in mind:

* Letting characters in your party who are not squall gain levels will increase the levels of the monsters you have to fight, making a lot of the fights harder if you don't keep all your characters at initial level
* You can use Breaks on the enemy to avoid EXP. Don't damage the enemy before using Break, as it is like fleeing and will give partial EXP. This comes in handy in a number of scripted battles, and often is your alternative for enemies you cannot use Card on, such as human soldiers, though there are, i believe, at least 2 non-boss enemies in the game which you cannot use Break on.
* Later in the game, when you have LV Down, you can use it on enemies you cannot Break to bring them down to level 1, at which point each character only gains 1-2 EXP or so.

[Trash]

Umm....why would you not want a character to level up?

[pre-eminence]

Originally posted by Shrodu:

Umm....why would you not want a character to level up?

There is an achievment linked to keeping Squall at his initial level, also the game is so easy if you stay at a low level because enemys scale with you, the lower your level the lower theres will be, of course you will still need to understand how to junction to make it truly easy at such a level.

[Trash]

I only hear rumors of junctioning and haven't booted up the game (Been trying to give FF7 a chance.)

Can someone explain "Junctioning for dummies"?

[pre-eminence]

Originally posted by Shrodu:

I only hear rumors of junctioning and haven't booted up the game (Been trying to give FF7 a chance.)

Can someone explain "Junctioning for dummies"?

I will try, anyone who can explain better than this feel free,

Junctioning is the process of 'applying' magic to a stat to 'boost' it by using a GF (guardian force, kind of like a summon but with its own character screen complete with moves). Some of the moves that each GF can learn are Junction links, these allow you to use the junction option on certain stats (depends on GF some have junctions for hp, strength ect)

In FFVIII magic is not used in same way as in other FF titles, you have to draw it or refine it (don't worry about this just yet) and can stock up to 100 individual castings of each spell (there is a maximum amount of different spells a character can hold) now with each individual casting of a spell you gain (either from draw or refine) the 'boost' that magic will give becomes higher.

So an example would be - You have GF Ifrit, this GF comes with Str-J (the ability to junction magic to strength) you give Squall the GF (this is also called junctioning, but it is simply selecting who you want the GF to be on) Squall has 25 Str stat to start, using Str-J we add 100 Fire magics which we got by using draw (lets you take magic from the enemy and 'stock' it for later or 'cast' on the spot) your Str stat will go up, the magic will increase your stat depending on its type and the amount you have, so you may end with a Str stat of around 80 because the Fire magic has 'boosted' the Str when junctioned.

[Trash]

.....Can people make these games any more complicated with new rules? =_=;;;;;;

What does a guy gotta do to cast magic missile around here?~ DX

[pre-eminence]

Originally posted by Shrodu:

.....Can people make these games any more complicated with new rules? =_=;;;;;;

What does a guy gotta do to cast magic missile around here?~ DX

It sounds complicated, but once you have seen it and used it a few times, it will be so easy and obvious. Also maybe someone else can explain in a more streamlined way, sorry if mine made no sense.

Magic missile or 'micro missile' ;)

[Trash]

Originally posted by OwainTheGod:

Originally posted by Shrodu:

.....Can people make these games any more complicated with new rules? =_=;;;;;;

What does a guy gotta do to cast magic missile around here?~ DX

It sounds complicated, but once you have seen it and used it a few times, it will be so easy and obvious. Also maybe someone else can explain in a more streamlined way, sorry if mine made no sense.

Magic missile or 'micro missile' ;)

It really does sound complicated. Like you need to go through some weird process to do magic spells and stat increases. It's like I'm on an alien planet when I hear about it....

I don't get the reference of "Micro Missile"....

[pre-eminence]

Originally posted by Shrodu:

Originally posted by OwainTheGod:

It sounds complicated, but once you have seen it and used it a few times, it will be so easy and obvious. Also maybe someone else can explain in a more streamlined way, sorry if mine made no sense.

Magic missile or 'micro missile' ;)

It really does sound complicated. Like you need to go through some weird process to do magic spells and stat increases. It's like I'm on an alien planet when I hear about it....

I don't get the reference of "Micro Missile"....

In 8 you do need to do a kind of 'wierd' process to use any command in batlle except attack, this is because without having a GF junctioned (equipped) you can't even use 'item' or any other battle commands for that matter. The magic is obtained mainly through 'draw' (another battle command) which is an ability that lets you 'stock' magic from the enemy (each enemy having its own pool of magic, ie one enemy may only have the fire spell) as many times as you like (upto the point where you hold 100 of the spell you are 'stocking') Each cast of a spell by yourself reduces your 'stock' amount by 1, so you have 99 cast 1 you have 98.

All the battle commands (draw, item, magic etc) can only be used if your character has a GF junctioned (equipped) this is because such commands are abilities for GF's.

Leveling in this game only gives a minor stat boost and can often make the game harder if you do not have the right type/amount of magic to junction to your stats.

The micro missile thing is an 'enemy skill' in 7 and a Limit for a charcter in 8.

[pre-eminence]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qka4Idi-vY8 this video is the tutorial from the game it will show you what I mean, but be warned, you will have to sit through this 3 mins again if you do decide to play lol

[Trash]

Let me start by saying WOW!!! Those graphics are far more beautiful than FF7's lego graphics.

I think I kinda' get it.....Every "Summon thingy" has its own abilities. By default, you only have the typical "Attack". After choosing a "Summon thingy", it gives you choices of what you can now do in a fight.

And what I gather from draw is some sort of vampire ability that you gather MP from enemies on the field.

That accurate?