Final Fantasy VIII GamePro Strategy Guides (February 2000)

This is a 'Barbones' style guide, Published by GamePro magazine in Feburary 2000 as a seperate item bundled with the magazine itself. As GamePro has since ceased all function and closed down Winter 2011, there should be no issue with posting the scanned copies of the guide here. While there is some minimal damage to the guide, it was scanned at 400 dpi at 3200x4200 px at the highest quality for .jpg at 15-20 MB per picture.

The ones provided in this guide are shrunk, 1200x1575 px lower quality .jpg at 1-1.2 MB per picture.

This is a Spoiler RIch Guide, while it is a Lite guide.

Page 1, Disclaimer & Non-Spoiler Tips

This is an original work of GamePro Magazine, Strategy Guides devison, as GamePro closed down completely during the Winter of 2011, and has no valid current contact information available to even begin to request usage of a publication from February 2000. However thanks for US Copywrite Law, so long as the original author them selves do not make a complaint, given they have proof, as well as this is a public non-profit guide, I am protected.

Additonally this is listed under 'Gameplay Basics' only because you WILL find yourself needing to start over, if you wish to have a more first-time experience with just a few basic tips do not read any further, here are my tips:

• Regardless of play type, having your highest level character slot 'Draw' & 'item' and all other characters having at very least 'Item', will save you.
  
• Draw every listed item from EVERYTHING in combat at least once, some bosses/mobs have GF's that can only be drawn in that singular encounter, otherwise you lose them.
  
• If its your first time, make sure you read tutorials and don't skip them, while they can be overbearing and repetitive, this FF game hinges on your knowledge of the game and its systems.
  
• Finally the SeeD rank test can only be passed ONCE, and as your SeeD rank rises, penalties to lose rank are much quicker to occur.

Pages 2 & 3

Pages 4 & 5

Pages 6 & 7

Pages 8 & 9

Pages 10 & 11

Pages 12 & 13

Pages 14 & 15

Pages 16 & 17

Pages 18 & 19

Pages 20 & 21

Pages 22 & 23

Pages 24 & 25

Pages 26 & 27

Pages 28 & 29

Pages 30 & 31

Page 32 & A personal note

FF8 had a very mixed reception, part was the hate for Squall our MC, for his level of sheer Emo he oozed, secondly was the fact that players could really hamper and potentially make the game unbeatable after a point from being underpowered. -- What the GF system brings to the game and how some are only aquiered for qa limited time via Draw from monsters/bosses, it makes being unfamiliar with the system and rushing the story, game ending, while taking your time and being in-the-know can lead you to a super comfy easy playthrough.

This guide was the SOLE REASON for purchasing the Feb 2000 issue of GamePro, after hitting a brick wall on Adel, and realizing I missed nealy half the GF's, which is why I had struggled so much, this was my salvation to keep playing. The Prima guides are great and all, but they always give far too much information and lead you by the nose to do and get everything, this is a very Lite guide that highlights on what is needed to actually have a chance at beating the game.

The result of this frustration greatly influenced FF9, forcing the player to start over because they could not get further gave 9 a very easymode feel. FF10 went back to the FF8 methods of making you miss out and regret not getting things you needed, however it was not game breaking like with 8, 10 introduced the New Game + type function that other RPG's had in the past, like the classic Chrono Trigger. FF10's failure was being far too linear, too much watching and not enough do-ing, simply putting the PS2 specs on display.

The degredation of the Final Fantasy series started with poor reception of FF8 by novice players that got hyoped up over hearing about how great 7 was and wanting to try 8, which caused 9 to be dumbed down, getting even more flack for that by seasoned players... *sigh* IMHO 9 was the last great FF RPG. 13 had potential, but squandered it by pushing too much watching and not having much initla content and dragging out two direct sequels..that said they faired far better than X-2, however it was too much flab.

[Beanmaster]

i, too, had the physical copy back in 2000. over time and moving premises it got so damaged, i had to let it go, was a sad day

[TAKKÄ]

Thank you! I had a copy of this way back as well and this brought me a truly nostalgic feeling. Time to play this classic one more time.

[Crimson]

Thank you for finding this! This is the reason I picked up my first FF game, and the rest is history!

[Zezsta]

Literal piece of gaming history, I remember this guide as a kid watching my older brother play ff8 while using this guidebook. Thanks for scanning and leaving this on the steam library of guides. A hidden gem indeed.

[KJWoodsy]

I remember using this exact guide when I played this game as a teen. Thank you for posting I may just give FFVIII another playthrough sometime soon

[zXr]

@Perry- You are welcome to do it yourself, I know its a late response, have not been around much the past few years. I have no experience with making PDFs or what OCR is.

[WarBeast138]

I seem to remember gamepro's side magazine (which I can't remember the name of), had an issue with this guide inside as part of the magazine itself. As apposed to being a separate insert. I know the cover had Spiro on it. But that's all I remember of the issue.

[Perry]

Thanks a lot ! Is it possible to make a PDF version of this with OCR ? So that text will be easier to search and all pages are in 1 file. Thanks again for the hard work :) Really appreciate this.

[UNBR34K4BL3]

Can't thank you enough for uploading this!!! This was the first ever guide I ever used in gaming and in turn created a special place in my heart helping me master ff8 when I was young! With the recent release of ff8 remastered I had to search specifically for this guide! You are a life saver!!!

[zXr]

Yeah, I actually bought a scanner when I came across this guide just so I could share it. It has a great balance to help players not miss key items in the game that make a real difference, without being overly saturated with information. The Prima guides are overly comprehensive and have always made me feel like it ruined/spoiled certain parts of the story in doing so. IE: "You will need to get <item> to make <boss fight> easier." so you end up getting spoiled on the reason you would want to go after said item by revealing a particular boss at the second half of the game.