Final Fantasy VIII Achievement Guide

A guide to obtaining all the achievements in Final Fantasy VIII.

Introduction

A guide to help you obtain all the achievements for Final Fantasy VIII.

This guide has spoilers. Read at your own risk. Screenshots will hopefully come soon.

Guardian Force Achievements

There a large number of Guardian Forces (summons) to collect in Final Fantasy VIII. A majority of them require you to use the Draw command during specific battles which can be obtained by simply equipping your character with a Guardian Force.

Quezacotl - Unlock Guardian Force Quezacotl
Available at the start of the game. Can be earned by completing the tutorials at Squall's desk or will be given to you by Quistis before you leave Balamb Garden along with the Guardian Force Shiva.

Shiva - Unlock Guardian Force Shiva
Just like Quezacotl, Shiva is available at the start of the game. Earned by completing the tutorials at Squall's desk or given to you by Quistis before you leave Balamb Garden.

Ifrit - Unlock Guardian Force Ifrit
Early in the game you will fight Ifrit in the Fire Cavern. Defeating Ifrit will allow you to use him as a Guardian Force.

Siren - Unlock Guardian Force Siren
During the SeeD field exam you will face Biggs and Wedge at the top of the Dollet Radio Tower. After dealing enough damage to them they will be blown away by Elvoret. Use the draw command against Elvoret and select Siren. If you didn't happen to acquire Siren you'll have a second chance to do so on the fourth disk during your fight with Tri-Point in Ultmecia's Castle.

Diablos - Unlock Guardian Force Diablos
As you are leaving Timber for the SeeD mission, Headmaster Cid will give you a Magical Lamp. Head over to the items screen and use it. I recommend you save before using the lamp because if you lose you'll get the game over screen.

Brothers - Unlock Guardian Force Brothers
During your travels in the Tomb Of The Unknown King you'll have to battle Minotaur and Sacred, the two Guardian Force brothers. The battle will start off with you fighting one brother then once enough damage has been dealt, the other brother will join in. Defeat them to acquire them as a Guardian Force.

Carbuncle - Unlock Guardian Force Carbuncle
After Sorceress Edea gives her speech as Galbadian Ambassador in Deling you'll be attacked by two Iguion statues. Use the Draw command on one of the statues. If you didn't acquire Carbuncle during this fight you'll have a second chance to do so against Kyrsta in Ultimecia Castle.

Leviathan - [/i]Unlock Guardian Force Leviathan[/i]
During your fight with the NORG Pod on disk 2 in Balamb Garden, deal enough damage to the pod and NORG will emerge from it. Use the Draw command on NORG. If you didn't acquire Leviathian during this fight you'll have a second chance to do so during your fight with Trauma in Ultimecia's Castle.

Pandemona - Unlock Guardian Force Pandemona
You'll have to fight Fujin while at Balamb Hotel during disk 2. Use the Draw command against her to acquire Pandemona. If you missed your chance, you'll have another during the battle with the Red Giant in Ultimecia's Castle.

Cerberus - Unlock Guardian Force Cerberus
Cerberus can be found by defeating him in Galbadia Garden during the Battle of the Gardens. You'll find him in the main hall. If you happen to miss getting him, you can draw from Gargantua in Ultimecia Castle.

Alexander - Unlock Guardian Force Alexander
You can acquire Alexander by using the draw command during your second battle with Edea in Galbadia Garden. You have a second chance at getting Alexander during your fight with Catoblepas in Ultimecia Castle

Tonberry - Unlock Guardian Force Tonberry
Defeat the Tonberry King to acquire him as a Guardian Force. In order for him to appear you'll need to defeat roughly 20 - 25 Tonberry's in the Centra Ruins.


Cactuar - Unlock Guardian Force Cactuar
While traveling in the Ragnarok near Centra Ruins, head east towards Cactuar Island. You'll see him appear and disappear from the world map. Land the Ragnarok in the desert and run around until you encounter him. Defeating him will let you use him as a Guardian Force.

Bahamut - Hidden Achievement
Once you've gotten control of the Ragnarok, head to the Deep Sea Research Center located on the south-west part of the world map. Speak with the glowing core in the middle of the first room. You'll be be asked a series of questions. Answer the first question with "It's not our will to fight." You'll then have to defeat a Ruby Dragon. Once defeated, you'll be asked another question. Answer with "Never." Another battle with a Ruby Dragon will begin. Once defeated, you'll be asked a third and final question. The correct answer is a hidden answer that lies hidden below the two answers - "It's our nature." If you mess up on any of these questions you'll have to start back from the beginning. Once all three questions have been answered correctly you'll have to battle Bahamut. Defeat him to acquire him as a Guardian Force.

Doomtrain - Unlock Guardian Force Doomtrain
Obtaining Doomtrain is a little different than previous Guardian Forces as it requires you to gather a few items in order to acquire him. First off you'll need the Solomon's Ring found at Tear's Point in the Great Plains of Esthar. Now you'll need 6 of each of these 3 items.

• Malboro Tentacle - Dropped by Malboro. Can also be stolen in battle and using Card Mod on 4 Malboro cards. You can find Malboro at Grandidi Forest, Great Plains of Esthar, and the Islands of Heaven/Hell.
  
• Steel Pipe - Dropped from Wendigo's in battle or stolen from. Wendigo's are located in forests outside Timber and on plateaus near Galbadia. You can also Card Mod 6 Elastoid cards.
  
• Remedy+ - If you have the Med LV Up ability from Alexander, you can refine 10 Remedy's into 1 Remedy+.

Once you've got the ring and 6 of each item you can then use Solomon's Ring.

Eden - Hidden Achievement
Eden, the most powerful Guardian Force in the game can be obtained by using the draw command on Ultima Weapon in the Deep Sea Research Center. You'll need to defeat Bahamut first in order to access this area of the research center. Eden can also be drawn from Tiamat in Ultimecia Castle.

Chocobo World Achievements

Choco loot - Acquired an item from Chocobo World
Chocobo World can be accessed by selecting from the FFVIII Launch Menu. You play as Boko, a Chocobo who is on a quest to find MiniMog. During Boko's travels he will encounter many random events which are shown on the map as black dots. One of these random events will have Cactuar bring you an assortment of random items labeled A, B, C, and D. A usually has the best items while D has the worst. These items can then be transferred to your FFVIII save file.

Top Level Boko - Reach level 100 with Boko
Battles in Chocobo World are fairly easy to understand. The numbers on the far left represent the enemies health and the numbers of the far right represent Boko's health. When the numbers located in the middle of the screen hit zero, that player may attack. Winning battles will give you a gem that is placed randomly on a tic-tac-toe board. Complete a line of 3 to level up Boko.

Side Quest Achievements

Cards Club Master - Defeat every member of the CC Group
After defeating NORG at Balamb Garden on disk 2 you'll be able to challenge members of the Card Club. In total there are 7 members throughout Balamb and you must defeat them in order in a game of Triple Triad. You won't be able to challenge the first member unless you have played enough games against players in Balamb to earned yourself a reputation.

• Joker - The Joker can be challenged at any time. He can be found overlooking the water in the Training Center. He appears randomly.
  
• Jack - Found on the first floor of Balamb Garden walking around near the directory.
  
• Club - He can be found roaming the hallways of the first floor.
  
• Diamond - Two female students who are standing in front of the first floor directory.
  
• Spade - Return the man who gave you your first seven cards at the beginning of the game in front of the second floor elevator.
  
• Heart - Xu is the 6th member of the CC Group. You can find her on the bridge.
  
• King - The 7th member of the CC Group is Quistis. Speak with Dr. Kadowaki then head to your dorm room for some rest. Quistis will challenge you randomly.

UFO - Complete the PuPu side quest
If you've read any of the Occult Fan magazines found throughout the game you'll notice it mentions UFO sightings. To find the UFO you must travel to four different locations and run around for the UFO to appear. Having the No-Encounters ability on Diablos equipped will help speed things up. You'll also need the Ragnarok and 5 Elixirs to complete the quest.

• Kashkabald Desert - Explore the western side of the desert located south of Esthar.
  
• Heath Peninsula - Head to eastern Trabia where you'll find a small grey island east of the Peninsula.
  
• Winhill Bluffs - Run circles around the town of Winhill until you encounter the UFO.
  
• Mandy Beach - Follow the river east of Timber until you reach the beach.

Once you've seen the UFO four times, head to Grandidi Forest located north-east of Esthar in the Ragnarok. Land on the cliff just north of the Chocobo Shrine to encounter the UFO for the final time. Defeat the UFO and head to Balamb Island, the spot where the Garden used to be and run around until you encounter PuPu. DO NOT KILL HIM. Instead, feed him 5 Elixirs and he'll give you his card which you'll need for the Collector achievement.

Obel Lake Secret - Complete the Obel Lake side quest

Omega Destroyed - Hidden Achievement
Omega is the toughest enemy in the game and can be challenged in Ultimecia Castle. In the castle you'll control two separate parties, one to battle with and another to help find Omega. Place your battle party on the marker near the fountain and have your second party ring the bell outside of the gallery. You must then quickly switch back to your first party and locate Omega before the timer runs out.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=206189599

Learn All Achievements

Blue Magic Master - Learn all of Quistis' limit breaks
Quistis can learn a various number of Blue Magic spells. To learn the spell you'll need to consume/use an item on Quistis from the items menu. These skills can be obtained through enemy drops, refining through cards and abilities.

Item Needed	Spell Acquired	Dropped By	Stolen From	Card Mod
Spider Web	Ultra Waves	Caterchipiller (You'll encounter this enemy multiple times through the game).	Caterchipiller	Caterchipiller
Coral Fragment	Electrocute	Creeps (Located in Dewling Sewers, Galbadia, Galbadia Forest, Galbadia Garden, and Esthar)	Creeps	Creeps
Curse Spike	LV? Death	Tri-Face (Located in Galbadia Garden, Deep Sea Research Center, and Island Closest to Heaven)		Tri-Face
Black Hole	Degenerator	Gesper (Located at Centra Excavation Site and the Lunatic Pandora dream sequence)
Water Crystal	Aqua Breath	Fastitocalon (Located on many beaches and deserts, you'll notice a fin sticking out of the ground) and Chimera (Located at Dingo Desert, Great Plains of Balbadia, and Ultimecia Castle)
Missle	Micro Missiles	GIM52A (Located in the Lunatic Pandora and throughout the Battle of the Gardens)	-	-
Mystery Fluid	Acid	Gayla (Found on the most northern continent, Trabia)
Running Fire	Gatling Gun		SAM08G (Located in the Lunatic Pandora and Galbadia Missile Base)
Inferno Fang	Fire Breath	Ruby Dragon (You'll encounter this enemy multiple times throughout the game, mostly in the Deep Sea Research Center, the Island Closest to Hell and Ultimecia Castle Passageway)
Malboro Tentacle	Bad Breath	Malboro (Located on the Islands Closest to Heaven & Hell, Ultimecia Castle, and around Esthar)
Whisper	White Wind		Adamantoise (Located on the beaches near Dollet and Ultimecia Castle)
Laser Cannon	Homing Laser	Mobile Type 8 (Located on the Lunatic Pandora)
Barrier	Mighty Guard	Behemoth (Located in the Lunatic Pandora, Deep Sea Research Center, and Ultimecia Castle.)	Behemoth
Power Generator	Ray Bomb	Blitz (Located in forests on the southern continent, Centra, and Ultimecia Castle.)

For the last Blue Magic spell, Shockwave Pulsar, you'll need to use Siren's Tool-RF ability and must be max level with him to refine 100 Cursed Spikes into 1 Dark Matter. Cursed Spikes can be dropped by multiple enemies, most notably Malboro.

Dog Trainer - Learn all of Rinoa's limit breaks
Rinoa can learn different limit breaks by reading various Pet Pals magazine volumes. Progress on each limit can be found on Rinoa's status screen where you can also select which limit you want to learn.

Limit	Volume #	Location
Angelo Rush	---	---
Angelo Cannon	---	---
Angelo Shock	Pet Pals Vol. #01	Obtained from Zell on the way to Timber via train
Angelo Recover	Pet Pals Vol. #02	Obtained in Rinoa's Room on the Forest Owl's train
Invincible Moon	Pet Pals Vol. #03	Timber Pet Shop
Angelo Reverse	Pet Pals Vol. #04	Timber Pet Shop
Angelo Search	Pet Pals Vol. #05	Esthar Pet Shop
Wishing Star	Pet Pals Vol. #06	Esthar Pet Shop
Angel Wings	---	Obtained on disk 3

Collect All Achievements

Magazine Addict - Hidden Achievement
Pet Pals magazine locations and Timber Maniacs magazine locations have been listed already in this guide so this section will only contain Weapon magazines, Combat King magazines, and Occult Fan magazines. Some magazines that have been missed can be purchased at the Esthar Bookstore.

Weapons Magazines

Issue	Location
March	Dropped by Elvoret
April	Found after the SeeD party in Squall's room
May	Located in the Deling City sewers
June	Defeat BGH251F2 at the Galbadian Missle Base
July	Found in the Balamb Garden Training Center after disc 2
August	Trabia Garden. Fairly easy to miss. Located just below the fountain at the bottom of the screen (you can't really see it).
Special	Esthar, in Dr. Odine's Lab

Combat King Magazines

Issue	Location
001	Before rescuing Squall. On the bottom floor of the D-District Prison
002	Defeat Fujin and Raijin at the Balamb Hotel during disc 2
003	With Zell in your party, speak with one of the girls in the hotel who has a crush on him. After speaking with her, go and speak with Zell's mother and then return to the hotel and spend the night.
004	While controling Zell during Lunatic Pandora's attack on Esthar City, speak with the solider on the bridge by the Airstation.
005	By the elevator in the Lunatic Pandora.

Occult Fan Magazines

Issue	Location
I	In the Balamb Garden Library bookcase
II	Defeat the Dollet pub owner in a game of Triple Triad, then check the stack of magazines in his room multiple times until it appears
III	Speak with the Master Fisherman when you first arrive in Fisherman's Horizon
IV	Speak with the Presidental Aide at Esthar's Presidental Palace

Timber Maniacs - Collect all Timber Maniacs magazines
You can read these magazines at your desk in the classroom. There are 12 in total.

Area	Location
Balamb Hotel	Located on the second floor of the Inn.
Deling City Hotel	Underneath the middle bed
Dollet City Hotel	In the room of the Inn
Dollet City Pub	On the second floor cards table
Edea's Oprhanage	Inside the house on the floor
Fisherman's Horizon	Inside the Grease Monkey's house
Fisherman's Horizon Hotel	Near the bookcase in the room of the Inn
Shumi Village	Near the bed inside the Artisan's house
Timber Hotel	On the table in the room of the Inn
Timber Maniac's Office	Located in the stack of magazines on the floor of the Timber Maniac's Office in Timber
Trabia Graden Graveyard	On top of a gravestone
White SeeD Ship	On the bridge of the ship (top floor)

Collector - Collect all cards
From what I've read you need to have one of each card in your deck. Card that you have refined are no longer counted towards the achievement. It might help to save in between each Triple Triad match when you start to use rare cards. You can gain cards from winning Triple Triad battles, defeating enemies, and using the skill Card Ability. Certain cards can only be acquired by completing different side-quests and speaking to different NPC's at different points in the game. Listing all the cards you have to obtain will take quite some time to do, so for now I'll link you to this Steam Guide.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=201739206

Misc. Achievements

Handyman - Upgrade your weapon
Upgrading is fairly simple. You'll need to acquire specific items in order to upgrade different equipment. The default weapons are the easiest to upgrade. For Squall's default weapon, the Revolver, you'll need 6 M-Stone Pieces which is dropped by multiple enemies throughout the game and 2 Screws which can be obtained from Geezard's.


100 kills - Kill 100 enemies
Pretty self-explanatory, just kill 100 enemies in battle.


1,000 kills - Kill 1,000 enemies
Same as above, just 1,000 kills this time.


10,000 kills - Kill 10,000 enemies
Just like the other two, just 10,000 kills this time. This might take you awhile and is best attempted with the Top Level achievement.


Magician - Draw (Stock) magic from enemies 100 times
To gain the Draw command, junction a Guardian Force to a character. While in battle select Draw from the command list. Do this 100 times.

Magic Miner - Draw magic 100 times from draw points
You will find many draw points throughout the game. Draw points are small pink dots/lines rising out from the ground. Once used the draw point will turn blue. Most will refill over time. Do this 100 times.

Card player - Play Triple Triad
At the beginning of the game a lost student will bump into you after you first leave class and ask you to show her around. Just before you enter the elevator with her speak to the man standing close by. He will give you 7 cards to play Triple Traid. Proceed down the elevator and speak with the young student running laps around the first floor of Balamb Garden. Play him in a game of Triple Triad to earn this achievement.

Loser - Lose a rare card in a Triple Triad game
Any Guardian Force card or card with a pink background is a rare card. The first rare card you obtain is Ifrit's card after defeating him. Losing a match of Triple Triad will let your opponent keep one of the 7 cards you just played. The more rare cards in your hand when you lose the better chances of getting this achievement.

Professional Player - Hidden Achievement
Win 100 games of Triple Triad.


First salary - Get your first salary from SeeD
After becoming a member of SeeD, you'll be able to earn a salary which varies depending on your SeeD rank. Salaries are paid out every 24,575 steps.

Top Rank - Reach SeeD rank A
To get to rank A you'll need about 3100 SeeD EXP which is roughly rank 31. There are several ways to earn and lose EXP such as:

• Defeating an enemy = 1 SeeD EXP.
  
• Passing a SeeD Exam = 1 SeeD Rank.
  
• Paid SeeD Salary = -10 SeeD EXP.

There are also SeeD missions and events that can lower and raise your rank. But more importantly, SeeD Tests can be taken depending on your level (for example, you can't go past SeeD Test #15 unless you are above level 15.) There are 30 tests in total and can be accessed from the in-game menu. The answers to each test are below.

1	Y N Y Y Y N N Y N N	16	Y N N Y N Y N N Y N
2	Y N Y Y Y N Y Y N N	17	Y N N N Y N N Y N N
3	N N Y N Y Y Y N Y N	18	Y N N N Y N N N N N
4	N Y Y Y N N Y Y N N	19	Y N N Y N N N N N Y
5	N N N Y Y N N Y Y Y	20	Y Y N Y N Y Y Y N N
6	Y N Y Y N N Y Y N Y	21	Y Y Y Y N N Y Y Y N
7	Y Y Y Y Y Y N Y Y N	22	N N N Y N N N Y Y N
8	N Y N N Y Y N N Y N	23	Y N N N N Y Y Y Y Y
9	N Y N N N N N N Y Y	24	Y Y N N Y Y N N N Y
10	Y N N N N N N N Y N	25	Y N Y Y Y N N Y N N
11	Y Y N Y Y N Y N N Y	26	Y Y N Y N Y N Y N N
12	N Y N N Y N Y N Y N	27	N Y N N N N Y N Y N
13	Y N N N Y N N N N N	28	Y N N Y Y Y N Y N N
14	Y Y Y Y N Y Y N Y N	29	N N N Y Y N N N Y N
15	Y Y N N N N N Y N Y	30	N Y N N N N Y N N N

Ragnarok - Find Ragnarok
You'll earn this achievement by progressing through the main story.


Maximum HP - Reach maximum HP
Junctioning 100 spells to your HP can help you each 9999 HP without needing to be high level. These are the top spells to junction.

• Ultima - +6000 HP
  
• Araise - +4800 HP
  
• Meteor - +4600 HP
  
• Holy - +3800 HP
  
• Aura - +3400 HP

Maximum Gil - Reach maximum Gil
The max amount of Gil is 99,999,999. There's a few ways to quickly earn gil. An easy way is to have your Tonberry Guardian Force with Call Shop, Haggle and Sell-High ability and Carbuncle Guardian Force with the Med-RF ability. Purchase as many tents and cottages as you can (100 is recommended) and then refine them into mega-potions. Rinse and repeat multiple times and before you know it you'll have max gil.

Top level - Hidden Achievement
Reach level 100. Easiest XP would come from grinding battles on the Islands Closest to Heaven/Hell.


End of Game - Finish the game
Complete Final Fantasy VIII.


Contrived Finish - Finish the game with Squall's initial level
This achievement is a lot easier than it seems if you're using a low-level walkthrough to help you.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=201559459

[Pickleton]

You can do the 10,000 kills achievement while still maintaining a low level game if you do the farming with Seifer or Edea and kill off your other party members.
Grinding with Seifer during the SeeD exam is an easy (though time-consuming) way to get 100 Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Curaga on your characters without farming cards, and lets you level Quetzalcoatl, Shiva and Ifrit to lvl100 early on (along with their abilities).
Similarly with Edea, you can farm Malboros (while using Lvl Up) to jump in levels very quickly. If you've got everything you can up to this point, you can level all but 5 (4 if you cheesed Chocobo World for Doomtrain) of the available GFs in the game to lvl100 as well. Or, if you don't want to go that far, you can level your GFs up enough to get the abilties that are level-locked (Treatment, Doom, etc).

[fengduoyin]

I found out that, it seems, achievement for 10000 kills can't be done in few walkthroughs. Which makes this achievement probably the most stupid grind ever (I still plan to do it though).
How so? I was going to do second playrun for taking Contrived Finish (and wanted to play in other language) and noticed that my encounter in steam for 1000 kills stopped. But it continued to fill up when I opened my old save with previous run. What I can't understand is why it needable then at all. I mean... all your characters and GF will be 100 level with all skills at maximum 1500 kills or something, likely even less. Well...we have what we have. N hours of grind awaits.

[The Blooddread212 (TRS)]

I see that some people don't know how to obtain the Battle Meter. Well i will tell you. You can keep track of how many enemies you defeated. So i will just cut it short here. When your getting ready to become SeeD after coming back from Dollet. When speeches are done from Cid without leaving. Go talk to him and he'll give you a Battle Meter that's will be in your menu in Tutorial and in Information. That's Disc 1. In Disc 2 is at the prison saga. In floor 10. There will be a Card Player wanting 300 Gils. Challenge him and win. He will customize the Battle Meter. 3rd and i think the last one is when you return back in the Balamb Garden. The Joker from The Card Club sidequest in the Training Center will have the last customize for the Battle Meter. And i think that's it.

[OxtoAlves]

good

[Highly Visible Ninja]

Yes, you do need to hold all the cards at once for the collector achievement. However, as long as you don't refine PuPu, all the others can be won back on disc 4. Head into the part of the Ragnarok where the Diamond girls hang out, and keep playing the one on the left until she plays the cards you used up. She'll sometimes use rares you didn't find yet but are still available, such as Odin. And no, you can't then go and fight Odin to have two Odin cards; I tried!

[BadPanda]

Thanks! Very helpful guide!

[The Hylian]

And with "number of kills" I refer to the 10000 kill achievement

[The Hylian]

Is there a way you can check your progress on the hidden achievements in some secret way?
I want to know how many kills I got, and how many TT wins I have

[GafferLlama]

sweet

[KuroTheBlack]

Just... how many card games you gotta win in goddamn Balamb before the Joker starts taking you seriously? =_= pretty sure I won enough cards in the Garden to fill a room xP