Civilian dialogue has updated, though it's mostly various expressions of confusion and fear. There isn't much else to do, so after checking the various screens and the presidential palace (no sign of Odine or the President at this time), we head back out.
In ... one of the screens - I remember where it is, but damned if I can tell someone how to get there - there should be what looks like a guard standing in the road. If you talk to it, it's called a Man in Black (IIRC), it giggles, and then you get into a fight with an Elnoyle (stronger version of Elvoret from way back in Dollet). Best way to farm for Energy Crystals.
I'm ... ninety-plus percent sure those are the actual names of the islands, actually. If you enter the menu, one of the corners IIRC tells you where your location is (which is how you grind Cactuars prior to getting Ragnarok).
It's. It's an actual train from hell. It literally has the yellow striped bars that go up and down. It has rails made up of ghostfire. Its locomotive has a demon face.
As mentioned previously, Doomtrain also inflicts Meltdown's VIT-0 effect, making it the best GF to summon and the only one you should really be concerned about getting on someone with high Compatibility.
No. Obel Lakes and the talking stones and ... I think there's one other asshole quest ... just not worth it. At least the Chocobo Forest sidequest is mostly simple.
Just wanted to mention - you can, actually; Aura provides status protection from Curse, and in fact, 50 Aura is enough to provide 100% protection - so you could use Aura spells a character has without reducing the protection. Although, if you have that much Aura, you'd probably want it junctioned to STR so you can free Meteor, Ultima and/or Triple for something else.
That one is used to refine the "stat up" items, which you might remember you almost stole some of from NORG, and which grant the person which consumes them +1 in their specific stat (or +30 HP, for the "HP up") when used. The Esthar Pet Shop has the materials you would need to buy to make said items, but even using the tricks that produce infinite money, that's still a very, very, very pricey endeavor.
I hadn't really thought about it, but 'a world of monsters' does imply that the moon must have had like… An entire ecosystem. It must have an atmosphere, water… Basically a smaller planet? I wonder what life is like up there.
…unfortunately they ask us to use the Luna Base rules, which would be a nightmare. We have to back out several times until they finally drop the matter and we can fight them under Garden rules.
Still fucking sends me imagining this happening in-universe. Normalise hearing someone suggest houserules you absolutely hate and responding "I will literally kill you with a hammer" until they relent and use standard rules.
Unfortunately, despite exploring everywhere I could think of, I wasn't able to find Rinoa. She's supposed to be in the library, but she wasn't, so I don't know what's up with that. In any case, this function is the key: Squall needs to go to bed alone. Then, in the night…
Quistis please you have to not manifest in people's bedroom at 3am. Please. The optics, Quistis.
Quistis: "The CC group leader, the card master King... Is I, Quistis Trepe. All decked out in my uniform! Squall, you really are something. I can't believe how much your game has improved. I knew we were destined to play. Let's begin!"
Honestly I feel like Quistis breaking into his room at 3am to play cards with him like an SCP that haunts a slightly battered pack of offbrand Magic cards is the most attracted Squall has ever felt to her.
Honestly? The high water mark of this update for me was the Triple Triad questline. That is my jam, it's like I was playing Yu-Gi-Oh: The Sacred Card again for about five seconds, even if the actual gameplay of it was just a series of easy wins (due to my stubborn refusal to accept foreign rules in Balamb Garden, admittedly).
Rinoa: "Oh no...I can't risk it...Ultimecia may take over my body once again..."
Ultimecia: "why would i settle for the tiny bronco when the airship is right where i want it"
Rinoa:
Attendant: "President Laguna really turned this place around... Esthar owes so much to his leadership... if only he were here today..." Laguna asleep in his bedroom at 2pm:
Honestly I feel like Quistis breaking into his room at 3am to play cards with him like an SCP that haunts a slightly battered pack of offbrand Magic cards is the most attracted Squall has ever felt to her.
She's a Blue Mage who gets her abilities by using items dropped by her enemies, wouldn't some sorta 'When a creature with an activated ability controlled by an opponent dies, create an Artifact token with that ability and "you may spend Mana as if it were Mana of any color to activate this ability"' thing be more accurate? Not sure how to format it though.
She's a Blue Mage who gets her abilities by using items dropped by her enemies, wouldn't some sorta 'When a creature with an activated ability controlled by an opponent dies, create an Artifact token with that ability and "you may spend Mana as if it were Mana of any color to activate this ability"' thing be more accurate? Not sure how to format it though.
Honestly, some variation of the Imprint keyword is probably the simplest way. Say ... Dino DNA as the basis, except instead of creating a copy of a creature, copy an ability. Or Knowledge Pool, or - since FFVIII Blue Magic is learned by something the party already has - just rip Panoptic Mirror wholesale. Some enemies don't always drop the Blue Magic Item, after all.
Honestly, some variation of the Imprint keyword is probably the simplest way. Say ... Dino DNA as the basis, except instead of creating a copy of a creature, copy an ability. Or Knowledge Pool, or - since FFVIII Blue Magic is learned by something the party already has - just rip Panoptic Mirror wholesale. Some enemies don't always drop the Blue Magic Item, after all.
Also, a group of elite game-playing students* named after card suits, and who also summon monsters from their minds?
For those who've read Persona: The Beautiful, my All-Aces weren't consciously inspired by the Card Club, but I'm certainly now wondering if they were a subconscious influence... or just coincidence via first principles. Then again, I wasn't consciously inspired by Utena either, yet my readers said P:TB was the most Utena-y thing ever.
Of course, there is one major difference between the Card Club and the All-Aces. The Card Club aren't massive dicks.
* Quistis is a teacher, but eh, close enough in age
…when I said 'unless your mind is made of spreadsheets,' but I am starting to think that FF8 was designed by, and for, people whose brains are indeed made of spreadsheets, and for whom winning the combat by setting up the right configuration in the menu before the battle even starts and then executing that configuration with minimal input is the apex of intellectually stimulating combat.
Completely separate from this update specifically, but circling back to the discussion regarding autobattle, I've figured out how to do it:
Equip two people with Fury Rings, which automatically puts them into Berserk, meaning they autoattack (for boosted damage) and are uncontrollable. The Berserk status also means they don't use LBs so it's a handy way to keep those banked for boss fights.
Third party member is the heal/skill monkey to do things like cure statuses, steal, or drop a nuke on particularly annoying enemies. Means you can clear a lot of fights with one or two inputs and fairly minimal animation delays, especially if you set up materia to improve character's ability to tank status inflictions or make them take more turns in combat (Added Effect/Elemental on appropriately linked materia, Pre-emptive and Speed Plus as independents).
It sounds so dumb but it works.
(Just remember to swap the accessories before boss fights )
Honestly I feel like Quistis breaking into his room at 3am to play cards with him like an SCP that haunts a slightly battered pack of offbrand Magic cards is the most attracted Squall has ever felt to her.
The Lunar Cry immediate response is disappointing, honestly. I assumed Esthar not being shown in a complete panic or emergency situation immediately after coming back from space was just disjointed presentation because of the urgency in saving Rinoa, but damn. I could follow the rest of the world not noticing immediately because of Esthar's thorough measures to isolate themselves working against them to keep the flood of monsters trapped, and no warnings making it out even with the radio waves working again because of the sudden shift of circumstances, but... I really would have expected to see Esthar in an active disaster state, even if the red sky and monster encounters look significant. Maybe this'll still kick into high gear once Ultimecia and Adel start moving. Interesting to get this info now on what the Lunatic Pandora contains and why it has that metal shell, though.
Once again, this update tells me I wouldn't have the patience or mindset to engage with the depths of Final Fantasy VIII's mechanical systems and strategic teambuilding. But the EPIC CARD GAMES ANIME bit is great, that stuff's always fun.
... that conversation in the flower field where Squall emphasizes to Rinoa that his enemy isn't her but the sorceress from the future, Ultimecia, sure would be THICK with dramatic irony if Ultimecia turned out to be Rinoa from the far future. Perhaps a Rinoa who... never had a knight as a sorceress? Or who lost her knight? Hrm.
I really hope you're able to challenge Ultimecia to a game of Triple Triad before fighting for the fate of the world. Or just skip that and play card games to prevent the Apocalypse. Unless it's Lunar Base rules.
The Lunar Cry immediate response is disappointing, honestly. I assumed Esthar not being shown in a complete panic or emergency situation immediately after coming back from space was just disjointed presentation because of the urgency in saving Rinoa, but damn. I could follow the rest of the world not noticing immediately because of Esthar's thorough measures to isolate themselves working against them to keep the flood of monsters trapped, and no warnings making it out even with the radio waves working again because of the sudden shift of circumstances, but... I really would have expected to see Esthar in an active disaster state, even if the red sky and monster encounters look significant. Maybe this'll still kick into high gear once Ultimecia and Adel start moving. Interesting to get this info now on what the Lunatic Pandora contains and why it has that metal shell, though.
I promised myself I wouldn't use "deliberately avoid leveling" tricks like the "Card every enemy instead of killing them" method, but I have to say, watching one specific enemy's attack go from "This is dangerous but survivable, it might take out one or two party members but we can otherwise make it" to "if they open with this it's TPK before I can do anything" because I went up in levels, a thing which is supposed to make me stronger, has been... aggravating.
This is around the point I actively started thinking about dropping VIII since my lack of understanding of its mechanics was making this section extremely frustrating.
It'll be interesting to see how Omicron will handle the section that did cause me to drop it. At the very least, it'll be completable for Omicron.
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