This is just a little page for beginning to mediary leveled players of FF8. So if you're a highly experienced player, this may not be the place for you because you know this stuff already. For everyone else, this is a valuable page that'll give ya some tips on random things in the game like, how junctioning magic benefits you early in the game, how to work with your GF to your advantage, etc.
Overtake your enemies with magic.
Because your enemies level up as you do, it becomes harder and harder to match up to their power... unless you take the initiative. When you find a new spell, or find an enemy/boss to draw from that has a "????" selection... draw it and stock up on it. Higher magic makes you more powerful. I know that alot of the magic (like blind, sleep, shell, etc) doesn't sound all that appealing... it's actually quite powerful. Shell works excellent in raising your magic stats, as well as protecting you from spells with your Elem-J ability later in the game. Since most of your enemies in the beginning are physical attacking opponents, blind works wonders because I've rarely been hit when an enemy had blind cast on it. Magic is your attack, defense, magic, magic protection... everything. Make sure to have it and have alot of it.
Using GF abilities to your advantage.
Your GF abilites make a huge difference in the outcome of a battle. Let's go through some examples. Boost is one of the first abilities you'll want to learn with Shiva and Quezacoatl. Since it only takes 10 AP to learn, it's very useful in the beginning. After boost has been learned, you can hold down select once you summon that GF and press the button as many times as you can while the X is not on the hand symbol. As you watch the number go up from 75 to 150 or more... the GF will hit much harder than normal. Later on, GF will learn other abilites to refine items, cards, or other magic into valuable items and magic that you can't get until later on in the game. GF also learn abilities to boost your str, HP, magic, spr... etc. Learning Str+60%, or HP+80% is your ticket to overcoming powerfully enemies with just a flick of your finger.
Don't be afraid to use your limit breaks.
Yeah, I know limit breaks are hard to understand. It's not like FF7 where you have a gauge to go by... you just have to wait 'til their points are low. Later on in the game, you'll find a spell called Aura, where you can get a limit break about every turn, but for now... you'll have to make due. Letting your HP fall low early in the game is no big scare because the enemies are pretty wussy anyway... especially if you have your Vitality (Vit = ability to withstand physical attack) set high. Learn to use your limit breaks to the best of your ability, and you'll find that they're one of the most powerful aspects of the game.
