Game - Final Fantasy 8, Day 59
Hours Played/Hours Total - 14 hrs / 56 hrs
Starting Point - Inside Galbadia Garden.
Current Goal - Infiltrate Galbadia Garden. Defeat the Sorceress!
What Happened - I'm certainly coming close to the finish line (or at least the one I want). I'm going to have to REALLY push it to make it through this game before Friday. Wish me luck as I quickly rush through the next 12+ hours of gameplay! Without further ado, let's get started! (Also prepare for a SUPER long post!)
Now, I'm supposed to infiltrate Galbadia Garden, but technically, I'm already inside it. Does that mean I've already succeeded? I'd say technically yes, but I'm trying to get further inside so...No. Moving right along, my team selection is Squall (of course), Irvine, and Quistis. The team choice is based purely on that they are all kinda low leveled. I'm trying to get everybody at a higher and better level overall. It's fairly hard to do when Squall is always in there while everybody else has to crazy lag behind him. Anyways, moving further inside Galbadia Garden revealed that I was in for a fun run around. There were locked doors and exits that seemed to require card keys. I had to look around and find remaining students with key cards. There was only three to find, but I had to run all over the place and do backtracking. All the while, monsters were running about the garden. They weren't overly hard though, so that was the least of my worries. While looking for the Sorceress, I ran into a new friend!....By new friend, I mean a new Guardian Force for me to have, but he wasn't about to come with us without a fight. BOSS BATTLE TIME!
The Guardian Force I was to fight was Cerberus (the three-headed dog who guards hell's gates for those who don't know). The first thing I noticed was Cerberus had a nice assortment of magic on him! I started leeching all of the Triple magic I could off of him. Cerberus did a fairly varied mix of spells and physical attacks, and they were decently powerful. Of course, I easily countered that with a round of buffs. With everybody Triple'd up, I was able to fully Protect, Haste, and Shell my team. After that, I just started wailing on him with whatever I could. I still took time to draw what Triple I wanted though. As long as I kept the buffs up, he never really stood a chance against me. He eventually admitted defeat and joined our group. Woo! Cerberus is one of the more unorthodox GFs (summon-wise). When summoned, he casts Double and Triple on everybody. It's actually a pretty nice GF and is insanely useful. Moving right along.
After locating all the key cards, I was able to go up to the Headmaster's office and confront the Sorceress. Before I could reach her though, I had to go through Seifer for BOSS BATTLE TIME! Seifer was pretty cocky and was fully determined that we didn't stand a chance. I smacked him all forms of around and was able to quickly put him out of his misery. Upon his defeat, the Sorceress called him pathetic but then teleported through the floor. I ran out of the office and down into the room below it (the auditorium). When I got there, she was nowhere to be seen, but that was quickly remedied as she smashed through a screen and landed on the floor. It was time for the final showdown! BOSS BATTLE TIME PART TWO! The battle starts up, and as it turns out, Seifer is still standing. He plans to stand between us and the Sorceress as her knight. He doesn't have too much fire left though, so the first bit went by fairly fast. I made prominent use of the Cerberus GF to Triple up the party. I buffed everyone with the regular grouping (Protect, Shell, Haste) and started the onslaught. Seifer went down fairly fast, and it was time to face off against the Sorceress herself. She was back with more power and less loopholes. Last time, I just reflected the party to keep her busy, but this time she was armed with spells that weren't reflect-able. She didn't have a lot of power behind her, but she did have one fairly powerful spell that tore a large chunk out of the group (Maelstrom). I just kept up with the buff combo and attacked inbetween this. The Sorceress proved to be a weak challenge for me, and her defeat came quite quick and easy. /END DISC TWO
With the Sorceress's defeat, it seemed like maybe things would come to an end, but then the unexpected happened! After the fight, everything was all lit up for some reason, and all that could be seen was Rinoa going over to Seifer. She did something to him, and he ran off. She passed out, but then more happened! Sorceress Edea started talking differently and called out everyone's name. The screen went black as the group started gathering around Rinoa. When things finally came back around, Squall awakened in Balamb Garden, and it seemed that something had occurred. Rinoa was in some sort of strange coma, and Squall was actually starting to care about something (a real shocker...more understandable if you've been playing the game). The group's next goal was to talk with Edea and find out more. She had returned to her house, so that was our next destination! Now...quite a bit was said during this next bit, so I'm going to do my best to summarize it while delivering the basic message.
The first thing that happened at Edea's house was running into Cid. He apologized for leaving the Garden, but he was faced with two things...the defeat and loss of everything or the victory and loss of his wife. Then we blew past that and finally got to talk with Edea. First and foremost, she apologized for her actions but also revealed that they were not her own. She was under the control of a future Sorceress named Ultimecia. This future Sorceress had somehow gained control of Edea and was using her to try and get Ellone. Edea figured that she was after Ellone for her ability to send people into the past. Of course, this just opened up MORE questions, but Squall was a bit preoccupied with something else. He was worried about Rinoa. He asked Edea if she knew what was wrong, but she had no idea what was wrong with Rinoa. The group continued to talk about Ultimecia while Squall was focused on Rinoa. In the background, Edea revealed that Ultimecia wanted to use Ellone's power to cast a spell known as Time Compression. Time Compression would compress all of time (past, present, and future) into one time. Basically, all of existence would exist at one point. She wasn't sure why Ultimecia wanted to do this, but she knew Ellone had to be kept away from her. Thus she had organized the group of SeeDs to complete this task, but that is just one part of the problem.
Edea feared that her defeat at the Garden had simply loosened Ultimecia's control over her and was afraid it might come back. She did have another theory though...She thought that Ultimecia (a future sorceress) could only take control of a Sorceress. She had a bad feeling that Ultimecia would aim for a different Sorceress known as Adel. Adel was some evil sorceress that had been a part of some past event called the Sorceress War. Edea figured that Ultimecia's pure evil would fuel Adel and make her immensely powerful. So on top of Ellone, we needed to make sure Ultimecia didn't find Adel. Now that is just a pile of information that I can't do much with, so the group returned to the Garden and informed everyone of the newest information. Squall revisited Rinoa and was very distraught over her current condition. He just wanted to talk with her. And then...Squall passed out for yet another DREAM SEQUENCE!
For this round of Laguna time, he was doing some sort of movie to earn money for the group. He was playing a knight saving a sorceress or something like that. Anyways, he was supposed to fight a dragon in the movie (a fake one), but somehow, a real dragon got on the set! Using only Laguna and Kiros, I had to fight off a large Ruby Dragon. SOMEWHAT BOSS BATTLE TIME! Nothing too hard really. It was a large red colored dragon. Of course, that means it is a fire dragon, so the strategy for this battle was ice magic all the way. I forgot to Junction Shiva (thanks to all the dream sequence confusion) and had to use Blizzaga instead. He wasn't capable of too much though, and the battle was mostly just a time waste. After finishing off the dragon, the group looks up at something, but then the screen fades to black. A voice starts talking about not being able to disconnect. Squall asks about the connect thing, and the voice chimes in that it is how she refers to her power (obviously Ellone). She realizes that she is asleep and can't control it. She asks Squall to be patient with her for a bit, but he just wants to leave. The next scene is between Laguna and Edea who is are talking about Ellone. She was at the Orphanage, but then she was kidnapped by Esther soldiers. Laguna is looking for a way inside of Esther. Edea mentions that Esther is looking for a successor to the sorceress Adel. The scene wraps up and Squall talks about wanting to hear Rinoa again. Ellone says that she found out her power won't let her change the past nor will it let her see through anyone that she has never met. She bids Squall farewell and says she will contact him like this again.
Squall wakes up and demands that Ellone send him into the past to help Rinoa. He starts believing that Ellone might be able to help him save Rinoa. This places my next goal as the White SeeD ship (the people we left Ellone with last time we met). Of course, I have no idea where to look for it. I go back to Edea and ask her. She suggests looking around the Centra continent and gives us a letter that will help us get on the ship. With the letter in hand, I go looking around Centra. This took a bit since their location wasn't hinted towards extremely well, and the place had a lot of hiding spots for it. After going around for like 30 minutes, I finally happen upon the right spot! I board the ship and begin talking with the White SeeD members. Squall just wants to see Ellone and mentions that Edea told them about where the ship would be. They find it hard to believe, and they aren't ready to take a chance with Ellone. While looking around the ship, we ran into a couple old friends, Zone and Watts (the Forest Owl resistance people from waaaay back there). They had escaped to this ship after being chased by Galbadian soldiers. Zone got mad at Squall for being unable to protect Rinoa, but Squall said he was looking for Ellone because he believed she could help. He didn't love the answer, but he let it slide.
I approached the leader of the ship again and handed over Edea's letter. He confirmed it as the Matron's handwriting, and the group began to talk with him. It seems the people of the ship were orphans raised on the ship by Matron. They said after getting Ellone that they had started heading east to get away from Galbadia, but then they ran into the Galbadian fleet. They had to start running to avoid being caught, but then their ship broke down. As they were preparing to battle, Esther ships came in and started fighting the Galbadian ships. While this was going down, an Esther ship approached them and asked them to get aboard their ship. Of course, the group didn't trust the Esther group anymore than the Galbadians. They set to leave, but Ellone yelled at them and jumped aboard their ship. After that, all the Esther ships withdrew. The White SeeDs plan to head for Esther once they can repair the ship. They apologized for losing Ellone, and the group left the White SeeD ship. As we got back on the Garden, the group revealed their next course to be Esther. Nida told us that we couldn't fly the Garden there due to the mountains surrounding the country, so we had to find an alternate path. Lucky for me, I do remember the alternate path to Esther.
I flew the Garden back to Fisherman's Horizon, and Squall immediately takes Rinoa and heads onward. He starts walking the railroad from FH to Esther. He's wanting to go it alone and plans to walk the entire way while carrying her coma-fied body. He starts talking to her as he goes and basically oozes his feelings for her while he goes. At one point, he does reveal stuff about his personality, but he says that is just between the two of them. It takes about a day (or something like that) in-game time, but he finally arrives at the Esther end of the railroad tracks. When he arrives, it seems that he is in for a big surprise. The rest of the group was just getting there as well. They had agreed to escort Edea to Esther because she was wanting to figure out a way to keep Ultimecia out of her. So we regroup up and head for Esther. Also, Edea is technically a party member for a bit. (Not sure how long, but we shall find out!)
The group had checked both North and South of the current position and found nothing, so our only way to Esther was due East through a strange land. That strange land...was the Great Salt Lake, but it looked like a giant frozen wasteland. As I passed through, I didn't meet a whole lot of resistance and got by pretty quickly. I only ran into a few monsters up until BOSS BATTLE TIME! This guy literally just jumped out of a giant chasm and right into our path. He was a giant skeletal bull demon thinger with wings. As soon as the battle started, Squall immediately yelled about it being an undead creature and to use curative magic on it. (Thanks game...I OBVIOUSLY could have never figured that out!) There wasn't a whole lot to this battle. I just threw what I had at him, and he went down fairly fast. I did make use of the Holy spell that I recently acquired, but there really isn't much else to add. With the giant undead skeleton thinger out of the way, I was ready to enter Esther...I think. All we could see was nothingness going on for miles. However, it seemed that things weren't as they appeared. The view in front of us kept "flickering." Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the area in front of us was a camouflaged entrance. I went inside and found myself heading straight for Esther!
While zooming along, the first and most obvious thing to see is....Esther is INSANELY more advanced than any and all of the other nations put together. Their main city is huuuuuuge and bigger than all the other towns. There are what appear to be hovercars moving about, and the entire city seems to be surrounded by the camouflage panels. The platform we are riding along finally comes to a stop, and we end up at the end of some large road of sorts. A hovercar comes along right as the group is passing out again. That's one horribly placed Dream Sequence! We find Laguna is inside the city of Esther (guess he made it). However, he's being used as slave labor for the city. He's working in an area while Kiros and Ward are escorted to another area. Fast forward a bit, those two (off-screen) are causing a ruckus, and Laguna uses this moment to stage a breakout for him and a few others. After a couple of fights, the group is able to escape. One of the people rescued says that he's part of a liberation front to free the people from Sorceress Adel. He asks Laguna if he would be interested in leading the group. Laguna claims that he is just trying to find Ellone for now. One of the assistants of a scientist named Odine comes out and mentions something about Odine possibly knowing. I reenter the station and find Odine there. After a fight, we manage to corner him and get the information we need. He's holding Ellone at his laboratory, so we let the guy go and make our way to his lab. Once there, it just takes a few fights and a little hacking (Laguna mashed some random keys) to get Ellone's cell open. As the two are reunited, the game switches back to our regular crew.
They awaken and find themselves in the presidential palace of Esther. The people ask what they are doing there. Squall starts to ask for Ellone, but Edea tells Squall to let her handle this. She wishes to speak with Doctor Odine and figure out a way to keep Ultimecia from getting her. Odine claims that there is an easy fix for this and plans to exorcise Ultimecia from Edea. A man walks up and asks why we want to see Ellone. Squall thinks Ellone can use her powers to help him save Rinoa. Squall is very straightforward about wanting to do this, and he somewhat threatens Odine. Odine gives in and gives them permission to see Ellone. His only request is that he is allowed to study Rinoa in her current state. He sends the rest of the group off towards a place called the Lunar Gate. I head out and do a bit of exploring. Esther is quite a big city, and it has a lot to offer. There's a large shopping mall with a grouping of stores. For some reason, they made this place extra fancy and specialized stores all accessible from one menu. I bought up all the magazines I could, replaced some of the GF items, and filled up on items. It's been a while since I last bought anything or filled up my inventory, so this was a good thing. After that, I left town and began...a large side quest.
With my current location, I was finally able to began a long quest for the powerful GF named Doomtrain. The game hints about Doomtrain in a in-game magazine called Occult Fan. Basically, you have to get 6 apiece of three specialized items: Malboro Tentacles, Remedy+, and Steel Pipes. Steel Pipes have been available to me since the very beginning with Cards. The other two are a bit harder to get though...You can only get Malboro Tentacles off of Malboros (OBVIOUSLY) or their cards. You have to have FIVE cards to get one tentacle though, so I tried the other method. The Malboros roam the Esther plains, but their encounter rate is insanely low. I walked around for an hour before I finally met my first one, and that almost killed me! It's Bad Breath ability is a real pain that causes nearly all of the status effects at once. I had to rearrange my magic junctions to help me out here. I figured out a grouping that worked, and this helped the battles considerably. They still had a super low rate, so I was running around for quite a bit. However, this helped me with the last requirement...Remedy+. Remedy+ is only obtainable by upgrading the Remedy item with the Med LVL Up ability. It's available ONLY on Alexander, and you can only get it after getting the previous ability Med Data. Each one requires more than 200 GP each! Luckily, I was getting into a huge number of random battles, but of course, most of these battles weren't Malboros. I spent like 3-4 hours of my time just doing this. It did help get me some extra levels, but it went reaaaally slow. The final necessity for the Doomtrain GF is the Soloman's Ring. This was easy to get since all you have to do is go to the location Tear's Point and pick it up off the ground. I did this before gaining all the items, so once I had them all, I summoned Doomtrain and added him to the team! With Doomtrain obtained, I had waste enough time and went back to the story.
I easily made my way to the Lunar Gate. A woman greeted me there and took our group inside. In order to see Ellone, we were going to have to take a little trip...into space. (Yeaaaah, love how Esther is advanced enough not only send people into space but have a damn space base.) Along with Rinoa, I had to pick one other person to accompany me. I chose Quistis, and they proceed to launch us into space. You might think they'd use a space shuttle of sorts, but apparently that is too easy or too much work. The fastest and easiest way to put this...we were loaded into space bullets and SHOT to the space base. As that group is shot up, the rest of the group decides to make their way back to Esther. Just as we get outside, some crazy shit starts to go down. Up in the sky, a massive block of floating ridiculousness is hovering towards Esther. The group has no idea what it is, but they plan to find out. Taking a team of Zell, Selphie, and Edea (forced to), we make our way to Esther. I locate Odine and brings me up to speed on it. The massive floating block is a giant artifact excavated from the ocean. It is called Lunatic Pandora, and it means bad news for everyone. A signal coming from the giant thing attracts monsters. This signal is amplified when it is over the Tear's Point (where I got the Soloman's Ring). What are we going to do?
The only thing we can do is try to jump aboard. However, Odine figures there are only three points in town in which we can possibly jump on the thing. I have a total of 20 minutes before it passes over. In that time, I have to hit one of three locations during their calculated time of passing to jump aboard the thing. The town lifts stop working as soon as this all starts (of course), so I'm having to hoof it across this giant town WHILE fighting off Galbadian troops. On top of this, I have five minutes to reach the first location to jump on the damn thing. This would have been easy...had I not taken the wrong path. I also didn't save for a bit, so I was not up for reloading. I barely make it all around town and back to the first spot. I've got 30 seconds to go when...soldiers pop out of the Lunatic Pandora. I barely finish them off with a mere couple of seconds to jump on board. Things got even worse once I was inside. As I began to look around...I quickly got lost. There were all forms of branching passageways and places to explore, but I was quickly cut off. When I reached one area, a giant creature of sorts got in my way. As the group charged at it, it flung them out of the ship and into the Sorceress's Memorial. In simple words, we failed...horribly. The Lunatic Pandora hovers over the Tear's Point, and the entire thing begins to light up with an eerie red glow. Edea mentions something about "Lunar Cry", and the game switches over to our other group.
The other group is arriving at the Esther Space Station. They were shot up there like bullets and caught by the station. It might be a fast way up there, but it seems kinda over the top. As the group arrives, we're directed to place Rinoa in a special room. After that, I begin exploring the space station a bit. One of the scientists, named Piet, shows us something interesting and kinda scary. We take a close look at the moon and discover that...the moon is covered with monsters. It seems that monsters actually come from the moon. (The characters mention that we should have known that from classes.) On top of this, they all seem to be gathering in one spot for an even known as the Lunar Cry. Apparently, this is a major catastrophe, and it happened at some point in the past. Another big deal with the space station is the entire point of it all. The entire reason for the station's existence is to keep Sorceress Adel sealed away. Apparently, she was sealed and locked away in a floating prison nearby the moon. It seems that Laguna was entirely responsible for her downfall and current imprisonment. Interesting stuff... Eventually, I'm pointed towards finding Ellone. As I find her, Squall makes the plea with her to try and help him cure Rinoa. Ellone explains that she wanted to change Laguna's past to make him stay with Raine in her final hours, but she found out a few things while attempting this. First and foremost, you can't change the past. Secondly, she was okay with how things turned out because she learned that Laguna loved her quite dearly. Despite what Ellone tells him, Squall still wants to give it a shot. Ellone needs to see Rinoa before being able to send someone to her past, but as we go investigate...tragedy strikes!
A giant red alert goes up, and the crew is called to the Med Lab (where Rinoa was taken). As I get over there, Rinoa is walking all creepy-like and strange. Every time I approach her, some mysterious force flings me away from her. She creeps towards the control room and hits a switch. Piet informs us that the switch she activated deactivated the Level 1 Seal on Adel! Luckily, there is a second switch that is located on Adel's prison though, but Rinoa quickly makes her way out of the room and in a different direction. Squall chases after her and finds her leaving the station in a space suit. I throw one on and chase after her, but she makes it out of the airlock before Squall can. Even worse, as things are already going bad, the monsters on the moon are fully collecting for the Lunar Cry and begin to flow rapidly down from the moon to the planet. Rinoa is seen in the distance turning off the Level 2 Seal on Adel's prison. As the prison deactivates, it slowly drifts towards the monster's that are flowing towards the planet. Adel is carried off into the midst of it all, and Rinoa is left to float out there. The rest of the group (in the spacestation) are forced to abandon the base as the monsters are rapidly flowing down towards Tear's Point in Esther. (A lot of these are cutscenes showing off the action, but I didn't feel like describing every single part where it jumps.) As the monster's come crashing down onto the planet, Adel's prison is seen falling into Lunatic Pandora.
The group is getting into a nearby escape pod and fleeing the station. As this happens, Squall is incredibly distraught about Rinoa and feels that he has to save her right now. He asks Ellone to send him into the past to try and help. She gives it a couple different tries and a few things are revealed. The first scene is Rinoa beating on Irvine to go rescue the group from D-District Prison. The next part is Rinoa asking Zell to help her get Squall's ring. As Squall comes to, he asks Ellone to send him to sometime sooner. This next bit reveals the truth behind the incident at Galbadia Garden. We see Rinoa creepily walking towards and picking up the unconscious Seifer. As she starts talking to him, it seems that someone else is behind Seifer's revival of sorts. Ultimecia seems to have been possessing Rinoa! She tells Seifer to go and get Lunatic Pandora from underneath the ocean. She promises to help him fulfill his dream, and he gets up and walks off. Ultimecia forces Squall's hold off of Rinoa and returns to the present.
Ellone sends Squall in one last time to help him by sending him to the most recent memory. (Kinda depressing one too...just warning ya) Next thing up...we see Rinoa drifting through space. It cuts in ever so often with a mini-cutscene showing Rinoa slowly running out of air and beginning to fall asleep. However, it seems that before drifting off, she seems to hear Squall and sees his ring currently around her neck. Squall wakes up and leaps into action. He jumps out of the ship and catches Rinoa in space. The two of them are drifting there, and it seems that things just got hopeless. However, something floating in the distance comes closer...Turns out, there's a giant red dragon-looking spaceship floating about. Squall and Rinoa manage to climb aboard! After getting in, it seems there is life support on board, so the two of them take their suits off and begin to explore. There's a moment where Rinoa thanks Squall for rescuing her and asks that he give her a hug, but Squall manages to avoid this for the moment. He says they need to figure out a way home as to not becoming memories.
As I explore the ship, I quickly find out that I am not alone here. All around the ship are giant, strange-looking aliens. Thanks to the guide tips, I know that killing these things isn't as straightforward as it may seem. There were four pairs of colored aliens (red, yellow, orange, and purple). You had to kill them off in pairs, or the second one would revive the first one. This was easy enough in most cases since getting from the first to the second one was generally pretty easy. They weren't very tough enemies either, so I was able to push on through them without much effort. Once I defeated the group of aliens, I made my way to the cockpit, and good news began to flow in. I was able to contact Esther station and get this ship pointed back to the planet. I also find out that the ship is called the Ragnarok. Lemme jut say...this is the coolest looking ship ever! Giant red dragon spaceship! HELLS YEAH! (moving on) With a little talking through it, we manage to get the ship heading back down to the planet. During this time, Squall and Rinoa have a moment. I won't go into details, but Squall finally comes out and admits some of his feelings. He's been distant from everyone in hopes that he doesn't lose a loved one like he lost Ellone in the past (when she disappeared). Rinoa talks about how they won't be able to stay together when this is all up. Squall responds by saying that no one can predict the future (says Rinoa told him that long ago). She obviously didn't mean it like this, but the two are sitting there and get a call in from the planet.
The Esther group figure they know what has happened, but they ask who all is on board. Squall identifies himself and then Rinoa. They exclaim that the Sorceress is on board!?! Squall doesn't act overly surprised (although I really was...apparently I didn't catch the hints), but things take another downward turn. Rinoa admits to becoming a Sorceress and says that she won't be able to stay with him anymore. She wishes that time would simply stop at that moment so the two of them could be together forever. When they land, a couple of Esther representatives are there to escort the Sorceress Rinoa away. They say that they must seal her powers for the good of the world. Squall doesn't want to let her go, but he doesn't really seem to know what to do. Rinoa is scared that the world will hate and fear her for being a Sorceress, and thus she goes with them willingly. She tries to give Squall back his ring, but he tells her to keep it. After she leaves, Squall gets back on the ship and wonders what the hell he is supposed to do. Quistis came in a short time later and starts filling me in on details. Apparently, after they crash landed, the group of them all passed out and woke up much later. Only Piet and she were on board, and Ellone was nowhere to be found. As she is talking, Zell and company run in to tell Squall what happened. (Fast forward through this since we technically already know.) He also mentions that Edea (not present) was unable to do what she wanted because she passed on her Sorceress status. Squall confirms it by saying she gave it to Rinoa. He also talks about them hauling Rinoa off and how she was afraid of what she had become. Obviously, they think she needs to be rescued, and Selphie and Irvine run out of the room. Quistis and Zell start talking with Squall and tell him that they need to go after her. After a little convincing, Squall decides that their only possible option at this time...is to rescue Rinoa. As they say this, the Ragnarok begins to move, and the group assumes that Selphie is flying the ship. (She is.) With the Ragnarok in hand, it's time to find Rinoa!
Finally! I have a REAL damn airship! Although it's actually a spaceship, it is the coolest ship I've ever gotten to fly! I zoom about the planet as I try to figure out some things to do. I'm rapidly approaching the end of the game and the end of Disc 3, so I'm trying to go ahead and do a few side quests before finishing up. First on the list...a new GF! (That's also the rest of the list really...) I make my way to a small desert island where a green cactus keeps popping up and disappearing. I run up to the cactus for BOSS BATTLE TIME! For this round, I've got Squall, Zell, and Quistis attempting to defeat the massive and impressive Jumbo Cactuar! Jumbo Cactuar offered me a true FF8 challenge! All I had to work with to fight him was the Water spell and the Leviathan summon (For confused readers, his weakness is WATER!) I never saw his full health, but from what I did see, he had at LEAST 60,000+! Aside from his high HP, he had a pretty decent round of attacks. One was some sort of ground slam that threw everybody up in the air and brought them down for decent damage. The worst of his attacks was the 10,000 Needles. He used it as a counter of sorts (randomly mostly) to deal out 10,000 damage to a single character. This couldn't be reduced by anything, so whoever got hit by it, I had to waste time reviving them. The biggest concern I had for this battle came up when he was getting low. When he gets critical on health, a special message displays, and you have to hurry up and defeat him. Otherwise, he runs away, and you get to restart the entire process! Lucky for me, I was able to round up the battle right on time. With the Jumbo Cactuar defeated, I added the Cactuar GF to my lineup of summons! I only lacked two more GFs to have the entire collection, and thus began the search...
I had to fly all over the planet in search of a small research station. This spot was unmarked on the map and supposed to be very small. I flew around for quite a bit before finally finding it. As soon as I found it, I landed down and entered inside. Inside was a giant glowing core....but then I ran back out and saved my game. I've gotten more than enough typed up for this post, and I've already failed my goal of August. Figured I would stop there and get this up. The next post WILL be the last one though! All I lack are two GFs and a few ultimate weapons. Once I get those, it's just a small matter of time before I reach the end of the game. The fourth disc is supposed to be the final area only, so I need to get all I can done before I move on. I apologize for the long post and thank you for reading it regardless! Stay tuned for the season finale of FINAL FANTASY 8! I figure I should have the post up by late Tuesday...
Ending Point - Nearby the Deep Sea Research Station.
Current Party -
- Squall - Level 58
- Zell - Level 33
- Quistis - Level 32
Next Goals - Rescue Rinoa. Find Ellone. Stop Ultimecia and save the world!
~May the Crystals Guide Me~
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