======================================================== FINAL FANTASY VIII BOSS AND GUARDIAN FORCE BATTLE GUIDE v. 2.0 by Skysenshi http://www.coolay.com ======================================================== ============================ INTRODUCTION ============================ [v. 1.0 September 3, 1999] [v. 1.1 September 4, 1999, additions on Cerebrus] [v. 2.0 September 16, 1999] Before you go through the whole guide, here are some things I should warn you about: - I don't have all the bosses here but if you want I could put in some special requests. - The GFs that you WILL BATTLE here are complete, though. GFs that you just need to draw, save for Eden, aren't listed here. - I will include here non-bosses that are so powerful I almost peed in my pants (I was at very low levels then). Q: Why don't you have the stats of the bosses here? I don't have the stats of the bosses here because they're not the same for all games. Their stats depend on your characters' levels. If you want you can use scan, which I always do when I'm panicking. ============================ TABLE OF CONTENTS ============================ GFs to Battle (In chronological order): - Ifrit - Diablo - Brothers - Cerebrus - Doomtrain (bonus stuff) - Jumbo Cactuar - King Tonberry - Bahamut - Ultima Weapon (Draw GF Eden) Bosses and Other "Heavy" Monsters: - Dragons (Includes: Ruby Dragon, Blue Dragon, Behemoth, T-Rexaur and all dragon-looking monsters) ============================ GFs BATTLE GUIDE ============================ ***************************************************************************** # IFRIT ***************************************************************************** - This boss is quite a wuss. Either hit him with physical attacks (to boost your experience points) or cast Shiva on him. He'll join you pretty quickly. ***************************************************************************** # DIABLO ***************************************************************************** - Here is a tactic that I saw my brother use when he was almost "dying" out there: Cast Demi on Diablo. That's it. He'll cast Curaga on you if you do this tactic. - Here is another battle tactic if you already have the Carbuncle. Cast Carbuncle as soon as you can and Diablo's Demi will reflect back on him. Tip by Rowena Lim (http://animedomain.com/addict). - My tactic? Actually I dunno how the heck I defeated this creature. I just accessed the Cursed Lamp as soon as Cid gave it to me and I just defeated this one. The only problem was that the only one left alive in my party was Selphie. But the good thing about defeating Diablo earlier in the game is that he'll be able to level up along with your other GFs and won't be left out. ***************************************************************************** # BROTHERS ***************************************************************************** - Pretty funny duo here. But if you remember, at the entrance of the Tomb of the Unknown King, there are SeeDs who were screaming "Float! Float!" That's a clue to defeating the brothers. A technique here is to cast Float on both your party and their (the brothers) party (Thanks to my bro Pau for this tip). Next, you can cast Siren to both so they won't be able to either heal themselves or hit you. When they are floating, they can't do much earth-elemental damages, and when you're floating earth-elemental damages can't hurt you much. When they're silent, they can't cast any spell so either way, you win. ***************************************************************************** # CEREBRUS ***************************************************************************** - Three-headed freaky monster that can be found at Galbadian Garden on Disc 2. Totally obsessed with Aero and Thundaga. Of course since Aero and Thundaga are his specialty, you can draw Thundaga and Aero from Galbadian Soldiers and monsters hovering nearby before you battle this freak. Junction Thundaga and/or Aero to all your characters' elemental defense. If you have enough of these magic stuff, there is a high probability that your characters will absorb the Cerebrus' elemental attack. Don't attack him with Thundaga and Aero elementals, those have no effect on him. Attack him with everything you've got (except for those two) and you'll be fine, as long as your defenses are strong. - Here's another technique I just saw from my brother Pau's game: When Cerebrus casts Triple, have one of your characters immediately cast Dispel to nullify the Triple. Cerebrus will cast Triple and one of your characters will still cast Dispel. In the meantime, the two other characters will have to keep on attacking Cerebrus since he's too busy casting Triple on himself to attack. ***************************************************************************** # GETTING DOOMTRAIN ***************************************************************************** - As soon as you can exit Esthar City, don't head for the place where Prof. Odine promises to meet you. Open your map and look for Tear's Point (it's on the South area of Esthar Region) and head directly there. Get the Solomon Ring from there. (I got lost, which is how I got there ^_^) - Collect these items first: (6) Malboro Tentacles (6) Iron Pipes (1) Remedy Plus. When you have all these, select the Solomon Ring from your Items Inventory and voila! NOTE: Malboro Tentacles can be found in the Esthar region before the reign of Lunatic Pandora. Alternative locations are the forest islands North of Esthar Region and Island Closest to Hell (West of Map, horn-shaped Island). But The Malboro in Hell are really hellish, because they have very high levels. Remedy Plus can be obtained through upgrading remedies using Alexander's Med-Lev-Up skill. Doomtrain is probably the most useful GF I have ever used so far. It may not be much in terms of damage but it definitely makes your enemies (yeah, even bosses) so sick they won't be able to fight properly. Works like Hades of FFVII (this is how I figured out why suddenly the boss battles became easy). ***************************************************************************** # JUMBO CACTUAR ***************************************************************************** - This is the funny looking Cactus on one of the desert islands on the East side of Esthar. Remember the Ruby Weapon of FF7 that got a lot of people intrigued and we accidentally tapped it? Well, same thing happens here. - Very tedious battle. I didn't scan him but I had a feeling when I battled him he had around 120,000 - 200,000 HP. One very helpful GF to have when battling this is the Doomtrain. I didn't notice at first that it was the Doomtrain that made this GF go slow and I was quite disappointed that the damage was below 1,000. But then Jumbo Cactuar was so sick he couldn't even move fast, that's when I was able to defeat him. (He was already slow to begin with :P) After casting Doomtrain, cast all you most powerful GFs. If you have learned Recover (Leviathan), Treatment (Siren), and Revive (Alexander), don't put these GFs in one person. Separate them, then make the Alexander-holder have Draw, the Leviathan-holder have magic, and the Siren-holder have Item. It's very important that revive materials and magic be accessible to the Leviathan and Siren because Cactuar might kill your Reviver in one blow. Anyways, casting Doomtrain doubles your GFs attack damage because Doomtrain makes enemies so sick, they're vulnerable to attack. ***************************************************************************** # KING TONBERRY ***************************************************************************** - After you got Odin from the Centra Ruins you can now officially search for Tonberries. Battle around 20 or so (I battled 22) and one of them will morph into a giant Tonberry who seeks to avenge all defeated Tonberries (he's so cute! ^_^) - Tonberries can be dangerous (remember FF7 where not even a Ribbon or a Safety Bit can keep you from instantly dying?). I think the little ones are more dangerous than the King Tonberry. But even then I used Doomtrain on all and they didn't stand a chance against Ifrit, Shiva and Quezacotl. ***************************************************************************** # BAHAMUT ***************************************************************************** - There's an island at the South West region that isn't on the map (remember the Knights of Round location in FF7? That wasn't on the map either). I kinda wondered what it was for when I had my initial airship but I was only able to enter it when I already had the Ragnarok. It's the Deep Sea Research Lab. - Anyways, there's this rotating light machine. When the lights are off, walk towards it. If you try to walk towards it when the light is on, you'll encounter enemies. As soon as you get to the center of the machine, talk to it. It will ask you to turn away and challenge you but choose the first option. You'll fight a very strong Ruby Dragon (which I underestimated because I was used to killing Ruby Dragons near Edea's House). - Rowena Lim suggested that you can use GF Tonberry's Level Down ability if you want to make the battle with Ruby Dragon easier, but I would also suggest you don't for the sake of experience points. - It will ask you again to turn away, but you choose the second option and fight another Ruby Dragon. After defeating the second Ruby Dragon, it will ask you why you persist. Choose the blank option below the second option ("Because it's our nature.") And then you will fight Bahamut. - Bahamut is also susceptible to status attacks so it would be nice to have the GF Doomtrain and use it on him. Watch out, though because his attacks are extremely strong, but because of the Doomtrain, he will be extremely slow, so you will have a chance to heal or revive party members if ever. Just don't use Wind-based or Thunder-based attack on him. NOTE: This tactic is for those people who have very low levels or weak weapons when they enter the Deep Sea Research Lab. If you have your most powerful weapons, limit breaks can dish out very valuable attacks. ***************************************************************************** # ULTIMA WEAPON (DRAW GF EDEN) ***************************************************************************** - Ultima Weapon is pretty easy if you junctioned your strongest magic to the characters you chose to use. If you have auto-haste, then better use that. You might also want to convert some of your items to Haste magic and junction that to your speed. - My party was Rinoa, Zell, and Squall (my favorite team). I had Zell hold the GF Revive Ability and Draw, Rinoa had Item and Magic, Squall had GF Recover Ability and Magic. You will need Life or Full-Life magic (full-life is more convenient) and Phoenix Downs. Any party member will do as long as you have them all properly junctioned. - First, cast Doomtrain (if you have it) to slow down Ultima ('cause he's pretty fast!). Squall had the initiative ability on him, which helped in casting Doomtrain first. - You can also cast Cerberus and then use Shell and Protect magic for all your allies. But it's good to be Auto-Shelled and Auto- Protected before the battle, 'cause these GF abilities don't wear off. - Then have Zell (my Zell was Auto-Hasted), draw Eden from Ultima. Then you can pound away on Ultima Weapon with your physical attacks or with boosted GFs, whichever you prefer. I prefer using physical 'cause it's a speed contest you have here, although GFs will be good defense against that Ultima's Light Pillar that gives a 9999 damage to one party member. - Bahamut and Cactuar are great GFs to use against Ultima because Cactuar has a consistent damage rate and Bahamut is a very strong GF. But if your Cactuar is at low levels, other stronger GFs will do too. - One very cheesy way to defeat Ultima is to cast Aura on Squall and/or Irvine (if you chose him to be in your party) and bash away using your Limit Breaks. ^_- - When Ultima starts using the Light Pillar simultaneously, that means he's weakening. Quickly revive fallen members so you wouldn't have a dead man's party. ============================ BOSSES ETC. BATTLE GUIDE ============================ ***************************************************************************** # DRAGONS (Includes: Ruby Dragon, Blue Dragon, Behemoth, T-Rexaur and other dragon-looking monsters ***************************************************************************** - You think the Diablo is a useless GF? Well, here's the time when he is most useful. Dragons and other giants (except for a lot of GFs) are susceptible to Demi. Diablo can do a 9999 damage when cast on Dragons. - Want to make the battle a lot easier? Cast Doomtrain first then cast your most powerful GFs (Diablo included), except for those GFs that have no effect on a particular dragon. - NOTE to Remember: T-Rexaurs are vulnerable to Shiva, and Ruby Dragon absorbs Ifrit and Pandemona. Some Dragons absorb Doomtrain BUT they're still gonna be sick even if they do get additional HP (measly additional HP). Besides if you cast Doomtrain first, the additional HP is nullified because you haven't damaged the dragon yet. ============================ DISCLAIMER ============================ Under no circumstances can the content of this FAQ sheet be copied. If you want this on your page, please give this site proper credit. The Kraiders Otaku Fridge http://www.geocities.com/~kraiders FINAL FANTASY VIII is copyright 1999 by Square Soft Ltd. FINAL FANTASY and SQUARESOFT are registered trademarks of Square Co Ltd. and Dolby.