Carbon Ocelot's Final Fantasy 8 Walkthrough

Index

Intro
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4
SeeD Tests
Side Quests
Other GF
Cheats
Card Game
Card Mods
Weapons
Magazines
GF Abilities
Refine Abilities
Item List

Single Page Version

Intro:
The game opens in the infirmary of Balam Garden. Balam is the continent it's on, and all Garden's a named after their continent. The doctor comes in and asks you name your character. This walk through will assume you took the defaults, it's all easier that way. :) Then she goes to call your instructor. Here Squall sees a girl in blue and green. At this point, you don't know much about her, but she'll be important later on. She leaves, and in walks Quistis, who evidently is hanging out in the lobby, as she is there in a matter of seconds. You guys talk and walk and then get to the classroom. She talks and then Squall stands up.

1. Sit back down again right away.
2. You can login to your terminal by turning it on.
3. Select "Tutorial" from the terminal menu and you can obtain 2 GFs (Quezacotl and Shiva). These are the primary lightning and ice elemental GFs respectively.
4. Look at the garden festival thing to learn about "Wimbly Donner." I don't know why; I thought it was funny. :D
5. Quit the tutorial (or if this is your first time playing, go ahead and play it.)
6. Go talk to Quistis.

1. From the Junction menu, Junction both Quetz and Shiva to Squall. Set your Ability Junction to Draw, Item, and GF.
2. From the GF menu, set both Quetz and Shiva to learn Boost.
3. From the Config menu, change the cursor to Memory (trust me, you want this). If you know the battle system already, set the battle speed to fast, too.
4. Head to the training center (see the display if you need), and enter it via the LEFT door. If you go through the other one, you might find a T-Rexaur. If so, I recommend running at your current level.
5. When you encounter Grats, be sure to call Quetz and let him kill them all off. After you have killed off 5, both GF should have learned Boost. If you need to heal up, just head to your dormetory (remember the directory?) and 'talk' to your bed and select "rest up". You can also save just outside your bedroom.
6. Once Shiva learns boost, un-junction Shiva from Squall (that's right - you DON'T want Shiva to level up at all for now.)
7. From the GF menu, set Quetz to Learn Card. and run around fighting more Grats. Be sure to save in your dorm room and sleep if you need to heal up. Once Quetz learns the Card skill, we'll change tactics a bit. See, as YOU level up, so do your ENEMIES. You want your GF to learn these awesome skills, but you don't want to kill off too many enemies in the process. If you successfully CARD an enemy, your GF will get Ability Points, but you won't get the XP and level up. Squall was level 11 for me - only 4 levels up from where he started.
8. Set Quetz to learn Card Mod and Shiva to learn I Mag-RF (Refine Ice Magic).
9. You can now re-junction Shiva to Squall. The next time you encounter Grats, call Shiva, and use the BOOST function. (On Playstation, hold down Select and press Square a few times.) See the counter that starts at 75? That means your GF has their power reduced to 75%. If you keep pressing square, that number will climb - but you DON'T want that at this time. For now, you want to weaken them, then use the CARD command to turn them into Grat Cards.
10. At some point when there's only one Grat around, draw-cast sleep on him. While he's asleep, you can draw Sleep and Silence without getting walloped.
11. Feel free to grind these guys as long as you want. I ususally take a break once Quetz learns T Mag-RF, then go play cards and Card Mod various Cards into items that I use T Mag-RF and I Mag-RF to refine into high-level magics such as Blizzaga, Thundaga, and Tornado.

Optional (Replay): If you do the Grat Farming I talked about above, you should likely have a bunch of Grat cards, and likely even a few Shumi Tribe cards. By being careful and dedicated to your card playing, you can get some insanely good magic VERY early on. Unlike most mini-games in the Final Fantasy series, this one can have a mind-blowingly huge impact on every aspect of the game. Be sure to check out the Cards Section's "strategy" entry if you want to thoroughly unbalance the game in your favor! There's no spoilers there, so go ahead and read through it. I'll wait. ;) Interesting, wasn't it?

When you're ready, head down several screens from the Balam Directory to the front gate to meet with Quistis. On the way, you'll pass a screen with a fountain on either side. The little pink swirly thing on the left is a draw point. Feel free to draw there. Be sure you've junctioned a GF so you can actually draw. ;) You'll meet up with Quistis and you can let her give you a brief tutorial. Traditionally, you will junction Quezacotl to Squall and Shiva to Quistis at this time. Hopefully you have acquired magic either through the card game or through fighting enemies in the arena. Experiment with assigning magic to different slots - most magic has a specific junction where it's most effective.

Outside
Get Ready: If you didn't already level up your guys through the card game, you should probably do a tad of grinding here to ensure a) you get the best SeeD score possible on your exam, and b) you have sufficient magics to actually beat the next section of the game. If you did the card stuff, you can skip this bit. Otherwise, Junction Quezacotl to Squall and Shiva to Quistis. Set Shiva to learn 'Boost', and Quezacotl to learn 'Card.' When you have acquired enough AP (Ability Points) they will learn the skill. If you had Squall draw Sleep and Silence earlier, you can junction one of them to Quezacotl's "Magic Junction" and draw faster. Squall needs to be able to Draw, Magic and either Item or GF. Quistis needs to be able to Draw, GF and either Item or Magic. I recommend not giving Squall GF and not giving Quistis Item. YMMV. When you get 100 Cure for Quistis, be sure to "Spirit Junction" that one. Squall should keep Sleep Magic Junctioned.

If you DID level up and have the Card skill for Quezacotl already, I like to use this time to have Quistis hit them once, then have Squall card mod them while Quistis draws various magic from them. Eventually, Squall should turn one of them into a Jumbo Cactaur, which is an over-powered card this early in the game.

Upgraded Weapons: If you've played the card game a bit, you might have sufficient equipment to level up your weapons now. Balam (the town, not the Garden you just came from) has a weapon upgrade shop; just follow the road to get there. If you obtained the Chef's Knife, Star Fragment, 2x Turtle Shell, and 8x Screw, you can upgrade Squall from the standard Revolver weapon to the really nice Punishment. See the Weapons section for more information.

Of Magics: Head West toward the train's tunnel heading under the ocean. The entrance has an Esuana draw point. Have Squall draw by examining (talking to) it. Along the way, try to find a bite bug and a glacial eye and draw to both Quistis and Squall for all of the magic they have, but follow the advice below to try not to level up too much. Once you're full of Cure and Scan, Have Quistis attack and Squall attempt to "card" these Glacial Eye enemies. It's possible to get a Jumbo Cactaur card, which is a GREAT early game lower-left card (you know how malboro cards are 7-7-4-2? Well, this one is 7-7-4-4! You can find Glacial Eye's more rapidly along the mountain edge, and the Bite Bug can be found on the grassy area. You can draw Fire and Scan from a bite bug; Cure, Scan and Blizzard from a Glacial Eye. I typically don't bother drawing Fire of Blizzard, though, as you can get them from the Refine abilities pretty easily. If Squall drew Cure from the draw point in Balam Garden (or a glacial eye), you can have him use that to keep from having to use potions, though the Glacial Eye enemies also have cure. When you are walking through the forest, you'll likely run across a Caterchipiller. Occasionally these will card-mod into Trauma enemies. Once you get Ifrit's Ammo-RF skill (requires Ifrit reach level 10), you can turn each of these cards into 30 Demolition Ammo (there are other cards to give you this too, but this one also has card values of 4,5,6 and 8, so it's slightly more useful. Don't go out of your way looking for it, though.

Of GFs and Items: After boost, have Shiva work on her I Mag-RF skill. After Quezacotl gets Card and Card Mod, go for Boost and the Summon Mag +x% skills if you want to try to beat the spider thing at Dollet tower. More on that later. When your hit points are getting low, have Squall use the Cure that he drew from the Glacial Eye. Keep any eye on the number of cards you have. When you get close to 100 of any card, Card Mod them into their respecitive item. FYI, 5 Fastitocalion-Fs can Card Mod into a water crystal, which you can I Mag-RF into the Water magic. That's a decient one this early in the game. While we're on the subject, two of the crystals give you 100 Magic. You'll eventually have six characters you'll want to give decent magic to, but you can swap between them if you'd like.

Fish Fight: Next, go to the shore and beat up some Fastitocalion-Fs. You get 3 AP each for the Fastitocalon-Fs, and they come 2 in a group. You do the math. When Quezacotl gets the "Card" command, set Squall to use it. Now set Quezacotl to learn Card Mod. Now comes some kinda boring down time where you ensure you can do some cool stuff later. You want to get AP for your GFs so that they can learn neat stuff, but you don't really want your guys to level up. The reason is that as your guys level up, the monsters get harder. Here is where the Card command comes in handy. When you successfully card an enemy, you can get AP for your GFs, and no experience points get assigned. So, you will want to card a bunch of Fastitocalon-Fs.

Strategy 1: Have Quistis use Shiva on the Fastitocalon F's once. (Make sure she goes first. If you have Squall do anything to the Fish (including trying to card them), they might 'jump up' which is bad, as Shiva will then kill them, making this whole exercise for naught.) Shiva will start out doin around 154+ damage (if you don't defeat them too often, she won't kill them off), then they will pop up. Use card on them. If you don't succeed with card, you can have Quistis attack the enemies once or twice - but DON'T kill them. You are only doing this because the enemies are more suseptable to carding as they loose hit points. You can also use the opportunity to have Quistis draw sleep from them. Remember, you can use the exchange magic command in the magic menu to transfer magic she draws to Squall.

Stragegy 2: Did you get a bunch of stuff while playing the card game? Then you can also do this with just Squall. If you've got an upgraded weapon, junction Squall for Attack and just hit the fish once, then card them.

Be sure your aren't forgetting to select a new ability once your GF learns one. When you're ready to move on, head for the fire cave located on the farthest eastern corner of the island. Don't forget to have Squall and/or Quistis load back up on 'cure' from a Glacial Eye en route if they used them during the Fish battle. Also, be sure to card mod the bite bugs, OK? You can get an elvoret card from them, and I recommend beating up on them until you get one. Really! Alternately, if you are REALLY dedicated (or not completely bored by now) you can keep doing this, but use Quezacotl instead of Shiva. Using the GFs this way jack up the compatability with the different characters, and that's really usefull later on.

Achieving high-level SeeDs
There are some things you'll want to know about pretty early on in this process. You'll be trying to get your character to a high SeeD level, and your STARTING level is determined by a bunch of things. Basically, keep the following in mind:

• It's less important that you choose the lowest time possible in the fire cave than it is to just barely squeek by. (FWIW, I've never had a problem with choosing the 10 minute option.) If you can swing it, you want to defeat Ifrit with less than 7 seconds on the clock. This includes the time it take to choose his name, btw, so be aware of how much time is left on the clock when you defeat him, then wait about that long while on the the "Nameing Ifrit" screen.)
• Beginning when you change your clothes after the fire cave, DO NOT talk to ANYONE you don't have to.
• While in Dollet, be sure to defeat at least 75 enemies. No - carding them doesn't count. If you don't want your characters to level up too much, just give Seifer any GF you're willing to level up, max out his HP and Str, and then kill your own guys so they don't get XP from battles. Try to never run from a battle during the Dollet mission.
• When you get to the fountain in Dollet, don't try to leave the area - just be patient.
• Don't "jump off the cliff" during the dollet mission - go the long way.
• When fleeing Dollet, be sure to talk to the dog one time to save it.

Fire Cave:
This is actually pretty easy. Just tell the guys up front you are ready and select a time limit. I chose 10 min on characters that had only fought about 10 battles and still got through in this time limit. Here's the secret. Quickly kill or run from anything that is not Ifrit. When you get to Ifrit, just use magic attacks of blizzard for Squall and Shiva for Quistis on him until he dies. Note the amount of time left on the clock when Ifrit tells you that he'll join you. Once you get to the screen where you can choose his name, wait that long. Really. It will ensure you get the highest possible value for "Judement" later on when your SeeD rank is assigned.

So Congratulations; you have earned another GF. If you're trying to keep from leveling up your characters - and thus the enemies you face - try to card mod any enemy you run across here rather than defeating them. For Buel, have Quistis hit them once before Squall uses Card. For Red Bats, since I tend to keep Quistis at a low level, I just have her use the Blue Magic Bad Breath on them. To be fair, this means you have to play enough card games to get a Malboro Tentacle which she can use to learn the skill. Anyway, this causes Poison virtually every time, so I can card them as their HP drops. (Don't try attacking them; you can't do less damage than the 10 or so HP they seem to have.) For Bombs, try to do around 300 or so Damage to them, then card them. As long as you haven't leveled up Squall's weapon to far, that should be easy enough if you're not Junctioning to Str.

If you want to play the brute force way, now is an acceptable time to practice junctioning Elemental Attacks. Have Quistis junction Ifrit and junction Blizzard to attack. Go find a bomb. Don't worry about the other stuff. After she hits once (provided she doesn't kill them in one blow) have Squall Card them. You can end up with a good supply of Bomb cards when you leave the cave, and Ifrit's Fire Mag-RF can get decent magic from these. You can get some Krysta cards from bombs, and those are really helpful for winning card battles. When you are ready to head back to the Garden, be sure to head to the road (nothing will attack you there) and un-junction everything from Quistis. You'll want Shiva along for the ride later. If you transferred any magic to Quistis that you want Squall to have access to during his test, be sure to transfer it back.

On Cards: Note: Save before doing this! If you haven't already been playing the card game much, you have a chance here to get pretty good at the card game. You'll likely have lots of Fastitocalon-F and/or Bomb cards which you can burn learning the game. I usualy head to the town of Balam at this point (west of Balam Garden; check your map with the Select button). There are two major schools of thought on this one, and I've taken both sides in the past. Basically, one says you should get as many cards as you possibly can as quickly as you can. The other says you should plan your card acquisition more carefully. If you want to go the "slow and steady" path, don't go for the "all" rule below. Since you can easily LOOSE cards, I like to play the fast path. If you want to go the "get a bunch fast" route, then... Keep Card Talking to the Queen of Cards (from the town entrance, head down one screen and left one screen) until she offers to play a game with you for "all" cards. Go ahead and use 5 Fastitocalon cards. It doesn't matter if you lose - all that matters is the all rule spreads.

Next, head to Zell's house (from the queen, head right one screen and go in the lower hut on the way out of town) and play against his little brother (if he's there, he'll be in the far right room). You should be able to beat him and get some decent cards. I usually throw one bad card into the middle, and then play my best cards around that. You can return to Garden and play against other opponents. There's a LOT more information in the Card Section, so please be sure to check it out!

Back to Garden:
When you get back to garden, DON'T go immediately and get changed. This is the best time to do some major butt kicking in the training center or to do some real card work. Want to shoot for a hard game? Feel free to level up Squall at this point. Head to the training center for battles or the Cafeteria for Card games. The training center is one big loop with doors heading left and right from the entrance. Take the left door and wander around for a bit. When you encounter a big plant thing or three, Call Quezacotl. Have him kill them all off. This time, don't worry as much about leveling up. Try to card when you can, but you really do want Quezacotl to get to at least level 40 or 50 before leaving. This will not take as long as it sounds (if you don't card.) In Config options, set battle speed to highest and turn ATB to Active. I went from a level 12 Quez to level 35 in about an hour and 15 minutes. Be sure to keep Squall's HP above 250 or so. Getting wiped out by three grats or a T-Rexaur sucks. As an added side-bonuns, Quezacotl's compatability with Squall will go up. As you travel around the loop, you will encounter 3 screens. The left screen, the top screen and the right screen. The top screen contains a place where you can save your game, and there are no monsters on that screen. The right screen has T-Rexaurs that sometimes show up, along with a guy that sometimes shows up and will sell you stuff. Don't buy too much, you'll need your money for Curaga (the best cure medicine) later on. If you really want stuff, play the card game and win some Wedge, Biggs cards. You can Card Mod this into an X-Potion, which you can sell for serious coin.

Be sure to check out the Card Section if you want to rediculously over-power your character before taking on any hard enemies. :)

When you are ready to move on, head for the Dormitory. Go into your room and get changed, examine the bed a second time to rest. When you leave, you will automatically go to the directory area.

The Test (aka Dollet):
Read this whole section before starting. It will save you some grief. Oh, and be sure to read the instructions carefully to defeat the X-ATM092 a few times as well, since it's kinda tricky.

Balam: When you get to the directory, you will be assigned a group consisting of Zell and Seifer. I said this before, but once you have control, try not to every talk to anyone until this test is over. Eventually, you will be allowed to leave. You'll get into a car and have to drive to Balam town. This is easy. Just follow the road. When you get there, you'll follow your teammates over to a boat and get in. (If you don't care about your SeeD rank, you can actually leave the town at this point. However, it doesn't appear you can win the Zell card from his mother at this time, so there's really no point.) Listen to the directions from Xu (pronounced 'zoo'), then go up top when Seifer tells you too.

Prep and Start: Cool CG sceens follow, and you end up on the beach. If you are trying to keep your levels as low as possible, feel free to junction all GF to Seifer and just kill your guys off as soon as possible. (Seifer can attack them.) This will ensure they don't level up, but Seifer is free to kill off the 75 enemies required to get a good "Attack" score for your exam. If you're just trying to enjoy the story, the first thing you should do is hit the menu button and junction GFs to people. Give Shiva to Seifer and Ifrit to Zell. Quezacotl stays with Squall. Always. Well, unless he's Laguna, but don't worry about that just yet. ;) If you use the Magic menu option, you can transfer all magic from Quistis to Zell (or Seifer, if you're planning to KO Zell), which is helpful! Follow Seifer's request to "Scout the area for enemies." Just go up past the fountian and take the upper right road. You'll get "ambushed" by more bad guys. At this point you should have taken out 6 mandatory enemies. Only 69 to go for a perfect score.

After that, go talk to Seifer once, then just walk around until you see guys heading up to some strange building on the hill. You'll follow them and beat up bad guys. If you're going for a perfect SeeD score, just walk back and forth across the bridge until you've killed your required 75 enemies. Be sure to give Seifer enough HP that you don't get killed off. Since I generally avoid leveling up my main characters, I find this is a fine time to let Seifer level up Quetz and Ifrit (but not Shiva - I like to reserve her at level 1 for Grat stomping back in Garden when I want to quickly AP-up a GF to learn some skill or other.)

Anyway... Once you're ready to move on across the bridge, be sure not to talk to the wounded guys you meet there. Oh, and it doesn't matter if Seifer gets the final killing blow or not. You'll go up one path where the wounded soldiers are, and then you'll go up another screen. On that second screen is where you should unjunction any GF from Seifer; transfer Quetz to Squall and Ifrit to Zell. If you gave Seifer magic, you can transfer it to other characters, or just leave it and it'll go to Selphie eventually. Use a Phoenix Down on any KO'd characters and then heal them up.

When you get to the top, Selphie will find you. Following her off the cliff probably won't cost you SeeD rank later, but it's easier to just walk around; head over toward the building. Selphie will join your party and demand you help her find Seifer. She will get any of the Magic that Seifer still had equipped, but NOT the GF. If you've been playing the card game and you have stuff you can refine magic from, this is the PERFECT time to do so. Make sure you junction Shiva to Selphie. Finally, make sure all three characters have junctioned the GF and Draw abilities. For the upcoming battle, I like to give Squall and Selphie Magic and Zell Item as the final ability. Head into the building and save at the save point on the right. If you care to draw it, the draw point on the left is a Blind.

Siren and Esuana: Head up the elevator thing and watch another really cool CG. Come to think of it, I restored and watched this CG quite a few times. It's just too much. When the cut scene is over, you'll get into a fight with Biggs (the guy in Red). My strategy is to have every focus on drawing Esuna from Biggs until one (probaby Squall, who has Quetz and the Mag-J ability with Tornado or something else awesome junctioned so he draws 9 Esuna every time) is full. Then I have that character focus on beating up Wedge while the other two keep trying to Draw Esuna. Once Wedge is down, focus on attacking Biggs. You can always have Squall draw-cast Cure from Biggs to heal up Selphie as her HP drops. I don't bother ensuring everyone has 100 Esuna, fwiw. Random Side Note: Enjoy the company of these two bozos; you'll be seeing a bit of them throughout the game.

After you 'defeat' them, they'll get blown off the tower by Elvoret. DRAW SIREN BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE! Once you've secured this GF, I'd say have people try to draw Double. That's a useful Magic to have in the next big battle. I usually do the same strategy as Esuna above - have everyone draw Double, and use Squall to heal up Selphi when she gets low on HP. Once Squall has 100 Double, I just wail on him. If any of your characters are taking too much damage from every attack, you can have them use their GF instead of drawing or attacking. Pause as soon as you defeat him so you can read the next section.

You'll get weapon's monthly (March) and other cool stuff. Then you are informed you have to run back down to the beach in 30 minutes. This is where any prep work you've done before will come in handy, as the amount of time LEFT on your timer directly impacts the SeeD level you attain (aka: your grade on this test). However, you can get a massive bonus if you manage to defeat the X-ATM092. Head down the elevator when you get the chance and JUNCTION ALL GFs TO SQUALL, SET THEM TO LEARN A SKILL. If you don't have Siren, restore from your last save and do it again so you get her. Also, make sure he's got Magic and GF skills set. No characters will get experience here anyway, so you don't really care if the others get KO'd. Once that's finished, SAVE YOUR GAME unless you don't have Siren; go back and get her. (BTW: I did all this once and accidentally forgot to draw Siren; UG!) I would suggest the following:

1. If you have Elem-Atk-J, junction Thundaga to Squall's Elemental Attack.
2. Maximize Squall's Magic
3. ... then Strength
4. ... then HP
5. ... then Vitality
6. ... then Spirit.

X-ATM092 and serious GF level-up: Like I said, Junction all GFs to Squall. This part is kinda tricky, so it's good to read the secion in advance. When you leave the tower, you'll face an X-ATM092, which should have around 6000 hit points. It's a pain, but VERY vulnerable to lightning. You have to fight it at least once on the way back to the beach. You can either choose to avoid it otherwise, or to fight and escape for lots of AP. Avoiding will give you a high SeeD level, but fighting will give your GF MASSIVE amounts of AP without leveling your characters up - which is pretty tedious to do otherwise. If you're trying to avoid him, the important things are:

• When it first starts following you, press down and run to the next screen.
• On that screen (where Selphie jumpped off the cliff), press left and run as soon as the screen loads.
• On the following screen, hold your 'walk' button (PS: Triangle) so you don't stumble - which would cause an encounter.
• On the next screen, hold down and run all the way down the stairs.
• When you're running across the bridge, it will jump over you. Keep running right for a few seconds after it jumps you, then run left. You'll see it jump over you again, but it's mostly off the top of the screen. As soon as that happens, run right as quick as you can, and you'll avoid it.
• On the fountain screen be sure to 'talk' to the dog so he runs away.
• On the remaining screens, continue running down toward the beach until the cut scene begins.

To begin, have Squall cast Scan on it. Find out how many hit point this thing has. This is your toggle number. If Quezacotl can do more then this number on the first hit, he is dead in one shot, if it takes more then one hit, he'll be dead in two. If you have Squall junctioned with Thundaga on elemental attack and tornado on strength, and can use Renzokuken, you're home free. Have him do that and the enemy WON'T show "Reparing." Next, have Squall do a normal attack to wound it so it repairs. Run away while that's happening. Otherwise, you can have Squall call Quezacotl. DON'T WASTE your 30 minutes with other characters attacking or especially calling other GFs.

Only try to run away when you've done enough damage to kill him, (he won't actually die), and then you do LESS so it's forced to repair. You can rack up the AP here - it's 50 points for each time you do this. You can get into fights with him and earn 50 AP multiple times. Note that you can fight him more than once in several of these places, but you can only enter the Menu screen when you first appear on the stairs screens. It's weird. BTW: The game may not tell you your GF learned anything. You'll have to go into the menu and check each time. Don't waste these points by having your GFs learn 10 or 30 point skills. (Exception: you need the Refine-Life magic skill for Siren.) Following this pattern, I netted 500 AP/GF in under 30 minutes. As far as I know, this is the only place in the game you can do this so quickly unless your characters are VERY fast. If you have REALLY fast (We're talking Speed=200 or more) you can do way better on Cactuar Island. I was able when I got to the bottom to junction 10 new skills among my characters.

When you run past the dog by the fountain, be sure to "talk" to him so he can run away if you haven't already killed the X-ATM092. NOTE: Be sure to have between 8:00 and 10:00 left when you pass the fountain. It's crucial in case you get stuck on the 'can't escape' screen. This leads me to another note. I don't know if this is a bug or a feature that you can exit when Zell or Selphie is talking about how "it repairs itself." It works for me, but it might not for you. Let me know if you can master this skill. Once you beat the machine by Squad C's postion (under the walkway) get the heck out of there. Watch the cool CG as Quistis mops the floor with the nasty robot.

Back to the Party:
After defeating the enemy at Dollet, you go back to Balam city where your good buddy Seifer steals your car. If you're going for a perfect SeeD rank, skip this section below and go straight back to Balam Garden. Don't forget - you don't want to talk to anyone or escape from battles along the way! If you don't care about your SeeD rank, you can do some things here. On the other hand, all of this can be done when you come back to Balam in a few minutes, so it's probably not worth it to drop your SeeD level just for this. but if you want... If you had Siren learn 'Refine Life Magic.' Head to the store and Refine/Sell/Buy Tents until you have 30 tents in your inventory. Next, have Siren 'Refine Life' from them so that all 3 of your guys have 100 Curaga. This is the best 'Cure' medicine, and if you junction it to Squall's HP-Junct you can get around 100 HP for every level he is (So a level 30 will have around 3000+ HP, but Tornado is probably your best junction now - if you've been playing the card game, that is). This is especially important in that when you have 1/4 your Max HP, Squall can call Renzokuken.

Speaking of GFs, now is a great time to RE-JUNCTION them. NOTE: You cannot get Zell's new Fight Magazine here yet. For the FT's (first timers): if you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry. You'll see soon. Read the Weapon's Monthly. If you've been playing the card game, there's a good bet you have a bunch of cactus thorns in your inventory. If so, you should be able to use Ifrit's Ammo Refine to get 80 Demolition Ammo for only 2 thorns.

If you've been playing the card game and using Quetz's Card Mod skill, other great refine and Junction magics at this time include Zombie Powder -> Zombie, Regen Ring->Full Life, Mesmerize Blade->Regen, Life Ring->Life, Saw Blade / Chef's Knife->Death (L Mag-RF) and Sleep Powder->Regen (Tool-RF). When you are done with refining, be sure to experiment with Junctions for best effect. I like Tornado for HP, Regen for Vit, Death for Magic, and Curaga for Spirit. Now head back to Balam Garden. If you wanna beat things up or explore the island, now is the time to do it. Want some more Esuana? Follow the train tracks behind the town into the cave and press the 'talk' (not 'card') button. You should find it.

When you get back to Balam Garden go watch the higher-ups gloat around the directory and then head right and try to walk past Seifer. After the evil faculty member interrupts headmaster Cid, head back to the elevator and go to the 2nd floor hallway just outside the classroom. Just hang out and don't talk to people. After what seems like more then a normal amount of time, you'll be invited to talk to the headmaster. After you get your evaluation, be sure to talk to Headmaster Cid in order to get your battle meter. You'll be returned to the hallway. Talk to the people there if you want, then go toward the classroom where you got Shiva and Quezacotl.

When you next have control of Squall, I recommend getting your SeeD level up. I took the tests and got him up to SeeD level A. After this, Selphie will hang out while you change clothes (I know, it's a little weird) then you'll go to the dance. I know, you have the option not to change, but you can't leave. It's weird. Sign up for her little gig if you want (and haven't already), then dance with Rinoa. (Where did the drink go? Shutup! Oh. Sorry.) More cool CG here. Squall's a pretty fast learner, isn't he? Heh.)

In the Secret, in the Quiet Place:
Then Quistis will give you your 'final assignment' from her. Go back to your room and change clothes. Before you go running off, take this time to SeeD Level-Up. Using the tutorial to access the TEST function and level your SeeD Level all the way up to whatever Squall's actual level is, then meet her in the hallway in front of the 'secret area' or training area. Be sure to switch the junction from Selphi back to Quistis here, then head for the 'secret area.' It's actually not any big secret. Remember the center screen in the training area? It's just to the left of the save point there.

Go ahead and save your game here (but not over your last save if you want to watch the Rinoa dance scene CG again) then head out along the plank there. Through this whole scene, you'll be staring at Garden. Any ideas what the geometry of this place is? ;) While we're on the subject, look at Quistis' hair in this scene. How DOES she do that little flippy thing in the back? Boy, talk about defying physics. When Quistis is done yacking, go back over the plank and save your game again. Contemplate the answer to the question: Why does this game make you want to SLAP the main character?! Go ahead and wander around fighting things if you want, but don't head anywhere near the exit doors until you are ready to leave for the night.

When you do, you'll hear someone yelling for help. Then you see that girl in blue and green who refers in this scene to Quistis as "Quisty???" If you've played the game before, you may know what is going on, otherwise, I won't spoil the big surprise for you. (Wait, isn't this a walkthrough???) So you have to beat up a Granaldo and some Raldos. Where do they get these names, anyway? Depending on what levels your characters are at, you can get different spells from him. It's not worth it to waste too much time leveling up your characters before hand, though. If you want, you can fill up Squall and Quistis with Blind, Protect and Shell here, then just kill them and be done with it. One shot with Quezacotl did the trick for me.

After you have killed them, note how well you are treated for saving someone's life! Now THAT's gratitude for ya! If you really want to do more fighting, go back in and beat things up. Otherwise, leave the training center and go to bed. You can't get anywhere else (in fact in my game even the directory stops working here) so just go to bed. Zell will tell you you have your own room. Right as you walk in, you will go to sleep. You are awakened by Selphie pounding on your door. She won't come in; she just yells through the door. Wasn't she practically in the room before when you were changing? What is the problem with this picture?

My First Job:
As soon as Squall wakes up, look on the desk. Here is where you get your copy of Weapons Monthly, April Issue. Now, why not play the card game to get some cool stuff. Remeber those bombs, anacondors, etc you got a while back? Use them. The reason you want to get new cards is so that you can get the stuff you need to get the next best weapons for your guys. Here are the items you need (as listed in Weapons Monthly April Issue): Squall - 4 screws, 1 steel pipe. Zell - 1 Dragon Fin, 1 Spider Web. The other two weapons are Rinoa and Irvine's intial weapons respectively. Go find a guy in the Cafeteria who plays with Elastoid cards. Use Card Mod to get a steal pipe. Then, if you have screws from the Geezards at Dollet, you can get Squall his next coolest gun. For Zell, you need to acquire a Catcharpillar and a Grendal.

Now that you have the stuff you need to get cool weapons, go to the front gate. Just FYI, I was still unable to begin the Balam Card Club side quest at this point in the game. You will get your mission from Headmaster Cid. WHEN HE IS DONE TALK TO HIM. That's how you get the Magic Lamp that allows you to call Diablo. Now you can leave, but don't forget do a junction switch between Quistis and Selphi. I was able to defeat Diablo as soon as I got out of Balam, but I don't know that I would recommend novices try it.

If you want to try and defeat him, your best bet is to junction for high HP and high magic, then draw-cast Demi on him until it's only doing less than 100 HP each time. As far as I can tell, this spell actually does UP TO A MAXIMUM OF 1/4 of the enemies CURRENT HP. (In other words, multiply whatever number comes up by 3 to see what the enemies' MINIMUM HP currently are; it seems this only does about 1/8th of max damage to Diablos - maybe he's got 50% immunity.) In any event, have Squall Draw and cast Demi on him, and have Zell beat him up. Selphie should just wait around until the Gravitija attack, or until her HP get low. Keep having her re-roll her random spells until she gets "Full-Cure 1 time(s)." That will cure everyone and keep you from getting killed off. For my battle, Squall and Zell had HP over 2000, Ifrit and Quezacotl had the HP Junction ability, and I had 100 Curaga spells. Once you have Diablos, be sure to junction him to someone and set him to learn Time Mag-RF and the ST Mag-RF.

Once you have learned Diablos' refine abilities, you can mod various cards to get items that Time Mag-RF can turn into Haste, Double, Quake, Demi and other great spells. ST Mag-RF can net you Berserk, confuse, bio, pain (really cool!), meltdown, and break. I cannot overemphasise the importance of mastering the card game at this time. If you haven't already, head to to the cards section and check out the strategy area. When I went into the next area, the HP stats on my guys were: Squall at 5716 (LV 17 w/ Full-life junction), Zell at 3585 (LV 9 w/ Tornado Junction), and Selphie at 3482 (LV 8 w/ Tornado Junction).

If you are playing the card game, you can win a very powerful card at this time. If you leave Balam Garden, then head back in and go to the elevator, you can ride it to the 3rd floor and card-battle Cid. He plays with the Seifer card, and winning that NOW will be 100 times easier than winning it later. If you are going to participate in the Queen of Cards side quest, be sure you have won the Mini Mog card from the kid running laps around the middle of Balam Garden, then save, then loose that card to the Queen of Cards in Balam City. Talk to her after - she'll either head to Dollet, or Deling City. Reload your save if she didn't go to Dollet and try again. NOTE: You'll need to do this before you get on the train. It's not, strictly speaking necessary to start at this time, but it will make this side quest a bit easier. I usually save before I loose a card, then talk to her after loosing it. She will then tell me where she's going. If it's not a place I like, I reload and try again. This is also a great time to try and win the Zell card from Zell's mom. She's in the second house down on the right after you enter the town. Be aware that she *very* rarely uses this card, so you're probably going to have to play a *lot* of games to win this card early on. Be sure to refer to the Card Game Section for more information.

When you are sure you are ready to leave this area (you won't be able to return to Balam Garden for a while so this really is your best oportunity to master the card game and level your guys up!) go on to Balam. When you get there, hit up the Junk Shop and get some good weapons. When you're ready, head all the way left to the train station, buy a ticket for 3,000 Gil and head inside the station to take the train from Balam station to Timber.

NOTE: Make sure you have all your junctions taken care of here or at the save point on the train! You can't get Zell's magazine yet. Finally, walk into the train hallway and watch the Telephone poles scream by... While you travel under water. Hmmm. Anyway, talk to Selphi and then go into the cabin. You should recieve Pet Pals Vol 1 from Zell during this scene. If you believe in a higher being, pray that your machine doesn't crash while the annoying We-Are-Going-Into-The-Past sound effect is playing. THAT'S IRRITATING!!!

Who are we now?:
Now, you'll fall asleep and wake up as some guy named Laguna and some of his friends. Ward will get everything Selphi has junctioned and Kiros will get whatever Zell has junctioned. At least, that's how it's worked for me. YMMV, I guess. Since this area only seems to have Fungar and Geezard enemies, I usually set Enc-None for the forest. If you don't have that take care of your junctions, then go forward and follow the path until you find a car. There's a Cure draw point and a Water draw point along the way. You shouldn't need the "move-find" ability to see these. If you run across a Fungar enemy, you can card mod them - there's a possiblity they'll become a Wedge, Biggs card. Anyway, climb in the car and head to Deling City. The city is a bit of a maze, but there are only two places really worth visiting at this time. You should exit the car on a screen with a fountain.

OPTIONAL: If you want to draw all three characters up to 100 Life magic, you have a chance here. If you go up one screen from the fountain, you can see the arch over the road. Go up one more screen and you'll see a doorway on the right in the arch. You can go in there and go down the ladder in the building you find yourself in. There's a save point down there, and you can fight sewer monsters. If you happen across a "creeps" you can draw life from it. If you didn't already acquire Life magic from Card Modding Torma cards, this is a good place to get it. Besides, if the Crepes kills your characters off, well, you know you can use that spell on them, right? Your ability to Draw is correlated with your Magic attribute, so be sure to distribute the GF with the Mag-J ability to each of your characters. I tend to give Quezacotl to Squall, Siren to Selphie, and Diablos to Zell. You can junction Death or Tornado to Magic in order to increase how many magic you'll recieve with each draw. Laguna had no trouble drawing, but Ward an Kiros did. I had to fight a few of these guys and exchange Life from Laguna to the other guys to fill everyone up. Once in the sewers, cross the bridge and head down. See that magazine? You can't get it now, but you'll want it later. When you're finished drawing up Life, head back up the ladder, exit the building, and head back down two screens to the fountain.

To get to the next area, head Right, then Forward. Then go into the hotel and head down the stairs to the right. Talk to the lady and sit down, then after you stand go talk to Julia and sit back down again. After she invites you up to her room and leaves, follow her up. Talk to the Receptionist, then talk to her over and over, listen to Laguna be a dork and then wake up on the train.

Long and Boring Train Ride:
When the train stops, talk to the guy in the blue cap and vest. Tell him "but the owls are still around." Follow him to the train. Once on board, you can win the Angelo Card from Watts. Go wake up 'the princess.' Now go back to everyone else. After a long drawn out discussion of what you have to do, return to "the princess's" cabin for Pet Pals Vol II. Read both Pet Pals (yes, you actually have to read them to be able to set the skill), and then view Rinoa's Status Screen where you can set Angelo to learn whatever you want.

Then go talk to Watts; if you want, save the game before talking to him - so that you don't have to listen to the stupid schpeel again. Remember, stop for blue guards, run for red guards; you have 5 seconds to do the codes. I've never failed at this; it's pretty easy. If you do fail at it, let me know what happens, OK? Heh heh.

A quick word of caution. If you have reset the keys or buttons, you'll have to figure out which ones are which. The pattern on the screen didn't match my system (I remapped the controler I was using to resemble an actual PS controler.) Once you finish the train scene be sure to save your game before Rinoa begins her "serious negotiations" because, let's be honest, do you want to do that stupid train thing again? You have another opportunity to win the Angelo card from Watts (the guy by the door) here, so if you're playing the card game, take advantage of the opportunity.

BTW: The system may unjunction one or more of your charcters. Be sure to check over them thoroughly. I like to make sure that Bio is not junctioned as to Elem-Atk, as this enemy is immune. Do make sure everyone can draw, through, if you need Esuna or Double. When you are ready, talk to Rinoa. She'll lead the way to almost certain peril. This is a two part battle. The first part is fairly easy, but the second one will cast a lot of nasty status ailments at your guys.

If you can keep your guys alive (and cohererent), you can draw Esuana, Double, Berserk, and Zombie. Invariably one character will finish drawing before the others. When that happens, I like to have that character just hang out while the others draw. That way if someone is hit with Berserk/Silence, they can still draw-cast esuana. When you've drawn all you want, draw cast double on someon with high magic, and have then double cast cura for insta-kill. After the battle, you'll come back to the 'strategy meeting." Go over and talk to Selphie and Zell then go talk to Rinoa. You will get to see the contract between these guys and Garden. When that's over, talk to Watts again and then go assualt the TV station.

Assault the TV Station:
Once you leave the train, you can go to the pet store (one screen up from the train drop off) and buy pet pals vol 3 and 4 if you want. I'd recommend buying at least 5-10 Amnesia greens too. With those, you can force a GF to forget an ability. Like Quezacotl knows Elemental Defx1 and Elemental Defx2. You only need him to know Defx2, so if you make him forget the other, you can add cool abilities later (like ribbon, etc.) NOTE: DON'T HAVE THE GF FORGET ELM DEFx1 IF YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW ELM DEFx2! You won't be able to get Elm Defx2 later if you do.

Now head over to timber maniacs (one screen right from the train drop off) and get the magazine Girl Next Door (the closest stack directly in front of you. You'll need it later if you want to get the Shiva Card. It should be in one of the stacks in the lobby. For more fun, read all the back issues of Timber Maniacs you can find. By the way, if you are wondering about these magazines, read all of them that you come across. They'll show up when Selphie updates the bulletin board back at Garden. It's a random side plot, but worth the effort (at least in my opinion) as they help you understand WHAT THE HECK is going on with this whole Laguna thing.

Anyway, head over to the bar (from timber maniacs, go right one screen and up one screen) and beat up the guys who just harassed the drunk (they'll attack you). Give him his card back and he'll let you through the alley. (Or you can buy him his favorite beer to accomplish the same thing. For this game it was Mimette, but it may change. You should be able to guess it in a few tries if you talk to everyone in the bar.) Now head out the door the drunk was blocking and save your game. If you are playing a lot of card game, you can get page 3 (Forbidden, Armadodo, Tri-Face, Snow Lion, Abyss Worm) stuff from him - good for Card Mod'ing into Tornado, Pain, Zombie, Death, etc (via Diablos' ST Mag-RF capability).

Follow the alley up to the big TV and try to read it. I found "I'll never let you forget about me," "Bring me back there," I am alive here," and "Remember me." Anyone else read anything worth seeing? BTW: If you junctioned to Rinoa earlier, you can switch your junction back to Selphie or Zell at this time if it makes you feel better. I never ran into any fights here, though. Now head up the stairs and forward. When you have control of your guys after the Seifer incident, follow him left and watch the cut scene.

Go through the whole Seifer thing then get back to the bar. You'll get an offer to be put up by some lady. Follow the lady to her house, then talk to everyone when you are in the bedroom. You may have to talk to Quistis twice. When you can come down stairs, try to leave the house. Quistis will tell you where you can go. Next go outside and talk to the 'guard' out there. If you go down two screens, then right, you can get to the shopping/inn area. There's a girl at the Inn who plays with Page 4 cards (you can get major Thundaga by card mod'ing Dynamo Stons from a Blitz.

Now head right toward the train station. Talk to the 'old man' out there. Now you should have everything you need to leave town. Head right one screen and up the stairs, then across the bridge and down one screen. Keep talking to everyone in the main car. The system ask you if you want to "let Zell be," accept that and you'll ride to East Academy Station (Get off there). If you are trying not to get your character levels up to high, be sure to equip "Enc-None" here. It's possible your SeeD rank will go down by one after 5 attempts to pay you while you haven't been getting into battles, but your SeeD salary isn't going to be your main source of income in this game, so... Meh? Also - just FYI: There's nothing to prevent you from returning to Timber and staying at the hotel there so you can get the Timber Maniacs.

[Dollet Side note: If you want to, you can head to Dollet here, too. It's in the upper right corner of this continent. When you get there, take the left-most route down. Go two more screens down and follow the young boy into the house. Look at the painting, then head to the beach and listen to the old man and the young girl. The girl will tell you that the bone points out the location of a dogs hiding spot. Now, head back up to the fountain screen and talk to the dog. You'll get a treat. You can go back and look at another painting, then find the dog one screen up from the painter's house for another treat. Repeat one more time for one last treat. If you go to the inn and stay for the night, you'll be able to read an issue of timber maniacs upstairs. If you go to the restaraunt, you can find another issue upstairs on the poker table. You can remove the random rule here if you're patient - see the cards section for more info. If you beat the guy there at cards, you can get escorted to his back room. This is important for the "Queen of Cards" quest later on. I don't recommend plaing cards in Dollet without abolishing the Random Rule first. If you are good enough, you can win the Siren card from him here.]

[Obel Lake Side Note: You can start the misc side quest for Obel Lake here. See the Side Quests section for more information on this one.]

If you don't do the Dollet, etc stuff now (or after you're done with it), head over the little bridge when you get off the train at East Academy Station. If you run into a Thrustaevis, you can draw float. You should see a small woods to the West. This time things will be different; switch your junctions to Squall, Selphie before heading into the woods. (Into The Woods!) Remember to junction Squall, Selphi and Quistis (you're not junctioning Zell this time, and not Rinoa either.) Yes - you're gonna do another Laguna switch here, so ya better play this right.

I'm Laguna Again:
OK, this time while you're playing as Laguna and company, there are a lot of things you can do. First off, be sure to check your junctions - just in case! If you are trying to keep your characters' levels low, you have two options here. First, you can kill off Laguna and Ward early on, and have Kiros enable ENC-None. There will be a few battles you do have to participate in, but you can avoid most random battles. Second, if you have played enough of the card game to have won some Cockatrice cards you can ST Mag-RF into Break. This magic causes petrify, which means you don't get XP for killing the enemy and can thus keep your level low.

When you are ready to go, head forward along the path toward the top of the screen. There is a sleep draw point at the entrance to the facility which will recharge over time. If you follow these directions, you'll be able to draw three times. I got 21 sleeps for nothing. :) On the other hand, if you've been following along the card game stuff, you prolly don't need all those sleeps in the first place. Anyway, head down the road and fight some enemies. When Laguna tells you to run, head straight (don't take the right-hand fork) and you'll come to a big circular platform thing; there's a ladder here. Head down the ladder. There is a confuse draw point on the right hand branch en route to the ladder. At the bottom of the ladder, look around for a key (Hmm... What's this?). Pick it up. Received [Old Key!]... Aaaaand watch Laguna lose it.

Head down to the next screen. You'll walk across three trap doors. When you walk over the middle trap door it will go "click." Play with it and watch some dialogue. FYI: Much later on in the game you'll want to have these doors open. So let's see if we can figure out how to open as many as we can, OK? Continue right one screen and watch the guy fall into the trap.

Since you can't go left, head right to the T-Junction, then wander around next to the broken metal. You should find a second key. (Hmm? What's this...) Received [Old Key!]... And once again we see how well organized Laguna is. Head Right one more screen, then down one screen, up the ladder and back to where you found the sleep draw point. Now head back down (by going straight ahead, like you did earlier) and tamper with the far left trap door. When you get the insults, head back the way you came (I mean ALL the way back up the ladder, around the fork, down the other ladder, and back to the screen with the three trap doors - but this time you're coming in from the right side), and loosen the leaver on the far right trap door. Now, head right two screens and take the upward branch. On the next screen, head up and left to find the detonators. Press the red button first (for the furthest away boulder; left door opens) then the blue button (for the one closest; right door opens.) Don't mix up the order! All three doors should be open now - this will be very useful later on!

[OPTIONAL GRIND SECTION] You can get out of this area by heading either direction from the detonator, but if you go one screen up you can find Elastoid enemies while running along the metal stairs and bridge. You can draw Dispel from them, and you can card them, then mod those into Steel pipes. But more impressively, you can occasionally card them into an Ultima Weapon card, which you can card mod into an Ultima Stone. Once you have Bahamut's Forbid Mag-RF skill, these can become Ultima magic (which no enemies have available to you for drawing.) Also, you can mug Dynamo Stones from them. It takes about 700-800 pts of damamge before they're easy to card.

Emulator Note: If you're playing on an emulator which allows you to save state, the random number seed that determins if a card is "special" or not is re-rolled at the start of character's turn. This means - if you are using an emulator to play the game - you can simply get an enemy to the point where it's cardable, then:

1. Save State
2. Try to card.
3. If you get the common card, reload state and have all three characters skip their turn (the 'O' button on the Playstation controller.)
4. Go back to the beginning (save/try/load) until you get the Ultima Weapon Card!

Back to Reality Again:
When you return to your normal form be sure to return your GF in the proper characters, use a tent or healing magic if you need it, then head for Galbadia Garden. From where you emerge from the forest, it's forward and left (that's north). Once inside, head foward a few screens. *It's completely different.* (i.e., the In/Out arrows are the opposite of Balam Gardan. XD) When Quistis leaves, reform your party, then head through the turnsty. If you need haste, you can draw it from the light shaft in the center ofthe lobby.

Save your game if you'd like, then go directly right down a hallway. In that hallway take the left-hand door and go through. It should be an ice skating rink. Now go around it counter-clockwise until there is a door in front of you. Go through it and look for the Draw Point. That's the first place you can draw Life (unless you drew from the crepes in the sewers when you first became Laguna, that is). If you are patient, you can draw one or more of your guys up to 100 life, but if you are impatient, don't bother. You'll have another opportunity to fight an enemy you can draw it from soon enough.

Exit the ice skating rink, and head through the door on the right. The girl in the back of this three person party plays with all the page 6 cards. Remember L Mag-RF lets you refine Holy From Krysta's Holy Stones. Exit and go back to the room with the light shaft. Then go down the next hallway (counter-clockwise) and up the stairs to your right. Right in front of where the stairwell comes out on level two is a door. Unless you want to draw some double, go through it. [Optional]:If you want the double, head right and go around the upper walkway, continuing right. You'll go through a door, and at the bottom of a podium is a double draw point. Get it, and go back to the door at the top of the stairs.

Talk to Zell, then talk to everyone else. Keep talking to everyone until Squall leaves. Depending on how you've played, you may have to go back into that room. If you do, go get more haste (I mean, unless you can just use Diablos TimeMag-RF to refine it from an easy to acquire Magic Stone.) Come back to the room and talk to Quistis again. She'll tell you to meet everyone out front. Get more haste. On the way you'll bump into Raijin and Fujin. If you take the other hallway, you can get shell out by the athletic courts. When you are bored, leave. Talk to Quistis then head down a screen. Technically, I guess you can leave the screen here and level up as just Squall. I'm not sure why you'd want to, so just talk to Rinoa. When you've all been given orders, talk to Rinoa again.

The Plan Phase One:
OK. Find the train station by Garden and buy a ticket for Deling City. If you try to go to Deling City without the train, please note the large Galbadia APC in your way. Now get on the train, and depending on who's in your party, either try to exit the train or go and rescue Selphi from the clutches of Irvine. Well, you can't do that, but anyway... After going to check on him, and returning, and listening to him go on about what a horrible life he has, note that the train appears to hit something. This is why you have to ride the train. :)

When my guys finally reach Deling City, the game dies. SUCK! OK, I'll move to a different computer. Here we are. Once you get off the train, head down and enter the "down" side of the escalator, then go up the escalator on the next screen. Talk to Rinoa, then go forward to the next screen. If you talk to the guy in the uniform in front of the street. He'll tell you to talk to him when the bus to Caraway's Mansion gets here. If you're not doing the Queen of Cards side quest, just talk to the guard when bus 08 shows up.

Optional: Queen of Cards side quest. If you're doing this side quest, you can win the Kiros card that the Queen's father created when you lost the MiniMog card earlier. From the screen with the uniformed guy above, head right (you'll have to go out onto the street), then head forward. You should end up at the shopping arcade. Go down one screen to the next half of the shopping arcade and play the guy dressed in black, just up from the uniformed attendant. Head down one screen and right one screen from that location to arrive at Caraway's mansion.

When you get to the Caraway Mansion bus stop screen (it'll say 60 on the road), talk to the guard at his gate. He tells you to go and get a 'Code Number' off of a previous students 'Item.' In other words, the number is on some guys sword that he dropped when he bolted. Then have him escort you out of town.

He will tell you it's convenient to rent a car. Unless you've been playing cards and have used Card Mod to get some float or tornado, he's wrong. It's faster, but you might be in trouble when you get to the tomb. If you don't have these wind magicks, I recommend walking so that you can come across a Thrustavis. These guys have float. GET SOME! The easy way is to junction Siren to Squall and have him junction Status Attack to Sleep. Notice how the thing floats while asleep. Hmm... Anyway, if you want to go for 'brothers' when you get there, you may want to visit the junk shop in deling city to get your new character's weapons up to their max. Either way, head northeast to the end of the little penensula to visit the Tomb of the Unknown King.

The Brother's Grim:
Stock up on float for Squall at least, so that when the Brothers do their earth attach, it does not do REAL damage. You don't - technically speaking - HAVE to get brothers. You can go back from here and just give Caroway's guard the Code Number after you find it, but let's be honest. Do you WANT to miss out on a GF??? Plus you get *TWO* REALLY COOL CARDS out of this deal. OK head for the cave. To get there, stand by Deling City facing the ocean at it's closest point (to the south, I think). Then, walk along the shore following the ocean's edge clockwise until you come to a little forest looking area in the middle of nowhere with a door. That's it. Go in, save your game at the save point to the right, and head into the temple looking thing (you can safely ignore the girls fleeing in terror yelling "float.")

Go forward until you come to a cross in the path. That's where the sword should be. Read the number off of it. No I WON'T tell you the number. It's random; it wasn't the same for me twice. Anyway, if you want to fight the brothers and gain them as a GF, read on, otherwise, go back and tell the number to the guard in front of Caraway's house. If you run across a buel and a blobra here, you can draw various magic's out of the buel and cast them on the blobra, hint, hint. To get brothers, follow the right wall (6ish screens) along until you come to the first one (Sacred). Draw if you want, then beat him. It took one boosted Quezacotl to drive him off for me. Notice I didn't say kill. Oh yeah, if you want, you can draw Life, Shell and Protect (and berserk, though you probably have this full already if you want it) from this guy. I had two guys full of Shell and Protect from the earlier Garden battle, but I drew up the third on ehere. For what it's worth, don't bother using Mug on this guy - he has nothing.

There's a move/find save point here. Now, continue to follow the wall around to the right. (Notice, you have been going COUNTER-clockwise - according to the map you've been given - this whole time.) 8 screens, I think. When you come to a chain, (draw the float if you want) go to the right hand side and inspect it. SPLOOSH! OK, continue following the right wall. When you come to the next dead end (7 screens), you will see a water wheel and some gears. Go and inspect the gear. (It's actually a lock, I think.) Now on to meet the brothers. If you wish to save the game first (HINT HINT) enable Siren's move-find. There's a save point right here (or go back to the beginning, one more 90 degree rotation around the area). OK, now that we are ready, let's go. Head straigh up from the entrance. (Or if you saved at the gear box, that's back one screen, forward two screens, right, left, left, straight.)

Don't bother mugging - neither of them have anything. The "older" (little) one has Double, but that's the only difference from the previous fight. (Fun Fact: Those arm bands say "young" and "old", in case you're curious. XD). It took me one Quezacotl and one Shiva to finish them both off. "All too easy..." If you haven't been really leveling up your guys, you should probably junction float and/or shell and/or life to your elemental resist to ensure the don't do really nasty damage to your guys. You can cast float against them for major damage, too. ;) If you have Tornado, it's strongly recommended as a Elem-Atk junction for maximum damage. Then watch the weird guy come out of the tomb and he'll give you Minituar's Card. That's all there is to it. Head back out (should be down a screen or two, then straight three screens), making sure you have the ID number of that student from the sword. The number on the sword was 16 once, 47 the next, 140 the next, 32 another time; YMWV.

Optional: Queen of Cards Side Quest. Now that you have the Sacred Card, you can head back to Dollet and lose it to the Queen so she can have hear father create a new card. See the Card Game section for more info.

The Plan Phase Two:
Head back to Deling City. Remember that ID number from the sword? WHAT? You forgot to get it? I told you TWICE. Sheesh. Why do I bother with these things anyway. Oh. Sorry. Enter Deling City. (Go to the other computer to do this, as this one crashes again. MAN!) If you go to the Hotel and stay the night, you can get into the suite and get the Timber Maniacs off the floor beside the middle bed. Tell the number to the guard outside Caroway's Mansion (ones digit first, then tens then hundreds...). Now you get to go inside; talk to all of your guys. Don't worry about Junctioning your GFs yet, I'll tell you when you have to worry about that.

He talks too much, and you eventually walk around with him. When he dismisses you, you're free to wander around and do whatever, but eventually you'll end up back at Caraway's Manor. After some discussion, you'll follow Caraway around again. Eventually your teams will split up, and Caraway will head back to his mansion. Quistis will make a very stupid decision that she actually wants to apologize to Rinoa, and leaves her post. Wait a sec... Isn't the fate of the world, not to mention ALL her friends riding on her doing her job??? Sorry guys, this just isn't believable. Not even Quistis is that big a MORON. Anyway. Go back to Caroway's Mansion and get locked in. You are now Rinoa and you need a magazene. :P See that Sewer portal on the far right (not the big circle - the littler one)? Make sure Rinoa is Junctioned up (if Diablos has learned Enc-None, use it!), save your game, and go down it.

Head left a bunch and grab the "Weapons Monthly, May Issue" there. Head right to the ladder and climb up. Save your game and climb up the boxes - when you get to the top, you'll automatically jump to the wall. Head left, climb up the ladder and scale the little ledge there. When you have control of Rinoa again, switch any/all GF from her to one of the three locked in the general's mansion, then walk up to the sorceress and talk to her (I card talked for irony's sake.) Now press OK a lot, walk forward and watch the CG. After Rinoa gets killed by the Iguion, the scene switches to Quistis and the rest looking for a way out. Go grab a glass from the shelf by the door. A little farther down that same wall is a shrine. Put the glass in the hand of the statue. Now Junciton your GFs to Quistis, Zell and Selphie. Head down the corridor and save your game. [Card side note: The Creeps enemies can be card moded. Remember how the Grats would give you Shumi Tribe cards sometimes? Well the Creeps will sometimes give you a Sphinxara Level 7 Boss Card and the Grand Mantis will sometimes give you BGH251F2 Level 7!]

The Sewers (Part I):Go down the ladder. Now you are in the Sewers. Here is how to get through the sewer maze:

1. After you descend the ladder, step on the little bridge and inspect the water wheel.
2. Inspect the gate to open it and go through.
3. Go down the walkway.

Squall to the Rescue:
Oh yeah, Rinoa didn't really die. I was just pulling your leg. :) Now you have to go rescue her. Follow Irvine around the float and into the same area Rinoa climbed up the boxes. SAVE GAME AND JUNCTION Squall and Irvine. Of note: Both should be able to draw. Don't junction Fire or Bio to your elemental attack! For Status Defense, Junction Break to prevent petrification if you can. If you've got the Mug ability for Diablos, enable it. Check again that you can draw. You don't want to know how irritating it is to not be able to draw in the next scene. If you have Quake or Holy, consider junctioning these to Elemental Attack for this battle.

[NOTE: If you didn't go down into the sewers for Weapons Monthly May as Rinoa, you can do so here. Just open the sewer portal at the upper right and head down inside, then go left a few screens; head back up the ladder when you've got it.] Head up the crates, jump to the wall and scale the ledge just like the Rinoa, then another ledge to your immediate left. Run down the hallway and DRAW CARBUNCLE from the Iguion before attacking. If you've managed to get the Mug skill by now, you should be able to mug some G-Return items from them. Kill them before they kill you. Note that their Magma Breath attack can inflict Petrify on you, but they helpfully have Esuna you can draw and cast on an affected character.

Once you've finished them off, press OK a lot, then junction Carbuncle to any character that doesn't already have "Abilityx3" (likely only Diablos has Abilityx3 at this time), and into the hallway again. Notice the trap door? Go down it and grab the rifle. After messing with Rinoa's head and watching Irvine have a nervous breakdown, you are back in the other characters down the sewers.

The Sewers (Part II):
SWITCH THE JUNCTIONS BACK!!! Don't wander around down here with a bunch of unjunctioned characters! You can card-mod the red bats to get an X-ATM092. OK, now that we're back in the sewers, get back to our maze:

1. Go strait and inspect the gate to get through..
2. Cross the little bridge and inspect the gate on the upper left.
3. After you go through the gate, inspect the ladder. It should fall. (If you cross the ladder you can draw esuna on the next screen to the left.)
4. Go past the ladder and up the stairs on the next screen to the left.
5. Inspect the gate and go through.
6. Go down the hallway and through the next gate.
7. Go over the little bridge and through the gate to your right. (See the bio at the bottom of the next screen? Instructions on how to get it will be bulleted in a minute, if you need it - but it's easy to get from the card game.)
8. Go right for the full screen.
   If you want some Zombie:
   • Go over the little bridge, and through the gate down.
   • Pass this screen and get the bio then go back to where you were after step 11.
   Go part way over the bridge and up the wheel.
9. Go across the little bridge and down the other wheel.
10. Go through the gate at the bottom of the screen and go down a full screen.
11. Go down the wheel.
12. Go through the gate at the bottom of the screen and go down a full screen.
13. Open the gate and go down the wheel.
14. Go through the gate at the bottom of the screen and go down a full screen.
15. Open the gate, go down the stairs and inspect the ladder that is on your current side.
16. Open the gate just after the ladder and go a full screen right. If you've been following along, you shouldn't see a magazine here. You needed to get that either as Rinoa or as Squall/Irvine.
17. On the screen here, ride the wheel up. (You only had to knock down the ladder if you didn't get the Magazine already.)
18. Go through the gate and up a screen.
19. Go over the bridge, save your game, and then go up the ladder.

This is another instance where it pays to have one GOOD and the rest mediocre characters. On my game, Squall was at level 24 and the other characters were at level 9 and 12 for the final fight. [NOTE: If you can get the ability to mug, Squall can mug a Hero from Siefer and an Elixir from Edea; both have healing magicks junctioned, so you can just draw cast it at THEM to keep from killing them off before you've stolen. It took about 8 mugs before I succeeded.]

I used Quezacotl to wipe the walls with everyone. One use of Quezacotl killed Siefer, and two killed Edea. There wasn't anything useful to draw from Seifer, but Edea had Dispel, Life, Double, and Cura. As always, if you've been playing the card game, you probably don't actually need these. Anyway, after you win the battle and she kills Squall you get to save the game.

Congratulations, you have completed Disc One. To continue, head to to Disc 2.