FF8's insane SeeD Rank system

[@AlleywayJack]

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[@thelemonadestandman]

I was replaying FF8 not too long ago, and while replaying the SeeD exam, it had me thinking about why Squall, Zell, Selphie specifically passed the SeeD exam and not Seifer, and why you get penalized so much for talking with the other characters during the exam. Typically I wrote it off in my head as just quirky game mechanics (which it is that too) and story going the way it has too. But this time it suddenly occurred to me that what the Garden Faculty who are loyal to NORG are looking for most are mindless soldiers to promote. Seifer didn't follow direct orders and he failed the exam again. Meanwhile Squall, Zell, and Selphie all followed his directions which were against orders but he was in charge and issuing orders as a superior and they were promoted. Furthermore siting quietly and not interacting with your peers rewards you with a higher score on the exam. The goal of which is likely to prevent personal connections between these super soldiers Garden is producing. These are all qualities I'd imagine the NORG faction Garden Faculty want from the best of the best SeeDs, people who will do as they're told by who ever is in charge, regardless of who they're being directed to fight or if it contradicts previous goals. Especially if a situation were to occur and all the students were told to turn against the quirky Headmaster Cid in favor of an unknown investor who actually legally and financially owns Balamb Garden even if they have no personal loyalty to him. In that way, NORG-alligned Garden Faculty probably saw Squall as one of the more controllable SeeDs they had. And Cid hastily signing away Squall's group to Rinoa's cause for an indeterminate amount of time for little pay to Balamb Garden was probably his way of keeping Squall's group out of NORG's control. Ironic, because while the outside world see's Squall as a confident and unquestioning soldier, we get to peek inside his mind and he's constantly at war with himself and what his goals are.

[@xRuinedFaithx]

Well said

[@danielpayne1597]

Such a well-written insight into some of the least-explained aspects of the game, well done

[@Jotari]

Seifer is a loose cannon though and, as soldiers in active combat they probably shouldn't be sitting around talking to civilians.

[@guilhermecaiado5384]

SeeD test is to be objective as a Balamb garden soldier. Soldiers inline dont stop to chat, or walk around and waste time. Speedrunners usually rank high in it.

[@uthopia27]

Well thts wht soldier is , they get paid to obey command follow order not having their own head. Seifer might be a worse soldier but damn he COULD be a better commander.

[@fattiger6957]

Back in the day (and still to this day) I had the strategy guide that had all the test answers. So I was able to get Seed A rank as soon as I was able to do the tests. So I never had to worry about Gil.

[@AlleywayJack]

@fattiger6957 those piggyback strategy guides were gold, I still have mine and used it to research this episode 😅

[@wej0w]

Ye did the same, still have my personal homemade printed guide in a folder with about 200 pages combined and compiled on importance from a load of game sites. Although you needed to be at specific points in the game that further questions unlocked if I had it right.

[@williambowes-xt2sm]

Was it a big thick white book by Brady games?

[@fattiger6957]

@@williambowes-xt2sm Yep

[@williambowes-xt2sm]

@@fattiger6957 cool! And it had the sort of monster manual at the back but didn't have ultimecia? I miss that book! 😂

[@CoyotePark]

Played FF8 like 5-6 times and other FF games, and 8 is my favourite by far. Absolutely love it

[@vsolyomi]

It's kinda underutilized, you don't need that much money for anything unless you're min-maxing, you don't have any recurring expenses or anything. This could actually be a game of its own - deductions for food and travel and you could end up broke and stranded if your rank's too low. And maybe have to pick up some local mercenary jobs to buff it up and pay bills and missions could be rank restricted, etc.

[@Jotari]

Late game you get to buy stat boosting items meaning you can max every body's stats to 255 if you're rich enough, but they're a little too pricey to naturally get there with SeeD rank and by then you can use possibly unintended stock market trading to get infinite money.

[@damianwarneke305]

or the Garden is forced to pick you up but your rank plummets

[@neoqwerty]

I honestly would have LOVED to have to rent cars more often and to have to rely more on inns and such, food would have been great as a stat (alongside fuel) to manage (and given a reason to head back to the Garden's cafeteria)... Honestly FF8 could have done really well if it leaned a bit more on the early Disc 1 stuff that made it FEEL like you were on a mission.

[@JackSparrow-ct4mh]

i like ur way of thinking, its even possible that devs had sth like that in their mind... however ff8 was developed in just year since ff7 release (!!!) , its pretty clear it was underdeveloped in some areas , and some of the content they planned never made it into the game

[@vsolyomi]

@@JackSparrow-ct4mh I have a bit of an obsession with it, tbh, it had so much stuff with a lot of potential so criminally undercooked! It's my fantasy Roman empire :)

[@redalchemy7322]

Back when I first played FF8 my SeeD rank always went down and I never fully understood why, but in a later replay (decades later) it only went up. Seems like the real difference was using the GFs more than recommended. Though it's a bit weird to me that they really don't tell you that anywhere in game (AFAIK)

[@neoqwerty]

They tell it to you in the early game in the classroom, when Quistis and Seifer explain the GFs. If you stay and take the tutorial, Quistis mentions not to over-rely on your GFs and that there's detrimental effects to Summoning the GF remated to memory loss It's a bit obscure because you have to avoid fighting with Seifer (so he can answer fully instead of squabbling with Zell) and you have to ask every question you can when it's time for questions.

[@KasumiRINA]

@@neoqwerty GFs overuse leading to memory loss is also mentioned in materials Quistis tells you to go over, there's also mentions of NORG, the mysterious financier. It's all foreshadowed in the text.

[@h3lblad3]

@@KasumiRINA, GF overuse leading to memory loss is straight up a plot point when they cover the contrived cliche of "No, actually, we all know each other. You're all just amnesiacs because you use GFs."

[@EliWintercross]

It's very thematic, that members of a mercenary organisation are paid via salary rather than having to scavenge coins from monsters lol

[@iceviking8280]

You can abuse the crap out of healing items and refine them into better items and sell them in stores. Making money in FF8 is ridiculously easy.

[@SacrificeMegs]

With the pixel remasters that came out I was playing through every Final Fantasy up till 10 and I was really surprised how much I like Final Fantasy 8

[@donquixote8462]

It's so good. I always loved it since release. Never understood why people didn't like it. Still among my favorite JRPGs ever

[@edluke3415]

​@@donquixote8462 at the time it was because it didn't use the same system of learning spells through materia or guardian forces.

[@Dime_time333]

​@edluke3415 this was the first game to use guardian forces....so idk what you were trying to say

[@edluke3415]

@@Dime_time333 the guardian forces are just summons. Quit being pedantic.

[@RippahRooJizah]

​@@edluke3415 FF8 was the first standard FF I played (Only played Tactics before). And I did like FF8 at first. In fact it was one of the first RPGs I really played. Then I played other RPGs and tried to replay FF8 again but various quibbles started to grate on my nerves. I also was never much of a fan of any of the characters save for Laguna's group (Squall being, to this day, probably a bottom tier RPG main protagonist of my personal list), Triple Triad was not fun at all after a certain point, and some of the plot points were kinda silly like GFs erasing memories. That said, I've considered going through the game again, and I'm not going to say FF8 had no good things about it. Just that last time I played FF8 it was starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. Compared to Tactics, 7, and 9, FF8 gives me the least reason to come back to it. Especially compared to FF9. I will die on this hill but Tetra Master was a better card game (but poorly explained rules. If they were explained in some instances). The only real issue I had with FF9 was just Trance.

[@fattiger6957]

I kind of like the idea of an rpg doing calculations behind the scenes to define something about your character. Like with rpgs like Fallout that give you dialogue or story options. I think a system that sculpts your character's personality based on your prior actions would be interesting. So if you tend to choose aggressive options, the algorithm is doing calculations in the background, adding more aggressive options and locking out peaceful options. It's kind of weird how you can be a kind, peaceful and generous character throughout a whole game, then choose an objectively cruel, greedy and evil end-game option or vise-versa.

[@Bozebo]

"It's kind of weird how you can be a kind, peaceful and generous character throughout a whole game, then choose an objectively cruel, greedy and evil end-game option or vise-versa." Also called the Fable problem xD

[@reloadpsi]

It all started with Ultima IV. I'd recommend playing the NES port nowadays though.

[@Phoenixflara]

I wanna say there was a series of RPG maker games (The Way) that explored this idea. It tracked relationship points with a variety of characters behind the scenes as well as one for your character depending on his actions. No its not a romance thing. MC was an ass. I think scenes/dialogue might of changed depending on if you were more or less of a jerk…been awhile so not 100% sure. Characters that died early wouldn’t show up in the next few episodes or would lock you out of different side things or something.

[@freakface1234]

I love power leveling in this game. The gf system makes it so broken but satisfying

[@danielpayne1597]

FFVIII was my favorite, and I loved the validation of performing well as a SeeD and being rewarded for it. Great vid discussing the breakdown of what went into that system.

[@thelastofitskind3034]

I played this game so many times and never knew alot of these things 😢 this game was so unique

[@matthew...4961]

It's great seeing ff8 getting the attention and respect it deserves 👏

[@AntiGOPnet]

Luckily Gil in FF8 is likely the least important compared to other games. You can go hours without having to spend money unlike in say FF9 where you constantly buy new armor and weapons

[@Californication2006]

Love all of your work, Jack. I think your script writing and storytelling is top tier. Great to hear final fantasy lore from a fellow Englishman. Thanks for the new video, a great way to end my day.

[@AlleywayJack]

Thanks mate, glad you enjoy it and I appreciate the kind words 🙏

[@0num4]

I remember going through each of the SeeD tests when FF8 was first released, writing down my answers, and adjusting my answers based on whether my score increased or decreased with each change. Eventually, I had a hand-written key to every SeeD test. I must have been an absolute lunatic, at 15 years old, to do such a thing. I could have mowed a single yard for more than enough money to buy the strategy guide and have them straight away! 🙃

[@Nigel222]

Definitely the strangest game in the mainline FF franchise.

[@AlleywayJack]

The more I look back at it, the more I realise how weird it is 😅

[@maximos905]

Ff2 is pretty weird

[@donquixote8462]

And the most underrated.

[@michaelmoore1627]

I've played through FF8 several times over the years and I never knew about showing off to under classmen.

[@MARTINGOLDING96]

Judgment doesn't matter about the time you select only how close to 0 the timer is after Ifrit is defeated.

[@KasumiRINA]

I remember overly obsessing with the exam and trying to get max score, hardest was killing the robot finally but that was actually fun. What wasn't was overly fixating on speed, no dialogue, and just ruining role playing by powergaming the test and then payoff was quickly maxing rank on tests immediately ignoring it for the rest of the game. FF8 is like that in everything, if you just _play the damn game_ at your own pace, it is balanced, but tryharding it makes it trivial or broken (i.e. overleveling without getting magic before Diablos, I fought him early and got him and my friend couldn't). People worry too much about doing everything perfectly. Relaxing makes it better. Oh and my fav fights were Cactuar midgame and T-Rex before Fire Cavern, and I managed to do it, even had to use potions and starting items on GFs! And that was great because previously I had the "get 99 potions, sell 9 so more you pick up won't go to waste" mentality for all of FF games... I am still 100% them more or less with walkthrough nearby for missables (good luck finding all augments otherwise in FF4 3D) but am kess obsessed about PERFECT runs and it's better. There's that extreme where people do minimal level runs skipping all fights, then kill off Squall, junction GFs with all attribute bonuses on level up and max level everyone without him, then him alone. Why? Game is easy enough without having to supermax everything, and all this effort isn't even a low level challenge (which is I think an achivement in OG version on Steam), and worst of all, people are giving new players looking for tips advice how to super-power level and get endgame weapons on disc one, while all that's needed for FF8 to not be frustrating is to NOT GRINDING TOO MUCH.

[@wcjerky]

It is worth mentioning that FFVIII isn't without a potential money sink at endgame (formerly disc 3 and beyond), where after unlocking a specific Esthar shop, GF items can be made into stat boosts at a rate of 100:1 (more correctly, 100:10:1) for 1,000,000 gil: 1 stat boost. Unless you had a good setup for Malboro feasting, this was the best way to raise spirit. 6 characters * 4 buyable stat item/character * 255 stats/buyable stat boost* 1 000 000 gill/stat boost item= 6 120 000 000 gil to buy str, vit, mag, and spr for all characters.

[@bagingospringo4396]

So if u say ur head hurts, u lose a rank?

[@joshherrera9034]

I wish you had mentioned that there is next nothing to buy in that game. Gil serves almost no purpose. There is no equipment except weapons and there's only 4 for each char. You cant buy cards. You can only really buy medicine and ammo which you really for need converting it into magic becuase they won't let you buy that directly either. Point is you get by without any rank or money because the game is dumb easy

[@AlleywayJack]

@@joshherrera9034 I mentioned it in the final minute or two of tge video

[@Matthew-o3q]

I have no idea how it worked. By endgame, my money was constantly maxed out, but there was nothing to buy?

[@ManuFortis]

So, I think it actually makes a lot of sense that they penalize you for showing off moves and weapons. Think about it from this angle. You are a soldier in training effectively, and you are being ranked based on how well you keep to the status quo and rules of the organization you belong to. Not only are you a soldier in training, you are a mercenary for hire through that organization. Then to top it all off, there is a very real non-zero chance that you could end up going up against people from your own organization. Yikes. So, with that in mind, would you be really wanting to show off your skills and weaponry to anyone? If they find out through battle, so be it, but out in the open outside of battle? And then again with battle in mind, the GF's become the no-no; because those are supposed to be the ace up your sleeve. One with heavy costs, that emphasize the reduced usage of them. You lose your memory with enough usage. For any soldier or merc, these are all things you would want to minimize. The less your enemy knows, the better. So an Seed rank of A, implies you are in their mind; a perfect soldier. Oh, and they give you those bonus rank ups as a way to encourage ranking up anyways despite maybe not being the perfect soldier. Sometimes even some of your best have some quirks about them. This gives them the ability to redeem themselves in that ranking system.

[@Beastlango]

The paid system makes so much sense and is amazing world building with gameplay. FF8 is the best FF for gameplay being part of the world buildings. The limits are another great example of it.

[@DrummerDucky]

Drawing magic is excruciating, the junction system is mega-broken and can quickly lead to overpowered characters without a single minute of grinding through some of the GFs abilities, the overwhelming majority of the fights require no strategy or preparation, the limit breaks are absurdly overpowered and easy to abuse, etc. Art, music, and plot are superb. Gameplay? Easily one of the weakest despite how FANTASTIC all its ideas are on paper.

[@Beastlango]

@@DrummerDucky the game play is unique and funny for me. FF7 failed to catch my interest when I first tried it and I hate grinding for levels. If it wasn’t for all the stuff you just mentioned I wouldn’t have ever got into FF game as all. Because of it I have beaten all of the none MMO main line games. Also you can break most of them with the right strategy, 5-7 especially if you know what you are doing

[@aaronammann4236]

Essentially if the option to sneeze came up you could lose a rank. great. Which means going with squalls personality of "Whatever..." means more ranks and not acting like him means a chance to lose a rank. such an interesting system for Gil.

[@juliorosal9698]

To this i still repeat the lines of "ff8" was just ahead of its time. It really respects your time and actually promotes strategy and knowing the system instead of grinding which wastes a lot of time. If you release ff8 nowadays without its previous misconceptions, it would really sell well IMHO.

[@tmwk__]

It's kind of like when you take certification exams at a job to increase your earnings.

[@tyujg7495.]

SeeD: Tells me that Im the most trustworthy member and allows me to drive the building, as well as getting access to special locations and protecting the acadamy Also SeeD: Drops my rank to 1

[@danielgehring7437]

I always loved the rank system. It's become a trope now, the ol' "hero gets some gold from the king but is then left to loot stranger's houses to find money to buy goods from merchants," but here, for once, is a game that gives you a job, a rank, and a salary instead! And, sure enough, money was only ever a problem in the game if you spent it like a doofus. It's too bad it never caught on.

[@gossamera4665]

I think it's an interesting take that the Seed rank was meant to move away from grinding, because the Draw mechanic pretty much made it grindier than FF7, I got into battles just to stock up on magic.

[@Wh0NeedsFr1ends]

This is a really good piece AJ. One critique I'd like to share, however, is that there are several times where the particular points under discussion are not directly aligned to game footage. In moments when you are providing context to describe the Seed Rank penalties under certain conditions, for example, it would nice if there was a 1 to 1 correspondence between the scenario you are describing and the clip shown.

[@goncaloferreira6429]

1- i love the exams. They make sense since we are students and they are a nice break up from the main game, one that rewards us for paying attention and fully immersing ourselves in the world. 2- As people have been mentioning, the seed rank and all things surronding it are just the beginning of something that could be largely expanded. 3- I love game systems that are not fully explained in game. They add a aura of mystery to things, specially when we are kids. They also lead replayability and experience sharing between players.

[@SaintJames14]

Every time I learn something new about FF8, I am further solidified in my belief that this game is spiritually meant for "modern" development

[@Dime_time333]

What do you mean by modern? DEI? Or just a remake? What would you change?

[@SaintJames14]

@@Dime_time333 diversity, equity, and inclusion can suck my BWC. I mean the design goals and mechanics they were building seem sick but only from a modern perspective - like even "drawing" magic could be fun af in elden ring, for example. Getting paid at regular intervals based on you "rank" (re: perceived allegiance) is a great idea that could be implemented in a much cooler, more robust way, with modern tools.

[@Dime_time333]

@SaintJames14 okay cool I read modern and immediate assumed the worst. My bad homie. Wouldn't a fleshed out triple triad game be fun as well? Even if it's a mobile game I'd play the piss out of it

[@second_second_]

@@SaintJames14 i agree, FF8 mechanics sound more interesting than many generic rpg mechanics

[@SaintJames14]

@@Dime_time333 thank Christ we both didn't mean what the other assumed lmao Fuck liberalism and modernity, with that we agree. And yeah I don't personally play any of those card games but I can 10000% see a fully fleshed out, modernized triple triad being at least as big as gent or hearthstone.

[@Eternalwarpuppy]

I definitely think this would have been a better system if you got a report with each payment that told you what you were doing right and what you were getting penalized for. I played FF8 several times and I had no idea using GFs in combat affected your rank.

[@kfk4441]

I liked both junction and the SeeD rank... But really, the game could at least mentioned how are we being evaluated. That's a standard thing to do when you're under a test

[@davidmontgomery8332]

They want to see how you act without you knowing your being judged on every little thing. It’s a more organic way to test and you are less likely to get pretenders passing with high marks. Like Seifer

[@Laezar1]

If I had to redesign the seed rank system I would make it so it gives more money but less frequently (which means ranking up is a more noticeable boost because you get the benefit all at once). And because it's less frequent it would be ok for the game to give you a report explaining what made you rank up or down. That way you get to engage with the system a bit more while still not knowing in advance what will rank you down you can piece it together over time. I would also make the seed exam result less cryptic so that again you know why you scored high or low. And I would also not frontload all those quizzes in the menu. Rather I would make it so story progression sometimes let you unlock extra tests. That way you are encouraged to take them when you unlock them. (whie still having the option to ignore them). Probably unlock them by batches of 5 and make it so that the first four of a batch only have questions that you're able to answer with what was available in the game so far and the fifth asks you a few questions that you need to progress and learn about in that next section to be able to answer. That way it encourages you to pay attention to some of the upcoming things and even if you decide to cheese it through trial and error you still learn something. I don't think the system needs much more than that, but just these changes would make it feel less chaotic and the tests would feel like a fun reward for progression and paying attention.

[@bryancarter7649]

I did not understand the nuance of this game as an 11 year old. Looking back I can definitely align with what I think the intent of it was. Thanks for the recap

[@williamlafond1319]

You still get seed rank from encounters. It fights off the level down most of the time, but still you must do some fights, if you start farming tho, your seed rank goes up dramatically.

[@PrimevalDemon]

Also thx in general for talking about 8

[@sharpe2002]

My favourite game of all time. Still have the original PC box and the official guide book

[@Klausiancliff89]

Who cares about a payment of up to 30k gil every like 20 to 30 minutes, when you can get almost 400.000 gil in 40 seconds from anywhere just by opening the menu? Most underutilized mechanic ever. Edit: to do it you need carbuncle with refine med. Buy 100 tents for 100.000 make 25 megapotions sell them for 125.000. 25.000 profit. 75.000 if you get tonberry gf with haggle and sell high , and can do ot from anywhere if it learned call shop. Eventually ehen you get to esthar a shop will sell tents and cottage, buy 100 of each turn them into 75 megapotions and sell them for like 370.000 more than what you paid 100 tents and cottages. Edit edit: if you consider it cheating you can still farm mesmerize blades, at high levels you can mug 8 from them and card them to avoid pesky xp, 9 mesmerize blades is 18 megapotions or 90 or 135.000 gil ,still way better than seed pays.

[@aerisgainsborough2141]

how? on the og ff8?

[@shadda]

@@aerisgainsborough2141 I think he's referring to the built in cheat codes for the remastered edition (non psx). which, i dunno, i kinda wish those weren't there.

[@Chezzelby]

Wait what?!

[@Klausiancliff89]

@@shadda nope just an exploit

[@Klausiancliff89]

@@aerisgainsborough2141 you need carbuncle with refine medicine. You buy 100 tents for 100.000 turn those in 25 megapotions that sell for 125.000. That's 25.000 profit. If you got haggle and sell high from tomberry and call shop you'll profit for 75.000 and can do that from anywhere . Lastly whrn you reach esthar a shop sells both tents and cottages , if you buy 100 of each you'll get 75 megspotions that sell for like 370.000 gil more than the 100 tents and cottages you needed to craft them.

[@christopherwesel1761]

I loved this, because on my first play-through right after I became the LEADER OF THE GARDEN, I got paid, as a rank-3 SeeD.

[@jas.digitalnative]

Honestly if fates has its way and i'm able to work on the remake, I will keep the junction system and add a LOT of depth to the SeeD ranking. I always thought it was so cool. Basically being a good citizen in that world could rank you up and pay you a salary.

[@AlleywayJack]

Yes it'd be a very organic way of adjusting salary in-world, and a nice take on the morality system other games have- love it.

[@Ragnarok540]

I find interesting how you are discouraged from leveling up in this game. The levels and other stats from enemies scale with your own level, also enemies get more powerful attacks the higher their level. At the same time, you don't get experience points from boss battles. The end result is that the game becomes very easy if you don't participate in combat, except to draw magic, and use the junction system to power up the party. Even the "hardest" bosses in the game become trivial when the player does this.

[@Negetive2digit]

A couple of money issues can come up early game if you're buying a bunch of items to turn into spells, if you want to get stuff like Bio and Curaga early and don't want to spend hours on Triple Triad, but, yeah, there's not a lot to buy in the game, otherwise. After getting the Recover and Revive skills, there's even less reason to have to stock up on items all that much. It's kind of why I like how the Ragnarok mod actually incentivizes buying junk items in Deling to make spells with, among other useful things in some shops. Kind of an understated part of game balance is making the player feel like they have the right amount of money. Most games just let you have a massive surplus (not that there's anything wrong with that since lots of people like to see big numbers get bigger) and it kind of makes getting more money seem pointless.

[@aerisgainsborough2141]

buy the all rule from card queen, it helps sooo much...

[@bdcbdc7144]

I thought FF12 handled the idea of "non-battle gil payouts" to be a stepping stone from this, although it IS much more of a grind, it made the idea of selling 'loot' dropped from enemies more fun than this. I never paid much attention to gil in this game, it's almost irrelevant in a lot of ways, more than it is useful

[@affegpus4195]

With FF7 it felt like they finaly did what they always wanted in a game but were limited by the hardware before. FF8 was "eh? How we top that now?” and tossing random things to see what stuck. I dont think it is a particurlaly good game, but boy it is interesting

[@hermeticinstrumentalist6804]

Huh, that's pretty damn cool. Thank you.

[@1.N.Decent]

Way back when I played the game the higher allowance was hardly beneficial but the feeling that I was among the smartest Balamb student ^__^

[@im7254]

By far my fav ff game. Nothing else is as customizable

[@KingOfHeartsTANK]

What an interesting and great video. I prefer getting payments in ver randomly finding money on a random monster...

[@holyman-emoguy8702]

Hello ^^ Good to see you again.

[@hobbified]

Like so many things in VIII, it was interesting, but they never even tried to make it *balanced*.

[@tenchimuyo69]

If there was ever a game I expected a passive income system... it wasn't any FF game.

[@aaronproctor3623]

Does 8 have somewhere in the codex that gives clues to Seed rank? Something like "Always maintain your professionalism" "Make sure you don't rely on more powerful allies" Like a rules of Seed book. That would make it the players own fault for not paying attention or interacting with the world.

[@nighthero7]

The closest is Squall's desk which has a bunch of tutorial and information including answers to some questions on the tests. But you have to manually go to it and interact with it. Other than that (which lets be honest nobody did) nothing.

[@davidmontgomery8332]

@@nighthero7I did

[@IfYouWantThenYouCanHaveIt]

I'm sorry for going off-topic but i can't unsee the fact that the thumbnail of Squall's face looks like Trump's mugshot photo

[@PrimevalDemon]

Thanks for sharing with us

[@techsoul5590]

Love this game, played sooooo many times.

[@markli6763]

FF8 became my favorite absolutely because it was a game where you fight cause you need stuff from the enemy and not because the game need you to do combat every few steps for the sake of it. I hate that this part of the system got hated on and ff9/10 both reverted into random battle fests. I know there are money making tricks in the game, but the seed payments as a way to get you money is absolutely more immersion because it doesn't make sense that monsters drop money

[@uthopia27]

Lore wise the monster got money from every people ( npc ) they killed , u know like how many failed knight killed by dragon when trying rescuing the princess.

[@aerisgainsborough2141]

@@uthopia27 ahh *cue the ultima weapon from ffX where they throw a million gil i think? and he justs yeets away lol!!!

[@alexshinra6722]

What about ff12?.

[@markli6763]

@@alexshinra6722 loved the gameplay. Story felt like they wanted to make it twice as long and ran out of time, but gameplay was great

[@alexshinra6722]

@@markli6763 and the fact the monster drops all had ingame lore for being worth gil?

[@grandmoffyoda]

Everytime I play 8 I ban the use of the Tests. Can use the gil to trivialise so much of the game

[@Jotari]

To be fair you don't need any gil to utterly trivialize Final Fantasy VIII.

[@JayAshkevron]

I have played FF8 several times since it came out, and never even knew this was a thing. lol Thats how impactful it is. I mean I always saw the rank up or rank down things, and noticed how they would pay you everyone once in a while. But never, not once, knew it was a system you could influence. If the game wants you to partake of its obscure behind the scenes stuff, maybe they should explain it a bit better. Especially if you can just ignore it and still beat the game with relative ease.

[@AlleywayJack]

Yeah I think after you pass the SeeD exam it mentions in one dialogue box that your rank goes up or down depending on conduct, but it doesn't explain anything about what that means lol. I only found out from the FF8 walkthrough, which is what this video was referenced from.

[@JayAshkevron]

@@AlleywayJack I mean I found your video very educational because I didn't know any of that. Lol You'd since they coded it in they would have explained it better. Oh well.

[@alanlee67]

I have no idea what any of the questions are...just the answers which are found on the ff8 wiki

[@richardklein1167]

I beat FF8 last year and the Seed rank system is quite easy to understand but just not follow for a first time player like myself. Did everything but this using a strategy guide because, "Oh, did you take a wrong turn despite the guide saying you could here in one of the game's few lengthy dungeons. Sorry you lost points! Does your guide recommend using GF summoning, yep! You also lost points! By the way all over world travel should be done by vehicle otherwise you also lose points! But ultimately you need to know exactly where to go because that's how you lose full ranks soldier!"

[@borandiUK]

I was expecting a direct breakdown of numbers of what makes the rank goes up

[@mahniskel]

I feel like this video just ended abruptly like 20mins too early! I like the content though, just think there should be more of it, or maybe just a little outro section or something - I went to check my phone because I thought something weird had happened when it started playing a different video after this 🙂

[@HAZARDOUS88]

Thanks for this video. Love it!

[@gloweye]

Honestly, if you wanted money, just refine tents into mega potions. Not that money was good for much.

[@captainunload]

I loved these games when I was a kid, but I could never enjoy them again like I used to. Too many tedious little tasks. Like frog catching in FF9, or the stupid Shumi sidequest here. RPGs like Mass Effect 2 I can keep coming back to.

[@deedoubs]

The funniest thing about the SEED Ranking system is how irrelevant it becomes once you reach Esthar.

[@jaylee9552]

Always been my favourite final fantasy

[@giovanniprovost]

Love your work, thank you :)

[@AlleywayJack]

Thank you sir, I appreciate it 🙏

[@autumnshinespark]

Wait, did I read that thumbnail right? There's a max rank that pays 300,000 Gil ??? I tried ranking way up taking the tests and gave up understanding it after every paycheck I went down 1 rank again. So it's a Guide Dang It like dating Yuffie, huh...

[@_Tizoc_]

money doesn't even matter in ff8 it's basically an interactive point of lore

[@Holyduck777]

Crazy that a final fantasy game has a system that encourages roleplaying

[@tlasnome]

I actually hate that salary popping out of nowhere with such a loud sound

[@WreakHvok]

I’m going to replay this game

[@joefebri3236]

I remember this, back then I found an exploit about the exam feeling like a genius for found it by myself, I was a kid back then 😂. The exploit is pretty simple, because the question and answer is the same all the time and you could take how many times needed and it even gave the score. You just need to write a sheet then figure it out which the right answer, I did that by answer all the question with first option first then see the score, then change the first question answer with other option if the score increase thats the right answer, if the score decrease the previous one is right then repeat with all the question.

[@gorth1314]

I'll reluctantly admit that FF8 had a lot of good game mechanic ideas. Unfortunately, every single one of them was a dumpster fire after implementation.

[@cameronsmith3047]

Judgment has nothing to do with how fast you completed Ifrit only the time remaining when you do. It's less a can you kill this fast and more of a how accurately can you guess how long it will take you to kill it.

[@Jotari]

I feel like in all Final Fantasy games, or, at least, all the ones I've played, money is completely inconsequential. There's always way too much of it and not much to spend it on. The one that came closest to making it feel like something you had to earn or conserve was XII where you had to buy magic and enemies didn't typically drop money but loot you need to sell. But going back and playing it as an adult a few years ago even that one seemed to have limitless money if you just focus on stealing a bit to get more loot. Final Fantasy X tried to make money more relevant with Yojimbo, but I felt they kind of failed as, aside from the rather steep initial purchase of him, his role in battle varies between kind of boring to ridiculously cheap. He also comes really late into the game. A summon like him would work much better in a more open world game where you can encounter him relatively near the start, but can't afford him until mid game if you consciously save for it. And Zamato would need more certainty but at a higher cost.

[@isayasbashiri5371]

MY FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME

[@James-sn5mg]

FF8 is the best FF game along with FF7. It's so underrated.

[@dudeistpriestman]

This was a good video.

[@YudaHnK]

Yes

[@Dea-c9o]

When you play ff8 with no guide an still be able to beat the game just fine.

[@onthespiral4054]

The music is a bit mixed too high over the voice

[@sorasuarez3909]

3:50 to 4:10 where can I go for these theories?

[@AlleywayJack]

GAMEFAQ/NEOGAF - the seed rank triggers can be found in most walkthroughs, I referenced these from the official strategy guide

[@dmas7749]

a look into one of the game's systems that isn't particularly memorable or even important? heck yes

[@AlleywayJack]

🙏

[@namebn]

Makes a convoluted method of making money and also makes money almost useless.

[@This1unbox]

Wait...this WHOLE time its SEED? and not See D?

[@charlesdaugherty321]

You max rank with kill grinding in areas with large numbers of enemies in the fights. Not hard at all.

[@benjamincuevas9627]

So the game wants me to act antisocial. Seems like Squall role play.😂

[@alexpatton3524]

Once you can start doing the tent refining method, the seed system becomes completely useless and worthless.

[@fairzanimations]

Nice still a classic

[@PowerControl]

I had the guide, but threw it away two years ago 😭

[@AlleywayJack]

@@PowerControl 😢

[@j.m.3600]

Is your real name Gilgamesh

[@AlleywayJack]

don't tell anyone

[@TheFreelancer131]

I picked up this game on Release. Never had an issue with Money in the game. the seed rank wasn't hard to rnk up. never used a guide it always blew my mind the hate this game got. mean while everyone including square soaking the Shaft of ff7 at every turn when the game was basic on every level. lol

[@iamhungry4000]

I like your video but turn the music down. The focus should be your voice, music should be background, not equal, it's hard to hear what you're saying in this