Final Fantasy VIII Remastered

This is video #002 in my playthrough of Final Fantasy VIII Remastered on Steam.
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered Playlist: • Final Fantasy VIII Rem...
Previously, we started the game and met our taciturn protagonist, Squall, a student at Balamb Garden. After the introduction, he explored Balamb Garden and met his instructor, Quistis, at the front gate. His first major assignment is to acquire a Guardian Force at the Fire Cavern east of the Garden. Before he goes there, however, he will explore Alcauld Plains in the Balamb Region and draw some magic from the local fiends.
0:00 - Game Load
0:06 - Balamb Region
24:47 - Balamb Garden
29:24 - Balamb Region
31:20 - Fire Cavern
34:31 - Balamb Region
34:49 - Fire Cavern
55:50 - Balamb Region
The detailed description is in the comments.
Thanks for watching!
Recording date: July 2-3, 2024
This video is part of my Final Fantasy VIII Remastered playthrough. I am playing the version of the game released on Steam in 2019. All characters, story, music, artwork, and other components of this game are the property of their respective owners.
Played on PC. Recorded with OBS Studio. Produced with Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.

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Detailed description: 0:00 - Game Load 0:06 - Balamb Region Squall and Quistis resume outside Balamb Garden in Alcauld Plains in the Balamb Region. Quistis has Shiva junctioned, while Squall has Quezacotl. Drawing 100 of each magic spell from an enemy can be repetitious and tedious. One way to make this process smoother is to set Cursor to Memory in the Config menu, so I do so. Setting the Battle Speed all the way to Fast can help, too. The party sets out and begins wandering around in search of enemies. Glacial Eyes can be encountered near the line of mountains in the north of the island. The party can draw Blizzards, Cures, and Scans from low-level Glacial Eyes. The Speed Boost feature in the Remastered edition is extremely helpful here. The player earns the achievement "Magician" for drawing (stocking) magic from enemies 100 times. In the forests west of Balamb Garden, the party can encounter Bite Bugs and Caterchipillars. Bite Bugs can also appear on the plains. When the party encounters a Bite Bug, Quistis will remind Squall about pulling his gunblade's trigger when he strikes an enemy. This will deal added damage to the foe. The party can draw Fires and Scans from low-level Bite Bugs. From low-level Caterchipillars, they can draw Thunders and Cures. Note that attacking a Caterchipillar can trigger it to use Ultra Waves, which can inflict Berserk on a party member. This kind of defeats the purpose of drawing magic. Squall reaches Level 8. On the Rinaul Coast in the south of the Balamb Region, the party can encounter Fastitocalons. They can draw Blizzards, Sleeps, and Scans from low-level Fastitocalons. While Fastitocalons are buried in the sand, their defense is increased. They are also pretty hardy. However, they are weak to lightning-elemental damage. Summoning the Quezacotl GF will take them out quickly. Note that summoning a GF takes time. In fact, while a character is summoning, the GF being summoned will shield that character from blows. Quistis reaches Level 9. GF Quezacotl and GF Shiva reach Level 2. After the party finishes drawing magic from the Fastitocalons, they return to the forests to finish drawing magic from Caterchipillars. GF Quezacotl and GF Shiva reach Level 3. When the party has finished drawing magic, they return to Balamb Garden. 24:47 - Balamb Garden Squall heads from the Front Gate into the Garden's interior. He goes through and chats with some NPCs that he did not see before. In the Library, he can find the Library Girl with a Pigtail by the eastern bookshelf. Squall heads to the Dormitory Double in the far north of the Garden and gets some rest. Another thing the Speed Boost feature is useful for is getting through this area somewhat quickly. Afterwards, Squall returns to Quistis by the Front Gate and leaves the Garden. 29:24 - Balamb Region Squall heads east from the Garden towards the Fire Cavern. On the way, he goes around the forest, where highly dangerous T-Rexaurs prowl. I would not recommend tackling these dinos yet. East of the Garden, the party approaches the entrance to the Fire Cavern. 31:20 - Fire Cavern The party arrives at the Fire Cavern's exterior. As they step towards the cavern entrance, Quistis provides the Junctioning Magic tutorial. Many GFs have abilities that allow the party to junction magic to various stats, which will boost those stats by an amount based on the magic spell and the number of that magic spell in stock. This is the true power of magic in this game, not spell-casting. This replaces the function of equipment in most other JRPGs. Final Fantasy VIII has weapons, of course, but the effect of junctioned magic is far superior to weapon stat gains. Quistis can also provide a refresher on using Squall's gunblade. I skip it. Shiva comes with Spr-J, which allows her user to junction magic to the Spirit stat, or Spr. Quistis junctions Cure to Spr, which seems to have the greatest effect right now. Quezacotl comes with Mag-J, which allows his user to junction magic to the Magic stat, or Mag. Squall junctions Sleep to Mag, which seems to have the greatest effect at the moment. The party returns to the world map. 34:31 - Balamb Region The party saves. Later, they reenter the Fire Cavern area. 34:49 - Fire Cavern The party heads north towards the cavern entrance. In the Config menu, I boost the Battle Speed all the way to Fast and nudge up the Battle Message speed. The party talks to the faceless Garden Faculty members at the cavern entrance (35:17). Squall tells them he is ready to begin his mission to obtain a GF. Some dialogue takes place. The faculty members allow Squall to choose a time limit for this exercise. Having as little time as possible remaining will increase Squall's Judgment score when he completes his SeeD exam. So, he chooses 10 minutes, which is more than enough time if you know what you're doing. The time limit begins counting down when the party regains control. It will continue counting down in the main menu and during battle. The party enters the Fire Cavern (36:05). Brief dialogue takes place. Monsters can appear starting in the first screen of the cavern's interior. The random enemies include Bombs, Buels, and Red Bats. Bombs have high HP; the quickest way to defeat them is to summon Shiva. The other two are weak enough to defeat with physical attacks. Unlike most areas, regular enemies in this cavern are restricted to Level 5. The party goes east to the second screen of the interior (36:18). More brief dialogue takes place. Someone needs to loosen up. The party goes east and north to the third screen of the interior (36:36). They continue north to the fourth screen of the interior (37:22). There is a Fire draw point in the east. When the party encounters a Bomb, Quistis points out that Bombs are weak to ice-elemental damage. The Scan spell can be used to view enemies' vulnerabilities. GF Shiva reaches Level 4 and learns I Mag-RF. The party sets her to start learning the Str-J ability. The party continues north to the fifth screen of the interior (39:30). Quistis has a little dialogue. The party continues north to the innermost screen (39:42). An event takes place as they approach the hole to the north (39:45). After the event, it is boss time against Ifrit (40:00). Being the first boss of the game, Ifrit is not that tough. He uses fire attacks and is weak to ice-elemental damage. He can cast the Fire spell. His strongest attack is Jump Punch, which can deal about 100 points of damage to a party member. Ifrit will comment if the party summons Shiva. Shiva's Diamond Dust deals high damage to him. Ifrit has the following spells available to draw: Fire, Cure, and Scan. My party is good on all of those. The party can draw-cast the Cure spell to keep themselves healed. The most important aspect of this battle is to keep track of the time remaining. The timer disappears after the party wins the battle, but it continues counting down in the background during the results screen and the GF naming screen. For the best Judgment score, the party should confirm Ifrit's name on the naming screen when the time remaining is between 0:00 and 0:03. The party defeats Ifrit (45:31). Brief dialogue takes place. Ifrit can drop 3, 4, 5, or 6 G-Returners, which revive a GF from KO. Ifrit also drops Ifrit's Card, an excellent starting card. Bosses do not provide experience points, but they are often excellent sources of AP. Ifrit provides 20 AP. GF Quezacotl learns Card. The player earns the achievement "Ifrit" for unlocking Guardian Force Ifrit. After the party confirms Ifrit's name, a cutscene takes place (45:54). Quistis goes on to provide the Elemental Junction Tutorial. Ifrit provides Elem-Atk-J, which allows elemental junctioning to attack. He can also learn Elem-Def-J, which allows elemental junctioning to defense. Elemental attack junctioning allows one to add an elemental modifier to their attack. Elemental defense junctioning allows on to mitigate incoming elemental damage or even absorb it. All very interesting. Under the GF menu, the party sets Ifrit to learn F Mag-RF. Since Quezacotl has learned Card, they set him to learn Card Mod, a fantastic ability that lets the party refine items from cards. This makes the Triple Triad game actually useful. Squall junctions Ifrit. Besides Elem-Atk-J, Ifrit also has Str-J, which allows for junctioning magic to the Strength stat. Squall equips the Card command ability, which can turn monsters into cards. He junctions Thunder to Str and Blizzard to Elem-Atk. The party works their way out of the Fire Cavern. Squall can now basically solo the monsters on the way out of the cave. The Bombs will only require two hits apiece. GF Quezacotl reaches Level 4. Squall reaches Level 9. The party eventually emerges to the cavern's exterior (55:37). Then, they exit south to the world map. 55:50 - Balamb Region The party saves in front of the entrance to Balamb Garden. But before they return to begin the next portion of the story, they will take a side trip to the town of Balamb, where Squall will visit someone that can get the card game set up properly, if he is lucky. And if he is not lucky, we will just quit and reload the game until he is. Thanks for watching!

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Final Fantasy VIII Remastered Playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLIZ8kn0xML24xxIC8AiKtZt6DeqZywHwj