Can You Beat Final Fantasy 8 Without Junctioning?

#canyoubeat #finalfantasy #finalfantasy8remastered
Thanks for watching! I'm sure I mispronounced a few things (Like Seifer) but I'm never 100% sure so I tend to give my best guess. This challenge was a struggle and might have been one of the more heavily researched challenge runs I've done.
Big thank you to Kaivel for all his help, the guy is a FF8 expert. Check out his speedruns if you're interested in how far this game can be pushed ➤ www.twitch.tv/kaivel?sr=a
Also find us here:
Twitch ➤ / ngpluslive
Discord ➤ / discord
Patreon ➤ / ngplus
Twitter ➤ / ngpluschannel
We stream on Twitch on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays at 20:30 GMT either here or on Twitch

[@NGPlusVideos]

Longest video I ever made! Please join the Discord server if you have any more challenge run ideas for us: discord.com/invite/fUzdCvYgrF

[@aegis062]

how do I get it to display PlayStation controls on the remaster is that a mod?

[@NGPlusVideos]

@@aegis062 No, I simply own the Playstation 4 version of the game

[@aegis062]

@@NGPlusVideos oh! cause at the bottom they show the pc remastered.

[@Zenriesz]

May I suggest ff13 no crystarium.

[@gero693]

Hey! I didn't know where to write to you, but i have an idea. Given that sometimes you guys don't know what to do next, maaybe, you could try to complete one of the many harry potter games without using magic. Honestly i don't think it's possible, BUT, you'have already done the impossible many times, so, who knows!

[@Alottapenisjokes]

I love the idea of the crisis level. Should've taken it to the extreme. "And then Zell found out that his shoelaces were open, so his crisis level increased." "Selphie had a nightmare last night, so her crisis level increased." "Rinoa accidentally put on two different socks, so her crisis level increased." "Irvine didn't have time to wash his hair this morning, so his crisis level increased." "Squall woke up happy and he caught himself smiling in the mirror, so his crisis level increased."

[@NGPlusVideos]

🤣

[@zenaasura1769]

I too caught myself smiling in the mirror so ive chucked the mirror out. Who wants to be happy am i right?

[@XTornado8198]

"Quistis discovered that her jacket didn't fit as well as it used to, so her crisis level increased."

[@LeoBeastmode]

@@zenaasura1769 If ever you find yourself smiling in the mirror, immediately do the Tidus laugh and reality returns to normal.

[@MrFirecasters]

I’ve played FF8 so many times in the last 23 years and I never knew about the crisi level before this video 😄

[@DevonCosmos]

I love how, ironically, this is one of the few runs that makes the Final Boss harder to defeat than the Superbosses.

[@CreepyHandedMan]

Why is it ironic?

[@chittockha]

The final boss junctions a metaphorical manifestation of Squall's idealogical power to themself.

[@jacobydove8213]

​@CreepyHandedMan bc in virtually all FF games the super bosses are designed to be harder than the end game boss, but this rule set turns tha on its head...

[@bragiodinsen4604]

@@chittockha my head cannon is that ultimecia is rinoa and ff8 is a time loop.

[@ifruend90]

@@bragiodinsen4604 I have that same head canon

[@Nusirra]

Funny how Raijin went from "I'm not gonna hit a woman" to just becoming a mad man by the time they meet him again in Pandora

[@ShinryuZensen]

Well, if that woman beats the crap out of you many times, I beat anyone would forsake his ideals eventually.

[@gaminggoddess85]

Rude also won't hit Tifa in FF7 because he has a crush on her.

[@remigusker6024]

@@ShinryuZensen fr. If I got the shit beat out of me by them and ran into them later I'd be like "Aight, ain't got no time for chivalry today!"

[@phantombroker6856]

I mean, he was blinded

[@joxidearmageddonator882]

Fair play for only resorting to The End when all other avenues were exhausted

[@NGPlusVideos]

Thanks, I like to add as much variety as I can too. Irvine needed a moment to shine, and his Dark Ammo was the answer to that.

[@marcosviniciusferreira6453]

I was like "I don't believe he didn't use the end on Seifer, I mean it's rare as all hell to even get it"

[@WannaComment2]

I love how, for the final boss, all of the theory crafting, strategizing and rng manipulation just circled back around to the tired and true "holding down the X button". We might not be using junctions, but that doesn't mean we can't kill the final boss playing like we do.

[@SMaster777]

@@NGPlusVideos Ah okay, I was just about to comment to the effect of "crying when you skipped a The End on Seifer 4" but if that was a deliberate choice of "Last resort only" then fair and completely valid.

[@ferinzz]

@@NGPlusVideos Shine within the darkness you yourself create :D

[@IzumiChenmeiru]

If you hold square down as you walk into the Centra Ruins, it skips the puzzle and warps you directly to Odin's chamber.

[@NGPlusVideos]

Upon researching this, you're right. Although, if you haven't done the puzzle first to activate the stairs, you trap yourself inside the ruins. This also gives you a default of 90 seconds to beat Odin too. Still kinda cool that it's a thing.

[@X.01_Cross]

Oh wow. That would save a ton of time. I always hated doing the ruins.

[@cubethepixel3025]

But why

[@patdeen3960]

Gotta farm those tionberrys anyway.

[@billhanshaw8297]

Sounds interesting never thought about that but gonna give it a try!* Bill😂😮

[@sachacha596]

Love that every character gets their own chance to be useful in this run!

[@NGPlusVideos]

Yes! Same! Even Seifer and Edea had their uses when they were playable too.

[@Evanz111]

I expected this to be a boring cheese-fest involving getting attack to hit for 9999 every time. Instead I got a gripping journey involving complex maths, specific movement patterns prior to a boss fight and a bizarre RNG manipulation to trigger a very rare spell - amazing work!

[@MarkofWisdom]

I love that there's an option that's just 'I win' and it actually works on bosses. Far too many games have those super moves or win button type things or situations that just remove enemies from combat, but bosses just null it, or the game mechanics prevent it for reasons, with one I remember being particularly grating was FFTA's enemy only law ribbons that prevent those units from being insta killed/despawned by the judge if they break the law. Given the in story thing of how they're all being made by a corrupt judge and handed to people that paid for it, it seems incredibly weird that they're so common and on many people who really should not have them, including enemies that have 0 connection or reason to get a law breaker ribbon like Babus Very neat run, and interesting to see how much you can do in the game even without using some of its primary mechanics

[@TheTriforceDragon]

Yojimbo in FFX can also do it with Zanmato, though the Gil cost to make it reliable against the bonus bosses is astronomical...I will fully admit I beat the Dark Aeon's of FFX by equipping Yuna with a weapon that had preemptive strike and then literally throwing money at Yojimbo hoping he would solve the problem.

[@xebatansis]

I had no idea you could input Zell' s Limit Breaks without getting the magazines first.

[@zachofragnarok3067]

Knowing absolutely nothing about Final Fantasy, I still am shocked at the pre-planning this must have taken, much less the patience and execution. The RNG manipulation strategy at the end, including the step count, is nothing short of genius. This may, in that way, be your best video yet!

[@matt_r.2510]

It's a really great video. I've watched it several times in segments.

[@supersaiyanzero386]

Omg play 7 8 and 9. Best games. 6-10 basically! Please experience them!

[@kyril98741]

And sometime I think some of the method are done because of dev make it possible to do so. The placement of npc and some of spell are illogical to be even developed/place by the dev without them taught we would use it to break the games.

[@tinkerer3399]

@kyril98741 I highly doubt that. This was still the era of massive game breaking bugs in Final Fantasy. Heck of the 4 games that were released in the west before this one 3 couldn't even do their base stats correctly (FF 1, 6, and 7). I highly doubt they were spending their time putting in challenge run aids.

[@Matt-ee9zc]

I've seen people fail seemingly far easier challenge runs and thought this was doomed from the start. I'm amazed that a) it's possible and b) you managed to achieve it; then you did the super bosses as well. I'm in awe. The biggest congratulations to you and thanks for uploading!

[@acemcwolf5445]

This man managed to preform a run that *Speedrunners* thought was impossible! Don't put anything past Plus.

[@RPGchallengeruns]

Great job, well done! I love how much time and research clearly went into making this video. You continue to be the Gold Standard for challenge running. Looking forward to whatever you decide to play next!

[@NGPlusVideos]

Thanks a lot. You dedicate a lot of time into your challenge runs too, and you're starting to get the recognition you deserve 😁

[@donaldmason-smith6771]

I am a huge FF8 fan, but I never knew that Zell could use unread combinations from the start before collecting them!

[@alfFINNERS]

“The mayor tries to take things into his own hands…” I spat out my coffee. Well done sir

[@oaga71625e]

Did you really spit out your coffee?

[@rwbyab7423]

I need context on why this is so funny. T.T

[@rvmaika5815]

@@rwbyab7423 Fisherman’s Horizon’s whole thing is that they’re pacifistic to a stupid degree. The mayor’s idea of taking things into his own hands is to go up to the invading fascists and ask them politely to leave.

[@rwbyab7423]

@@rvmaika5815 haha, classic punchline. Thanks!

[@reloadpsi]

​​@@rvmaika5815 He also refers to President Deling as an "acquaintance," unaware that he's been dead for a little while and a psychotic mage is the new President for Life of Galbadia. Squall's inner monologue puts it best: "he's dead."

[@Neptas]

I appreciate very much that you included bits outside of the challenge itself, like showing some extra items and tips. I've played and finished FF8 a few times, but there are still a few things I've learned.

[@renjack2667]

"Rinoa cares about Squall afterall" - 20:29 - That line was so halarious 😂

[@fyreoblar]

Well that was absolutely the craziest run of FFVIII I've ever seen. Well done

[@cuddlecakes7153]

Raijin: Won't attack a female The female in question: Berating him with toxic aliments and drowning him with water

[@ryanarnold4410]

Dont Kink Shame

[@White_Erasure_is_AntiWhite]

@@ryanarnold4410 Nah. Shame all the freaks.

[@RambunctiousFlan]

Love the shoutout to Kaivel! A few years back I streamed a playthrough of the FF8 Requiem Mod, and midway through he started hopping in on the streams and helping out a lot with coming up with strategies for the bosses; he especially helped with Ultimecia, teaching me the same step count manipulation you talked about here. Very kind and helpful guy, awesome to see props to him! Great vid my dude 👍

[@grimsleeper5945]

I play most RPGs blind without any knowledge of how the mechanics works on a technical level, so it was fascinating to see how someone with intricate knowledge of these systems could beat a game like this whilst not making use of probably its most fundamental mechanic. I admire your dedication and perseverance in making this all come together.

[@jakec9869]

Ff8 will always be my favourite. The one I grew up with. Can't say I understood junctioning when I was that young though. Looking forward to watching this run.

[@JimmyPageTV]

Mine as well 🎉

[@robertharper3114]

Yeah this is one of those games where you either love it, or hate it. When I was a kid, coming off the amazing FF7, I was kinda let down by the slow burn of the story, and the whiney protagonist in Squall. I also had no understanding of the junction system and the way leveling worked. I was annoyed feeling like I always had to use summons in battle to win, and I played until I was basically locked out of being able to progress any further, shortly after getting Diablos. Leveling up like I normally did in RPG games made the enemies rediculously strong, and I had no idea I was my own worst enemy. I put the game down, unfinished and hating it. I also thought the whole amnesia/orphanage storyline was stupid as hell. Looking back on the game now, I have a fondness of this period of gaming, and had no idea how bad the final fantasy series would really get after FFX. It's made me appreciate this game with a newfound respect.

[@MsReny]

same. replaying the game 🎮 while using the best junctions and strategies possible and it's like playing using cheat codes. idk how getting to disc 3 was even possible the first time.

[@Zappero]

It's my favorite as well! Replayed it more than 10 years ago following a guide to 100% it, but end up at 99% because I forgot 1 card. 😢

[@drown4994]

Same here. Playing FF8 on PS1 in my pyjamas on a Saturday morning after eating cereal is a very fond and warm memory of mine.

[@HorizonEdge]

What a fantastic video chief. That Ultimecia fight was easily the most entertaining and gripping boss fight I've ever seen. Absolutely inspiring.

[@WalkmanMc]

You're prob the best challenge runner out there, and my favorite one for sure. From the concept, to the passion and effort you put, to your great commentary. I just hope the algorithm appreciate your work as much this time, best of lucks man

[@1lomi901]

Check out Ymfah if you like infinitely hard challenges that does not seem possible at first glance

[@DanOShea90]

Incredible video from start to finish mate. Every single one of these is a banger but the amount of effort put into this one especially is just crazy. Really interesting to learn about mechanics that I never really delved into playing casually and enjoyed watching you solve the puzzle of each fight, really fun to watch and look forward to more FF challenges!

[@Jackedpure]

FFVIII is and always will be my personal favorite from the series, it was the first game i played at 5 years old and ive revisted it many, many times over the years. Always glad to see the new and creative ways people find to play and complete the game. I cant even begin to imagine just how long this had to take, but kudos to you for sticking it out, was a great watch.

[@Naxonax93]

My words exactly. His knowledge about the game is outstanding.

[@opethheimer]

Just started watching, but I wanted to say that it made me very happy that FF 8 is still getting recognition. It is my most favourite entry as well as my first game I played in my life. I also attempted this no-GF junctioning run about a year ago. I made it to Ultimecia but then I got stuck on Griever one-shotting me with Shockwave Pulsar. After about fifty retries, I put the challenge to rest indefinitely. Well then... off to watching the rest of the video. I'm already rooting for you. :)

[@noxialbi]

I usually very rarely comment on YT Videos, but the stuff you guys put up here is simply amazing. I'm literally lost for words. This channel deserves all the recognition it can get.

[@NGPlusVideos]

Thank you 😁

[@SuryaBudimansyah]

Nowadays I like to watch these kind of videos for an RPG game: One long video from start to finish, WITH commentary in the background, bonus point for interesting challenges; instead of 100+ parts, 1-hour each Let's Play series. But kinda hard to find in via search box so thank algorithm god I found those, including yours! Also FF8 is my first FF games and number 1 FF series!

[@ixion025]

internet in 2024, we have no more time :D 10 years ago you would comment the exact opposite i guess ^^

[@DanielRyanScott]

The KZbinr Casp does some that I enjoy, like FF7 items only. Hes small but funny and uncensored. For shorter funny challenge runs The Spiffing Brit and Mitten Squad (RIP, he has passed away so no new videos but he has a huge back catalog of very funny and interesting ones I still re-watch, like Fall Out New Vegas by reverse pickpocketing Mines only).

[@Leequidude]

I love watching this. It's a refreshing change from all the speedruns that I watch. Occasionally, I love to watch torture runs.

[@maurorodriguez9508]

This run would've been so much easier on ps1, you just had to open the cd case and you could just span do over until you found The End. The fact that you did it without that is just insane. Awesome video

[@Voeluspa45]

This is my favorite game. I play it once per year. I did not know this is possible. Kudos.

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

Dang. That's quite a video to be teased with, five minutes before bedtime on TECHNICALLY a Tuesday. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Always thought FF8 was underrated, but cannot imagine a more tortures challenge run for it!

[@NGPlusVideos]

I've always liked it, but I understand its flaws. Enjoyable non the less :)

[@erndaman8641]

You're a madman! I can't imagine the amount of patience you have. Such an amazing accomplishment!

[@dayphaser]

This is seriously the most insane ff8 challenge run I've seen mad props! I have watched this a couple times now and everytime it amazes me that u were able to do this.

[@rwbyab7423]

Finally finished with this one. This is actually the only big name FF game I've never played but you got me interested in checking it out now! Definitely gonna play a bit more casually though. Good run and thank you for the hard work! While I didn't attend any of the streams, I did get frequent discord notifications so I have an idea of just how much work went into this masterpiece!!

[@OniLink99999]

I'm thrilled to see this! Your Final Fantasy IX video was why I subscribed, and I'm really loving this one so far (still watching) =D I enjoy all of your content, but I personally find it a lot more interesting to see you tackle challenges which must be overcome within the game's standard mechanics, rather than with speed-run tricks or glitches. And RPGs are great for that!

[@Blue-ws1io]

When you beat the game without junctioning because you were too young to understand it.

[@OG_Gamer_Hoff]

I didn't know what to expect when I first started watching this video. By the end, I loved it! This is a unique way to tackle a game. I can't wait to see more from the channel 🤙

[@yungskeleton-wotvffbe8939]

I absolutely love your channel. Such amazing production value, charismatic personality and CRAZY challenges! Keep up the amazing work.

[@NGPlusVideos]

Thanks so much!!

[@OverratedGames]

This was so fun! Except Angelo during Ultamecia, what in the world dog... Still, this has quickly become the channel i most hope to see notifications from!

[@DennGreenIII]

This is my favorite game of all time, I've beaten it many times, but I never would have imagined that winning with nothing but the attack command was possible. Thank you for all the MANY hours you undoubtedly sank into this challenge just to entertain us. What a cool accomplishment!

[@Wully101]

Your commitment to these challenges is amazing. Commentary and humour are top notch. Thanks for the entertainment!

[@TheTrueAmaghedon]

oh look, the way i tried to play as a kid because i didnt understand the junctioning system!

[@Corvus8]

There is no way I don't "do over" The End limit break pressing it that fast. Well done.

[@Mantosasto]

When I was a kid I always wondered if you could do this, I wanted to, but it was impossible for me. The idea came mainly because junctioning is part of the story if I remember correctly, junctioning GF's price is losing memories. I wanted to get to the scene where that happens and see if anything changed because the characters shouldn't have lost their memories that way lol

[@justind901]

Right? But to be fair. They’ve been using GFs during their SeeD training ever since arriving at the Garden I’d imagine. Even before their story with the player begins.

[@Mantosasto]

@@justind901 That makes sense, but Irving doesn't have such a memory loss and says it's because he started using GFs recently iirc. He's a SeeD like the rest of them, so that's weird. Maybe Galbadia just produces sub-par SeeDs haha

[@user-zd6du4iv3g]

Wow i cannot express how much i appreciate this fascinating vid, the editing was incredible and there was never a dull moment. I beat this game for the first time a few days ago, as I failed to fully understand the junctioning system as a kid. It's now become possibly my favourite FF game that I've played. Super weird and unique levelling system. If i did not see this video with my own eyes I would've expected this challenge to be absolutely impossible. Thank you for the good times!

[@funkyfox7996]

ultimecia's greatest gambit was making rinoa learn angelo strike while puppeting her in space

[@Farimere]

Did not know that the first Edea fight could be skipped if Squall is just dead. Learn something new every day.

[@greyscaleadaven]

I had never really ventured into FF8 at all prior to this video, but despite what little I'd seen of it I had a great time watching. A lot of the game mechanics really surprised me in how complex and unique they were, I can definitely see why people like this game now. Props for making such a well structured and edited video. (I'm a FF5 guy myself, just can't help but love the complex job system, surprisingly well written characters, and absurdly hard superbosses)

[@NovemberJoy]

Finally got a chance to watch this one - it is an insane achievement, and you did a good job explaining and showing it off! There was a surprising amount of strategy for a playthrough that can only ever use the "Attack" command.

[@Shinfate]

Wow. That was extremely impressive. I enjoyed watching this video a lot. You have put so much work into this project. I have so much respect for you. That must have been exhausting and frustrating and yet extremely satisfying in the end.

[@NGPlusVideos]

Thank you very much. You're right, it was quite an ordeal, but worth it for sure

[@comet9990]

FF8 is well and truly my favorite game in the series, and was the first one I ever played, and it's so gratifying to hear someone pronounce Seifer and Quistis the way I do! Your enjoyment of the game super came through in this video, and I found myself completely captivated for the entire duration even though I'd only meant to watch a few minutes to see if I wanted to queue it up for later. Thanks so much for making this video, I love seeing people enjoy my favorite game that seems so maligned by a lotta FF fans!

[@Citizen_Nappa23]

This is insanity at full force a healthy respect for quite a feat, never thought such a thing was possible.

[@TimmyNuggets]

Loved the commentary. I learned a few things from you, even after beating this game a couple times.

[@DonYagamoth]

I recently played through FF8 for the first time, and I feel like I can appreciate this run a lot more than I did watching it the first time (although it was fun both times ^^) Thank you for your fun videos, and taking us alongside you on your journey :)

[@blyzz6183]

Nitaj12 Here from the stream, it was very fun

[@ArceusDX]

And this is why Selphie is the strongest FF character in existence

[@juliuscasar7202]

becouse of stupid ps1 mechhanics Oo? seriously the gameplay from ff8 is horrofying bad

[@Jester_Jean]

@@juliuscasar7202 what a horrifyingly bad take

[@juliuscasar7202]

@@Jester_Jean forced to play cards, forced to junction. and enemies even Level with you. dunno how it can be worse.

[@Jester_Jean]

@@juliuscasar7202 you are not forced to play cards at all, junctioning is just your "equipment" . Still a bad take

[@juliuscasar7202]

@@Jester_Jean nah ff7 doesnt have such stupid mechhanics.

[@asrieldreemurr1988]

Amazing video I am in awe of the effort you put into these

[@lildan169]

You're an absolute legend for this! That's some serious dedication!

[@Killtacboy]

I'm a huge FF8 fan and this was an amazing run!

[@JG-uj7oo]

this is amazing, if only I knew how intricate this game was when i was a kid

[@withbravado1548]

Love your videos. Really digging this one!

[@PMJ1234567890]

I've never played this game. I still found this video interesting to watch and watched it through to the end. I see you've got a video on FF9 that I am about to go check out. Appreciate the work that was put into this.

[@oliverpascoe9679]

The real challenge was coming up with all those creative pronunciations 😂 Great video x

[@twilliamspro]

From the start my response was "Yes but with great difficulty"

[@RPGchallengeruns]

Haha that was my reaction too!

[@masremlap7326]

What a run. I never thought this was possible. Excellent run sir!

[@aBlackMage]

Wow, I've beaten this game several times over and I did not know you could input all Duel commands immediately. With Weapons Monthly, I assume that's intentional, but I'm not so sure here. Great video by the way. I've been watching (FF) challenge runs for over a decade and it's great to see them finally reaching this level of production quality and widespread appeal!

[@bankylaw3745]

I remember playing this when it came out in the 90s and using do over to try get aura. I was going quite fast and the end came up. I'd never seen it before and accidentally skipped past it. I never saw it after and thought I imagined it.

[@BrianM_3rd]

Holy moly, that video length. Welp, that's my dinner time entertainment sorted for the next week 😁 Love classic FF, love your brand of insane determination, can't wait to watch!

[@NGPlusVideos]

Thanks a lot :)

[@gustavomenezes12]

This is amazing, the planning needed to pull off all of this is simply amazing.

[@thejuiceweasel]

I love FF8 so much, it's my favorite in the series and one of my GOATs. Awesome idea for a challenge run, and great commentary!

[@YourIgnit]

fun fact, as a 7 year old i fell in love with the turn based attack system and killing monsters. used birthday money to buy it, and just wanted to kill monsters so i wasnt interested in the dialog and wanted to get strait into the training ground i watched people killing monsters in. i didnt know how to progress past putting on the seed uniform, i had squall level 58 before i even done the seed exam. didnt know how to junction untill it told you before saving ellone. never thought to junction any gfs to anyone other than squall untill i was stuck on the oilboyles for what seemed like eternity, in reality it was about 3 and a half weeks of failure.

[@CesarTorres61296]

Holy shit

[@rikudaman]

You should try the Freelancer only challenge in FFV. I don't imagine it will be as much of a struggle as this. I made it to the final dungeon but couldn't overcome the last few bosses but it was really fun.

[@NovemberJoy]

It'd be interesting if he tried a similar challenge. I'm doing something kinda like this as well, but more restrictive - I think it's beatable with the right strategy.

[@Kruggov]

I've read about someone doing a solo Freelancer challenge and the guy described it like playing as Batman - you have a billion different tools due to all the equipment, but you have weak stats. So freelancers only should be much easier than this.

[@rodrigoluz2040]

Very nice video man! I'm a fan of FFVIII and it was a really fun ride you took us on!

[@Inkwelder]

This was SO much fun to watch!!! Love this game, but also just loving your content so much. I found you from watch @Tantacles and both of you make my favorite content to consume ❤🎉

[@Faceless_time_traveler]

I'm not a fan of Final Fantasy VIII , but this run was very entertaining and exciting to watch , great job

[@Chrisofthemount]

The best FF ever made. Great job!

[@GooseGumlizzard]

based and VIIIpilled

[@raimarulightning]

Copium

[@JohannesBee]

Excellent work! The RNG manipulation and consulting of the tables near the end of the run was insane.

[@johnyalkosebre7993]

Fantastic content. Thank you and keep up the good work!

[@WoobertAIO]

0:38 Max level in FF8 is 100? Bro that's so cursed somehow

[@Wajulillo]

Congratz man! That was an awesome run!

[@madelinee.7299]

Had the subtitles on from another video and seeing the opening second chanting described as "vehicles" sent me into cackles that lasted the entire video. Thank you so much for the videos, and I doubt there's that much interest, but I'd love to see an Etrian Odyssey challenge of some kind!

[@Antifrost]

FF8 is my favorite FF game and one of my favorite games of all time, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw this video pop up. From the title alone, my experience with the game told me that Limit Breaks would be the star of the show. I seem to have remembered hearing that enemies scaled with Squall's level specifically rather than the average level of the party, but trying to look that up now seems to confirm I was wrong. Regardless, I could see this run going one of three ways. 1) High-damage Limit Breaks to get through bosses as quickly as possible (Squall, Zell, and Irvine would be my choice for this strategy). 2) Versatile Limit Breaks to access effects you wouldn't have otherwise (Quistis and Selphie have those, maybe Rinoa but she's RNG-dependent if I remember). 3) Cheese it with The End. Now that I've finished watching, I'm kinda glad that it involved all three of my supposed strategies. Sure, there are parts where the party is split up and you have to work with what you have, but I think it would have been a lot less interesting if you did the same tactic for every boss throughout the video. This turned out to be a fascinating project, I'm thoroughly impressed with the results and it reminded me of a few things I had forgotten about (like how much damage Quistis can do with Blue Magic). I still stress that the Junction system isn't that complicated and if I could manage it as a kid then anyone else can do it too, but that's an essay of a comment for another video :P

[@Rath_9]

Wow that run was insane

[@yunakitty2]

This is amazing! I have played this game through a dozen times, but I still learned a few new things! I wish item was available without junctioning though, that would be cool to see.

[@TwighlightPrince1]

I have discovered this channel a few days ago. I love this channel now. I especially enjoy the specific emphasis on “we wIN” you do.

[@sciverzero8197]

For the exactly zero people who asked: Renzokuken is a combination of two words. Renzoku, meaning 'a things that continues or repeats, or to be repeated or continuous' and Ken meaning 'sword.' Also for those people: Quistis Trepe is _officially_ pronounced 'Kwisstiss Tsreep,' (like tsunami. I don't know why, but that's how it was written and it doesn't even make sense in japanese) and Seifer is 'Sigh-fer'. Squall is literally the english word squall, as in the video, meaning a windstorm. (Squall's associated element is wind, and Seifer's is fire. I don't know the others' for certain, but they have them even if they don't matter). Selphie is as one expects, identical to the new english word selfy (though it wasn't a word when this game was made) as in the video. Rinoa is as in the video. Zell is as in the video. Irvine Kineas is 'Er-vine Kin-E-Ahss' Edea is 'E-day-ah' Iguion is a combination of Iguana and Lion, and are pronounced likewise 'ig-why-on'. Deling, in spite of what most people would assume, is pronounced 'Dell-ing'. Galbadia is 'Gahl-bah-dee-ah' The space vessel Ragnarok is numbered '6' because 'Ragnarok' and 'Laguna 6' are both 'ra gu na ro ku' in japanese. The ships are all named after Laguna, basically. Biggs and Wedge are as always, a reference to Star Wars (yes that is actually true in spite of being a Japanese game.) And that's for the most part, all of the names I typically see people questioning or arguing over. All pronunciations and meanings are based on the original japanese phonetic text.

[@sciverzero8197]

One extra bit of trivia. Limit breaks are not determined when your ATB fills up, but rather when the character menu is opened, meaning you can rapidly spam the character switch button (triangle) when any condition that increases the crisis level above nothing is active, to always get a limit break. (You will have to get very good at reacting to audio cues when trying to get a limit with low crisis level as they don't happen often and you can easily skip over it and spend a long time skipping again to get another one, however, if you have any status effect or at least 30% of your health missing, you can ALWAYS do a limit break with enough turn swapping)

[@MrDark086]

@Sciver Zero that last name for Quistis, though, feels awful on the tongue ngl. Also love the funi cat pfp

[@Cloudef]

And in Swedish renzokuken means "clean the dick"

[@hijack3979]

An idea for a challenge if you want to do another final fantasy game. No changing or altering the Paradign system in FF13. Dont know if it would be easy or hard, but just a thought. Loved the vid keep up the great work!

[@velvetbutterfly]

It depends. Are you allowed to change the party? Because it randomly generates 3 whenever the part is altered. Or if you only mean in battle, it'd take a while but could easily be done after you unlock upgrading equipment since COM/RAV with a SEN/MED or even SYN/SAB can beat most fights.

[@hijack3979]

@Velvet Butterfly its honestly been so long since I've played but I remember the game having preset "classes" for each character. My idea was basically youre stuck with those. Changing in battle would make it more interesting since you'd be stuck in a singular role. But I remember everyone getting access to every role at somepoint and I dont remember if the game gives you more options for prebuilt Paradign. As for changing party members again thats something I hadn't even thought of.

[@velvetbutterfly]

@@hijack3979 each character starts with a number of roles. The lowest is Sazh who only starts with one, while Hope, Snow, and Fang start with 3. Upon forming a Party, be it through story or manually swapping characters from Chapter 9 onwards, the game gives you 3 Paradigms in your deck (you can have up to 6 in your deck) made up of each character having a role. In chapter 10 you unlock the ability to learn all roles with everyone but it takes a lot of CP and even if you do the game will never give you these roles within the initial random set up when swapping parties. From what I can tell the story has scripted decks it gives whenever the party is forcefully swapped. However if you manually swap the party, it's pseudo random. It seems to have some algorithm to make sure you have one solid combat paradigm and tries to give you one for healing/support with one kinda being just what it can while using other roles, typically being a mix between offence and support but I saw some weird ones.

[@hijack3979]

@Velvet Butterfly That sounds exactly how I remember it. Thank you for clearing that up a bit more. Again, I don't have any idea if this would make for a hard challenge run but an interesting one for sure. FF13 was my first introduction to the series, so even though it has a bit of a black sheep background, I still have a soft spot for it.

[@velvetbutterfly]

@@hijack3979 considering all the memes, I think it would actually be interesting to see if the game could infact play itself. No change parties or the paradigms, no items or Techniques. Not even selecting or cancelling commands, only using auto battle and whatever the game gives you

[@JoshWiniberg]

I love how many ways there are to play this game. Great work!

[@Talamino]

Always a pleasure when I see a new video of yours pop up!

[@oniricwaves6705]

FFVlll got me into RPG's back in the early 2000s and now seeing how much of dedication people has put into it is amazing, thanks for taking the time of breaking the game like this and showcasing to people, truly magestic!

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

It feels like The End is making up for the horrible nightmare that is Cait Sith's slots and it forcing you to die unless certain conditions are met.

[@KopperNeoman]

"Certain conditions" being double-tapping Confirm. It's really easy to cheese.

[@efesti2986]

2023 and I still discover new stuff about this game, is amazing, great video!

[@Hardest]

Don't find any words, very well accomplished! Congrats! 🎉

[@roby2394]

I thought I knew everything about the game, but I've never heard about how to finish the battle against Edea in CD1 faster 😲

[@leftoflove]

I think I tried this challenge as a kid. not on purpose though 😂 I just mashed through all the text. it's a wonder I even got off the first disk

[@spong266]

I did similar, I junctions GFs but no magic. got as far as the white seed ship before my friend saw me playing and was like 'what the fuck are you doing?'

[@noda420]

Sir you have earned yourself another precious subscriber! Keep on the awesome work

[@deucemcallister13]

This was a rad video, man. Great job!

[@FlameJackstar]

I played FF8 as a kid and I'm pretty sure I have no idea how the system worked. I got pretty far...