B-Garden School
-Rinoa comes in again on Squall sleeping. She heard him talking in his sleep, and won’t say about what.
-She wants to go for a walk with him. Not a tour, a walk.
-She doesn’t want him as a guard. She wants him just for company, and asks him in the trolliest Rinoa way.
-Last night, I kept thinking about that last session, and it hit me what Edea’s “SeeDs” must mean: she controls the Galbadia Garden now. I wonder what that place must be like, what changed.
-I could go ahead and continue with the story, but want to take a bit of a break. I keep getting salary based on my SeeD rank, so the sooner I raise it, the more I’ll get over time.
The knowledge is also valuable. The stuff I learn from studying for SeeD tests will benefit me more the sooner I learn it. Let’s take a few of these. I’ll write down questions I’m uncertain of as the test goes to come back to.
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Test #3
#1) “Potions can restore a GF’s HP.” I know that items called “Potions” cannot, but those G-Potions can. Badly worded question. I’ll assume it’s talking specifically about “Potions” and say no.
#7) “<Castle with an up sign> signifies Command Ability.” I’ll say no, but I can’t remember. I have to review the icons.
#8) “Each party member can have up to 5 character and party abilities.” I seem to remember some of my characters having 6. No?
#9) “Command abilities must be set to be used in battles.” I think so? Again, my terminology is confused. Gotta review this.
Got 9/10 that time. So close! I was wrong about the command ability logo. Changed that answer and passed it. SeeD rank 6 again.
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Test #4
#2) “Attack magic can be used against party members.” I haven’t tested this out. I assume it’s yes.
#6) “The magic Dispel cures poison.” Haven’t test that out. Probably – makes sense that it’d be like Remedy, since I haven’t seen “Cure Poison” as specific magic.
Oof. Got 70% that time.
Checked, and Dispel does NOT cure poison.
By the way, I’m checking now through the definitions of various spells and there’s just so much I didn’t know about! Some of the statuses these spells inflict when junctioned are brutal. Going to definitely spend some time exploring this list before setting out into the world again.
Let’s review the test again, with an eye towards questions I thought I knew but maybe don’t:
#7) “If you are KO’d with status change, but are revived after battle, the status change is removed.” I was so sure the answer was yes. Check this.
#10) “You can stock up to 255 of each magic.” I thought it was no, but I was thinking just on a per-person basis with the max of 99. Maybe it’s 255 across the party.
-Whoops! I kept saying higher vitality didn’t reduce physical damage because I’m so used to Vitality in RPGs defining your HP rather than damage reduction. It’s different in FFVIII.
-Adjusted my answers a bit, and 255 isn’t a cap. Got 9/10 that last time… there’s one thing I’m missing. What?
Attack magic actually CANNOT be used against party members apparently. Good to know that if Quistis ever gets pissed-at-us (hee!), she can’t just Flare Squall.
This is getting ridiculous. Come on, Coldrun. Go through it in depth.
#1) “Only Squall can use a gunblade.” Yes. Certain.
#2) “Attack magic can be used against party members.” No. Pretty certain.
#3) “There is an ability that allows you to make magic from items.” Yes. Refine.
#4) “Higher vitality reduces physical damage.” Yes. Certain.
#5) “Blue Magic is learned by being attacked by a monster.” No. Certain. I learn blue magic from items looted from monsters.
#6) “The magic Dispel cures poison.” No. Certain. Saw it in the definition of Dispel that it doesn’t.
#7) “If you are KO’d with a status change, but are revived after battle, the status change is removed.” Don’t know. Start out saying “Yes.” – YES = CORRECT
#8) “T-Rexaur is a monster that lives in Balamb Garden’s training center.” Yes. Certain.
#9) “Squall’s gunblade causes more damage by pressing B5 at the right time.” No. Certain. It’s B8.
#10) “You can stock up to 255 of each magic.” No, but I’m not certain. – NO = CORRECT
8/10. Two of those answers are wrong. Test piece-by-piece. First variable to change: the KO status thing. Change that from yes to no… nope. Went down to 7/10. That’s a yes.
Change up the 255 answer next… nope. Went down to 7/10. 255 is not the limit.
Fine. It’s something I took for granted. Go down the line.
-Very weird. I changed the first answer to “no” and went up to 9/10. Someone else can use a gunblade??
Got 10/10 finally. I made a mistake at some point, and it turns out that you CAN use attack magic against party members. Ok. But the big thing that has me hung up is the gunblade. How can I equip the Gunblade on someone else?
Do not want an answer on this btw. A part of me wonders if the answer is story-driven, if it’s about his sister… OH SHIT WAIT. No. Seifer was also a gunblade expert. Never mind. Forgot about that little *!#&%^.
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Test #5
#1) “<single person with up arrow> signifies Party Ability.” I’m pretty sure no, since I thought that three dudes with an up arrow was the icon for Party Ability. – “NO.” This sign was for Character Ability, not Party Ability.
#5) “A Character Ability must be set, otherwise it’s useless.” Gotta recheck the definition of this, but I think it’s no. Command Abilities are the ones that must be set. Or are Character Abilities the passive ones that you still have to set? – “YES.” Character Abilities are the ones that are more passive but still have to be set, like [Stat] +20%.
GF Abilities are the ones that are more purely passive and don’t have to be set, with the moon icon.
#6) “The higher the Speed stat, the better your chances of using a limit break.” I have literally no idea, but I doubt it. – “NO.” Speed just increases the speed of the ATB meter.
#7) “An Ability is something you learn by gaining EXP.” Again, not sure what “Ability” means here. – “NO.” Abilities are the things GFs learn, and they learn them with AP, not EXP.
#8) “Under Zombie, you succumb more easily to Holy attacks.” Makes sense, but only been zombified once or twice and didn’t see the definition. I don’t know. – “NO.” Zombie makes attack power go up while causing recovery items to cause damage. Nothing about being more vulnerable to holy magic.
#10) “You can steal Steel Pipe from a Wendigo.” Lol idk. I’ll have to guess and check this one. Start with yes. – “YES.”
-With yes on the Wendigo question, I got 9/10. With no, 8/10. I’m missing something still.
-Lots of trial and error and I eventually pass. Had to change the answer to #8. Zombies DO succumb more easily to holy attacks.
…
YOU THINK YOU MIGHT WANT TO PUT THAT IN THE STATUS ENTRY ON ZOMBIE GAME? HUH?
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Next time: Probably more learning. I really enjoy learning more about the inner workings of the game. Going to either take more tests or pore through the definitions of magic and junctions to improve my party set-up. This may take a few different sessions to get through – sorry if this and coming sessions seem a bit dry, but it’s fun for me and I’m super glad that FFVIII included these features in-game.
