Hey. So now that this video has gained a bit of popularity in the lasts few weeks (after sitting at less than 1k views for almost 2 years, wtf youtube?) I can address some of the questions and concerns raised in the comments: 1. Yes, this is not a very difficult challenge, and is in fact probably the most optimal way to play the game if you want an easy time. Still it was a lot of fun. Consider this a guide, a discussion, or at the very least a visual documentation of a no level up run. 2. I could have used Siefer or Edea to level up my GFs and learn abilities without leveling up my regular party members. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in the video but I was also trying to get the lowest amount of EXP possible, a kind of bonus challenge, so I didn't do this. 3. Because of the above self-imposed challenge (no EXP) it is NOT possible to get Squall's ultimate weapon Lion Heart. You need pulse ammo to craft it, and you can't get pulse ammo without leveling up Ifrit to access the Ammo-RF skill. There is no other way in the game to get pulse ammo. Also it's not really needed at all anyway. If I think of anything else I'll add it here. Thanks for stopping by!
UA-cam has a very finite number of videos… It seems endless but it really isn’t. UA-cam Will drag its claws through videos that have gotten greater than X number of views X number of years ago at a constant rate.. videos that get engagement while in this cycle get reinserted into the algorithm. As soon as engagement stops for a period of time the number of impressions you are offered are reduced.
@@TrillShatner Yeah, I've noticed. Since the beginning my philosophy has always been to just make videos for fun, the kind that I would want to watch and if they get views, that's great. So it's not a big deal to me, just an observation. But I really feel for smaller content creators who are trying to make videos to pay the bills and have to deal with youtube's wacky algorithms. There's some really well crafted videos out there with little to no views while the most inane, low effort, lowest common denominator stuff is what gets millions. Sad, really.
@@minimumBoss If you combine anything trending with your content you will get traffic... But it is all timesensitive... For instance: Ishowspeed showed his pp on stream... Ishowmeat still trending.. No-Meat playthrough FF7 (I eat only greens)... include ishowspeed as a hashtag in the title and do the whole "In honor of ishowspeed's new meatmarket I am blah blah....".. Just an example of what grinding creators do every other video.
If you got the time. You can grind 100 full life for each character from the hidden draw point in the missile base takes a few hours of running in circles to get it to refill. Then with around 200k gil can draw 100 ultimas from the draw point in shumi village once you get mobile garden. Similar to the one in missile base. just run circles in the area until DP refills.
There is a way to get a few pulse ammo without ifrit, but not enough for the lion heart. You can only get them without the ammo refine skill by mugging a galbadean soldier in FH as Irvine after a grease monkey knocks him out after having previously helped the grease monkey yourself.
This is how I play the game already; do full no level up runs. The bosses don't even give exp because as stated Leveling up actually makes this game harder.
The only question i wanted answered is actually how to avoid exp on forced fights against humans and how to avoid exp getting the necessary ap for card and card mod. Less than lvl 10 run is the easiest challenge in rpg's. Less than 2, actually really hard
@@212mochaman By using only bosses to gain ap for a little while. During seed mission kill squall and zell and let seifer kill things. Run from most humans or use break magic (petrified enemies only gives exp for damage done, not for dying so it way less then normal exp). Later on you'll want to get tonberry king as soon as possible to lvl down enemies for less exp. Till then card, break, or run.
I loved the junction system. I also remember seeing the FF8 cutscenes for the 1st time and telling my friend, "What if real gameplay actually looks as good as these cinematic some day?!" FF8 was such a jump in fidelity compared to FF7.
I mean while it's impressive in other JRPG, a Low Level Challenge in FFVIII is basically the optimal way to play this game. The equivalent to Low Level in FFVIII is the No Junction challenge
Without even watching the video not leveling in 8 actually makes the game way easier, since you can still max your stats through junction and enemies stay low level
I found early AP grinding in the training area of garden much more efficient in the long run as you have a chance to card both available enemies into a Shumi card which can refine into Gamblers Spirit which can teach your other characters the Card ability
@@rtiq270 It's not praised often for anything because it doesn't do anything particularly well lol. It's not bad, but every part of it had already been done better by its predecessors and was quickly overshadowed by its successors. It's very much a middle child of the series.
@@rtiq270or it’s done so that way the game is constantly a challenge, even though it’s not really a hard game at all. I like the junction system I just hate the tediousness of the draw system.
@@MetalArielthird strongest available at that stage. Its preferred by and large cause the 2 better ones require 50 ruby dragon cards for 1 character, or to sacrifice the quistis card
@@212mochaman You can also Card the Buels in Ifrit Cave and the caterpillars outside of the cave for the rare cod mods to get Holy and Flare, Turning you into an absolute beast at the start of the game.
That triple entendre tho with that "drawing board" part. "Drawing" because of drawing magic. "Bored" because it gets boring and tedious. "Drawing board" as in, needing to go back to the drawing board for new ideas. It's not every day you hear thee ol trip. 👍
The way I killed Ultima Weapon my first time (I never forget the process), was through Phoenix Pinion. I had farmed them previously, and had a bunch. so when I went down, after all the fights and no save (I didn't knew about the hidden save-spot), I fought with my life on the line, and then I died, and I was like "NOOOOO" until Phoenix suddenly appeared, damaged him and healed me... Ultima killed me soon after, but Phoenix appeared again! This process repeated until Ultima Weapon died. So there is this strategy that I never see being used around in low level runs.
This challenge is even more busted in the old FFVIII version with the Chocobo World minigame. You can infinitely farm Spd Up and make Rinoa's speed 255. Remove all her attack spells except Meteor, and she can pretty much auto battle Omega weapon with the angel wing limit break :D
Breaking the game is exactly what I did on my first playthrough. This is before guides were available. In fact, the game actively encourages you to use the card game to break it. Without the card game, getting spells would be horrendously too expensive to use.
Oh yeah I remember doing a no level playthrough and it's so worth it especially on the Steam version, on the PS1 version not so much. Lots of card playing and refining after turning monsters into cards to avoid the experience gains.
personally, i really like the card-item-magic-junction synergy of this game. certainly it's best feature, but also the thing that breaks it's back. in terms of gameplay, 8 is my least favourite because it's in your best interest to make every character the exact same in terms of junctioning. so in the end the only things that matter are limit breaks. Squall, Irvine and Zell being the best. special mention to RInoa Angel wing for chance to cast multi hitting spells like meteor, and Selphie for also being able to cast meteor early and having THE END spell. which murders everything in the game one shot. even Omega if i remember correctly. techincally 7 and 10 had the same problem where in the end limit break total hits was the deciding factor in party set up, but that took a MUCH longer time to set up. in FF8 you can get over 8K hp and high 100's in every stat by the end of disc one if you card enough....
I remember juctioning Ultima (or any magic with high value, really) on mag stat and then cast Tripple Meteor usually kill stuffs very easily. It's more convenience than Limit Break, imo. It can be used whenever, by anyone, and it's AoE too.
@@ziennsunfield1381 Triple spell animations take way too long compared to something like Zells Fight limit break. Not to mention 1 limit break can hit the enemy 20-30 times if you are really good at mashing the right buttons and you can use limit break again the next turn if your characters hp is low enough. Limit breaks in FFVIII are insanely broken and they are the sole reason why you can beat this game with no junctioning.
A great FF8 video, i imagine this will and probably already has inspired quite a few people to play the game with a completely new playstyle. I was very much aware of how the game truly works, having played the game religiously over and over since i was a child. Still had to watch the video due to my love of the game and the effort really shows in the editing quality! Btw: Square, PLEASE give the junction system one more try! It's by far the most complicated FF stat system, and i'm all for it! Way too l hate. It'll never happen but one can always wish for a miracle..
Thanks! We're in the days where game development barriers are as low as ever, and spiritual successors are popping up all the time. Maybe we'll someday soon see an indie team bring us a modernized junction system.
sure its easier when you break the game, i recommend to everyone, new players especially to have a few regular play throughs without guides or cheeseing the game you will appreciate the struggle it can be much more, excellent video i really enjoyed the flow.
18:40 that theory is already been disproven by the director himself. The ice didnt price his heart, it was his shoulder may believe what you like, but i cant run around claiming haurchefant didn't die, he got isekai'd and lives his life as a vending machine
I love the end game in this game... Spoiler:. . . . . . . . . . . . President: Okay, let's be real, we all know that whatever we do, we're going to fail. Squall has my blood, and he's the main character, so it's going to happen. So here's the plan. We're going to, and follow me on this, lose on purpose.
Watching this while at the tail end of my own low lvl run. I love seeing what you did different than I did. Sorry you did this on the OG. The remaster makes it so much less tedious (I did it on the OG when I was much younger haha)
i know that 6/7/10 are usually the most beloved FF's and 8 gets a LOT of flak because the junction system can be so confusion and overwhelming as HELL if you dont know what youre doing, and using magic lowers stats which is counterproductive...but the junctioning/refinement system is honestly one of the coolest and most fun mechanics in just about any final fantasy game. there's SO much customization and things you can do with it.
FF8 is one of the few final fantasies that punishes you for getting XP. The game changes the enemy types as you level, as well as their power and moveset. It scales to player level. It is one of (if not the only) where doing this is possible...and if you junction right it's actually not all that difficult
Obligatory "you shouldn't level up anyway cause it makes the game harder" comment. But no seriously, enemy levels scale to your own and that ups their stats. Way easier if you just stay as low level as you can while junctioning the best stuff you can. Supposedly every enemy in the game goes off this system according to the FF8 wiki.
I'm today years old when I fucking realized that the FF8 version of "Ultimate Weapon" (31:37) is a modified version of the FF7 one, HOLDING the Ultima Weapon (Clouds Sword). 🤦
How has this video not blown the **** up? It's incredible. Edit: I'm confused about Lionheart. I swear you can get it very early in the game without much issue. Does Ifrit not get Ammo Refine until X Level? :)
I'm seeing a lot of comments about this. Ifrit does NOT get ammo refine until level 10. I think people are just remembering incorrectly. Or something changed in the steam version, which as far as I can tell it's the same.
That was awesome! I've also been really fond of the junction system. I tried the opposite of this once when I was a kid, where I levelled up as much as I could be bothered to, but only got as far as The Brothers before it got too difficult and I had to abandon it. Also, lol at all the "well actually" comments who clearly didn't bother to watch the video.
Can I "inject" a recommendation for run I did just this morning? >no character's level up >no weapon remodelling >no Quezacotl, meaning no carding enemies and you can't turn cards into items >beat the game with less than 100 kills (there is an achievement / trophy for 100 kills in remaster) >you can swap GF but you are allowed to have only 1 GF equipped per character I kid you not, without card command / abuse this run is actually fun. I still haven't beat Omega though (but I am trying) and I didn't get certain GFs for obvious reasons (20 Tonberry kills would ruin this run). EDIT: killed her. I can confirm that you can beat Omega legit, without The End limit, and you don't neet invincibility. Btw, I'm curious how did you beat Ruby Dragon with Break. I cast Break over 200 times, nothing. I managed to beat it when I junction Break to Siren's STAT-ATK. One more thing... At 20:27 you come back at Balamb Garden. You probably know this, but I'll write it anyway. Say you are against Cid. Visit every location. Every time you see people in danger, ignore the problem. When you visit areas where Garden Faculty asks you for help, say you are assigned to another area. Go to that part where the stage is, and when students ask you whose side are you on, say you are with headmaster; you will get some items. Finally, go to cafeteria and when you talk to Garden Faculty say you are done with pretending. He will summon one bomb and you can defeat it with Break. Talk to students in cafeteria and they will tell you about Xu. This way you will fight JUST ONE battle/enemy before going after Xu.
Not sure why this was even a question lol. This game is perhaps even easier to beat without leveling up. It breaks the game. Honestly, the game as a whole is extremely easy. Once junctioning is understood, anyone can beat the game with a random assortment of spells. The only exception might be the secret bosses. Other than that, the game is too easy. People beat this game with just the Attack Command lol.
No Mention of the almost "Permanent All" Card Rule from the card queen. There seems to be a limited amount on this rule as winning 5 cards constantly seems to eventually reset the rule to "One" because its seen as cheesing but you can get many cards and faster by talking to the card queen.
The love story wasn't forced, it was decently implemented, though it could have been better, yes. And time compression does make sense when you read deeper into it. Besides that, the story does have some shortcomings like not giving enough spotlight/development to some characters, but it's still an awesome tale.
If the only condition is you don't gain experience, then you only need to go a limited distance to test if it's possible. Given your rules, it is absolutely possible if not beneficial to not level up. The first things you will have to aim to learn as regards abilities are I-Magic Refine on Shiva and Card on Quetzlcoatl. After the Dollet mission, the challenge is already complete. If Seifer and Edea are okay with gaining EP, you can level most GFs to LV 100 without leveling any permanent party members. Superior strategy is carding Grats until you have two Gambler Soul items, so everybody can card enemies. I'm not exactly remembering any piece of the Lionheart that requires a leveled-up GF, but I think, if one is required, it is one that can be leveled with Edea. Oh, you're referring to Ifrit's Ammo-RF. As long as you're okay with Seifer leveling as he's not a permanent member, you can easily do this in Disc 2. Farming spells from enemies is generally unneeded as soon as you have gotten Diabolos, simply by the amount of cards you can mod with Quetzlcoatl by that time.
given that the games dificulty scales based ony our parties level and our stats are deterined by junctions not leval you actualy made the game 'easier' in the long run doing this.
My friend kept squall KO throughout his play. His team members leveled up and every fight was a joke. His favorite boss fight with this method was against Raijin and Fujin. The max damage the boss could do was around 20 to 10 damage total.
I don't mind the junctioning system, but I hate the enemy scaling with you part. It's just so dumb. "We're gonna try and prevent people from over-leveling, so instead they're going to get powerful junctions and under level." If a system can be abused, it will be. The fact that you can abuse this isn't the problem, rather the fact that this is incredibly counter-intuitive, which is all enemy scaling ever does.
I remember renting this as a kid and spending the weekend with my cousin eating pizza and taking turns playing it we managed to beat it like an hour before the video store closed and it would have been late
Not sure if it goes against the spirit of your challenge, but you can level up Siefer during the Dollet mission and have him draw high-level spells from the enemies. His level doesn't affect your average level since he's not a permanent member, and the spells make the rest of the game a cake-walk.
It's basically a requirement if you want to min/max to never level up (or avoid exp gain at all costs). Unfortunately, Squall has to level up to about 13 through mandatory fights from what I remember.
Squall starts at level 7 and the game can be beaten without Squall or anyone else gaining a single level. Most mandatory fights can be dealt with using Card or Break to petrify the enemy, thus gaining no exp. There are only a few mandatory fights where this doesn't work but its not enough to gain a level.
@@75190255508 No Way. There are a number of battles where you are completely forced to gain XP. I tried it more than once to get zero exp on Squall and I remember that his stats are always lower by the end of the game compared to characters like Selfie, who you can pocket until you power level at the end game. I went through the pain of beating omega weapon without using the card game for hero drinks. I used the one invincibility item that you get through the story. I definitely went hard enough on the game to know that Squall is a required character in a lot of boss fights where you can't use the Card ability.
@@rabbyd542 Yes way. There are a few enemies you can't run away from, Card or Break but there aren't enough of them for you to be forced to gain a level. I have done this more than 30 times by now and the Steam version even has an achievement for it called "Contrived Finish".
@@75190255508 Whatever sweatyness that requires is way beyond what I had imagined then. Maybe I was gaining exp in the flashback scenes by accident but it's incredibly tedious to avoid every last exp and, frankly, not even close to required. Lionheart is already OP anyway and it takes like 8 hours per character to min/max to begin with.
Hi, when playing FF8 I was using a similar method to not level up until I got Cactusr GF that has bonus level up ability. With that I was able to power up my team. One thing I don’t understand during the fight with Omega Weapon. Why do you use aura if you party is already able to use limit breaks due to critical HP?
The game teaches you that timers are deadly but then Odin, the guy who always killed you in earlier games for not being fast enough, doesn't kill you for running out of time. Way to not follow your set precedents, game.
Honestly, the way I see it from what I remember of the junction system, is that it's a paradise for those who love to min max, and an absolute annoying mess for more casual players who just wanna play this like your typical, normal final fantasy game.
Yes you can, I've done this with my playthrough, just use card mod on most random battles. You won't get the final Squall limit break but it's still really doable.
Hey. So now that this video has gained a bit of popularity in the lasts few weeks (after sitting at less than 1k views for almost 2 years, wtf youtube?) I can address some of the questions and concerns raised in the comments:
1. Yes, this is not a very difficult challenge, and is in fact probably the most optimal way to play the game if you want an easy time. Still it was a lot of fun. Consider this a guide, a discussion, or at the very least a visual documentation of a no level up run.
2. I could have used Siefer or Edea to level up my GFs and learn abilities without leveling up my regular party members. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in the video but I was also trying to get the lowest amount of EXP possible, a kind of bonus challenge, so I didn't do this.
3. Because of the above self-imposed challenge (no EXP) it is NOT possible to get Squall's ultimate weapon Lion Heart. You need pulse ammo to craft it, and you can't get pulse ammo without leveling up Ifrit to access the Ammo-RF skill. There is no other way in the game to get pulse ammo. Also it's not really needed at all anyway.
If I think of anything else I'll add it here. Thanks for stopping by!
UA-cam has a very finite number of videos… It seems endless but it really isn’t.
UA-cam Will drag its claws through videos that have gotten greater than X number of views X number of years ago at a constant rate.. videos that get engagement while in this cycle get reinserted into the algorithm.
As soon as engagement stops for a period of time the number of impressions you are offered are reduced.
@@TrillShatner Yeah, I've noticed. Since the beginning my philosophy has always been to just make videos for fun, the kind that I would want to watch and if they get views, that's great. So it's not a big deal to me, just an observation. But I really feel for smaller content creators who are trying to make videos to pay the bills and have to deal with youtube's wacky algorithms. There's some really well crafted videos out there with little to no views while the most inane, low effort, lowest common denominator stuff is what gets millions. Sad, really.
@@minimumBoss If you combine anything trending with your content you will get traffic... But it is all timesensitive... For instance: Ishowspeed showed his pp on stream... Ishowmeat still trending.. No-Meat playthrough FF7 (I eat only greens)... include ishowspeed as a hashtag in the title and do the whole "In honor of ishowspeed's new meatmarket I am blah blah....".. Just an example of what grinding creators do every other video.
If you got the time. You can grind 100 full life for each character from the hidden draw point in the missile base takes a few hours of running in circles to get it to refill. Then with around 200k gil can draw 100 ultimas from the draw point in shumi village once you get mobile garden. Similar to the one in missile base. just run circles in the area until DP refills.
There is a way to get a few pulse ammo without ifrit, but not enough for the lion heart. You can only get them without the ammo refine skill by mugging a galbadean soldier in FH as Irvine after a grease monkey knocks him out after having previously helped the grease monkey yourself.
Not only is it possible, it actually makes the game significantly easier.
This is how I play the game already; do full no level up runs. The bosses don't even give exp because as stated Leveling up actually makes this game harder.
The only question i wanted answered is actually how to avoid exp on forced fights against humans and how to avoid exp getting the necessary ap for card and card mod. Less than lvl 10 run is the easiest challenge in rpg's. Less than 2, actually really hard
Because it has been the meta since years ago
Truth ...but not as fun, imo that is.
@@212mochaman By using only bosses to gain ap for a little while. During seed mission kill squall and zell and let seifer kill things. Run from most humans or use break magic (petrified enemies only gives exp for damage done, not for dying so it way less then normal exp). Later on you'll want to get tonberry king as soon as possible to lvl down enemies for less exp. Till then card, break, or run.
I loved the junction system. I also remember seeing the FF8 cutscenes for the 1st time and telling my friend, "What if real gameplay actually looks as good as these cinematic some day?!"
FF8 was such a jump in fidelity compared to FF7.
Not forget, the soundtracks where peak. 👌
Balamb garden theme still wakes nostalgia in me.
I don't know _why_ you did this, but you have my respect for doing so.
Well done!
I don't know either, but thanks!
I think I should use this route for the game.
I mean while it's impressive in other JRPG, a Low Level Challenge in FFVIII is basically the optimal way to play this game.
The equivalent to Low Level in FFVIII is the No Junction challenge
Think it's an achievement on the steam version
@@nesoukkefka1741 NGPlus actually did it, quite the challenge really
The algorithm served this up and I am glad
Without even watching the video not leveling in 8 actually makes the game way easier, since you can still max your stats through junction and enemies stay low level
exactly my thought. due to enemies leveling with the party, its easier if you don't level up
I found early AP grinding in the training area of garden much more efficient in the long run as you have a chance to card both available enemies into a Shumi card which can refine into Gamblers Spirit which can teach your other characters the Card ability
The fish at the shoreline is a great place to get ap
I personally like to grind for AP in the training area myself because you encounter a T Rex every 2-4 battles which is 10AP.
Thanks for this, its actually BETTER to not get xp in this game! Leveling Gaurdians is way more important
Which is super weird in an rpg
@@MrKrewieThere's a reason so many people don't praise ff8 for it's gameplay 😅
@@rtiq270 It's not praised often for anything because it doesn't do anything particularly well lol. It's not bad, but every part of it had already been done better by its predecessors and was quickly overshadowed by its successors. It's very much a middle child of the series.
@@smward87 I don't hate it that much, but it's hard to defend for sure. It's a JRPG that punishes you for playing like one.
@@rtiq270or it’s done so that way the game is constantly a challenge, even though it’s not really a hard game at all. I like the junction system I just hate the tediousness of the draw system.
I intended to watch just a couple of minutes out of curiosity but ended up watching the whole vid! Never knew this was possible
You can just play cards for abyss worms. They Card Mod into windmills which T-mag refine into tornados.
You junction Tornados to strengh, as it is a super strong spell at this point of time right?
@@MetalArielthird strongest available at that stage. Its preferred by and large cause the 2 better ones require 50 ruby dragon cards for 1 character, or to sacrifice the quistis card
@@212mochaman You can also Card the Buels in Ifrit Cave and the caterpillars outside of the cave for the rare cod mods to get Holy and Flare, Turning you into an absolute beast at the start of the game.
Oh shit, I'm on Ultimecia's castle with everyone at level 100 right now. Guess it's too late to try this
I watched this stoned as fuck and i am in awe of your accomplishment.
Won't even be a challenge. It's been the meta since years ago.
That triple entendre tho with that "drawing board" part. "Drawing" because of drawing magic. "Bored" because it gets boring and tedious. "Drawing board" as in, needing to go back to the drawing board for new ideas. It's not every day you hear thee ol trip. 👍
Amazing video. I'm so impressed by your narration and knowledge of ff8. Can't wait for another video!
10 Holy Wars refine from the Gilgamesh card.
This makes me want to play ff8 again. Like holy crap I love this
The way I killed Ultima Weapon my first time (I never forget the process), was through Phoenix Pinion. I had farmed them previously, and had a bunch. so when I went down, after all the fights and no save (I didn't knew about the hidden save-spot), I fought with my life on the line, and then I died, and I was like "NOOOOO" until Phoenix suddenly appeared, damaged him and healed me...
Ultima killed me soon after, but Phoenix appeared again!
This process repeated until Ultima Weapon died.
So there is this strategy that I never see being used around in low level runs.
That's pretty funny
I’m surprised this doesn’t have more views like other final fantasy challenge videos. Well done!
This challenge is even more busted in the old FFVIII version with the Chocobo World minigame. You can infinitely farm Spd Up and make Rinoa's speed 255. Remove all her attack spells except Meteor, and she can pretty much auto battle Omega weapon with the angel wing limit break :D
Breaking the game is exactly what I did on my first playthrough. This is before guides were available. In fact, the game actively encourages you to use the card game to break it. Without the card game, getting spells would be horrendously too expensive to use.
Oh yeah I remember doing a no level playthrough and it's so worth it especially on the Steam version, on the PS1 version not so much. Lots of card playing and refining after turning monsters into cards to avoid the experience gains.
18:12
"With that, the sorceress kills Squall and his dream, that is, the rest of the game, begins."
...oh god you're one of THOSE people
There’s a little asterisk at the bottom saying that he doesn’t personally believe that theory.
Respect to you for this. I'm almost done with my no level challenge for the steam achievement.
This is a challenge? This is just how I play the game.
Great video. Love watching a thoroughly explained challenge run for the FF games.
GameFAQs coming in clutch again! Nice run. Glad to see you can still collect a lot of missed cards in Disc 4 thanks to the card club in the Ragnarok
You did an excellent job on this!
personally, i really like the card-item-magic-junction synergy of this game. certainly it's best feature, but also the thing that breaks it's back. in terms of gameplay, 8 is my least favourite because it's in your best interest to make every character the exact same in terms of junctioning. so in the end the only things that matter are limit breaks. Squall, Irvine and Zell being the best. special mention to RInoa Angel wing for chance to cast multi hitting spells like meteor, and Selphie for also being able to cast meteor early and having THE END spell. which murders everything in the game one shot. even Omega if i remember correctly.
techincally 7 and 10 had the same problem where in the end limit break total hits was the deciding factor in party set up, but that took a MUCH longer time to set up. in FF8 you can get over 8K hp and high 100's in every stat by the end of disc one if you card enough....
I remember juctioning Ultima (or any magic with high value, really) on mag stat and then cast Tripple Meteor usually kill stuffs very easily. It's more convenience than Limit Break, imo. It can be used whenever, by anyone, and it's AoE too.
@@ziennsunfield1381 Triple spell animations take way too long compared to something like Zells Fight limit break. Not to mention 1 limit break can hit the enemy 20-30 times if you are really good at mashing the right buttons and you can use limit break again the next turn if your characters hp is low enough. Limit breaks in FFVIII are insanely broken and they are the sole reason why you can beat this game with no junctioning.
Very enjoyable video, thank you for that. I wish you a lot more subscribers and views for your quality work!
A great FF8 video, i imagine this will and probably already has inspired quite a few people to play the game with a completely new playstyle.
I was very much aware of how the game truly works, having played the game religiously over and over since i was a child.
Still had to watch the video due to my love of the game and the effort really shows in the editing quality!
Btw: Square, PLEASE give the junction system one more try! It's by far the most complicated FF stat system, and i'm all for it! Way too l hate.
It'll never happen but one can always wish for a miracle..
Thanks! We're in the days where game development barriers are as low as ever, and spiritual successors are popping up all the time. Maybe we'll someday soon see an indie team bring us a modernized junction system.
sure its easier when you break the game, i recommend to everyone, new players especially to have a few regular play throughs without guides or cheeseing the game you will appreciate the struggle it can be much more, excellent video i really enjoyed the flow.
18:40 that theory is already been disproven by the director himself.
The ice didnt price his heart, it was his shoulder
may believe what you like, but i cant run around claiming haurchefant didn't die, he got isekai'd and lives his life as a vending machine
i loved the junctioning system, and being an angsty teenager at the time i played it, I really identified with the squall character lol
I love the end game in this game...
Spoiler:.
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President: Okay, let's be real, we all know that whatever we do, we're going to fail. Squall has my blood, and he's the main character, so it's going to happen.
So here's the plan. We're going to, and follow me on this, lose on purpose.
Watching this while at the tail end of my own low lvl run. I love seeing what you did different than I did. Sorry you did this on the OG. The remaster makes it so much less tedious (I did it on the OG when I was much younger haha)
OG is the only way I can play. I tried the remaster. It's probably better but nostalgia wouldn't let me like it.
So no one is gonna talk about the Donkey Kong jams this guy is playing oh so quietly in the background?
Yes because FF8 has monster scaling so the meta is to upgrade weapons and junction powerful magic while staying as low a combat level as possible
The no exp is way easier than a "normal" run in ff8...
i hope you get rewarded for the effort you put into this video $$$$
Great video ✌
Where can i find that Corridors of Time Mix in the outro?
ua-cam.com/video/oNSMBvf_UH0/v-deo.html
i know that 6/7/10 are usually the most beloved FF's and 8 gets a LOT of flak because the junction system can be so confusion and overwhelming as HELL if you dont know what youre doing, and using magic lowers stats which is counterproductive...but the junctioning/refinement system is honestly one of the coolest and most fun mechanics in just about any final fantasy game. there's SO much customization and things you can do with it.
FF8 is one of the few final fantasies that punishes you for getting XP. The game changes the enemy types as you level, as well as their power and moveset. It scales to player level. It is one of (if not the only) where doing this is possible...and if you junction right it's actually not all that difficult
I love this game 2nd favourite of all time
Obligatory "you shouldn't level up anyway cause it makes the game harder" comment.
But no seriously, enemy levels scale to your own and that ups their stats. Way easier if you just stay as low level as you can while junctioning the best stuff you can. Supposedly every enemy in the game goes off this system according to the FF8 wiki.
I'm today years old when I fucking realized that the FF8 version of "Ultimate Weapon" (31:37) is a modified version of the FF7 one, HOLDING the Ultima Weapon (Clouds Sword). 🤦
An awesome challenge run as most JRPG challenges are just grinding to overpower the challenge
How has this video not blown the **** up? It's incredible.
Edit: I'm confused about Lionheart. I swear you can get it very early in the game without much issue. Does Ifrit not get Ammo Refine until X Level? :)
Same, I'm gotten it before when you are first able to leave the garden
@@kenhammscousin4716 Yeah, I get it as soon as I get to Glabadia Garden's Train Station
I'm seeing a lot of comments about this. Ifrit does NOT get ammo refine until level 10. I think people are just remembering incorrectly. Or something changed in the steam version, which as far as I can tell it's the same.
@@minimumBoss level up ifrit with seifer during dollet mission
Excited to watch you do what I did DECADES ago.
Not an insult, just realized this and tried to beat it without leveling.
This isn't even a challenge. The real challenge is finishing the game without stocking magic from draws and no refining items to magic.
Attack Forever???
*whoa*
XD
@@Ramsey276one We can probably allow drawing from draw points. Casting via draw is allowable too. Let's make a new FF8 challenge ruleset.
That was awesome! I've also been really fond of the junction system. I tried the opposite of this once when I was a kid, where I levelled up as much as I could be bothered to, but only got as far as The Brothers before it got too difficult and I had to abandon it.
Also, lol at all the "well actually" comments who clearly didn't bother to watch the video.
Can I "inject" a recommendation for run I did just this morning?
>no character's level up
>no weapon remodelling
>no Quezacotl, meaning no carding enemies and you can't turn cards into items
>beat the game with less than 100 kills (there is an achievement / trophy for 100 kills in remaster)
>you can swap GF but you are allowed to have only 1 GF equipped per character
I kid you not, without card command / abuse this run is actually fun. I still haven't beat Omega though (but I am trying) and I didn't get certain GFs for obvious reasons (20 Tonberry kills would ruin this run).
EDIT: killed her. I can confirm that you can beat Omega legit, without The End limit, and you don't neet invincibility.
Btw, I'm curious how did you beat Ruby Dragon with Break. I cast Break over 200 times, nothing. I managed to beat it when I junction Break to Siren's STAT-ATK.
One more thing...
At 20:27 you come back at Balamb Garden. You probably know this, but I'll write it anyway. Say you are against Cid. Visit every location. Every time you see people in danger, ignore the problem. When you visit areas where Garden Faculty asks you for help, say you are assigned to another area. Go to that part where the stage is, and when students ask you whose side are you on, say you are with headmaster; you will get some items. Finally, go to cafeteria and when you talk to Garden Faculty say you are done with pretending. He will summon one bomb and you can defeat it with Break. Talk to students in cafeteria and they will tell you about Xu.
This way you will fight JUST ONE battle/enemy before going after Xu.
I have often done a low level run. Was curious what the lowest level you could keep it.
Great video bro! Taught me some good strata!
I love how you learned how to improve the graphics on your emulator halfway through disc 1! XD
Not sure why this was even a question lol. This game is perhaps even easier to beat without leveling up. It breaks the game. Honestly, the game as a whole is extremely easy. Once junctioning is understood, anyone can beat the game with a random assortment of spells. The only exception might be the secret bosses. Other than that, the game is too easy. People beat this game with just the Attack Command lol.
One would argue that the game is easier when played this way.
I love you can break the game with its own mechanics and not obscure glitches/mechanics not intended by the devs
After playing the game twice I can say it makes the game easier by using the magic junction system
Before even watching the video the answer is yes and it's a lot easier and you are far more powerful as a result.
Ah yes, the run where I turn everything I encounter into card until I get "no encounter"
And to think I spent hours leveling up on a small island toward the end of the game only for it to mean absolutely nothing.
No Mention of the almost "Permanent All" Card Rule from the card queen. There seems to be a limited amount on this rule as winning 5 cards constantly seems to eventually reset the rule to "One" because its seen as cheesing but you can get many cards and faster by talking to the card queen.
The love story wasn't forced, it was decently implemented, though it could have been better, yes. And time compression does make sense when you read deeper into it. Besides that, the story does have some shortcomings like not giving enough spotlight/development to some characters, but it's still an awesome tale.
@@Tuvok_Shakur Lol no.
If the only condition is you don't gain experience, then you only need to go a limited distance to test if it's possible. Given your rules, it is absolutely possible if not beneficial to not level up. The first things you will have to aim to learn as regards abilities are I-Magic Refine on Shiva and Card on Quetzlcoatl. After the Dollet mission, the challenge is already complete. If Seifer and Edea are okay with gaining EP, you can level most GFs to LV 100 without leveling any permanent party members. Superior strategy is carding Grats until you have two Gambler Soul items, so everybody can card enemies.
I'm not exactly remembering any piece of the Lionheart that requires a leveled-up GF, but I think, if one is required, it is one that can be leveled with Edea. Oh, you're referring to Ifrit's Ammo-RF. As long as you're okay with Seifer leveling as he's not a permanent member, you can easily do this in Disc 2. Farming spells from enemies is generally unneeded as soon as you have gotten Diabolos, simply by the amount of cards you can mod with Quetzlcoatl by that time.
It actually makes the game easier just do the edea level up trick and some with seifer to draw the good spells for junctions later in the game
You smashed through the sphinxter to enter ultamacias forbidden chamber.
given that the games dificulty scales based ony our parties level and our stats are deterined by junctions not leval you actualy made the game 'easier' in the long run doing this.
Awesome video!
ty!
Man the algorithm really screwed you dude. Here's hoping you get better views!
Leveling up in ff8 scales the enemies up more than your party does so staying a low Lv just makes the game easier.
Triple Triad is still one of the best mini games out of any Final Fantasy game
My friend kept squall KO throughout his play. His team members leveled up and every fight was a joke. His favorite boss fight with this method was against Raijin and Fujin. The max damage the boss could do was around 20 to 10 damage total.
1:41 I always got confused as to the GFs that were supposedly not compatible with certain characters
I don't mind the junctioning system, but I hate the enemy scaling with you part. It's just so dumb. "We're gonna try and prevent people from over-leveling, so instead they're going to get powerful junctions and under level." If a system can be abused, it will be. The fact that you can abuse this isn't the problem, rather the fact that this is incredibly counter-intuitive, which is all enemy scaling ever does.
This game is so unique love the music is one of the best in the world no wait in any universe
Solo Zell runs are my favorite to do (not in the remaster because input lag).
Kind of late this question: can I play cards on the garden after the communication tower mission?
There's only one battle in FFVIII that you can't avoid getting exp from.
45:25 well done mate!!
Does Irvine really say kobe when when he tries to shoot a basketball?
lol no. Good eye, that was a little joke i edited in :)
@@minimumBoss amazing. Lol
I think I saw somewhere that if you are zombified you can't gain exp, that could help make things faster
I remember renting this as a kid and spending the weekend with my cousin eating pizza and taking turns playing it we managed to beat it like an hour before the video store closed and it would have been late
13:59 so I take it the high strength is just for boss battles
Not sure if it goes against the spirit of your challenge, but you can level up Siefer during the Dollet mission and have him draw high-level spells from the enemies. His level doesn't affect your average level since he's not a permanent member, and the spells make the rest of the game a cake-walk.
A reverse Tidus strat???
XD
Same goes for edea
Yo what's the background music at the beginning of disc 3's section? It sounds like a banger
DKC2 hot Head Bop Famitracker cover by megan: ua-cam.com/video/gYa9sprfzQ4/v-deo.html
@@minimumBoss thank you so much :,)
Huh. Never thought I'd see a challenge of something that I've done myself.
It's basically a requirement if you want to min/max to never level up (or avoid exp gain at all costs). Unfortunately, Squall has to level up to about 13 through mandatory fights from what I remember.
Oh…
Squall starts at level 7 and the game can be beaten without Squall or anyone else gaining a single level. Most mandatory fights can be dealt with using Card or Break to petrify the enemy, thus gaining no exp. There are only a few mandatory fights where this doesn't work but its not enough to gain a level.
@@75190255508 No Way. There are a number of battles where you are completely forced to gain XP. I tried it more than once to get zero exp on Squall and I remember that his stats are always lower by the end of the game compared to characters like Selfie, who you can pocket until you power level at the end game.
I went through the pain of beating omega weapon without using the card game for hero drinks. I used the one invincibility item that you get through the story.
I definitely went hard enough on the game to know that Squall is a required character in a lot of boss fights where you can't use the Card ability.
@@rabbyd542 Yes way. There are a few enemies you can't run away from, Card or Break but there aren't enough of them for you to be forced to gain a level.
I have done this more than 30 times by now and the Steam version even has an achievement for it called "Contrived Finish".
@@75190255508 Whatever sweatyness that requires is way beyond what I had imagined then. Maybe I was gaining exp in the flashback scenes by accident but it's incredibly tedious to avoid every last exp and, frankly, not even close to required. Lionheart is already OP anyway and it takes like 8 hours per character to min/max to begin with.
as long as ya have low level --- its easier to finish the game :3
Hi, when playing FF8 I was using a similar method to not level up until I got Cactusr GF that has bonus level up ability.
With that I was able to power up my team.
One thing I don’t understand during the fight with Omega Weapon. Why do you use aura if you party is already able to use limit breaks due to critical HP?
I thought the spirit Stat effected magic draw
I wish the remaster turned some of these fan challenges into trophies.
The game teaches you that timers are deadly but then Odin, the guy who always killed you in earlier games for not being fast enough, doesn't kill you for running out of time. Way to not follow your set precedents, game.
Pretty sure theres only 1 or 2 battles where Squall or Laguna is forced to get xp.
Honestly, the way I see it from what I remember of the junction system, is that it's a paradise for those who love to min max, and an absolute annoying mess for more casual players who just wanna play this like your typical, normal final fantasy game.
I love Breezy its quite literally the only song I remember how to play on guitar!!
Yes you can, I've done this with my playthrough, just use card mod on most random battles. You won't get the final Squall limit break but it's still really doable.
just knowing that enemy levels correlate with player levels won't require 46 minutes to answer this question...
I've done this myself, following a guide written 20 years ago
Check out that resolution. Looks like you are playing the original. What a boss