Granny's Hand-Holding Guide to Cards in Final Fantasy VIII
From: Sister (sis_cindy@hotmail.com)
November 15, 2000
This is copyrighted material. Feel free to use it for your personal
enjoyment, but please don't try to make money off of my work.
Updated February 19, 2001
--added info on erasing rules in Balamb and the fifteen game
requirement of
playing the CC group
Updated September 12, 2001
--added new information in several areas based primarily on emails and
information gleaned from the FF8 board. Thanks to WindCloud,
Natedawg,
Iggy9900, Jkrist, Mojoy, Mercurius, and Vilurum (as always) for their
help. Please note that this will be the final update of this FAQ
unless
I learn something of truly momentous importance.
RPGGranny, a friend of mine at the FF8 board here at Gamefaqs, convinced
me to write this FAQ. She said she needed a guide that took her by the
hand and led her through the card game, so that's what I've attempted to
do. While I can't give you exact, step-by-step instructions on individual
card games (since you never know which cards your opponent will use),
I'll try to give you some general playing strategies. To make the game as
easy as possible, I'll show you how to change the playing rules around
the world to your advantage.
Now, if you enjoy the challenge of playing Triple Triad with all the
original rules in place (with Random and Plus in Trabia, for example),
this is not the FAQ for you. My basic premise is that the easiest way to
win at cards is to reduce the playing rules to just Open and overpower
your opponent with better cards. That's the general purpose of this
guide. I'll tell you where to go and who to play to most efficiently
change the card rules, as well as where and how to get all the cards in
the game. I'll explain the rules as best I can in areas where you must
use them for a time, and I will tell you some cards to watch for with an
eye toward refining magic from those cards.
Before we continue, there are a few people from the FF8 board that I must
thank: RPGGranny, for getting me started; Terence, for helping me better
understand how the trading rules spread; Rage for his computer advice and
constant encouragement; and Vilurum. I give Vilurum special thanks, not
only for his wonderful advice on speeding up the Queen of Cards quest by
using places other than Dollet for the exchange of cards and his insights
into card playing on Disc Four, but also for his vast amount of
assistance and patience in helping me actually get this FAQ constructed
and submitted properly. As a FAQ writer, he also proofread it for me and
offered several valuable suggestions, many of which I've included for
your information. Thank you all.
Now, if you're ready, let's play some cards.
Disc One
After you pick up Quezacotl and Shiva in the classroom, you'll bump into
a new student from Trabia Garden. Whether or not you take her with you,
stop and speak to the guy in green on your way to the elevator. He will
give you your starter deck of cards. Don't try to play yet; you can't
win.
Update note: Iggy9900 emailed me to say that you can indeed win with the
original deck of cards. After thirteen attempts, he won Minimog with the
starter deck. I prefer having some stronger cards before I start playing,
but I mention it for those who like a challenge.
If you want to begin playing cards right away, choose Quezacotl's Card
ability to learn first. You will also need to learn Card Modify and the
various GFs' magic refine abilities (Quezacotl's Thunder Magic RF,
Shiva's Ice Magic RF, Diablos' Status and Time Magic RFs, etc.) as you go
if you intend to get a lot of your magic from cards. I learn these RF
abilities early with my GFs so that I can start converting cards to magic
early on, but that's entirely up to you.
Once you have Card selected in Quezacotl's menu, head to the Fire Cavern.
When you defeat Ifrit, you'll receive his card (your first rare card).
Continue to fight enemies until you've learned Card. It only requires 40
AP, so it won't take long (note: if you're playing a no-level game, let
Seifer learn Card for you in Dollet). As soon as Card is learned,
junction it. To Card an enemy, beat down its HP (just don't kill it) then
use Card. An enemy at full HP will not Card. When you Card an enemy, it
turns into a playing card. You'll receive the normal amount of AP but no
Experience. You can Card a few fish on the beach (their Fish Fins will
give you Water magic with Shiva's Ice Magic RF) then head to the Fire
Cavern and Card at least two Bombs (more if you want to use these cards
for Irvine's Fire Ammo later).
Now, head to the Training Center in Balamb Garden. Card T-Rexaurs and
Grats until you receive a Shumi Tribe Card. If you do a lot of Carding,
you'll occasionally pick up a Level 6 (like Shumi) or 7 card instead of
the normal enemy card. It may sound a bit daunting to take on T-Rex with
Squall alone, but it's really not bad because your level (and thus
T-Rex's) at this point is so low. Let Shiva hurt him, and he'll usually
Card after he's lost two or three thousand HP (sometimes much less). Just
have plenty of Cures on hand. If you intend to do lots of Carding (for a
no-level game, for example), collect five Shumi cards (here or as you
play through the game) to teach a second character the Card ability. This
will speed up your Carding considerably. Now that you have Ifrit, a
couple of Bombs, a T-Rex, and a Shumi card (this should be your first
hand), you're ready to play.
Update note: JKrist asked that I mention that you can also pick up Jumbo
Cactuar by carding Glacial Eyes. I didn't card many of these enemies, so
I haven't received one myself. I do know from experience that you can
also Card Buels in the Fire Cavern for Krysta cards.
The only rule in Balamb Garden and in the town of Balamb is Open. All
this means is that both hands are face up, so that you can see your
opponent's cards and s/he can see yours. This is the best rule in the
game because it allows you to plan your moves based on your opponent's
cards. The trading rule (which determines how many cards are traded at
the end of a game) is One. The winner will choose one of the loser's
cards.
The basic concept of Triple Triad is to turn over more cards than your
opponent does. Where the numbers of two cards meet, the higher number
wins. Your opponent's cards (and any he turns) will have a background
color of light red/pink. Your cards will be blue. The numbers on the
left and right of the card grid keep score. The left number tells how
many cards belong to your opponent, and the right number tells how many
belong to you.
Head to the save point near the directory and save your game. Watch for a
girl with either blonde or light brown hair who enters the screen. Either
one will do - they both have weak cards. To challenge her to a card game,
press the square button. My first game looked like this:
Her cards: Anacondaur, Armadodo, SAMO8G, Abyss Worm, Creeps
My cards: Two Bombs, Shumi Tribe, T-Rexaur, Ifrit
_________________________________________
| 5 | 6 | 5 |
| | | |
| Her - 1st | Her - 3rd | Her - 5th |
| | | |
| 5 1 | 6 3 |4 6|
| Anacondaur | Armadodo | SAMO8G |
| | | |
| 3 | 1 | 2 |
|_____________|_____________|_____________|
| 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Me - 4th | Her - 9th | Me - 8th |
| (game over)| | |
| (I win) | | |
| 4 5 |2 2|7 6|
| Shumi | Creeps | T-Rex |
| | | |
| 8 | 5 | 2 |
|_____________|_____________|_____________|
| 2 | 7 | 9 |
| | | |
| Me - 6th | Her - 7th | Me - 2nd |
| 3 7|5 2|8 6|
| Bomb | Abyss Worm| Ifrit |
| | | |
| | | |
| 6 | 3 | 2 |
|_____________|_____________|_____________|
In the above chart, you'll see the cards we played and the order in which
we played them. Here's my first tip on strategy - zero in on the top-left
corner.
Notice the pattern of this game. You'll see it over and over and over
again as you play Triple Triad. Weaker players (which are most of them)
will always start in the top-left corner. You stay away from that corner
(playing cards that can't be turned in other corners) until s/he boxes
that top-left corner in (s/he can't turn it back after you turn it, in
other words). After she boxed in the Anacondaur card with Armadodo, I
turned Anacondaur with a card that she could not turn, so it's basically
game over as long as I continue to play defensively. Always remember that
you must only turn one card to win. Don't trade cards back and forth.
Play defensively (Ifrit in the bottom right, which she can't turn, is a
defensive play) and wait for one card. Pay attention to this pattern and
you'll find your games going much more easily. If you happen to go first,
just play the other three corners until that top-left card is boxed in -
it works the same way.
A slight derivation of this pattern would be to play beside the top-left
card. If she plays a card that can't be turned (by her or by you) from
the bottom in that top-left corner, turn it from the side, but ONLY if
she can't turn your card. Otherwise, play defensively and wait for your
chance. Also, if your opponent plays a card that can only be turned from
the bottom, go in for the kill immediately with a card that can't be
turned.
After you win, you will choose a card from your opponent's hand. If the
card name is printed in blue, this is a card you've never had before - a
new addition to your deck. Yellow is a card that you have had but don't
have now. White means you currently have this card in inventory. In the
above game, I chose the Abyss Worm card (refines to Tornado magic).
Choose Card on your menu to check your card inventory whenever you wish.
More than anything else in Triple Triad, practice, practice, practice.
The more you play, the better you'll get. I was completely lost with the
card game the first couple of times I played FF8, but now I'm fairly
competent only because of the sheer number of games I've played. If
you're new to the game or don't feel comfortable with it, play a weak
player like this girl until you see the pattern and start feeling more
confidence in your game. Save often so that if something goes terribly
wrong, you won't lose all the cards you've worked so hard for.
After you've flexed your muscles a bit and had some practice, save. Now,
hang around behind the directory and wait for the jogger to run in from
the left. It's easiest if you can manage to block his path (so he can't
run until you're done with him), but if you miss him, you can catch him
again. He always runs the circle of Balamb Garden counter-clockwise, so
you can find him easily. Challenge the jogger to a game. He has the rare
card Minimog - the first card required for the Queen of Cards side quest.
At this point, you shouldn't have any trouble beating him. You may have
to play a few hands before Minimog shows up, but he's generally easy to
win. The jogger will probably play Minimog in the top-left. Double-check
the numbers on his cards to make sure he has no card with a 7 on the left
side. If no 7, play Shumi right beside Minimog, and it's game over. Just
keep defending.
Now that you've gotten the hang of it, I'll mention a few cards to watch
for as you go that will refine into magic. It's great having some of the
stronger ones for your junctions early on.
T-Rex/Armadodo = Dino Bone = Quake
Blood Soul = Zombie Powder = Zombie
Gesper = Black Hole = Demi
Wendigo = Steel Orb = Demi
Blitz = Dynamo Stone = Thundaga
Snow Lion = North Wind = Blizzaga
Mesmerize = Mesmerize Blade = Regen
Belhelmel = Sawblade = Death
Tonberry/Tonberry King = Death
Abyss Worm = Windmill = Tornado
Tri-Face = Curse Spike = Pain
Gayla = Mystery Fluid = Meltdown
Forbidden = Betrayal Sword = Confuse
Elastoid = Steel Pipe = Berserk
Funguar/Bite Bug = Magic Piece = Esuna/Cure/Fire, etc.
Buel/Jelleye = Magic Stone = Haste, Slow, Cura, Fira, etc.
Vysage/Imp = Wizard Stone = Curaga, Firaga, etc.
Many items are great for other things like Steel Pipes for making Aura
Stones or calling Doomtrain. You can pick up several items needed for
upgrading your weapons, as well, such as Screws from a Geezard card. A
few others to look for:
Elnoyle - 10 = 1 Energy Crystal = 10 Pulse Ammo
Iron Giant - 3 = 1 Star Fragment (also refines to 5 Meteors)
Blue Dragon - 4 = 1 Fury Fragment (also refines to 5 Auras)
Death Claw/Grand Mantis = Sharp Spike = AP Ammo
Bomb = Bomb Fragment = Fire Ammo
Cactuar = Cactus Thorn = Demolition Ammo
Adamantoise - 2 = 1 Turtle Shell
If you're looking for items to teach Quistis her Blue Magics, these are
the ones you can get from cards (thanks to Vilurum for this list):
10 Behemoth cards = 1 Barrier = Mighty Guard
1 Caterchipillar = Spider Web = Ultra Waves
1 Creeps = Coral Fragment = Electrocute
1 Fastitocalon = Water Crystal = Aqua Breath
5 Fastitocalon-F = 1 Water Crystal = Aqua Breath
1 Gayla = Mystery Fluid = Acid
1 Gesper = Black Hole = Degenerator
4 Malboro = 1 Malboro Tentacle = Bad Breath
10 Ruby Dragon = 1 Inferno Fang = Fire Breath
1 SAM08G = Running Fire = Gatling Gun
1 Tri-Face = Curse Spike = LV? Death
This is nowhere near an exhaustive list - just a lot of the cards I watch
for as I play.
Now that you have Minimog, we're ready to move on. Your next opponent
will have better cards than you've met thus far so remember to play
defensively. It is much better to play to a draw than to lose. If you
lose, your opponent will automatically take your best card (Ifrit at this
point). You can always start again from your last save, but if you've
played several games and picked up several good cards, it's a pain. Don't
be greedy. Play smart.
After you save, head to the front entrance and play the old man at the
window. He has level one, three, and five cards, so you can bulk up your
deck if you wish. I'm looking for two cards in particular here - Malboro
and Elastoid. These are both great cards for your playing hand. Once you
have them, go save then head for the cafeteria. Go to the dining room to
find two guys sitting at a table on the right (the one in back's behind a
plant). Challenge the one in back to a card game. He has the Quistis
card.
Be aware that Quistis can turn any card in your hand, so be on your toes.
Here's how my game went:
His hand: GIM47N, Ruby Dragon, Iron Giant, Quistis, Malboro
My hand: Shumi, Elastoid, Ifrit, Malboro, Bomb
_________________________________________
| 5 | 7 | 6 |
| | | |
| Him - 7th | Him - 9th | Me - 8th |
| | | |
|4 5|4 2|4 5|
| | | |
| GIM47N | Ruby | Shumi |
| | | |
|______7______|______7______|______8______|
| 9 | 6 | 6 |
| | | |
| Him - 3rd | Me - 4th | Him - 5th |
| | | |
|2 6|7 2|5 5|
| | | |
| Quistis | Elastoid | Iron Giant |
| | | |
|______A______|______6______|______6______|
| 7 | 8 | 7 |
| | | |
| Him - 1st | Me - 2nd | Me - 6th |
| | | |
|2 7|9 6|2 7|
| | | |
| Malboro | Ifrit | Malboro |
| | | |
|______4______|______2______|______4______|
Quistis is mine. Go to the dorm and save. At this point in the game, you
have all the rare cards you can get, so you have a choice. You can
continue to play and build up your deck or move on with the game and
build your deck later. If you want to play cards, be sure not to change
into your uniform at the dorm (you'll automatically begin the Dollet
mission). If you decide you want to play for a while, you might want to
run to Balamb to try and change the trading rule.
The trading rule can be changed in two ways, both of which involve the
Queen of Cards. Since you can't play in other places at the moment, we'll
discuss the only available method for now. Leave Garden and run to the
town of Balamb. Save your game in the hotel (you don't have to pay for a
room - just run upstairs). Now go to the train station and find the woman
in white on the steps (she'll be near the gift shop). This is the Queen
of Cards. Challenge her to a game and see what trading rule she's playing
with. There are four different ones in the game:
One - Winner takes one card from loser
Diff - Winner takes number of cards from loser equal to the difference in
their scores (for example, if you win a game with a score of 3-7, you
would choose four of your opponent's cards)
All - Winner takes all of loser's cards
Direct - Each player wins the cards that s/he turns in the game
Challenge the queen to a game. If she's using the Diff rule, wonderful.
She's very weak here, so just play and take her cards. Now run past her
and challenge the train conductor. If he's using the trading rule Diff,
perfect - you're done. Go save. If he's using One, challenge the queen
again. If she uses Direct, quit and try again. I'm not positive, but
based on games I've played, whether the Diff rule "takes" or not is
random. I've had the queen use Diff then have others in the region use
One (it didn't "take"), and I've played her one time with Diff and it
spread.
A note of caution about the All rule - it's great playing with All
because you get all of your opponent's cards when you win. When you've
played with a rule for a certain amount of time, however, the rule
degenerates, so to speak, to the next rule in line. Thus, All will
degenerate to Direct - the worst of the trading rules (thanks to Vilurum
and Terence for explaining this to me). If you can get Diff, I would
recommend that you stick with that. You will build your deck much faster
with Diff than with One, so if you get it in place, go ahead and play
some cards (either now or after the Dollet mission - it doesn't matter).
We can't get any more rare cards until you're done with Dollet. When
you're ready to start the Dollet mission, go change into your uniform.
Update note: I have seen several messages from people distressed with
having the Direct rule all over the world. From the ones I've seen,
they've almost invariably started out with the All rule, so, again, I
would urge people to stick with Diff.
Once you've finished your mission in Dollet and are back in Balamb, you
can play cards in earnest. First, save at the hotel. Establish Diff with
the queen if you can, then get all of your other card playing out of the
way before you play her again. You'll be sending her to another town, and
there's the possibility that you could change the trading rule again
before you want to if you play her before you're done playing cards here.
We'll discuss other card-playing opportunities before we start the Queen
of Cards quest.
Go to Zell's house and talk to Ma Dincht. Now leave and return, and
she'll play cards with you. Again, zero in on the upper-left corner. She
won't give you any trouble, and you can pick up some good cards from her.
Just be very careful about how you play when Zell's card finally shows up
in her hand. You don't want to lose Quistis. I'll show you how our game
went when she finally used Zell.
Her hand: Zell, Turtapod, Grendel, Gayla, Jelleye
My hand: Elastoid, Malboro, Shumi, Ifrit, Quistis
_________________________________________
| 8 | 2 | 6 |
| | | |
| Her - 1st | Her - 3rd | Me - 4th |
| | | |
|6 5|7 3|7 2|
| | | |
| Zell | Turtapod | Elastoid |
| | | |
|______A______|______6______|______6______|
| 4 | 2 | 6 |
| | | |
| Her - 5th | Her - 7th | Me - 8th |
| | | |
|2 4|4 1|4 5|
| | | |
| Grendel | Gayla | Shumi |
| | | |
|______5______|______4______|______8______|
| 7 | 3 | 9 |
| | | |
| Me - 2nd | Her - 9th | Me - 6th |
| | | |
|2 7|7 2|8 6|
| | | |
| Malboro | Jelleye | Ifrit |
| | | |
|______4______|______1______|______2______|
If you have to go first, play Malboro in the lower-left corner. She'll
probably turn it with Zell, then you can turn it back with Ifrit or turn
Zell's card and continue from there. Once you have Zell, go save.
Remember for future reference that Zell must be in your party whenever
you want to play cards with Ma Dincht. Now you can play more in Balamb or
return and play in Balamb Garden. If you're trying to get Lion Heart on
Disc One, you'll need twenty Elnoyle cards. Players who carry Elnoyle
(level 5) include Ma Dincht, the old man at the window in Balamb Garden,
Dr. Kadowaki, Cid, the cafeteria lady on the left, the Trepie in the
cafeteria who had Quistis' card, and the guy standing at the first bunch
of shelves in the library. Cid probably plays with Elnoyle the most at
this stage of the game, but he's a better player than are all the others.
Should you go for the Elnoyle cards now, just be aware of what you're in
for. The one time I acquired Lion Heart on Disc One, I had exactly 1,021
cards in inventory when I received that twentieth Elnoyle card. You might
as well settle in for the evening. If you're going to play a lot, you
might as well get the Seifer and Diablos cards first.
After receiving your Timber assignment, speak to Cid to get the Old Lamp.
Leave the screen and return; Cid will be gone. Go to the save point by
the directory. Save and use the Old Lamp to fight Diablos. When you
defeat him, you'll receive his card. With Diablos to add to your hand,
you're ready to try Headmaster Cid.
Cid is one of the better players in the game, so be very attentive when
you play him. Take the elevator to the third floor (after you save, as
always) to find Cid in his office and challenge him to a game. The hand I
use for Cid: Quistis, Diablos, Malboro, Elastoid, and Ifrit. Play until
you win Seifer. Seifer is a very strong card. Once it's yours, your hand
is pretty much unbeatable for most of the rest of the game. Seifer is a
wonderful addition to your hand because he covers that top-left corner
we've been discussing (as does Diablos in a pinch). Seifer can't be
turned from the bottom or the right except by very, very few cards (none
of which you'll see in normal game play), so once he's turned that
boxed-in top-left corner, it's game over. If you're going to stay here
and play Cid for a while (for Elnoyles, for example), replace the Quistis
card with Seifer and continue.
By the time you leave Balamb for Timber, you can have all the 1-5 level
cards (except Pupu) plus the rare cards Seifer, Diablos, Ifrit, Quistis,
Zell, and Minimog. Pupu requires a side quest later in the game; we'll
discuss it then. Now let's start the Queen of Cards quest.
The Queen of Cards has five rare cards that you can acquire through the
course of the game. You must give her the card she wants. She will give
this card to her artist father who will make a new card based on it. You
will then acquire the new card. Here are the cards you'll need to give
her, the cards created from each, and what the new cards mod into:
Minimog = Kiros = Three Accelerators (teaches GF Auto-Haste)
Sacred = Irvine = Three Rocket Engines (teaches GF Speed+40%)
Chicobo = Chubby Chocobo = 100 LuvLuvGs (raises compatibility with all
GFs)
Alexander = Doomtrain = Three Status Guards (teaches GF Status Defense X
4)
Doomtrain = Phoenix = Three Phoenix Spirits (teaches GF Revive)
For a new card to be made, the queen must first give a specific card to
her father in Dollet. She has eight regular locations around the world
where she can be found (if you prefer to chase her everywhere). The
easiest way to handle the queen, however, is to shuttle her back and
forth between Balamb and Dollet. We'll start the quest by giving her
Minimog.
Save at the hotel. Challenge the queen and purposely lose Minimog to her.
Her cards are very weak, so have Minimog and four level 1 cards in your
hand. You must let her have Minimog to continue, so play to lose. After
she's won Minimog, speak to her (X button). She'll tell you that the
region is getting boring, so she's going somewhere else. If she says
she's going to Dollet, go save. If she says she's going to Galbadia,
reset and do it again. You don't want her in Galbadia because from there,
she tends to travel to FH then to Esthar then to Lunar Gate. From Lunar
Gate, you must search for her (she won't tell you where she's going from
there). So, stick to Balamb and Dollet. You'll be resetting a lot as you
change card rules, so I'll mention the soft reset feature. Pause your
game (Select button). Press L1, L2, R1, R2, and Start all at the same
time. While holding these five buttons down, hit Select again. The game
will start over. This way you won't have to jump up and hit reset every
few minutes. Play and reset until the queen tells you that she's going to
Dollet. Now that she's on her way with Minimog in hand, you can head for
Timber.
One other note while we're in the town of Balamb: if at any time you
accidentally spread rules in Balamb, you can erase them. Go to the docks
and look for a man crouched down near the water with his back to you. He
won't be here if Open is the only rule in Balamb. If there are other
rules present, and he's not there, leave town and return and you should
find him. If you play cards with him, he will erase ALL the rules in
Balamb, including Open. Should you somehow really mess up the rules here,
use this guy to wipe them out then return and spread Open. I forgot to
mention this guy when I first wrote the faq because I'd never used him.
I spread rules in Balamb a couple of times to see for myself how it
worked (I'd read that he charged you 10,000 gil to erase the rules, but
this isn't the case - just play). When I spoke to him, he was stuck in
Balamb because he'd ditched class and Balamb Garden was gone when he got
back. Whether this means you can't find him on Disc One, I'm not sure. He
is definitely there on Disc Two after Balamb Garden is mobile. Hopefully,
you'll never need him, but I thought I'd better mention him, just in
case.
