Frustrated by Triple Triad

[Xithor]

Ok so I am playing through Final Fantasy VIII to see if I warm up to it the second time around and I'm actually enjoying the game...there is only one thing that is bugging the hell out of me, and that's the Triple Triad card game. For some reason the Random rule has spread everywhere!!! So now I can't control any of the cards that I choose to play and I'm losing all my good cards because I get one then the rest shit to fight people with. How do you influence the rules bc the guide didn't help me at all and I'm just confused as to how the Random rule got spread everywhere.

[Dodie16]

Well, to influence the rules you have to play Triple Triad in different parts of the world. When a player sees that you know a new rule, they will ask to use the new set of rules along with the rules of the region. If you're lucky, once you get enough rules spread around, the rule that you don't want will be abolished in the area.

I feel for you though. The Random rule does indeed suck. I did find something interesting though when I looked up some info about this: Sometime afterwards when the Garden takes off from it's stationary place in near Balamb, you can head back to Balamb and there will be a student who missed catching the Garden when it took off. He's at the wharf, btw. If you speak to said student, they will reset all rules back to their original sets. Not sure if it's just in the Balamb region, but I came across multiple sites that said that it happens.

Best of luck to you.

[Xithor]

Ok so I need to go to a different part of the world where the random rule is not in effect and somehow carry the rules there to other parts of the world? How do I go about carrying the rules with me, because I don't even know how I was spreading the rules to begin with. I'll def look into finding that student that got left behind though, I'm in Esthar right now so can't really get back to the other continent but hopefully when I get the Ragnarok or just get off the West continent I'll have to go back to Balamb.

[Dodie16]

Well, you pretty much spread rules automatically. Once you start playing with new rules in different regions, those regions sort of "adopt" the new rules.

I found this for you. I think it will help you out:

http://www.ffcompendium.com/h/faqs/ff8oswauld.txt

[Xithor]

Thank you Dodie, gonna work on this right away. That short page helped me understand spreading rules much better.

[Zargabaath]

Another way to adapt to the "Random" rule is to get rid of all your weak cards and just have the power cards. I used this tactic when the Random effect came into play. You may not end up with a solid hand (covering all sides well) but all the cards should be your more powerful ones.

[Xithor]

Well, to influence the rules you have to play Triple Triad in different parts of the world. When a player sees that you know a new rule, they will ask to use the new set of rules along with the rules of the region. If you're lucky, once you get enough rules spread around, the rule that you don't want will be abolished in the area.

I feel for you though. The Random rule does indeed suck. I did find something interesting though when I looked up some info about this: Sometime afterwards when the Garden takes off from it's stationary place in near Balamb, you can head back to Balamb and there will be a student who missed catching the Garden when it took off. He's at the wharf, btw. If you speak to said student, they will reset all rules back to their original sets. Not sure if it's just in the Balamb region, but I came across multiple sites that said that it happens.

Best of luck to you.

Just got the Ragnarok so I went back to Balamb and found that student at the wharf. When I talked to him he just mentioned how he missed the Garden, so I thought playing him in cards would reset the rules and in fact it did with him but does that reset it everywhere?

[Dodie16]

^ I looked a little more into it, and apparently the guy that you find in Balamb only resets Balamb's rules. It's a good place to start again though, because you can start from a "clean slate" and hopefully start spreading the rules that you want/need from here.

[Xithor]

You are right on, I reset the rules in Balamb in time to complete the CC Group Quest with rather easy because the only rule was trade one so hopefully by using the that other guide you gave me I'll be able to continue to abolish some rules like the annoying Random rule.

[Xithor]

I also heard somewhere that if you go to a region where you want to reset the rules and then go and talk to that student at the wharf in Balamb that he will reset the rules in the region you came from to just Trade: One. So I went to Dollet, played in a game to get the rules and traveled back to Balamb carrying their rules and went to the wharf hoping to reset all the rules in Dollet and the student was no where to be found. This happened to anyone before?

[markandrewkinzett]

The Random rule is a killer rule but I have a couple of tips for you. First off use Quezacotls Card Mod ability to refine as many of your weak cards as you possibly can this will give you a better chance of getting a strong or at least half decent hand to play with. Secondly if you go to Balamb town and go down to the dock you might see a man wearing a brown top if you challenge him to a game of cards he will eliminate all the rules which is great! However he is not always there so bear that in mind. Also the Open rule is without doubt the best rule in the game so before leaving Balamb chat to the Queen of cards (she is on the train station steps) and pay her 30,000 gil for her to spread the open rule as this willm help you greatly. Hope this advice helps you!!!

[UK-Lionheart]

I love the Triple Triad game. It's the best side game ever.

But yeah the random rule does suck, they should never have put that rule in the game at all.

[Keigo12]

I also thought Triple Triad was great. Not sure if you know this, but save before attempting to change rules and if the result doesn't go your way reset. Also I did not know about the guy that resets the rules. That's pretty nifty. Also I think the best rule to get is trade ALL. This makes item farming so much easier.

[the_savior21]

i loved triple triad i wasted so much time in the begining of the game after the 5th time i beat it to play triple triad and collect all the cards

[Diamond Dust]

I love the Triple Triad game. It's the best side game ever.

But yeah the random rule does suck, they should never have put that rule in the game at all.

I agree with TT being the best side game ever, but I think there's value even in the random rule if for nothing else to make the game more complex and obviously more difficult. Once you know what you're doing, TT becomes quite easy. Trying to get Edea's card for example, whilst frustrating still provides sufficient challenge.

There's always the person in Balamb, and the good old L2 R2 Start Select reset tips!

[FF9isthebest]

I was bothered by random as well, but I played through it and I actually got use to beating people even in random, eventually I played in the lunar base and then they abolished random, I was happy.

[Locke4God]

I agree that Triple Triad was super fun, but also the random thing was a bit annoying to try and navigate around. I've never actually set out to master it, ie; getting every card, successfully spreading the rules how I like, etc. Is that kind of a fun quest? Do you get anything significant out of it?

[Angel of Iniquity]

One thing that isn't good is if the rules state Same/Plus.
I was working out Edea, trying to get her powerful cards, but all I had was level 7-10 cards. All of her cards were specified for SAme... >.>

[Selcopa]

Random isnt a big deal when you start dealing with Same/Plus/Combo and Same/Plus Wall, having a bunch of lower cards doesnt change much and if you lose you might not have a rare card in your set

[Michael Swayne]

I guess I just don't have the patience you all had for Triple Triad. When I first got the cards, I would play against the SeeD students, and lose every time. I would do the Soft Reset so I could play them all again, and I would still lose. After awhile, I just gave up on it. Then whenever I would earn the GF cards or character cards, I would go back and play people I lost to, and find that they earned better cards as well.

I think I will just stick with Tetra Master.

[Angel of Iniquity]

I guess I just don't have the patience you all had for Triple Triad. When I first got the cards, I would play against the SeeD students, and lose every time. I would do the Soft Reset so I could play them all again, and I would still lose. After awhile, I just gave up on it. Then whenever I would earn the GF cards or character cards, I would go back and play people I lost to, and find that they earned better cards as well.

I think I will just stick with Tetra Master.

That's interesting. Tetra master is defnietly more complex and vastly harder to learn than TT.

[Michael Swayne]

I am quite the opposite, I guess. I think Triple Triad is much harder to learn because of it's simplicity. With Tetra Master, there are many strategies you can take in order to win. And the board sometimes gives you chances to hide a card that you don't want to lose. With Triple Triad, the board is smaller, and the only card you won't play is the last one in your hand, but only if you go last.

I also like how you could get the cards diagonal from yours. Triple Triad battles on with the cards up, down, left, or right from yours.

[FF9isthebest]

I agree that Triple Triad was super fun, but also the random thing was a bit annoying to try and navigate around. I've never actually set out to master it, ie; getting every card, successfully spreading the rules how I like, etc. Is that kind of a fun quest? Do you get anything significant out of it?

Dude you get more out of the card game than you get out of anything really. You can dupe cards at the end and card mod super rare items indefinitely... Completely nuke the last boss and that ultimate weapon thing in her castle. Also you only need to get one card (PuPu) and the rest you can win in disk 4 off of the card queen and the CC group.