The Junction System...

[blondeandy]

Hi!

About time i posted something on here!

I was just wondering your thoughts on the Junction system and whether i'm missing the boat somehow. I've been playing all FF games from 1 through to 8 and i've not found any system as awkward as this before.

I have no real problem drawing magic to junction but where i lose the plot is the constant forced changes in the group meaning i have to keep moving things around. I try to have all GFs junctioned to a party member at all times(is this where i'm going wrong?) to keep them levelling but then in a few minutes it's taken me to the dream world or changed the controllable character again so it's back to the drawing board.

I thought a quick fix would be to use the switch function to move the GFs around but this just led to all my magic being shifted around and some chars ending up with none at all which is an even more picky process trying to reassign some magic.

Am i missing something or doing something wrong? Or is it genuinely that awkward!!!

Any help appreciated!

[Treize]

I wouldn't say the Junction system is the best system, but I do think it has its good points. First, it is really customizable. You can tailor your characters however you want by using the stronger magic in specific stats. Also, it adds more strategy because you have to look for the better spells in order to actually make your characters stronger instead of just leveling.This game took a pretty different approach from most FF games. Instead of leveling and equipping strong weapons, it's more about the magic and the GFs. Perhaps you find it awkward because it's probably the least traditional.

I think it's best if you have two teams. You should have all your GFs and magic with the main three person team because it is pretty pointless to have it with someone who won't even be in battle. Then when you are forced to change teams, switch everything from someone you were using to someone else in the new group. I believe that's what the switch function is meant for.

Why do you want to change GFs without changing magic? The characters become pretty useless if you don't change the magic to increase their stats.

[blondeandy]

I think my problem with the magic is that i see it as being drawn by characters and thinking that it remains with characters then i find when i reassign my GFs that a character has no magic to assign to the GF. I'm only assuming that the reason is that using the switch function switches everything.

Is the thinking approach to have a combination of GFs and magic to provide certain roles? ie have one set-up good for a physical attacking char, another set-up for magical attacking?

I can see that it is very customisable indeed and i especially like the GF skill
learning. Just think it could be executed better maybe?

Does the game get a bit more flexible in terms of who you have in the party a bit later on as that would make life easier. At the moment i'm going from a team of one, to a team of two then back to one, then three and that's probably causing the frustration. When i'm just changing members in a rolling team of three the juction switching works fine.

Really enjoying the game though!

[blondeandy]

And as soon as i opened my mouth the worst happens. Just turned my psp on to find it's decided to wipe all my save files. No idea how that has happened but i've had to start from scratch again. Maybe that'll give me the time i need to get used to the system....

[seanb]

Iv'e also had trouble with the Junction system, I didn't it to be straight forward and still don't fully understand it thoroughly. I would constantly be levelling up but my charachters never really seemed strong enough. I'm gonna hav to have another crack at mastering it

[loaf]

I never had a problem with it. Every character I get I made sure they get Fire Cure Ice and Bolt as soon as I get them. Mostly with Refining. I make sure everyone Draws their own magic. Makes me actually play some of the game.

[markandrewkinzett]

It may take time to get uesd to but I never had a real problem with it I would advise making a seperate save and then just fiddle around with it for a bit and then you might be able to make some sense of it the best way to learn is on hand and from mistakes hope this will help you.

[CrazedMonkey]

Personally, I always had fun with the Junction system, I was never huge on magic, so having a use for it with the characters I didn't have using it worked out well for me. I also like that by Junctioning 100 Ultima I gain 100% resistance to all elements. That was cool. I usually just put Rinoa in Angel Wing so she doesn't lose any magic and gains her big boost, then I use my other characters for something else. After awhile the only spell I used was Aura to get my limit breaks going. I was never a fan of materia, and I tend to get irritated when I run out of mp after 2 or 3 big spells, so Junction just fits better.

[blondeandy]

Just as a quick follow-up to this, i think i finally got the hang of it. I got over my hang up of always having all GFs in play at any time(when you drop to 1 or 2 team members) and just kept them in 3 groups which i just switched around. All in all a fairly decent system with a lot of customisation. Almost as the end now and really dragging it out as not sure i want it to end, my desire to play 9 onwards is keeping me going though!

[fr34kelite]

I actually really enjoyed the junction system. It seemed complex at first, but then I learned that all you gotta do is get more powerful magic to add on to each stat that you open up through building up GFs, and it was a breeze. I loved the side quests in FFVIII, and completed all of them, so finding the more powerful magic wasn't that difficult at all.

[IcyJJ]

I liked the idea because this allowed you to use any character you want and make them how you want them to. Quistis the tank, Squall the mage, Irvine the ninja, doesn't matter.

[Sheechiibii]

I really quite like the jnctioning system, I think it's nice and different form the typical leveling systems. I like drawing and finding new strong magic. The one critisism I have is that it pretty much means that there are no mages in the game, because using magic means taking away from your characters stats which is not a good thing so I never used magic which was a shame.

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