a probably over asked question just want an opinion

[belakkaleb88]

just want some opinions here on drawing magic in ff8. do you guys tend to draw magic from the same oponents until your completley stocked up at 100 or just kinda get what you need and go. because i always seem to post upand try to get max on everything but then i never want to use magic in this game because i remember all the time i spent drawing it in the first place. i think maybe im just a fool that thinks to much but anyways the reason i ask is imthinkin about another playthrough but not sure if i wanna draw every dang magic and spend so much time on that. my first thread btw please bear with me haha

[GypsyElder]

Lol been there done that I spent masses of time drawing all the magic. The problem is out of all the magic in the game there aren't enough slots of one individual person to hold one of each type of magic, so keep that in mind. I think you're like me and are in need of gaming rehab lol.

I didn't mind junctioning at all, I liked it once I got the hang of things. Drawing itself felt like a hassle (because it was). Having to equip GF's and magic to boost stats felt messy though, and unorganized. By the end of the game the only magic you really need for junctioning are mainly the higher leveled magics. So yeah all the magic in between like berserk and sleep are pretty useless by the end. I'm a fan of refining.

[Rocky]

A lot of gfs have different ways to get magic then just straight up drawing it, a lot of them have ways to refine items to magic, and other magic to higher level magic so at the beginning of the game I may end up drawing for like 5 minutes/battle but it picks up unless I need to get certain magic spells, like the Seifer in Disc 3 comes to mind for all of them Auras.

if you take a little bit to understand the abilities that your GFs have and what you can do to work the system, you don't have to spend all the time just drawgrinding for spells. This game rewards thinking, GOOD THING!

[belakkaleb88]

haha yeah im pretty sure i freaked out when i noticed there was no wayi could hold all the magic. and yeah i noticed all those gf abilities to refine items and magic but for some reason in this game i refuse to use items unless i knowhow to replenish the supply. im weird and like to have lots of everything even if i wont use it. well i think im gonna have to play again and try some new stuff while cutting the umbilical cord with my precious items

[Rocky]

haha yeah im pretty sure i freaked out when i noticed there was no wayi could hold all the magic. and yeah i noticed all those gf abilities to refine items and magic but for some reason in this game i refuse to use items unless i knowhow to replenish the supply. im weird and like to have lots of everything even if i wont use it. well i think im gonna have to play again and try some new stuff while cutting the umbilical cord with my precious items

dude I totally know where you are coming from with being reluctant with using items to get stuff, but as long as you are planning to get all of the GFs you will have access to all the items/shops you need to get stuff. Anywho, have fun on your replaying of FF8 and keep us posted on how it goes

EDIT: another tip I have for you, do what you can to complete all of the Triple Triad sidequest stuff and get the rare cards, they help you out immensely with everything, from items to spells to whatever you need.

[belakkaleb88]

haha will do thanks for all the great info from the both of you

[che]

These two people are not credible whatsoever.

I mean, if you are spending your time drawing as much magic from everything you fight, you are spending more time drawing while gaining less exp on that particular fight, when you could be spending a small amount using Junction while gaining as much exp as possible by killing more things. There's a balance there.

[belakkaleb88]

well i was under the impression that exp doesnt matter as much in this game due to everything being at your particular lvl. or have i completley mislead myself all this time?

[belakkaleb88]

EDIT: another tip I have for you, do what you can to complete all of the Triple Triad sidequest stuff and get the rare cards, they help you out immensely with everything, from items to spells to whatever you need.[/QUOTE]


oh man dont make me get rid of my precious cards! haha

[Rocky]

oh man dont make me get rid of my precious cards! haha

haha no worries, as long as you complete the whole Card Queen sidequest stuff, you will be able to win back all the cards (yes even those precious Laguna/Gilgamesh cards you used to beat Omega Weapon) that you may decide to refine later on. You wont be able to get them back until Disc 4 but it's better that then nothing .

[che]

well i was under the impression that exp doesnt matter as much in this game due to everything being at your particular lvl. or have i completley mislead myself all this time?

What I meant was:

You can sit on every single fight you get in and just draw magic until you can't anymore, and then end the fight. This requires time, and gives you a static EXP number.

There are other options. One is when you get in a fight, use Draw Magic 1-X times, and kill them quickly. You still gain the same exp, but you are gaining less magic (except you are using less time!).

However, since there is a cap on the amount of magic you can draw, there is a balance to gaining exp and drawing magic (unless its a boss, in which you gain GFs you will not have a chance to get otherwise).

That's all I meant.

[belakkaleb88]

haha alright now i see. i def misinterpreted what you were sayin

[Treize]

I usually draw magic in the very beginning of the game, but soon realize that you normally get the magic worth junctioning from either card modding or bosses until later in the game. I didn't think it was really worth wasting all your time drawing the weaker magic when you wouldn't junction it, and you had limited space. I think it's good to build up a solid base in the beginning with weaker magic, but you shouldn't have to worry about drawing magic from every monster you come across.

I, also, rarely used magic. I just found it a waste to use it after spending all that time to get the magic. Besides, I didn't really think it was worth using the magic when either attacks or GFs would do more damage. Of course Aura is the main exception.

[che]

I usually draw magic in the very beginning of the game, but soon realize that you normally get the magic worth junctioning from either card modding or bosses until later in the game. I didn't think it was really worth wasting all your time drawing the weaker magic when you wouldn't junction it, and you had limited space. I think it's good to build up a solid base in the beginning with weaker magic, but you shouldn't have to worry about drawing magic from every monster you come across.

I, also, rarely used magic. I just found it a waste to use it after spending all that time to get the magic. Besides, I didn't really think it was worth using the magic when either attacks or GFs would do more damage. Of course Aura is the main exception.

Yeah, nobody ever used magic. Which means you spent your time junctioning or physical attacking, which was super effing boring. And thus, drawing magic was gone.

"My final fantasy is to attack people with swords, making dents in HP, not their physical self."

Nope.

[belakkaleb88]

yeah the junction system always has felt like a hell of a chore everytime you open the menu but the game is still one of my fav ff games

[Treize]

Yeah, nobody ever used magic. Which means you spent your time junctioning or physical attacking, which was super effing boring. And thus, drawing magic was gone.

"My final fantasy is to attack people with swords, making dents in HP, not their physical self."

Nope.

Okay, you can't tell me that the battle system is completely boring when you aren't using magic often. I thought summoning GFs and using overdrives was pretty fun. At the time the graphics for summoning GFs were great, and the overdrives were just plain awesome for the most part. At least for me it wasn't boring. There were other alternatives between just attacking and using magic. I suppose you would use regular attacks the majority of the time in battle, but isn't it like that with all RPGs?

I actually thought the junction system was an interesting change. I wouldn't say it's the best FF has to offer, but it is certainly interesting. I think it's boring at first when you only have the weaker magic, but once you get the better magic you have more options with your characters. Also, it adds a certain difficulty to the game. If you don't obtain and junction the right magic, good luck trying to beat anything even remotely difficult. This is one of the easier FF games, so anything that would add difficulty is a good thing in my opinion.

[belakkaleb88]

yeah id agree the system adds alot and the game would feel weird without im just sayin it takes awhile to get into and it can seem like a heluva lot to handle before you get usd to it

[che]

Okay, you can't tell me that the battle system is completely boring when you aren't using magic often. I thought summoning GFs and using overdrives was pretty fun. At the time the graphics for summoning GFs were great, and the overdrives were just plain awesome for the most part. At least for me it wasn't boring. There were other alternatives between just attacking and using magic. I suppose you would use regular attacks the majority of the time in battle, but isn't it like that with all RPGs?

I actually thought the junction system was an interesting change. I wouldn't say it's the best FF has to offer, but it is certainly interesting. I think it's boring at first when you only have the weaker magic, but once you get the better magic you have more options with your characters. Also, it adds a certain difficulty to the game. If you don't obtain and junction the right magic, good luck trying to beat anything even remotely difficult. This is one of the easier FF games, so anything that would add difficulty is a good thing in my opinion.

GFs were boring too. Summon them, and spam square (break your hand) the entire animation. I won't deny that the summon animations were awesome, they usually are in an FF game, but did you not get tired of seeing them over and over and over?

And no, I didn't just use regular attacks in other RPGs. My setup usually includes a standard melee guy, a devoted agressive caster, and a healer in FF games.

Stop trying to deny that the junction system sucks. Everyone knows it, it's OKAY. I'm not knocking the game itself, just drawing magic.

[GypsyElder]

I mean, if you are spending your time drawing as much magic from everything you fight, you are spending more time drawing while gaining less exp on that particular fight, when you could be spending a small amount using Junction while gaining as much exp as possible by killing more things. There's a balance there...

You can sit on every single fight you get in and just draw magic until you can't anymore, and then end the fight. This requires time, and gives you a static EXP number.

There are other options. One is when you get in a fight, use Draw Magic 1-X times, and kill them quickly. You still gain the same exp, but you are gaining less magic (except you are using less time!).

I highly doubt anyone sits and draws 100 of whatever spell(s) the fiend he or she is fighting has, I don't even I would do that. I think he's ( er I hope you are a "he") saying that he wants to spend more time collecting in general not necessarily from the same encounter. The whole point of taking the time to draw the magic isn't for the exp....it's for the magic and even if a person wanted to sit there and draw 100 spells then obviously they're going to take the time to do it.

It's a feeling of " I want to get as much as I can well before I get to "this" part in the game. A feeling of being "ahead" while you're playing. Or at least that's kind of what it was for me when I decided to go completionist crazy.

It's setting a standard and finding something more to do when you've already completed the game, the same way a low level run would serve.

However, since there is a cap on the amount of magic you can draw, there is a balance to gaining exp and drawing magic.

You can draw all the magic you want (100 of every spell), you just can't give each character one of every spell. All you have to do is assign classes to which ever member you want and then there's no problem. (one person has white magic, this person has all the elementals etc. or however a person wants) There was a topic on this before I think when I asked.

[Angel of Iniquity]

I draw at the beginning, and then use the mid magic refine to refine it.
At the Diablos part, make sure you draw 100 demis. Use shivas ice refine to refine the fish scales from the fish thingies at the shore. Waters are good at the beginning.
Oh and, if you level up quickly at the beginning, the spells you draw are stronger.
I was gaining Firas before the dollet mission lol

[markandrewkinzett]

Drawing magic is a necessity for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is vital to have some sort of curative magic stocked for healing in emergency situations and life in case of reviving KO'd characters. Secondly drawing magic allows you to get stronger by junctioning it to your stats, elemental attack/defense and status attack/defence. Thirdly I very rarely use magic myself I only use it in desperate suituations however, I still draw 100 of the strongest magics as to strenghen my charcters stats and battle effectiveness. To sum up it is an individual decision on what and how much magic you stock up using the draw command but I recommend maxing some magics up to 100 asap. Alternatively later in the game you can create many magics by using GF abilities such as L-Mag RF and F-Mag RF etc. But again TOTTALY up ot you!!!

[the_savior21]

in the begining of the game when you are first a SeeD and you try to draw magic you draw the most at one time with the person that has the highest Mag stat usually

[JuzamDjinn]

Alternatively later in the game you can create many magics by using GF abilities such as L-Mag RF and F-Mag RF etc.

You can start doing this fairly early on if you AP grin for about an hour in the right place. I didn't spend too much time drawing durring the game unless there was someone carriing a rare spell. I would mostly just modify items.

Honestly, just cheat the SeeD rank written test up to A and with that salary you can afford whatever items you need to be modding. There is no reason to waste lots of time draing in combat. Far too many people forget this and complain about how stupid the draw system is.

Great thing about the Final Fantasy programmers, they always give you all the tools you need to make a nice clean round through any situation. Be it an elem-weapon in a dungeon that the boss at the end is weak to, or put a few High AP awarding monster just outside a place where you need strong magic. They look out for us.