The towns in Disk4 are closed....

[FF9isthebest]

Bullcrap I played all the way to disc 4 thinking I could just get everything I needed and it turns out most of the major spots are now closed off.... Bunch of crap had to restart from a previous save....

Def gonna get everything I can before Disc4, FF games are full of surprises.

[Diamond Dust]

Have to admit this annoyed me endlessly too. Thinking back, 7 and 9 were so much better games.

[Zargabaath]

Don't they mention in game that the player won't be able to go into towns because it may cause an anomaly/disruption in the time compression. That's why the Guardian Forces Doomtrain and Tonberry are important in Disk 4. Doomtrain allows the player to call the Junk Shop if you need to upgrade some weapons & Tonberry has the "Call Shop" ability if you need some items.

I'm pretty sure they do tell the player they can't go into town, this seems like fault with the user.

[Michael Swayne]

I am not entirely sure that it was directly said that you can't go into towns in Disc 4. It might have been mentioned, but I can't recall exactly when it occurred. If anyone knows please, point it out to me. But, like you said, having those GFs are crucial to avoid that annoyance.

Just one problem...

I am still having trouble trying to get everything to earn the Doomtrain GF. i have played through FFVIII once without it, but now I am going to do it all again. If there is anyone out there who knows the whereabouts of all needed items, please help a gamer.

[Zargabaath]

You need the Solomon Ring, 6 steel pipes, 6 remedy+, & 6 malboro tentacles. Solomon's Ring is located within Tear's Point at the foot of a statue of a woman with a harp. Once you have all the items activate the ring and Doomtrain will automatically join.

Steel Pipes can be mugged from Wendigo's. Remdedy+ can be refined from 10 Remedys with Alexander's Med-Lv Up ability. And the tentacles can be gotten from beating or mugging a Malboro.

[Michael Swayne]

Okay, thank you so much. I never thought to Mug any of the monsters. I never really liked the Thief abilities. Part of my whole bringing up, I guess. And I will have to make Alexander learn Med-LV Up. After that, Doomtrain will be mine!

[TheFF8fan]

I am not entirely sure that it was directly said that you can't go into towns in Disc 4. It might have been mentioned, but I can't recall exactly when it occurred. If anyone knows please, point it out to me. But, like you said, having those GFs are crucial to avoid that annoyance.

Just one problem...

I am still having trouble trying to get everything to earn the Doomtrain GF. i have played through FFVIII once without it, but now I am going to do it all again. If there is anyone out there who knows the whereabouts of all needed items, please help a gamer.

No, if you have never played the game or you have never read a solution, you can't know that you can't go into towns in Disc 4...

To obtain Doomtrain, the player must have the Solomon Ring and at least 6 Steel Pipes, 6 Remedy+, and 6 Malboro Tentacles. When you have this objects you can use Solomon Ring from the inventory to obtain Doomtrain.

[Michael Swayne]

I am sorry to sound defensive, but I HAVE played through FFVIII once before. I mean that I didn't obtain GF Doomtrain to complete the game. It is an optional GF, and is not a necessary thing to have in order to win. I am sure that it might have been an easier thing to do using it's Junctions and other abilities.

In my previous post, I said that having those GFs would avoid having the annoyance of not being able to go into towns to shop. I, in no way, meant otherwise.

"To each his own", right?

[FF9isthebest]

Yea I missed a lot of stuff to when I first played, but now I got every GF, every ultimate weapon, every card and every limit so I'm thinking that's pretty much completed.

[GypsyElder]

I always wondered why those areas got closed off in both VIII and IX, but I figured it was to save some sort of space for the end of the game, since it was old PSX anyway. FFVIII's last disc is only the battle with Ultimicia and the huge video at the end lol.

Also, the part at the end of IX where Zidaine was dodging and riding the vines of the (Lifa/Iifa wtf game?) tree, I used to think to myself "why did they not make this a full cut scene?

[Tallulah]

I always wondered why those areas got closed off in both VIII and IX, but I figured it was to save some sort of space for the end of the game, since it was old PSX anyway. FFVIII's last disc is only the battle with Ultimicia and the huge video at the end lol.

I thought exactly the same thing and reached the same conclusion, which makes sense.

I had played Final Fantasy VII previously, where you can finish any side quests before you go to the final dungeon, and I was really annoyed when I got to Disc 4 and found I couldn't get into the cities, as I still had so much to do in them. But no. The Time Kompression Of Disc Space Convenience prevented me from doing so.

What was worse the first time I played; I wasn't really strong enough to beat Adel when I first played Final Fantasy VIII, but once you fight Raijin and Fujin, there is no way you can leave the Lunatic Pandora, because you simply MUST save Rinoa (personally I'd have let the cow perish in space, lol!). I figured you could level up by fighting the enemies within the Lunatic Pandora, hover you receive one, count it, ONE experience point per battle! That really p!ssed me off no end, especially since I only had one save and was for all purpose stuck in the Godforsaken crystal pillar. This meant I had to start over!

Thankfully I had a better idea of what to do, and levelled up, grinding at every opportunity, just to make sure I beat that bitch! (Adel, that is, not Rinoa!)

[FF9isthebest]

I thought exactly the same thing and reached the same conclusion, which makes sense.

I had played Final Fantasy VII previously, where you can finish any side quests before you go to the final dungeon, and I was really annoyed when I got to Disc 4 and found I couldn't get into the cities, as I still had so much to do in them. But no. The Time Kompression Of Disc Space Convenience prevented me from doing so.

What was worse the first time I played; I wasn't really strong enough to beat Adel when I first played Final Fantasy VIII, but once you fight Raijin and Fujin, there is no way you can leave the Lunatic Pandora, because you simply MUST save Rinoa (personally I'd have let the cow perish in space, lol!). I figured you could level up by fighting the enemies within the Lunatic Pandora, hover you receive one, count it, ONE experience point per battle! That really p!ssed me off no end, especially since I only had one save and was for all purpose stuck in the Godforsaken crystal pillar. This meant I had to start over!

Thankfully I had a better idea of what to do, and levelled up, grinding at every opportunity, just to make sure I beat that bitch! (Adel, that is, not Rinoa!)

Rinoa was kind of a bimbo....

[GypsyElder]

@Tallulah,

ha, that's exactly what happened to me the very first time I played VIII I kept trying and won by the skin of my teeth, I refused to start over, so it took me a month of continuous failure.

[Linus Li Lelouch]

Why do I feel like, I'm the only one who knew the towns was going to be closed on disc 4?

Aside from that fact, by time I got to disc 4 I had damn near 100 of everything so (gotta love the card game), I really didn't need to go back into any towns, guess I was just too overprepared as always...

[markandrewkinzett]

The same thing happened to me in my first playthrough and it was a bit of a bitch. The only good thing about it is that you get to go through the game again and being such an awesome game it is not too terrible!!!