Level up on play through or no?

[Yaoi Master Gavin]

The entire point of the level system, player wise, was for you to take advantage of the --- Bonus abilities some of the GFs have. On the monster side though, the levels also determine what they have dropable/mugable. For instance, you can only mug a power generator for Ouistis by stealing it from a lvl 30 or higher Blitz and even then, its a low chance.

To be honest, the game gives you a lot of AP for abilities. The only reason you would need to grind is for a particular ability. Personally, I sit in the dream forest until I have Diablos' Mug and from then on just play the game.

 

[DarkLordSephiroth66]

Definently

For sure, level up.

But be smart about it. Do it the way I always do.

I personally level up really early on in the game(as much as possible in disk 1 and even more rigorously in disk 2).

The reason I level up more during my play through disk 2 is because once you get to disk 3 you gotta be at least level 75 to beat Ultima Weapon(even with all of the final weapons equipped with each of your party members).

And then again, once you get to disk 3 and finally get to Ultimecia if you are not at least level 80(again with all the final weapons for each party member) you are bound to get your ass handed to you by her 3rd form(that's right I said 3rd form).

She is gonna just decimate you if you are not properly leveled up.

And also have a shit-ton of Cura/Curaga magic stocked up, along with totally maxing out your storage capacity of Hi-potions and Pheonix Downs.

(and hopefully you have the Carbuncle summon, he's gonna help out immensely)

 

[Exoskeleton]

For sure, level up.

But be smart about it. Do it the way I always do.

I personally level up really early on in the game(as much as possible in disk 1 and even more rigorously in disk 2).

The reason I level up more during my play through disk 2 is because once you get to disk 3 you gotta be at least level 75 to beat Ultima Weapon(even with all of the final weapons equipped with each of your party members).

And then again, once you get to disk 3 and finally get to Ultimecia if you are not at least level 80(again with all the final weapons for each party member) you are bound to get your ass handed to you by her 3rd form(that's right I said 3rd form).

She is gonna just decimate you if you are not properly leveled up.

And also have a shit-ton of Cura/Curaga magic stocked up, along with totally maxing out your storage capacity of Hi-potions and Pheonix Downs.

(and hopefully you have the Carbuncle summon, he's gonna help out immensely)

Erm there's no need to level up that much in the game. Even the bosses level with you. Ultima(and Omega) weapon's HP and power changes according to your level just like all the other monsters, although surprisingly his dropped items are still the same. You don't need to be a certain level to beat him, but looking at the higher numbered damage points sure does give such a satisfying feeling.

All you really need is Squall's ultimate weapon and aura for the last boss, who I'm assuming's level adjusts according to yours. I'm only responding because it seemed like you didn't know that from your post ^^. You must have done a lot of grinding for those levels. I'm too lazy

I beat the game with Squall at level 65, Zell and rinoa level 50 somethings and the rest below level 20. It only takes smart junctioning and battle tactics to win ^^

 

[vyxsin.]

Erm there's no need to level up that much in the game. Even the bosses level with you. Ultima(and Omega) weapon's HP and power changes according to your level just like all the other monsters, although surprisingly his dropped items are still the same. You don't need to be a certain level to beat him, but looking at the higher numbered damage points sure does give such a satisfying feeling.

All you really need is Squall's ultimate weapon and aura for the last boss, who I'm assuming's level adjusts according to yours. I'm only responding because it seemed like you didn't know that from your post ^^. You must have done a lot of grinding for those levels. I'm too lazy

I beat the game with Squall at level 65, Zell and rinoa level 50 somethings and the rest below level 20. It only takes smart junctioning and battle tactics to win ^^

Ild agree with this. I thought the point of the system was to abolish the need to grind throughout, and to do grind (if you feel need be) once you have acquired all the bonus stat abilities to maximize leveling up.

 

[Laguna Loire]

Well lvl isn't really important in VIII it just depends on your Junctioning

 

[vyxsin.]

Well lvl isn't really important in VIII it just depends on your Junctioning

Which is you play your cards right (literally) at the beginning, you will not have to worry about until much later.

 

[Exoskeleton]

Er one liner posts are considered spam you two! Just a heads up before the mods show up...if they ever happen to. But yea, I'm actually glad that I didn't have to focus on grinding and leveling up to gain power. Grinding takes mindless battles while this game used a well though out junction system to gain power.

 

[vyxsin.]

Er one liner posts are considered spam you two! Just a heads up before the mods show up...if they ever happen to. But yea, I'm actually glad that I didn't have to focus on grinding and leveling up to gain power. Grinding takes mindless battles while this game used a well though out junction system to gain power.

Wow..really? I understand spam trust me but sometimes a one sentence answer can just be a very concise one But yes, I really liked the fact that it wasn't a focus for VIII, and you had to use more strategy earlier on. I can't believe that that leveling system hasn't been replicated that much since VIII.

 

[Ness]

Well lvl isn't really important in VIII it just depends on your Junctioning

Yes.

Due to the scaling of enemies, there's no reason to spend time grinding for EXP. Not only does it provide no discernible benefits, but there are no powerful enemies to make the process faster (sans a few hard-to-reach areas).

I usually found my party's level to be in the 80s when I finish a game of FF8, simply because I spend time drawing on the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell (Odin kills a good deal of the level 100 enemies here). Also, the sequence of forced encounters on the road to fighting Ultima Weapon usually provides 8-9 levels.

 

[vyxsin.]

The 'grinding' of FFVIII is in the cards or items rather than levels..which I believe gives off an even more satisfying reward once its done.

 

[soldier first class]

So, I'm about to start reawaken my love and play through this game once more. However, this time, I want to be sure I'm going about it the fastest most clear cut way.

My goal is to go from beginning to end and love the entire story.

That being said, is it fastest for me to just play through since monsters level up with your characters' level, or should you take the time to level up anyway as it's a huge boost?

It seems to me that leveling up only is useful for aquiring items and weapons and etc, and not so much progressing through the game since they will generally match your level.

If you just want to play through the story go for it. I might actually try playing again with a perfect file just to say that I did it.