Magic/Junction system

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Ravenshirin

ShinRa Guard
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Okay, so I've played the game a million times, and the most common complaint I hear is that the Draw system sucks. Now, I can understand that people don't like it because it's time consuming, but I actually prefer it. I think it's fun to get the GFs up really far, seek out awesome magic, and make my characters ungodly mean when it's still early in the game. On the other hand, I love the story too, so I may be biased. What do you guys think?
 
By the time you know all the nice little tricks of the trade, you can really sap any difficulty the game has to offer. I know the same can be said for most FF games, but I think it is the most prevailant here.

The first opportunity comes as early as 10 minutes into the game; with I-Mag RF (30 AP, Shiva), you can produce 20 Water magics from a Fish Fin as found from the Fastitocalon-Fs on the beaches of Balamb. Water is an absurdly powerful junction magic, and whether you choose to stick it on strength or HP, you're already way ahead of the curve.

As you say though, it's the time-consuming issue which puts people off. Patience yields great results though, especially when you consider the card game too. I'm personally the type of player who loves grinding in games, so the hard work that other people feel is needed to utilize the Junction system properly is a lot of fun to me.

In conclusion, although I've played this game enough times that I know the best ways to exploit the system, I do prefer it to a more rigid system as found in FFs IV or IX.
 
I am of two minds about this.

I think VIII might be one of the best FFs in terms of gameplay alone IF you can decipher all the crazy menus and get into the junctioning system. Yeah, drawing magic is annoying, but it's really only useful very early in the game. Later it's easier to refine magic from enemy drops and cards and such. BUT, you have to get past that early bit first, and you have to decipher what those abilities do and how to prioritize teaching those abilities to your GFs.

So... I really, really disliked VIII the first time around because I never understood how junctioning magic worked. I somehow missed that having greater numbers of spells gave you greater stat boosts. I had just dozen or so of each spell, which left my characters really weak and left me to resort to spamming GFs, which was no fun at all. So when the plot got stupid I gave up on it. How much of this should be attributed to me being a maroon and how much should be attributed to the game failing to explain its systems clearly I leave up to the reader.

But I gave it another shot a while later, figured out what the heck I was doing and basically went WHEEEEEEE THIS IS FUN all the way through the game. I've replayed it a couple more times since and still felt basically the same way. It's a flawed game, but I've had some good times with it. I find more fun in collecting magic to power up my characters than in just fighting more monsters. I also like that VIII gives you options to accomplish that. Fight monsters, loot from monsters, turn them into cards, play the card game, item hunt, draw points. I really liked that variety.
 
Robbiedbee said:
By the time you know all the nice little tricks of the trade, you can really sap any difficulty the game has to offer. I know the same can be said for most FF games, but I think it is the most prevailant here.

The first opportunity comes as early as 10 minutes into the game; with I-Mag RF (30 AP, Shiva), you can produce 20 Water magics from a Fish Fin as found from the Fastitocalon-Fs on the beaches of Balamb. Water is an absurdly powerful junction magic, and whether you choose to stick it on strength or HP, you're already way ahead of the curve.

As you say though, it's the time-consuming issue which puts people off. Patience yields great results though, especially when you consider the card game too. I'm personally the type of player who loves grinding in games, so the hard work that other people feel is needed to utilize the Junction system properly is a lot of fun to me.

In conclusion, although I've played this game enough times that I know the best ways to exploit the system, I do prefer it to a more rigid system as found in FFs IV or IX.
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Similarly, if you get Quezacotl's card, and after that the card mod ability, getting them first and foremost, you can play a bit of cards in the garden before you even embark anywhere else, and get Tornado (I think from the Abyss Worm card, not sure), which is also insanely powerful to junction, one of the best IIRC.

That was the problem with FF8 and junction, with a little patience and even a rudimentary understanding of how things work, the game will be so insanely easy it's silly. I don't think I died once playing it through on the first time I ever played it.
 
The real problem here is people don't want to work for it. Sheer laziness is the only reason they don't like it. It really isn't that confusing to figure out, draw magic, junction to stats, find better magic and junction that. The only truly difficult part is finding what magic works best and the game makes sure you know by colouring it yellow when it goes up and red when it goes down.

And maybe drawing isn't the best (personally I enjoy it) so you can use the cards to refine more magic to use. When you think about it, it's insanely easy.

And there's nothing more satisfying than being able to sit there and draw 100 Ultima from Ultima Weapon and still be sitting at 9999hp, despite the Light pillar.
 
Gavin AEtherae said:
The real problem here is people don't want to work for it. Sheer laziness is the only reason they don't like it. It really isn't that confusing to figure out, draw magic, junction to stats, find better magic and junction that. The only truly difficult part is finding what magic works best and the game makes sure you know by colouring it yellow when it goes up and red when it goes down.
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Excuse the fuck out of me for not wanting to sit in a battle with that shitty battle music in the background for an hour while I kept drawing 100 of an element PER FUCKING CHARACTER.

The draw system was stupid. It's not laziness that I didn't want to sit there and not do it. It was because I had better things to do than bore myself insane with a silly draw system.

Not much was wrong with junctioning, however. It was the drawing that killed it for me. That, combined with an absurd and silly story, I couldn't ever bring myself to play that game a second time.
 
Better things to do? Fapping or trolling?

The draw system made you work for it rather than just throwing materia into a slot and killing shit until it levels. Besides, use the damn cards if you didn't want to draw.

The story also wasn't near as bad as VII's.
 
If it helps, I didn't like the materia system at all. Also, I was trolling and fapping, thank you very much. :hmph:

And I don't mind working for it, but there comes a time when working for it becomes working too much for it. FFVIII crossed the line from the getgo. I could have used the cards, but I didn't like that much either. So I said "fuck the cards, fuck the draw system" and I went through the entire game spamming my GF's because the game was fucking easy that way.

Hold down select, mash square, all day; erry day. :mokken:
 
:hmmm:

The Draw system was a unique concept but I dislike it. I will skip the time consuming reason and focus on just personal preference. I like the idea of using MP. I don't like the idea of having spells used like items. They do coincide with the Junctioning in VIII, but then I never use Magic because I want my Stats as high as possible. I like learning a spell and keeping it rather then having a set number. Having MP manages spells fine. Drawing/Junctioning was too much busy work.
 
I hated it :rage:

Yes it's time-consuming, but battles arent really meant to be time-consuming unless its a hard boss,and drawing magic every battle just takes the piss.
Time-consuming battles = annoying = a :fail:. :mokken:

And just like Chell on my first playthrough,for every battle there is an easy way out: Summoning. I've still got my first save and everytime I attack with Squall he only does around 400 damage, I defeated Ultemecia by spamming his limit break.

But seriously the battle system just sucked, I think I may even prefer FFXIII battle system over this (which everyone hated), as it at least requires you to think despite just mashing the X button.

The story was the only thing that kept me going, like all FF's the story is amazing......but its a shame about some of the characters (Squall,Zell and Selphie :hmph:).
 
I always thought people got their knickers in waaaaaaay too tight a bunch over the junction system, but more about the 'BAWWWWW I DUN UNDERSTAND IT' element.

In other words, people complain it's too complicated when in fact, it's not. Sounds to me like people are bitching more about not wanting to think while playing the game rather than not really understanding. Honestly, it's not that hard. People are just very lazy.

On the other hand, I also don't see the point of the 'once you understand it, it kills teh challenge' argument. ._. isn't that how ALL games are? It's how all games are for me, at least and I really am not the most hardcore gamer of all time. I never really care much about the gameplay itself unless it's so unwieldy that it makes you scream and FF8's certainly wasn't...

I sorta care more about story and characters...
 
There are things other than drawing. You can refine magic from items which saves a LOT of time you normally spend drawing magic from enemies. Instead of fighting for the sole purpose of drawing magic, you could just fight for the items the monsters drop and refine powerful magic from such items and then junction them to the characters' stats. I surely didn't farm 500 Curagas and 200 Ultimas DRAWING. lol Well, the Ultimas were drawn from that 5,000gil draw point at Shumi Village which recharges REALLY fast and those hidden draw points at the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell.

My Squall was inflicting 7000+ damage per attack. His Lion Heart attack delivered 9999 damage per hit. I defeated Bahamut in a single turn.

It is not so hard and time-consuming as you think it is. There are further options. I just draw from enemies magic that is already junctioned to a character's stat so that I can boost it a little, but no more than twice per battle.
 
Ultima-Griever said:
It is not so hard and time-consuming as you think it is. There are further options. I just draw from enemies magic that is already junctioned to a character's stat so that I can boost it a little, but no more than twice per battle.
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Pretty much this. There's only a few times where you REALLY have to draw if you want really good magic quickly (Prime examples being getting Aura from Seifer or getting Triples from Odin)

Card Modding destroys any balance in the game and that's the problem that I have with the Junction system. There's no balance in it. Either you don't take advantage of it and have a semi-hard time with the game; or you learn it and everything becomes loleasy.

I love this game to death. It's almost by far my favorite FF game. But a little balancing would've gotten a lot more people to see it the way I do.
 
There are a few absurd effects on Card Mod, such as one card refining in 100 of said item which is almost always hard for enemies to drop. It's true. But there are always those obsessed with Triple Triad who refuse to refine their cards. XD

FFVIII is one of my favorites, too. It has my favorite soundtrack of all time and the most interesting story to me, which opens up to MANY theories.
 
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