Final Fantasy VIII Classic Jobs Part I
Aug. 4th, 2024 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
freshfeelingIn my recent post about Mini Survivors, I discussed how getting my kids Miyoo Minis may have sort of shaped my Summer this year, and I ended by saying I got one for myself. Since getting it and having a cute little console with roughly ten thousand games on it, there's a funny sort of decision paralysis that goes with it; I wonder if everyone experiences that? I didn't want to play anything with too much action and reflex involved, but I didn't want to play some wonderful JRPG that might make for nice variant playthroughs which might be easier to set up on a real computer. I dabbled in PICO-8 games, I played some SNES SimCity, I played a chunk of Symphony of the Night... and then I was looking at Final Fantasy VIII. Hm. Is there a way I could make a variant of this I'd want to play on my Miyoo and then discuss here? It turns out there is.
Naturally, because I try to solve all problems with spreadsheets for fun and profit, I had already done a pile of analysis of what FF8 with jobs might look like for me. I thought about what junction types and abilities were suited to which jobs, and then how these could be assigned to GFs such that they'd embody one job each.
When I did this, I thought it might involve a hack or a script or something. There is already a mod that exists called Final Fantasy VIII International GF Job System, but it wasn't going to align with my limitations. I found recently though that there aren't any robust FF8 hacking tools right now... but there is a save editor. I identified the save format used by my Miyoo's PlayStation emulator and got down to business.
The save editor, called Hyne, has one of the better UIs of any hacking-adjacent tool I've used. It also allows you to create a game-start save file from scratch, which is fantastic. The only changes I ended up making were editing the list of abilities every GF had to align to one job among knight, thief, white mage, or black mage... and giving myself 99 Amnesia Greens.
I knew I'd need Amnesia Greens because Hyne didn't seem to allow certain abilities to be removed from GFs without undoing some of the other additions or removals... so some GFs needed one or two extra abilities that are mildly illegal for my ruleset.
So, the rules?
Rule 1 of 4: Abilities are restricted by class, as follows:
GFs' ability lists have been modified using Hyne to enable this. These abilities are meant to embody the potential relative stats and even equipment of these classes throughout the Final Fantasy series. GFs also generally keep their refining abilities. We will not be using any GF ability items that don't already correspond to this table.
Rule 2 of 4: The spells that a character can junction and/or cast are also strictly limited by their class, as follows:
This does mean giving some elemental abilities to Knight and Thief, but keep in mind that they don't have a Magic command. Once again, the aim is more about mirroring a role's capabilities throughout the series, including the knight frequently having weapons and armors aligned to various elements, and the thief having a mage masher.
Rule 3 of 4: The GFs are all permanently associated with a single class. Characters themselves are not at all tied to a class! They can swap GFs along with their entire spell lists using the game's built-in swap mechanic to change classes.
Knight GFs: Brothers, Pandemona, Doomtrain, Alexander
Thief GFs: Diabolos, Bahamut, Tonberry, Cactuar
White Mage GFs: Siren, Leviathan, Cerberus, Carbuncle
Black Mage GFs: Quezacotl, Shiva, Ifrit, Eden
Choices were made loosely thematically although it doesn't really matter very much other than when and where they're obtained. Until Elvoret, we only have a black mage and two freelancers. Post-Dollet, we have a forced party of black mage, white mage, thief. We only get a knight a bit later.
Rule 4 of 4: At any time, a character can only be junctioned to GFs that support one class. They can be assigned more than one GF as long as they share a class. Only one character with GFs of a particular class is allowed in the active party at once.
Not a rule but some factors to consider: I'm playing the original PlayStation version on my Miyoo Mini and thus there are no videos for this one... and maybe that's good since I sort of hate this game. It feels like an obnoxious story about obnoxious, unlikeable people behaving obnoxiously and getting praised for it, with a largely empty and uninteresting setting and a disjointed, slow-moving plot. I think as a teenager I thought being simultaneously emotionally unavailable yet entitled was super cool until I played this game, when my life goal changed to becoming as unlike Squall as possible. The battle gameplay is also pretty busted, although it's open-ended enough that I can generally find a way to win that suits my preference.
I mean, I wrote about it in my Top 10 Good Games That Start Very Slowly - where maybe the "Good Games" part was embellished for the sake of making the point - but this is how Quistis reacts when you start playing:
I feel it.
I started play on August 3, 2024. This is one of those games where beating it junctionless has been explored so this variant play is a bit more about seeing how the game performs where characters are forced into roles in a way that the game's intended design doesn't impose. They aren't "underpowered" but they're quite "differently powered", and I don't expect any challenge whatsoever for a while. Especially given that my GFs start like this:
Quezacotl starts with a Card command, and I didn't want that, but removing it also removes Card Mod which - I dunno, maybe I shouldn't use that? I thought I’d leave it. So Quezacotl still has Card and we'll simply never equip or use it.
As a minor point of interest if you were wondering, even if you've severely messed with your GFs at the start of the game, the tutorials using those GFs and abilities still behave as they originally would:
Note Shiva's ability list being very different from the one just above.
I put my two black mage-y GFs on Squall and Quistis was just there to whip things.
With Mag-J enabled, getting 100 stocks of basic elemental spells was quick and easy for Squall. Although I did select the 20 minute time limit for the Fire Cave just in case this was harder than I expected or remembered.
It was not harder than expected, although I was pretty leisurely.
I proceeded to the Dollet mission, thinking about how much I hate this game as I took ages to walk around to Squall's bedroom for him to change his outfit. Really though, I know it's got ups and downs. The cutscenes around the Dollet mission are of impeccable design and production quality. These are the promotional teasers I saw in tiny resolution .mpg files as promos for this game before release on RPGamer.com, probably still in 1998. (With different music!) Even some of the non-FMV parts have pretty slick delivery.
I had a couple more screenshots but really there was nothing super noteworthy here. Selphie joined eventually and I decided to give her all of the black mage spells and GFs since Squall has better damage with his gunblade and with Renzokuken.
Though I can't promise it would've been a ton better by other means, since I'm playing on my Miyoo Mini, this is the screenshot I got as we beat Elvoret:
The fight was actually somewhat worrisome at times. The Storm Breath attack did pretty considerable damage to Squall and Zell. Of course this also meant I got a fair number of limit break activations.
I took the time after the battle to assign Zell the GF Siren so he would function as a white mage. This also meant he got actual commands for the first time.
I was excited for Zell to draw Protect from XATM-n but his magic stat isn't high enough for it to pull consistently so I didn't bother getting more than a couple. Once I gave up on that the fights got faster. I had Selphie casting Thunder and that definitely helped as well. Normally when I play this game, I barely use the magic command at all! I just hoard spells and use crazy stats to crush everything. Other people I know summon GFs all the time to wipe encounters. These are things that won't be options for me, which will be at least a little bit novel.
Anyway, we got out of Dollet...
...and I saved outside of Balamb before returning to the Garden.
Index | Next >
Naturally, because I try to solve all problems with spreadsheets for fun and profit, I had already done a pile of analysis of what FF8 with jobs might look like for me. I thought about what junction types and abilities were suited to which jobs, and then how these could be assigned to GFs such that they'd embody one job each.
When I did this, I thought it might involve a hack or a script or something. There is already a mod that exists called Final Fantasy VIII International GF Job System, but it wasn't going to align with my limitations. I found recently though that there aren't any robust FF8 hacking tools right now... but there is a save editor. I identified the save format used by my Miyoo's PlayStation emulator and got down to business.
The save editor, called Hyne, has one of the better UIs of any hacking-adjacent tool I've used. It also allows you to create a game-start save file from scratch, which is fantastic. The only changes I ended up making were editing the list of abilities every GF had to align to one job among knight, thief, white mage, or black mage... and giving myself 99 Amnesia Greens.
I knew I'd need Amnesia Greens because Hyne didn't seem to allow certain abilities to be removed from GFs without undoing some of the other additions or removals... so some GFs needed one or two extra abilities that are mildly illegal for my ruleset.
So, the rules?
Rule 1 of 4: Abilities are restricted by class, as follows:
| Class | Abilities |
|---|---|
| Knight | HP-J, Str-J, Vit-J, Spr-J, Hit-J Elem-Atk-J, ST-Atk-J, Elem-Def-J, Elem-Defx2, ST-Def-J, ST-Def-Jx2 Abilityx3, Abilityx4 Draw, Item, Defend, Absorb HP+20%, HP+40%, HP+80%, Str+20%, Str+40%, Str+60%, Vit+20%, Vit+40%, Vit+60% Cover, Auto-Protect |
| Thief | Str-J, Vit-J, Spd-J, Eva-J, Hit-J, Luck-J ST-Atk-J, Elem-Def-J, Elem-Defx2, ST-Def-J, ST-Def-Jx2 Abilityx3, Abilityx4 Draw, Item HP+20%, HP+40%, Str+20%, Vit+20%, Spd+20%, Spd+40%, Eva+30%, Luck+50% Mug, Initiative, Auto-Haste, Alert, Move-Find, Enc-Half, Enc-None, Rare-Item |
| White Mage | Mag-J, Spr-J Elem-Def-J, Elem-Defx2, Elem-Defx4, ST-Def-J, ST-Def-Jx2, ST-Def-Jx4 Abilityx3, Abilityx4 Magic, Draw, Item, Recover HP+20%, Str+20%, Vit+20%, Mag+20%, Mag+40%, Mag+60%, Spr+20%, Spr+40%, Spr+60% Auto-Shell, Expendx2-1, Expendx3-1, Ribbon |
| Black Mage | Mag-J, Spr-J, Eva-J Elem-Atk-J, Elem-Def-J, ST-Atk-J, Elem-Defx2, ST-Def-J, ST-Def-Jx2 Abilityx3, Abilityx4 Magic, Draw, Item Mag+20%, Mag+40%, Mag+60%, Spr+20%, Spr+40%, Spr+60%, Eva+30% Auto-Shell, Expendx2-1, Expendx3-1 |
Rule 2 of 4: The spells that a character can junction and/or cast are also strictly limited by their class, as follows:
| Class | Spells |
|---|---|
| Knight | Fire, Fira, Blizzard, Blizzara, Thunder, Thundara, Holy, Cure, Esuna, Protect, Shell, Reflect, Drain |
| Thief | Aero, Bio, Scan, Sleep, Blind, Silence, Death, Double, Triple, Float, Haste, Slow, Stop |
| White Mage | Holy, Cure, Cura, Curaga, Life, Full-Life, Regen, Esuna, Scan, Silence, Confuse, Berserk, Double, Triple, Dispel, Protect, Shell, Reflect, Float, Haste, Slow, Zombie, Aura |
| Black Mage | Fire, Fira, Firaga, Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga, Water, Aero, Bio, Demi, Quake, Tornado, Flare, Meteor, Ultima, Sleep, Blind, Confuse, Break, Death, Double, Triple, Drain, Slow, Stop, Meltdown, Pain |
Rule 3 of 4: The GFs are all permanently associated with a single class. Characters themselves are not at all tied to a class! They can swap GFs along with their entire spell lists using the game's built-in swap mechanic to change classes.
Knight GFs: Brothers, Pandemona, Doomtrain, Alexander
Thief GFs: Diabolos, Bahamut, Tonberry, Cactuar
White Mage GFs: Siren, Leviathan, Cerberus, Carbuncle
Black Mage GFs: Quezacotl, Shiva, Ifrit, Eden
Choices were made loosely thematically although it doesn't really matter very much other than when and where they're obtained. Until Elvoret, we only have a black mage and two freelancers. Post-Dollet, we have a forced party of black mage, white mage, thief. We only get a knight a bit later.
Rule 4 of 4: At any time, a character can only be junctioned to GFs that support one class. They can be assigned more than one GF as long as they share a class. Only one character with GFs of a particular class is allowed in the active party at once.
Not a rule but some factors to consider: I'm playing the original PlayStation version on my Miyoo Mini and thus there are no videos for this one... and maybe that's good since I sort of hate this game. It feels like an obnoxious story about obnoxious, unlikeable people behaving obnoxiously and getting praised for it, with a largely empty and uninteresting setting and a disjointed, slow-moving plot. I think as a teenager I thought being simultaneously emotionally unavailable yet entitled was super cool until I played this game, when my life goal changed to becoming as unlike Squall as possible. The battle gameplay is also pretty busted, although it's open-ended enough that I can generally find a way to win that suits my preference.
I mean, I wrote about it in my Top 10 Good Games That Start Very Slowly - where maybe the "Good Games" part was embellished for the sake of making the point - but this is how Quistis reacts when you start playing:
I feel it.
I started play on August 3, 2024. This is one of those games where beating it junctionless has been explored so this variant play is a bit more about seeing how the game performs where characters are forced into roles in a way that the game's intended design doesn't impose. They aren't "underpowered" but they're quite "differently powered", and I don't expect any challenge whatsoever for a while. Especially given that my GFs start like this:
Quezacotl starts with a Card command, and I didn't want that, but removing it also removes Card Mod which - I dunno, maybe I shouldn't use that? I thought I’d leave it. So Quezacotl still has Card and we'll simply never equip or use it.
As a minor point of interest if you were wondering, even if you've severely messed with your GFs at the start of the game, the tutorials using those GFs and abilities still behave as they originally would:
Note Shiva's ability list being very different from the one just above.
I put my two black mage-y GFs on Squall and Quistis was just there to whip things.
With Mag-J enabled, getting 100 stocks of basic elemental spells was quick and easy for Squall. Although I did select the 20 minute time limit for the Fire Cave just in case this was harder than I expected or remembered.
It was not harder than expected, although I was pretty leisurely.
I proceeded to the Dollet mission, thinking about how much I hate this game as I took ages to walk around to Squall's bedroom for him to change his outfit. Really though, I know it's got ups and downs. The cutscenes around the Dollet mission are of impeccable design and production quality. These are the promotional teasers I saw in tiny resolution .mpg files as promos for this game before release on RPGamer.com, probably still in 1998. (With different music!) Even some of the non-FMV parts have pretty slick delivery.
I had a couple more screenshots but really there was nothing super noteworthy here. Selphie joined eventually and I decided to give her all of the black mage spells and GFs since Squall has better damage with his gunblade and with Renzokuken.
Though I can't promise it would've been a ton better by other means, since I'm playing on my Miyoo Mini, this is the screenshot I got as we beat Elvoret:
The fight was actually somewhat worrisome at times. The Storm Breath attack did pretty considerable damage to Squall and Zell. Of course this also meant I got a fair number of limit break activations.
I took the time after the battle to assign Zell the GF Siren so he would function as a white mage. This also meant he got actual commands for the first time.
I was excited for Zell to draw Protect from XATM-n but his magic stat isn't high enough for it to pull consistently so I didn't bother getting more than a couple. Once I gave up on that the fights got faster. I had Selphie casting Thunder and that definitely helped as well. Normally when I play this game, I barely use the magic command at all! I just hoard spells and use crazy stats to crush everything. Other people I know summon GFs all the time to wipe encounters. These are things that won't be options for me, which will be at least a little bit novel.
Anyway, we got out of Dollet...
...and I saved outside of Balamb before returning to the Garden.
Index | Next >
