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A man-made mobile island for marine life research. Disappeared mysteriously after much wandering. Since the facility members are still alive, it is assumed to be concealed intentionally.
3015 Found a strong energy field
4141 Call this place Deep Sea Deposit
4242 Seal off Deep Sea DepositFFVIII Info Corner
The Deep Sea Research Center, also known as Battleship Island, is a hidden island located far out in the middle of the ocean, in the south-west corner of the world map of Final Fantasy VIII. It is an abandoned, half-sunken laboratory formerly used to research draw effects, however, other, less commonly known research may have been going on.
Deep Sea Research Center can be found as early as disc 2 when Balamb Garden becomes mobile, but it cannot be entered. The party must wait until gaining access to Ragnarok to land on top of the structure to get inside.
Story
Zell recounts what he knows about the center.
If Zell is in the party he will tell about the place's history. Known as "Battleship Island", researchers working at this facility were attempting to develop another draw system, gathering different energy and materials for their study. They were in pursuit of a large draw point said to be found somewhere on the planet. It is said their research used Guardian Forces for their experiments. It can be deduced the researchers found what they were looking for, and left fearing the power they had found.
Inside the facility there is a blue pulsing core and in the middle the party can find the Guardian Force Bahamut. Traversing to the bottom of the facility lets the party find the most powerful Guardian Force in the world, within a powerful monster that seems to have been sealed away by the researchers.
Quests
Obtaining Bahamut
The party approaches the Blue Light.
There is a flashing blue pillar in the middle of the first room. If the core is in the middle of a pulse and the party moves, they enter a random battle. When the party approaches the core, a voice asks them a question (So you wish to challenge me?). If answered correctly (It's not our will to fight), the party will fight a Ruby Dragon, and if the party wins, the next question (Begging me for mercy?) is asked, and the correct answer is "Never".
If the party answers correctly they will fight another Ruby Dragon (this battle is an unavoidable back attack), but if any are answered incorrectly the party will be warped back to the entrance and they will have to start over again. The player can bring a low health Quistis and use her Degenerator Limit Break to defeat the Ruby Dragons easily.
The trick is that on the final question (Damned imbeciles. Why do you wish to fight?), there is a hidden answer, below the main two (revealed to be "It's our nature"). If the hidden option is selected, Squall and the party will fight the Guardian Force Bahamut.
Deep Sea Deposit
Marine Research Island's last excavation site. Believed to be an ocean floor ruin. There is a note saying: 4127 Travel by Underwater Tower.
FFVIII Info Corner
Deep Sea Deposit, the last destination of the Deep Sea Research Center.
When Bahamut is defeated the blue core is destroyed. If the party leaves the area and returns, the site allows access to the facility's lower levels by a vine structure. There are a series of floors leading down to the excavation site, called the "Deep Sea Deposit" (大海のよどみ, Taikai no Yodomi?). Squall must open up each door using units of pressure, but must conserve enough units for the final lock at the bottom of the excavation site.
The party starts with a set number of units, and must conserve ten if they are to fight Ultima Weapon. There is a point where the party can gain more units. If the party uses the pressure units to access the excavation site, the Enc-None ability can be used to traverse the site. If the party uses Zell to force open the jammed door leading into the excavation site without using up units, the party encounters a number of scripted battles which cannot be avoided using Enc-None.
When the party reaches the bottom, Squall will use the last of his pressure units. After a pause, sounds emanate from above and the air gets heavy. The party is thrust into a battle against Ultima Weapon, said to be the second most powerful opponent in the game (behind Omega Weapon). Ultima Weapon, carries the strongest GF in the game, Eden.
Steam pressure units
The player using the steam pressure system.
Each level is divided into three sectors. The sector the player is in is determined by how many units they spend to open the door leading from level 2 to 3. Once in a sector, the player cannot switch to a higher cost sector, but can switch to a lower cost sector. For simplicity, the sectors are A (highest cost, 4 units), B (mid cost, 2 units) and C (lowest cost, 1 unit).
E.g. If one were to spend 4 units on level 2→3, they would be in sector A (highest cost) and on level 3 they would be access Sectors A, B and C on level 4. But if one were to spend 2 units on level 2→3, one would be in sector B (mid cost) and would only be able to access sectors B and C on level 4.
The only difference of the sectors is that the player needs to spend 2 units on level 2 to access the steam room on level 3, Sector B. Other than that, the player can use 1 unit to proceed all the way to the bottom. One can skip the steam room if one lets Zell open the final door, but doing so will trigger several unavoidable encounters on the way to the excavation site.
The player only gets one chance to have Zell open the door on the last floor. If the player chooses to not let him open it, he will never offer to open it again even if the player resets the steam levels.
There is a terminal buried underneath the rubble in level 1. Examining it gives the player 20 energy units. Four units are spent opening the door to level 2. On level 2, the player should expend 2 units to access sector 2. On level 3, they should expend 4 units to access the steam room and use the terminal to gain 7 extra units, then return to sector 2 and expend 1 unit to access sector 6.
From then on the player should expend no more than 1 unit each floor until reaching level 6, where they can expend 4 units to access the excavation site and still have 10 units left over to use at the bottom. Alternatively, the player can ask Zell to open the last door without expending any units, but it will wake up the monsters and the way down will be plagued by encounters against strong opponents that can't be avoided with Enc-None.
Location
Location of the Deep Sea Research Center, indicated by crosshair.
The Research Center is located far from any land mass out in the vastness and serenity of the sea. The corner of the map is a recurring location for secret locations in the games.
Layout
Blue Light.
- Blue Light
The blue light in the middle warns visitors with a message "blue light leads to death". Those who reach the center and answer the mysterious voice's questions fight Bahamut to claim him as a Guardian Force.
- Guardian Force: Bahamut
Cavern.
- Cavern
After defeating Bahamut a hole appears on the ground. The player can't initially descend, but if they leave the Deep Sea Research Center and initiate a conversation with a character or NPC (such as talking to party members inside the Ragnarok), a save point will appear and they can advance down the hole.
First Floor.
- Floors
After defeating Bahamut the party can descend deeper into the facility. The player can access the next floor by expending units of steam pressure. The deeper the player advances in the complex the different fish they can see through the windows.
- Draw points: Dispel (level 2)
Steam Room.
- Steam Room
If the player expends the correct amount of steam in each floor they open access to the steam room on level 3 where they can get more steam pressure units.
- Items: 7 steam pressure units
- Draw points: Esuna
Elevator.
- Elevator
In the elevator room the door takes four pressure units to open, or the player may ask Zell to open the door without using any units if he is in the party. Using Zell wakes up the monsters in the lower parts of the facility. The player needs to conserve ten units to have enough to fight Ultima Weapon at the bottom.
Depths.
- Depths
In the areas after the elevator the player will encounter many strong monsters. The first area has a save point.
Bottom Floor.
- Bottom Floor
The bottom floor has a hidden save point and a device that requires the use of ten steam pressure units to summon the Ultima Weapon.
- Guardian Forces: Eden
Enemies
When calculating the enemies' levels, the game uses the normal formula, but adds 15 levels. If the player has Zell open the door to the deeper levels of the facility, the enemy encounters will be unavoidable even with Enc-None equipped. After Ultima Weapon has been felled enemy encounters in the facility cease.
- Anacondaur
- Bomb
- Blood Soul
- Buel
- Oilboyle (Steam Room only)
- Blue Dragon (Steam Room only)
- Imp
- Torama
- Grendel
- Tri-Face
- Ruby Dragon
- Behemoth
- Iron Giant
- Elnoyle (very low chance to encounter in the bottommost floors)
- Bahamut (Boss)
- Ultima Weapon (Boss)
Musical themes
Template:Listen
The Deep Sea Research Center's theme is "Junction".
Other appearances
Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
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Trivia
- Battleship Island (Gunkanjima in Japanese, alternately called Hashima) is a small island near Nagasaki, Japan famous for the abandoned city of Hashima built around a coal mine that went into decline after Japanese power plants switched to using petroleum. Both the real Battleship Island and the one in Final Fantasy VIII house ruined structures.
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