Seriously struggling to keep playing from here on out. Square, you are so on my list. You know FFVIII is a pretty good game if you pretend it's only 2 Discs long? But alas, as this is a walkthrough spanning all of the game I must continue coverage of all four discs... Right. Pull yourself together. Here we go, Paramina's Final Fantasy VIII Walkthrough, Part 24, Disc 3.
The Aftermath[]
Our scene opens with Squall loitering around the Infirmary. As you may have been too emotional trying to work out what happened to our beloved Edea at the end of the last disc, you may not have noticed that Rinoa passed out and became comatose meanwhile. If you hadn't known, you should realise now as she lies on the hospital bed, looking rather saintly with clasped hands. All of a sudden, Squall really, really rates Rinoa. I didn't see this progressive emotional development coming, if anything, I thought Squall swatted her away like an irritating insect for the majority of Disc 2. Ah well, what do I know about love? Apparently nothing, if FFVIII is anything to go by. Before Squall can get too angsty, Quistis summons him to Edea's House over the intercom. Head up to the Bridge and disembark Garden, you should already be hovering around Edea's House anyway, so it's not a trek.
I'm still so depressed.
Before you enter, know there's a Hidden Draw Point for Holy around here somewhere. Check out this map for a more specific location. With that plundered (great word, plunder, you may have noticed I tend to use it a lot), head to the Orphanage for another excessively depressing scene. The rest of the party and wondering about so head on inside to find a Timber Maniacs issue on the ground. Head to the room North to find a Curaga Draw Point, then double back before going to the right to find the Sweater Vested One. Talk to him for him to reveal his reasons for being AWOL during the war, before he disappears. Follow him to the next screen to see beloved Edea. Speak to her, but know she won't try to attack you or anything awesome like she probably would have done in the past. *Sigh*, this really is heart-wrenching to see her so redundant. She started a war and killed hundreds of people and for what? To be relegated as a victim of that pathetic 'mind control' schtick that everyone knows only worked once, Square. And at least Golbez got possessed by someone decent - the two fools we've been subbed as our antagonists are desperately tragic, Sorceress Adel from the past and Ultimecia from the future. Big yawn. I want Sorceress Edea from two discs ago!
Note: If you're a Triple Triad-er, then challenge Edea for the Edea Card. And the Seifer Card from Cid, if you didn't get it already.
Actually, you know what? I'm over it.
Try to leave this pathetic scene to be called back - Squall, for some reason, is too busy thinking about Rinoa to pay any attention. Sadly, Edea cannot help Rinoa's situation, so it looks like Squall's stuck with a comatose Harem Member (whose going to maintain the fangirl forums now?!). Whilst he's puzzling over this, Edea goes on about Ultimecia yearning for time compression, one of the lamest end-goals of a villain in the history of Final Fantasy. Luckily, angsty Squall will put us out our misery of reading this foolery by punching a wall and magically transporting us back to the Bridge. Cheers, bud.
Before returning to the Infirmary, make sure Squall and another party member of your choice is fully Junctioned up, it saves an annoying Junction shuffle later. Return to the Infirmary to find Rinoa is still pretty unresponsive. Squall will fit out, before dropping to his knees in a rather melodramatic fashion... oh no, wait... he's floored it... that means...
Valiant Effort, Square[]
Hmm, I see what you did there, Square. Trying to make up for the fact you've totally crapped all over Edea by distracting me with Laguna and Kiros. I suppose I'll deal... for just now.
Note: If you didn't pick up the Timber Maniacs in Shumi Village, then Ward will be in your party in this flashback. I did, so... he's not.
As usual, Laguna gets Squall's Junctions. Kiros will get whomever you choose - I went with Irvine, and then removed a couple of Quistis' GFs, just to make sure they got decent AP from this little venture back in time.
Our heroes are in Trabia Canyon, and it looks like Hollywood's taken a shine to Laguna - he's playing the Sorceress' Knight in a low-budget movie. Mainly because he's squandered the majority of his money in bars, birds and booze, and sometimes all three at once. Hmm, are we sure Laguna's not Irvine's dad? 'Cause it looks like that's the direction our sharpshooter's headed in a couple of years. Anyway, enough of Laguna's discretions, he's hard on cash, so needs the work. Kiros, too, needs some green, so has gone off to put on the Ruby Dragon costume. Already what's going to happen in this flashback should be becoming painfully clear to you...
On set, Laguna's acting is about as good as Jessica Alba's. Actually, that's not fair - Laguna does emote a little bit. However, we don't even have time to muse over his rampant silliness, as it appears a real Ruby Dragon has somehow managed to crawl it's way on set. As actors are extremely fickle, they'll all bolt and leave Laguna to fight solo. Hey, that's showbiz.
= Attack, 
= Defend
Another mindless mini-game not unlike the one we just suffered through with Squall a disc back. Basically, keep an eye on your HP gauge (left hand side) and the Ruby Dragon's. Try to get out as many attacks as you can, and when the Ruby Dragon - who is very slow - rears up, go on defense, before returning to attacking. However, it has been pointed out that you can basically spam like a Tekken button-masher and you'll be alright. This should be over in no-time.
Swiftly, Laguna, too, will flee the scene, realizing the Dragon isn't Kiros in a really convincing dragon suit after all. Run down the path and make to exit, only to see another Dragon. Damnation! Luckily, Kiros has bothered to show up this time round. Choose "H-hold in a sec" to postpone the battle and double-back; head to the previous scene to use the Save Point and double check your Junction and magic stocks. Put Blizzard on Elem-Atk-J, and Fire on your Elem-Def-J. Make sure you don't have Aero or Fire Junctioned to anyone's Elem-Atk-J. Once you're happy, head back to where the Ruby Dragon is waiting, for some serious deep-sixing.
| Sort of Boss Battle: Ruby Dragon |
Hopefully your levels won't be staggeringly high, otherwise this battle is a hell of a lot tougher. I hope you listened to my previous tip because this guy absorbs Fire and Aero, so your physicals become pretty useless. If you have access to Meltdown, whip it out - but don't worry if you don't, I fought this without it. You'll need to Boost Summon Alexander, Shiva and maybe even Diablos (or just use Demi) whilst keeping up the physicals. Mug it for an Inferno Fang, a useful tool for weapon synthesis, and it also teaches Quistis the Blue Magic Fire Breath. This fight isn't difficult at all, it's just long. Make sure you're HP is topped up to avoid Breath KO. |
After handing that sucker it's taint, it looks like there's more asking for a whooping. However, Laguna et. al. are rather tired (they're not as young as they used to be, you know), so it looks like we'll be high-tailin' it. Head back to the previous screen (use the Save Point, please) then up the hill. On the way, Laguna will stop and spot a giant, floating salt shaker hovering in the horizon. What is that thing? Is someone making a really big salad? Why weren't we invited to the BBQ? Fade-out.
Fade-in. Laguna, surprisingly enough, is at Edea's Orphanage, speaking to distinctly-un-awesome-and-rather-witchy-looking-pre-coolness Edea (you know I'm right). He's looking for Ellone, who has been kidnapped by those Estharian Soldiers. Turns out they're looking for a successor for that witchy "woman" (I'm not buying it), Sorceress Adel. That doesn't sound too good for little Ellone... Fade-out.
Back to Reality[]
We're back with Squall, who has disregarded everything he just experienced in favour of whining about Rinoa. See, this is where Squall drops dramatically on the 'Okay Hero Scale.' Whining? Big no-no. Ellone goes on about not being able to change the past, until she says "I'm about to disconnect." She should probably switch to T-Mobile, better coverage. Squall decides he's going to locate Ellone in order to aid Rinoa, but to do that, we have to locate the White SeeD ship we saw her off on back in Part 18. But how will we locate that ninja ship? Edea should know...
No. I'm not over it. Still depressed.
On the World Map, return to Edea's House to go speak to our fallen grace. She's rather vague, throwing out that we can find it in an inland in the Centran Continent, which, I suppose, is the equivalent of telling someone they can find a ship "somewhere round Europe." Regardless, it's more than nothing, so take her word, and her Sorceress' Letter to cement our authenticity. You can sell the Sorceress' Letter if you want for a rather paltry price (125 gil, I believe) and go get another to make some cash, but you're not desperate, so don't be an idiot. Keep it in your inventory, comrade.
You can locate the SeeD Ship using Balamb Garden and heading slightly North of Edea's House. There are a number of small islands here and this is about where you'll find it. Approach the ship with our giant, bulbous hovercraft and prepare to disembark.
Meet you on the ship, bud.
You know, people say that Final Fantasy VIII sucks because of it's meagre fatality toll; they say no one dies. But she may as well have died, right? I mean, it's like we've been given a punishment worse than death: she's still around... but isn't. God, so depressed.
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