FINAL FANTASY VIII > GUARDIAN FORCES (GFs)
FINAL FANTASY VIII introduces us to the Guardian Force (GF), a new type of creature that a character can summon. You'll acquire everal of these creature throughout the game, relying on them heavily throughout it's entirety. Guardian Forces will assist you in battes, strengthen your characters with new abilities and Junctioned magic, and they will help you acquire new magice, items, and even cards.
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CERBERUS |
ALEXANDER |
DOOMTRAIN |
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BAHAMUT |
JUMBO CACTUAR |
TONBERRY KING |
EDEN |
From FF II to FF VII, summoned creatures have always been there to lend a helphing hand in the heat of battle. FINAL FANTASY VIII has pushed the summoned creature's role even further with the intoduction of Guardian Forces. They're still the same powerful creature's you've come to know and love, and you'll see a lot of familiar faces, but this time their role is much larger than is has been in the past.
Rather than just assisting in battle, Guardian Forces actually determine the vital stats and abilities of the character they'r Junctioned with. Face it, without a GF backing him up, Squall is pretty much an ordianary guy thrown into an extraordianary circumstance. Granted GFs don't do it all on their own, but they're the basis on which a character is built upon.
Junctioning with a GF
Junctioning may sound complicated at first, however, it's really quite simple. Open the Main menu and select the Junction option, and then select a character. At first, only the Junction option will be highlighted, because a GF must be Junctioned to a character before the other options become available.
Choose to Junction and select the GF option. A list of all the GFs you've had join you thus far will be shown. Those in white are available for Junctioning. Grayed out GFs are already Junctioined to the character you've choosen. GFs whose nameds are qpague are already Junctioned to a different character. These GFs cannot be selected until they have been removed fromt he character they're currently Junctioned to.
After selecting a GF, back out of the screan using the ^(top green triangle) button. You must next Junction magic to your character's stats using the GF's Junction abilities assuming that the GT has at least one. Junction abilites increase avital stat by enabling you to Junction stocked magic to the stat. Different types of magic have different effects on the various stats. You don't have to Junction magic yourself. If you want, you cna select the Auto option, and then choose to have the game prioritize increasing a character's Attack Power (Atk), Magic Power (Mag), or Defense (Def). The game will then automatically choose from the character's stocked magic, and make appropriate Junctions based on what you've choosen.
After boosting the character's stats, it's time to set the character's abilities. The top three abilites are Command abilities. These are the options abailable to the character during a battle. Character's start the game with the Attack ability, but must be given additional Command abilities. Be very careful when setting these abilities. You'll almost always want everyone in your party to have the ability to Draw Magic. Also, it's important to have at least one person who can use Magic and one who can use Items.
The two abilities below the Command abilities are the Character abilities. These give your character additional bonuses to vital stats and other benefits. You can eventually have as many as four Character abilities equipped on a character, but at the beginning of the game you'll have to make dure with just two.
Now you character is ready for battle. Over time, you'll get the feel for setting up your character to take full advantage of the abilities you've chosen.
GF Growth
GFs grow throughout the game in a way that's very similar to your own characters. Just as your characters gain experience and go up levels, so do your GFs. Any GFs Junctioned to characters in a battle receive an amount of experience equal to what the character they're Junctioned to receives. However, if more than one GF is equipped on a character, the experience gets divided into equal shares between the GFs.
Besides Exp (Experience Points), GFs also gain AP (Ability Points). AP is learned to teach GFs new abilities and comes in much smaller portions than Exp. AP is earned after any battle during which a GF was Junctioned to a character in the battle. If more thatn on GF is Junctioned to a character, the GFs still receive the full AP amount rather than having to split it amoung them equally.
Items can also teach GFs some abilities. In fact, you can only get some abilities by using these rare items. Overall, it's more effective to use an item to learn and ability thatn to wait for a GF to earn a bunch of AP.
As GFs grow in strength, their Attack Power and HP also grow. The maximum level for any GF is 100. Teaching a GF certain GF Ablibites, like HP+10%, cna alter both a GF's Attack Power and HP. The effect of these abilities is cummulative, so it's best to teach a GF as many of these abilities as possible.
A Love/Hate Relationship
Guardian Forces are like any pet. The more they like a character, the quicker they'll respond to his/her call. This is known as a Guardian Forces' Compatibility. Never overlook this when Junctioning a GF with a character. I if a GF has a particulary low compatibility with a character, it may take an eternity for the GF to appear in battle. While waiting for the GF to appear, it will absorb damage targeted at the Junctioned character.
In thougher battles, low compatibility is a mark for death. You should try to get all of the GFs you use regularly up to at least a compatibility rating of 800, but try hard to get the rating closer to 1000, which is the maximum.
The compatibility rating can be raised in many ways. The easiest (and best) way is by summoning a GF. This raises the compatibility rating in mast all cases by 20 points. If a GF is elemental, you can also raise the compatibility by having a character cast magic of the same elemental type as the Junctioned GF. Healing GFs using curative GF Medicinces will also raise a GF's compatibility slightly. Lastly, you can find and use lots of itmes outside of battle as a sort of sacrifice that boost a GF's compatibility with a character.
A GF's compatibility rating can also be lowered. This is typcially due to the fact that you haven't been using a Junctioned GF, and have been using other Junctioned GFs regularly. GFs are jealous as they are loyal.
Teaching an Old GF a New Trick
Every GF begins the game with its basic set of abilities. Some abilities will have already been learned, while others will need a litte work. There will also be some abilities that you can't even see until you've taught a GF some of its starting abilities.
Only one ability can be learned at a time, so teaching a GF a full of 22 abilities can take some time. In some cases, you may no longer need an ability because it may have lost its effect. For example, once a GF learns the ST-Def-Jx2, the ST-Def-J ability no longer has any effect. You can use an item known as Amnesia Greens to make the GF forget the ST-Def-J ability, which in turn enables you to replace it with a new ability by using an item whenever you choose to do so.
You can guide your GFs on what they learn by accessing the GF section in the Main menu. Pay close attention to each GF, and try to personalize them to fit your style of play. In the beginning, focus on SumMag+ abilities and Boost to strengthen the GF's attacks. Then focus on Junction abilities to strenghtn your party's vital stats.
Taken from: the Final Fantasy VIII Official Strategy Guide
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