Hey. FF8 Newbie here!

[Plastik Assassin]

I just picked up FF8 today. YaY!
Any hints or advice to keep in mind? I don't use guides, but I don't wanna screw myself early on. Any random info would be appreciated.

[Omega]

pssh...man without a guide your going to have a rough go at it. It's very difficult to get everything without a guide. If you don't care about everything, than no don't worry about it, and you'll be fine.

Just draw alot and junction magics that you think or find are the most powerful. Any problems though, post and we'll see if we can help you.

[Yukin]

Yay!! a person I can help... Well, lets get back 2 the topic...
As Cobain said, Train and Junction as many magic as u can,
Select Junction abilities like Str-J, Vit-J... etc...
Select Card Command Ability First from Queztacotl.
Well, thats all i can tell u now...

[Overdriven]

I just picked up FF VIII for the first time as well. Man we're behind the times...

Hey Plastik assassin and Master Valar I can give you tips because if you want me to give tips ahead there's a lot of impotant things well you can ask me because I finished the and I can guide you to the different bosses and the proper junctions etc. ask me anything about FF 8 well here are some tips for ya

1.) when you're in the start of the there will be a part where you will go bump into Selphie show her around instead of saying I have no time(yuo'll know in the later part of the ).

2.)train and train and train because GF's and magic become useless (except for the GF's abilites). they won't help you when their defenses are realy high especialy before you enter the cave where you fight Ifrit (it's the part after you show selphie around) Your cue is when you meet quistis in the front gate. It's very important to get card mod first before going inside the cave. And don't use shiva a lot there.

Try to experiment also and if you want more help about FF 8 then just send me a private message and of course post a message sorry about that

[fire exit man]

The best piece of advice i can give for the beginning of the game is to make Ifrit learn the Str+20% ability, because he learns that he can learn Str+40% and then Strength Bonus, which is a bloody good ability (When you have it juctioned, you recieve an additional 1 strength everytime you level up). It takes a fair amount of AP to do, but when Squall has a 60% strength boost fairly early in the game things get a little easier.
And the training ground in Balamb Garden is a brilliant place to train early in the game too, as the monsters are stronger than the ones you'll find on the Balamb Plains.

[OnOneRyder]

This guy has never played the game before, telling him what juctioning settings or telling him to learn card first means nothing.

Go through all the tutorials and make sense of them. Don't worry about mastering the game first off, because without the help of a guide it will not happen the first time around. Enjoy the story, you'll either hate it or it will stand out from the other FF's.

You have three ways of attacking in this game, GF's (summons), magic, and phyiscal attacks. Work on getting a lot of high magic in the beggining of the game because you equip magic to a certain player to boost different stat's.

Also, in this game higher level's makes the game more difficult. So don't go out and boost levels for the fun of it because you make your opponents tuffer also. Just play the game as it goes.

[Ultima]

I would suggest that you train a lot as some of the bosses are hard. Also you can collect rare GFs (Guardian Forces) like Odin ( he's my favorite) in faroff locations in the game that require you to use transportation. Lastly talk to everyone in the game, they might give you items or guide you to items that can help you in the long run. Enjoy FF8!

- Draw Draw Draw. From any boss-like monster. They often carry GFs (many of which I didn't draw the first time I played..)

- Try to get Diablos as early as possible he is found in the Magic Lamp Cid gives you before your first mission. He is quite the handy fella.

- Oh. I also recommend NOT to travel in "The Tomb of the Unknown King" without a game guide. But if you decide to, the screen flips 180 degrees when you turn around. Ahem. You can get very disoriented very quickly.

- You can raise you SeeD rank by taking Tests in the Tutorial. Higher SeeD rank = more gil. =)

I salute you. Far to many people use game guides or walkthroughs. In my opinion it takes the fun out of the game. Happy travels + Enjoy.

[Yukin]

Diablos is easy to defeat. All u need to do is Draw and cast Demi Demi Demi Demi Demi untilk he dies and when the demi has low damage already just keep on pumping on that attack button and eventually he'll die.

[Overdriven]

I'm currently playing as Laguna for the second time. Haven't played in like a week though.

Meep.

[Yukin]

Oh, well Plastik Assassin, just go to ff-online.com for the guide.

Well Ultima he can look at what I said if he needs it.

I think the best thing to do is train like mad, draw a helluva lot of magic and train your GF's to learn their abilities at the beginning of the game. I also agree with porcelain about Diablos and not using a guide. If you use a guide it just means you want to get it over with and have no interest in the actual gameplay; and yes the random battles really will piss you off

well train aloot if youre farer than disk 1 train draw and collect CARDS random battles may annoy you but don't run away too much