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Final Fantasy 8 Rare Card FAQ Version 1.0
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Final Fantasy VIII for the Sony Playstation
Final Fantasy 8 Rare Card FAQ done by
Eugene See
DISCLAIMER:
This FAQ is strictly for a private, personal and non-profitable use.
This FAQ may not be reproduced in any form other than that of an electronic medium.
This FAQ is not to be used by publishers of magazines, guides, books, etc. and can
NOT be incorporated into any magazine, guide, book, etc. in ANY way.
This FAQ SHALL remain unchanged in its contents and ownership unless otherwise
given specific permission by me to do so.
This FAQ has and always will remain free and public to all.
I made this FAQ, thus my name shall be credited to it. This FAQ is the result of
days of card playing and Japanese site reading so please respect my efforts.
Copyright 1999 Eugene See
*Notes*
This FAQ is best viewed with NJSTAR or other similar Japanese character decoders
as it contains Japanese characters to further enhance the accuracy of its contents.
You can obtain NJSTAR for free from Nonsensical asiic characters
would appear if no Japanese character decoder is loaded. This is normal.
*************************************************************************************
CONTENTS
*************************************************************************************
1. Version
2. Introduction
3. What you should do before you finish a disc
4. Koyokoyo card
5. Card Club group
6. Kochocobo card
7. Other rare card locations
8. Card Queen
9. Card Queen and Card Club group in DISC 4
10. Gameshark codes
11. Miscellanous stuff
12. Cerdits
====================================================================================
Versions
====================================================================================
Version 1.0 (6th April 1999) - First posting
====================================================================================
Introduction
====================================================================================
The card game is essentially a mini game in the world
of Final Fantasy 8. Basically, the player goes around
the world collecting cards which can be turned into items
via Quetzocohuatl's menu ability 'convert cards'.
Cards can be obtained via 3 ways. Either by challenging
other players to a game and winning from them, defeating
major bosses in battle or turning monsters into cards.
I won't waste time explaining how the card battle system works.
To get information about this, please refer to GameFaqs.
The purpose of this FAQ is to assist players into getting rare
cards. Usually level 8 and aboved. Any cards below 8 can be gotten
by challenging other characters or turning monsters into cards.
====================================================================================
What you should do before you finish a disc
====================================================================================
The thing with ~rare~ cards is that most of them can ONLY be gotten
at a certain location and usually during a certain period of time. Some
require you to go through tedious tasks to obtain. Below, I have what
I think are the most important tasks to perform for cards before going
on to another disc.
DISC 1: 1) Forest Owls: Battle with Watts () to obtain the Angelo card
2) Timber newspaper agency (eBo[}jAbNX): Do not forget to
obtain 'Tonari no Kanojo' (ȤʤΥΥ)
DISC 2: 1) Galbadia Garden: Defeat Kelberos to obtain the Kelberos card
DISC 3: 1) White SeeD ship: If you have 'Tonari no Kanojo' (ȤʤΥΥ),
you can get the Shiva card from Zoon ()
2) White SeeD ship: If you missed the Angelo card in DISC 1, you can
get it from Watts () here again
3) Lunatic Base: Challenge Piet (ԥå)to obtain the Alexander card
4) Lunatic Base: Challenge Elone (륪) to obtain the Laguna card
5) GET THE KOYOKOYO CARD!!! *VERY IMPORTANT* details below
I read that Piet can be found at Esthar's Abanda Fields after the Lunaside Base has
crash.Maybe the Alexander card can be obtained there after?
====================================================================================
Koyokoyo card (襳Υ)
====================================================================================
A rare card yet not really a rare card in it's own. It is a level 5 card that you
cannot find anywhere except from Koyokoyo itself. Koyokoyo is an alien which travels
around in a UFO. You have to view 4 sightings of the UFO in different parts of the
world to meet the UFO. After destroying the UFO, you can meet Koyokoyo. Before that
however, please equip yourself with 5 Elixirs (ꥯ) to heal Koyokoyo.
UFO sightings:
1) Timber: Mandy Beach (ޥǡӡ)
2) Galbadia: Near the town of Winhill (ҥ)
3) Travia: Hiadesu island (qAfX)
4) Esthar: Kashukubaaru Desert (JVNo[n)
Please equip 'No Encounter' (ʤ) for the duration of this quest so
that you can walk around in peace. Note that you will still encounter the UFO and
Koyokoyo with the ability on so do not worry. After these sightings, travel to the
Chocobo Holy forest (at the northeastern part of the world, there is a densely
forested area. Locate a Chocobo forest there. That's the Chocobo Holy forest) and
land your ship above the rocky land next to it. Walk around and you should encounter
the UFO. Destroy it and proceed to Balamb but before you do, make sure you have 5
Elixirs (ꥯ) and the 'Item' (ƥ) ability equipped on one of your
characters. Land around where Balamb garden used to be and encounter Koyokoyo.
*DO NOT* attack it. Just feed it 5 Elixirs and get the Koyokoyo (襳) card.
(IMHO, the rarest card of all)
You can check your location with the Japanese characters in the locations aboved
by going into menu (press TRIANGLE). It is on the lower left corner of the screen.
====================================================================================
Card Club group (ã)
====================================================================================
The Card Club group (hereon known as CC) is a group of people in Balamb Garden who
enjoy card playing. Certain rare cards can only be obtained from some of them. They
are divided into ranks and you must beat them in the order that follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Jack | The guy hanging around the location board in the main hall. |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Crab | He walks along the path infront of the carpark. |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Diamond| The 2 girls walking towards the location board in the main hall. |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Spade | The guy sitting next to the 2nd floor elevator. |
| | He is next to another guy also sitting around. |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Heart | Shuu in Garden control room. You get Carbunkle card from her. |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| King | Talk to Doctor Kadouki in the infirmitry and go back to your room |
| | to rest alone. Someone will appear to challenge you. Obtain |
| | Gilgamesh card from him/her. |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Joker | He randomly appears in the training center on the bridge next to a |
| | draw point. Obtain Leviathan card from him. |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know if this works in DISC 1 or 2 because I only tried it on DISC 3. If the
characters aren't there when you reach the location, try going back to the previous
screen and back again. Do so until you see them there.
====================================================================================
Kochocobo card (祳ܤΥ)
====================================================================================
To obtain the Kochocobo card, you first need to visit all the 6 Chocobo forests in
the world. At each of them, you need to play the mini game to get the big chocobo to
come out. Basically, your goal is to use the Chocobo Sonar to detect the chocobos at
various location and summon them down. There is a pattern to each forest and your goal
is to have 1 single chocobo left standing. That chocobo would summon a big chocobo when
you talk to it. Before riding off on it, you need to search around with your Chocobo Sonar.
Find a location with the higest rating and summon the big chocobo to it. It will dig
and you will usually recieve stones. (Aura stone, Ultima stone, Holy stone, etc..)
Do this at all 6 forests and proceed to the Chocobo Holy forest.
You can only get there by Chocobo so proceed to the Chocobo forest near Travia Garden
and grab yourself one. Navigate yourself toward the eastern beach in relation to the
forest and walk across the waters to the next continent. Walk around until you get
to the forest. Once there, watch a chocobo dance (cute! ^_^) and then talk to the small
chocobo to obtain the Kochocobo card.
Chocobo forest locations:
1) Near Edea's house
2) North of the Sentora Ruin
3) South West of Sabotender Island
4) Northern end of the map next to the Shumi village
5) South of the chocobo forest near the Shumi village
6) North of Travia Garden behind the mountain
====================================================================================
Other rare cards locations
====================================================================================
-Level 8-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Debuchocobo | The guy sitting on the bench in front of the Balamb Garden |
| | library (card queen quest) |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Angelo | From Watts of the forest owls |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Gilgamesh | From Card Club's King |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Komoguri | From the little boy in a blue shirt running around Balamb |
| Garden's hall |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Kochocobo | Read Kochocobo section |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Quetzocohuatl | Fisherman Horizon's male station master (2nd floor in the station |
| house) |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Shiva | Obtained from Zoon after giving him 'Tonari no Kanojo' |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Ifrit | After defeating Ifrit |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Siren | 2nd floor of Dollet's pub. Walk east to battle card master |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Select | After defeating Brothers |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Minotaur | After defeating Brothers |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Level 9-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Kabunkle | From Card Club's Heart |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Diablos | After defeating Diablos |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Leviathan | From Card Club's Joker |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Odin | After defeating Odin |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Pandaemonium | From the man standing in front of Balamb hotel |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Kelberos | After defeating Kelberos |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Alexander | From Piet at Luna Base |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Phoenix | From the guy in blue in a room at Esthar's presidential building |
| | (card queen quest) |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Bahamut | After defeating Bahamut |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Grasharaboras | From the guy behing the counter in Timber pub |
| | (card queen quest) |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Eden | After defeating Ultima Weapon |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Level 10-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Ward | From Doctor Odain (the guy with a circular plate on his neck) in Esthar |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Kiros | From the man in black in Derring city (card queen quest) |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Laguna | From Elone in the Lunaside Base |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Selphie | From Selphie's friend (the one she talks to when you're there) in Travia|
| | garden |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Quistis | From the 2 girls in the lecture room you first start out in |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Irvine | From the female station master of F.H. (card queen quest) |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Zell | From Zell's mother in Balamb |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Rinoa | From Rinoa's father (Colonel Karway) in Derring City. Must lose Ifrit |
| | card. Obtain Ifrit card from Dodona in F.H. (the guy sitting near the |
| | station house) |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Edea | From Edea at Edea's house |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Seifer | From Cid at Edea's house |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Squall | From Laguna in Esthar presidential building |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
====================================================================================
Card Queen (ɥ)
====================================================================================
The Card Queen (no relation the CC) is a woman who loves playing cards.
(don't they all...) She is first found in Balamb's train station.
Play cards with her and purposely lose any card that is level 8 (hereon
known as RARE card) and above and she will move to another area. (After
losing the card, talk to her and she will tell you where she is going)
The Card Queen can be your dream or nightmare depending on how much patience
you have with her. She works this way; Lose OR Win a RARE card to/from her and
find out where she is going. She can go to either 1 of 8 places which is described
below. Once at Dollet, she will start a quest. She will request for a certain card
to be lost to her. Give her the card, chase her around the world until she gets
back to Dollet, and she will reveal information on where you can obtain certain cards.
And no, even if you knew where the cards are, you will not be able to get them before
the Card Queen says so. ^_^
Her locations are as follows:
1) Balamb (Х): In front of the Balamb train station
2) Dollet (ɡ): On the second floor of Dollet's pub (the place with the pool tables)
3) Galbadia (Хǥ): In the Derring City hotel
4) Fisherman's Horizon (F.H): Near the save point of F.H.
5) Sentora (ȥ): In the hotel of Winhill
6) Esthar (): In the Grand Hall of Esthar's presidential building
7) Anywhere (ɤ): Inside the Luna Gate
8) Travia (ȥӥ): In the hotel of the Shumi village
Notice the Japanese characters beside the locations. They are what she says exactly in
Japanese when she decides to move to another location. Her movements are random. That
means you can try software resetting (L1+L2+R1+R2+Select+Start) after you win/lose a
RARE card if you don't like where she's heading. Keep in mind though that if you're
on a quest for the cards, you usually have to go through quite some locations before
you actually end up in Dollet again.
Card Queen's card quests:
Card to be lost --> Card to be gained (location)
1) Komoguri --> Kiros (In Derring City's shopping mall. From a man in black)
2) Select --> Irvine [F.H.'s station room 2nd floor. From female station
master(եĹ)]
3) Kochocobo --> Debuchocobo [A guy sitting on the bench in front of Balamb
garden's library]
4) Alexander --> Grasharaborus [The pub in Timber from the guy behind the counter]
5) Grasharaboras --> Phoenix [from Esthar's presidential building. It is with the
person in blue. (亴)]
ALL cards lost on purpose can be reclaimed from the Card Queen's son. He is located in
Dollet with the Card Artist. (one screen away from save point) Any cards lost to the Card
Queen can be obtained back from her. [if you don't believe me, check your card screen
and point to the lost card. Under 'Area', instead of Squall () it will display
Queen ()]
====================================================================================
Card Queen and Card Club *DISC 4*
====================================================================================
To reach the Card Queen and CC in DISC 4, you have to firstly regain control of your
airship Ragnarok. Right before Altemisha's castle, you walk along a gigantic chain.
Next to the chain are portals to other parts of the world. Click CIRCLE when standing
next to the middle one to jump across and end up on the Sentora plains.
Walk all the way to the Chocobo forest north of the Sentora ruins and obtain a chocobo.
Ride the Chocobo down to the Sentora Ruins and proceed south-west across the waters to the
other continent. You should soon reach a beach. Pressing SELECT to view the main map will
render the Ragnarok's position visible (it's the red dot on the map). Navigate yourself
towards the ship and regain control of it.
Card Club:
The CC is already in the Ragnarok. Just press X when you're regained control to see Shuu
telling you that the club's all in to challenge you one last time. ^_^
Card Queen:
The Card Queen is located on the south-west penisular of Esthar. Navigate yourself there
and walk around a bit until you meet her. (apparently, she's out from some kind of boat)
The thing about meeting these characters in DISC 4 is that they can give you the rare cards
(level 7 and aboved) you missed out on previously. (*With the exception of Koyokoyo because
it's level 5*) So instead of going on the Card Queen's mad card quest or hunting down CC
members in DISC 3, you *could* ignore them all and get the cards all in DISC 4.
(not confirmed. better to be safe then sorry)====
The Card Queen usually handles high level cards (9-10) you've missed out on.
For level 8 or below cards you don't already have, try the CC.
====================================================================================
Gameshark Codes
====================================================================================
Before anyone attempts the gameshark codes, I would like to point out that FF8's
card system functions in a way that when you obtain a certain card, a 'counter' would
be set. Events like getting rare cards from characters would NOT happen if you
hack your cards to that of your desired configuration. You simply will not be able
to get the rare cards out of that certain character.
Gameshark code to obtain ALL cards:
B0270002 00000000
80077378 E4E4 <- Level 1 to 7 cards
800773E6 FFFF <- Debuchocobo to Pandaemonium card
800773E8 FFFF <- Kelboros to Seifer card
800773EA 0001 <- Squall card
B0210001 00000000
300773C5 00F0
*Individual card hacking*
To further understand the way the cards work, you need to have basic knowledge of
binary and hexadecimal numbers. Binary is basically just 1s and 0s making up
bits (in this case 'states' for the existance of cards). Hexadecimal is a format
where by 16 number are possible in a given digit. The game stores the format of
the cards in hexadecimal.
Example:
800773E6 FFFF
In the case of FFFF, we have all cards from Debuchocobo to Pandaemonium. The last
F represents Debuchocobo to Komoguri. To understand the existance of the cards in the game,
we need to know the 'states' that they can exist in. Below is a 'state table' for the last F
of the cards. Subsitute the names in order from the list to make out what the other Fs
stand for. Where 0 stands for none existing and 1 stands for existing.
Komoguri Gilgamesh Angelo Debuchocobo
0 0 0 0 <- no cards exist
0 0 0 1
0 0 1 0
0 0 1 1
0 1 0 0
0 1 0 1 <- Gilgamesh and Debuchocobo exist
0 1 1 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 0 1
1 0 1 0
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 0
1 1 1 1 <- all cards exist
*Individual card hacking with empty slots*
B0270002 00000000
80077378 E4E4 <- removing this part (or any other) will prompt the game to use your
current save file values for level 1 to 7 cards
800773E6 FFFE
800773E8 FFFF
800773EA 0001
B0210001 00000000 <- I removed this section and got an empty slot for Angelo in DISC 4
Not sure on how to replicate this on DISC 3...
300773C5 00F0
Again, I must warn against the hacking of the game because of the lost of challenge
and also because the game simply just doesn't work right with hacked values. But if
your challenge comes from hacking the cards (like I do), by all means proceed. Just
in case some of you think i got all my cards through hacking, I've actually gotten
all of them legitimately. How else would I have written more than half of this FAQ? :P
====================================================================================
Miscellaneous Stuff (usually rumors and questions)
====================================================================================
1) Rumor has it that you need a full set of cards to somehow get Squall's 5th
special skill. Don't ask me how, what, why or when. It's just a rumor.
2) In DISC 4, the ONLY places that aren't covered by the magical barriers are dungeons
and chocobo forests. Chocobo forests I understand but why dungeons???
3) Has anyone noticed that level 6 and 7 cards are messed up in their names? Go check
out underneath the bar at the bottom when you point to a certain card in level 6
and 7 and you'll notice that the characters next to MONSTER do no correspond to
the name of the monster. :P
====================================================================================
Credits (in order of piority)
====================================================================================
1) My wife for being so understanding of my game playing.
2) Myself for taking the effort to write this inspite of risks involving people
ripping off my work.
3) Squaresoft for producing such a masterpiece.
4) NJSTAR for their superb and free Japanese wordprocessor.
4) My current academic course for providing me with basic numerical system
knowledge.
************************************THE END*****************************************
