In Game Guides

It’s important to begin this section by mentioning that the in-game overviews and instructions provided by Quistis and then later found in the “Tutorial” section provide excellent overviews of the magic junctioning system in Final Fantasy VIII.

You must have a good understanding of this unique mechanic, as this is the primary means that you will use to level up your characters as you progress through the game.

As noted above, you can find these explanations provided in the game again if you navigate to the “Tutorial” menu, select “Online Help,” and then go through the GF Junction, Magic Junction, Junction to Elements, and Junction of Status information sections.

Getting Started

The magic junctioning system in Final Fantasy VIII starts by accessing the “Junction” option in the menu screen when you press . You will have access to four options at the top of the screen:

• Junction: Selection “Junction” will bring up two follow-up options, allowing you to select “GF” or “Magic.”
  • GF: You can use the GF menu to assign and junction the Guardian Forces that you have to your characters. Squall will begin the game with access to Shiva and Quezacotl once Quistis gives them to him, and then you can continue to pick up more Guardian Forces as you progress through the game. These Guardian Forces will come with Junction Abilities, which will allow the character with that GF assigned to then assign Magic spells to certain character stats (see below).
  • Magic: This menu option allows you to select individual Magic that the character has drawn and assign that Magic to Character Stats, Status Attacks, Status Defense, Elemental Attacks, and Elemental Defense. Check out the related Character Stats section and Elemental and Status sections for more information on how these attributes affect your characters.
• Off: You can use this to remove junctioned magic spells, or if you select the “All” option, it will remove junctioned GFs as well as any junctioned magic all at once.
• Auto: You can use this super helpful menu option to have the game automatically assign magic spells to Character Stats, Status Attack/Defense, and Elemental Attack/Defense slots. The game will give you the option of focusing on “Atk,” “Mag,” or “Def” for the assignments that it selects.
• Ability: This menu option is where you can assign Command Abilities and Character Abilities to your characters.

Junction Abilities

Each Guardian Force will come with some Junction Abilities already learned, while others will need to learn their abilities by earning Ability Points (AP). The list below outlines the various types of junctions that are available.

Note that Junction Abilities with x2, x3, or x4 will allow that character to junction more than one Magic spell to that character stat (i.e., 4 Magics can be junctioned to elemental defense if the Guardian Force has Elem-Def-Jx4).

Use the links below to find out more about which Guardian Forces have access to that ability or which items you can use to have the GF learn that ability:

HP-J	Junctions magic to character’s Health Point (HP) stat.
Str-J	Junctions magic to character’s Strength stat.
Vit-J	Junctions magic to character’s Vitality stat.
Mag-J	Junctions magic to character’s Magic stat.
Spr-J	Junctions magic to character’s Spirit stat.
Spd-J	Junctions magic to character’s Speed stat.
Eva-J	Junctions magic to character’s Evade stat.
Hit-J	Junctions magic to character’s Hit stat.
Luck-J	Junctions magic to character’s Luck stat.
Elem-Atk-J	Junctions magic to character’s Elemental Attack. However, only magic with elemental attributes can be junctioned.
Elem-Def-J	Junctions magic to character’s Elemental Defense. However, only magic that defends against elemental attributes can be junctioned.
Elem-Def-Jx2	Character is able to junction 2 types of magic to Elemental Defense. Even if you junction a GF with both Elem-Defx2 and Elem-Def-J, it does not change the number of junctionable magic from 2.
Elem-Def-Jx4	Character is able to junction 4 types of magic to Elemental Defense. Even if you junction a GF with both Elem-Defx4 and Elem-Defx2, it does not change the number of junctionable magic from 4.
ST-Atk-J	Junctions magic to Status Attack. However, only attack magic that can induce status change can be junctioned.
ST-Def-J	Junctions magic to Status Defense. However, only magic (attack and defense) that can induce status change can be junctioned.
ST-Def-Jx2	Junctions 2 magic to Status Defense. Even if you junction a GF with ST-Def-J, it does not change the number of junctionable magic from 2.
ST-Def-Jx4	Junctions 4 magic to Status Defense, but it doesn’t combine with ST-Def-J. Even if you junction a GF with ST-Defx2, it does not change the number of junctionable magic from 4.
Abilityx3	Sets 3 Party and/or Character Abilities to a character.
Abilityx4	Sets 4 Party and/or Character Abilities to a character. Even if you junction a GF with Abilityx3, it does not change the number of abilities that can be set from 4.

Junctioning Magic

As mentioned above, you can automatically junction magic to these character stats to focus on strength, magic power, etc., and this is because, depending on the spell that you junction, it will have a different impact.

For example, if you junction Cure magic to your Strength stat (listed as “Str” in the game), it will increase that stat by 4. However, if you junction Fire magic to your strength stat it will increase strength by 10. These stat increases mean that Fire is a much better magic to junction to your Strength (Str) stat..

So, how do you find out which magic is best to junction to each character stat? Thankfully you do not have to go through the process of tediously testing each magic in each stat. Just use the “Auto” function all the time.

Advanced Junctioning

There are two methods you should focus on to increase the strength of your characters early through the use of GF and magic junctioning. The first method is to utilize the “Triple Triad Power-Up Strategy” which involves stockpiling refined magic by playing a ton of Triple Triad. Check out the link below for more information:

The next thing you will want to do is focus on stockpiling the most powerful magic in the game. The most powerful magic is listed in the section below: