squallshideout

Story (Caution, huge spoilers!)

Roughly seventeen years after a great conflict known as the second Sorceress War consumed the world, the balance of power and peace is on the brink again. During the Sorceress War, a tyrannical sorceress known as Adel managed to seize control over the powerful nation of Esthar and waged war on the rest of the world. Only barely did Esthar and the world save itself and manage to expel this dictator and seal her exotic power in an outer-space prison "for good". The nation of Galbadia emerged from the ashes of the war into a major military power, occupying its neighboring nation of Timber.

Galbadian president Vinzer Deling, who has held virtually unlimited power since the Sorceress War, is stretching his grasp once again, launching an invasion on the last independent nation on the Galbadian Continent, the Dollet Dukedom. In response to a plea for mercenary aid, to help fend off the invaders, an elite military academy known as "Garden" dispatches their mercenary force known as "SeeD" -- an elite group of super soldiers trained in specific forms of mercenary combat. Their true purpose, however, is hidden from them: they are being trained for the purpose of one day destroying the sorceresses once and for all. Within days, SeeD soldiers arrive on the beaches of Dollet with the goal of stopping the next world war before it begins.

One of the soldiers dispatched is a young cadet named Squall Leonhart. A rather cold seemingly emotionless individual, Squall's only concern is duty. While SeeD succeeds in halting the Galbadian advance and forces a restoration of peace, the appearance of a winged monster atop the radio transmitter reveals that the invasion was simply the tip of the iceberg. It appears a new sorceress named Edea is the mastermind behind the entire invasion. She later kills Deling and takes direct control of Galbadia, turning it into an imperial dictatorship. Squall's longtime rival from his cadet days, Seifer Almasy, defects from Garden and betrays his comrades by joining with Edea. Seifer quickly establishes himself as commander of the Galbadian Army and second in command to Edea. A ruthless and effective tactician, Seifer becomes the "iron fist" of Edea's empire, waging her war. Squall and his team are dispatched to fight for the Timber resistance, and eventually are sent on a special mission by the Galbadian Garden to kill the sorceress. They fail, Squall is severely injured, and the entire team is imprisoned.

Already bearing a scar from a duel with Seifer from his earlier days, Squall must become the commander of SeeD and face Seifer once again, this time not to decide petty disputes, but to decide the fate of the world. He and his team escape from the prison, only to find that Galbadia is planning to launch missiles at the Balamb Garden. Fortunately, the Garden is actually a mobile disaster base, and disaster is averted; SeeD takes control and prepares to face the future.

The true and mysterious origin of Edea must be discovered if SeeD is ever to finally destroy the sorceresses and bring balance to the world. Indeed, Edea is merely a tool for a greater power known as Ultimecia, who wishes to achieve Time Compression in order to rule over the past, present, and future simultaneously. With all hopes of peace destroyed, Squall must abandon his shell to protect the friends he never expected to have and become the leader he never wanted to be.

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Yes, it's a fake but would be damn cool if Cloud could be used in Triple Triad!

Main Protagonists

Squall Leonhart
Age: 17
Squall Leonhart (スコール・レオンハート, Sukōru Reonhāto?) is the main protagonist and a young student at Balamb Garden, recognized by most for the scar by his left eye given to him by Seifer. He does not talk much and has the reputation of being a lone wolf. As Squall's story progresses, he falls in love with Rinoa; the two become a main focal point in the game. Squall is also characterized by forlorn memories of standing out in the rain at the orphanage where he grew up, wondering where "Sis" (an older girl he saw as a sister-figure) went. Squall uses a weapon called a Gunblade, which is essentially a sword with a revolver built into it; the barrel forms the spine of the single-edged blade. This weapon deals extra damage if the player squeezes the controller's R1 trigger button while attacking, likely to simulate the use of the trigger on his Gunblade. His Limit Break, a series of sword attacks called Renzokuken, can be similarly enhanced.

Rinoa Heartilly
Age: 17
Rinoa Heartilly (リノア・ハーティリー, Rinoa Hātirī?) is the main female protagonist in Final Fantasy VIII, the 17-year-old daughter of General Caraway, a high-ranking officer in the Galbadian army, and Julia Heartilly, a successful pianist and singer. Rinoa is a member of the Forest Owls, a small resistance faction seeking to liberate the small nation of Timber from Galbadian occupation. Rinoa first meets Squall Leonhart, the male protagonist of the game, at a ball at Balamb Garden, where she manages to charm—albeit somewhat aggressively—the usually taciturn and unfriendly Squall into dancing with her. Her purpose for visiting the Garden is revealed when the Forest Owls hire Squall, Zell Dincht, and Selphie Tilmitt as mercenaries. She stays with them as they are forced to flee Timber, and ends up travelling along with them, eventually falling in love with Squall. In battle, her Combine Limit Break is a combination of attacks from Rinoa and her dog, Angelo. As the story nears completion and Rinoa gains Sorceress powers she gains a second Limit Break, Angel Wing, that reflects her increased spell-casting powers.

Quistis Trepe
Age: 18
Quistis Trepe (キスティス・トゥリープ, Kisutisu Turīpu?) enrolled at Balamb Garden at the age of ten and joined SeeD at fifteen. Shortly thereafter, she became an instructor for Balamb Garden. At the beginning of the game, she serves as Squall's instructor, assisting him in preparing for his SeeD field exam. However, it is not too long before she is demoted as an instructor because the Garden administration, at the time, felt that she lacked leadership qualities. Later on, however, after administration of the Garden is seized from NORG, Headmaster Cid Kramer reinstates Quistis. Quistis' Limit Break, Blue Magic, allows her to take abilities from items found throughout the game, some of which are extremely potent. For instance, Shockwave Pulsar became the first-ever Final Fantasy attack to break the traditional 9,999-damage ceiling (followed shortly by the Cactuar (10,000) and Eden (upwards of 15,000) Guardian Force).

Zell Dincht
Age: 17
Zell Dincht (ゼル・ディン, Zeru Din?) specializes in martial arts and joined Balamb Garden at the age of 13 to follow in his grandfather's footsteps as a great soldier. He is enthusiastic, high-spirited, and loyal to a fault as he sometimes blurts things out without thinking, and his anger can get the better of him. Zell mainly uses his fists to fight, and his Limit Break, Duel, allow fighting-game-style combo moves. His "Armageddon Fist" is a fan-invented attack, which cycles between Punch Rush and Booya, has the capability to rack up damage comparable to Lionheart. It takes a prodigous amount of time to do, however it causes much damage.

Irvine Kinneas
Age: 17
Irvine Kinneas (アーヴァイン・キニアス, Āvain Kiniasu?) is a student at Galbadia Garden, referred to as the 'Best Shooter in Garden' due to his sharpshooting abilities. He is also a self-proclaimed ladies man, and attempts to charm Selphie several times throughout the game (with possible success, depending on one's interpretation of later events). He has, however, been known to lose his cool under extreme pressure. He is also the first to remember that he, Squall, Ellone, Selphie, Quistis, Zell and Seifer all grew up in the same orphanage (the use of GFs are later implicated in the memory loss). His Limit Break, Shot, uses ammunition from the party's Item reserve to inflict damage.

Selphie Tilmitt
Age: 17
Selphie Tilmitt (セルフィ・ティルミット, Serufi Tirumitto?) seems out of place at a military academy. She has an overbearingly naïve view of the world, and is always there when people need cheering up. She uses simple moves, but is strangely reminiscent of Yuffie Kisaragi from Final Fantasy VII. Her Limit Break, Slot, randomly serves up a spell to cast (including four that are not found elsewhere) and the number of times she will cast it; the player can choose to either go with this option or try again. The type of weapon she uses is called nunchaku in the NTSC (Japanese and North America) versions and shinobou (sticks of death) in the PAL versions due to SBBFC restrictions on depictions of nunchaku introduced in 1975.

Other Major Characters

Seifer Almasy
Age: 18
Seifer Almasy (サイファー・アルマシー, Saifā Arumashī?) is a classmate and rival to Squall. Seifer is a powerful warrior, but his ego and inability to follow orders have made him "problematic." During the introduction sequence, he cuts Squall across the face, giving him a scar near his left eye, but is soon after given an almost identical scar near his right eye by Squall in return. He is said to have met and dated Rinoa during a summer school term in Balamb Garden (before she met Squall). Spurred by dreams of a brighter future, he joined with the Sorceress Edea (whom he recognized as the woman who ran the orphanage he grew up in with the main protagonists), out of the promise to be a 'knight' in her new world order, a role which plays towards his vanity, but also to what seems to be an unaffected sense of nobility and honor. It is also believed that Seifer may have had his views brainwashed with a spell, due to his sudden change in attitude toward his assassination of Edea and his "dream" changing from "Romantic" to "Becoming a Knight", but his honor keeps him from the Sorceress Edea's full control. However, it should be noted that from the initial computer panel at the start of the game, a book, Sorceress' Knight: Scenario Edition is listed as overdue. Presumably this is taken out by Seifer, and therefore it is implied at least somewhat Seifer wished this role for himself. At Seifer's point of view, Squall and the others are the "criminals" and he recognizes himself as the hero. He also uses a gunblade, the specific name of his model being Hyperion. His Limit Break is called Fire Cross and his first skill is called No Mercy (he obtains the other later, but he is no longer playable by this point).

Laguna Loire
Age: Goes from 27 to 44 throughout the game.
Laguna Loire (ラグナ・レウァール, Raguna Rewāru?) is a former Galbadian soldier who has turned journalist and seeks to tell the world about the horrors of war. He is optimistic and fueled with a passion to assist those in need. He is, however, extremely clumsy. The party first joins him in the Galbadian city of Deling, where he displays his infatuation with a lounge pianist named Julia; however, he is never able to return and see her again, as a reconnaissance mission within enemy territory renders him desperately injured, barely able to escape to the town of Winhill and, by the time he recuperates, he is too attached to the community—and specifically Raine and Ellone—to return. Laguna proposes to Raine, who accepts, but shortly thereafter, Ellone is kidnapped by soldiers of the technologically advanced isolationist nation of Esthar. Laguna infiltrates Esthar to rescue Ellone, and is inadvertently swept up into a revolution that deposes Esthar's ruler, the Sorceress Adel. He is subsequently elected president. He later learns of Raine's death and that Ellone has gone missing, but events continue to tie him to Esthar, and it is there that Squall and company eventually meet him, having experienced his earlier adventures through Ellone. A number of dialogue exchanges and storyline events strongly imply that Raine is Squall's mother and Laguna his father. Laguna's Limit Break, Desperado, involves some grenades, a lot of fire from his machinegun, and some action-movie-style camera angles.

Ultimecia
Ultimecia (アルティミシア, Arutimishia?) is the sorceress that SeeD was formed to defeat, and is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VIII, though this is discovered quite late in the game, as she operates through the body of Edea Kramer prior to this revelation. While possessing Edea, Ultimecia gains control of Galbadia, and later possesses Rinoa in order to release Sorceress Adel from her tomb. Afterward, Ultimecia abandons Rinoa, leaving her to die in space, but Rinoa is rescued and Ultimecia is soon fought and defeated. A sorceress from the future, Ultimecia is extremely malevolent and capable of reaching back through time via a special machine in order to possess other sorceresses and manipulate them. Fully aware of her predestined fate to die at SeeD's hands, she desires to conquer it through casting the spell called "Time Compression," which would cause all eras to merge. She could then absorb the power of all the sorceresses throughout history and absorb all space-time itself, essentially becoming a god to direct all creation as she pleased. Ironically, it is through her desire to alter the past and cheat her fate that she fulfills the terms of her destiny (defeat at the hands of Squall Leonhart and his comrades) and perpetuates the cycle that will lead to the formation of SeeD. This is an example of the predestination paradox. It also seems to be indicated that her actions will result in her suffering intense persecution before she ever actually commits the deeds for which she is scorned. Future generations, aware of the coming of Ultimecia thanks to her failed attempt at Time Compression, react with hostility toward all sorceresses, fearing that any one of them could eventually become the "cold-blooded tyrant" that history remembers her as. This prejudice, in turn with her fear of death, is perhaps what drove Ultimecia — condemned for crimes she had not even yet committed — to evil in the first place, thus perpetuating the cycle.

Edea Kramer
Edea Kramer (イデア, Idea?) is presented early in Final Fantasy VIII as a power-hungry sorceress who takes control of Galbadia. Her motives are initially unknown, but SeeD is dispatched to eliminate her. It is eventually revealed that Edea is not evil, but rather possessed by an evil sorceress from the future called Ultimecia. When Ultimecia releases Edea, she takes the side of the SeeDs in the struggle, and for a short time even joins the party. Later on, Edea accidentally gives her powers to Rinoa, making her a sorceress. She attacks with magical bursts of energy, and her Limit Break, Ice Strike, forms and hurls a giant icicle. This Limit Break is depicted in a scene at the end of Disc 1 when Ultimecia uses it on Squall while possessing Edea's body. Her full name is Edea Kramer, and we learn that she is actually the wife of Headmaster Cid of Balamb Garden, and was known as "Matron" to Squall and his friends during the time when they lived with her at the orphanage in the continent of Centra.

Cid Kramer
Cid Kramer (シド・クレイマー, Shido Kureimā?) is the headmaster of Balamb Garden. He is a wise, peaceful man and is much respected by Squall and his companions. The loyalty of the Balamb student body is tested when an internal staff conflict is sparked between the headmaster and the Garden Master, NORG; however most of the students and faculty remain loyal to Cid and return him to power. He is actually the one who delivers the game's dialogue with the highest profanity, repeatedly calling NORG a "son-of-a-bitch". It is possible that the estranged Cid and Edea are named Kramer as a reference to the Dustin Hoffman film Kramer vs Kramer, since Cid and Edea are seen as leaders of opposing factions in the early part of the game, despite being married.

Kiros Seagill
Kiros Seagill (キロス・シーゲル, Kirosu Shīgeru?) is Laguna's close friend and comrade in the Galbadian Army who possesses a very caring personality and sharp wit. He is light on his feet and fights with dual blades called "katal" (an incorrectly romanized version of the word "katar") that he wears on both arms; his Limit Break, Blood Pain, is a barrage of attacks. Following the disastrous mission in Centra, Kiros was separated from Laguna and Ward. He heals quickly and decides to leave the Galbadian army, but soon finds life without Laguna is lacking excitement. Kiros resolves to discover his whereabouts, a search that takes the better part of a year to complete and finally brings him to Winhill. Surprised by Laguna's willingness to settle, Kiros reminds his friend of his journalistic aspirations. When Laguna is forced to leave Winhill to find Ellone, Kiros accompanies him, helping him earn money to fund the expedition. Kiros remains by Laguna's side throughout his adventures in Esthar, earning a place as an advisor to the unlikely president.

Ward Zabac
Ward Zabac (ウォード・ザバック, Wōdo Zabakku?) is Laguna's other close friend. He lost his voice in a battle with Cyborg Esthar soldiers. He has a kind heart and follows closely with his friends and comrades, Laguna and Kiros. Ward is very large and quite strong; he throws an enormous harpoon in battle, and rides it down in his Limit Break (Massive Anchor). He becomes an official in Esthar alongside Laguna, directing affairs with gestures and his characteristic ellipses. Due to their closeness, Laguna and especially Kiros can understand Ward's silent expressions. When talking to him as Squall, Kiros will translate.

Ellone
Ellone (エルオーネ, Eruōne?) is a mysterious girl who wanders in and out of Balamb Garden, and who knows Squall from his past; she is the missing "Sis" he has been looking for. It is later revealed that she has a bizarre power: the ability to send a person's consciousness back in time, watch, and sometimes influence the actions of someone they know. She uses this talent to send Squall and his friends into Laguna's past adventures in the hopes that they will be able to alter the past; however, she eventually concedes that history cannot ever be altered. Her parents were killed by Galbadian soldiers during an occupation, and she then lived with Raine until she was captured by Esthar soldiers.

Fujin
Fujin (風神, Fūjin?) is a young woman with pale skin, short silver hair, and an eye patch. She makes up one third of the Balamb Garden Disciplinary Committee with Seifer and Raijin. She is incredibly dedicated to both men, never leaving Raijin's side despite the exasperation he often causes her, and remaining loyal to Seifer even when it requires siding with her bitter enemies. Fujin speaks in single-word sentences, which she normally yells. These pronouncements typically summarize her emotional state or declare pejorative statements, for example "RAGE!" and "LIES!". In the Japanese version of the game, she speaks in single exclamated Kanji characters. Towards the end of the game, her speech pattern returns to normal, when she makes a very articulate and heartfelt plea to Squall and his companions to save Seifer from himself. In battle, Fujin wields a chakram, which she throws at her opponents, similar to Rinoa's pinwheels. She is named after the Japanese god of wind, Fujin, and carries the game's wind-based Guardian Force.

Raijin
Raijin (雷神, Raijin?) is a strong looking partner of Fujin. He makes up one third of the Balamb Garden Disciplinary Committee with Seifer and Fujin. He is a very laid back and rather slow-witted person. Whenever he and Fujin appear together, Fujin is clearly the one in charge, but Raijin is the one who does all the talking. He always ends his sentences with "ya know," and sometimes opts out of explaining difficult things, like Seifer's supposed "execution" by Galbadia, simply by saying "ya know." He stands loyally by Seifer even as he turns away from SeeD and Garden and sides with the enemy, the Sorceress Edea. Raijin clearly has no animosity towards Squall and his friends, he is just following Seifer's orders. Near the end of the game, Raijin comes to the realization that Seifer is headed down a very dark path, one which he cannot in good conscience follow. Along with Fujin, he desperately pleads with Squall and the others to help save Seifer from himself before he does something truly terrible. In battle, Raijin uses a long staff with two large battering weights on either end. He is named after the Japanese god of thunder, Raijin. In the ending, FMV he is celebrating the fact he caught a large fish while fishing until Fujin kicks him off the pier into the water.

Adel
Adel (アデル, Aderu?) is a sorceress who rose to power in Esthar and is the initiator of the Sorceress War. As the ruler, she had her soldiers abduct every girl who might serve as her successor, such as Ellone. During the revolution, she was tricked by Laguna and placed in suspended animation in space. Seventeen years later, after losing control of Edea, Ultimecia possessed Rinoa and used her to free Adel to serve as a new vessel. Adel was later revived in the Lunatic Pandora and was defeated by Squall and his party when she tried to absorb Rinoa. Adel's Tomb was responsible for the radio interference that had blanketed the world since its activation, due to the construction of the wave jammer to prevent Adel's powers from manifesting. During her incarceration, Adel was able to project messages within the powerful signal, visible once on a screen, that read "I AM ALIVE HERE", "BRING ME BACK THERE" and "I WILL NEVER LET YOU FORGET ABOUT ME". Despite Adel being technically a Sorceress, in game, she has taken on a masculine appearance. It is most notable due to her bare chest, since it resembles a man's, showing no signs of breast development, but well-defined pectorial muscles. The presence of large arm muscles further promotes her masculine guise.

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