Final Fantasy VIII

[Clear Tranquil]

It doesn't work on them normally, but it does while they're in your party?

Well I tried. I suppose all of the insta kill moves, break and the like are banned anyway...

No, no, no it was my mistake =D

Thanks for that Djinn, interesting read. It's the type of thing that I work with though the idea of Rinoa in Godlike gives me psyducks =D

[Meeplelard]

Uh...

Rinoa's Limits don't work that way.  She always has Angelo Cannon, IIRC.  When she learns a new Limit, the chance of Angelo Cannon decreases, and its replaced with the new limit; there's no downside to learning more limits, as all it does, IIRC, is just lower the chance of Angelo Cannon with a higher chance, and the chance of the new limits never decreases.

So its like if she had no new limits, 100% Angelo cannon.  A new one?  25% chance of a new one, 75% chance of angelo Cannon. 2  new ones? 50% chance of Angelo Cannon, 25% each of the other two, and so forth.

Rinoa's damage should be the average of all her limits, if you're doing things that way.  So it means Wishing Star + Invincible Moon (which would translate to 0 here) + Angelo Cannon + Angelo Strike.  This should be MUCH stronger than her physical.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Limits
By teaching Angelo only Invincible Moon and Wishing Star, this gives a higher chance for Invincible Moon or Wishing Star.
---
Angelo Rush: 1378 (seems to be a counter as well)
Angelo Cannon: 2938
Invincible Moon: Invincible for 3 Turns
Wishing Star: 6191*8 = 49529

I was just working off of what the topic said, I never used Rinoa in FF8, so I don't know anything about her limits.

What's Angelo Strike?

The reason I didn't include Rinoa's limits in the averages initially was that her damage there was unreliable. If she always has Angelo Cannon and it's rigged in favor of it... I suppose I could use -that- as her 'most reliable' first-turn damage. It's similar to Selphie... she has a decent chance of getting Ultima or Triple-Flare or something, but I just included the best common outcome. Probably doesn't change things much?

[Meeplelard]

Angelo Cannon is her default Limit.  She always has it.

Angelo Rush I think is a particular move that kicks in randomly.  She has a few of these, like one of which involves Angelo coming in and reviving a random PC (useless in the DL, of course.)  The ones that matter kick in too rarely to care.

Angelo Strike, I believe its called, is just ST damage which is higher than Angelo Cannon (which is MT damage, IIRC.)

Either way, the stat topic is a bit out of date; the claim of teaching Rinoa less limits ups her chances of the better ones is in fact false; it just uses Angelo Cannon if you try to use an unlearned Limit, apparently.

[hinode]

I also don't see any indication of what crisis level was used for testing here. It doesn't really matter if you assume they have to start at full HP because getting a limit at all = win for anyone besides the temps and Selphie, and Selphie can do so as well most of the time. The exact figures become pretty important if you're actually trying to make an average out of them, though.

Also bear in mind that they'd have to come in at low HP to access a limit, which makes them very prone to dying from any above average speed dueller. I wouldn't take that average literally even if I did allow them to enter matches at low HP, often times they just won't be able to afford to do that.

[DjinnAndTonic]

I also don't see any indication of what crisis level was used for testing here. It doesn't really matter if you assume they have to start at full HP because getting a limit at all = win for anyone besides the temps and Selphie, and Selphie can do so as well most of the time. The exact figures become pretty important if you're actually trying to make an average out of them, though.

Also bear in mind that they'd have to come in at low HP to access a limit, which makes them very prone to dying from any above average speed dueller. I wouldn't take that average literally even if I did allow them to enter matches at low HP, often times they just won't be able to afford to do that.

The topic says that the Limit testing was done at 33% HP, and that figures in parentheses were at "High Crisis Level".

And yes, I'm aware that they all are easily one-shotted if they enter a battle at this health level. It means they probably -must- be faster than their opponent for this to do them any good.

I personally don't think I'd let them start a battle at this health level, but it was interesting to see. Also, this stat topic apparently needs updating.

[Talaysen]

You could just use those averages for matches they start in at low HP, and the other one for when they don't.  That probably makes more sense than letting them start at low HP and then always using the normal averages.

[PKNintendo]

And I'm back!

So I get why Squall is the best, and why Seifer is the second best.
But I will not rest until Quistis is in mid. Go Quistis!

[OblivionKnight]

You might want to see if a physician will prescribe you some Ambien, then.

[PKNintendo]

-_-

[Tide]

Actually, having burnt more time into FF8 from doing the solo twink challenge, I think the limit range for FF8 fighters is actually 45% MHP and below. Although at 45% MHP, the chances of the limit appearing are very slim. 4400/9877 HP Squall CAN get limits against Tri-Faces for example. 

On the other hand, even if you allow the turn spamming (something you can freely do in game) and place minute drawbacks, I would suggest you place a turn penalty on the character IF you do allow them to get access to a limit at 45% MHP. Something like each turn that you pass is worth 1/3 of a turn or something. This is very akin to what happens in-game if you try to get a limit break on the borders of crisis. 

[hinode]

Characters get a crisis boost in-game if they have dead teammates, which raises the mHP level that they can get limits at. I wouldn't allow that in the DL, myself, as it doesn't apply in cases where you have less than 3 PCs.

[Tide]

Ah, that would certainly explain it. Since as long as I recall, base crisis level was already 33% MHP.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Average damage using only physicals: 653. aka the most generous view of FF8 damage possible. Kill point of 1632. Squall 2HKOs, Rinoa borderline 2-3HKOs (as does Seifer), Zell has a very low 3HKO, the other permanent PCs have mid 4HKOs (as does Ward), Laguna and Edea have 5HKOs, Kiros has a 6HKO.

[DjinnAndTonic]

The topic was messy, so I compiled it. Also, added in GFs for the main PCs to give you something to compared GF Squall to. No actual testing was done, all info gathered from this topic and this FAQ: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/197343/50775

Note that non-Squall claims to GFs are VERY weak, so please don't take them seriously unless you just really like handing out skillsets based on weak claims (like me! Yay full-cast-medium WA5! FF6 Espers for everybody!)
EDIT: Characters have unique starting compatibilities with each of the GFs. If you allow GFs by this method, the main PCs are listed here with their highest-compatibility GFs (Except in Rinoa's case, who still has Leviathan due to Selphie having a better claim to Rinoa's top GF).


Final Fantasy 8 - Averages up top (Permanent PCs only, no Junctioning)
Average HP= 3971
Average strength= 49.5 (w/ weapon bonus: 67 (73 if you count Squall's crit bonus as *1.5))
Average VIT= 32
Average SPR= 33
Average SPD= 36
Average LUK= 22
Average damage using only physicals: 653

Junctioned Damage Average: 2270.5 (2764.5 w/ Zell's Str Bonus)
(7022 Zell's Physical w/ Str Bonus)
4058 Zell's Physical
2235 Squall's Darkside
2185 Rinoa's Leviathan summon
1897 Quistis' Shiva summon
1892 Irvine's Quezacotl summon
1356 Selphie's Siren summon

Junctioned averages!
Average HP: 5673
Average VIT: 40
Average SPR: 61
Average SPD: 36

Squall Leonhart
HP - 4187
STR - 47
VIT - 41
MAG - 45
SPR - 36
SPD - 37
LUK - 22

Lionheart +31 (255 HIT, ITE)
Squall's Physical: 745 (1117 critical trigger)

Squall's Renzokuken: 1215 per hit.
4-9 hits, depending on Crisis level. Sometimes leads to a Renzokuken Finisher. (23.8%)

Renzokuken Finishers (1 in 4 chance of selecting any of the following.)
---
1. Rough Divide: 1797. ST
2. Fated Circle: 1414. MT
3. Blasting Zone: 1672 MT.
4. Lion Heart: 18x3712 = 66816

Your mileage may vary, but if you allow Gfs, Squall has the strongest plot claim to Quezacotl and Shiva, as they are given to him in the tutorial when he’s by himself.

If you allow GFs based on starting GF compatibility, then Squall gets the highest compatibility with Diabolos compared to all other GFs -and- PCs.

Quezacotl   
HP: 2850
Summon: Thunder Storm – 1892 MT Thunder magic damage
Card - ID. Sucess percentage increases as enemy's HP decreases, turns enemy into a card. Godly.

Innate boosts:
Mag+20%, 40%   
SumMag+10%,20%,30%   
Boost 180%
GFHP+10%,20%   

Menu commands:
Thunder Magic Refine - Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga, Aero, Tornado
Mid Magic Refine   
Card Mod   

Junctions: HP, Vit, Elem DefX2, Elem Atk

Shiva   
HP: 2750
Summon: Diamond Dust – 1897 MT Ice magic damage
Doom – 100% ID when Timer reaches 0.

Innate boosts:
Spr+20%,40%   
Vit+20%,40%   
SumMag+10%,20%,30%   
GFHP+10%,20%   
Boost 180%

Menu commands:
Ice Magic Refine - Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Water

Junctions: Spr, Str, Vit, Elem Atk, Elem DefX2


Diablos
HP: 3000
Summon: Dark Messenger - Gravity-based percentage damage, MT Percentage based on level (50% mHP damage at L50, 100% mHP damage at L100) Damage cannot exceed 9999 cap.
Mug: Physical + Steal
Darkside : 3x Physical damage (2235), costs 10% mHP

Innate boosts: (Can only equip 3, stackable)
Mag+20%,40%   
HP+20%,40%,80%   
GFHP+10%,20%,30%   
Ability x3 – can equip up to 3 innate boosts.

Menu abilities:
Time Magic Refine -Slow, Haste, Stop, Quake, Demi, Double, Triple
Status Magic Refine - Silence, Berserk, Bio, Blind, Confuse, Sleep, Break, Pain, Meltdown
Junctions: Mag, HP, Hit

Squall's stats [with Junctions] (Junctioned spells/abilities)
HP - 4187 [9999] (PainX100) (HP+80%, HP+40%)
STR - 78
VIT - 41
MAG - 45 [115] (TripleX100)
SPR - 36
SPD - 37
LUK - 22
Hit - 255 [255] (DoubleX100 for a +40 boost! Yes!)

Squall's physical: 745 (1117 with/ critical trigger)

Squall can increase his Hit, too, but his weapon is already a 255 (max) Hit weapon. With Diablo, Squall gets access to a summoning meatshield that deals cHP damage against anything that doesn't resist Gravity. He also gets Darkside to deal 3x his normal physical for the minor cost of 10% mHP. Oh, and he hits the HP cap easily with HP+80% and +40%, which stack. He even has room left over for another innate boost thanks to Ability x3. If you allow the PCs to actually -cast- their refined spells and not simply equip them (I don't), then Squall is also a nasty status whore.

Rinoa Heartilly
HP - 4181
STR - 67
VIT - 31
MAG - 63
SPR - 39
SPD - 36
LUK – 22

Shooting Star +17 (Ranged)
Physical: 815

Limits
Combine:
25% chance of each of the following:
Angelo Cannon: 1378
Angelo Strike: 2938
Invincible Moon: Invincible for 3 Turns
Wishing Star: 6191*8 = 49529

There is also a chance of Angelo performing mid-battle skills to aid the party. The chance of this is low, but for completion, here they are. Activation rates from this BMG (http://www.forte.spacequadrat.de/home/ff8/final_fantasy_viii_battle_mechanics.txt) .

Angelo Rush: 1068 randomly counters when Rinoa is attacked. (6.2% counter rate)
Angelo Recover: 62.5% Healing (6.6% counter rate)
Angelo Reverse: Angelo uses a Phoenix down on a fallen party member (Revive + 12.5% mHP). This works if Rinoa is the last one standing. (3/256 activation rate)
Angelo Search: Steals an item! (8/256 activation rate)

Angel Wing: Can be selected instead of Combine on Disk 3/4
-Rinoa becomes berserk and casts magic seemingly randomly from her entire range of useable spells, including Attack, Status, and Recovery magic. Casting does not effect the party’s inventory while in this mode. Not effected by crisis level.

-Magic power is 5x normal damage.
-Rinoa becomes immune to negative status.
-She will not cast attack magic or negative status on the party, nor will she cast healing magic or positive status on the enemy. She seems to favor damage spells.

Your mileage may vary, but if you allow GFs, Rinoa automatically had Leviathan junctioned in the FF8 demo, and this is probably her strongest claim to any of the GFs.

If you allow GFs based on starting GF compatibility, Rinoa's highest compatibility is the same as Selphie's, only Selphie has a higher base compatibility, so Rinoa defaults to her next-highest, Leviathan, conveniently.

Leviathan   
HP: 3550
Summon: Tsunami – 2185 MT Water magic damage
Recover - Heals at no MP cost!

Innate boosts: (Can only equip two, stackable)
Spr+20%,40%   
SumMag+10%,20%,30%   
GFHP+10%,20%,30%   
Boost 230%

Menu commands:
Support Magic Refine - Esuna, Dispel, Protect, Shell, Reflect, Drain, Aura

Junctions: Spr, Mag, Elem DefX2, Elem Atk

Rinoa's stats [w/ Junctions] (Junctioned spells/abilities)
HP - 4181
STR - 84
VIT - 31
MAG - 63 [87] (AuraX100)
SPR - 39 [111 (177 w/ Spr+40%,20%)] (ReflectX100)
SPD - 36
LUK – 22

Fire, Ice, Thunder Def: 40% (ProtectX100, ShellX100)
All other Elem Def: 20% (ShellX100)

Rinoa's physical: 815

Rinoa gets a big boost to her magic durability if you allow Junctioning. She also picks up the hardest-hitting GF of the PCs, so she'll be using that primarily for offense. More importantly, she gets the Recover commad, which is nearly-full free healing that she can spam every turn. So she basically becomes a staller who you must OHKO or outspeed.

Quistis Trepe
HP - 3883
STR - 46
VIT - 30
MAG - 42
SPR - 34
SPD - 34
LUK - 21

Save the Queen +13
Physical: 460

Limit: Blue Magic.
At high crisis, Quistis' limits power up. She either needs incredibly low HP or a pretty debilitating status to achieve this, though.
---
1. Lv? Death: Higher Crisis makes the ? smaller. Lv4-1
2. Degenerator: ID? Or is it like Black Dragon Grief?
3. Micro Missile: Does 50% of target's max HP. (75%)
4. Fire Breath: 1824 (2900)
5. Bad Breath: Sleep, Poison, Silence, Blind. VIT 0, Confusion, Berserk, Slow, Stop, and a bunch of other crap come at high crisis. If she's really beat up, Bad Breath can also inflict ID.
6. White Wind: Heals damage equal to the difference of Quistis' current and max HP.
7. Homing Laser: 3299 (~7000)
8. Mighty Guard: Shell + Protect. Regen, Float, Haste, and Aura? at higher Crisis.
9. Shockwave Pulsar: 6845 (~11800)

If you allow GFs based on starting compatibility, Quistis' highest compatibility is with Shiva compared to all other GFs, and only Rinoa has a higher compatibility with Shiva than her, and Rinoa has better claim to better GFs anyway, so she doesn't care.

Shiva   
HP: 2750
Summon: Diamond Dust – 1897 MT Ice magic damage
Doom – 100% ID when Timer reaches 0.

Innate boosts: (Can only equip two, stackable)
Spr+20%,40%   
Vit+20%,40%   
SumMag+10%,20%,30%   
GFHP+10%,20%   
Boost 180%

Menu commands:
Ice Magic Refine - Blizzard, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Water

Junctions: Spr, Str, Vit, Elem Atk, Elem DefX2

Quistis' stats [w/ Junctions] (Junctioned spells/abilties)
HP - 3883
STR - 59 [89] (BlizzagaX100)
VIT - 30 [44 (62 w/ Vit+40%) (70 w/ Vit+40,20%)] (WaterX100)
MAG - 42
SPR - 34 [42 (59 w/ Spr+40%) (72 w/ Spr+40,20%)] (BlizzaraX100)
SPD - 34
LUK - 21

Ice Def: 50% (BlizzardX100)
*Ice Def: 150% (Absorbs damage as HP) (BlizzagaX100)
*Ice Atk: 100% (Physical becomes Ice-elemental) (BlizzagaX100)

Quistis' physical: 949

*Quistis can drop her STR boost to opt for an Ice-elemental attack for whatever reason, she probably prefers to just summon Shiva in this case. But she can also drop her STR boost for the ability to absorb Ice-elemental attacks.

Quistis gets a nice STR boost, but at the moment, I'm not sure what kind of effect this has on her physical damage output besides 'it increases'. She also picks up some fun Ice-elemental tricks and Doom, which might allow her to stall until ID hits against slower opponents. The defense boosts are a nice addition, too. Water is sucky spell for Junctioning compared to the other elemental magic refine sets.


Zell Dincht
HP - 4018
STR - 47
VIT - 33
MAG - 42
SPR - 27
SPD - 35
LUK - 20

Ehrgeiz +18

Physical: 572

Limit: Duel. Basically, Zell has 4.66, 6.66, 9, or 12 Seconds to pull off as many combos as he can. Booya/Heel Drop seems to be the best one for this.

Booya: 520
Punch Rush: 450
Mach Kick: 605
Heel Drop: 560
Dolphin Strike: 803
Meteor Strike: This is a percentage attack, but I don't know what it is, exactly.

Finishers:
Burning Rave: 1318 (Punch Rush, Mach Kick, Punch Rush, Heel Drop)
Meteor Barret: 1503 (Booya, Heel Drop, Mach Kick, Heel Drop, Booya, Punch Rush, Mach Kick)
Different Beat: 2081 (Booya, Heel Drop, Mach Kick, Heel Drop)
My Final Heaven: 1430 (Booya, Heel Drop, Mach Kick, Punch Rush)

If you allow GFs based on starting compatibility, then Zell's highest compatibility is with Ifrit as compared to all other GFs. Additionally, only a temp, Edea, has a higher base compatibility with Ifrit.

Ifrit   
HP: 3100
Summon: Hell Fire - 1980 MT Fire magic damage
Mad Rush: Grants Berserk (Damage+50%), Protect, Haste to party

Innate boosts: (Can only equip two, stackable)
Str+20%,40%   
Str Bonus (+1 Str per level up)
SumMag+10%,20%,30%   
GFHP+10%,20%30%   
Boost   180%

Menu commands:
Fire Magic Refine    - Fire, Fira, Firaga, Flare
Ammo Refine
Junctions: Str, HP, Elem-DefX2, Elem-Atk

Zell's stats [w/ Junctions] (Junctioned spells/abilities)
HP - 4018 [5418] (FiragaX100)
STR - 65 [171 (239 w/ Str+40%) (255 w/ Str+40%,20%)] (FlareX100) (Str Bonus)
VIT - 33
MAG - 42
SPR - 27
SPD - 35
LUK - 20

Fire Def: 130% (Absorbs Fire as HP) (FiraX100, FireX100 to both Elem-Defs)
*Fire Atk: 50% (Physical gets Fire-element attributes) (FireX100)

Zell's physical (full boosts): 7022
Zell's physical (Flares only) : 1684
Zell's physical (Flares+Str+40%) : 3177
**Zell's physical (Flares+Str+60%) : 4058

**Str Bonus of 50 is ridiculous, so some people might prefer this number.

*Zell can lose some Fire resistance (down to 80%) and Junction his Fire spells to Elem-Atk to get a Fire elemental physical for whatever reason. He probably wants to use Ifrit in this case, but then again, his STR stat is awesome.


Yikes. Ifrit's skills are well-tailored for dueling. STR Bonus grants a point of STR at every level up. This would mean that if Zell had Ifrit from level 1, he'd get a +98 STR increase because FF8 characters' stats are taken at L99 in the DL for some reason. I'm capping this at STR+50 for a more conservative estimate, but just be aware that it could be higher. Additionally, Ifrit also allows STR junctioning AND STR percent boosts, so Zell can hit the STR cap. Not sure how much damage this translates to in his physical, but needless to say, it's a lot. To top it off, he can use Mad Rush, which Berserks him (no Limit hype then), but it also boosts his damage further AND he gets Haste and Protect out of the deal to become a speedy physical powers who absorbs Fire for good measure. If he needs magic damage for whatever reason, he'll drop the Str boosts and go for Summon Magic boosting to get some mileage out of Ifrit's not-too-shabby summon, too.


Selphie Tilmitt
HP - 3680
STR - 45
VIT - 28
MAG - 49
SPR - 38
SPD - 37
LUK - 26

Strange Vision +13 (255 hit, ITE)
Physical: 465

Slots: This allows Selphie to cast a large repertoire of spells 1-3 times. She has lots to choose from, but obviously, the better damage spells like Ultima and The End are rare. Useful stuff like Full-Cure and the statuses are pretty common.

Ultima: ~2500
Flare: ~1200
Holy: ~1200
Meteor: 3300, Hits 10 times for ~330. Higher magic defense will null this damage.
Drain: Takes ~500 HP away from an enemy.
Firaga: ~700
Blizzaga: ~700
Thundage: ~700
Aura: Gets Limits easier.
Full-Cure: Full Healing + Status healing.
The End: Immunity bypassing instant death. The End instantly defeats any enemy in the game, except undead or zombified foes. If the boss has multiple forms, The End reduces HP of current form to zero (0), triggering the battle with next form immediately.
Dispel: Removes stat buffs from enemy.
Haste: ATB charges 50% faster
Protect: Physical Attacks reduced by 50%
Shell: Magical Attacks reduced by 50%
Wall: MT Shell and Protect status

Statuses:
Death, Berserk, Blind, Zombie, Sleep, Pain (Silence and Poison), Stop (rare), Silence, Meltdown (0 VIT)

If you allow GFs based on starting compatibility, Selphie has really strong claim with several GFs. Her highest compatibility of all GFs is Cerberus, followed by Carbuncle, both of which top Rinoa's list of GF compatibilities, but Selphie's compatibility is higher. So Rinoa defaults to Leviathan (her next-highest compatibility GF where she has a higher compatibility than Selphie), and Selphie gets Cerberus (and possibly Carbuncle if you're feeling nice). If you allow Junctioning spells based solely on what a PC can refine from their GFs' menu commands, then Selphie wants Siren, who can refine Life/Recovery magic spells, whereas Cerberus and Carbuncle do not have spell-refining commands. Selphie also has the highest compatibility with Siren of all the PCs.

Cerberus
HP: 3000
Summon: Counter Rockets - grants Double and Triple status to all allies
Alert: Party cannot be surprise-attacked!
Auto-Haste: Permanently grants Haste status to user. Cannot be dispelled.
Expend x2-1: Only one unit of stocked magic is expended if cast while user is under Double status.

Innate boosts: (Can only equip two, stackable)
Spd+20%,40%
GFHP+10%,20%,30%

Junctions: Str, Hit, Mag, Spr, Spd, St-Atk, St-Defx4


Carbuncle
HP: 3350
Summon: Ruby Light - grants Reflect status to all allies
Counter: Automatically counters physical attacks with a basic physical.
Auto-Reflect: Permanently grants Reflect status to user. Cannot be dispelled.

Innate Boosts: (Can only equip two, stackable)
HP+20%,40%
Vit+20%,40%
Vit Bonus
GFHP+10%,20%,30%

Menu Commands:
Recovery Medicine Refine
Junctions: Vit, HP, Mag, St-Defx2, St-Atk


Siren   
HP: 2700
Summon: Silent Voice - 1356 and high chance of Silence
Treatment: Cures all status effects

Innate boosts: (Can only equip two, stackable)
Mag+20%,40%   
Mag Bonus   
SumMag+10%,20%,30%   
GFHP+10%,20%   
Boost   200

Menu commands:
Life Magic Refine    - Cure, Cura, Curaga, Regen, Life, Full-Life, Holy, Zombie, Death
Status Medicine Refine   
Tool Refine   
Junctions: Mag, St-DefX2, St-Atk

Selphie's stats [w/ Junctions] (Junctioned spells/abilities)
HP - 3680
STR - 58
VIT - 28
MAG - 49 [119 (167 w/ Mag+40%) (190 w/ Mag+40,20%)] (CuragaX100) (Mag Bonus)
SPR - 38
SPD - 37
LUK - 26

Selphie's physical: 465

Status Attack: 100% ID attached to physical (DeathX100)
*Status Attack: 100% Zombie status attached to physical (ZombieX100) I believe Zombie ends a match if all remaining opponents are Zombies.
Status Def(x2 slots): 80% ID resist, 40% resist against Poison, Berserk, Zombie, Sleep, Curse, Confuse, Drain (HolyX100, Full-LifeX100)
*Stat Def(x2 slots): 100% ID resist (DeathX100), 100% Zombie resist (ZombieX100)

Well, Siren works really well with Selphie's weapon. She's able to get two flavors of 100% ID attached to her ITE physical. Yikes. She can also opt to junction these to her status defense for 100% ID protection if necessary. Her Magic stat got a nice boost too, which is useful if you allow her to cast Holy from the menu, or if not, STILL useful thanks to how it effects the power of her Limits. She also has Silence by summoning Siren should she be facing an ID-immune mage. Regen and Curaga are nice too if you allow them to cast their menu-refined spells (I don't).


Irvine Kinneas
HP - 3880
STR - 45
VIT - 31
MAG - 42
SPR - 28
SPD - 39
LUK - 21

Exeter +13
Physical: 490

Normal Shot: 400x6 = 2400 (sometimes 5 shots)
Scattered Shot: 345x6 = 2070 (MT)
Dark Shot: 345*6 = 2070. Causes Blind, Poison, Sleep, Slow, and Silence.
Flame Shot: 960*4 = 3840 (Fire elemental)
Canister Shot: 1500*3 = 4500 (Uses Demolition Ammo)
Quick Shot: 170*15 = 2550
Armor Shot: 1960*3 = 5880 (ITD)
Hyper Shot: 3000*4 = 12000 (Uses Pulse Ammo)

At high crisis, the time Irvine gets for Shot is almost tripled.
Normal Shot: 400*17 = 6800
Scattered Shot: 345x17 = 5865
Flame Shot: 960*11 = 10560
Canister Shot: 1500*7 = 10500
Quick Shot: 46*165 = 7820
Armor Shot: 1960*7 = 13720
Hyper Shot: 3000*7 = 21000

If you allow GFs based on starting compatibility, the Irvine's highest compatibility is with Quezacotl compared to all other GFs. He also has the highest compatibility with Quezacotl of the PCs, excluding the temp Edea.

Quezacotl   
HP: 2850
Summon: Thunder Storm – 1892 MT Thunder magic damage
Card - ID. Sucess percentage increases as enemy's HP decreases, turns enemy into a card. Godly.

Innate boosts: (Can only equip two, stackable)
Mag+20%, 40%   
SumMag+10%,20%,30%   
Boost 180%
GFHP+10%,20%   

Menu commands:
Thunder Magic Refine - Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga, Aero, Tornado
Mid Magic Refine   
Card Mod   

Junctions: HP, Vit, Elem DefX2, Elem Atk

Irvine's stats [w/ Junctions] (Junctioned spells/abilities)
HP - 3880 [6880] (TornadoX100)
STR - 53
VIT - 31 [47] (ThundagaX100)
MAG - 42 [42 (59 w/ Mag+40%) (67 w/ Mag+40,20%)]
SPR - 28
SPD - 39
LUK - 21

Thunder Def (x2 slots): 130% (Absorbs Thunder as HP) (ThundaraX100, ThunderX100)
*Wind Def (+Thun Def in slot2): 80% (AeroX100, ThundaraX100)
*Thunder/Wind Atk (1 slot only): 80% Thunder or Wind-elemental physical (ThundaraX100 OR AeroX100)

Irvine's physical: 490

Irvine picked up some increased durability and Thunder/Wind elemental tricks. Nothing particularly exciting, but the increased HP means that his Limit range is little broader and he's more likely to survive being knocked into range so he can unleash the big damage or status whoring. Also spoils Thunder/Wind reliant characters and picks up a summoning meatshield with magic damage. He probably doesn't care about the Magic stat boost and will opt for the SumMag boost instead to increased Quezacotl's summoning effectiveness.


TEMPS:
Laguna
HP - 4148
STR - 48
VIT - 41
MAG - 46
SPR - 36
SPD - 37
LUK - 21

Physical: 380

Limit
Desperado: 2740

Kiros
HP - 3728
STR - 43
VIT - 31
MAG - 50
SPR - 41
SPD - 48
LUK - 23

Physical: 317

Limit
Blood Pain: 2378

Ward
HP - 4768
STR - 56
VIT - 44
MAG - 36
SPR - 30
SPD - 27
LUK - 14

Physical: 500

Limit
Massive Anchor: 3970

Seifer
HP - 5823
STR - 48
VIT - 39
MAG - 45
SPR - 38
SPD - 45
LUK - 19

Hyperion: +17 (scaled)
255% Hit Rate

Seifer's Physical: 580 (870)

Limit:
No Mercy: 2320

Seifer seemed to get Limits 40% of the time when he was near full health. Naturally, this is higher when he is at lower health.


Edea
HP - 3777
STR - 41
VIT - 20
MAG - 55
SPR - 45
SPD - 31
LUK - 15

No Weapon

Physical: 373

Limit: Sorcery
Ice Strike: 5106

[DjinnAndTonic]

Because the link is unstable, I'm uploading the guy's BMG here. Not to be used without his consent and all that.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Angelo Cannon is her default Limit.  She always has it.

Angelo Rush I think is a particular move that kicks in randomly.  She has a few of these, like one of which involves Angelo coming in and reviving a random PC (useless in the DL, of course.)  The ones that matter kick in too rarely to care.

Angelo Strike, I believe its called, is just ST damage which is higher than Angelo Cannon (which is MT damage, IIRC.)

Either way, the stat topic is a bit out of date; the claim of teaching Rinoa less limits ups her chances of the better ones is in fact false; it just uses Angelo Cannon if you try to use an unlearned Limit, apparently.

Long overdue, but the stat topic has been fixed to reflect all of this.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Limit break mechanics

Normally, the limit threshold for FF8 is 32%, that is, below 32% HP, the FF8 cast has a non-zero chance to get a limit.

The % chance of an FF8 character to get a limit = (limit threshold% - current HP%) * 1000 / 512.

Or, the chance to get a limit rises by 10% for every 5.12% below the limit threshold. (about double, for back of the envelope calculations). At 32% HP, the chance is zero, and at 0% HP, the chance is 62.5%. At 25% HP, the chance is 13.7%, and at 10% HP, the chance is 43%.

Some status effects directly raise the limit threshold. For instance, if an FF8 character is poisoned, the limit threshold is raised by 12%, meaning it goes from 32% to 44%. All limit chances are then calculated as if current HP were 12% lower than it actually is, in other words the chance of a limit is 12 * 1000 / 512 = 23.4% higher.

Here's the list:

+6%: Slow
+12%: Poison, Blind, Silence, Slow Petrify
+18%: Doom
+80%: Aura

Note that if you have more than one status effect, their bonuses stack additively.

EDIT: If an FF8 PC has a dead ally (maybe in a team fight, or if you have Tal's views), it's +8%. Two dead allies is +16%. Your call if it'd go further or not.


Limit fishing:

Assuming the DL stat topic's 36 average speed, FF8 characters get turns almost exactly once every 3 seconds on the default battle speed. FF8 characters can "fish" for a limit by the player pressing a button to get their turn to come up again, with an audible chime sounding if they qualify for a limit. How fast can the player do this? It obviously depends on the person, but I'm going to assume once every 0.25 seconds. That's slightly slower than typical human reaction time, but of course the player does have to spend another brief moment processing whether they've heard the chime and therefore whether they should press the button again. Thus, if an FF8 character spends an entire round at a low HP, they get 12 shots at a limit (though less if the opponent is fast, more if they're slow).

Some quick math suggests that an FF8 character needs to be about 5% HP below their current limit threshold to have a >67% chance of getting a limit over the course of a full round. The conventional wisdom that the cutoff for this is at about 25% HP is actually remarkably good, especially if I'm being slightly too generous on reaction time.

Note that Selphie needs even more time if she's fishing for a specific result out of her Slots. I'm not going to make any attempt to document that at this time.


Crisis level:

Crisis level is randomly determined by the same mechanic that decides whether an FF8 character qualifies for a limit. Higher crisis level = stronger limit breaks. The limit thresholds posted above all concern crisis level 1, the lowest. In general, the limit threshold for each subsequent crisis level is 6.4% HP lower.

However, fishing for low crisis is impossible, because there's no cue as to what crisis level the PC currently is, only whether they have a limit break or not. So don't just assume that "6.4% less HP = higher crisis level"... that's sadly not how it works!

Here's a chart showing the average crisis level assuming an FF8 character qualifies for a limit at varying HP levels. As usual, adjust all these figures upwards if an FF8 character is statused.

32% = beginning of limit threshold
25.6% = chance of Crisis 2 becomes non-zero
19.2% = chance of Crisis 1 and Crisis 2 is equal (average is 1.5)
12.8% = equal chance of Crisis 1, 2, and 3 (average is 2)
6.4% = equal chance of Crisis 1, 2, 3, and 4. (average is 2.5)
0% = Average crisis level is 2.8.

As a general rule of thumb, I'd probably start assuming Crisis Level 2 for DL limits below around 15% HP, and Crisis Level 1 above that.