There are only two more side-quests for us to wrap up, but before that, I'm going to cover the remaining hidden world map draw points around the Galbadia/Balamb area we haven't visited much since we got the ability to fly. Our first draw point contains the Death spell, and is on a small island directly behind the Fire Cavern entrance.
If you land on the mountain ridge containing Dollet's communication tower, there is a Pain draw point nearby.
North of Dollet, there is a large peninsula jutting out into the ocean. On the plateau above, facing towards it, is a Drain draw point.
Drop off to the east-side of that plateau, and on a small island with a shoreline, there is a Quake draw point.
Then, at the very end of the peninsula we've been looking at, is a rare spot to draw Aura.
On another mountain ridge, overlooking the village of Winhill, we can draw from an Ultima point.
From the Ultima draw point, just a little to the north, there is an alcove across the river from the D-District Prison. A Break draw point is located between the river and mountain.
Southwest of Winhill, on a fairly large island, there is a Reflect draw point to use.
From the Reflect point, circle to the west to the very end of the continent. There is an archipelago here and facing it is a Zombie draw point.
Fly back east and on another mountain plateau, overlooking the now-destroyed Galbadia Missile Base, there is a Float draw point. Don't underestimate Float at this point in the game: it junctions well to your Luck stat for a mostly-ineffective spell you likely won't use.
On yet another mountain plateau, a fairly small one just south of Deling City, there's a hidden Meltdown draw point.
Look for a Bio point to draw from on a smaller mountain ridge overlooking the Desert train station. This is just beside a path you could have walked up into the mountains earlier that overlook where the Galbadia Garden once was. You may recall there was a Shell draw point located there, also.
Just barely east from the Bio draw point, literally could just drop off the side from it, is a small alcove cut out in the mountains. Land the Ragnarok, carefully, inside and there is a Berserk point.
Our final draw point contains the Double spell. Follow the train tracks that lead from Deling City, past the Desert station, and toward Timber. Land the Ragnarok beside the train tracks, before you cross the river to the Timber area, and search to find it. Note: There are two other islands containing a multitude of rare draw points, and extremely dangerous monsters, that I will be covering in the next chapter where I wrap up our preparations for disc four.
Remember this lady back at the Balamb Town train station? She is the subject of our next side-quest and will subsequently become more hated to us than Ultimecia, herself. If she's not here, you must have been playing cards with her previously, and you'll have to go looking for her in towns across the world, but this guide assumes she is still positioned in Balamb Town and that will make things, at least a little, easier. Note: Good news for you, but not for me: you actually don't have to do this quest at all! If you completed the CC Group quest at Balamb Garden, all of the rare cards you obtain through the Queen of Cards can be won from them on disc four. As for myself, I will be covering the quest for the sake of completion, but for those that don't, you may want to take at look at the final couple of posts on the quest where I will lay out how to position the Queen in an advantageous way that will greatly benefit us on disc four.
It is imperative that you save each time you play the Queen; as near as
possible, we are going to be doing a lot of quick-resetting. Before we start playing, note we are going to be intentionally losing cards to the Queen. Because of this, it's important that you only play her when she is using the trade rule "One" to prevent loss of multiple cards. Each time you challenge the Queen, she will randomly use one of the four trade rules, which will subsequently be used, for a time, with other players you challenge, as well. When the card rule screen comes up, if there is a trade rule other than One, simply back out of the game and challenge her again and there is a chance the rule will have changed to another. If, for some reason, the Random rule has spread to Balamb, and you
cannot select your cards, simply play cards with the man crouching near
the ocean at the harbor to reset all of Balamb's rules. Also, pay the Queen 30,000 Gil in each town going forward to spread the "Open" rule to the area, which will make things easier, as well. With these things in mind, and having saved your game, play your MiniMog card and some low-level cards, like Geezer and Funguar, and lose on purpose so that she will claim the Mini-Mog card from you.
Now, for the frustrating part: after either winning or losing a GF or higher playing card, the Queen of Cards will swap locations. In Balamb, we need her to go to Dollet by talking with her afterwards. If she goes to Galbadia instead, reset your game and loss the Mini-Mog card to her again until she moves to Dollet.
When she is in Dollet, you will find her on the second floor of the pub. Note: With Siren's Move-Find ability equipped, there is an essential hidden save point near the stairs we will be needing to take advantage of. When you talk with her, only in Dollet, there will be an option to ask about her father. She will explain that she takes certain cards she has won to her father and he creates new ones and distributes them to people around the world. Since we lost the Mini-Mog card to her, she will tell you that a new card was created and given to someone in Deling City.
The Queen will also mention that she has given the card you lost to her son. If you did the bone painting side-quest earlier, this is the same kid down the street that was vandalizing his grandfather's paintings. No wonder he's such a pest: with his mom moving all across the world for a silly card game.
Simply play cards with him to win back your Mini-Mog. Of course, playing cards here will be easier-said-than-done with the Random rule in place, so make sure to save often.
Now, back to the Queen, we need to lose a GF or player card and force her back to Balamb Town. Any card is fine; her having these will, eventually, allow us to move her to a position for disc 4. Like back in Balamb, talk with her afterwards and make sure she returns to there, or reset your game and try again.
Head for Deling City to pick up our newly-created card. The holder is a guy in a black and red outfit on the opposite side of the street as the item and junk shops of the shopping area.
He now holds the Kiros card to win.
Back to the Queen at Balamb Town, remembering not to mix rules if you're asked, lose the Sacred card to her and, again, get her to move back to Dollet. In Dollet, repeat the process of asking her about her father to find a new card was created from your Sacred card, lose another GF or player card to move her back to Balamb Town, then re-win the Sacred card from her son down the street.
Mayor Dobe's wife, Flo, in Fishermans Horizon, has the newly-created card.
And it's Irvine's player card.
Return to the Queen at Balamb Town, and this time, lose the Chicobo card. Again, repeat the previous process: she moves back to Dollet, ask her about her father, lose a GF or player card to move her back to Balamb Town, then win back your Chicobo card from her son.
The lose of the Chicobo card has added a new card to the guy sitting on the bench at Balamb Garden outside the library. Balamb Garden is still anchored at Fishermans Horizon, just to note.
Win the Chubby Chocobo card from him.
Lose the Alexander card to the Queen in Balamb Town. Then, of course, repeat the previously-mentioned steps to move the quest forward and regain your lost card.
The pub-owner at Timber, who challenges you to a game each time you talk with him, has this quest's newest card.
It's the GF card, Doomtrain, but don't get too attached to it yet. Take it to the Queen, give it up, and we need to repeat the process just one last time, but don't move her from Dollet yet!
All the way in Esthar, at the Presidential Palace, inside the room under the Winhill painting, the aide here has the final, new card.
It's a beautiful Phoenix card, this time. That is all of the new cards her father can create, and once you win back your cards from her son, the quest is technically over, however, to better suit us for disc 4, we need to spend some more time with the Queen. At this point, the Queen should still have five of your rare cards in her inventory. We are going to use this to our advantage.
Still in Dollet, win one of your cards back and keep trying until she moves to the Galbadia region. She will then be in the Deling City inn, thankfully, right next to a save point. Win another one of your cards back, and unfortunately, it will take some time, but she will move to Winhill. She'll be inside the Winhill inn, as well, but there is no save point, so it's best you save outside on the world map. Take one of your cards back from her here and direct her towards Fishermans Horizon. At FH, she's on the train tracks near the save point. Return card #4 to your deck until she heads for Esthar. Then, finally, at the Presidential Palace in Esthar, win your last card back from her until she makes a trip to the Trabia region. There's a save point on the screen to the right-side of the entrance of the Presidential Palace you can use, but it will be a frustrating walk back to the Queen if you need to reset, unfortunately. Take a look at your card inventory now: you should have every card with the exception of Shiva, which you may have if you decided to trade the one-of-a-kind Girl Next Door item to Zone back on the White SeeD Ship. Don't worry if you're like me, and kept the item, we'll be picking the Shiva card up on disc 4.
By Trabia region, the Queen of Cards was actually referring to Shumi Village; where she can be found at the inn. This is exactly where we want her for the game's finale. Talk to her and pay the Gil to introduce the Open rule to the region, then, we want to manipulate the region's rules to benefit us. To do this, we need to return to either Timber or Deling City, play a game of cards, without mixing rules, then return to the Shumi Village inn and save your game.
Attempt to play cards with the Queen and she will ask to mix rules; for once, accept, then back out of the game. There is a chance that either one of Galbadia's rules will spread to the region or one of Trabia's rules will be abolished. We want the "Random" rule gone, so keep resetting your game until this happens. There is only a chance when she asks to mix rules, so you will only get one try, then will need to reset your game if the rule fails to be abolished. Myself, personally, got rid of the "Plus" rule, as well, which you can do by repeating the above process after "Random" is abolished. We are now perfectly set-up for card-farming on disc 4!
For the final side-quest in Final Fantasy VIII, we need to return to the Timber area. There is a small lake nearby, named Obel, that has a piece of land sticking out in the middle of it. Search the edge of it and select the "humming" option until a black shadow emerges and speaks with Squall. It will ask that you find its friend, Mr. Monkey, whom took a train to Dollet.
There's a forest, surrounded on three sides by mountains, north of Dollet. Run around in it, no need to hit X or anything, and you will find Mr. Monkey. Select whichever option you like and return to the shadow of Obel Lake.
The shadow will then begin giving you cryptic hints; all of which you need to hear, so keep talking with it. The following need to be heard:
- "Take some time off at Elbeak Peninsula"
- "There's also something on top of a mountain with a lake and cavern"
- "You'll find something on an island east of Timber, too"
- "At the beach in Balamb something special washes Ashore at times"
Once you've heard those four, we can then seek them out on the world map.
On a mountain plateau, above a waterfall that is flowing by the train tracks between the Desert and Timber route, Squall can search around to find a hidden bird nest. Check it out, then defeat two Thrustaevis enemies, and you will find a rock with an inscription on it. This was the hint: ""There's also something on top of a mountain with a lake and cavern".
Next, fly near Balamb Town and search around the beach there until you find a unique rock with another batch of letters engraved on it. This is: "At the beach in Balamb something special washes Ashore at times".
The third rock is on a small island, just off the train tracks leading from Timber to Fishermans Horizon, east of Timber. The hint here was: "You'll find something on an island east of Timber, too".
Take the three rocks back to Obel Lake's shadowy creature and speak with it until it tells you that Mr. Monkey has a rock just like those you have picked up.
You'll then need to select to "throw a rock" at the Lake instead of humming to summon the creature. It takes a frustratingly long time, at least it did for me, but eventually, you will get the message: "The rock skipped many many times".
Head back over to Mr. Monkey in his forest and he will insult Squall and throw a rock at him that has another set of engravings on it.
Take the newly-acquired rock back to the Obel Lake creature and talk with it until it aligns all four stones for you. If you read it up-to-down, left-to-right, you will see the message says: "Mordred Plains has Treasure".
But what about the clue: "Take some time off at Elbeak Peninsula"? If you search the extreme western-end of the Trabia continent, overlooking Dollet, you will find a pillar carved with letters. The creature told us to "Take time off" so, if you take those words out of the message, you are left with: "Treasure at Minde Isle".
Minde Island is the small island off the southwestern end of the Esthar continent; facing the Centra continent's desert area. You need to search the EXACT spot above to find a crazy-hidden Luck-J Scroll. With this, the one stolen from Odin, and the Cactaur GF, we can now junction all three of our active character's Luck stat.
Finally: Mordred Plains. Ugh...This is directly north of Esthar, and is barren except for an entrance to Trabia Canyon. In a specific area, if you search around, Squall will encounter different-colored faced rocks. Honestly, I have no idea how this is suppose to work. Three-of-the-four colored rocks speak nonsense and the red-faced rock lies to you. The general idea is you are suppose to walk the opposite direction of the red-faced rock, but if you talk to it multiple times, it gives you two differing directions. So, if it says south, then says east, you are suppose to walk northwest to find the treasure, but I have never found any luck with this. Instead, I have always had to just randomly search around. We're looking for the red-faced rock to say: "The treasure's not here!" which means the item we are looking for is at that exact spot and searching again will allow us to obtain a Three Stars item. In the screenshot above, the entrance to Trabia Canyon is just in the distance, to the northwest; hopefully this will help you find the exact location. Three Stars teaches a Guardian Force the Expendx3-1 ability, which isn't that great, honestly, allowing you to cast three spells from your stock magic at the expense of only costing one. In my opinion, the stat-boosting abilities are much better, but you decide for yourself. That finishes up all of the side-quests in the game. In the next chapter, we will cover a few more final notes before disc 4, then continue on to the finale of the game.
