FFVIII Crystal is a gameplay mod designed to give a new way to play Final Fantasy VIII by making each playable character more distinct, strengthening and redesigning enemies, and adding new content.
This update includes some balance changes originally meant for 1.5, focusing on improving Quistis' and Irvine's early game, as well as a couple of bug fixes.
Characters
Changes preceded by an X apply only to new save files.
Squall/Bahamut:
- Early Spr growth increased.
Quistis/Shiva:
- Early Str and Vit growths increased.
X Quistis now starts with Devour and Mug.
- Aura's AP requirement has been reduced to 80 and is now available to learn from GF level 10.
- Shiva now learns St-Atk-J from level 15 and Elem-Atk-J from level 30.
- Laser Eye: now has a Slow effect.
- Ultra Waves: base power increased at all Crisis Levels.
- Shockwave Pulsar: base power at Crisis Level 4 increased.
- Fire Breath, Aqua Breath, and Electrocute have been changed to physical attacks.
- The earliest availability of certain Blue Magic items has changed as follows:
*Inferno Fang: Can be mugged from low-level Bombs.
*Water Crystal: More likely to be mugged from low-level Chimeras.
*Spider Web: Now only drops from mid- or high-level Caterchipillars.
*Power Generator: Can be mugged from mid-level Blitzes.
*Laser Cannon: Can be mugged from high-level GIM47Ns.
Zell/Ifrit:
- HP growth decreased.
- Late Spr growth decreased.
Selphie/Tonberry:
- Late Mag growth decreased.
- Made some changes to Slot as a stopgap measure until a proper overhaul can be implemented.
Rinoa/Carbuncle:
- Pray's AP requirement reduced to 80.
- Pinwheel: Hit increased to 100.
- Valkyrie: Crit Bonus increased from 0 to 5.
- Shooting Star: Crit Bonus increased from 30 to 33.
- Luck stat modified slightly.
Irvine/Cerberus:
X Irvine no longer starts with St-Atk-J, but instead starts with Aura.
- Irvine can learn the GF command from GF level 15.
- Early Spr growth increased.
Enemies:
- In the battle added to the vase quest in Winhill, killing the Red Bat now removes Creeps' physical immunity and killing the Forbidden now removes Creeps' magical immunity.
- Elite Soldier: Fixed incorrect targeting conditions when in battle with GIM52A.
- Elvoret: Drops an Elvoret card.
- X-ATM092: Stats adjusted.
- Grendel: Fixed issue in which Thunder Breath's power was set too high at the mid-level range.
- Esthar Soldier: More likely to drop a Phoenix Down when killed or Mugged at all level ranges.
- G-Blue Mage: Replaced Storm Breath with Wind Blast in order to prevent crashes in certain battles.
Misc.:
- Deling City Shop now sells Cottages.
- Gambler Spirits can be purchased from the secret shop on Disc 4.