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Guardian Force
Final Fantasy VIII
Junctioned Together
Guardian Force is the term used to describe Summons in Final Fantasy VIII and it is usually referred to as simply GF. Each Guardian Force is junctioned to a character and this then allows the them to gain certain abilities through the application of Magic.
Once a Summon has been junctioned to a character, not only do they allow for improved stats of the character, but they can also be summoned in combat to provide aid. However, there are other Guardian Forces that are non-junctionable and can only be summoned using specific items or just by random occurrence.
Supporting Their Characters
While having Guardian Forces equipped to a character, they also gained AP, which could be used to teach the GFs new abilities such as HP-J, an ability which allowed a character to use magic to increase their maximum HP. However, without having a GF equipped, a player could also not use Magic, Items or be able to Draw magic from enemies. They could also learn passive abilities, such as increasing a character's Vitality by 60%.These abilities made the Guardian Forces fundamental to the gameplay, as without them all the character could do was perform a basic attack. With them, they became a much more formidible warrior and even receive discounts in shops.
Usage Comes At A Cost
Although using the Guardian Forces made the characters very strong, it also came at a cost. Due to the bond shared between a GF and its user, a part of the brain needed to be consumed, which is the part where memories were stored.The more a GF is used, the more the users memory is destroyed and prolongued usage could even leave the character with no memory of his childhood, or even worse. This is a risk that everyone knew, but one they had no choice but to undertake.
Boost Power
One of the abilities that a GF could unlock was called Boost. This enabled user interaction during the summon sequence, where the player would have to press the Square button to try and increase the damage the GF's attack could perform.However, to try and hinder the progress, at some points the button would show a cross through it. If the player pressed Square during this period, the counter would reset and the damage would be normal.