After the Exam

Navigate the post-exam events in Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. Get your SeeD score, learn about SeeD Salary, and prepare for the SeeD graduation party, including the Granaldo boss fight.

After some scenes (which ones you see depends on whether you destroyed X-ATM and whether or not you hid in the pub), Quistis will dismiss you, and you'll find yourself in Balamb Town again. The exam is now over; you can talk to people without penalty.

First, grab the Timber Maniacs issue in Balamb. There's one in the Hotel (stay the night), and another at the train station. You can't grab both, but which you grab will affect a scene later. There's no tangible advantage to either, so just grab whichever.

Next, go to the Dincht house (it's the one nearest the central intersection) and challenge Ma Dincht to a game of cards (you may need to leave the room and come back for her to actually let you play). She has the Zell Card, which is a strong playing card. Win it, then return to Balamb Garden (if you follow the road, you won't have any encounters).

(Note: It may be tempting to grind on the beach to teach Siren her skills, but there'll be a better opportunity to do this very soon.)

In the main hall, approach Cid, Quistis, and Xu for a scene, then go to the hallway leading right and speak to Seifer for another scene. Return to the main hall (where the directory is), and you'll be told to report to the 2F Hallway. Talk to everyone there (note that of the unnamed characters, only the boy on the right side of the hallway says anything; the other unnamed characters can be ignored), then try to leave. A scene will take place, then talk to Cid again to receive the Battle Meter, which provides basic battle stats. Leave and ride the elevator down and head for the classroom, after which you'll receive your exam score and be given information about how the SeeD Salary works.

SeeD Graduation Party

You'll find yourself in your dormitory. After the scene, go inside and change into your SeeD uniform, then talk to Selphie outside to begin a long series of scenes.

Once you're back in control, exit the balcony to magically find yourself back in your dormitory, then change clothes and head to the Training Center. Here, if you have Siren, Quistis will give a tutorial on Junctioning Magic to Status. Give Quezacotl and Ifrit to Squall, and Shiva and Siren to Quistis. Give Quistis Zell's Magic for Junctioning (use the Switch function in the menu to move all of a character's Magic at once). Once that's in the books, Junction Ice Magic to Elem-Atk, then head into the training center.

Here, Grat will be your source for status magic. You don't have any way to refine Status Magic yet, so Drawing will be your only source of Status Magic here. So max out your stocks on a Grat, then defeat it and Junction Sleep to ST-Atk (note that you can only use magical attacks while T-Rexaur dozes or you'll wake it up). T-Rexaur is extremely difficult to defeat straight-up; if you meet one right off the bat, either run or just try to duke it out ( Degenerator will OHKO a T-Rexaur easily, should Quistis get a Limit Break).

In the Training Center, it doesn't make a difference which way you go at the initial intersection. Simply follow the path around until Quistis says you're there, then go inside for a scene. Once it's over, head whichever direction you like, and eventually you'll see another scene, this time with a big, fat, pesky fly you have to swat.

Boss: Granaldo, 3x Raldo

*In the boss fight in Balamb Garden's Training Center, all enemies have their levels capped at 11 (max HP = 1,538 for Granaldo, 287 for Raldo). The stat tables above list for all versions (when encountered later, they can have higher levels). Note that, since the boss versions' Levels are capped, you can never see the mid- or high-level versions in that fight. The boss versions also drop no Exp.

This is actually a very easy fight. Their main strength comes in their numbers, but since the Raldos will never attack while Granaldo is alive, even that is completely nullified.

While the Raldos are alive, Granaldo will just throw Raldos at you. It gained nothing from this.