Battle of the Gardens

Detailed walkthrough for the Battle of the Gardens sequence in Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. Includes party selection, mini-games, boss strategies, and item locations.

Welcome to one of the most fun sequences in the game!

Battle Preparations

Your first task will be to give orders. The orders you're "supposed" to give are, "Prepare for the attack," "Prepare our defenses," and, "Take care of the junior classmen." Other orders will prompt funny lines, but don't actually do anything bad. Once you're done, go down and talk to Quistis. Choose a party (Zell and Rinoa are unavailable), then head to the 2F Hallway. As Squall mentions, leave your Junctions alone for now; the time will come to change them, but for now you won't be fighting. In the 2F Hallway, speak to everyone in the hallway, then continue to the area with the Classroom entrance. Speak to the pair standing around, as well as to the Junior Classman walking towards the classroom (if he enters the Classroom, just go in and back out and he'll reappear). He'll hand over a Cottage.

Next, make your way to the Quad (there's a Save Point along the way if you need it) and talk to Zell for a scene. Speak to Rinoa for more scenes.

Defending the Garden

You'll be in control of Zell's team. Junction them to satisfaction, then just run towards the end of the Quad for a scene (exit the screen after the first scene for another one). Run to the front gate now, and you'll be asked to select two party members to accompany Squall (be sure to move your Junctions to this crew).

As Squall's team, head up to the Classroom. You'll fight a massive group of Paratrooper enemies, which are much stronger than normal G-Soldiers and love to spam status ailments (GF Summons work like a charm against them, so long as you don't get Silenced). Speak to the SeeD here once they're all defeated, then return to the Bridge.

As Squall, head to the 2F hallway and talk to the Junior Classman here. During the scene, press X and choose, "Look around for another option," then, "Press the button for the emergency exit." After this, you'll be in simple mini-game where you must knock the Paratrooper off rope. All attacks that aren't blocked will stun him. Kicks are weak but quick, punches stronger but slower, and Deathblow (appears if you block a certain number of attacks) stronger still. Simply keep blocking until the Paratrooper winds up for a punch, then quickly Kick to stun and Punch or Deathblow to add damage. Rinse and repeat until you win. (If you lose, you'll start from the beginning of the mini-game and have the option of increasing your starting HP, but there's no Game Over or other penalty.)

When you land, simply run left. There'll be yet another scene, then you'll be prompted to name Squall's ring (Default: Griever). Answer, "Rinoa, let's go." Junction someone with as high a Magic stat as you can, then run towards the trees in the distance. There's an Aura Draw Point here. Use it, then go in through the door.

Galbadia Garden Revisited

The first thing to do is to select a party. Once you're done, head right, then right again and up the stairs. Talk to Raijin and Fujin, then take the hallway leading left, followed by the right-hand door. The student will give you Card Key 1, after which you should return to the where you entered (where the Save Point is). Take the left fork now, followed by the left-hand door (your Key Card will unlock it).

Cross the hockey rink. You can encounter the unique Slapper enemies here, but they don't have anything overly useful for you. The left door is a dead end (the locker room), so take the right door to emerge in another hallway. Cross the hallway and get the Card Key 2, then exit to the south (your new key will unlock the door) and go south again to find yourself back at the start.

Now, climb the stairs to the top (go right from where you came in, then right again to reach them), and go through the door at the top. Follow the path down and your party will jump down to the lower level. The door down here in the direction you came from leads to where you entered (it only unlocks from here, oddly enough, not the other side, but opening does make a nice shortcut if you need to save), but your destination is the other way. Keep going until you reach the main hall.

You'll notice an enormous creature in the center. It's optional, but well worth your time. Give everyone the Draw command and protection against Wind, Earth, and Lightning in Elem-Atk, in order of importance (alternately, you can set Float in-battle to nullify Quake). In addition, equip protection against Darkness and Silence in ST-Atk. Also give someone Mug; you will need someone with the Magic command and Dispel available to cast as well. Once you're all ready, "talk" to the creature to enter battle.

Boss: Cerberus

Cerberus represents a veritable cornucopia of goodies. However, it also has some extremely powerful magic. Worse is that it can cast three (!) spells in a turn if it's under Triple status, so be sure to Dispel it if it casts it.