AP and Learning Abilities

Learn how to effectively earn AP and learn abilities for your Guardian Forces in Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. Discover strategies for AP gain without excessive XP.

When you defeat enemies, you earn both XP and AP. XP levels up your main characters (Squall, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Rinoa, and Irvine). XP is split between any Guardian Forces (GFs) they have equipped, potentially leveling them up. The more GFs a character has equipped, the less XP each GF receives. As a GF levels up, it generally gains more HP, deals more damage, and may unlock new abilities.

Each GF also has abilities they can learn, requiring a set amount of AP to be accumulated. You can tag desired abilities in the GF menu. Unlike XP, AP is not split between GFs; all equipped GFs acquire the full AP gained. Each GF can learn a total of 22 abilities, and learning some abilities is a prerequisite for others (e.g., learning HP+20% might unlock HP+40%). Be mindful not to fill GFs with unnecessary abilities while still unlocking new ones.

GFs can learn new abilities via items, with rare abilities requiring rare items. You can also force a GF to forget skills using Amnesia Greens. Be cautious, as some easily unlearned abilities can be difficult or impossible to teach again. Generally, it's advisable to remove common, redundant, or lackluster abilities like Magic, GF, Draw, and Item, as you likely only need one of each per character. Other candidates for removal include Elem-Atk-J (only need one), Elem-Def-J and Elem-Def-Jx2 (obsolete with Elem-Def-Jx4), and similarly ST-Atk-J, ST-Def-J, and ST-Def-Jx2. GFHP+10% and SumMag+10% are also fairly disposable.

To increase a GF’s AP without leveling characters (ideal for low-level runs), use Quezacotl’s Card ability. This weakens enemies and turns them into Triple Triad cards, defeating the enemy and voiding XP while retaining AP. This allows GFs to learn abilities without character leveling. Since monster levels are based on character levels, keeping characters low-leveled means lower-leveled enemies. Card allows GFs to gain power and learn abilities, which can unlock options like refining higher-tier spells earlier. This makes your characters relatively more powerful than enemies, which is an ideal way to progress in Final Fantasy VIII until disc 3, when power-leveling becomes more lucrative with a different GF.