Gilgamesh (Final Fantasy VIII)

Gilgamesh is a pseudo-Guardian Force in Final Fantasy VIII who replaces Odin. Similar to Odin, Gilgamesh appears randomly, but can appear during boss battles and can appear any time during a battle. As a drawback, he might waste his turn when summoned and use a useless ability called Excalipoor.

Profile
Gilgamesh in Final Fantasy VIII is implied to be a returning character from Final Fantasy V whose Gilgamesh ended up in the Interdimensional Rift. In Final Fantasy VIII, Gilgamesh emerges from a "dimensional portal" to capture Odin's sword, and then joins the party as Odin's replacement. Gilgamesh was a sword-enthusiast in Final Fantasy V, but his search for the legendary Excalibur only found him a cheap knock-off, the Excalipoor. Gilgamesh wields both in Final Fantasy VIII, alongside Masamune, a recurring katana from the series that has appeared since the original Final Fantasy.

Since Final Fantasy VIII, Gilgamesh has gone to become a widely recurring character who travels the Void to different Final Fantasy worlds.

Gilgamesh has a gray complexion and white pupilless eyes. He has a red tattered cloak, horns and a feathery head adornment, white-and-red polka dot trousers and black, gold and red boots. Humorously, he has numerous arms that appear fake, and the the decorations on the right side of Gilgamesh's body appear to be wood or cardboard cutouts with arms drawn on them. This alludes to Gilgamesh having multiple arms in Final Fantasy V in his "true" form.

The dialogue he exchanges with Seifer hints that he is the Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy V:
 * Gilgamesh
 * "You gave me the 4th one..."
 * "Huh? Was it you...?"
 * "Then dodge my sword!"
 * "Eat this!!!"


 * Seifer
 * "Ergwahhhh!!!"


 * Gilgamesh
 * Where is the dimensional interval...?

In the Japanese version, Gilgamesh's line "Huh? Was it you...?" was "「ん？　オマエなのか・・・・？　バ・・・・？」" ("Huh? Was it you...? Ba...?"). The "Ba...?" in the end could mean he was talking about Bartz, the main character of Final Fantasy V. Also, the "dimensional interval" may be the Interdimensional Rift.

Obtained
If the party acquired Odin before fighting Seifer att he top of Lunatic Pandora, Odin will attack at the beginning of the battle. Seifer will use "Zantetsuken Reverse" and slice Odin in half instead. Odin's Zantetsuken creates a rift in space/time, from which Gilgamesh appears and picks it up. The battle continues as normal.

Later in the fight, if it has lasted for more than 12 rounds, Gilgamesh will appear and defeat Seifer. He will join the player party and will appear at random during battles, just like Odin.

If the player doesn't have Odin when they reach the top of Lunatic Pandora, Gilgamesh cannot be recruited in that playthrough.

Battle

 * See the summon sequence here.

Gilgamesh appears during battles to randomly attack enemies with one of four random swords. Unlike Odin, Gilgamesh can appear during boss battles and any time during battle.

When he appears, Gilgamesh will select one of four swords to attack with: Zantetsuken instantly defeats all opponents; the purple-hilted, Masamune, and the blue sword, Excalibur, both deal heavy damage to all opponents; and the red sword, Excalipoor, deals just one point of damage to all opponents. Gilgamesh's Zantetsuken does not work against opponents invulnerable to instant death attacks, such as bosses—though he may attempt it, it will always miss. Zantetsuken works on Adel but will also kill Rinoa, causing an instant Game Over.

Gilgamesh has a 9/256 chance of appearing at the start of a battle (or 3.5% chance), and throughout the battle, if nothing has happened for a few seconds, there is a 13/256 (or 5.1%) chance of him appearing. The chance of him using each attack is 65/256 (or 25.4%) for Excalibur, 64/256 (or 25%) for Excalipoor or Masamune, and 63/256 (or 24.6%) for Zantetsuken. Gilgamesh can be summoned once per battle. Gilgamesh uses the same coding to determine its appearance rate as Angelo Search. If Gilgamesh appears, Angelo will never search in the same battle.

The damage formula for Excalibur is:
 * $$Damage = 100 * Level / 10 + 50 + 100$$
 * $$Damage = Damage * (265 - TargetSpr) / 8 $$
 * $$Damage = Damage * 50 / 256 $$

The damage formula for Masamune is:
 * $$Damage = 100 * Level / 10 + 100 + 100$$
 * $$Damage = Damage * (265 - TargetSpr) / 8 $$
 * $$Damage = Damage * 100 / 256 $$

The level specified above is the average level of all the Guardian Forces in the player's GF menu. Like everything else in the game, this level will also be scale with a 6/5 or 4/5 multiplier depending on the random number generator.

Triple Triad
To become able to challenge the CC Group King who holds the Gilgamesh card, the player must do the Card Club sidequest in Balamb Garden. After finding every other club member, the King will randomly appear when the player sleeps in the dorms.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Gilgamesh appears as a playable character with his Final Fantasy VIII appearance as an alternate costume for him.

Itadaki Street
Gilgamesh appears in Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special.

In Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable, Gilgamesh appears based on his Final Fantasy VIII appearance. Gilgamesh is a chance card in Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable, the card's ability: Group all characters to target point.