Death is a status in Final Fantasy VIII. Each player character has a brief and unique death animation. When allies are KO, they lay on the ground until revived and their ATB bar is emptied. Enemies fade out and are removed from the battlefield after their death animation is finished. The effect remains indefinitely until the party member is resurrected, even outside of battle.
Sudden Death is when a character is instantly killed, whereas normal Death occurs when HP reaches 0. Enemies struck by Sudden Death will skip their normal death animation and simply fade out red after being struck. When all enemies are dead, the player wins the battle. When the entire party is dead, it is a Game Over. There are no scripted battles which call for the party's death. Guardian Forces will also die if they run out of HP.
Phoenix Downs and Life magic revive fallen allies, but may cause sudden death to undead, including targets that have the Zombie status. On the flip side, using Death spells or attacks against the undead may fully replenish their HP.
Dead party members do not gain EXP from battles, but GFs junctioned to them will. The levels of dead party members still affect enemy level calculation if they are in the active party.
Abilities[]
| Item | Death Stone |
|---|---|
| Limit Break | Bad Breath Crisis Level 4 (Blue Magic), Lv? Death (Blue Magic) |
| Spell | Death (Magic, Slot, Angel Wing) |
| Summon | Gilgamesh (Zantetsuken), Odin |
Doom status expiring induces Sudden Death.
ST-Atk-J[]
| Spell | Rating | Status Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Death | 100% | Death |
Enemy abilities[]
| Ability | Description | Enemy |
|---|---|---|
| Death | Inflicts Death to one target. | Blue Dragon, Buel, Edea (2nd), Elnoyle, Esthar Soldier (Terminator), Forbidden, Torama |
| Iai Blow | Inflicts non-elemental physical damage and Death. | Forbidden |
| Lv5 Death | Inflicts Death on party members whose levels are a multiple of 5. | Omega Weapon, Torama |
Protection[]
Sudden Death can be prevented, but falling to KO status from running out of HP cannot be.
| Support ability | Ribbon |
|---|---|
| Status | Invincible, Zombie |
ST-Def-J[]
| Spell | Rating | Status Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Life | 20% | Death |
| Full-life | 40% | Death |
| Holy | 40% | Death, Poison, Berserk, Zombie, Sleep, Curse, Confuse, Drain |
| Death | 100% | Death |
Healing[]
| Ability | Revive |
|---|---|
| Items | Cottage, G-Returner (GFs only), Mega Phoenix, Phoenix Down, Phoenix Pinion, Tent |
| Mechanics | Sleeping at a lodging, such as a hotel |
| Spell | Full-life, Life |
| Summon | Phoenix |
Enemies[]
| 30% | Abyss Worm, Armadodo, Belhelmel, Bite Bug, Blitz, Blobra, Caterchipillar, Death Claw, Esthar Soldier, Fastitocalon, Fastitocalon-F, G-Soldier, Gayla, Geezard, Gesper, Grand Mantis, Guard, Jelleye, Mesmerize, Slapper, Thrustaevis, Turtapod, Wendigo, Propagator, Sorceress (A), Sorceress (B) |
|---|---|
| 40% | Cockatrice, Creeps, Elite Soldier |
| 50% | Anacondaur, Blue Dragon, Red Bat |
| 60% | Behemoth, Tri-Face |
| 70% | Grendel, T-Rexaur |
| 80% | Elnoyle, Raldo, Gargantua |
| Immune | Adamantoise, Base Leader, Base Soldier, Blood Soul, Bomb, Buel, Cactuar, Chimera, Esthar Soldier (Terminator), Elastoid, Forbidden, GIM47N, Glacial Eye, Grat, Hexadragon, Imp, Iron Giant, Lefty, Malboro, Ochu, Oilboyle, PuPu, Righty, Ruby Dragon, SAM08G, Snow Lion, Tonberry, Torama, UFO?, Vysage, All bosses except Gargantua, Propagator, Sorceress (A), Sorceress (B) |
Use[]
Junctioning Death spells to ST-Atk-J is a great way to dispose of various enemies in one strike. It even works against various tough enemies, such as Elnoyle, T-Rexaur, and the Propagators. This also skips the enemy's death animation. The downside is that attacking allies, such as when under Confuse, will also quickly decimate the player's own party.
The one time resisting against Sudden Death is needed is when taking on Omega Weapon on a level that is a multiple of 5, as the boss always opens with Level 5 Death. The player can also resist Sudden Death with Zombie status, but they cannot then heal by most methods.
Phoenix has a chance of appearing automatically after being summoned once from a Phoenix Pinion when the player's party falls to KO status, to rescue the player from an otherwise sure Game Over. It is thus worth using a Phoenix Pinion after getting one.