Edea (Final Fantasy VIII gameplay)

Edea
イデア (Idea?)
Portraits
Gameplay details
Type	Guest character
Limit Break	Ice Strike
Weapon	None

Edea appears as a boss and a temporary playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. She has no upgradable weapon. Her Limit Break is Ice Strike, which hurls large icicles at the target, and is unaffected by her Crisis Level.

Party member

Edea is a temporary playable character, controllable during the party's trek across the Great Salt Lake and during the time Lunatic Pandora attacks Esthar City. She must equip Guardian Forces to use magic in battle, and while she has no weapon, she is able to use the Attack command without one as she strikes her target with a small blast of energy.

Edea's weapon is called "None", to simulate her not wielding a weapon while still designating her one in the game code. It only has 20 Strength and 97 Hit Rate, and it cannot be upgraded. Edea has high Magic and Spirit scores, and has good compatibility with every Guardian Force (see below). Her HP, Strength, and Vitality are low, and her Speed and Luck are not exceptional, either. She is the epitome of the traditional Sage class, excelling at magic, but little else.

Edea leaves the party after the player either fails to board the Lunatic Pandora with Zell's party, or when they are ejected from the Pandora by Mobile Type 8. When Edea leaves, the game attempts to give her Magic stocks to the other party members spell by spell, but if all the other characters already have 100 of the spell/have 32 other spells, her Magic stock is lost.

Her intro pose is to cross her arms onto her chest before opening them up. A distinct sound can be heard before she opens her arms out. Her victory pose is to raise her arms, then close her hands together and bow.

Limit Break

Edea preparing Ice Strike.

Main article: Ice Strike (Final Fantasy VIII)

Her Limit Break, while powerful, is limited, as it only deals magical damage to one target. Her Limit Break is Ice Strike that hurls several large icicles at the target. Edea's Limit Break's strength is unaffected by Crisis Level and its attack power is 120.

This Limit Break is also seen at the end of the parade in Deling City where she uses it on Squall with near-lethal effects. Ice Strike is a subset of Edea's skillset called Sorcery (魔導, Madō?).

Stats

LV	HP	Str	Vit	Mag	Spr	Spd	Luck
1	209	0	0	11	8	16	10
2	249	1	0	12	8	16	10
3	289	1	0	13	9	16	10
4	329	2	1	13	10	16	10
5	369	3	1	14	10	17	10
6	408	3	1	15	11	17	10
7	448	4	2	16	12	17	10
8	487	5	2	16	12	17	10
9	526	6	2	17	13	17	10
10	566	6	2	18	14	18	11
11	605	7	3	18	14	18	11
12	644	7	3	19	15	18	11
13	683	8	3	20	15	18	11
14	722	9	4	20	16	18	11
15	761	9	4	21	17	19	11
16	799	10	4	22	17	19	11
17	838	10	4	22	18	19	11
18	877	11	4	23	19	19	11
19	915	12	5	24	19	19	11
20	954	12	5	25	20	19	11
21	992	13	5	25	20	19	11
22	1031	13	6	26	21	19	11
23	1069	14	6	26	21	19	11
24	1107	14	6	27	22	19	11
25	1145	15	6	28	22	20	11
26	1183	15	6	28	23	20	11
27	1221	16	7	29	23	20	11
28	1259	17	7	29	24	20	11
29	1297	17	7	30	24	20	11
30	1334	18	7	31	25	21	12
31	1372	18	8	31	25	21	12
32	1409	19	8	31	26	21	12
33	1447	19	8	32	26	21	12
34	1484	20	8	32	27	21	12
35	1521	20	9	33	27	22	12
36	1559	21	9	34	28	22	12
37	1596	21	9	34	28	22	12
38	1633	22	9	35	29	22	12
39	1670	22	9	35	29	22	12
40	1707	23	10	36	30	22	12
41	1744	23	10	36	30	22	12
42	1780	24	10	37	30	22	12
43	1817	24	10	37	31	22	12
44	1854	24	11	38	31	22	12
45	1890	25	11	38	32	23	12
46	1927	25	11	39	32	23	12
47	1963	26	11	39	32	23	12
48	1999	26	11	39	33	23	12
49	2035	27	12	40	33	23	12
50	2071	27	12	41	34	24	13
51	2107	27	12	41	34	24	13
52	2143	28	12	41	34	24	13
53	2179	28	12	42	35	24	13
54	2215	29	13	42	35	24	13
55	2251	29	13	43	36	25	13
56	2287	29	13	43	36	25	13
57	2322	30	13	43	36	25	13
58	2358	30	13	44	36	25	13
59	2393	31	14	44	37	25	13
60	2428	31	14	45	37	25	13
61	2464	31	14	45	37	25	13
62	2499	32	14	45	38	25	13
63	2534	32	14	46	38	25	13
64	2569	32	15	46	38	25	13
65	2604	33	15	47	39	26	13
66	2639	33	15	47	39	26	13
67	2673	33	15	47	39	26	13
68	2708	33	15	47	39	26	13
69	2743	34	15	48	40	26	13
70	2777	34	16	48	40	27	14
71	2812	35	16	48	40	27	14
72	2846	35	16	49	40	27	14
73	2881	35	16	49	41	27	14
74	2915	35	16	49	41	27	14
75	2949	36	16	50	41	28	14
76	2983	36	16	50	41	28	14
77	3017	36	17	50	41	28	14
78	3051	36	17	50	42	28	14
79	3085	37	17	51	42	28	14
80	3119	37	17	51	42	28	14
81	3152	37	17	51	42	28	14
82	3186	37	17	51	42	28	14
83	3219	38	18	52	43	28	14
84	3253	38	18	52	43	28	14
85	3286	38	18	52	43	29	14
86	3319	38	18	52	43	29	14
87	3353	39	18	53	43	29	14
88	3386	39	18	53	44	29	14
89	3419	39	18	53	44	29	14
90	3452	39	18	54	44	30	15
91	3485	39	19	54	44	30	15
92	3518	40	19	54	44	30	15
93	3550	40	19	54	44	30	15
94	3583	40	19	54	44	30	15
95	3616	40	19	54	44	31	15
96	3648	40	19	54	45	31	15
97	3681	40	19	55	45	31	15
98	3713	41	20	55	45	31	15
99	3745	41	20	55	45	31	15
100	3777	41	20	55	45	31	15

Guardian Forces

Edea can junction the player's GFs during the short stint that she is a guest party member. Because her Limit Break is magical, equipping her with a GF that has Mag-J (Quezacotl, Siren, Diablos, Carbuncle, Leviathan, Cerberus) and Mag+% (Quezacotl, Siren, Diablos) would be ideal to make the most of her.

The below values are the base compatibility values at the start of the game. Edea has the highest compatibility with Guardian Forces, perhaps because she joins the party so late while the others have had time to boost their compatibilities, and because she is a sorceress. Edea still has base compatibility values with GFs that she can't equip because they only become available after she leaves the party.

GF	Compatibility
Quezacotl	760
Shiva	750
Ifrit	740
Siren	660
Brothers	730
Diablos	690
Carbuncle	620
Leviathan	730
Pandemona	729
Cerberus	728
Alexander	700
Doomtrain	720
Bahamut	700
Cactuar	680
Tonberry	660
Eden	540

Boss

Main article: Edea (boss)

Edea uses third tier spells in battle.

Edea is fought twice: the first time at the parade, and the second in Galbadia Garden. Before fighting Edea the first time Squall faces off against his rival, Seifer, alone. After defeating him, Rinoa and Irvine arrive to help Squall, and Edea takes the stage. The battle is scripted and can't end in a Game Over, but if the player defeats Edea they get battle rewards.

When confronting Edea for the second time at Galbadia Garden, the party must again defeat Seifer before they can touch her. During this second confrontation, the party can draw the Guardian Force Alexander from her.

Triple Triad

Main article: Edea (Final Fantasy VIII card)

Edea carries her own Triple Triad card and can be challenged at Edea's House. It is one of the best cards in the game, but Edea is arguably the best card player in the world, having smart AI. The difficulty of winning the card from her is compounded by her being playable at the Centra region that uses all the rules of the game. Players are first able to challenge her when she is met at the orphanage. One can use "Rule Manipulation" to keep the contest as simple as possible as Edea uses the Same, Plus, and Combo rules to devastating effect.

The Edea card is one of three cards to feature multiple As (the other two are Rinoa and Doomtrain). Edea turns into 3 Royal Crowns with Quezacotl's Card Mod.