Rinoa (Final Fantasy VIII gameplay)

Rinoa
(リノア, Rinoa?)
Portraits
Gameplay details
Type	Party member
Limit Break	Combine with Angelo and Angel Wing
Ultimate Limit Break	Wishing Star
Weapon	Blaster Edges
Ultimate weapon	Shooting Star

Rinoa is a playable party member in Final Fantasy VIII who also appears as a part of a boss battle late into the game. She wields Blaster Edges in battle, blades shot from a device on her arm. She is supported by her dog, Angelo, and has two Limit Breaks: Combine (with Angelo) and Angel Wing. Rinoa also appears as a Triple Triad card. She is briefly the party leader during a segment in Deling City.

She is also playable in the PlayStation Final Fantasy VIII demo where she replaces Selphie and Seifer for the portions they are playable in the final game.

Party member

Rinoa first becomes a party member.

Rinoa joins the party at the mission in Timber. She is met in the Forest Owls' Base, where the player gets the chance to rename her and Angelo. She stays with the party from then on until the end of the parade in Deling City, where she is initially not with the others in the D-District Prison.

She is absent for majority of Disc 3; she is absent from the party for the portions where the party is to visit Edea's House, White SeeD Ship, and the locations in Esthar. She briefly returns to the party when the party boards their airship, but after landing, she is out of the party until the events at the Sorceress Memorial. Defeating the boss at the top of Lunatic Pandora marks the point of no return; Rinoa is again absent from the party and the player cannot return to the world map, but the player gets her back by defeating the next boss.

Perhaps because she is not always available and thus misses out on EXP gained during these times, Rinoa has generally better stats than other party members (however, character levels mainly affect enemy stats, as the party's own stats can be customized with the junction system).

Finding Weapons Monthly in the sewers as Rinoa.

Rinoa briefly acts as the party leader in Deling City. The player only needs to navigate her across some boxes and other obstacles to the roof of the Presidential Palace to start a scene, but they can take a detour to the Deling City Sewers to find a Weapons Monthly magazine down there.

Rinoa's junctions and level are never used for Laguna's party during dreams. Her intro pose is to stare at the enemy with her arm on her hip before stroking her hair to the side. Her victory pose is to jump with her hands in the air, then turn around while flipping her hair.

Weapons

Main article: Rinoa's Blaster Edges

Rinoa uses a Blaster Edge in battle. Through upgrades via junk shop, she can come to wield five other variant models. The Blaster Edge, which is attached to her left forearm, does not appear in her character models outside of battle.

While it is possible to acquire Rinoa's ultimate weapon, Shooting Star, before going to Esthar, it is difficult due to the player requiring a Force Armlet to upgrade. However, Rinoa's weaponry is not a priority to upgrade, as they only offer better stats, which are much more readily boosted via the junction system than weapon upgrades.

• Pinwheel – Initial model. Described in Weapons Monthly, April Issue.
• Valkyrie – Described in Weapons Monthly, May Issue.
• Rising Sun – Described in Weapons Monthly, July Issue.
• Cardinal – Described in Weapons Monthly, August Issue.
• Shooting Star – Described in Weapons Monthly, 1st Issue.

Rinoa's Blaster Edge might have been inspired by similar weapons found in Rudra no Hihō on the Super Famicom, a game that was release by Square in 1996. In that game, these weapons are mounted on the arm and shoot a crescent-shaped scythe at the enemy.

Limit Breaks

Rinoa is the only character in Final Fantasy VIII to have two Limit Breaks. The first one she starts with, while the second is obtained through story progression.

Combine

Combine.

Main article: Combine (Final Fantasy VIII)

Combine is Rinoa's primary Limit Break, in which she teams up with Angelo to perform a variety of attacks. To gain access to Combine moves, the player has to read Pet Pals magazines and walk/drive/ride a chocobo around with Rinoa in the party so Angelo can learn it. Not all of Angelo's skills are Limit Breaks; some have trigger criteria to be met during battle to summon her randomly to aid Rinoa. Learning all of Angelo's Combine skills in the Steam version earns the player the achievement Dog Trainer.

Angel Wing

Main article: Angel Wing (Final Fantasy VIII)

Angel Wing.

Angel Wing is Rinoa's second Limit Break obtained late in the story. While in the Angel Wing state, Rinoa's damage output is five times greater than usual, and she is in a berserk spell-casting state using only magic without expending the spells from her stock. If she has no magic, she will use physical attacks, which are again stronger than outside of Angel Wing state. By spell stock management so that Rinoa prioritizes Meteor, Angel Wing can be one of the strongest Limits in the game, rivaling the damage outputs of Squall and Zell, all without player input during it.

Stats

Despite being the character with the least combat experience, of the main party Rinoa has some of the highest base stats at Level 100, surpassing all others in Strength, Magic, and Spirit. However, the main method of stat-gain in Final Fantasy VIII is the junction system, rather than leveling up. Another good way to raise stats is via Level Up Bonus abilities that some GFs have.

LV	HP	Str	Vit	Mag	Spr	Spd	Luck
1	217	1	0	8	3	20	16
2	261	2	1	8	3	20	16
3	305	3	1	9	4	20	16
4	349	4	2	10	5	20	16
5	393	5	3	11	5	21	16
6	436	6	3	12	6	21	16
7	480	7	4	12	6	21	16
8	523	8	4	13	7	21	17
9	566	9	5	14	8	21	17
10	610	10	5	15	8	22	17
11	653	11	5	15	9	22	17
12	696	12	6	16	10	22	17
13	739	13	6	17	10	22	17
14	782	14	7	17	11	22	17
15	825	15	8	18	11	23	17
16	867	15	8	19	12	23	17
17	910	16	8	20	12	23	17
18	953	17	9	20	13	23	17
19	995	18	9	21	13	23	17
20	1038	19	10	22	14	24	17
21	1080	20	10	22	14	24	17
22	1123	20	10	23	15	24	17
23	1165	21	11	24	15	24	17
24	1207	22	11	24	16	24	18
25	1249	23	12	25	16	24	18
26	1291	24	12	26	17	24	18
27	1333	25	13	26	17	24	18
28	1375	25	13	27	18	24	18
29	1417	26	13	28	18	24	18
30	1458	27	14	29	19	25	18
31	1500	28	14	29	20	25	18
32	1541	29	15	30	20	25	18
33	1583	30	15	30	20	25	18
34	1624	30	15	31	21	25	18
35	1665	31	16	32	21	26	18
36	1707	32	16	32	22	26	18
37	1748	33	16	33	22	26	18
38	1789	33	17	33	23	26	18
39	1830	34	17	34	23	26	18
40	1871	35	18	35	24	27	19
41	1912	35	18	35	24	27	19
42	1952	36	18	36	24	27	19
43	1993	37	18	36	25	27	19
44	2034	38	19	37	25	27	19
45	2074	39	19	38	25	28	19
46	2115	39	20	38	26	28	19
47	2155	40	20	39	26	28	19
48	2195	41	20	39	27	28	19
49	2235	41	20	40	27	28	19
50	2275	42	21	41	28	28	19
51	2315	42	21	41	28	28	19
52	2355	43	21	41	28	28	19
53	2395	44	22	42	29	28	19
54	2435	45	22	42	29	28	19
55	2475	45	22	43	29	29	19
56	2515	46	23	44	30	29	20
57	2554	46	23	44	30	29	20
58	2594	47	23	45	30	29	20
59	2633	48	23	45	30	29	20
60	2672	48	24	46	31	30	20
61	2712	49	24	46	31	30	20
62	2751	49	24	47	32	30	20
63	2790	50	24	47	32	30	20
64	2829	51	25	48	32	30	20
65	2868	51	25	48	32	31	20
66	2907	52	25	49	33	31	20
67	2945	52	25	49	33	31	20
68	2984	53	26	50	33	31	20
69	3023	53	26	50	33	31	20
70	3061	54	26	51	34	32	20
71	3100	54	26	51	34	32	20
72	3138	55	26	51	34	32	21
73	3177	56	27	52	34	32	21
74	3215	56	27	52	35	32	21
75	3253	57	27	53	35	32	21
76	3291	57	27	53	35	32	21
77	3329	57	27	54	35	32	21
78	3367	58	28	54	35	32	21
79	3405	59	28	55	36	32	21
80	3443	59	28	55	36	33	21
81	3480	59	28	55	36	33	21
82	3518	60	28	56	36	33	21
83	3555	60	28	56	36	33	21
84	3593	61	29	57	37	33	21
85	3630	62	29	57	37	34	21
86	3667	62	29	58	37	34	21
87	3705	62	29	58	37	34	21
88	3742	63	29	58	37	34	22
89	3779	63	29	59	37	34	22
90	3816	64	30	59	38	35	22
91	3853	64	30	59	38	35	22
92	3890	64	30	60	38	35	22
93	3926	65	30	60	38	35	22
94	3963	65	30	60	38	35	22
95	4000	66	30	61	38	36	22
96	4036	66	30	61	38	36	22
97	4073	66	30	62	38	36	22
98	4109	67	30	62	38	36	22
99	4145	67	31	62	38	36	22
100	4181	67	31	63	39	36	22

Guardian Forces

Rinoa summons a GF.

Rinoa starts with physical Limit Breaks, where equipping her with GFs that have Str-J (Shiva, Ifrit, Brothers, Pandemona, Cerberus) and Str+% (Ifrit, Pandemona) may be preferable during the segments where she is in the party.

After she returns to the party late into the game, her best Limit Breaks are magical, and thus GFs with Mag-J (Quezacotl, Siren, Diablos, Carbuncle, Leviathan, Cerberus) and Mag+% (Quezacotl, Siren, Diablos) are good for her; however, at this point, the player can get almost all -J abilities to all three active party members if they have collected all available GFs, and Junction Scrolls are also available from a shop. To make Rinoa's Angel Wing more potent, she could be equipped with Auto-Haste (Cerberus) and/or Spd-J (Pandemona, Cerberus, Eden) to speed up her turns, and possibly Auto-Protect (Bahamut), Auto-Shell (Doomtrain), and/or Auto-Reflect (Carbuncle) to protect her during this state. High Vitality and Spirit also help.

The below values are the base GF compatibility values at the start of the game, which then grow or fall depending on actions taken in battle and compatibility items used. Of the six main playable characters, Rinoa has the highest base compatibility with 9 of the 16 Guardian Forces, making her an adept summoner. However, the party can almost always outdo a GF's damage over the duration of its summoning animation by simply attacking as long as they have been engaging with the junction system, making summoning an inefficient use of battle time. The compatibility mechanic is also only a minor part of the game, and could be ignored altogether.

GF	Compatibility
Quezacotl	640
Shiva	650
Ifrit	620
Siren	630
Brothers	610
Diablos	620
Carbuncle	680
Leviathan	660
Pandemona	640
Cerberus	700
Alexander	620
Doomtrain	600
Bahamut	580
Cactuar	640
Tonberry	540
Eden	560

Boss

Main article: Rinoa (boss)

During the battle with Adel, Rinoa is junctioned to her, immobile. If she dies, it is Game Over. The party needs to defeat Adel without hurting Rinoa.

Triple Triad

Main article: Rinoa (Final Fantasy VIII card)

Rinoa is a Level 10 Player Card in Triple Triad used for playing the minigame and for turning into 3 Magic Armlets with Quezacotl's Card Mod. It is won off General Caraway after losing the Ifrit card to him.

Optional scenes

A man on the railway bridge in Timber.

In Timber, going to the town exit before heading to the TV station triggers a scene with Rinoa defending the town guards from G-Soldiers. After completing the events in Timber, if the player speaks to a man on a railway bridge, he will give her a Potion. The event can be repeated infinitely.

There are two variations of the scene in General Caraway's mansion. When Rinoa is going to call her father because he is taking too long, she will step outside and instantly return and reveal she is the general's daughter before rushing out again. If the player quickly talks to her before she approaches the door, Squall offers to go in her place.

The FH concert dialogue depends on the instruments the player picked earlier.

If the player brings Rinoa to warn Balamb Garden of the missiles, the FMV where the party visits the second floor balcony is longer, and Squall can give Rinoa a tour of the Garden premises. During the times Rinoa is not in Squall's party while in the Garden, she will be in the library, where the player can talk to her. During the concert in Fishermans Horizon, the dialogue and outcome between Squall and Rinoa depends on the instruments the player chose for the rest of the party. If the player brings Rinoa to liberate Balamb Town, there is a unique scene in Zell's house where Rinoa marvels that Zell has a tidy room. She also contributes to Selphie's "My Friends" page, viewable after the Battle of the Gardens event on the Study Panel in the 2F classroom.