Scan enemy's HP and weakness
Description
Scan is an indirect magic spell in Final Fantasy VIII that reveals information about the target, including stats and weaknesses. It can be junctioned to boost stats, though it is the poorest spell for this purpose. The player can scan both enemies and party members.
Obtained[]
Scan is one of the few spells that cannot be refined from items and must be drawn; the only others being Float and Apocalypse. There are few enemies from which Scan can be drawn, who are found near the start of the game.
The player can also get one Scan spell from Zell's "love quest" if they give Beef & Blue as the answers to a "survey" held by girls at the library, and later return for the results.
Stats[]
Use[]
Scan displays the target's stats and elemental affinities, and can be used on both enemies and party members. Abbreviations for Defense, Intelligence, and Dexterity are displayed instead of Vitality, Magic, and Speed. If an enemy's HP exceeds 99,999, its HP is displayed as ????? until it falls below 99,999; HP will also be hidden when scanning Fastitocalon-F, Fastitocalon, Adel, Sorceress A/B/C, Griever, Ultimecia (Griever form), Helix, and Ultimecia (final boss). Scan will also display a brief description of the target, though some enemies have slightly misleading descriptions, such as Turtapod's inability to use magic.
There are two animations for Scan that can be altered in the config section of the menu. For the full Scan animation, targets can be rotated 360 degrees, except for Selphie (likely for decency reasons).
Scan is cast either with the Magic command or with Rinoa's Limit Break Angel Wing. Casting Scan in battle does not affect GF compatibility.
Blobra scanned.
Because enemies in Final Fantasy VIII have variable HP based on the player's level, and because the junction system allows the player to take advantage of enemies' elemental weaknesses, Scan can be useful when cast as a spell in many instances. The spell only provides very minor boosts to stats when junctioned, meaning it is better used for casting with Magic than for junctioning to stats. Blobras spawn with a random elemental weakness, resisting everything else, making Scan especially useful against them. Thus, it can be a good ides to stock up on Scans in the starting area before moving on to Timber, as enemies who have Scan do not appear much later on.
Tri-Point uses this spell. The spell serves no functional purpose by itself, but it indicates to the player whom Tri-Point will target with Onrush.
FINAL FANTASY VIII - DUMMY HIDDEN MESSAGE (ITALIAN VERSION)-0
The Dummy enemy (used for debugging) has a Scan description in the Italian version, reading "This translation is killing me, it's 2AM, I'm Tired!!!".