Refine Lightning/Wind Magic from an item.
Description
T Mag-RF (thunder magic refiner) is a menu ability in Final Fantasy VIII that allows the player to make lightning and wind magic spells from certain items. Making spells from items is generally much more convenient than drawing from enemies, and can let the player get high tier spells earlier than enemies would offer them.
Obtained[]
The Guardian Force Quezacotl learns T Mag-RF for 30 AP, unlocking Mid Mag-RF upon being mastered. Quezacotl is Squall's starter GF that he has since the beginning of the game (inspect the Study Panel at the classroom). If the player removes T Mag-RF with Amnesia Greens, there is no way to get it back.
Mechanics[]
Using T Mag-RF in the Ability menu enables the player to make spells from items currently in their possession and allocate the resultant spells to a party member who has space in their Magic inventory. Each party member has 32 slots for Magic, and can hold 100 spells of each type.
| Item | Refine Into |
|---|---|
| Coral Fragment | 1 = 20 Thundara |
| Dynamo Stone | 1 = 20 Thundaga |
| Magic Stone | 1 = 5 Thundara |
| M-Stone Piece | 1 = 5 Thunder |
| Shear Feather | 1 = 20 Aero |
| Windmill | 1 = 20 Tornado |
| Wizard Stone | 1 = 5 Thundaga |
Use[]
Setting T Mag-RF as the first ability Quezacotl learns is a good idea, as the mech boss in Siege of Dollet is weak to Lightning damage and the player could refine some higher tier spells for it, though this is not strictly necessary unless they are looking to defeat X-ATM092 altogether and not just disable it and run as the game directs. Destroying the mech nets a bonus to the player's SeeD exam and gives a lot of AP, but misses out on a FMV scene. If the player wanted to do this, they would need to grind some AP for Quezacotl to learn the abilities and play Triple Triad.
Early game means of getting items for T Mag-RF include playing cards: Creeps cards become Coral Fragments with Card Mod (also learned by Quezacotl), which turn into Thundara with T Mag-RF. Even better, Blitz cards become Dynamo Stones that turn into Thundaga.
The best early game use of T Mag-RF is perhaps making Tornado spells, an excellent spell for junctioning to stats, raising any of them substantially. To get Windmills for this use, the player can collect Abyss Worm cards in Triple Triad, and fight Abyss Worms on Dingo Desert in Galbadia Continent; the player can reach there when they get free roam access to the world map on the Galbadian continent. The party visits the region as part of the story after the events in D-District Prison.