Remove abnormal status
Description
Treatment is a command ability in Final Fantasy VIII used to cleanse a target of all status abnormalities besides Death. It can be used instead of Esuna spells or Remedy items without needing to expend resources, but takes up an ability slot.
Obtained[]
Treatment is learned by the GF Siren for 100 AP after she reaches Level 12. Siren is drawn from Elvoret during the Siege of Dollet mission. If the player misses drawing Siren from Elvoret, they get another chance in the final dungeon from Tri-Point.
Treatment is also taught to any GF with the Med Kit item, refined from 100 Dragon Fang with Eden's GFAbl Med-RF ability.
Mechanics[]
Treatment cleanses its target from all status abnormalities bar Death, healing Poison, Petrify, Darkness, Silence, Berserk, Zombie, Sleep, Slow, Stop, Doom, Petrifying, Confuse, Curse, and Vit 0.
If the character who has the Treatment command gets confused, they will never use Treatment in this state.
Use[]
Treatment is good to have to treat any status ailments the party may catch, as it does not take any resources to use. Treatment heals Doom whereas Esuna does not, but the player is likely to only ever catch Doom status in the first boss of the final boss gauntlet.
Treatment is especially useful in battles against Malboros, whose Bad Breath inflicts almost every status ailment to the whole party, easily crippling the player altogether if they lack robust status resistances. The character with Treatment still needs to be sober enough to use it, and so needs to be protected against Sleep, Berserk, and Confuse. To use Treatment to heal petrification, the user needs to also be protected against Petrify, but Malboro uses Petrifying (countdown to petrification) instead. However, summoning Cerberus and using Esuna x3 might be even more preferable.
Treatment is good for healing Curse, a status which prevents the party from using their Limit Breaks, making it useful to have in the boss of the Battle of the Gardens and the final boss gauntlet.
Other ways to heal all statuses are with Remedy+, Elixir, and Megalixir items, and Selphie's Full-cure, however, Elixir, Megalixir, and Full-cure would kill a character afflicted with Zombie as the healing effect precedes the status restoration. The Item command can be considered the superior and more versatile command over Treatment even if using Remedies and others status heal items takes up resources, as gil is abundant in Final Fantasy VIII and there are not many other things to buy in the game besides consumable items.