[Shotgunnova]

Well, I wrote this a few years back, but it should be useful for people who like to scrape together the best 'stuff' at the earliest possible moment.

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HOW TO GET THE LIONHEART WEAPON ON DISC ONE:

[1] - Start a new game. Name Squall and wait until you have full control of him in Quistis' class. Log-on to the computer and get your GFs (Guardian Forces) which will be used quite a lot. Name them, then exit.

[2] - Meet Quistis at the front gate, let her join your party, then exit to the world map. Junction Quezacotl to Squall and Shiva to Quistis and lock the skills of your choice (preferably one with Item).

[3] - Quezacotl learns a GF ability called Card which is an imperative skill to learn. It costs 40 AP to learn and since you probably won't want to fight T-Rexaurs at the moment, go to the beach and fight the second-best AP-givers, Fasticalon-Fs. Have Shiva learn I-Mag RF while you learn Card so you can change the Fish Fins that the enemy drops into Water, which can be junctioned to HP if you need a boost. Either way, learn Card.

[4] - Now that Quezacotl has learned Card, the skill Card Mod is unlocked. It costs 70 AP, so go lay it on those Fasticalon-Fs. After Card Mod is learned, you won't need to learn anymore high-class skills for a long time (but be prepared).

[5] - Hopefully you drew Blizzard magic from those Fasticalon-Fs, because you might need some when you fight the next target, Ifrit. He's weak against ice but since his HP isn't that great, he can be brought down without them. Go to the Fire Cavern (beyond the forest near Balamb Garden) and enter. Quistis'll talk to you about junctioning, but ignore with Triangle if you already know what she's talking about. Go up to the Garden faculty, select your time, and race through to fight Ifrit (straight forward, pretty much). When you get to him, have Quistis act as healer and attack if everyone's HP is decent. Once defeated, he'll give you the Ifrit Card and some other junk, but will be the biggest help. Junction it to Squall and go back to the beach to level up Ifrit. At level ten, Ifrit will learn Ammo-RF.

[6] - The components that are needed to create a Lionheart are as follows:

01 Adamantine
04 Dragon Fangs
12 Pulse Ammo

You're out of luck at the moment as far as most of these go, but getting a headstart on the Pulse Ammo can be done right away. Your objective is to find Elnoyle cards which can be refined into one Energy Crystal, and, through Ammo-RF, can be made into ten Pulse Ammo. If you're paying attention, you know that you need twelve Pulse Ammo, so yes, you need to find twenty Elnoyle cards. Don't despair though; Disc 1 is fairly lengthy and you'll have all the time you need.

[7] - Continue with this step when you get back from the SeeD mission. The only problem is you need to be below level 28, or, just for the sake of this challenge, be around level 25. Monsters level up with your characters, and due to that, if you're a high enough level, their dropped items change.

T-Rexaurs that are level whose levels are somewhere in the twenties will drop Dragon Fangs which are needed for the Lionheart. You can find them in the forests outside Balamb and inside the Training Center. Only level twenty-ish T-Rexaurs drop them, however, so that's the reason why you need to keep your level down. Here's my advice for when you fight one:

When you finally find the monster, you may notice they are susceptible to the Blind status effect. Junction 100 of them (for safety) to Squall's weapon (Grats in the T-Center carry the magic). Now, blinded, the monster will attack you and hopefully miss a lot. Quistis should act like the healer again and heal Squall (the attacker) when applicable, and use Shiva otherwise, since they are also elementally-weak to Ice. A low-leveled T-Rexaur won't have that much HP, but it will still be around 10000 or so, so you'll need to stock up on items, magic, etc.

If you're lucky, you can get four Dragon Fangs in one drop (like me) but if you go up a level and get nothing, it's your decision to restart and find another one or keep going and hope that you'll get some more. Alternate save files are useful for this.

DRAGON FANGS OBTAINED!

[8] - Now, finding the cards. There are a few select people in Balamb Garden who will carry Elnoyle cards and other useful items. Dr. Kadowaki, for instance, will carry a nice repertoire of cards that you'll want to pick up and carries at you can win some Elnoyles from her. Also, in the back of the cafeteria, there are a bunch of loafers who are sitting at tables. At the right table, the guy in the back will carry some Elnoyles (as well as the Quistis player card) and some Elastoids, which can be made into Steel Pipes, a main component in other characters' weapons (and some of Squall's lower-leveled ones).

For a checklist, these are some of the cards you'll want to get before you even attempt to take the train to Timber. Leaving Balamb Island is the turning point for the story, and if you're missing the Dragon Fangs, you'll have to restart. They're one of the items unable to be obtained through card-modding. Anyway, the checklist:

04 - Dragon Fangs
?? - Elnoyle Cards (At least seven or eight, is good.)
01 - Ifrit Card
01 - Quistis Card
01 - Mini-Mog card (Win it from that kid who does laps in the Garden)

Hint: If you lose a Triple Triad battle, restart. Winning them back can take awhile.

Supposedly you can get Dragon Fangs in Roshfall Forest (the big forest near Timber) but as I've never fought one in the two hundred hours I've played FF8, I'm not going to advise you to try to get them then as I've never corroborated it.

[9] - If you think you're prepared to leave for Timber, get a ticket and board. Do the Laguna sequence and continue until you get onto the Forest Owl train. Duel Watts and get the Angelo Card (or whatever you named the dog), get the Pet Pals magazine in Rinoa's Room after the conference, then complete the Train Mission. There's nothing to do but follow the mandatory plot steps, so do so until you have access to the world map.

Now, the next part of the mission is getting the Adamantine item. They'll almost always come in pairs and drop the item at a low success rate, but to beat them you'll need a few things. First, draw some Berserk magic from the Wendigos in the forest and draw Blind and anything else you need from Vysages in the cavern to the left of timber (Vysages are hard, mind you, but give 12 AP!). Anyhow, make your way to Dollet, but don't enter. Save, and go to the beach and run around. This is one of the few places to fight Adamantoises, and they'll repeatedly cure themselves and blind your people unless you take the initiative and impair them first. Berserk, Blind, then kill. You can also draw Protect/Shell magic from them if you choose. Once dead, see if you've gotten the Adamantine. If not, repeat the above.

If you find this too hard, you can always Card Mod the Minotaur card that you can get later on for completing the Tomb of the Unknown King sidequest, but this is a much easier method and doesn't take away one of your best cards, either.

ADAMANTINE OBTAINED!

[10] - Now, to complete the Elnoyle cards. Depending on how much time you spent or wasted in Balamb Garden, you'll have that much less work to do now. You'll find most of the Elnoyle cards in Deling City, but I have won a few from some of the punks in Galbadia Garden. Noteworthy points of collection:

-The man dressed in black at the Deling Arcade
-The three kids in Galbadia Garden who stand by a podium (all have good cards)

They'll always have good cards, so keep trying them until you milk 'em of all their Elnoyles. Once you have twenty (or ten, if you already modified), modify them into Energy Crystals and use Ammo-RF.

PULSE AMMO OBTAINED!

There is a weapon shop in the Deling Arcade screen, across from the man in black, and there is also one in Timber if you want to drive that far. Anyhow, you've now got the Lionheart and the game has just become easier than it already was (which is saying a lot).