Siege of Dollet The Siege of Dollet is a military engagement between Galbadia and the Duchy of Dollet in " Final Fantasy VIII " . The Dollet Army is reinforced by the SeeD Elite Mercenary Force , responding to a request for aid by the Dollet Parliament after a series of setbacks . Galbadia ' s forces attacked Dollet for its radio tower , the only one left in the world capable of broadcasting radio signals since the radio blackout that started 17 years ago . This event was featured as the main event of the game ' s PlayStation demo . Prelude . Since the beginning of the Sorceress War , President Deling has been uniting the continent of Galbadia under one flag . This presented a united front during the war against Esthar , but Deling ' s methods usually meant that a country , region or town was integrated by force , the chief example being Timber . Battlefield . The Siege of Dollet is fought within and around the town of Dollet , situated within the Hasberry Valley in the Galbadian Continent on the edge of the ocean . The battle continues into the Hasberry Mountains until the Galbadian Army ' s retreat . Battle . The Dollet Army put up a defense against the Galbadian assault , but was outmatched by the larger and more powerful Galbadian army . 49 hours into the battle the Dollet defense abandoned their positions in the inner city and withdrew to the mountains overlooking the city to reorganize their forces . 54 hours into the battle Dollet Parliament voted to hire the mercenary soldiers of SeeD to assist . 72 hours into the battle SeeD forces mobilize assault gunboats from Balamb Town ; transporting SeeD , SeeD cadets and their SeeD tutors to Lapin Beach as part of their initial beach assault . With most of the Galbadian Army in the surrounding mountains in pursuit of the recuperating Dollet Army , the cadets ' objective is to eliminate opposition in the city and secure their allocated areas , while the SeeD members prevent the remaining Galbadian units from counter - attacking . As a part of their final exams SeeD cadets are organized into squads of three . Selphie Tilmitt is part of the intelligence squad , Squad A , initially charged with finding and destroying the Galbadian HD cable the army is using for communication . Squall Leonhart , Seifer Almasy , and Zell Dincht form Squad B with Seifer as squad leader tasked with eliminating resistance within the Central Square and guarding it from counter - attacks . They arrive at Dollet via the SeeD Assault Boat s during the beach assault and proceed to their designated area where Seifer loses patience and decides to follow a group of Galbadian Soldiers heading toward the Dollet radio tower . At the base of the tower Seifer runs off , attempting to outscore his squad by eliminating more soldiers than the others . A messenger from Squad A , Selphie Tilmitt , arrives charged with delivering new orders to the Squad B leader . Selphie and the remaining members of Squad B climb the radio tower to find the Galbadian soldiers Biggs and Wedge , activating the antenna . A monster , an Elvoret that had been roosting in the tower , forces the Galbadian soldiers aside but is defeated by the SeeD cadets . Selphie delivers a withdrawal order to Seifer : the cadets are to be back at the beach by 19 : 00 hours ( 7 PM ) . The team realizes they have mere a 30 minutes to get back to the landing craft and Seifer again abandons his squadmates ( taking an every - man - for - himself approach ) , leaving Squall with ensuring that Zell , Selphie , and himself make it back on time . As they leave , Biggs activates the Galbadian X - ATM092 Assault Mech that attacks the party . As their orders are to fall back , the priority is not to fight ; as such they engage the mech only when they have to and while fleeing , Squall ensures the other squads are evacuated from the mech ' s path . The remaining SeeD cadet on the battlefield , Squall , rushes down the beach with the mech on his heels that is finally destroyed when it comes within range of a SeeD gunboat ' s machine gun turret , manned by SeeD instructor Quistis Trepe , as the boat begins withdrawing from the beach with Squall onboard . Aftermath . The engagement serves as the final test for SeeD cadets and Squall Leonhart , Selphie Tilmitt , Zell Dincht , and Nida graduate into SeeD . Seifer fails for disobeying orders ( by leaving the square to pursue the Galbadians to the radio tower ) and gross dereliction of duty ( for abandoning his squad twice ) . Galbadia withdraws from the city but soldiers remain stationed at the mountain , Galbadia having reached an agreement with the Dollet Parliament that the radio tower would stay activated . This ensures Galbadian President Deling ' s live television broadcast , the first generated since the end of the Sorceress War , would reach as far as possible . Although both sides can be said to have obtained their victory conditions , the outcome of the brief war isn ' t celebrated by the locals , and an old man in the city center considers another Galbadian assault on the duchy inevitable . Seifer is also bitter , believing he could have been a hero if he had time to destroy the radio tower , securing SeeD a clear victory . Musical themes . " The Landing " plays during the arrival and landing of the SeeD Assault Boats upon the Dollet beach . The track replaced another that was originally meant to accompany the Siege of Dollet , titled simply " Raid on Dollet " . The track is on the official demo for " Final Fantasy VIII " , but was dummied out and replaced with " The Landing " for the final game . The track is still present on the game discs , accessible from the Debug Rooms . It sounds slightly higher quality in the final game , suggesting it was improved upon before it was left out . This may have been done because the track was too similar to the theme song of the then - recent film " " .