Crisis Level Crisis Level is a hidden condition in " Final Fantasy VIII " used to determine how often a character ' s Limit Break will appear , as well as different damage outputs , additional statuses , and more options for the Limit Breaks . The Crisis Level is invisible to the player , but is used in the game ' s coding to determine the outcomes of the characters ' Limit Breaks , as well as the chances for the summon Odin ' s appearance . Crisis Level is achieved by having a character in HP Critical status ( having a character ' s HP lower than 32 % of their max HP , though for Seifer , he must be lower than 84 % of his max HP ) . There are four levels of Crisis Level , and aside from current HP , various statuses also factor into determining what a character ' s Crisis Level is . Crisis Level . How to calculate a character ' s Limit Level : If ( LimitLevel > 4 ) Limit Break can be used . This is recalculated every time a character ' s turn comes up , so , assuming it is possible for a character to use Limit Break , the player can repeatedly skip the character ' s turn until the command appears . Seifer is a temporary character and uses a different HPMod : Each status effect has a certain value . The StatusSum variable is the sum of all statuses in effect . By being under the effects of Aura , the character can easily reach the limit without being in critical health . The Limit Level is used to determine the Crisis Level that affects the move ' s potential strength . Limit Level to Crisis Level conversion : A higher Crisis Level means the character ' s Limit Break is in some way enhanced . A character needs at least Crisis Level 1 to use a Limit Break . It is easy to reach the highest Crisis Level with the Aura spell , as a character only needs to be at 11 . 2 % of their maximum HP and under Aura status to reach Crisis Level 4 100 % of the time . Without Aura , a character with 10 % HP has only a 3 % chance to get Crisis Level 4 . While this is effective , in the end it is a risky decision as the character can easily be KO ' d . Crisis Level doesn ' t affect temporary characters ' ( Seifer , Laguna , Kiros , Ward , Edea ) Limit Breaks ' strength ; their Limit Breaks use a fixed damage calculation instead . The following lists the differences in each character ' s Limit Break : Squall Leonhart . The Crisis Level affects the number of hits in Squall ' s Renzokuken and the chance to perform a finishing blow . In addition , there is a 50 % chance to perform an additional Renzokuken hit at the end , making the maximum possible amount of hits eight . Certain enemies , such as Jumbo Cactuar and Ultima Weapon , have special Renzokuken sequences that are unaffected by Crisis Level . During a special Renzokuken sequence the triggers ' timing is different from the regular Renzokuken sequence . After the Renzokuken sequence there ' s a chance to perform a finishing blow : Meaning , there ' s a ( CrisisLevel * ~ 23 . 4 % ) chance to perform a finishing blow . Which finishing blow is used is not affected by Crisis Level , but rather has a fixed chance of occurring depending on which weapon Squall has equipped . Rinoa Heartilly . The Limit Break used with Combine varies depending on Rinoa ' s Crisis Level . If Rinoa has not yet learned an ability on the list , it will automatically go to the next highest ability . For example , to increase the chance of getting Wishing Star , Rinoa should not learn Angelo Strike or Invincible Moon . Zell Dincht . The amount of time Zell has in his Limit Break Duel varies on his Crisis Level : Selphie Tilmitt . The higher the Crisis Level Selphie is in , the more rare spells appear in her Slots and the amount of spell castings will become three castings more often . The game data contains different spellsets which are graded to higher level and lower level spellsets . The spells in the higher sets are more powerful . The Crisis Level affects the chance Selphie ' s Slots will select a high level spellset . Irvine Kinneas . The higher the Crisis Level Irvine is in , the more time Irvine has to fire off Shots . Quistis Trepe . Crisis Level is the biggest factor for Quistis ' s Limit Breaks , as several of the more powerful spells she has will only be potent if she is at Crisis Level 4 . Below is the list of Blue Magic and their corresponding effects with Crisis Level : External links . Absolute Steve ' s " Final Fantasy VIII " Walkthrough on GameFAQs