Deep Sea Research Center

The Deep Sea Research Center, also known as Battleship Island, is a hidden island located far out in the middle of the ocean, in the south-west corner of the world map of Final Fantasy VIII. It is an abandoned, half-sunken laboratory formerly used to research draw effects, though other less commonly known research may have been going on.
The area can be found as early as disc 2 when Balamb Garden becomes mobile, but it cannot be entered. The party must wait until gaining access to Ragnarok to land on top of the structure to get inside. It remains accessible during the endgame.
When calculating the facility's enemies' levels, the game uses the normal formula, but adds 15 levels.
==Story==
The island is a manmade mobile facility said to have been constructed for marine research. In present time it lays abandoned, not marked on any maps. If Zell is in the party, he will tell about the place's history when the SeeDs come onboard. Known as "Battleship Island", researchers working at this facility were attempting to develop another draw system, gathering different energy and materials for their study. They were in pursuit of a large draw point said to be found somewhere on the planet. It is said their research used Guardian Forces for their experiments. It can be deduced the researchers found what they were looking for, and left fearing the power they had found, as the place appears to have been sealed and then purposefully abandoned.
The facility is infested with monsters. It houses a blue pulsing core where the party can find the Guardian Force Bahamut. Traversing to the bottom of the facility lets the party find the most powerful Guardian Force in the world, within a powerful monster that seems to have been sealed away by the researchers. After the SeeDs destroy the monster, the facility remains clear of monsters.
==Geography==
The Research Center is located far from any land mass out in the vastness of the sea in the south-western corner of the map. The corner of the map is a recurring location for secret locations in the Final Fantasy games.
The structure is a mostly-sunken dilapidated building now covered in foliage. It has a large helipad visible on the top, and a small, wooden bridge leading to the Research Center inside where a few of the rooms are still intact. The upper floors are badly damaged with debris throughout, but the lower floors are constructed of metal and filled with machinery. The bottom floors are made of stone. Many of the rooms in the Research Center are circular, centered around a focal point at the middle.
===Blue light===
The first room is circular and dome-like, centered around a large blue light in a pillar in the middle. Ivy grows over much of this room, including over the light itself. When the blue light at the core spins, several holographic screens circle it.
The blue light in the middle warns visitors with a message "blue light leads to death". Those who reach the center and answer the mysterious voice's questions will engage in two separate battles with a Ruby Dragon before fighting Bahamut to claim him as a Guardian Force. Moving while the light is spinning will start a monster encounter, meaning the player should approach only when the light is not moving.
===Cavern===
After defeating Bahamut, a hole appears on the ground where the core was. This leaves a large amount of ivy hanging from the ceiling, with a hole in the ceiling letting light through, as well as a lot of debris.
The player cannot initially descend, but if they leave the Deep Sea Research Center and initiate a conversation with a character or NPC (such as talking to party members inside the Ragnarok), a save point will appear and the player can advance down the hole by climbing down the ivy.
===Floors===
After defeating Bahamut the party can descend deeper into the facility by climbing down the ivy through an opening in the ceiling to the first of five floors above the excavation site. The floors in this part of the Research Center are nearly identical. They are entirely metal, with machinery, pressure pipes, and valves, and not so much visible debris. The rooms have glass walls with a vision out to the depths of the sea, with fish swimming near the facility. Trap doors, opened with terminals around the rooms, lead to staircases down to lower floors. On the final floor, in place of a trapdoor is an elevator.
The player can access the next floor by expending units of steam pressure. As the player advances deeper in the complex, different fish can be seen through the windows.
Level 2 has a Dispel draw point. Level 3 has a steam room, which recharges 7 units of steam pressure.
===Steam room===
The steam room is an enclosed, circular room centered around a steam machine with a large number of pressure pipes connected to it, and a valve. To the right, near the back, is a terminal with an orange screen from where the steam pressure units are controlled.
If the player expends the correct amount of steam in each floor they open access to the steam room on level 3 where they can get more steam pressure units.
The room contains an Esuna draw point adjacent to the machine at the center.
===Elevator room===
The elevator room is the final room before reaching the excavation site, and is a circular room with a large machine in the center and a door on the left to the site.
The door to the excavation site takes four pressure units to open, or the player may ask Zell to open it without using any units (if he is in the party). Using Zell awakens the monsters in the lower parts of the facility, making the battles down there frequent and unavoidable. The player needs to conserve 10 units to have enough to fight Ultima Weapon at the bottom.
===Excavation site===
The excavation site is a set of wider, eroded, stone ruins around a pit at the center, with stairs leading along its walls around the outside of the pit, where damaged buildings can be seen. The ruins resemble those seen in the Centra continent, with similar Greek architecture. Many of the floors have tile patterns, and some areas have statues. The site is made of five areas.
The first area contains a save point, the third contains a hidden Triple draw point, and the fifth contains a hidden Ultima draw point.
===Bottom floor===
The bottom floor of the facility has a pool of water with the metal pipe from the depths leading down into it. Small, worn away pillars with bright blue crystals are seen around the stone floor. A small machine, presumably controlling the pipe, is presumably connected to the Research Center above. It is reached by a set of stairs on the right.
The bottom floor has a hidden save point and a device that requires the use of 10 steam pressure units to summon Ultima Weapon.
==Quests==
===Obtaining Bahamut===
There is a flashing blue pillar in the middle of the first room. If the core is in the middle of a pulse and the party moves, they enter a random battle. When the party approaches the core, a voice asks them a question (So you wish to challenge me?). If answered correctly (It's not our will to fight), the party will fight a Ruby Dragon, and if the party wins, the next question (Begging me for mercy?) is asked, and the correct answer is "Never".
If the party answers correctly they will fight another Ruby Dragon (this battle is an unavoidable back attack), but if any are answered incorrectly the party will be warped back to the entrance and they will have to start over again. The player can bring a low health Quistis and use her Degenerator Limit Break to defeat the Ruby Dragons easily.
The trick is that on the final question (Damned imbeciles. Why do you wish to fight?), there is a hidden answer, below the main two (revealed to be "It's our nature"). If the hidden option is selected, Squall and the party will fight the Guardian Force Bahamut.
===Deep Sea Deposit===
When Bahamut is defeated, the blue core will be destroyed. If the party leaves the area, talks to an NPC or party member, and returns, the site allows access to the facility's lower levels via a vine structure. There are a series of floors leading down to the excavation site, called the "Deep Sea Deposit" . Squall must open up each door using units of steam pressure, while conserving 10 units for the final lock at the bottom of the excavation site.
Buried underneath the rubble on level 1 is a terminal. Examining it gives the player 20 pressure units. 4 units are spent opening the door to level 2. Squall can return here at any time to reset the steam levels.
Levels 3-5 are divided into three sectors each. The sector the player is in is determined by how many units they spent to open the door leading into the level, indicated by one of three yellow lights near the door lighting up. Sectors 1/4/7 are associated with the highest cost (4 units), 2/5/8 by the medium cost cost (2 units), and 3/6/9 by the lowest cost (1 unit). Once in a sector, the player cannot switch to a higher cost sector, but can switch to a lower cost sector. If one were to spend 4 units on level 2→3, they would be in sector 1 and would have access to sectors 4, 5, and 6 for level 4. But if 2 units were spent there, they would be in sector 2 and would only have access to sectors 5 and 6.
The only difference between the sectors is that the player needs to spend 2 units on level 2 to access the steam room on level 3, sector 2. Other than that, they can use 1 unit to proceed all the way to the bottom. The steam room requires 4 units to unlock, but contained within is a terminal that supplies the party with 7 units.
On level 6, 4 units must be used to access the excavation site. If there are 10-13 units left and Zell is in the party, he'll offer to open the door on his own, which won't require the consumption of any units. Doing so is necessary to fight Ultima Weapon without accessing the steam room. The player only gets one chance to have Zell open the door on the last floor. If they choose to not let him open it, he will never offer to open it again.
Should Zell open the final door, each room from that point towards the bottom floor will have three forced battles within them that are triggered when stepping in specific spots. Neither Enc-None nor the Remastered version's "turn random encounters off" cheat can prevent these scripted battles, though they can still stop the actual random battles in the area. The scripted enemies vary depending on the room; Tri-Faces are in the first, Grendels and Imps are in the second, Behemoths are in the third, Ruby Dragons are in the fourth, and Iron Giants are in the fifth. The Tri-Faces are a good source of Curse Spikes, 100 of which can be turned into a Dark Matter, an item that teaches Quistis Shockwave Pulsar, her most powerful Blue Magic. Dark Matters can also be refined into 100 Ultima spells.
When the party reaches the bottom, Squall will use the last of his pressure units. After a pause, sounds emanate from above and the air gets heavy. The party is thrust into a battle against Ultima Weapon, the second most powerful opponent in the game (behind Omega Weapon). Ultima Weapon carries the strongest GF, Eden. The player can either mug a Three Stars from it, or defeat it without mugging to get 100 Ultima Stones. Upon defeating it, the enemy encounters in the facility cease, and the steam levels can no longer be reset.
==Musical themes==
The Deep Sea Research Center's theme is "Junction". "Only a Plank Between One and Perdition" plays during the boss battles.
==Other appearances==
===Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade===
==Behind the scenes==
Battleship Island (Gunkanjima in Japanese, alternately called Hashima) is a small island near Nagasaki, Japan, famous for the abandoned city of Hashima built around a coal mine that went into decline after Japanese power plants switched to using petroleum. Both the real Battleship Island and the one in Final Fantasy VIII house ruined structures.
==Gallery==
;Artwork
Deep Sea Research Center FFVIII Art 1.jpg|Early concept art of the island.
Deep Sea Research Center FF8 Art.jpg|Concept art of the island.
8b-deep_see_research_center.jpg|Concept art of the island.
Deep Sea Research Center FFVIII Art 2.jpg|Concept art of one of the floors.
Deep Sea Research Center FFVIII Art 3.jpg|Concept art of the bottom of the elevator.
;Screenshots
First underwater floor of Deep Sea Research Center from FFVIII R.png|First underwater floor.
Deep Sea Research Center Steam Room control from FFVIII R.png|Steam Room controls.
de:Forschungsinsel
it:Isola di ricerca sottomarina
Category:Locations in Final Fantasy VIII
Category:Islands