Quistis (Final Fantasy VIII party member)

Quistis is a playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. She is a Blue Mage who wields a whip in battle. Her Limit Break is Blue Magic, in which she casts enemy abilities learned by using special items on her in the inventory. Its strength lies in versatility, but she cannot reach the damage numbers party's heavy-hitters can dish out with their Limit Breaks. She is the first party member to join Squall and acts as a party leader once in the story. Her Triple Triad card is the first Level 10 card the player can get.
==Party member==
Quistis joins the party when the player first leaves Balamb Garden, and takes the player through a tutorial. She leaves the party when the player returns to the Garden after winning against Ifrit, but joins permanently after the events at the Timber TV Station. She is the party leader during a segment in Deling City with Zell and Selphie under her tutelage; the trio must venture through the Deling City Sewers, but this dungeon lacks a boss. During the Centra Excavation Site dream, Ward inherits Quistis's junctions and level.
As her Limit Break does not rival the damage numbers of the party's heavy-hitters, she may be more useful in a support role. She is a good candidate for casting Meltdown on enemies while the others attack and could take on a healer role, although in Final Fantasy VIII staying on low health is generally preferable to set up Limit Breaks. Quistis could be a good candidate for status-healing with a GF with ST-Def junctions, and stocks of Esuna/recovery items/Treatment command. She is useful for grinding where the player needs to dispatch many random encounters fast as she has a Limit Break that defeats most normal enemies instantly.
Her intro pose is to swing her whip before whipping the ground. Her victory pose is to stretch out her arms with her whip.
===Weapons===
Quistis wields a whip. Through upgrades via junk shops, she can come to wield variant models. Though not shown as part of her character model, it is thought that, when not in use, she wraps and stores the whip in a pouch behind her. Depending on the particular whip she uses, Quistis's weapons can augment her attack power and hit accuracy.
There are four whip models available:
*Chain Whip – Initial model. Described in Weapons Monthly, March Issue.
*Slaying Tail – Described in Weapons Monthly, May Issue.
*Red Scorpion – Described in Weapons Monthly, June Issue.
*Save the Queen– Described in Weapons Monthly, August Issue.
Upgrading Quistis's weapon is not a priority, as their strength boosts can be easily offset by junctions in STR-J. The characters whose weapons are worth deliberately upgrading by actively seeking out the ingredients are Squall for his Limit Breaks, and Selphie for her ultimate weapon's native 255% hit rate.
===Limit Break===
Blue Magic is Quistis's Limit Break and involves learning enemy abilities via special items obtained in various ways (winning a battle, finishing a subquest, modifying from cards, etc). Once an item is used on Quistis in the menu, she will learn the Blue Magic ability permanently. Blue Magic ranges from elemental and status attacks to support spells and strong non-elemental attacks, making her versatile. Teaching every Blue Magic spell to Quistis in the Steam version earns the Blue Magic Master achievement.
thumb|left|Quistis defeating an enemy instantly with Degenerator.
She is a great party member to have in random encounters for her ability to dispatch most normal foes instantly with her Degenerator Limit Break. She can also use her Micro Missiles to bring enemies to low health to set them up for carding/devouring.
Her damage output cannot compare to the other party members in boss battles, but she can take on a supportive role with her White Wind and Mighty Guard, and inflict status ailments on the boss with Acid and Bad Breath. Her downside is that to get most out of her, the player needs to look for the items that grant her Limit Breaks. Although many of them can be obtained from Triple Triad cards, her ultimate Limit Break, Shockwave Pulsar, requires one to grind for 100 Curse Spikes, and still does not compare to damage from Squall's Renzokuken, Zell's Duel, Irvine's Shot, or Rinoa's Angel Wing (with the right setup) or Wishing Star. The only character with lower damage output is Selphie, but her Slot does not require any grinding to be optimal.
===Stats===
The party's base stats are of lesser importance than in most other Final Fantasy games, as they can be nigh freely customized with the junction system. They can also be raised with Level Up Bonus abilities that some GFs have.
===Guardian Forces===
As Quistis is good for a utility role, Guardian Forces that grant buffs like Carbuncle or Cerberus may be useful on her. As almost all of her Limit Breaks are magical, she should equip a GF with Mag-J; the GFs that learn it naturally are Quezacotl, Siren, Diablos, Carbuncle, Leviathan, and Cerberus, but later on the player has a lot of freedom in customizing their GFs' abilities and Mag-J Scrolls are available from a shop. For a more utility role, she can also prefer GFs with status junctions: Siren, Carbuncle, and Cerberus.
The below values are the base compatibility values at the start of the game, but they are affected by actions Quistis takes in battle, and what compatibility items the player may use on her in the menu. However, the compatibility mechanic is minor and can be ignored.
GF 	Compatibility
Quezacotl	620
Shiva 	640
Ifrit 	570
Siren 	584
Brothers 	580
Diablos 	600
Carbuncle	640
Leviathan	570
Pandemona	560
Cerberus 	620
Alexander	540
Doomtrain	520
Bahamut 	510
Cactuar 	550
Tonberry 	520
Eden 	440
==Triple Triad==
===Card===
Quistis is a Level 10 Player Card in Triple Triad used for playing the minigame and for turning into 3 Samantha Souls with Quezacotl's Card Mod. It is available since the start of the game, as the card is held by the Trepies in the Balamb Garden classroom or cafeteria. Quistis is the first Level 10 Card the player can get.
===Challenger===
Quistis is the final challenger in the CC Group side event. She holds the rare Gilgamesh card. After being defeated in Squall's dorm room, she can be challenged on the Garden bridge. During the endgame, Quistis, along with the other CC members, can be challenged onboard the Ragnarok. To play her, the player must have Quistis in the party and head to the Airlock, and then talk to her there.
==Quests==
===CC Group===
As the King of Balamb Garden's Card Club, Quistis is the final challenger to face in the CC Group side event. To get her to challenge Squall, the player must defeat CC Heart and head to the infirmary and talk with Dr. Kadowaki. After she mentions the King, the player must return to Squall's room and take a nap. When he wakes up, there is a chance of Quistis standing in Squall's room, decked in her SeeD uniform, ready to challenge him. It might take numerous tries, but the player can sleep over and over until she appears. It doesn't matter if Squall has other people in his party at this time.
===Optional scenes with Quistis===
The Card Club is Quistis's main side quest, but she has couple other scenes as well. If Squall does not take Quezacotl and Shiva from the Study Panel when prompted and meets with Quistis on the Garden gates without them, she will reprimand him and give him the GFs. Quistis will later contribute an entry to Selphie's blog, viewable from the Study Panel. There is an idle student in Balamb Town harbor gazing out at the sea, whom Quistis will also reprimand for missing class if she is in the party when they speak to him. (He is actually a special Triple Triad player, as he plays without any rules.)
In Timber, if the player talks to a man on a railway bridge after the events there are over, and Quistis is in the party, he will give her a Potion. If Rinoa is also in the party, she takes precedence. When the party departs Galbadia Garden, Irvine pairs himself with Selphie and Rinoa, and if the player accepts the party set up, they get a scene with Zell protesting and Quistis displaying mock infatuation toward Squall.
If the player takes Quistis with Zell or Irvine back to Balamb Garden to warn them of the missile crisis, she will eventually come into Squall's dorm room offering the two to have tea and a chat. If the player takes Quistis to liberate Balamb Town, she will relate an embarrassing story about Zell when they visit his room. Quistis's post on Selphie's "My Friends" blog can be viewed on the Study Panel after liberating Balamb Town from Galbadia.
In Winhill, if Quistis in the party for the vase quest, there will be a scene with her at the mansion. In fact, either Quistis or Irvine is needed in the party to start the quest.
When the party has the Ragnarok and Selphie and Zell are in the player's party, Quistis will pilot the airship.
Category:Character gameplay in Final Fantasy VIII