Crisis Level

Crisis Level is a hidden mechanic in Final Fantasy VIII used to determine how often a character's Limit Break will appear, as well as their damage outputs and additional statuses. The Crisis Level is invisible to the player, but is used in the game's coding to determine Limit Break outcomes. Crisis Level has no effect on the chance to summon Odin.
Crisis Level increases when a character is in HP Critical status (their current HP is below 25% of their max HP), while Seifer only requires less 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:
:HPMod = 2500 \times CurrentHP / MaxHP
:DeathBonus = DeadCharacters \times 200 + 1600
:StatusBonus = StatusSum \times 10
:RandomMod = [0..255] + 160
:LimitLevel = (StatusBonus + DeathBonus - HPMod) / RandomMod
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:
:HPMod = 1000 \times CurrentHP / MaxHP
Each status effect has a certain value. The StatusSum variable is the sum of all statuses in effect.
*200 Aura
*15 Slow
*30 Poison/Darkness/Silence/Petrifying
*45 Doom
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:
Limit Level	Crisis Level
4 or lower 	0
5 	1
6 	2
7 	3
8 or higher	4
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 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, it risks the character being KO'd.
Crisis Level does not 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===
The Crisis Level affects the number of hits in Squall's Renzokuken and the chance to perform a finishing blow.
Crisis Level	Renzokuken Hits
1 	4
2 	5
3 	6
4 	7
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 differs from the regular Renzokuken sequence.
After the Renzokuken sequence, there is a chance to perform a finishing blow:
:Chance \% = (CL \times 60 + 1) / 256 \times 100
Meaning there is a (Crisis~Level \times ~23.4\%) chance to perform a finishing blow. Which finishing blow is used is unaffected by Crisis Level, but rather has a fixed chance of occurring depending on which weapon Squall has equipped.
===Rinoa===
The Limit Break used with Combine varies depending on Rinoa's Crisis Level. Angelo will use the highest ability she has access to as per the current Crisis Level.
*Crisis Level 1: Angelo Cannon
*Crisis Level 2: Angelo Strike
*Crisis Level 3: Invincible Moon
*Crisis Level 4: Wishing Star
===Zell===
The amount of time Zell has in his Limit Break Duel varies depending on his Crisis Level:
*Crisis Level 1: 4.66 seconds (Always starts with Punch Rush)
*Crisis Level 2: 6.66 seconds (Always starts with Punch Rush)
*Crisis Level 3: 9.33 seconds (Always starts with Booya)
*Crisis Level 4: 12 seconds (Always starts with Booya)
===Selphie===
The higher the Crisis Level Selphie is in, the more rare spells appear in her Slot and she gets three castings per spell 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 Slot will select a high level spellset.
:See here for a more thorough explanation on Selphie's Slot mechanics
===Irvine===
The higher the Crisis Level Irvine is in, the more time he has to fire off Shots.
*Crisis Level 1: 8 seconds 
*Crisis Level 2: 12 seconds
*Crisis Level 3: 20 seconds
*Crisis Level 4: 26.6 seconds
===Quistis===
Crisis Level is a big 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:
Spell 	Attack Power 	Effect
Laser Eye 	Crisis Lv 1: 40Crisis Lv 2: 48Crisis Lv 3: 58Crisis Lv 4: 64 	Non-elemental damage to one enemy.
Ultra Waves 	Crisis Lv 1: 27Crisis Lv 2: 33Crisis Lv 3: 40Crisis Lv 4: 48 	Non-elemental damage to all enemies.
Electrocute 	Crisis Lv 1: 30Crisis Lv 2: 36Crisis Lv 3: 44Crisis Lv 4: 50 	Lightning-elemental damage to all enemies.
Lv? Death 	Crisis Lv 1: LV4 DeathCrisis Lv 2: LV3 DeathCrisis Lv 3: LV2 DeathCrisis Lv 4: LV1 Death 	Inflicts Instant Death on all enemies whose levels are are multiple of X. X is equal to the current LV of the Crisis Level Death spell.
Degenerator 	— 	Instantly kills enemy, but fails on Grat, Vysage, Lefty, Righty, Cactuar, Tonberry, Esthar Soldier (Terminator), UFO?, PuPu and most bosses.
Aquabreath 	Crisis Lv 1: 50Crisis Lv 2: 70Crisis Lv 3: 80Crisis Lv 4: 100 	Water-elemental damage to all enemies.
Micro Missile 	Crisis Lv 1: 50% HPCrisis Lv 2: 75% HPCrisis Lv 3: 87.5% HPCrisis Lv 4: 93.75% HP 	Inflicts gravity-elemental damage on one enemy.
Acid 	Crisis Lv 1: 30Crisis Lv 2: 38Crisis Lv 3: 44Crisis Lv 4: 52 	Crisis Lv 1: PoisonCrisis Lv 2: Poison, DarknessCrisis Lv 3: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Vit 0Crisis Lv 4: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Vit 0, Petrify
Gatling Gun 	Crisis Lv 1: 60Crisis Lv 2: 80Crisis Lv 3: 100Crisis Lv 4: 120 	Non-elemental damage to one enemy. Also is the only physical spell in Quistis's arsenal.
Fire Breath 	Crisis Lv 1: 70Crisis Lv 2: 90Crisis Lv 3: 100Crisis Lv 4: 120 	Fire-elemental damage to all enemies.
Bad Breath 	Crisis Lv 1: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Confuse, SlowCrisis Lv 2: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Confuse, Slow, Berserk, Stop, PetrifyingCrisis Lv 3: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Confuse, Slow, Berserk, Stop, Petrifying, Petrify, ZombieCrisis Lv 4: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Confuse, Slow, Berserk, Stop, Petrifying, Petrify, Zombie, Vit 0, Doom, Death	Various negative status effects on all enemies.
White Wind 	— 	Restores HP equal to Quistis's Max HP - Current HP.
Homing Laser 	Crisis Lv 1: 100Crisis Lv 2: 150Crisis Lv 3: 200Crisis Lv 4: 250 	Non-elemental damage to one enemy.
Mighty Guard 	Crisis Lv 1: Protect, ShellCrisis Lv 2: Protect, Shell, Regen, Float, HasteCrisis Lv 3: Protect, Shell, Regen, Float, Haste, AuraCrisis Lv 4: Protect, Shell, Regen, Float, Haste, Aura 	Various positive status effects on all party members.
Ray-Bomb 	Crisis Lv 1: 80Crisis Lv 2: 90Crisis Lv 3: 100Crisis Lv 4: 110 	Non-elemental damage to all enemies.
Shockwave Pulsar	Crisis Lv 1: 150Crisis Lv 2: 200Crisis Lv 3: 200Crisis Lv 4: 250 	Non-elemental damage to all enemies. This spell ignores 9,999 damage limit, dealing up to ~34,000 HP damage.
==External links==
*Absolute Steve's Final Fantasy VIII Walkthrough on GameFAQs
*Google Doc of damage tables
==Citations==
Category:Gameplay in Final Fantasy VIII