Return to Balamb Garden

Navigate the Garden Crisis and MD Level in Final Fantasy VIII Remastered. This guide details enemy encounters, rewards, and boss strategies for returning to Balamb Garden.

The view now switches to Squall's party.

Garden Crisis

You'll begin at Balamb Garden's front gate. You can leave the Garden to visit Balamb Town, which is useful if you need to change Trade Rules with the Queen of Cards. This is your only chance for quite some time to do this, so take care of it if you can. Switch your Junctions to your active party, then head to the next screen. After the scene, keep going until you're stopped by a Faculty. Answer, "I don't get it," then kill off the Grat and Caterchipillar. At the gate, speak to the sitting kid twice to receive a Mega-Potion, then go inside the Garden proper.

If you were grinding on the beach at the beginning of the game, Squall might be at a high enough level for high-level versions of enemies to appear, which often carry high-level spells. Bomb especially is useful in this regard; high-level Bombs have both Firaga and Meltdown for you to Draw, the latter of which gives huge boosts to Vit and sets Vit0 when cast.

In the Garden's main hall, approach Fujin and Raijin for a scene. The Save Point is gone, and the elevator and directory board are inoperable, so you'll have to work your way around the Garden. Always help out or say you support Cid if asked. What follows is a list of fixed encounters and their rewards, going around the 1F circle clockwise. The rewards are given by someone in the area you just fought in.

Area	Monsters Fought	Speak To	Reward
Infirmary	Caterchipillar or Granaldo	Dr. Kadowaki	Elixir
Quad	Bomb, Glacial Eye or Nothing	Back-most male SeeD	X-Potion
Cafeteria	Bomb	2nd girl from left (speak twice)	Gysahl Greens
Dormitory	Caterchipillar	N/A	Access to bed/Save Point
Parking Lot	Grendel	Upper SeeD	Tent
Training Center	T-Rexaur	SeeD	Remedy
Library	Grat	Girl With Pigtails	Remedy/ Mega Phoenix

Zell Love Scene #4: If Zell is in your party, defeating the Library monster and speaking to the Girl With Pigtails will earn you a Mega Phoenix; otherwise, you'll just receive a Remedy. This counts towards the finale of the quest.

Once all these areas have been cleared, head back to the main hall. Ride the elevator and head for the end of the hallway for a scene. Next, ride the elevator again for yet another scene. Keep talking to Cid until he gives you a task, and now take the elevator to the MD Level.

MD Level

When the elevator stops, examine the control panel, then the floor panel, and climb down the ladder. In the hallway, examine the hatch, and again climb down.

Squall will mention to Junction Fire-elemental magic to Elem-Atk. This is a good idea, as everything down here except Buel (and sometimes Blobra) is weak against it. Run down the hall until you reach a ladder. Cross through this round room to see a valve-like object. You'll have to mash Square to open it, but it's impossible with just Squall. Another character will join you after Squall fails, and if you still can't do it, your third character will help out as well. Once it's open, return to the previous room and climb down yet another ladder, and follow the catwalk.

You'll emerge in an open area with a large column in the middle. Draw from the Full-Life Draw Point on the right side of the screen, then continue until you reach a screen with a ladder going up. Choose one of the top two options when prompted. After a scene, examine the control panel near where you entered this new area, then examine the ladder to go back down.

You'll now notice a flashing light towards the bottom of your screen. Examine it to open a gate and unblock access to yet another ladder going down. Climb down to the bottom, then use the Save Point. Flip the switch, then Junction your party. Enable Mug and keep those Fire Junctions. You can also Junction Sleep to ST-Atk, as well as Blind to ST-Def. Run towards the nearby doorway to see a pair of blobs jump out of the stratum.

Boss: 2x Oilboyle

Stats	Level 1-19	Level 20-29	Level 30-100
HP Range	2,136 - 15,630	2,136 - 15,630	2,136 - 15,630
Level Range	1-100	1-100	1-100
AP	10	10	10
Exp	40+10x	40+10x	40+10x
Draw List	Esuna, Blind, Cure, Confuse	Esuna, Blind, Cura, Confuse	Esuna, Curaga, Confuse, Dispel
Mug	4x Fuel	4x Fuel	4x Fuel (89.5%); 2x Orihalcon (10.5%)
Drop	8x Wizard Stone	8x Wizard Stone	8x Wizard Stone (89.5%); Orihalcon (5.9%); 2x Orihalcon (4.7%)
Card Drop	Nothing	Nothing	Nothing
LV Up/Down?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Vulnerable to Gravity?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Elemental Weaknesses	Fire	Fire	Fire