Skip to content
Great Salt Lake
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered

Great Salt Lake

Learn how to effectively grind experience and GF levels in Final Fantasy VIII Remastered's Great Salt Lake using Edea as a guest character. Includes enemy locations and item farming.

By ··10 min read·Multi-source verified
1 reading this guide  

Learn how to effectively grind experience and GF levels in Final Fantasy VIII Remastered's Great Salt Lake using Edea as a guest character. Includes enemy locations and item farming.

The Great Salt Lake in Final Fantasy VIII Remastered offers a unique grinding opportunity, especially with Edea as a guest character. Since she won't permanently join your party, you can focus on leveling her up and junctioning GFs to her without affecting your main party's XP. This section details how to maximize your gains in this area.

Walkthrough
  1. 1
    Exit to the world map and head east to the Great Salt Lake.
  2. 2
    Navigate through the desolate area, following the tracks.
  3. 3
    On the first screen, traverse the massive skeleton by running up its skull and across its spine to the right.
  4. 4
    On the next screen, proceed right along the bottom to find a hidden Meteor draw point (requires Move/Find ability).
  5. 5
    Backtrack left and cross another spine to reach the subsequent screen.
  6. 6
    Find a Thundaga draw point here. Draw magic if needed.
  7. 7
    From the Thundaga draw point, head up and right, then jump down.
  8. 8
    Continue upwards to the next screen, which appears to be a dead-end.
  9. 9
    Exit this screen to the left, then proceed upwards to encounter enemies.

Boss Fight - Abadon:

Upon encountering Abadon, you'll be advised to use recovery magic or items to defeat it. Alternatively, you can treat it as a standard boss fight.

Abadon
Lv:1-34
HP: (Lv10)5,010
HP: (Lv20)10,010
HP: (Lv34)17,010
Weaknesses:Fire (200% damage), Holy (200% damage)
Resistances:Gravity (immune), Physical (50% damage)
Status Resistances:Immune to most status effects; Darkness 60% – Regen 50%
EXP:–
AP:40
Draw: (Lv1-19)Cure, Dispel, Esuna
Draw: (Lv20-29)Cura, Dispel, Esuna
Draw: (Lv30+)Curaga, Dispel, Esuna, Flare
Mug:Power Wrist
Drop:Flare Stone x10

Strategy:

  • Abadon is weak to Fire and Holy damage. Junctioning these magics to Elemental Attack is effective.
  • Physical attacks are less effective due to a 50% resistance.
  • Abadon can inflict Confuse, Blind, and Silence. It refrains from claw attacks while standing and Confuse while squatting.
  • You can steal a Power Wrist, which is more valuable than the Flare Stones it drops.
  • To defeat Abadon quickly, use recovery magic/items like X-Potions or the Recover command.
Tips for Grinding
  • Grind on the world map along Esthar's west coast. Near mountains, encounter Bite Bugs, Caterchipillars, Gaylas, and Glacial Eyes. Near plains, encounter Mesmerize and Malboro. Prioritize plains despite Malboro risk.
  • Use Tonberry's LV Up ability to increase enemy levels and XP gains.
  • Equip the Recover command for unlimited healing.
  • Mesmerize enemies, when leveled above 30 with LV Up, have a chance (~5%) to drop two Regen Rings each. These can be refined (L Mag-RF) into Full-Life spells, which are excellent for HP-J, Vit-J, and Spr-J, and provide +40% resistance to all elements.
  • Mesmerize Blades dropped by Mesmerize enemies can be refined (Recov Med-RF) into Mega-Potions (2 per blade). Mega-Potions can be sold for 5,000G each (or 7,500G with Sell-High).
  • Learn Tonberry's Haggle, Sell-High, Familiar, and Call Shop abilities for improved selling and shop interactions.
  • Save often, especially when grinding. If a Malboro appears, consider running, reloading, or preparing specific strategies.

100% Human-Written. AI Fact-Checked. Community Verified. Learn how AntMag verifies content