Winhill

Learn how to manipulate the Triple Triad card game rules in Winhill and Centra in Final Fantasy VIII Remastered to gain an advantage in acquiring rare cards.

Speaking of cards, before you leave Winhill you may want to consider manipulating their local rules. There won’t be an immediate payoff, but if you soften the rules in Winhill/Centra now, you’ll have a much easier time winning a rare card later.

Winhill and Centra have the same rules, Random and Same/Plus. You should understand how this works by now - challenge a player in Winhill to a game of cards while you have rules they don’t have (Open should suffice, but if you kept the Sudden Death rule from Fisherman’s Horizon, that’s a good one to use, too). If you do this they should offer to mix rules - opt to play a game with them, and when you get into the Triple Triad screen but before you actually start a match, quit and see if any rules spread or were abolished. If so, and it was something to your liking, exit to the world map and save, if not, reset and try again. If you keep getting unwanted results, try a different player, or play a few games of cards with anybody else and try again.

In this particular case you’ll want to enter Winhill via its western gate to arrive near the item shop, where you’ll find… two garden students? Talk to them to learn they’re dropouts who are nonetheless employed as mercenaries defending the town (can’t be any worse than Laguna), then challenge the lower one (the one nearer the exit to the world map) to a game of cards. At the very least, try to abolish the Random rule and spread Open, as Same/Plus can be endured, even if they’re not ideal. Once that’s done you should be done in Winhill, and hence, done with all the side content available to you at the moment. If that’s the case and you’re ready for the showdown with Edea, continue on to the War of the Gardens section of the guide.