@hian: You might want to look at the strategy guide for ff8, it even admits they level scale. What happened was Balamb had a cap on the scaling, but most of the rest of the game didn't. But if you look at the guide, it even shows that the bosses level up at a faster rate than the player does, and most bosses are 255 in all stats at level 99. Monsters also scale accordingly. That's why most people hate the scaling in that game, as in most regions, the enemies (and bosses) gain more stats than the player does when you level up! Only ff game I found it easier to win the game at level 23 than at level 80 as a result.
I think you might want to look up Qhimm (the most extensive FF7/8 mod community on the web), and ask someone (like me), who actual knows the FF8 system formulas as they are right of the disks.
I didn't say the game didn't scale, which you would have noticed if you actually read my post properly (
I used the word next to non-existent, which is hyperbolic perhaps, at worst - but let's expand on why this is the case now) -
but that the scaling in FF8 is more or less irrelevant to the gameplay in
the sense that people complain about it because a high-level party is still going to trample over low- to mid-tier enemies just the same as any other FF game (the usually complaint about scaling being that this doesn't happen, when in FF8 it objectively does).
The inane complaint you hear about FF8 is isn't "
Oh no, the last boss is so hard now I've leveled up!", it's "
Omg, enemies level up, now I can't plow down the minions I used to fight earlier in the game", which you can.
First thing's first -
Enemies in FF8 have their own stat-progression curves, and low/mid-tier enemies in FF8 are still significantly weaker than the your party members at comparative levels.
Furthermore, contrary to what you seem to think, most bosses in the game have level caps preventing them from being at level 99, which means they'll never have stats even remotely close to 255.
In fact, Ultimecia, the final boss's level cap is at 65, and the highest stat at that point is her Mag stat at 166, which is still far lower than the stat
your party is likely to have if they have magic junctioned to it at that point in either case.
Maybe
you should read a game-guide, instead of projecting the same ignorance on me?
(also, Balamb does not have a level cap - the only place in Balamb that has a level cap is the Fire Cavern)
Secondly -
Enemies don't really level up per say - their levels are calculated by the engine at the moment battle is initiated by taking your party's average level (not including non-active members, or members that are K.O'ed, and always rounded down at that, on a level scale particular to that enemy type), which is then added together by the same number multiplied/subtracted by 1/5.
This means that the enemy levels fluctuate depeding on which party members you've chosen, which of them are K.O'ed etc.
The often cited "take the average party level and add by 0.8 or 1.2 to get the lowest and highest possible level", is wrong, and overly simplistic. People usually opt for it because it gives a slight approximation that doesn't take as much work, though it is woefully wrong at most times.
Thirdly -
Given that Squall is likely to be a much larger level than the rest of your party, given that he is the only constant member, given that the level scale does not account for weapon upgrades, GF levels, and Junctioned magic, it becomes even less of a factor.
Say you have a party consisting of Lv. 25 Squall, Lv. 20 Zell, and Lv.18 Selphie, facing your regular foe -
Average is 21.
This is the base.
Divide the base (21) by 5 = 4.2, which is then rounded down to 4. This is the modular (Y=4).
Each foe in the battle will then have a 50/50 chance of either being base + mod, or base - mod,
In this case either (20 + 4) or (20 - 4), meaning that in this case, all foes will either have the level of 24, or 16.
Say you have a party consisting of Lv. 76 Squall, Lv. 72 Zell, and Lv.68 Selphie, facing your regular foe
The average is then 72. (base = 72)
72 divided by 5 = 14.4, which rounded down to 14. (modular = 14)
In this case, each foe will either be level 58, or level 86.
(this discrepancy is made up for by the fact that the stat progression curve of these enemies is much lower than that of
your party members, especually when taking into account your junctions at that point)
Now take the following into account - If you have a party with a large level gap,
like say an over-leveled Squall with an under-leveled Selphie, this distorts the equations.
Then of course, together with your party, you'll have leveled up your GFs, who also serve as a major battle component since
your character cannot be damaged during casting, and the GF can also dish out enormous amounts of damage that more often than not will wipe out the entire enemy party regardless.
All this, combined with the fact that you'll be junctioning magic that increases your stats well beyond your level, and that the formula does not control for stat bosts gained by weapon upgrades and other equipment.
My first time playing through FF8 was a cake-walk, consisting of me spamming GFs from disk 1 to 4, hardly ever using magic (except for healing) or attacks, until I got my final weapons, and attacks actually started being useful to a degree.
With the exception of special high-tier enemies like Tonberry, there isn't a single enemy that cannot be one-shot by a single casting of Shiva, using boost most of the time.
This is just as true towards the end-game when you reach levels 50 and upwards, as it was in the beginning, prior to level 30-40 etc.
Yes, the scaling system impacts game-play to a certain extent, and allows for continuous challenge again certain high-level enemies,
and special bosses like Omega Weapon - but to pretend that FF8 is this great monstrosity where even low-tier disk 1 enemies will come back with a vengeance if you come back to fight them at a higher level on the other hand, is patently absurd.
