Weapons

Selphie uses nunchaku (often called "nunchucks" or "chain sticks" in English), a weapon of oriental origin consisting of two hard sections linked by a cord or chain that is manipulated by holding one of the hard bars while the other is swung towards the target. It is very damn cool! difficult to manage, and inexperienced users are likely to find themselves injured while handling it. Still, when used correctly, the nunchaku proves to be an extremely effective close-range weapon: not only does it permit strikes from unexpected angles, its rapid movement is bound to distract the opponent, a significant advantage in battle.

In the world of Final Fantasy VIII, weapons, rather than bought or acquired in traditional ways, are upgraded¹ at Junk Shops. This requires a small amount of Gil, as well as specific items that are sometimes rare, especially when it comes to the more powerful weapons. From my experience, the best way to obtain any lacking items is by making use of Quezacotl's Card Mod ability: not only are most of them easily available through this method (in Selphie's case, all of them are), Triple Triad is overall a very rewarding and fun mini-game, and thus investing some of your time into it should only bring you benefits.

¹Although reading the different issues of Weapons Monthly has obvious advantages (if you're not following a guide, it's the only way of knowing which items you need for each weapon), it is not mandatory in order to be able to upgrade. If you have all the required items for a certain weapon in your inventory, the possibility to upgrade into it will be offered to you at Junk Shops even if you never found/bought and read the magazine in question.

The following table contains information on Selphie's four nunchaku.

FLAIL
Atk: 12 Hit%: 98%	Magazine	Weapons Monthly March Issue (Dropped by Elvoret; Esthar Book Store.)
	Description	"Even a weakling can cause serious damage with this type of nunchaku, but they're also hard to use. This Flail has long been a favorite for beginners."
	Items	2x M-Stone Piece (Card Mod Bite Bug/Funguar) 1x Bomb Fragment (Card Mod Bomb)
	Cost	100 Gil

MORNING STAR
Atk: 15 Hit%: 99%	Magazine	Weapons Monthly June Issue (Dropped by BGH251F2; Esthar Book Store.)
	Description	"The ends of the Morning Star were equipped with spiked metal balls to cause more damage. It is a plain weapon, similar to nunchaku, but it is fairly effective."
	Items	2x Steel Orb (Card Mod Wendigo) 2x Sharp Spike (Card Mod Grand Mantis/Death Claw)
	Cost	200 Gil

CRESCENT WISH
Atk: 20 Hit%: 100%	Magazine	Weapons Monthly July Issue (Balamb Garden's Training Center in Disc 3; Esthar Book Store.)
	Description	"The Crescent Wish is an extremely powerful nunchaku. Some rare items are required to forge this weapon."
	Items	1x Inferno Fang (Card Mod Red Dragon) 1x Life Ring (Card Mod Torama) 4x Sharp Spike (Card Mod Grand Mantis/Death Claw)
	Cost	400 Gil

STRANGE VISION
Atk: 25 Hit%: 255%	Magazine	Weapons Monthly 1st Issue (Lunatic Pandora Laboratory during the fifth Laguna dream sequence; Esthar Book Store through Tonberry's Familiar ability.)
	Description	"This Strange Vision is famous for its ability to hit a target with perfect accuracy. It's also famous for its rarity."
	Items	1x Adamantine (Card Mod Minotaur) 3x Star Fragment (Card Mod Iron Giant) 2x Curse Spike (Card Mod Tri-Face)
	Cost	800 Gil

Final Fantasy™ VIII, Selphie and all characters and locations mentioned are ©1999 Squaresoft, now Square-Enix.
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