Final Fantasy VIII

Character Stats
Tips and Tricks

Your characters each have 9 character stats:

• Hit Points (HP)
• Strength (Str)
• Vitality (Vit)
• Magic (Mag)
• Spirit (Spr)
• Speed (Spd)
• Evade (Eva)
• Hit
• Luck

Each time your characters level up they gain more of these stats, and if you have any of the Guardian Force Stat Bonus abilities equipped, such as HP Bonus, Str Bonus, etc., they will gain even more of these stats as they level. So what do these stats do?

Character Stat	Description	Related Abilities and Items
Hit Points (HP)	The value of Strength determines the degree of damage caused by a physical attack. The higher the Strength, the greater the damage to the enemy. Note though that equipping a magical element to Elem-Atk-J will also have a heavy impact on the amount of damage done.	HP-J HP Bonus HP Up
Strength (Str)	The value of Strength determines the degree of damage caused by a physical attack. The higher the Strength, the greater the damage to the enemy. Note though that equipping a magical element to Elem-Atk-J will also have a heavy impact on the amount of damage done.	Str-J Str Bonus Str Up
Vitality (Vit)	The value of Vitality determines the degree of damage a character can endure from a physical attack, similar to a Defense-type statistic. A character with high Vitality suffers less damage from physical attacks.	Vit-J Vit Bonus Vit Up
Magic (Mag)	The value of Magic determines the degree of damage caused by a magic attack. Higher Magic causes more magical damage. The chance of successfully casting magic that causes status abnormalities becomes higher if your magic level is high. A high Magic level also allows you to restore more HP with healing magic like Cure.	Mag-J Mag Bonus Mag Up
Spirit (Spr)	The value of Spirit determines the determines the degree of damage a character can endure from a magic attack. A character with high Spirit suffers less damage from magic attacks.	Spr-J Spr Bonus Spr Up
Speed (Spd)	The value of Speed determines the speed of the character’s ATB meter. It takes the character a shorter time to act if this value is high.	Spd-J Spd Up
Evade (Eva)	The value of Evade determines the character’s ability to dodge physical attacks. Characters that have high Evade can dodge physical attacks more easily.	Eva-J
Hit	The value for Hit determines the accuracy of a physical attack. Accuracy increases as the Hit level increases. However, your target’s evade level can affect the accuracy of a physical attack.	Hit-J
Luck	Luck affects numerous actions of the character in the game. For example, having a higher value for Luck is an advantage during battle.	Luck-J