Triple Triad Rule How to Change the Rules - FF8 Guide
The most annoying aspect of Triple Triad in Final Fantasy 8 is trying to change the rules to something of your liking. There are dozens of tips and tricks online for changing Triple Triad rules that remind me of people trying to tell you how to find Mew back in Pokemon Red and Blue. Go here, examine this object 5 times, reset your game, load it up, challenge someone to a game of cards 8 times then on the 9th accept and maybe, just maybe, the outcome you want happens.
I personally do not like doing stuff like that, because it feels anecdotal to me. I like things that are empirical, tested, tried and true. For that reason, this guide isn't going to cover any method of changing rules in Final Fantasy 8 that can't be repeated and reproduced without fail.
Before we get started there are a few different things you should know. The first of which is there are two different types of rules, Trade Rules and the Special Rules. Below are a list of all the rules and which type they belong to.
Trade Rules
All: Whomever wins gets all the cards
Diff: You win the number of cards equal to the margin of your victory. So, if you win by 2 points you get two cards
Direct: You keep the cards that are in your control at the end of the game. Your opponent will also keep any of your cards they control - this is the worst Trade Rule of them all because you can still lose even if you win.
One: You choose one card from the loser to take
Special Rules
Open: Your Opponent's hand is visible
Sudden Death: If the result of any game is a Draw, the game is replayed immediately with the cards you had in control at the end of the game.
Random: The Cards you play are selected randomly from your entire deck
Same: When you place a card that touches at least two cards (at least one has to be the opposite color) and the same side shares a number (such as 5 touching 5), a combo is started and the card is flipped.
Same Wall: The edges of the game board are treated as having a value of A for the Same Rule. If the Same Rule isn't in effect in your region than Same Wall will be useless.
Plus: This is similar to the Same Rule. When you place a card that touches two opposing cards the numbers touching the cards plus the opposing number all equal the same sum, then both cards are captured.
Elemental: Elemental symbols are placed on the game board randomly. If a card has an element that matches the spot on the board then all numbers are boosted by 1. If you have a different element or no element at all on the card then every number is reduced by 1.
There are different methods for changing both of these rules, I go into more detail about them below. But before I get to that there is one other thing you should know too and that's when the Queen of Cards is in the same region you're playing cards, the Trade Rules work differently. For more information about the Queen of Cards Trade Rules follow the link.
How to Modify A Region's Special Rules:
In order to modify the rules of a region you must first be carrying the rules from a different region. When you challenge someone to a game of cards and they ask you if you'd like to mix rules, this is how you modify a region's rules.
Sometimes a rule will be abolished by doing this and sometimes one of the rules you're holding will spread to the current region. It's highly random which of the two will happen (except Open spreading being the most common thing to happen). For this reason it's highly recommended you save before you try to modify the rules of a region. That's repeated advice throughout trying to change rules, always save!
Continue reading for an example of how to change a Region's Special Rules
How to Modify A Region's Trade Rules:
The easiest way to change a region's Trade Rules (if the Queen of Cards is not present) is by playing in that region until the Trade Rule degenerates to One. A lot of guides online say that the Trade Rules degenerate in a stair fashion from All > Direct > Diff > One but this is incorrect. It's easily testable too so I have no clue how such incorrect information managed to stick around for so long.
There is another system in place too that allow Trade Rules to spread across region boundaries, but to the best of my knowledge there is no way to manipulate it..... Or to even see what the dominate region is. There is a chance that when you play a card game in a region that the Queen of Cards is not at - a different region will adopt the dominant region's trade rule.
How to change the Direct Trade Rule without Queen of Cards
Things to Note
- You don't actually need to play the game, only enter the game to the rules screen. This counts as playing
- All DOES NOT degenerate to Direct. Whomever started this rumor for Final Fantasy 8 has caused a lot of confusion over the years
- Always use the All Trade Rule when the Queen of Cards is in the region
- Don't try to make all regions have all the same rules, otherwise you won't be able to Carry rules from anywhere and change rules in other places
- Make sure you complete the Card Club Side Quest prior to Disc 3 so that you can play them for Rare Cards during Disc 4
- Late on Disc 3 you will want to move the Queen of Cards to the Lunar Region. On Disc 4 you'll no longer be able to move her and this is the same region that the Card Club Group will be in