Refine status Magic from an item
Description
ST Mag-RF (status magic refiner) is a menu ability in Final Fantasy VIII that allows the player to make status abnormality related magic spells from certain items. (Death and Zombie are made with L Mag-RF instead, and Drain is made with Supt Mag-RF.) Making spells from items is generally much more convenient than drawing from enemies, and can net higher tier spells earlier than enemies would offer them, such as Meltdown and Pain for ST Mag-RF.
Obtained[]
The Guardian Force Diablos learns ST Mag-RF for 30 AP. Diablos is recruited by using the Magical Lamp Headmaster Cid gives at the Timber mission briefing. If the player removes ST Mag-RF with Amnesia Greens, there is no way to get it back.
Mechanics[]
Using ST Mag-RF in the Ability menu enables the player to make spells from items currently in their possession and allocate the resultant spells to a party member who has space in their Magic inventory. Each party member has 32 slots for Magic, and can hold 100 spells of each type.
| Item | Refine Into |
|---|---|
| Antidote | 1 = 1 Bio |
| Betrayal Sword | 1 = 20 Confuse |
| Cockatrice Pinion | 1 = 20 Break |
| Curse Spike | 1 = 10 Pain |
| Echo Screen | 1 = 2 Silence |
| Eye Drops | 1 = 1 Blind |
| Soft | 1 = 3 Break |
| Magic Stone | 1 = 5 Berserk |
| Malboro Tentacle | 1 = 40 Bio |
| M-Stone Piece | 1 = 5 Silence |
| Mystery Fluid | 1 = 10 Meltdown |
| Ochu Tentacle | 1 = 20 Blind |
| Silence Powder | 1 = 20 Silence |
| Sleep Powder | 1 = 20 Sleep |
| Steel Pipe | 1 = 20 Berserk |
| Wizard Stone | 1 = 5 Bio |
Use[]
ST Mag-RF is a great refiner ability to make various useful spells, such as Meltdown and Pain, which are available earlier via ST Mag-RF (if the player recruits Diablos at the earliest opportunity) than they are drawable from enemies and draw points. Both are excellent in junctioning, and Meltdown also for casting onto bosses and other hardy enemies. The player can make Meltdown from Mystery Fluids, modded from Gayla cards. Pain is made from Curse Spikes, modded from Tri-Face cards. These items can later be farmed from said enemies.
Any powder items the player may have obtained from Grats in the training center can be made into Sleep and Silence spells, good for status junctions.
Another good early game use is to make Cockatrice Pinions from Cockatrice cards into Break spells. Any status heal items the player can buy from shops can also be made into spells, though the conversion ratios are poor.
Diablos has many good abilities to learn, and refiner abilities are always useful to prioritize as they remain practical throughout the whole game. The player can choose if they want Time Mag-RF or ST Mag-RF first.