Who can draw?

What statistic in FF8 decides whether or not you can draw a certain spell from a certain monster. I just fought Diablos, the guide I have (a crappy British guide) says draw and cast demi which was very effective WHEN IT WORKED!!! Which is like 1 in 20 tries I notice. I also had problems drawing Cura from Edea. So?

I don’t think there’s a statistic that affects it, it’s just random.
And I think it’s just harder to draw from bosses.

it is a bit harder to draw from bosses…

I strongly suspect it may be either your level or magic stat.

Level: Some spells may require you to be above a certain level to draw it effectively.

Magic stat: Some spells may have this “defense” to prevent it from being drawn that much.

My drawing ends fast: I get Ice Magic Refining as soon as possible and go kill/card Fastitocalons for Fish Fins/Water Crystals, which translate into Water Spells. USe the Watered up Magic person to Draw basic magics and then refine them to -ra’s. That should ensure disc one success. The rest? Refining. No boring drawing. Maybe at Ultima Weapon for easy Ultimas.

Drawing after that should be easy, since you’ll have some levels and abilities from all that AP (Put your points into Magic +%'s)

I easily drew magics from Diablos.

The higher somebody’s “Mag” stat is, the more effective they’ll be at drawing, both in draw-casting and in quantity when stocking.

If you fight Diablos as soon as you get the magic lamp, odds are you’ll struggle drawing Demi from him unless you’ve consciously focused on building up magic junction stats (quezacotl has them, and I think siren does two, but Shiva and Ifrit are outski). You’re also unlikely to have decent magic to junction to that stat unless you put in the prep time doing stuff similar to Mabat’s method.

Irvine always miss whenever he draws… for me, at least. >_<

I found that having higher magic stats tends to increase the likelihood of a successful draw.

Hint: You may already know this, but later in the game (Ragnarok) go to Island Closest to Hell/Heaven and run around clicking ‘X’ there are draw points all over for the more powerful spells (Meteor, Holy, Ultima, Full-Life, Aura, etc.) this works better if you have Diablos’ Encounter None ability. It’s an easy way to get good magic, but unfortunately you have to wait for them to refill, although if you run around the edge of the islands collecting the spells from all the draw points you can find, the earlier ones are normally ready to draw from again when you’ve finished.

Oh, and Irvine, Quistis and I think Selphie are sometimes crap at drawing. I think Squall is the best, Rinoa’s ok and Zell is unpredictable…

Actually, the Spirit stat also has some effect on drawing magic, if I remember rightly.

Really, you shouldn’t have to draw. Most of what you need is obtained from:

A) Refining
B) Draw Points

And Diablos, it IS hard to draw and stock Demi, but Draw-cast is almost all the time, even when you’ve just obtained the lamp.

Originally posted by SilverStorm
Oh, and Irvine, Quistis and I think Selphie are sometimes crap at drawing. I think Squall is the best, Rinoa’s ok and Zell is unpredictable…

HEY! is that why i’ve been using squall, rinoa, and zell all the time?

The actual characters have no impact on the amount and success of spells drawn. It’s all down to how you junction them.

When I said that Irvine, Quistis and Selphie aren’t as good at drawing, I meant that is what appears to be true for me.
It may just be a coincidence.

Probably is just a coincidence.

I’v never had any problems with drawing any spells, from any monster, even if I never really bothered when I could refine it much quicker.