I am once again parachuting in to ramble too much about Final Fantasy VIII strategy!
I don't know what you currently have junctioned to HP (or how much of it you have junctioned), but Full-Life is great for that; it's the magic I always have junctioned to HP by the end of the game, having spent way too much time drawing from the Islands Closest to Heaven/Hell.
In fact, here's a list of some of the endgame junctions I remember using, all involving magic you can get from those islands. (I always junction 100 of each to every member of my party, but I'm sure you don't actually need to do that much drawing if you don't want to! I just always fall for the siren call of making my characters as powerful as possible.)
- Elem-Def: Ultima. Every Ultima you have junctioned gives you a percentage point of resistance against every element, so, if you junction 100 Ultima, you're immune to all elemental attacks.
- HP: Full-Life, as mentioned. Depending on how much you have junctioned, it can increase your HP by up to almost 5,000 points, so it should definitely improve your characters' chances if you have the patience to draw a lot of it!
- Strength: Meteor. Second-best magic there is for strength; the best is Ultima, but you'll want that for elemental defence!
- Magic: Triple. I rarely use magic in battle, but I still find it useful to have a high magic stat because it determines how much you can draw at a time! If you're struggling to draw enough magic - e.g. you're only drawing one/two/three spells at a time - you can use the magic exchange menu to give all your Triples to one character, junction them to magic, and then prioritise drawing with that character. You can always use the magic exchange menu again afterwards to distribute the spells they've drawn to other people, so it's fine to focus on drawing with your best magician, rather than making all your characters draw evenly.
Regarding weapon upgrades: if you only get one ultimate weapon, get the Lion Heart, as it gives Squall a more powerful limit break finisher (and, if you're drawing from the Islands, you'll probably have a fair few Aura spells with which to take advantage of that!). You should be able to finish the game without it, though.
If you do decide to collect materials, don't fight monsters on the Islands Closest to Heaven/Hell; find them elsewhere. Every monster on those islands is level 100.
Good luck against Adel! I had to restart the game when I first encountered her, because I hadn't been drawing at all and had no useful magic to junction; I'd just been spamming GFs to get through every fight, which you can't do against Adel because you'll hit Rinoa. You're definitely in a better position than I was!
no subject
I don't know what you currently have junctioned to HP (or how much of it you have junctioned), but Full-Life is great for that; it's the magic I always have junctioned to HP by the end of the game, having spent way too much time drawing from the Islands Closest to Heaven/Hell.
In fact, here's a list of some of the endgame junctions I remember using, all involving magic you can get from those islands. (I always junction 100 of each to every member of my party, but I'm sure you don't actually need to do that much drawing if you don't want to! I just always fall for the siren call of making my characters as powerful as possible.)
- Elem-Def: Ultima. Every Ultima you have junctioned gives you a percentage point of resistance against every element, so, if you junction 100 Ultima, you're immune to all elemental attacks.
- HP: Full-Life, as mentioned. Depending on how much you have junctioned, it can increase your HP by up to almost 5,000 points, so it should definitely improve your characters' chances if you have the patience to draw a lot of it!
- Strength: Meteor. Second-best magic there is for strength; the best is Ultima, but you'll want that for elemental defence!
- Magic: Triple. I rarely use magic in battle, but I still find it useful to have a high magic stat because it determines how much you can draw at a time! If you're struggling to draw enough magic - e.g. you're only drawing one/two/three spells at a time - you can use the magic exchange menu to give all your Triples to one character, junction them to magic, and then prioritise drawing with that character. You can always use the magic exchange menu again afterwards to distribute the spells they've drawn to other people, so it's fine to focus on drawing with your best magician, rather than making all your characters draw evenly.
Regarding weapon upgrades: if you only get one ultimate weapon, get the Lion Heart, as it gives Squall a more powerful limit break finisher (and, if you're drawing from the Islands, you'll probably have a fair few Aura spells with which to take advantage of that!). You should be able to finish the game without it, though.
If you do decide to collect materials, don't fight monsters on the Islands Closest to Heaven/Hell; find them elsewhere. Every monster on those islands is level 100.
Good luck against Adel! I had to restart the game when I first encountered her, because I hadn't been drawing at all and had no useful magic to junction; I'd just been spamming GFs to get through every fight, which you can't do against Adel because you'll hit Rinoa. You're definitely in a better position than I was!