All could've been prevented

[Moon Rabbits]

Near the end of disc 3 when Odine talks of the "Junction Ellone Machine" he builds that Ultimecia uses to come back and possess Edea.

Squall and Co. could just destroy it in the past and undo all of Ultimecia's plans in the future...instead of travelling into the future to kill her. Odine couldn't put up much of a fight if he wanted to protect it...

[Slade]

I don't think he had started building it yet. I can't really remember though. Besides, the story would be cut short

[Moon Rabbits]

I know. I like the rest. But FF8 really needs some things fixed. and its my favourite. so SQUARE PLEASE. AGAINST THE WISHES OF SO MANY REMAKE IT.

[Christmas]

Running away won't solve the problem.

[Moon Rabbits]

Running away won't solve the problem.

What? Who's running away. Im just saying Odine doesnt need to finish the project and it'll prevent everything. smurf up time but prevent all.

[Christmas]

You need to face the problem itself as SeeD.

Squall: Both Garden and SeeD were your ideas. Garden trains SeeDs.
SeeDs are trained to defeat the sorceress.

Zell: Yeah, and that Ultimecia! We can't let that sorceress from the
future mess up our world! Let's go kick her ass! We're SeeDs! We're
here to destroy the sorceress, right!!!?

Odine: There is only one way to defeat
Ultimecia. You must kill her in ze future.

Reflect on all those stuffs about destiny and fate throughout the game. This came along on how the idea of SeeD manage to come about and the reunion of the childhood friends. Not forgetting continuing a love story left unfinished by the earlier generations.

[Sir Bahamut]

In FF8, fate rules, and everything points toward the fact that in FF8, time is set in stone. That means that if Ultimecia exists in the future and is using the Junction Machine Ellone, simply destroying it won't change anything. If they destroyed it, that would simply have been a natural part of the history leading up to Ultimecias rise to power. It would eventually have been rebuilt later anyway!

So that wouldn't help at all...

[boys from the dwarf]

me and FE have already started threads about why they dont just destroy the machine to end it all. the simple fact is the game would be toally boring and end without any kind of last boss or interesting time compression and cool ending.
edit: ive just realized something else. if they destroyed it now it would mean what happened with ultimecia possesing everyone will never have happened and the seems as there was already a time loop destroying the time loop by destroying the machine could probly just end up with a big confusion in time and everything being destroyed.the only way it would work is travelling to the future. in simple form, mormally destroying the machine would work but due to a time loop in the game destroying the machine would probbably destroy everything else.

[Sir Bahamut]

me and FE have already started threads about why they dont just destroy the machine to end it all. the simple fact is the game would be toally boring and end without any kind of last boss or interesting time compression and cool ending.

Perhaps. But the simple AND LOGICAL fact is that time is set in stone in FF8, hence destorying it won't help a shred, and since Odine already knows a great deal about time and time compression, he clearly would know as much as to know that destroying it won't help!

For a more indepth account on the role of time, timeloops and fate in FF8, please read the "Time/Ultimecia Plot FAQ" found here:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/game/197343.html

It explains why and in what way time is set in stone, thus explaining why destroying the machine wouldn't do anything (it wouldn't destroy time or anything like that, it just wouldm't do anything helpful for Squall and Co, save leaving them with a mess to tidy up!).

[yunafan11]

oh well. square has its ways.

[Skyblade]

My thoughts on fate aside (it's a damned stupid concept), I don't believe they should have destroyed the machine. It would have been pointless. The machine is just a tool. Good, evil, it can be used for both. Destroying it would not stop the evil. It might set it back, but it wouldn't stop it. You've all seen Return of the King, haven't you? Remember when Gimli said "Let him stay there, let him rot! Why should we care?" It is a similar attitude. You may have quieted things down, but the enemy is by no means defeated. If you hope to stop evil, you must strike at the heart of the evil itself. Treat the disease, not the symptoms. Until she is defeated, Ulti will still be out there. And destroying one machine won't be enough to stop her.

[Future Esthar]

Alright,I already know it is impossible to refute the fact that Ulti uses a machine created by Odine to possess Edea(1).
But it is impossible to prove either

So my theory on Odine still be true.
The fact that we can´t refute 1 just shows the doctor is simple genious.
He commits a perfect crime.

[Jessweeee♪]

Or just kill Odine before he gets to researching this stuff...and maybe killing off Ellone for good measure.

[Future Esthar]

Or they could get to the past during time compression and prevent the machine to be created(never thought of that.Curious).

[Noj_R]

My thoughts on fate aside (it's a damned stupid concept), I don't believe they should have destroyed the machine. It would have been pointless. The machine is just a tool. Good, evil, it can be used for both. Destroying it would not stop the evil. It might set it back, but it wouldn't stop it. You've all seen Return of the King, haven't you? Remember when Gimli said "Let him stay there, let him rot! Why should we care?" It is a similar attitude. You may have quieted things down, but the enemy is by no means defeated. If you hope to stop evil, you must strike at the heart of the evil itself. Treat the disease, not the symptoms. Until she is defeated, Ulti will still be out there. And destroying one machine won't be enough to stop her.

I agree completely. Ultimecia was clearly obsessed with achieving time compression. Destroying the machine would only stall Ulti, not stop her. Things would stay as they were only Ulti would have to find an alternative solution...Maybe one worst than JME...

Great theory Skyblade!

Another thing, Odine said " You must kill Ultimecia in ze future ", Squall and co. HAD to kill her in the future, there was no alternative.