Statistics

Here are Rinoa's vital statistics in the game's battle system, curtesy of the Final Fantasy VII Official Guide. Keep in mind that these are just her base numbers by level. Using the Junction system, players can increase and decrease each character's statistics dramatically.

	LVL	HP	Str	Vit	Mag	Spr	Spd	Luck
	1	217	1	0	8	3	20	16
	10	610	10	5	15	8	22	17
	20	1038	19	10	22	14	24	17
	30	1458	27	14	29	19	25	18
	40	1871	35	18	35	24	27	19
	50	2275	42	21	41	28	28	19
	60	2672	48	24	46	31	30	20
	70	3061	54	26	51	34	32	20
	80	3443	59	28	55	36	33	21
	90	3816	64	30	59	38	35	22
	100	4181	67	31	63	39	36	22

As you can see from the table above, Rinoa has generally average stats for things like HP, spirit, luck, etc, and abnormally high stats for Strength and Magic. In fact, Rinoa has the highest stats for STR and MAG out of all the other playable characters! To put things into perspective, Squall (the lead protagonist) has 47 STR and 45 MAG at max level, compared to Rinoa's 67 STR and 63 MAG. Behind Rinoa, the second highest Strength stats at max level belong to Ward at a relatively paltry 56 STR. Behind Rinoa, the second highest Magic stats belong to Edea at 55 MAG.

Why design Rinoa this way? One reason may be to balance out her absence. During the middle of the game, Rinoa is rendered unplayable due to storyline twists. By the time you get her back in your party, the other characters have leveled up way beyond her. One way to settle this would have been for developers automatically boost Rinoa to an estimated average level after she returns. The game designers may have chosen to instead give her high stats to compensate for her low levels.

Another reason could be to match her limit break duality. Rinoa has two, very different limit breaks. While FF8's characters are already versatile due to the junction system, Rinoa's dual limit breaks make her even more flexible. Whether you decide to have her kicking butt with Wishing Star, or you want to Meteor the last bosses into oblivion, her base stats will strongly support either style.

Overall, Rinoa has consistently high stats and can be a strong asset to your team, as both a physical attacker and a magic user. If she is low-level after the space rescue, just take advantage of the junction system. Double, Triple, Curaga, Tornado, and Ultima junction very nicely and can be found well before Rinoa even leaves your team. If you want a strong team throughout the game, Rinoa is a very practical choice, especially before you're able to access high level magic for junctioning.