In Final Fantasy VIII you obtain Gil via a SeeD Salary with a different salary depending on your overall rank.

Your starting rank is affected by what you do during the Fire Cavern and Dollet Mission on disc 1. It is adviced that you do a pre-Fire Cavern level up session to get mainly Shiva up to a high enough level to one hit all the standard foes and to take but a couple of attacks on Ifrit for ease of getting max points.

JUDGEMENT

Judgement is determined by how much time you have remaining on your clock when you defeat Ifrit in the Fire Cavern so it is best to choose the least time (if you know you can do it). It may be a good idea to save before choosing a time and restarting if you fail.

Time Remaining:	Points:
0:00~0:07	100
00:08~00:29	90
00:30~00:59	80
1:00~1:59	70
2:00~2:59	60
3:00~9:59	50
10:00~10:59	40
11:00~11:59	30
12:00~12:59	20
13:00~13:59	10
14:00~14:59	5
15:00+	0

ATTACK

Attack is determined by how many foes you defeat. You can not kill using a Guardian Force as this will not count as a kill and taking the X-ATM092 down to 0HP can only be counted as one kill, furthur 0HP's will not count.

Foes Defeated:	Points:
75+	100
25~74	80
15~24	50
10~14	20
0~9	0

SPIRIT

Spirit is determined on how many times you Escape from a battle and therefore means you must only fight the X-ATM092 once when it first attacks you.

Times Escaped:	Points:
1	100
2	70
3~4	50
5~9	30
10	0

CONDUCT

Conduct is determined by how much time you have remaining on your clock when you reach the beach while escaping from the X-ATM092 during the Dollet Mission.

Time Remaining:	Points:
25:00+	100
24:59~24:00	90
23:59~23:00	80
22:59~20:00	70
19:59~19:00	60
18:59~17:00	50
16:59~15:00	40
14:59~10:00	30
9:59~6:00	20
5:59~3:00	10
2:59~0:00	0

ATTITUDE

Attitude is a points system deduction which will affect your Bonus points. Below is what will cause you to get a deduction and how many:

• The number of people you talk to during the Dollet Mission with each conversation giving you 1 point deduction (this starts from Balamb)
• Talking to Biggs will cause a 2 point deducation
• Every time you try to head to the Communications Tower before Seifer gives the order will give you a 1 point deduction
• Each time you jump off the cliff to take a shortcut will result in a 5 point deduction
• You will lose 10 points if you do not save the Dog while escaping from Dollet (just talk to it once)
• If you run into the Cafe to escape from the X-ATM092, you lose 20 points

BONUS

You will recieve 100 points if you defeat the X-ATM092 to 0HP on the Bridge.

Total Deductions:	Points:
0	100
1~8	80
9~13	70
14~17	50
18~24	30
25+	10