Summary
Final Fantasyhas been going strong since 1987. From mainline games to spinoffs, the development teams put a lot of work into each game’s inner workings. They also put a lot ofsecret mechanicsin them that are still baffling fans years later. These things gobeyond Easter Eggs, like seeing a character’s sword or costume appear in another game.
Thesehidden mechanicscan help or hurt players if they aren’t careful, and are not easy to stumble into without guides. Let’s go through some ofthe most baffling and hard-to-find gameplay secrets inFinal Fantasyhistory.
There is a section inFinal Fantasy 6where Celes has to take care of this game’sversion of Cid, a scientist working for the Empire. He’s dying, and players are tasked with catching fish at the beach every day to make him better. There are no instructions; players will just intuitively find the fish, hit the action button, and then catch the fish. That’s how the game presents this act, but there is more to it.
Cid will lose HP with every second, so players have to be as quick as possible. Three different fish types will either hurt or heal Cid, and the differences are minuscule, unexplained, and very hard to spot. Before players could dive into the game’s data via the SNES ROM, many probably thought Cid would die no matter what they did. It turns out that he can be saved with lightning-fast reflexes and keen eyes, and even in later ports and remasters, the exact mechanics have never been detailed in-game.
Most fans ofFinal Fantasy 7probably know about the infamous Gold Saucer date that occurs late in the game. Based on choices made, Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie, or even Barret can ask Cloud out on a date. The easiest two to get are between Aerith and Tifa, with Yuffie being a bit cringey since she is younger, and Barret just being funny.
InFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Red 13 is also added as an option, and the scene with all the characters can be both meaningful and sweet, especially the one with Tifa. While fans have dug into data to see what choices will affect the date outcomes, it’s never been explicitly stated in any of the game’s versions.Unlike thePersonaseries, there is no stat bar for the dating mechanic, leaving it a mystery for many years.
5All Lucky 7s (Final Fantasy 7)
Good Luck Triggering This
While Gold Saucer is a known factor of sorts,Final Fantasy 7’sAll Lucky 7s mechanic is not. The max HP of any character can be 9999, and if by some miracle, that HP bar hits 7777 in battle, it triggers All Lucky 7s. This sends the character into a frenzy wherein they attack over and over again, with each hit dealing 7777 damage. After the initial barrage, the character continues to do 7777 damage on every turn.
If the character is healed or received damage, they are knocked out of the status. Players savvy enough to craft their HP limits to hit 7777 at the start of battle could get a realadvantage over secret bosseslike Ruby Weapon and Emerald Weapon, but it’s nearly impossible to do. Triggering it naturally on PS1 was probably less likely than encountering a shiny Pokemon in the earlyPokemongames.
Ultimate weapons are a big part of theFinal Fantasyseries, and most are relatively easy to get, or at least the paths are well-documented.That’s not the case forSteiner’s best weapon inFinal Fantasy 9,though, as players can only find it by some ungodly chance of luck.First, players have to make it to the final dungeon of the game, on the fourth disc, and then fight Lich.
After the boss fight, Excalibur 2 can be found behind Lich’s staging area. The catch is, players have to make it there in under twelve hours, which is impossible unless they are using speedrun tricks, cheat codes, or just rushing through. If they rush, they will bypass a lot of content just to get one weapon, which seems silly and counterintuitive to how these games are meant to be played.
Final Fantasy 10has a romance option of sorts, likeFinal Fantasy 7,except it doesn’t involve the hero, Tidus, going on a theme park ride.Healing or guarding certain characters in battle can win Tidus points with them, along with other actions players take. This will trigger who appears in some cutscenes, like Rikku riding on the snowmobile with Tidus late in the game.
The Limit Breaks inFinal Fantasy 10are called Overdrives, and Tidus’ best one is Blitz Ace. In the final shot of the Overdrive, Lulu, Rikku, or Yuna canthrow a Blitzballto Tidus, depending on the player’s previous actions.The main romance in the game is between Tidus and Yuna, no matter what, so this mechanic is a bit odd, and most players probably had no idea there actually were different outcomes compared toFinal Fantasy 7’sGold Saucer ride.
There is another ultimate weapon abnormality in the series, and it’s found in the original release ofFinal Fantasy 12. To get the Zodiac Spear,thestrongest weapon in the game, players had to avoid breaking certain barrels and opening specific chests. If players do this, then a chest containing the Zodiac Spear will appear later in the game. If players mess up at all, the side quest is null and void.
This was changed for theremaster ofFinal Fantasy 12,which some fans liked and some fans didn’t, particularly those who had learned how to get the Zodiac Spear in the PS2 version. It’s a controversial method, to be sure, and another example of howFinal Fantasyhas fought back against its fans by punishing them for doing what comes naturally: looting chests.
This last bit of trivia is also tied to a weapon and a secret character as well. Through a series of missions,Cloud fromFinal Fantasy 7can become a party member inFinal Fantasy Tactics,but he starts at level one and has no distinct skills. In the character screen, selecting him will prompt a dialogue box alluding to something hiding near a volcano. With Cloud in the party, this may clue players in that they need to travel to Mount Bervenia, but nothing will happen when they do.
The trick is to equip Cloud with the Chemist’s Treasure Hunter ability and then get him to the top of the volcano, where he will find his Materia Blade, allowing him to use Limit Breaks. Treasure Hunter can have characters pick up items on maps, but it’s never anything as rare and specific as this. Unless someone scoured the entire map with Cloud, or any character equipped with Treasure Hunter, they would never find the Materia Blade.
