The Final Fantasy games are often huge and filled with references to previous games. This means that each game has a ton of content that is missed by all but the most dedicated (and crazy) players. Square Enix is one of those companies that love to throw a bone to the fans who search every corner and try and squeeze every ounce of enjoyment from their games. This is why they created the concept of Superbosses, as they wanted to give a challenge to the best Final Fantasy players around.
Hidden secrets aren’t always a good thing, as Square Enix definitely put things into the Final Fantasy games that wouldn’t be found unless the player bought a strategy guide. The Internet has changed this somewhat, as all of a game’s secrets tend to be laid bare in only a few days. The strategy game market has died, which means that Square doesn’t include as many crazy secrets as they used to.
The mobile market has seen a resurgence in the popularity of older Final Fantasy games, which means that many of the pre-VII games are finally gaining the audience that they deserve. The later games are also seeing HD releases and remakes, which means that the golden age of hard to find secrets has returned.
We are here today to look at the secret tricks and techniques that many Final Fantasy veterans have missed over the years. From Cloud’s bizarre dating life, to the secret quest in Final Fantasy VII that most players aren’t even aware exists.
Here are Twenty Awesome Things You Had No Idea You Could Do In Final Fantasy!
20 You Can Date Pretty Much Who You Want
Final Fantasy VII gives the player several dialogue choices throughout the early parts of the game. These are usually related to which of the two heroines that Cloud finds more attractive; Aerith or Tifa. Whoever has the highest points will eventually go on a date with Cloud in the Gold Saucer.
The Final Fantasy VII dating mechanics are heavily tilted in Aerith’s favor. She starts out with fifty points, while Tifa only has thirty.
If you go out of your way to denigrate both girls, then it is possible to take either Barret or Yuffie on the date. You will probably need to follow a guide to see either of these dates, as they can be very difficult to pull off. It will all be worth it though when you finally get the chance to live out your Cloud x Barret fan fiction.
19 There’s Worse Things Than Being A Toad, I Guess
Emperor Mateus is a jerk. This is especially true in the Dissidia games, where he runs around planting traps on the battlefield and firing homing attacks at the enemy.
It’s possible to deal an embarrassing defeat to the Emperor at the end of Final Fantasy II. You can bring the mighty ruler to his knees by turning him into a toad.
The Toad spell in Final Fantasy II acts as an instant death attack. The majority of bosses are immune to its effect. It is possible to remove the Emperor’s immunity to Toad by casting the Wall spell on him first. This is a beneficial spell that also makes him weak to Toad. You can cast down the Emperor by turning him into an amphibian.
18 This Train Doesn’t Stand A Chance
All of the characters in Final Fantasy VI have unique gimmicks that can be used in battle. Sabin’s is his Blitz command, which allows him to perform special attacks. In order to do these, you need to input specific button commands, as if you were playing a fighting game.
One of Sabin’s initial Blitz attacks is called Suplex. He grabs the enemy and jumps into the air with them, before crashing into the ground. The majority of the bosses in Final Fantasy VI are immune to the Suplex. There is one notable exception to this…
When Sabin, Cyan, and Shadow are being pursued by the Phantom Train, it is possible for Sabin to use the Suplex Blitz. This will involve him ripping the Phantom Train from the tracks and making it kiss the canvas.
17 Take A Villain Under Your Wing
Golbez is the antagonist of Final Fantasy IV for most of the game. You eventually learn that he is an unwilling participant in his crimes and is being manipulated by an alien being known as Zemus. He teams up with Fusoya and the two of them try to take Zemus down, but have the tide turned against them. Golbez then falls into the Lunar Sleep.
Golbez wakes up during the events of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. He goes on his own adventures throughout the world, before being killed by a copy of Cecil’s Dark Knight form.
It is possible to save Golbez’s life during this segment and keep him in your party for the remainder of the game. All you have to do is bring Ceodore and Rosa with you and Golbez will survive his mortal wound, so that he can finally be reunited with his family.
16 One Form Was Enough, Thank You
Final Fantasy bosses are known for transforming into bizarre forms during your final encounter with them. Exdeath from Final Fantasy V is no exception to this, as he turns into some pretty weird monsters during the last battle of the game.
Exdeath begins the final battle as a tree floating in space. Once you have dealt a lot of damage to him, then he will transform into Neo Exdeath, which is a bizarre amalgamation of the other boss monsters in the game.
It is possible to skip Neo Exdeath by defeating his first form in a specific way. If you cast Reflect on one of your party members, then Exdeath will reflect his own damage back at him. If he dies in this way, then it will skip his transformation and the game will go straight to the ending.
It is also possible to skip Neo Exdeath by bringing a Chemist into the party and using a mixture to put him into a Berserk status.
15 Up Your Treasure Hunting Game
At the halfway point of Final Fantasy VI, Kefka becomes a god and takes over the world. The party is scattered and left unsure if the other members even survived their escape from the Floating Continent. Kefka tears open the ground, which unleashes ancient monsters upon the world.
The World of Ruin section of Final Fantasy VI can be pretty tricky. There is a way to make it easier, which involves not opening chests in the World of Balance. There are some treasures which will be upgraded if you wait until the second half of the game to open them. Just make sure to open chests in areas that you know you won’t be able to visit again in the World of Ruin.
14 Sorry, I Don’t Have Time For This!
The Shinra Corporation are the first antagonists of Final Fantasy VII. They are eventually brushed aside by Sephiroth and his plan to destroy the world. The Shinra executives briefly become important again later in the game, which forces Cloud and the members of AVALANCHE to sneak back into Midgar and settle the score.
It is possible to skip the entire return to Midgar mission, due to a programming error. Usually, the party members cannot walk during cutscenes. There is an oversight involving the cutscene where Hojo is operating the Sister Ray. You can actually move your characters during this scene and initiate the boss battle with Hojo. This glitch is very important to speed runners, as it allows them to chop a lot of time off their run.
13 Get The Most Powerful Weapon Early
The Final Fantasy games often spread out the weapons. This means that the weapons you find will be stronger as you continue through the story.
Final Fantasy VIII altered this formula, as you now needed to craft new weapons. You had to find magazines hidden around the world which told you what materials you needed to create new weapons. The magazines only told you what you needed, so if you had the materials then you could still make the weapons.
It is possible to make Squall’s most powerful weapon at the start of Final Fantasy VIII. You can use the Card Mod ability to turn the Minotaur card into Adamantite, you can farm T-Rexaurs to acquire a Dragon Fang, and you can turn Elnoyle cards into Energy Crystals and use Ifrit’s Ammo Mod ability to turn them into Pulse Ammo.
12 Double The Overdrive, Double The Fun
This is a secret that is harder depending on the version of Final Fantasy X you own. The European version of Final Fantasy X came out almost a year after the American version. To make up for this, the PAL versions of the game had extra content from the Japanese updated release, such as the Dark Aeons and Penance.
Valefor is the only summon in Final Fantasy X to have two different Overdrive attacks. In order to acquire the second one, you need to return to Besaid Village and talk to a random little girl and her dog. This is actually a lot harder to do in the PAL version, as the entrance to Besaid Village is now guarded by a Dark Valefor, who is one of the hardest bosses in the game.
11 Deny Yourself Treasure For A Greater Reward
Squaresoft was the kings of hiding secrets that you would never be able to work out on your own so that you had to buy the strategy guide. The biggest example of this happened in Final Fantasy XII, as no one would know how to find the best weapon in the game without a guide.
In order to find the Zodiac Spear, you had to not open five specific chests that were scattered around the early portion of the game. This will allow the Zodiac Spear to appear in a chest in the game world.
10 A Forbidden Romance
The cast of Final Fantasy Tactics doesn’t have time for romance. It doesn’t take long for Ramza to be declared a heretic and an outlaw, so he has more pressing concerns than dating. This hasn’t stopped fans from fantasizing about which couples belong together in Ivalice.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions included a secret cutscene that implies that Mustadio has a crush on Agrias. You need to have kept the Knight characters from the start of the game (Alicia and Lavian) in your party, as well as Agrias and Mustadio. You also need half a million gil.
If you enter a town on the 1st of Cancer, then Ramza will witness Mustadio giving Agrias a Tynar Rouge for her birthday.
9 Fixing The Dolls
In Final Fantasy IV, the party has to battle the possessed dolls of Luca, the Dwarven Princess. These dolls are known as Calca and Brina. They can also fuse into one giant doll, named Calcabrina.
Luca returns in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and has upgraded a Calca doll and Brina doll to act as party members. These dolls will go crazy when you reach the Overworld, forcing you to destroy them.
It is actually possible to fix the dolls and keep them as party members for the rest of the story, though the game never tells you this. If you give a Mythril Nut, Mythril Bolt, and Mythril Spring to Luca, then she can fix the dolls and have them rejoin the party.
8 More Secret Endings!
We told you how to skip Neo Exdeath, yet some people like to play games properly and take down the end boss using the old fashioned method of punching them right in their stupid face.
Final Fantasy V actually has multiple endings, though they all lead to the same place. If a party member is dead when you defeat Neo Exdeath, then they will remain trapped in the Void, as they lack the strength to escape. The living party members are returned to the real world, where they mourn for their fallen comrades. Luckily, the Warriors of Dawn will show up with the party members who were left in the Void and will return them to their friends. If none of your party members died during the final battle, then you will skip this sequence.
7 Less Limits To Your Limit Breaks
Limit Breaks have been a popular recurring feature in the Final Fantasy series. These are special attacks that you can perform after taking or dealing a lot of damage.
Final Fantasy VII is commonly attributed with creating Limit Breaks. This isn’t true, as Final Fantasy VI had them first. The only reason most people aren’t aware of this fact is that the Limit Breaks in VI were so rare that it was possible to finish the game without ever seeing one.
The “Desperation Attacks” of Final Fantasy VI have a 1 in 16 chance of happening when the character selects the Attack command while having critically low health. Most players generally try to heal their characters when they are in this state, which is likely why most people never saw a Desperation Attack.
6 You Can Make A Woman Cry, If That’s Your Thing
Final Fantasy XV offers players a unique chance to troll the ending of the game.
Before you enter the final battle, Noctis will go through all of the photos that Prompto has taken on their journey. It is up to the player to select the one that they like the most. Noctis and Lunafreya will look at this picture with some affection during the ending sequence.
The player is free to choose whatever dumb picture they like, such as a close up of a Malboro or one of Cindy’s boobs that Prompto secretly took. Noctis and Lunafreya will always like it.
If you choose specific pictures, such as one of Lunafreya’s wedding dress, then she will actually cry during the ending.
5 A Visit By An Old Friend
Gilgamesh is one of the only recurring Final Fantasy characters who appear to be the same person on each occasion. The same goofy sword nerd has been bumbling around the series since Final Fantasy V and he has yet to get his rematch with Bartz (depending on how Dissidia 012 fits into continuity).
It is possible to encounter Gilgamesh in Final Fantasy IX, though you need to get the highest possible rank in the Treasure Hunter minigame. Gilgamesh will reveal his true identity to Zidane before disappearing.
There is also another hint as to Gilgamesh’s presence in the game, though you need to reach Memoria within twelve hours to see it. You can find a note written by Enkidu near the Excalibur II, which refers to his old friend Gilgamesh.
4 There’s More Than One Ending
Celes becomes the new protagonist of Final Fantasy VI in the World of Ruin. Once she has recovered from her wounds, Celes can go on a journey to reunite the party and save the world from destruction, before returning to the Floating Continent to take down Kefka once and for all.
Most players will do their best to gather all of the missing party members and do as many side quests as possible before taking on Kefka. It is possible to fight him with a minimum of four party members, which will give you a different ending.
Terra will still show up for the ending like a glory hound, even if you didn’t recruit her. The individual cutscenes for each character in the ending will be different depending on who you recruited. Celes will have a different ending if you didn’t find Locke, for example.
3 The Rarest Enemy Skill
The Enemy Skill materia in Final Fantasy VII offers you the chance to learn some of the best abilities in the game. This was the Final Fantasy VII equivalent to Blue Magic from the earlier games, which allowed you to learn specific attacks used by the enemy and use them for yourself.
One of the most difficult skills to learn in Final Fantasy VII is Pandora’s Box. This is because it is only used by one enemy in the game and it will only appear once per save file. Pandora’s Box will only be used by the Dragon Zombie enemy as it dies. If you don’t have the Enemy Skill materia equipped for this battle and you save the game, then you will never be able to obtain Pandora’s Box.
2 Life’s Just A Game Of Cards
The credits sequence of a video game can be pretty boring to watch. These have only gotten worse as time went on, as the amount of people involved in the creation of games has increased. Try sitting through the end credits of one of the modern Grand Theft Auto games without dying of old age.
The creators of Final Fantasy IX decided to throw the players a bone, by allowing them to access a basic blackjack mini-game during the ending. If you input a specific code during the ending, then you can try and hit twenty-one while waiting for the credits to finish. You actually need to play this game at least once in order to unlock all of the achievements in the mobile and Steam versions of Final Fantasy IX.
1 This Isn’t As Unbeatable As You Think
Final Fantasy VII was doing tower defense games before it was cool. The sad thing is: most players weren’t aware of how much tower defense there was.
When you reach the part of the game where you have to retrieve the Huge Materia, the player has to travel to Fort Condor and complete an easy tower defense minigame. Completing this quest nets you the Phoenix summon and a Huge Materia.
Most players aren’t aware that you can compete in twenty different variations of this battle throughout the course of the game. If you keep returning to Fort Condor after specific events, then you can fight off the Shinra army for rare items.
It is also possible (but very difficult) to lose these battles and have the Fort fall. All of the soldiers will be killed and the entrance will be sealed off. This is one of the rarest sequences in the game and most veteran Final Fantasy players have never even seen it.
