Final Fantasy, as a series, has been around for a very long time with dozens of mainline entries, spin-offs, and sub-series as well. If you wanted to learn more about this darling JRPG franchise, these 30 Final Fantasy facts might help you out.
Facts You Didn’t Know About Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
Nobuo Uematsu, the famous Japanese composer who is known for creating a lot of the music of the Final Fantasy series, has stated that one of his biggest influences is actually Elton John.
Uematsu composed music for the first twelve Final Fantasy games and returned to work on Final Fantasy VII Remake.
The first Final Fantasy game was made by a core team of seven people. This included: Hironobu Sakaguchi, who directed the game, and Masafumi Miyamoto, who was the producer of the game.
Akitoshi Kawazu, Hiromichi Tanaka, and Kenji Terada designed the battle system and did scenario design; ]Nasir Gebelli programmed the game, while Nobuo Uematsu did all the music. All of them have left Square Enix and went onto their own ventures.
Final Fantasy III
The track “Cloud Smiles” from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children is based on the Final Fantasy III theme for the town of Amur.
Final Fantasy III wasn’t released in the west due to Square trying to catch up with the technology of the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo. They didn’t have enough manpower to dedicate to making an English version.
Instead, Final Fantasy VI was released as Final Fantasy III in the west. And the PC version of the game is still getting updates to this day!
The design for Chocobos is said to have been inspired by horseclaws, the flightless bird that is used as a mount in the Studio Ghibli movie Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
Final Fantasy VI
If you sit through the entire ending of Final Fantasy VI, it’s about half an hour. Hope you have something to eat and drink.
There are many theories that in Final Fantasy VI, Shadow is actually Relm’s father. The developers later stated that there was going to be a scene in the game to confirm this, but was later removed.
In earlier builds of Final Fantasy VI, in order to get Gogo to join the party, he would appear in random bars in the World of Ruin disguised as a member of your party.
If you entered the bar with the same character he is disguised as he would reveal himself and join your team. The developers said this side quest was too hard and it was dropped from the game.
Final Fantasy VII & VII Remake
Sephiroth, the main villain of Final Fantasy VII, is named after Sephirot, which are the ten attributes that God uses to stay in the existence of the universe in the Jewish religion.
Early concept designs for Cloud showed that his Buster Sword was actually held on his back by a powerful magnet. Although that is not the case now, who really knows how it stays there?
At the start of Final Fantasy VII Remake, there is a reference to the prequel game, Crisis Core. In Mako Reactor 1, there is a poster for Banora White apple juice.
This is a reference to the villain in Crisis Core, Genesis, who carried around a white apple and was from the town of Banora.
If you get really close to one of the pictures in the Seventh Heaven bar in Final Fantasy VII Remake, you’ll see that the picture is the same bar used in the original game.
Final Fantasy VIII
Fujin and Raijin from Final Fantast VIII were actually created for Final Fantasy VII but were not included in the game. Since the assets were already there, the development team used the characters in VIII.
Final Fantasy X
Despite Tidus being the canonical name for the main character for Final Fantasy X, his name is never said during the duration of the game.
The story for Final Fantasy X was apparently scrapped halfway through production, with only the concept of Tidus and Yuna being kept.
Final Fantasy XII
Vann and Ashe from Final Fantasy XII appeared in another Square Enix game before FFXII.
The game is called Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special, and it’s a Monopoly-like board game released for the PS2 exclusively in Japan, two years before Final Fantasy XII released.
Final Fantasy XIII
In Final Fantasy XIII, if you spin the analog stick around on the overworld, whichever character you’re using will do an animation that is akin to the character sighing. If only this game was ported to the Switch!
Final Fantasy XIII is the first game in the series to not feature some kind of remix of the famous Prelude or Victory Fanfare soundtracks.
Vanille was originally supposed to be the main character of Final Fantasy XIII, but it was later changed to Lightning. Lighting was marketed as the female version of Cloud Strife, due to being standoffish and quiet.
Final Fantasy XIV
There are a lot of references to past games in Final Fantasy XIV, so many, that we couldn’t possibly put them all on this list, but here are some really cool ones…
In Final Fantasy I, there is a cave you must visit where a witch named Matoya, who has lost her crystal eye, lives. In Final Fantasy XIV, you can visit Matoya’s cave, who is an important character in the Heavensward expansion.
The cave even has the floating brooms that speak backwards like in the original game.
If you purchased the Heavensward collector’s edition for Final Fantasy XIV, you get an item called Cecil’s Dark Knight Helmet. The letter that comes with this item reads…
“May they take you back to a time when four was two, and two was four.”
This is referencing how Final Fantasy IV was released as Final Fantasy II in the west.
The casting animation for a blue mage in Final Fantasy XIV is based on the same blue mage class in Final Fantasy V.
The famous phantom train from Final Fantasy VI is fightable in Final Fantasy XIV. If you defeat it, a cutscene will ensue in which two ghosts thank you for freeing them. This is referencing Cyan’s dead family from Final Fantasy VI respectfully.
The squat emoji from Final Fantasy XIV is a reference to Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core, who is often seen squatting.
Shantotto, the iconic NPC from Final Fantasy XI, was featured in the collaboration The Old Black Mage event. Once you gain the black mage soul crystal. The gem reads…
“The gem of Shatotto imbues you with dark knowledge.”
This is a reference to Shantotto of Final Fantasy XI.
One of the costumes you can get in the Ridorana Lighthouse in Final Fantasy XIV is actually Vann’s outfit. However, it is not his outfit from Final Fantasy XII, but his attire from Final Fantasy Tactics A2.
If you like Final Fantasy Tactics, here are six games just like it!
Final Fantasy XV
One of Final Fantasy XV‘s main focuses was its large open world. It’s so large that it’s seven hundred and eighty square miles. When you compare that to Grand Theft Auto V, which is only 49 square miles, Grand Theft Auto starts to feel very small.
Final Fantasy I
Nobuo Uematsu, the famous Japanese composer who is known for creating a lot of the music of the Final Fantasy series, has stated that one of his biggest influences is actually Elton John.
Uematsu composed music for the first twelve Final Fantasy games and returned to work on Final Fantasy VII Remake.
The first Final Fantasy game was made by a core team of seven people. This included; Hironobu Sakaguchi, who directed the game, Masafumi Miyamoto, who was the producer of the game.
Akitoshi Kawazu, Hiromichi Tanaka, and Kenji Terada designed the battle system and did scenario design; Nasir Gebelli programmed the game, while Nobuo Uematsu did all the music. All of them have left Square Enix and went onto their own ventures.
Final Fantasy III
The track "Cloud Smiles" from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children is based on the Final Fantasy III theme for the town of Amur.
Final Fantasy III wasn't released in the west due to Square trying to catch up with the technology of the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo. They didn't have enough manpower to dedicate to making an English version.
Instead, Final Fantasy VI was released as Final Fantasy III in the west. And the PC version of the game is still getting updates to this day!The design for Chocobos is said to have been inspired by horseclaws, the flightless bird that is used as a mount in the Studio Ghibli movie Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
Final Fantasy VI
If you sit through the entire ending of Final Fantasy VI, it's about half an hour. Hope you have something to eat and drink.
There are many theories that in Final Fantasy VI, Shadow is actually Relm's father. The developers later stated that there was going to be a scene in the game to confirm this, but was later removed.
In earlier builds of Final Fantasy VI, in order to get Gogo to join the party, he would appear in random bars in the World of Ruin disguised as a member of your party.
If you entered the bar with the same character he is disguised as he would reveal himself and join your team. The developers said this side quest was too hard and it was dropped from the game.
Final Fantasy VII & VII Remake
Early concept designs for Cloud showed that his Buster Sword was actually held on his back by a powerful magnet. Although that is not the case now, who really knows how it stays there?
At the start of Final Fantasy VII Remake, there is a reference to the prequel game, Crisis Core. In Mako Reactor 1, there is a poster for Banora White apple juice.
This is a reference to the villain in Crisis Core, Genesis, who carried around a white apple and was from the town of Banora.
If you get really close to one of the pictures in the Seventh Heaven bar in Final Fantasy VII Remake, you'll see that the picture is the same bar used in the original game.
Final Fantasy VIII
Fujin and Raijin from Final Fantasy VIII were actually created for Final Fantasy VII but were not included in the game. Since the assets were already there, the development team used the characters in VIII.
Final Fantasy X
Despite Tidus being the canonical name for the main character for Final Fantasy X, his name is never said during the duration of the game.
The story for Final Fantasy X was apparently scrapped halfway through production, with only the concept of Tidus and Yuna being kept.
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XII (which can be played on many modern consoles today) once held the record for the longest development period of a video game with it being five years long. This record has definitely been passed.
Vann and Ashe from Final Fantasy XII appeared in another Square Enix game before FFXII.
The game is called Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special, and it's a Monopoly-like board game released for the PS2 exclusively in Japan, two years before Final Fantasy XII released.
Final Fantasy XIII
In Final Fantasy XIII, if you spin the analog stick around on the overworld, whichever character you're using will do an animation that is akin to the character sighing.
Final Fantasy XIII is the first game in the series to not feature some kind of remix of the famous Prelude or Victory Fanfare soundtracks.
Vanille was originally supposed to be the main character of Final Fantasy XIII, but it was later changed to Lightning. Lighting was marketed as the female version of Cloud Strife, due to being standoffish and quiet.
Final Fantasy XIV
There are a lot of references to past games in Final Fantasy XIV, so many, that we couldn't possibly put them all on this list, but here are some really cool ones:
In Final Fantasy I, there is a cave you must visit where a witch named Matoya who has lost her crystal eye, lives. In Final Fantasy XIV, you can visit Matoya's cave, who is an important character in the Heavensward expansion.
The cave even has the floating brooms that speak backwards like in the original game.
If you purchased the Heavensward collectors edition for Final Fantasy XIV, you get an item called Cecil's Dark Knight Helmet. The letter that comes with this item reads:
"May they take you back to a time when four was two, and two was four."
This is referencing how Final Fantasy IV was released as Final Fantasy II in the west.
The casting animation for a blue mage in Final Fantasy XIV is based on the same blue mage class in Final Fantasy V.
The famous phantom train from Final Fantasy VI is fightable in Final Fantasy XIV. If you defeat it, a cutscene will ensue in which two ghosts thank you for freeing them. This is referencing Cyan's dead family from Final Fantasy VI respectfully.
The squat emoji from Final Fantasy XIV is a reference to Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core, who is often seen squatting.
Shantotto, the iconic NPC from Final Fantasy XI, was featured in the collaboration The Old Black Mage event. Once you gain the black mage soul crystal. The gem reads:
"The gem of Shatotto imbues you with dark knowledge"
This is a reference to Shantotto of Final Fantasy XI.
One of the costumes you can get in the Ridorana Lighthouse in Final Fantasy XIV is actually Vann's outfit. However, it is not his outfit fro Final Fantasy XII, but his attire from Final Fantasy Tactics A2.
If you like Final Fantasy Tactics, here are six games just like it!
Final Fantasy XV
One of Final Fantasy XV's main focuses was its large open world. It's so large that it's seven hundred and eighty square miles. When you compare that to Grand Theft Auto V, which is only 49 square miles, Grand Theft Auto starts to feel very small.
About the author
Sterling Silver
Lover of all things turn-based. Playing Games Since 2001, Favorite Genres: JRPG, Survival