Final Fantasy Wiki:Featured Articles/2014

Spira (スピラ, Supira?) is the world of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. Resembling a large island, Spira is composed of a mainland continent with several smaller islands to the east, west and south. Spira's climate is diverse with the tropical seaside islands of Besaid and Kilika, the temperate locales in the Mi'ihen Highroad and Mushroom Rock regions, the polar extremes of Lake Macalania and Mt. Gagazet, the deep, mystical forests of Macalania Woods and the arid deserts of Bikanel.

Spirans operate in weaving, working in shops, bars and travel agencies, playing blitzball, raising chocobos, sailing boats, managing shoopufs, working in archaeological digs, working as mercenaries/sphere hunters, and performing in entertainment troupes. One assumes some Spirans fish and grow produce to supply their fellow Spirans with consumable goods. Another form of occupation is in voluntary works, such as the summoner/guardian pilgrimages, and various religious temple work.

The church of Yevon dominates Spiran life, spreading its teachings and acting as a benevolent protector of a much diminished world — a world where no more than forty million people live and technological and social progress has stalled for 1000 years. Yet, beneath the surface, unity of the Spiran mainland, distrust and old anger still boils leading one to wonder if the various warring factions wouldn't blow each other to smithereens without Sin's pacifying presence. Only blitzball truly unites the world around a common passion, and annual tournaments are held in Luca, left untouched by Sin's wrath mostly due to the Crusaders' efforts.

Two years later, the moral teachings of Yevon have been revitalized in the form of the New Yevon party under Praetor Baralai. Although technically a splinter group of Yevon, the New Yevon party is not a religion, but a way of life, their motto and position on Spira's advancement being "one thing at a time". A rival faction has emerged, the Youth League led by Meyvn Nooj, and their rivalry harbors conflict in Spira until they are unified after the Vegnagun crisis. (more...)

Beings of strange form and appearance made by the gods in ancient times. Favored with great strength and intellect, the Espers knew power far beyond that of men, but their power made them proud, and at length they sought to challenge the gods. Seeing this, the gods were angered and struck down their blessed children, and binding their souls and flesh with the Glyph of the Beast, they stole their freedom for all eternity. Now they are bound to live only when summoned by their Glyph, to serve whosoever called them forth.

Espers, Sage Knowledge

The Espers (召喚獣, Shōkanjū?, lit. Summoned Beasts) in Final Fantasy XII are powerful beings created by the Occuria. The Espers that join the player's side are those spurned by their creators; twelve for having rebelled, and a thirteenth for being too powerful. Most of the Espers are based on the Lucavi in Final Fantasy Tactics or other past bosses of previous Final Fantasy games.

Five Espers first appeared as Totema in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and all but two reappear in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings as Yarhi. Lastly, all Espers return in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift as Scions. Recruiting every Esper in Final Fantasy XII adds Belias's sprite on the Sky Pirate's Den and awards the player with the rank of High Summoner.

There are thirteen available Espers. Five are obtained in the main story; the other eight are found through sidequests. Espers require Mist Charges equal to their level to summon. (more...)

Jenova was a Calamity that fell from the sky a long, long time ago, and tried to destroy the planet...

Marlene Wallace

Jenova (ジェノバ, Jenoba?) is an extraterrestrial life-form in Final Fantasy VII that also appears in a retellings of sections of the game in the rest of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Jenova serves as a major antagonist in the world of Final Fantasy VII, and experiments on its cells have produced many of the other antagonists as well, including Sephiroth.

Jenova's genetic structure is a two-way conduit: it can both take in the traits of its prey, and insert its own genes to turn other organisms into violent monsters. Once Jenova lands upon a planet it will destroy every form of life it finds. Jenova can absorb its prey's memories and form, hiding as their loved ones to destroy them.

As stated in Professor Hojo's Jenova Reunion Theory, once Jenova's cells have been separated from the main body they will seek to reunite. If they are inside a host body they can influence its mind and body to join the Reunion — sometimes so severely the host organism is killed. For an unknown reason organisms affected by Jenova often grow a single wing capable of flight and the pupils of the affected can change into a cat-like slit, though the rest of the eye remains unchanged.

In Final Fantasy VII Jenova is fought four times. Jenova∙BIRTH is fought on the Cargo Ship. Jenova∙LIFE is fought in the Forgotten Capital at the end of Part I. Jenova∙DEATH is fought at the Whirlwind Maze, and Jenova∙SYNTHESIS is fought at the end of the game in the depths of Northern Cave.

It has been suggested from the material present in the Ultimania Omega that rather than there being several Black Capes, there was just one, Jenova, who was cutting off bits of its body as it journeyed towards Sephiroth until all that remains is a heart. In the original version the party would catch up with the Black Cape in the Whirlwind Maze, and the figure would remove the hood to show it has no face, and then take off the cloak to show it is nothing but Jenova's heart floating midair, the final piece, which would then transform into a monster. (more...)

A mysterious little creature, he makes himself useful by transforming into a weapon for Serah. No one knows much about this strange animal who calls himself her guardian. People were led to believe that moogles don't exist, and those who meet him for the first time assume he is merely a stuffed animal. Although shy at first, once he opens up, he is quite the chatterbox, teaching Serah and Noel all about the world and its history.

Online Description

Mog (モーグリ, Mōguri?) is a supporting character in Final Fantasy XIII-2 accompanying Serah Farron and Noel Kreiss on their journey through time, teaching them about the game's mechanics, and acting as Serah's weapon in battle. In Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Mog leads the Moogle Village in the Wildlands of Nova Chrysalia.

Although officially called "Mog" some official material calls him The Moogle or just Moogle, for example in the EU wallpaper. In the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Mog is referred to as "Moogle" and rarely called "Mog". His entry in the Datalog of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII suggests his real name is not Mog and that he doesn't know his real name.

Mog originates from the Ocean of Time, a place abundant with moogles. While playing hide-and-seek with his friends Mog was sucked into a paradox, losing his memories of his home, friends, and family. Mog drifted into the Void Beyond and during his travel encountered a chocobo chick and many other various creatures in many humorous encounters, including those with five flan, a Centaurion Blade, an Imp and his Ahriman friend, and the Proto fal'Cie Adam.

In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Mog can not only transform into Serah's weapon, but can execute the Mog Clock pre-battle system and detect hidden treasures on the field with Moogle Hunt. Mog can be thrown by Noel or Serah toward out-of-reach areas through the Moogle Throw command. (more...)

Mysidia...the place where all this madness began.

Cecil Harvey

Mysidia (ミシディアこく">ミシディア国, Mishidia Koku?, lit. Country of Mysidia) is a town in Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Mysidia is inhabited by wizards, and is ruled by an Elder. It is the hometown of Palom and Porom, and is one end of the Devil's Road, which connects Baron and Mysidia. The Tower of Prayers is located in Mysidia, and is where the Elder prays for those he cares about.

According to the Settei Shiryuu Hen guide book, it was founded by the Sage Mingwu (alluding to Minwu from Final Fantasy II), who drifted ashore 500 years before the events of Final Fantasy IV, although this idea has seemingly since been discarded. Practicing magic was initially a benevolent hobby accessible to everybody, but people became corrupted by power and competition. Mingwu was enraged and sealed away magic, and the Old Age of Magic came to an end. He later restored magic but made it so that only certain persons could use it, and this became the start of the New Age of Magic.

The Dark Knight Cecil raids Mysidia with the Red Wings airship fleet to steal the Crystal of Water for the King of Baron. Later he washes ashore near Mysidia after being attacked by Leviathan, but the inhabitants of Mysidia, unforgiving of his actions, cast spells on him such as Toad, Pig, and Poison when he returns.

Mysidia's theme, "Mystic Mysidia", features some peculiar elements not found in many town themes throughout the series. Its fast tempo and the inclusion of a cuckoo bird's chirp within the rhythmic section are but a few of these. A rearranged version of the theme was included in Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon album. In The After Years, when the blue planet invaded in chaos by the True Moon in The Crystals chapter, the track "Castle Damcyan" is played instead. (More...)

Yoshitaka Amano (天野 喜孝, Amano Yoshitaka?) is an artist who designed many characters in the Final Fantasy series as well as for other series. He is a native of Shizuoka, Japan.

His uniqueness in his designs are such that he does not design images directly for animation or comics. Amano's art revolves around the medium of printmaking. Printmaking involves processes such as carving wood and/or scoring copper plates, running ink, and transferring ink to paper. Aside from woodcut and copper plate prints, Amano also uses the method of lithography. He typically uses acrylics to color his prints, using an effect resembling watercolor, and many of his works are influenced by ukiyo-e aesthetics.

To this day Amano has drawn and designed most of the main characters and prominent points in the iconic games of the series. He designed the characters and most of the enemies for Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, and Final Fantasy VI. He was also one of several designers for Final Fantasy IX. In Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy X, he also drew several pieces of art of the characters, for which he is credited as an Image Illustrator.

More recently, he has illustrated Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, Greg Rucka's Elektra and Wolverine: The Redeemer, mink's Shinjuku, and his own Hero series. He has occasionally returned to working on anime, such as the surreal Angel's Egg, as well as experimental works such as Fantascope: Tylostoma, and the more mainstream NY Salad: Vegetable Fairies. In addition to the Final Fantasy series, he has also worked as character designer for the Front Mission game series, and "Kartia". He has also appeared as the character Hiroshi in the live action movie New Rose Hotel. (More...)

Trance is induced by a surge of emotion.

Steiner in battle

Trance (トランス, Toransu?) is the Limit Break system in Final Fantasy IX that temporarily transforms a character into a more powerful form, increasing all physical damage by 1.5 (except for Steiner, who becomes even more powerful). While in Trance party members have their innate unique skills enhanced in some fashion.

Trance is accumulated as the character is attacked by enemies, filling the gauge underneath their ATB bar. If a character is afflicted with Zombie, the Trance bar is reduced to zero. Once the Trance bar is filled, the character immediately enters Trance, changing their appearance and giving the character a mysterious glow. All attacks are equal in filling the Trance bar, and thus even attacks that do no damage count towards it. As the character enters Trance as soon as the filling blow has been dealt, it is possible for an enemy's final attack to trigger it, giving a character a Trance at what is the end of the battle, effectively wasting it. Thus, using Trance strategically can be tough as one cannot easily control who enemies attack and how often.

Trance is a surge of powerful emotions that momentarily enhances one's inner capabilities, and thus the effects are unique to each individual. As explained in Final Fantasy IX Ultimania, Kuja lacks the ability to express complex emotions due to having been denied a childhood, and thus is unable to naturally enter Trance. (More...)

Crossing the distant night, Wandering the desert sea. The gods' voices are mirages; The forgotten people.

Lyrics from the Final Fantasy: Pray arrangement of Terra's Theme, titled "時の放浪者 (Toki no Hōrōsha?, lit. Wanderer of Time)"

"Terra's Theme" (ティナのテーマ, Tina no Tēma?), also known as "Terra" or "Tina", is Terra Branford's theme and the main theme of Final Fantasy VI. It was composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

"Terra's Theme" is the overworld theme of the World of Balance. Being the main theme, it is reused for other themes of its soundtrack. Its motif is included in "Save the Espers!", which plays at the Battle for the Frozen Esper, during the escape from the Magitek Research Facility, and during the battle with the Imperial Air Force; and in the game's "Ending Theme" from 7:46 to 8:20, and later at 16:46.

"Terra's Theme" was released as the first track of the second disc of the Final Fantasy VI: Original Sound Version, and of the Kefka's Domain - The complete soundtrack from the Final Fantasy III video game album. "Terra's Theme" arrangement by TOSE for Final Fantasy VI Advance was released as the first track of the Final Fantasy Finest Box collection's fifth disc. (More...)

SeeD... (...A code name, for Balamb Garden's elite mercenary force... SeeD... Combat specialists...) ...Don't you already know?

Squall

SeeD (シード, Shīdo?) is a mercenary force in Final Fantasy VIII, whose operatives graduate from Balamb Garden. SeeD is a mercenary force for hire, conducting missions around the world as battle support and undercover operatives. Their services are requested by governments and civilians; their tasks range from providing military support to protecting civilians to slaying monsters.

Only Balamb Garden trains SeeD cadets, but members from the other Gardens can transfer to Balamb for the field exam. All SeeD are stationed at Balamb. The SeeD specialize in high-level para-magic via the use of Guardian Forces.

SeeD candidates must be between 15 years to 19 years old; at 20, they can no longer apply. They have to pass a written exam, a field exam, and have to be accepted by the headmaster, Cid Kramer.

All students in the Garden training to be SeeD and have yet to graduate are considered SeeD cadets. SeeD field operatives have a ranking system from 1 to 30 (1 being the lowest rank and 30 being the highest). They can increase their ranking by completing written tests that cover a variety of subjects. (More...)

Yuna is the deuteragonist of Final Fantasy X and the main protagonist of its sequel, Final Fantasy X-2. She is the daughter of high summoner Braska and an unnamed Al Bhed woman, who died when Sin attacked her ship at sea. Yuna's mother was the sister of the Al Bhed leader Cid, who is Yuna's uncle and the father of Rikku and Brother, Yuna's cousins.

In Final Fantasy X, Yuna becomes a summoner like her father before her, and embarks on a pilgrimage to expel Sin. She meets Tidus who teaches her there is more to life than sacrifice.Yuna is a kind-hearted, loyal, honest, and polite humanitarian who strives to see the best in others and has a strong conviction to complete whatever task she feels is her duty. She is naive, always believing the best of people, and often places the needs of others above her own. Like most summoners, Yuna is a devout follower of Yevon's teachings. She hides her feelings of fear and sadness while encouraging her friends to express themselves in her place.

Two years later Yuna has undergone a transformation with a new revealing dress style and a more adventurous personality. Yuna's attire changes for each of the dresspheres, with details that distinguish her from Rikku and Paine. Yuna's default appearance is the Gunner dressphere, an outfit given to her by Rikku in Final Fantasy X: Eternal Calm. Freed from her responsibilities as a summoner, Yuna has a new lease on life. Though still unflinchingly polite, soft-spoken, and driven, she is now athletic, cosmopolitan, outspoken, and playful. Yuna has developed a go-getter attitude, willing to jump headfirst into danger but also considers to resolve issues without resorting to violence. She has learned to think and desire for herself.

Yuna has heterochromia: her left eye is blue, while the right is green to represent her half-Al Bhed heritage, though without the characteristic spiral. (More...)

Ruby Weapon is one of the two superbosses of Final Fantasy VII, along with the Emerald Weapon. In Final Fantasy VII, it is one of the three Weapon enemies added in the North American, PAL, and International versions of the game. It is an optional boss that resides in the sand around the Gold Saucer on the world map. To get it to appear, the player must defeat Ultimate Weapon and then fight one random battle afterward to trigger Ruby Weapon's appearance, although some players have reported Ruby Weapon not appearing at all, or that it appears but is invisible and the player can only initiate the battle by running into it by chance.

The player can only approach Ruby Weapon by Highwind or chocobo. It can permanently eject party members from battle, has extremely high defense, inflict targets with status effects by its tentacles, and uses some of the strongest attacks in the game. Defeating Ruby Weapon in the PC version re-release of Final Fantasy VII unlocks the Ruby Weapon achievement.

Ruby Weapon's defenses nullify most damage that is not fixed or defense-ignoring. Its Whirlsand attack removes a party member from battle but can only be used only after Ruby Weapon's 25th and 32nd turns, or when its tentacles are not withdrawn.

Ruby Weapon will not expose its tentacles unless only a single character is alive, but is immune to all damage until that point. Therefore, it is advisable to open the battle with a single character and cast Life2 linked to an All Materia, or the Phoenix summon. Ruby Weapon is not immune to the Paralyzed status, meaning Dazers or Hades can keep Ruby Weapon from attacking for a few turns. (more...)

There really isn't any deep meaning to it, we just wanted to make a character that would appear in various forms in all the games. I guess I've always had a soft spot for that kind of character. Cid is like Yoda from the Star Wars series--very intelligent and wise.

Hironobu Sakaguchi in EGM2 August 1997.

Cid (シド, Shido?) is a character that has appeared, or been mentioned, in almost all Final Fantasy-related media; the main series, spinoffs, film and anime. Cid has become a Final Fantasy trademark, as with chocobos and moogles. He leads the list of recurring characters, which include Biggs and Wedge and Gilgamesh. However, each installment features a different Cid character, and his roles in the series range widely from a party member to a NPC to an antagonist.

In Final Fantasy tradition, Cid characters often have a group of distinct traits fans have come to expect. They are often mechanically minded and frequently portrayed as engineers or inventors. Cids are often the source of the airships the player uses toward the game's end, as its captain or its creator.

The Cid characters are sometimes partially responsible for the main conflict within the game as a result of his inventions or research being abused. If this is the case, he will often seek redemption by assisting the party. Cid is usually older than the main cast, sometimes by several decades, and they are thus portrayed as fatherly figures, sometimes as the biological, adoptive, or surrogate father of one of the main characters.(more...)