10 Hidden Secrets In Final Fantasy Games
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VOICE OVER: Aaron Brown
WRITTEN BY: Aaron Brown
With so many games in the "Final Fantasy" series, you're bound to have missed some secrets. For this list, we'll be searching through the long history of Final Fantasy games to find secrets and nods to other entries that even die hard fans might've missed during their many playthroughs. Our list includes Mr. Clio's Cave from “Final Fantasy V” (1992), End Game Dungeon from “Final Fantasy XV” (2016), Pupu The Alien from “Final Fantasy VIII” (1999), and more!
Script written by Aaron Brown
With so many games in the "Final Fantasy" series, you're bound to have missed some secrets. For this list, we’ll be searching through the long history of Final Fantasy games to find secrets and nods to other entries that even die hard fans might’ve missed during their many playthroughs. Our list includes Mr. Clio’s Cave from “Final Fantasy V” (1992), End Game Dungeon from “Final Fantasy XV” (2016), Pupu The Alien from “Final Fantasy VIII” (1999), and more! How many of these secrets did you know about? Any others you’ve managed to find? Secretly let us know down in the comments.
Combat encounters have been a staple of the Final Fantasy franchise since the earliest days of the series, and while these battles are usually designed to teach the player about strategy by matching elemental weakness to certain enemy types or simply overpowering them with superior weaponry, there is a secret way to combat certain enemies you face that many Final Fantasy fans may have never considered. Over the course of the series, gamers will have undoubtedly encountered many zombie or undead type enemies that they would simply brute force their way through, but there is a far easier way to deal with them. If you use a healing spell or pheonix down on an undead enemy, in most cases it will simply kill them since they're, you know, already dead. This tactic also works on many of the undead bosses as well.
Final Fantasy XV was a solid new entry and a bold new direction for the franchise, but many complained about the game’s storyline meant to tie the whole experience together. Not only was the game criticized for piecemealing out story DLC to fill in the gaps, but large parts of the game’s lore were explained in a tie-in movie many either didn’t watch or were unaware even existed. Those who did give the film a watch might’ve overlooked one of the game’s nods to film. Near the end of the game when confronting Ardyn in the throne room, the bodies of various characters players have encountered are hanging from the ceiling in a hallucination created by Ardyn. Eagle-eyed fans will be able to spot the body of Kingsglaive main character Nyx hanging among them, his crystalline arm being a dead giveaway.
Kekfa from Final Fantasy 6 is Final Fantasy royalty in terms of iconic villainy, ranking up there with the likes of Sephiroth in Final Fantasy 7. He is also, to date, one of the only villains in the entire franchise to succeed in their plans to end the world. So with this in mind, it’s no surprise that the developers of Final Fantasy 7 paid homage to the villain that came before with a little Easter Egg for players to stumble across during their exploration of the Monster Hotel during the team’s stop at the Golden Saucer. When approaching a pumpkin in a cage and interacting with it, players will hear Kefka’s familiar laugh echo around them. While we doubt this is actually Kefka breaking through the barriers of space and time to be reincarnated as a pumpkin, it’s still a fun Easter Egg for fans of both titles.
Video games tracking a player's stats within a game is nothing new and many do so through an option within the menu the players can check themselves. Final Fantasy V took a different approach however and many never even knew the game was watching their every move. In an undisclosed location on the overworld map, really there’s not even an indicator anything is there, players can find a secret cave and an NPC hidden within. The NPC identifies himself as Mr. Clio and when prompted will disclose the player’s various stats of their playthrough up to that point, including number of battles they’ve engaged in, how many times they’ve saved, and how many enemies they’d killed. It’s a fun look inside how the game monitors the player’s actions and is a lot more fun than simply clicking on a few different options within a menu screen.
During the many adventures in Final Fantasy games over the years, one of the main characters’ quests is to recruit more party members to their cause. Many of these are fundamental to the overall story while just as many aren’t and are even missable, such as Yuffie or Vincent in Final Fantasy 7. Gogo, aka Mr. Mime, is one such character within Final Fantasy 6. Not only are the methods of recruiting this character to your roster bizarre, he brings nothing to the overall plot of the game and requires almost zero convincing to join you. After being eaten by Zone Eater during a random encounter, Gogo is found just hanging out within the cave inside the beast for no apparent reason whatsoever. There have been a lot of characters with “character” in Final Fantasy games over the years, but Gogo is something else entirely.
In the Final Fantasy series, it’s not uncommon to come across some weird or strange side missions or activities, and the Pupu the Alien side quest certainly falls into this category. With virtually no direction given to the player how to initiate this encounter let alone complete it, in the pre-internet days Pupu the Alien might have just been a story fans told each other around the playground. By visiting numerous locations and witnessing a little UFO abducting various landmarks, players will eventually engage in combat with the UFO, forcing the pilot to abandon ship which leads to yet ANOTHER encounter later on. The little alien comes in peace however, as Pupu only asks for elixirs, probably to heal himself from their encounter earlier, and then rewards the player with a rare Triple Triad card before disappearing just as mysteriously as he appeared in the first place.
Final Fantasy 9 has no shortage of side quests to get lost in, but only a couple end up taking up a majority of the game to complete, such as finding Mognet Central (xref), FF9’s version of the moogles’ post office. One of the title’s longest and most challenging side quests is getting your beloved Choco to Chocobo Paradise, a hidden world where all Chocobos live in peace and harmony away from the outside world that has been ruled over for 5000 years by the Fat Chocobo who will not only grant you the ability to speak Chocobo but will even battle you in Tetra Master! Not only do you need to train your Chocobo to a Gold Chocobo allowing it to fly, you also need to complete nearly all Hot and Cold quests with your Chocobo in order to even discover the hidden location.
Rivalry between game properties is nothing new and predates even the console rivalry that blew up between Sega and Nintendo in the 90s. Before those days, there was even rivalry within Nintendo properties themselves. Released a year before the first Final Fantasy title, The Legend of Zelda changed the way players experienced video games and an icon was born. When Final Fantasy was released a year later, the developers at Square decided to throw a bit of shade Link’s way, perhaps out of spite or playful banter, we may never know. While exploring Elfland, of all places, players will find a graveyard and upon interacting with one of the headstones will find the message: “Here Lies Link”. The fact that this is not only found in a town populated by elves but also a year after Nintendo’s breakthrough hit makes the reference undeniable.
Final Fantasy games aren’t necessarily known for their endgame content. Occasionally players will have the option to go back and complete side quests they left unfinished after the credits roll, but in most cases the game even warns the player, “there’s no going back after this point, are you sure you want to continue?” After being conditioned to this over the many entries in the Final Fantasy franchise, most players completely overlooked the fact that after completing the main campaign in Final Fantasy XV, they were given the option to seek out and explore one final dungeon that also happens to include some of the most powerful weaponry and equipment in the game. Using the Regalia Type F, players can reach a previously inaccessible section of the map and explore one of the game’s most unique and challenging dungeons.
The story of Zack Fair is a pivotal one for both Cloud and Aerith over the course of events that take place before Final Fantasy VII proper. Learning Zack's backstory and what exactly happened to him and Cloud is a powerful moment for both heroes, and there’s still more of the story for players to find if they know where to look. After Cloud exits the life stream and rejoins his friends, Cloud can encounter this hidden cutscene by reentering the basement of the Shinra Mansion. During the cutscene, Cloud and Zack escape captivity before the two are cornered by an army of Shinra soldiers. After fighting them off, Zack is left mortally wounded before being unceremoniously executed and the cutscene ends as Cloud crawls to him and takes his Buster Sword. This moment would be fleshed out in Crisis Core and then completely undone in FFVII Remake.
With so many games in the "Final Fantasy" series, you're bound to have missed some secrets. For this list, we’ll be searching through the long history of Final Fantasy games to find secrets and nods to other entries that even die hard fans might’ve missed during their many playthroughs. Our list includes Mr. Clio’s Cave from “Final Fantasy V” (1992), End Game Dungeon from “Final Fantasy XV” (2016), Pupu The Alien from “Final Fantasy VIII” (1999), and more! How many of these secrets did you know about? Any others you’ve managed to find? Secretly let us know down in the comments.
Heal The Dead
“Final Fantasy” Series (1987-)Combat encounters have been a staple of the Final Fantasy franchise since the earliest days of the series, and while these battles are usually designed to teach the player about strategy by matching elemental weakness to certain enemy types or simply overpowering them with superior weaponry, there is a secret way to combat certain enemies you face that many Final Fantasy fans may have never considered. Over the course of the series, gamers will have undoubtedly encountered many zombie or undead type enemies that they would simply brute force their way through, but there is a far easier way to deal with them. If you use a healing spell or pheonix down on an undead enemy, in most cases it will simply kill them since they're, you know, already dead. This tactic also works on many of the undead bosses as well.
Nyx’s Corpse
“Final Fantasy XV” (2016)Final Fantasy XV was a solid new entry and a bold new direction for the franchise, but many complained about the game’s storyline meant to tie the whole experience together. Not only was the game criticized for piecemealing out story DLC to fill in the gaps, but large parts of the game’s lore were explained in a tie-in movie many either didn’t watch or were unaware even existed. Those who did give the film a watch might’ve overlooked one of the game’s nods to film. Near the end of the game when confronting Ardyn in the throne room, the bodies of various characters players have encountered are hanging from the ceiling in a hallucination created by Ardyn. Eagle-eyed fans will be able to spot the body of Kingsglaive main character Nyx hanging among them, his crystalline arm being a dead giveaway.
Kefka Lives
“Final Fantasy VII” (1997)Kekfa from Final Fantasy 6 is Final Fantasy royalty in terms of iconic villainy, ranking up there with the likes of Sephiroth in Final Fantasy 7. He is also, to date, one of the only villains in the entire franchise to succeed in their plans to end the world. So with this in mind, it’s no surprise that the developers of Final Fantasy 7 paid homage to the villain that came before with a little Easter Egg for players to stumble across during their exploration of the Monster Hotel during the team’s stop at the Golden Saucer. When approaching a pumpkin in a cage and interacting with it, players will hear Kefka’s familiar laugh echo around them. While we doubt this is actually Kefka breaking through the barriers of space and time to be reincarnated as a pumpkin, it’s still a fun Easter Egg for fans of both titles.
Mr. Clio’s Cave
“Final Fantasy V” (1992)Video games tracking a player's stats within a game is nothing new and many do so through an option within the menu the players can check themselves. Final Fantasy V took a different approach however and many never even knew the game was watching their every move. In an undisclosed location on the overworld map, really there’s not even an indicator anything is there, players can find a secret cave and an NPC hidden within. The NPC identifies himself as Mr. Clio and when prompted will disclose the player’s various stats of their playthrough up to that point, including number of battles they’ve engaged in, how many times they’ve saved, and how many enemies they’d killed. It’s a fun look inside how the game monitors the player’s actions and is a lot more fun than simply clicking on a few different options within a menu screen.
Gogo
“Final Fantasy VI” (1994)During the many adventures in Final Fantasy games over the years, one of the main characters’ quests is to recruit more party members to their cause. Many of these are fundamental to the overall story while just as many aren’t and are even missable, such as Yuffie or Vincent in Final Fantasy 7. Gogo, aka Mr. Mime, is one such character within Final Fantasy 6. Not only are the methods of recruiting this character to your roster bizarre, he brings nothing to the overall plot of the game and requires almost zero convincing to join you. After being eaten by Zone Eater during a random encounter, Gogo is found just hanging out within the cave inside the beast for no apparent reason whatsoever. There have been a lot of characters with “character” in Final Fantasy games over the years, but Gogo is something else entirely.
Pupu The Alien
“Final Fantasy VIII” (1999)In the Final Fantasy series, it’s not uncommon to come across some weird or strange side missions or activities, and the Pupu the Alien side quest certainly falls into this category. With virtually no direction given to the player how to initiate this encounter let alone complete it, in the pre-internet days Pupu the Alien might have just been a story fans told each other around the playground. By visiting numerous locations and witnessing a little UFO abducting various landmarks, players will eventually engage in combat with the UFO, forcing the pilot to abandon ship which leads to yet ANOTHER encounter later on. The little alien comes in peace however, as Pupu only asks for elixirs, probably to heal himself from their encounter earlier, and then rewards the player with a rare Triple Triad card before disappearing just as mysteriously as he appeared in the first place.
Chocobo Paradise
“Final Fantasy IX” (2000)Final Fantasy 9 has no shortage of side quests to get lost in, but only a couple end up taking up a majority of the game to complete, such as finding Mognet Central (xref), FF9’s version of the moogles’ post office. One of the title’s longest and most challenging side quests is getting your beloved Choco to Chocobo Paradise, a hidden world where all Chocobos live in peace and harmony away from the outside world that has been ruled over for 5000 years by the Fat Chocobo who will not only grant you the ability to speak Chocobo but will even battle you in Tetra Master! Not only do you need to train your Chocobo to a Gold Chocobo allowing it to fly, you also need to complete nearly all Hot and Cold quests with your Chocobo in order to even discover the hidden location.
Grave Message
“Final Fantasy” (1987)Rivalry between game properties is nothing new and predates even the console rivalry that blew up between Sega and Nintendo in the 90s. Before those days, there was even rivalry within Nintendo properties themselves. Released a year before the first Final Fantasy title, The Legend of Zelda changed the way players experienced video games and an icon was born. When Final Fantasy was released a year later, the developers at Square decided to throw a bit of shade Link’s way, perhaps out of spite or playful banter, we may never know. While exploring Elfland, of all places, players will find a graveyard and upon interacting with one of the headstones will find the message: “Here Lies Link”. The fact that this is not only found in a town populated by elves but also a year after Nintendo’s breakthrough hit makes the reference undeniable.
End Game Dungeon
“Final Fantasy XV” (2016)Final Fantasy games aren’t necessarily known for their endgame content. Occasionally players will have the option to go back and complete side quests they left unfinished after the credits roll, but in most cases the game even warns the player, “there’s no going back after this point, are you sure you want to continue?” After being conditioned to this over the many entries in the Final Fantasy franchise, most players completely overlooked the fact that after completing the main campaign in Final Fantasy XV, they were given the option to seek out and explore one final dungeon that also happens to include some of the most powerful weaponry and equipment in the game. Using the Regalia Type F, players can reach a previously inaccessible section of the map and explore one of the game’s most unique and challenging dungeons.
Zack’s Final Stand
“Final Fantasy VII” (1997)The story of Zack Fair is a pivotal one for both Cloud and Aerith over the course of events that take place before Final Fantasy VII proper. Learning Zack's backstory and what exactly happened to him and Cloud is a powerful moment for both heroes, and there’s still more of the story for players to find if they know where to look. After Cloud exits the life stream and rejoins his friends, Cloud can encounter this hidden cutscene by reentering the basement of the Shinra Mansion. During the cutscene, Cloud and Zack escape captivity before the two are cornered by an army of Shinra soldiers. After fighting them off, Zack is left mortally wounded before being unceremoniously executed and the cutscene ends as Cloud crawls to him and takes his Buster Sword. This moment would be fleshed out in Crisis Core and then completely undone in FFVII Remake.
