The Remaining Fantasy sequence is constructed upon a treasure trove of wonderful moments. With a legacy lasting over 35 years, Remaining Fantasy is likely one of the longest-running RPG sequence in gaming historical past. It’s a sequence famous for its fixed evolution and innovation. No recreation is like one other, and that is very true on the story axis. All of us have our favourite Remaining Fantasy moments, however listed here are the 10 wildest moments that solely the sequence might pull off.
Garland’s Time Loop (Remaining Fantasy I)
Should you suppose fashionable Remaining Fantasy tales are deviating from the classics with their convoluted time journey and dimensional shenanigans, suppose once more. The very first Remaining Fantasy recreation featured time journey as a core plot ingredient. Sure, that’s proper, the traditional medieval Remaining Fantasy video games of yore had their fair proportion of sci-fi wonkiness in them, and it wasn’t at all times straightforward to grasp both.
Remaining Fantasy 1 is a textbook instance of the type of multi-layered storytelling Sq. Enix is thought for within the fashionable period. In Remaining Fantasy 1, The principle villain, Garland, constructs a time loop that enables him to dwell ceaselessly. The 4 heroes of sunshine journey again 2000 years prior to now to defeat Garland earlier than he units the loop in movement. What’s outstanding is that Remaining Fantasy 1 was launched again in 1987 earlier than Tetsuya Nomura would confuse everybody along with his Kingdom Hearts plots.
My Associates Are My Energy! (Remaining Fantasy IV)
Some of the surprising features of Remaining Fantasy IV was what number of occasion members died sacrificing themselves. All through the sport, a minimum of 5 principal occasion members seem to die alongside the best way. Cid actually straps a bomb to his chest and falls right into a pool of lava a number of hours after assembly him. Palom and Parom sacrifice themselves as they flip to stone, and Tellah casts the devastating Meteo spell, dying within the course of.
Nicely, what could be much more surprising than all these deaths, you say? The truth that all of them come again to life by the tip of the sport. All these useless occasion members come collectively for a kumbaya second within the Tower of Prayers to deliver Cecil and buddies the ability they should defeat Zeromus on the moon. The ‘buddies are my energy’ trope would go on to infest anime and video video games within the late 90s and past, however again in 1991 when FFIV was launched, this was nonetheless a contemporary idea.
The Opera Home Scene (Remaining Fantasy VI)
Music is a robust factor; it will probably inform tales in ways in which phrases can’t, drawing out highly effective feelings within the course of. The builders of Remaining Fantasy VI understood the ability of music nicely and demonstrated it higher than every other recreation prior. Remaining Fantasy VI includes a absolutely fleshed-out opera and has the participant truly performing strains in it.
Portraying a Shakespearian retelling of the sport’s themes by way of such a medium makes the opera scene actually revolutionary within the historical past of online game storytelling. However one of the best factor about it’s simply how darn phenomenal the precise music is. Collection composer Nobuo Uematsu efficiently emulated vocal opera singing throughout 4 operatic actions utilizing the tiny Tremendous Nintendo soundchip. All in all, the opera home scene in FFVI helped to cement Remaining Fantasy’s music as being a number of the best possible in online game historical past.
Kefka Destroys the World (Remaining Fantasy VI)
How typically does the villain of an RPG win? Not very. How typically does a villain of any story win? Nonetheless fairly dang uncommon. The villain of Remaining Fantasy VI wins, and it’s not even on the finish of the sport, it’s smack dab within the center. Many gamers (myself included) thought the climax on the Floating Continent with Kefka was the tip of the sport, however oh no, it’s solely the start of the second half.
The second half of Remaining Fantasy VI takes place in a world completely destroyed by Kefka. If the dreary funeral dirge music or the barren panorama doesn’t paint the tone completely, possibly Celes’ tried suicide will. There’s little doubt about it; Kefka destroying the world in the course of Remaining Fantasy VI’s journey is a setting-changing incident unparalleled in gaming. The World of Smash marks a turning level in RPG historical past for its radical tone shift and gameplay implications. Say what you need about Kefka being a clown of a villain, he’s one of many few that really succeeded.
Sephiroth Kills Aerith (Remaining Fantasy VII)
Vital characters dying wasn’t a brand new factor when Remaining Fantasy VII hit the scene in 1997. Remaining Fantasy IV had half of the principle forged die sooner or later in its story and Remaining Fantasy II wasn’t shy about loss of life and bloodbath within the slightest. What units Aerith’s loss of life aside in Remaining Fantasy VII is the presentation and story implementation. Aerith wasn’t only a principal occasion member, she was arguably the principal character of the complete recreation. You play the sport by way of Cloud’s perspective, however Aerith’s significance because the final dwelling Cetra makes her loss of life extra impactful than every other.
Not like previous video games within the sequence, Remaining Fantasy VII didn’t change round occasion members. The sport encourages you to get comfy with the group with personalised Materia builds and a static occasion format. There was a robust sensation that the occasion was everlasting in Remaining Fantasy VII; as Barret says, “There ain’t no getting off this prepare we’re on.” Aerith is the only healer of the group and the sport doesn’t warn you not to equip her with invaluable stuff.
All of this makes for a surprising loss of life out of left area. Remaining Fantasy VII doesn’t pull any punches with Aerith’s loss of life; we see her stabbing in intimate element and by no means get her again by the tip of the sport. Aerith’s loss of life in Remaining Fantasy VII stays certainly one of gaming’s best twists for good cause.
The Opening Blitzball Scene (Remaining Fantasy X)
Remaining Fantasy X has maybe the strongest opening of any online game, full cease. It’s acquired intrigue, humor, pleasure, and shock worth, but it surely’s additionally acquired an entire lotta bizarre to prime it off. We begin with a well-recognized sufficient scene: a sports activities star signing followers’ autographs earlier than enjoying within the large recreation. Issues begin feeling alien after we see Tidus (the aforementioned sports activities star) being lectured by some eery ghost boy, and we spot a large vat of water suspended within the sky, which is the Blitzball stadium. And that’s not even scratching the floor of how bizarre Remaining Fantasy X will get.
The underwater Blitzball match begins with some wonderful heavy steel music enjoying over gamers brutally tackling one another as they fly into the stands. All of that is enjoying out in spectacular CGI, which was prime of its class in 2001. Then, a large sky whale interrupts the match by decimating the complete metropolis and warping Tidus and his mysterious acquaintance to an underwater spoil… Yeah, I can go on, however Remaining Fantasy X has many of those otherworldly moments. That intro hook remains to be one of the crucial mind-bogglingly superior of any I’ve ever seen in gaming, so it simply earns a spot on this record.
Serah Shouts At Hope Throughout Time and House (Remaining Fantasy XIII-2)
Remaining Fantasy XIII-2 solved a number of the gameplay points that plagued its prequel however launched some new story issues together with it. Whereas Remaining Fantasy XIII’s story is usually coherent and linear, XIII-2’s is something however. The plot of FF XIII-2 revolves round fixing paradoxes which have contaminated the space-time continuum. A few of these paradoxes are downright nonsensical, however none are as loopy because the one on this record.
Right here’s my try to elucidate this paradox in easy phrases, *takes deep breath*. Serah and Noel should confront a rogue AI earlier than it destroys the complete metropolis of Academia. When the protagonists fail to defeat this proto-Fal-Cie in fight after time-traveling again to its preliminary AI rampage, Serah yells out in frustration on the character who created the AI. She shouts, “Your machines are driving me nuts!” which in flip shuts the Fal-Cie down and solves the paradox. Serah’s shouting was transmitted to the previous and the AI’s creator heard it by way of an Oracle Drive gadget, thus refraining from creating the AI within the first place.
I might go into much more element, however I received’t rot your brains out with Remaining Fantasy XIII-2’s dimensional time-travel shenanigans. I’m a giant fan of the Remaining Fantasy XIII trilogy, however even I can’t defend laughable sequences like this.
Lightning Kills a God and Creates a World With out Magic (Lightning Returns: Remaining Fantasy XIII)
Okay, buckle in people, this one’s a doozy and a half. On the very finish of the XIII trilogy, Lightning goes face to face towards the god of the complete setting: Bhunivelze. The boss battle itself is a blast, and the music is likely one of the best possible remaining battle themes that I’ve heard in any recreation.
However let’s discuss what happens after the boss battle. After killing the god, Lightning has all of her buddies revived they usually go on to create a brand new world with none magic. The final shot of the sport has a classy Lightning strolling by way of modern-day Paris.
In abstract, Lighting kills a god, resurrects all her companions, after which creates a brand new world with out magic. Lightning Returns has a ridiculously over-the-top ending, however hey, no less than it offers closure for the trilogy, proper?
Noctis Sacrifices Himself (Remaining Fantasy XV)
Say what you’ll about Remaining Fantasy XV’s story, however the ending is likely one of the sequence’ most emotional and satisfying. As an alternative of god-slaying wackiness, we get some intimate character moments between the 4 boys and see the ultimate moments of Noctis’s life. After the ultimate battle with Ardyn, Noctis sacrifices himself utilizing the total extent of his kingly powers, which allow him to mainly summon the previous kings.
This kingly sacrifice was one thing Noctis’ dad was hesitant to provide to him and was foreshadowed all through the sport. The flashback scene of Noctis saying his goodbyes to his three bros by no means fails to emotionally grip me. Props to Remaining Fantasy XV for not shying away from killing off main characters and permitting the story to get dreadfully darkish when wanted.
The Whispers Are The Basic Remaining Fantasy Followers (Remaining Fantasy VII Remake)
As quickly as we see the Whispers surrounding Aerith within the opening chapter, we all know Remaining Fantasy VII Remake isn’t a one-for-one retelling of the traditional recreation. Whereas FF VII Remake stays principally devoted and has the identical story beats as the unique, small deviations exist, accompanied by the Whispers. By the finale of the sport, it’s revealed that the Whispers are literally attempting to maintain the previous FF VII timeline intact. Sephiroth reveals up and forces the occasion to battle an amalgamation of the Whispers, basically killing the previous FF VII timeline and opening an ‘something goes’ story for the following video games.
Whereas the Whispers had been clumsily built-in into the story at occasions, they characterize an interesting idea that attracts on the setting’s lore and the meta implications of remakes basically. You’ll be able to solely have an idea so loopy with a legacy as longstanding as Remaining Fantasy’s. With Remaining Fantasy VII Remake, Sq. Enix can have their cake and eat it too relating to deviation from the unique and staying true to supply.
That concludes our 10 wildest Remaining Fantasy moments that solely the sequence can pull off. Take a look at our Remaining Fantasy VII Rebirth character quiz to see which character you might be. We additionally characteristic a number of helpful guides on FF VII Rebirth, so make sure to browse them so that you don’t miss a factor.