History FinalFantasy / TropesUToZ

* UpdatedRerelease: Especially since the new millennium, the first six games of the series have gradually been re-released over time, each time with new features, usually new dungeons and some enhancements to gameplay, occasionally updated graphics, and bonus content like art galleries and bestiaries. ''I'', ''II'', and ''IV'' were remade for the [=WonderSwan Color=]. Five of the six[[note]]''III'' being the odd one out after their [=WonderSwan Color=] remake plans fell through, until the DS remake[[/note]] came to the [=PlayStation=] (these versions later came to UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork), and then got remade for the Gameboy Advance. With more specific improvements, ''I'', ''II'' and ''IV'' were released for PSP with enhanced 2D graphics, ''III'' has been released in 3D for the DS, PSP, smartphones (and Ouya), and Steam, ''IV'' in 3D for the DS and smartphones, and ''V'' and ''VI'' have been released for smartphones with enhanced 2D graphics. To date, the only main games in the series, barring the [=MMORPGs=], which aren't scheduled to receive this treatment are VIII and XIII[[note]]Both games are on Steam, but are almost completely unchanged from their original releases[[/note]].

*** Noctis looks like your typical {{Bishonen}} protagonist, but in the English ''Episode Duscae'' demo he has a surprisingly deep and [[GutturalGrowler raspy]] voice. This was due to the voice acting being rushed and is averted in the game proper where his voice is younger and lighter.

*** Poison also remains extremely powerful in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2 both]] [[VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII sequels]]. This is thanks to its mechanics draining a flat 1% of the boss' ''max'' HP, instead of their ''current'' HP, meaning that its effectiveness never falls off, many of the games' harder {{Bonus Boss}}es could be cheesed by laying on poison, turtling with sentinels and a medic, and just waiting it out.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', the BonusBoss Omega, like hard bosses in general, are designed to have immunity to every status attack the player can throw at him... except for Romeo's Ballad. For some reason, this machine of death will specifically never be able to dodge a song about love, and will unerringly be frozen for a (very short) time because of it.

** [[BonusBoss Vercingetorix]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' is brutally hard...unless you know he's vulnerable to poison. In ''that'' case, killing him is simply a matter of inflicting poison, then turtling in a three Sentinel paradigm until he removes the debuff, then repeating. It doesn't even take that long.

** Rikku from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has two phobias. An astraphobia (fear of lightning) due to a traumatic childhood experience of a misaimed attempt to protect her from a sea monster using lightning magic. She gets over in the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2 sequel]] by camping in an area in Spira where lightning is striking down nonstop. And her other phobia, ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) when fighting the Battlesnakes screaming "[[Franchise/MetalGear Snake! Snake?! Snaaaaaaake!!!]]". [[FridgeLogic Strangely]] Riku has no problem with the Anaconda in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' despite them being far more terrifying than the Battlesnakes.

FinalFantasy/TropesAToD | FinalFantasy/TropesEToH | FinalFantasy/TropesIToR | FinalFantasy/TropesSToT | '''Tropes U To Z'''

*** Noctis, TheHero and the main PlayerCharacter, is capable of using almost every type of weapon in the game. In his spinoff and crossover appearance such as ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy2015'' and ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 7'', he favors [[HeroesPreferSwords short swords]], but also uses [[BladeOnAStick a spear]], [[{{BFS}} a large sword]], daggers, and [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe a shield]].

*** Ignis, TheSmartGuy of the party, uses weapons that allow him to strike with speed and precision, such as daggers and [[BladeOnAStick spears]].

** The final battle with Sin in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' plays out somewhat like the ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' example above, with Sin's attacks not being labeled except for its LimitBreak, [[NonStandardGameOver Giga Graviton]].

*** [[TheChick Rinoa]] uses "blaster edges", wrist-mounted projectile launchers.

*** [[TheChick Penelo]] uses daggers

* WeaponOfChoice: The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series loves this:

* UncannyValley:
** The PC port of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' gave smoother models for characters on the map field, but for some reason, the developers decided to give every character that didn't have a mouth drawn in the Playstation version a round black circle for a mouth. This gives the characters a very bizarre look, including Sephiroth. The mouthless versions makes the character models look far less creepy.
*** It's probably intentionally done with Sephiroth, even his in-game [[https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/4/4c/Sephiroth_Portrait.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130203034009 portrait]] he looks like a lifeless corpse compared to everyone else's portrait except maybe Vincent Valentine. If you look closely you can see that he has [[HellishPupils slit pupils]] like a cat.
*** The FMV cutscenes in [=FF7=] have this effect, but unlike the future games [[http://i.imgur.com/gInLHmC.png it's not too bad]] at worst they look more like action figures than real people. Cid [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3SjDUTDaAU4/maxresdefault.jpg in particular]] looks most odd in the cutscenes.
** One scene in the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' in particular. Right after [[spoiler:the sector 7 plate crashes]], we see [[spoiler:Cat Sith]] looking over the wreckage. Not only does this character appear earlier than in the original, but his art style is extremely different than every other character, including Red XIII, making him look out of place and unnerving fans who don't know who he is.
*** When the characters talk to each other in the remake their movements can occasionally come off as awkward and uncanny as they bop their heads and hold out their arms to emote. This is more noticeable when talking to in-game [=NPCs=] who are less gorgeously polished than the main characters.
*** Once again intentionally done with Sephiroth who unlike the heroes is a PerpetualSmiler in the remake as even while getting slashed at by Cloud or having the environment burn around him, Sephiroth’s face barely changes. This combined with his shadowed dead-eyed slit-pupil stare makes him quite [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e2/c0/73/e2c0733c733444cec901371e39ec1136.gif unsettling]].
** Intentionally invoked in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ucSKdCbteMQ end cutscene]], really fan theories were bound to happen with this uncanny creepiness.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' dips in and out of this trope, particularly with the character Tidus. Depending on the angle and lighting, he can either be real-looking enough to, well, look real, or look like his face is a mask. Partially due to the fact that the animators used the default in-game model, present in gameplay, in most scenes, but used a much higher quality version with a fully expressive face whenever a character was the centerpiece of a cutscene. Sounds great in practice, but their habits of forgetting to use the high-quality model, or even worse have an HQ model and a gameplay model in the same cutscene at the same time made this quite jarring and unimmersive. There is a particularly jarring scene in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' where Yuna and Rikku are trying to puzzle something out ("Key-Mon?" "Monkey!"), and there's a close-up shot of Rikku's low-quality face as she says something. It is, by far, the most disturbing thing: passionate speech, ''dead face''. ''Final Fantasy X'' also used a realistic aesthetic for the characters whenever an FMV played. While the style itself isn't bad, it heavily clashes against the style used for the characters' in-game models since the facial features look a bit ''too'' real at times. The developers must have caught wind of it since ''Final Fantasy X-2'' has the characters in the [=FMVs=] look more like their in-game models.
*** It doesn't help that the FMV characters have clearly [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sVFIg3zkD7U/maxresdefault.jpg Japanese facial features]] while the [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cj4WN4lxXQQ/maxresdefault.jpg in-game models generally don't]]. It kinda works for some characters, but for others, it's very jarring.
*** The stilted and awkward movements of ''Final Fantasy X'' characters much like ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'' can easily invoke this, not helped by the aforementioned dissonance between the voices and expressions. However a lot of fans [[{{Narm}} find it endearing in a corny way]].
** In the Playstation 2 version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', most of the human characters have a strange look to their faces. Their eyes give them a rather odd look where they look like they haven't slept in a few days, and some of the shading on their faces looks like their faces were smeared with grease or dirt. This was fixed in the Playstation 4 remaster, cleaning up the characters' faces. Likewise, Vaan's abs were shaded incorrectly in the original version, which made him look like he was anorexic. The remaster corrected this. The nonhuman characters look fine for the most part, but the Nu Mou look ''very'' weird. Since the Nu Mou appeared in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' first, you go from [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/6/67/Arcanist_TCG.png/revision/latest?cb=20180711193133 cartoony canine-like character]] to [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/e/eb/FF12NuMou.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131114013531 what looks like an old man that looks like it's trying to be human]]. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' uses a [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/402349984839893003/514268013864681472/FFXIV_PUB_FANFESTIVAL_2018_LASVEGAS_26.png middle ground of the two styles]].
** Sazh's son Dajh from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' is adorable... or would be, if he didn't look like a living plastic doll. Even Sazh himself sometimes looks weird.
*** Chocolina's poker face. No, seriously, no matter how EXCITED her voice makes it seem, she just has that blank expression... [[FridgeBrilliance As if she has no soul!]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' is a gorgeous-looking game, but its animations are limited. Most of the time, characters in cutscenes will use the stock emotes that the player can use. At other times, characters will use an expression not usable by players, such as extreme shock or a SlasherSmile. However, due to the limitations of the game engine, characters can look downright ridiculous when their faces get stretched beyond their limits (such as someone's jaw going ''really'' wide for pure shock). Cutscenes also have the issue where those without voice acting will frequently [[GoingThroughTheMotions fall back on generic in-game animations]] that cannot smoothly shift into another animation (rather, it has to either play out in full or simply skip straight to the start of another animation), which looks very robotic when characters will walk up, make a generic motion or two while speaking, then turn in place to face a different direction before stepping away in that direction. Because of this, cutscenes with more realistic and human motion-captured animations (mostly ones with voice acting, though they sometimes pop up in silent ones) stick out like a sore thumb in comparison, especially in cases like the level 30-50 Ninja questline, where the villain makes use of custom mocap animations that look like they belong in an entirely different game from those used by your allies. The uncanny valley is intentionally used in sidequests revolving around comic-relief character Hildibrand Manderville, whose facial expressions are grossly exaggerated for the sake of being funny. While Hildibrand's wacky facial expressions are a part of his charm, the semi-realistic character models don't exactly help matters.
** ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' is typically very good about avoiding this, but in the prequel, there's just ''something'' about Vaan's face reminiscent of fish.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyDimensions'' uses a "smooth" type of two-dimensional sprite rather than the sharper (but still high-quality) style of the [=PSP=] port of I and II. They've often been likened to WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}} and the male characters are all stuck in a DeathGlare. The [=iOS=] port for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' use the same style.

%% * VideoGameWeaponStats

* WhoWearsShortShorts:
** Yuffie of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and its expansions changes outfits most frequently out of the cast, but always includes short shorts and stockings.
** Yuna, everyone's favorite BadassAdorable summoner in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', comes back to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' as an ActionGirl, leaving her classic white top and long blue skirt for a hotter {{Fanservice}} AbsoluteCleavage shirt and tiny jean shorts underneath her [[ShowgirlSkirt half-skirt]] [[BuffySpeak thing]].
*** Rikku wears one of these in green color in both games.
** Lightning from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' counts, with tight biker shorts that double as ModestyShorts.
*** Alyssa Zaidelle from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2''.
*** The only free DLC costume for Serah (Style and Steel) featured a pair in favor of her usual mini-skirt.
** Other ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games with this trope are ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' (see those pages for details). The latter combines it with ZettaiRyouiki.

%%*** [[WhiteMagicianGirl Yuna]] uses staves
%%*** [[BadassLongcoat Auron]] uses great katanas
%%*** [[TheLancer Wakka]] uses Blitzballs
%%*** [[BlackMagicianGirl Lulu]] uses dolls
%%*** [[TheStoic Kimahri]] uses polearms.
%%*** [[FragileSpeedster Rikku]] uses bladed gauntlets
%%** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' every class has one or two weapons each they excel in.
%%*** Warriors use Axes and Great Axes
%%*** Black Mages use Staves
%%*** Red Mages use Swords
%%*** White Mages use Clubs[[note]]Maces, Wands, Rods and Hammers[[/note]]
%%*** Theives use Daggers
%%*** Monks use Hand to Hand weapons
%%*** Paladins use Swords and Shields
%%*** Dark Knights use Scythes
%%*** Beastmasters use Axes
%%*** Bards use Harps, Flutes and Songs.
%%*** Rangers use Bows, Crossbows and Guns
%%*** Samurai use Great Katanas
%%*** Ninja use Katana [[note]]Ninjato, Wakizashi, and Kunai[[/note]]
%%*** Dragoons use Polearms
%%*** Summoners use Staves and Clubs
%%*** Blue Mages use Swords
%%*** Corsairs use "Hexaguns"
%%*** Puppeteers use Hand to Hand
%%*** Dancers use Daggers
%%*** Scholars use Staves and Clubs
%%*** Geomancer use Clubs and Handbells
%%*** Rune Fencers use Greatswords
%%** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', characters can wield any weapon depending on your choices in the licensing system, but at the beginning of the game every character uses a different weapon
%%*** Vaan uses short swords
%%*** [[TheHero Ashe]] uses long swords
%%*** [[TheMentor Basch]] also uses long sword
%%*** [[TheSmartGuy Balthier]] uses guns
%%*** [[TheStoic Fran]] uses bows
%%*** [[TheChick Penelo]] uses daggers
%%*** This also applies to the guest characters
%%*** [[ShelteredAristocrat Larsa]] uses long swords
%%*** [[KnightInSourArmor Vossler]] uses great swords
%%*** [[SkyPirate Reddas]] uses twin swords
%%*** And finally, [[SacrificialLamb Reks]] uses short swords

%%*** [[BountyHunter Amarant]] uses claws.
%%*** [[TagalongKid Eiko]] uses flutes.
%%** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'':
%%*** [[TheHero Tidus]] uses short swords

%%** Revenant Wings (the sequel) is mostly the same, except characters only have one type of weapon.
%%*** Penelo now uses staves.
%%*** Kytes (from Revenant Wings) uses staves as well.
%%*** Filo uses a [[ImprobableWeaponUser hoverboard]].
%%*** Lluyd uses spears and lances.
%%*** Ba'Gamnan (a GuestStarPartyMember) uses a [[ChainsawGood Chainsaw]].
%%*** Ashe now uses hand grenades for some reason.
%%*** Basch now uses greatswords.
%%** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'':
%%*** Lightning uses a gunblade that actively changes between sword and gun
%%*** Sazh wields dual-pistols
%%*** Snow is a fist fighter that uses emblems on his coat to augment his stats
%%*** Vanille uses rods that have hooks and wires built in for damaging foes.
%%*** Hope uses a hi-tech boomerang
%%*** Fang uses a double-ended spear that can segment into a three section staff.
%%** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2''
%%*** Serah uses a bowsword that, like her sister's gunblade, switches between sword and bow.
%%*** Noel uses a pair of swords that can combine into a spear.
%%** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', the weapon you wield defines your class:
%%*** Archers use bows
%%*** Gladiators use swords
%%*** Lancers use spears
%%*** Marauders use axes
%%*** Pugilists use knuckles and claws.
%%*** Rogues use daggers.
%%*** Conjurers use wands and canes
%%*** Thaumaturges use scepters and staves
%%*** Arcanists use grimoires

* WelcomeBackTraitor:
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': [[spoiler:Leon, the Dark Knight]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'': [[spoiler:Yang]], [[spoiler:Kain turned and came back ''twice'' - although the second time, Edge refused to trust him and Kain outright asked to be killed if he was brainwashed again]].
*** [[spoiler:Yang had amnesia and was being manipulated by Baron while he lost his memory. The only party member who holds this against him is BrattyHalfPint Palom]].
*** In Palom's defense, when someone repeatedly kicks you in the head when you first meet them, it's probably not conducive to offering your total trust and respect right away.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': [[spoiler:Yuffie]], [[spoiler:Cait Sith]]. In the latter's case, the moment of turning is just a short chase segment and brief cutscene in which you don't have access to the party command, and thus, it's entirely possible that the time before [[spoiler:Cait's]] WelcomeBackTraitor moment is so brief that [[spoiler:he]] literally never even left.
*** Though at least [[spoiler:Cait Sith]]'s is justified in that he threatens to kill a hostage if the heroes don't let him keep tagging along. His full forgiveness doesn't come until later.
*** [[spoiler:Yuffie]] forces [[spoiler:herself]] back into the group.
*** A MindControl example of this happens when [[spoiler: Cloud gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth.]]
* WeNamedTheMonkeyJack:
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'': The cat at NORA House in New Bodhum is named Snow, after the team's BoisterousBruiser leader. Fragments reveal Gadot originally meant it as a joke, 'but the name stuck and that was that. For the record, [[GenderBlenderName the cat is female and the NORA leader is male]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles: Echoes of Time'', in the post-game, has a cat named Sherlotta, after one of the main characters. Well, kind of.
* WhamEpisode:
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': Your party has just slain the Emperor and celebrations are underway. But then a soldier rushes in and reveals that [[TheDragon the Dark Knight]] is Leon, Maria's brother, and that he has taken up the mantle of Emperor. Upon confronting Leon at Palamecia Castle, the Emperor rises from Hell in demonic form. Ricard, your current GuestStarPartyMember and the [[LastOfHisKind last of the Dragoons]], performs a HeroicSacrifice so the others can escape.
** Then there's ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', where Kefka destroys the world, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', where Exdeath squashes two worlds together and combines this with the death of Galuf and a rare lack of ForgotAboutHisPowers, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', when we learn that the Sorceress Edea raised everyone in the party at an orphanage, ''and'' ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', where we discover the sinister origins of Zidane.
** Before it was widely known, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Aeris/Aerith]] getting KilledOffForReal in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' was pretty much WHAM all over.
*** It didn't stop. [[spoiler:Add in the first scene at North Crater where Cloud [[HeroicBSOD loses his sanity]], gives Sephiroth the Black Materia which lets him cast Meteor, causes the [=WEAPONs=] to be unleashed, and wrapped in the candy coating that is Sephiroth has actually been dead this whole time and the one who you've been chasing around the world was actually ''Jenova'' (Who, admittedly, was under the control of puppetmaster Sephiroth).]]
** Half of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' consists of this. [[spoiler:one city's population slaughtered in a surprise assault, another one nuked, summoned EldritchAbomination crushes one more city...]] and the situation goes even more downhill from there. Every time you think "This can't be going on any more!" you get the next wham.
** There's also the scene in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' in Zanarkand, where [[spoiler: Yunalesca tells the party that Sin is eternal, and that every Final Aeon that defeats Sin will become Sin in its place. Tidus is simply part of a dream of the fayth, who will wake up if you complete the game. You then move forward realizing that finishing the game will essentially mean the "death" of Tidus]].
*** The events in Home offer another good one. Tidus has a major FreakOut when he learns of the only way to defeat Sin: [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice for Yuna to die]]]]--and everyone knew this without telling him. For the rest of the game, he is determined to come up with some other way to beat Sin.
*** But before all of those, you get Operation Mi'ihen. It's an attempt to beat Sin using what we would consider conventional weaponry (as opposed to the Final Aeon). It is an out-and-out massacre, including one of ThoseTwoGuys dying. [[spoiler: Which one of them dies depends on some choices you made earlier, which seemed pretty irrelevant at the time. Operation Mi'ihen is also the first clue that Yevon [[CorruptChurch isn't as nice as it seems]].]]
** Everything after Leblanc's hideout and before Chapter 3 in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2''. Also, the Den of Woe. Still freaky, even if you know it's coming. And it makes so much of the game (and Paine's backstory) make much more sense.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' when the party reaches Giruvegan and Ashe has a meeting with the Occuria.
** Chapter 8 of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' starts out as a BreatherEpisode. [[TheReveal It doesn't]] [[TearJerker stay that way]].
*** Chapter 9, [[spoiler: The Primarch is a fal'Cie, one of you must become Ragnarok]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'':
*** The Main Scenario quest "All Good Things"; you return triumphant from your battle with Titan, only to find [[spoiler: Garlean forces invaded the headquarters of the Scions and [[EverybodysDeadDave killed nearly everyone]], forcing you to seek sanctuary at the church near Drybone Camp.]]
*** "Lady of the Vortex": Following your battle with Garuda, the Primal of Wind, [[spoiler: she not only proves to be too powerful to be beaten by normal means, but she ''re-summons'' Ifrit and Titan so she can steal their powers. Just when [[FromBadToWorse it looks like you can't get any more screwed]], the Garleans show up and reveal Ultima Weapon, a living superweapon that ''literally'' eats the other three Primals and absorbs their powers.]]
*** "The Parting Glass", the penultimate quest of the 2.5 patch, is very much this. At what is supposed to be a celebratory banquet, the Sultana is assassinated and the player and Scions framed for it, the Crystal Braves company that the player had spent the previous few patches helping to build up is revealed to be corrupt and responsible for the assassination, and the other Scions sacrifice themselves to allow the player to escape. The player and few remaining Scions are now wanted criminals in Ul'dah and hunted by the Crystal Braves, and forced to find refuge in the isolationist state of Ishgard. [[DisneyDeath It gets better pretty quickly]] in ''Heavensward''.
*** The end of Patch 4.4 of ''Stormblood'' quickly turns the ''entire story'' on its head: [[spoiler:It's revealed that Solus zos Galvus, the beloved late first Emperor of the Garlean Empire, is actually alive and well... and an Ascian. Always has and always will be. The Empire's desire to eradicate the Primals and unite the world under its leadership? ''A big fat lie'' -- all done to sow chaos so the Ascians' one true God, Zodiark, can be revived. This suddenly turns virtually every event and quite a few characters' involvements on its head.]]
*** EVERY LAST BIT of Shadowbringers/5.0 winds up being this to the entire story to this point! [[spoiler:The ''Ascians'' were the original form of humanity from the unfragmented world, and THEY created the first and most powerful of all primals...'''ZODIARK AND HYDAELYN.''' Created to save the world from an apocalyptic calamity by rewriting the laws of the universe, humanity sacrificed half of itself to create Zodiark (whom promptly branded the sitting thirteen leaders of Ascian civilization, who we know as the Overlords), then half of what remained to have the God of Darkness restore all the damage done. However, another half of the remnants (essentially one eighth of what the original population had been) felt that too much was being given to the dark god and created Hydaelyn, His counterpart of Light. Their battle ended with Hydaelyn's victory, as she struck a final blow so incredible it blasted thirteen dimensional shards from the universe to create lesser parallel dimensions, all in 'orbit' around the now-incomplete Source. Solus zos Galvus is revealed to be one of the three 'whole' Overlords who escaped the fragmentation and is known as Emet-Selch, who not only created Garlemald but ancient Allag as well. G'raha Tia is also here as the Crystal Exarch, but from a BadFuture wherein the collapse and Rejoining of the First results in the Eighth Umbral Calamity, a global release of Black Rose across the entire Source that kills nearly everyone, including you and every Scion. The Ironworks of this future toil to augment the Syrcus Tower to be able to travel through space and time, and the Exarch goes back in time to the First to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, defeating Sin Eaters across the planet to drive back a malaise of light that was PLANNED by the Ascians all along to cause another Rejoining. Over the course of the adventure, you discover that you are a fragmented Ascian yourself, the Warrior of Darkness Ardbert is likewise, both being splintered from Emet-Selch's best friend in the Ascian capital of Amaurot. This all ends with you FINALLY fighting the founder of Garlemald and Allag to the death deep within the illusory recreation of the city, in order to save the kidnapped Exarch and prevent knowledge of the augmented Tower - that not even the Tower's creator understands completely - from being used to cause more Rejoinings. It also bears mentioning that Emet-Selch, true name '''HADES''', is by and far the strongest Ascian ever fought, revealing that the Overlords were taken a lil too for granted against the Warrior of Light. And as the cherry on top of this cake of twists and turns, TheStinger shows that Zenos yae Galvus, the Garlean prince who the Warrior saw ''die'' after the final battle of ''Stormblood'', managed to [[BackFromTheDead cheat death]] by using his artificial Echo to hijack another body until he drove the Ascian Elidibus from his body, took his body back, ''[[TheKingslayer killed his father, the current Emperor]]'', and now vows to take the power of Hydaelyn and Zodiark for himself just so he can get another crack at the Warrior!]]
*** On a more lighthearted note is the trial Kugane Ohashi from the [[DenserAndWackier Hildebrand questline]] in ''Stormblood'', which starts with the players fighting Yojimbo, the mercenary swordsman and a boss previously encountered in a post-game dungeon. [[spoiler:''Then [[BackgroundMusicOverride "Battle on the Big Bridge" kicks in]] as Yojimbo reveals himself to be none other than Gilgamesh!'']]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' has the Leviathan trial, which ends very badly for all involved: [[spoiler:Ardyn shanks Luna, and Ignis gets blinded offscreen]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' might challenge ''IX'' for the most Wham-tastic game in the series.
*** At the end of Chapter 1, Delita and Ramza's lives get changed in a major way.
*** About three storyline battles later, you learn that Gafgarion is not what he seems.
*** Then, in the last battle of Chapter 2, you learn what the Church is really hiding. Those are just selections. There's Wham candidates after just about every battle.
* WhamLine: [[WhamLine/FinalFantasy You can see it here]].
* WhamShot:
** The end of Disk 1 in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Aerith getting stabbed by Sephiroth may be the most famous Wham Shot in the medium.
** At the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', one of the last shots is Zack Fair in the aftermath of his ill-fated LastStand, triumphant and ''[[SparedByTheAdaptation alive]]''.
** At the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', the time gates are closing, the paradox is resolved, Hope's Cocoon is ascending, and Noel, Serah, and Mog are safe...and then you see Etro's Gate shining in Serah's eyes.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'':
*** If you play ''Episode Ignis'' before the events of Chapter 13 (preferably right after Chapter 9), [[https://youtu.be/X4A4YVCg8Kw?t=2059 the shot of Ardyn warping towards Ignis]] after the latter dons the Ring of the Lucii counts as this.
*** In Chapter 11, Noctis sees [[BigBad Ardyn]] inside the train and attacks him in a fit of rage. Shortly thereafter, he fights alongside his friend Prompto to defend the train. Shortly after taking out the Magitek engines, Noctis sees Ardyn holding Prompto at gunpoint on top of the train, and knocks the former off the train. A moment later, you see ''Prompto'' falling and ''Ardyn'' standing, at which point Noctis, along with the player, realizes that Prompto and Ardyn's appearances had been swapped to trick Noctis into attacking his friend.
* WhatBeautifulEyes: