History MythologyGag / FinalFantasyXIV

* Changing stance with your spear out as a Lancer/Dragoon makes you take Kain's pose from the Title.

* A Sharlayan scholar named Krile Mayer Baldesion is close friends with Minfilia and becomes a major part of the main story, joining the Scions. She is a Lalafell, referencing how the original Krile was a child. She even wears the cat-eared hood of the Devout class from the same game and has a grandfather, Galuf [[spoiler:who dies on the Island of Val before we get to meet him]].

* One late game quest is called "Let Us Cling Together".

* The Gunbreaker's level 60 gear highly resembles Squall's outfit, and his Revolver gunblade comes bundled as a glamour item with the Collector's Edition of ''Shadowbringers''. A later Veteran Reward gave ''all'' classes the ability to use the same outfit.

* The Gunbreaker's level 60 gear highly resembles Squall's outfit, and his Revolver gunblade comes bundled as a glamour item with the Collector's Edition of ''Shadowbringers''.

* The boss of Alexander - The Heart of the Creator is Cruise Chaser. At first glance, the design and attack patterns of the boss seem to be a direct reference to Ark, the Dark based airship summon from ''IX'' and it also uses its signature Eternal Darkness (which is empowered by the presence of lapis lazuli jewels) from that game. But on closer examination, he is a ''combined'' reference to both Ark and the ''original'' character concept from ''Cruise Chaser Blassty'', an old PC game from Squaresoft that Ark itself was a reference to. FFXIV's Cruise Chaser even brings back Blassty's original attacks Photon and Propeller Wind for this battle.

* The ''Dawntrail'' Collector's Edition features Ark, Garnet's ultimate eidolon, as a mount and the latter as a minion. The PreOrderBonus features a minion of Zidane.

[[folder: Final Fantasy XIV (2010)]]

* Relm's starting weapon, the Chocobo Brush, one of the in-game items you get from the ''Dawntrail'' Collector's Edition.

* A part of the Heavensward storyline is a huge shoutout to ''I'', when you meet Y'shtola's former master, [[spoiler: Matoya. The music that plays in her cave is an instrumental performance of the music in the FFI version of Matoya's cave, and one of the background touches is an animated broom, several of which were in the FFI rendition's cave. The latter is a double shoutout, as talking to the broom gives you [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark "Evol gnipeews s'tel"]], which is a reference to a song from "Fun With Weapons" and the backwards talking the brooms did in FFI.]]

* The first boss of Alphascape is [[spoiler: Chaos himself]]. Additionally, one of his attacks is called [[spoiler:"Knock Down", a reference to the GoodBadTranslation in the original release.]]

* The healer role quests in ''Shadowbringers'' have the player teaming up with a dwarf named Giott, named after the king of dwarves in ''IV.'' [[spoiler: However, this Giott's a female dwarf.]]

* The 2015 Rising Event gives a big shout out to ''IV'' in the form of [[spoiler: The 18th floor, or more specifically, the developer's room. You get to meet several key members of the development team and learn what they do. To top it all off, the entire team thanks you for playing the game and are happy that you enjoy their work.]]

* A Sharlayan scholar named Krile Mayer Baldesion is close friends with Minfilia and becomes a major part of the main story, joining the Scions. She is a Lalafell, referencing how the original Krile was a child. She even wears the cat-eared hood of the Devout class from the same game and has a grandfather, Galuf [[spoiler: who dies on the Island of Val before we get to meet him]].

* The final boss in the 4.0 main story quest is based on [[spoiler: the superboss Shinryu from ''V''. It even opens up with its signature party wiping Tidal Wave which can induce a party wipe due to being thrown off the edge of the arena.]]

* Abyssos, The Fifth Circle presents us with another legacy boss, in the form of [[spoiler: Proto-Carbuncle. Based heavily on the summon's boss fight in ''Final Fantasy V'', more specifically how jarringly different its design was between its boss fight and its summon animations. It even has special moves meant to act as equivalents to its spell library, primarily its use of poison, its multi-hit special technique, and its main mechanic, Starving Stampede, standing in for the instant-kill spells it had.]]
* The final boss of The Twinning is The Tycoon, similar to [[spoiler: King Alexander Highwind Tycoon]].

* The current final boss of the Palace of the Dead is [[spoiler: Nybeth Obdilord, a recurring necromancer enemy who appears in ''Tactics Ogre'' : ''Let us Cling Together'', and is also fought on the 100th floor of that game's version of the Palace of the Dead even using the same themes.]] The Palace of the Dead as a whole is also an extended shout out to a bonus dungeon in the same game. He even makes callbacks referencing the "Wheel of Fate" and his unique spell that summons monsters from the Dark. Finally, defeating him gives you the title "Corpse Dancer" which was also a title rewarded for defeating in the first time in Tactics Ogre.

* The final Trial of the Heavensward Expansion [[spoiler: involves an elaborate endphase where the titular Heavens' Ward attack you in a manner very similar to the Knights of the Round summon of ''VII'', culminating in the final attack of the phase 'Ultimate End'.]]

* ''Endwalker'' reveals that [[spoiler: dynamis (AKA emotional energy)]] is how players can use a LimitBreak. ''VII'' uses the same logic for its limit break system as explained by Cloud.

* Ramza and Alma both appear for the ''Return to Ivalice'' storyline. Their father, Jenomis, [[spoiler: is using an alias. His real name is Araszlam Durai, the descendant of Orran from ''Tactics'' who exposes the truth of the game's storyline. In addition, the final raid of the questline has players contend with three of the Zodiac Braves: Mustadio, Agrias, and Cidolfus, before facing off against the final boss of ''Tactics'', the high seraph Ultima (with the real Ramza pulling a BigDamnHeroes moment midway through the fight).]]

* The Triple Triad cardgame is taken straight from ''VIII'' and plays a remix of the match theme from that game as well.

* Bahamut's act of unfolding his wings, as seen during the ''End of an Era'' movie and fight with Bahamut Prime, is taken exactly from ''IX''. Specifically, [[spoiler: Bahamut's attack on Alexandria]]. As a hint of irony, Bahamut razes Eorzea with [[BeamSpam countless Megaflare beams]] that are almost identical to [[spoiler:the ''Holy'' BeamSpam Alexander used on ''him'']] in that game, just colored orange instead of blue.

* The second to last main scenario quest in ''Endwalker''? [[spoiler: "You're not Alone"]].

* [[spoiler: Ysayle]] transforming into Shiva, looks very similar to Shiva's summoning animation from ''X''.

* [[spoiler: Yojimbo]] is the final boss in the Kugane Castle dungeon, being the same character from ''X'' and using similar mechanics.

* When you defeat the Ruby Weapon, the pilot activates Oversoul mode, which grants them extreme power [[spoiler: while being assimilated by the memory data of Nael van Darnus]]. Oversoul was a ''X2'' gameplay mechanic where monsters could enter an Oversoul state to become much more dangerous and gaining new attacks.

* The final boss of the ''Nier: Automata'' raids is not only a proper Grotesquerie Queen, but it's more specifically one in the image of [[spoiler: One, a character from the third game that's a Grotesquerie Queen spawn. Going further, the attack sigils used in the battle resemble the cross chakrams that she wielded.]]

* A cutscene at the end of the Anamnesis Anyder dungeon shows a very important character that sets the entire story in motion and had defected from the people that sided with [[spoiler: Zodiark.]] The character in question is [[spoiler: Venat, who was also a major player in ''XII'' where he went against the other gods in order to give man the ability to write their own history.]]

** Likewise, Moglin [[spoiler: the Chief of Moghome]] is named after the MOOGLE representative of Class Zero in the same game.

* The title of patch 5.1 is "Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty". This is the patch that adds first of the ''Nier Automata'' raids to the game. The title may be a reference to the weapons wielded by 2B and 9S, albeit with parts of the names exchanged. The weapons in question are Virtuous Contract and Cruel Oath; a deed and a vow.

* Zeromus is created in a manner that parallels how Zeromus was created in ''IV''. In ''IV'', Zeromus was created when Zemus died, and his hatred coalesced into a demonic entity. Zemus was a Lunarian; a member of a super-advanced alien race who lived on the moon, and he was sealed within the moon's core for his desire to raze the planet and conquer it. In ''XIV'', Zeromus is created by combining the energy and emotions of Azdaja with the remannt of Zodiark still festering within the Void moon's core. Zodiark was formed of many Ancients; a super-advanced race from ''XIV'''s past, and an overwhelming emotion, similar to ''IV'''s Zeromus. The emotion was a longing for home, rather than hatred, so ''XIV'''s Zeromus has a different tone when speaking to the party.

* In the Hard version of the Fractal Continuum, the final boss is [[spoiler:the Ultima Beast]], a modern rendition of ''VI'''s [[spoiler:Ultima Weapon and Ultima Buster enemy model]]. For bonus points the original [[spoiler:Ultima Weapon]] was first encountered in a floating continent; the Fractal Continuum is part of Azys Lla, a floating continent.

* The first boss of the Heroes' Gauntlet, Spectral Thief, has gear very familiar to Locke Cole, and uses the Chicken Knife from ''V''.

* The Crystarium's hunt is overseen by Clan Nutsy, which is [[spoiler: led by a moogle, referencing Montblanc]].

* The Pictomancer job is based on Relm's job in ''VI''. Like Relm, the job is able to use magic to make paintings become real.

* The Sorrow of Werlyt story arc has a set of four fights (three trials, one solo instance) against four of FFVII's Weapons. Sapphire is fought in a solo instance, while Ruby, Emerald, and Diamond are fought as proper trials. The first three also have an additional level of reference, as each possesses an "Oversoul" - a personality based on a Garlean general from the storyline, which also manifests projections of that general and attacks based on their attack pattern. Ruby has Nael van Darnus; Sapphire has Regulus van Hydra; and Emerald has Gaius van Baelsar. Diamond WAS supposed to have a version of Zenos, but events conspired to prevent that from being used in battle (instead temporarily shedding its armor to attack as a Xenomorph).
* One of the major changes planned for version 2.0 (see NothingIsTheSameAnymore) was a total revamp of the game map, which will be explained in game by a major catastrophe that brought the "Seventh Umbral Era". This major catastrophe was basically Meteor. It then turned out to be Bahamut.

* After defeating the Sapphire Weapon and taking a stop at Terncliff, Valdeaulin will bemoan that he can't help but feel there was an easier way to defeat the weapon. His wild guess? "Shoot it in the head with a large cannon." And he would be right. That's exactly what happened to the Sapphire Weapon in ''VII'' courtesy of the Junon Cannon.
* In the 5.4 story, Merlwyb presents the Death Penalty, the gun she used to kill her former captain when he was tempered by Leviathan. The gun shares a name with Vincent Valentine's from ''VII''.

* Hien is current heir to the throne of Doma, a castle in ''VI''. However, he is not, as might be expected, a reference to Cyan. His ''father'', the late lord Kaien, is a reference to Cyan (bearing the same name that Cyan has in the Japanese version of ''Final Fantasy VI''). Hien, then, would be a reference to Cyan's ''son'', Shun/Owain. A quest midway through the Azim Steppe plot-line reveals that [[spoiler:Shun was indeed Hien's childhood name, and that his mother's name was Mina, the Japanese-version name of Cyan's wife Elayne]].