Mythology Gag / Final Fantasy XIV

While the game may have a universe of its own, it's also a theme park of references to past installments that is sure to get an "a-ha!" from any fan of the series who's stuck around a while.

Note: Since Final Fantasy is a Thematic Series, just because something that appears in XIV also appears in several other games in the series does not make it a Mythology Gag, it could just be a Recurring Element.

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Final Fantasy I (1987)

• The Garlean Empire menacing Eorzea is named after Garland, the Starter Villain of the original game.
• The Warriors of Light in the main story are described as faceless beings shrouded in light that saved Eorzra from destruction, but no one can remember who they were or even remember how they were saved. Eorzea wasn't the only one that also went through a similar experience.
• A part of the Heavensward storyline is a huge shoutout to I, when you meet Y'shtola's former master, 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 "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 Garlemald zone features "Death Machine" magitek robots, which share their model with the infamous Warmech from I.
• While Moren goes over the history of the title "the Warrior of Light" in Shadowbringers, there is a prominent illustration of the first man to have used that title in their world's history. Said man is styled after the Warrior of Light concept art in I who would become his own character in the Dissidia spinoffs.
• If you look closely at the bookshelves of Matoya's Relicit, you'll find sprites of the original I classes decorating them.
• As a blink-and-you'll-miss it reference, the very first mob of enemies encountered in the Heroes' Gauntlet consists of the "classic" adventuring party: a Knight (Paladin), a Monk, a White Mage, and a Black Mage.
• The hobgoblin enemies found in Norvrandt are based directly on the original Yoshitaka Amano goblins from I.
• The first boss of Alphascape is Chaos himself. Additionally, one of his attacks is called "Knock Down", a reference to the Good Bad Translation in the original release.

Final Fantasy II (1988)

• Kottos, the hecatoncheir and first boss from Copperbell Mines, is named after another giant from II.
• During a fight scene in the main plot in Ul'dah, "Battle Theme 1.X" plays. It's no random battle music, it's the battle theme of II, complete with partial samples from the NES original.
• Karasu's or rather, Gekkai's squadron of Garlean ninja are known as Imperial Shadows, which was the name of an enemy in II (an undead doppelganger of The Emperor).
• A recurring Dialogue Tree response the player can give throughout the main storyline is, "Where the wild rose blooms." It is, fittingly, used as a passcode for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.
• In Il Mheg, the Warrior of Darkness says their beaver is a little rusty. This brings to mind one of the main party members of II, Guy, who could speak Beaver.

Final Fantasy III (1990)

• The entire Crystal Tower is one massive homage to III. The first half, Labyrinth of the Ancients, is based on the penultimate dungeon, the Ancients' Maze, and Phlegethon on its boss Titan^note see the Trivia page's Lost in Translation entry for the whole mess around that. The second half is called Syrcus Tower, which was an alternate name for the Crystal Tower itself in III, and nearly every enemy is a direct homage to the enemies and bosses found in that game. Several characters related to the events of the Crystal Tower in its original incarnation also make an appearance, adapted to fit the lore of XIV. The backstory involved the process of cloning, and you fight Doga's Clone, Unei's Clone, and Xande's Clone throughout the various raids, referencing enemies found in the Crystal Tower and World of Darkness. Xande's Clone is even found inside a treasure coffer, as he was in III. Another one is that G'Raha Tia's team name for the operation, NOAH, is the name of the master that taught Xande, Doga and Unei.
• Unlike the Eureka instances in Stormblood, which shared the name and little else, the Deep Dungeon of Endwalker, Eureka Orthos, is a full throwback to the Forbidden Land, Eureka, from III, being situated deep within the Crystal Tower and having a remix of the original location's theme.
• In the last wing of Crystal Tower, Cloud of Darkness' appearance is based on her original sprite, but all her particle beam variations are, right down to their names and appearance, based on her HP attacks from Dissidia. The minion you can rarely get as loot for beating her also takes her appearance from Dissidia.
• The final boss of the Void Ark is Echidna, a female monster that was originally from III. Notably she was the only boss from that game's final area to not be part of the Dark World raid in the Crystal Tower Dungeons. Like her original counterpart, she loves spamming huge Earthquake spells which can spell doom even for the massive party of 24 players.
• Arcanists resemble Evokers, and are also a stepping stone to the proper Summoner job class.
• The Shadowbringers trailer/opening uses the Overworld Theme from III, both using the same premise of bringing back the balance of Light and Darkness. The Warriors of Darkness use Job names used in III (Devout instead of White Mage).
• In Shadowbringers, the Facet of Crafting story involves a lute owned by the late crafting master Harig. Harig recieved this lute from the Crystal Exarch, and the end of the story reveals that it was originally crafted by the archmagus Noah. This is a reference to Noah's Lute, a key item from Final Fantasy III. In addition, the party in Final Fantasy III finds the lute in a temple at the bottom of the ocean. Master Harig disappeared searching for material to repair the lute, which could also be found at the bottom of the ocean.
• Shadowbringers has the First suffer from the Flood or Flood of Light due to the star having too much light aspected aether. The concept is a nod to III where it is told that the world that the Warriors of Darkness hail from once faced destruction from a Flood of Light.

Final Fantasy IV (1991)

• Changing stance with your spear out as a Lancer/Dragoon makes you take Kain's pose from the Title.
• One Miqo'te says that she always imagined Cid Garlond would be "older, and shorter. Perhaps a bit less groomed... markedly gruffer... and somewhat more outspoken. Oh, and he would definitely have a pipe... or maybe a cigar."
• Several of the Pugilist class quests have guildmaster Hamon "Holyfist" that shares several parallels with Tellah the Sage from IV in that both are crippled by their age and recover their memories. Hamon's story is a lot less of a Tear Jerker than Tellah's was.
• The Dark Knight level 70 artifact armor highly resembles Cecil's dark knight armor.
• The healer role quests in Shadowbringers have the player teaming up with a dwarf named Giott, named after the king of dwarves in IV. However, this Giott's a female dwarf.
• The bar at Watts' Anvil is called Luca's Locket, referencing Giott's daughter from IV, whose necklace was a minor Plot Coupon.
• While Fandaniel's Lunar Bahamut in 5.4 looks like a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, there has been one in IV's Updated Re Release. It served as Kain's Lunar Trial boss that he had to do on his own, which allows him to get his Infinity +1 Sword and armor, which also turned his Jump into Double Jump.
• Zero's character development harkens to Cecil's own development, even taking a page from Cecil's job change moment, by harnessing her newfound power of light to protect her companions, transforming from a Reaper into a Paladin.
• The first dungeon of Endwalker is the Tower of Zot, and its music is a remix of the song that played in the original.
  • The Tower of Zot dungeon features the Magus Sisters, based on their initial appearance in IV. Mindy, Sandy, and Cindy are renamed Minduruva, Sanduruva, and Cinduruva, respectively, to better fit the theme of Thavnair, where they are encountered. As in their original appearances, Minduruva specializes in damaging magic, Sanduruva specializes in supportive magic and physical attacks, and Cinduruva has high HP and restorative magic. After facing Minduruva and Sanduruva alone, the sisters join forces for the final fight of the tower. As in their original game, they employ a "Delta Attack" strategy, which consists of reflecting Minduruva's spells off of a barrier placed on Cinduruva by Sanduruva. Unlike the original game, this causes the magic to refract and be amplified in unexpected ways, making them harder to avoid.
• Another IV boss that makes an appearance is Calcabrina, the infamous Creepy Doll. Here, it is the final boss of the Antitower dungeon and has similar mechanics and music from its original game. She also starts the fight with her own theme song, "Dancing Calcabrina"—and just like in her original game, she switches to the "serious" boss battle theme when the three dancing Calcas and the three dancing Brinas combine into one massive doll. Calca and Brina are two minions that players can get from defeating her.
• The final boss of The Burn is the Mist Dragon from IV, complete with the ability to turn into mist. When the dragon does so, there is battle narration taken directly from the encounter in Final Fantasy IV, explaining that "Striking the mist is futile! To do so only incurs the dragon's wrath!"
• Barnabas in the Tower of Babil is a deadringer for his IV incarnation, accompanied by Lugae. The fight even opens with Lugae ordering Barnabas to attack, only to turn and hit the doctor just like in the original encounter. And just like that encounter, if you killed Barnabas first (which you do in this game), Lugae will assume a robotic form, which serves as the second boss of the dungeon. Lugae will boast "Look upon the face of fear!" while fighting the party. He says the same in Final Fantasy IV when he transforms into a cyborg.
• The final boss of The Fell Court of Troia is Scarmiglione, the first archfiend fought in IV. He's got his recognizable hisssssing verbal tic, and he even comes back for the dead for a round 2 like the original. Their design this time is based closely on Amano's art, which create some differences from the original game: He wields a flaming sword never found in IV and has flowers growing from his hood.
• The 2015 Rising Event gives a big shout out to IV in the form of 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.
• The highest level fish in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks is the Octomammoth.
• For the Level 40 Bard quest, Bard's-eye View, your instructor has a unique phrase of his own.
  Jehantel: 'Tis good to see you return, [Player Name], and more seasoned still for your time in the world. Call me a spoony bard, but as a man in the winter of his years, it gives me great joy to observe an adventurer in the spring of his life.
• During the scenes in the early credits of Stormblood, Lyse observes that even Zenos began as an innocent baby, and that he was made what he was by the system created by Garlemald and his family. This is an echo of a similar, famous line from an otherwise unimportant character in IV, who notes that all humans, even Golbez, begin as innocent babies and that something else must have made him evil.
• Dwarves, a recurring race in Final Fantasy, hail from The First as helmeted miners of Tomra (albeit a surface-world version), down to carrying over their "Lali-ho" greeting. And like the previous games, you can learn the Lali-ho to use in the form of an emote.
• The teaser trailer for Endwalker takes several pages of inspiration from IV, from the cover Warrior of Light becoming a Paladin after being a Dark Knight in Shadowbringers (mirroring Cecil's transformation from Dark Knight to Paladin) to the moon being a key location, with the expansion's logo art featuring an image of a starship (not unlike the Lunar Whale from IV) flying towards the moon.
• The Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2021 has an 8-person mount called the Lunar Whale. Not only that, they give out minion versions of Edge, Rosa and Rydia.
• Among the many references to IV in Endwalker, the gear for the tomestones of Aphorism are all references to the cast of that game. Fending and Maiming are Cecil, Striking and Scouting are Edge, Aiming is Edward, Caster is Rydia, and Healing is Rosa.
• If a Wind-up Palom and Wind-up Porom are together, they perform the Break spell, referencing their Heroic Sacrifice after the party kills Cagnazzo.
• The A-Rank mark Li'l Murderer is named for a type of goblin found late into IV.
• In Il Mheg, there are three faeries gathered together in a triangle. As the player approaches they will catch one saying "And we'll call it Delta Attack!". This is likely a reference to the Magus Sisters of IV, who first coined the name for a strategy involving bouncing magic off of a Reflect spell. A later incarnation of the sisters in X more closely resemble faeries, with insect wings.
• The boss fight with Golbez contains multiple references to attacks and quotes from Golbez in IV, as well as his portrayal in the Dissidia games.
  • He uses the attacks Binding Cold, Black Fang, and Double Meteor. These were attacks used by Golbez, or his Shadow Dragon, at various points in IV. He also uses Arctic Assault, Terrastorm, Gale Sphere, and Lingering Spark, taken from his portrayal in Dissidia NT.
  • During his Double Meteor attack, he will in the Japanese script say "Give your power to Meteor!"; this is a quote Fusoya said to Golbez during their battle against Zemus, and has become a famous line from IV. In the English script, he doesn't say this, but he will say something similar during his second use of Double Meteor: "Render unto me your all!"
• 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.
• Zeromus's fight includes several attacks used by Zeromus in IV, including Black Hole and Big Bang.

Final Fantasy Adventure (1991)

• Ronitt is descendant of Watts, a dwarf from Adventure. Once Watts' Anvil is in operation, his outfit takes on the colors of his ancestor.

Final Fantasy V (1992)

• During the first phase of his fight, Gilgamesh will pull the exact same I Surrender, Suckers that he pulled in V by begging for mercy, buffing himself, then ambushing the tank with Jump. He even verbatim quotes his exact same lines from V as he does it. In fact, many of Gilgamesh's lines in this game are taken or paraphrased from his place of origin. Gilgamesh will also inflict Mini, Confusion, and Toad on the party, a nod to the standard debuffs used in the older Final Fantasy titles.
  • The second time you fight Gilgamesh and he initiates his iconic multi-arm form, he'll drop his famous "And now we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men!" line. What makes the line even more hilarious is female player characters can wear certain gear that makes them look more fitting on a male, making Gilgamesh's taunt ring true. He even does this yet again on the third battle with him in Kugane, except he genderflips the last part into "men who dress like ladies". While it's in reference to a moment in the Stormblood Hildibrand quests, male player characters can certainly dress like ladies to fit the bill.
• 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's Japanese name Kururu fits perfectly within Lalafellin naming conventions. She even wears the cat-eared hood of the Devout class from the same game and has a grandfather, Galuf who dies on the Island of Val before we get to meet him.
• In Endwalker, Ojika Tsunjika quotes some wisdom from Galuf. "Surrender not to anger or hatred. Look beyond them, and there find true strength." He then says that what lies beyond has been subject to interpretation. This is a reference to the battle between Galuf and Exdeath in Final Fantasy V. In that fight, some force allows Galuf to fight Exdeath alone, even after taking attacks that should have killed him outright. Exdeath mocks Galuf's efforts, stating that "All the hatred in existence would never be enough to defeat me!" To which Galuf responds that this strength "isn't anger... isn't hatred...", but leaves the answer unsaid. An answer that baffles and frightens Exdeath. Similar to what Ojika says, the nature of Galuf's strength is subject to interpretation, though The Power of Love is a popular interpretation.
• In Norvrandt, there was an ancient empire named Ronka, whose ruins and Lost Technology are a major part of various storylines. The name Ronka is taken from V, where it was similarly a long-dead society whose technology has long outlived them. The questline featuring the Great Serpent of Ronka might be inspired by Archeoaevis, the flying serpent who protected the Earth Crystal within the Ronakn Ruins in FFV. The most intact Ronkan ruins are found in the Rak'tika Greatwood. In the same forest can be found the much more recently ruined Fort Gohn, once inhabited by the Night's Blessed. In FFV, Gohn is a ruined and abandoned village, built directly above the ruins of Ronka.
• In the Leviathan fight, Leviathan will boast "Mine is the power to cleanse all things! Naught can withstand the relentless onslaught of my waves!" when he uses Tidal Wave. This is similar to what Leviathan says before battle in V: "The power of my waters... Strong enough to wash away all sins and make all things pure."
• During the battle with Shiva, she will summon a group of Ice Soldiers to aid her. This is reminiscent of the fight with Shiva in V.
• The boss of the third floor of Alexander, Living Liquid, is a reference to Liquid Flame. Aside from the switch of element from flame to water, the boss strongly resembles Liquid Flame, and has the same ability to switch between a humanoid shape, a hand shape, and the form of a tornado.
  • Liquid Flame itself appears as the second boss of the Great Gubal Library (Hard).
• The second boss of Shisui of the Violet Tides has a mechanic involving the use of magic boxes that inflict the Old status slowing party members down and preventing them from attacking. Old was a status effect in V that gradually reduced the victim's stats over time.
• The final boss in the 4.0 main story quest is based on 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.
• The FATE boss Archaeotania is a direct recreation of the original Twintania from V, and its name is a portmanteau of that and its stronger Palette Swap from the Updated Re-release, Archeodemon. It even uses Twintania's moves: Tidal Wave, Mind Blast, Wind Slash, Snowstorm, Atomic Ray, and Mega Flare before charging up Giga Flare when below 10% health.
• Proto-Omega in the Stigma Dreamscape resembles Omega's original design from Final Fantasy V.
• Abyssos, The Fifth Circle presents us with another legacy boss, in the form of 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 King Alexander Highwind Tycoon.
• The second boss of the Heroes' Gauntlet, Spectral Necromancer, seems to have taken cues from Lenna's version of the Necromancer job in the Gameboy Advance version of V as she wears a skull shaped crown, a leotard and has pink hair.
• The final boss of the Heroes' Gauntlet, Berserker, takes after Bartz' version of the costume also from V.
  • The solo duty enemy boss that unlocks Deltascape is the Level Checker, a random encounter from the final area of FFV.
  • The first boss of Deltascape is Alte Roite, previously the guardian of FFV's Ronkan Ruins.
  • The second boss of Deltascape is Catastrophe, a boss from the Interdimensional Rift.
  • The third boss is Halicarnassus, who also followed the Catastrophe boss fight in FFV.
  • The final boss of Deltascape is Exdeath, primarily in Tin Tyrant form, although he changes briefly into his "tree" form for several mechanics. In the Savage version, he becomes Neo-Exdeath.
• The first boss of the Anamnesis Anyder is a horrific slab of flesh called "Unknown" found at the end of a sea trench, with its appearance based on one of the Unknown enemies from Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (1992)

• Pazuzu, who is the hardest NM in Eureka, comes directly from Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.

Final Fantasy VI (1994)

• The Returner status, reserved for players that have not logged in for 45 days, is taken from the game's insurgency group "The Returners".
• When Cid's an amnesiac, he goes by the name Marques. This isn't the first time we've had a Cid named Marque(s/z).
• The Alchemists' Guild quest line centers around the guildmaster and his attempts to bring his lost lover back to life, not unlike a certain treasure hunter. And at the end, he does succeed in doing just that, just long enough to say goodbye.
• The fight against Ultros and Typhon takes place in the Dragon's Neck. What's more, the scenario leading up to it involves Ultros working as a receptionist at the Coliseum, just as he did in VI. The battle theme when fighting against them is also directly used from their respective game in its original form, and the Wind-up Ultros minion obtainable from the battle looks just like his overworld sprite.
• 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 the reference to Cyan (bearing the same name that Cyan has in the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VI). Hien, instead, would be a reference to Cyan's son, Shun/Owain. A quest midway through the Azim Steppe plot-line reveals that Shun was indeed Hien's childhood name, and that his mother's name was Mina, the Japanese-version name of Cyan's wife Elayne.
• After defeating the Phantom Train, the spirits of a woman and young boy appear to thank the player for saving Doma. Though they aren't named here, it's clear that they're supposed to be Elayne and Owain.
• The Stormblood Hildibrand quests feature a Lupin bandit known as the Wolf Burglar. He resembles Lone Wolf, the pickpocket, from V and VI. One of the quests creates a situation where both Hildibrand and the Wolf Burglar are dangling from a cliff, and you need to choose who to pull up first. This references a scene in VI, where the moogle Mog ends a hostage situation by knocking both himself and Lone Wolf to the edge of a cliff, leaving the player to decide which one to rescue.
• In patch 2.2, several NPCs seek refuge in Eorzea when their homeland was torn apart by war. That homeland just happens to be Doma.
• Azys Lla is heavily based on the Floating Continent from VI right down to the statues of the Warring Triad at the highest point in the area which is occasionally patrolled by Proto Ultima. In addition it can also be seen as a minor reference to the Flying Fortress from the first game due to Tiamat's presence as well as it being the only place where the player can find Adamantite.
  • To drive the gag further, the final boss in the hard mode version of Fractal Continuum, the Ultima Beast, fully resembles the Ultima Weapon from VI.
• The Castrum Abania dungeon in Stormblood is one to the Magitek Research Facility from, and its bosses are some of the iconic enemies from it, notably the Magna Roader enemies, Number 024 (as Number XXIV and unlike its original counterpart, hitting it with the wrong element reflects damage back) and Number 128 (a.k.a. Inferno, after its recolor found in Kefka's Tower).
• In the Diadem, one of the notorious monsters is a Brachiosaur and like in its original incarnation, it can use extremely devastating attacks that can wipe out several alliances. It's armed with Spin (cleaving physical attack to everyone in front of it), Disaster (removes several of your buffs and can cause Paralysis, Slow, and Blind), and the highly fatal Meteor spell.
• The Warring Triad has a showing in the game as a series of trials Heavensward. Patch 3.2 first introduces Sephirot the Fiend, who's first stage boss theme is a remix of the "Fierce Battle" theme. Later patches add Sophia the Goddess and Zurvan the Demon. The names of the three are also a reference to the originally planned names for the Warring Triad.
• Ymir appears as a boss in Hullbreaker Isle (Hard) with a few new tricks up its shell, namely the ability to switch its elemental affinity between lightning and ice.
• The second boss of the Ghimlyt Dark is Prometheus, based on the enemy of the same name. The machine's burrowing capabilities are taken from the enemy's palette swap, Tunnel Armor.
  • The Tunnel Armor itself appears in Castrum Lacus Litore as an allied unit.
• The game's iconic magitek are obtainable as mounts in different ways.
  • Your reward for completing the A Realm Reborn main scenario is a Magitek Armor mount, based on Amano's key art. What's more, the trailer showing it off featured VI's opening music and three characters modeled after Biggs, Wedge, and Terra. Though it didn't do it at first, fan demand caused them to change it so Terra's theme plays while you're riding it. Stormblood eventually added its in-game version, named the "Magitek Predator", as a rare drop in Ala Mhigo.
  • The Magitek Sky Armor is an obtainable mount in PVP for a hefty amount of Wolf Marks.
  • Air Force can be obtained from Sigmascape V4.0 (Savage).
• Though not available as a mount, Armored Weapons start showing up at the tail end of Heavensward.
• The Sixth Umbral Era was caused by a massive war between three nations of magical power, which would go down in history as the War of the Magi.
• The duty finder name for fighting the Guardian is called "Won't Let You Pass!", which is what the Guardian in VI says when you encounter it in battle.
• The Chairman of the Eorzean airships, Tatabaru, has a personal airship called the Blackjack, Setzer's prized airship. You can even obtain a downsized version of his airship from the Gold Saucer as a mount, befitting the original owner's gambler lifestyle.
• A paladin action is named "Riot Blade", Terra's Desperation Attack.
• The solo duty boss for that unlocks Sigmascape is Dadaluma, a martial artist from FFVI's city of Zozo.
  • The first boss of Sigmascape is the Phantom Train. Sadly, Monks do not have a Suplex skill to use on it.
  • The second boss is Chadarnook, the cursed painting found in Owzer's mansion.
  • The third boss is the Guardian, the Beef Gate boss that would instantly annihilate you in FFVI until you could fight it formally atop Kefka's Tower. It uses the same gimmick it had in VI: Copying abilities from other bosses, namely Dadaluma, Air Force, Ultros, with the Everliving Bibliotaph taking the place of Ultima Weapon; which it also summons as adds during the fight.
  • The fourth boss is Kefka, accompanied with the three-tiered Statue of the Gods during the second phase of his battle. In Savage, he ascends to his God of Magic form.
• The first boss of the Heroes' Gauntlet, Spectral Thief, has gear very familiar to Locke Cole, and uses the Chicken Knife from V.
• 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. Krile, who takes up the job for Dawntrail, even notes that the art of Pictomancy was, itself created and passed down by a legendary Archon named Relm, to hammer it home.
• Relm's starting weapon, the Chocobo Brush, is one of the in-game items you get from the Dawntrail Collector's Edition.

Tactics Ogre (1995)

• M'naago has a personal Griffin named Obda and there is a FATE boss named Berda, both share the same names as Gahnp's griffins in Tactics Ogre.
• The Palace of the Dead is an homage to the dungeon of the same name in Tactics Ogre. An underground dungeon filled with undead enemies and is remnant of a magic-related civilization. Like in Tactics Ogre, the Palace of the Dead is set to have 200 floors, with the first set of 100 having a story attached and last set being purely for the challenge. A Necromancer that seeks to resurrect their betrothed even serves as a boss^note In fact, it's the very same one from Tactics Ogre. The trailer for the Soul Surrender patch even uses a remix of the theme "Fog of Phantom" straight from Tactics Ogre's soundtrack.
• The current final boss of the Palace of the Dead is 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.
• Similar to M'naago's own gryphon, Pagaga has a pair of gryphons named Obda and Berda the Younger, much like Ganpp Vochstein's own pet gryphons. Unlike M'naago's, however, they fight for her in Zadnor.
• The final quest of Patch 2.4 is called "Let Us Cling Together".
• In Heavensward, the "Valerian" armor sets that drops in Neverreap and Fractal Continuum reference several of the classes from Tactics Ogre: Shaman, Wizard, Rogue, Smuggler, Fusilier, Dragoon, and Terror Knight.
• For April Fools, Square released a fake trailer for Tactics Alexander which portrayed the game using a style that looks like the original Tactics Ogre.
• A set of Tactics Ogre gear can be found at level 69; six are named "Valerian" and include class names of Priest, Dark Priest, Archer, Vedette, Brawler, and Rune Fencer, while the seventh, the Xenobian gearset, is a direct reference to Lans Hamilton's gear.
• The Wind Caller hairstyle added in Patch 5.3.5 is a reference to Canopus Wolf of Tactics Ogre.

Final Fantasy VII (1997)

• Tifa's bar, Seventh Heaven, reappears in Mor Dhona, complete with hidden backroom where the good guy group meets.
• Jessie Jay, the mechanic in Mor Dhona, is an Expy of Jessie Raspberry and dresses in a similar manner.
• The Gold Saucer not only shares its name with the VII location, but also remixes its theme and includes activities such as Chocobo racing like the original.
• At the Chocobo Square, Joe, the infamous difficult opponent to race against in VII, makes an appearance (though his name is changed to Joseph). Joe even has the same mannerisms as he did in his original appearance and has a feeling he had met you before. To top it off, there's an NPC who is fuming that he can't beat Teioh in the races, which is also another nod to Joe being difficult to beat since it was his chocobo. Finally, you can race against Joseph and his infamous chocobo if he's picked as an NPC to race against, but your chocobo's rank has to be high enough to race him.
• The black chocobo minion is said to do squats if you look away from it, referencing Zack Fair.
• Players can find a farmer named Hojo on the outskirts of Namai. Fortunately, this version of Hojo only seems to be worried about the rice paddies.
• Godbert is a stand-in for Dio. Both built the Gold Saucer in the middle of the desert and are wrestlers who are constantly in their underwear. Dio is also translated as "God" in a number of romance languages like Italian and Spanish.
• Costa del Sol makes an appearance as a resort location in Eorzea as well, with music to fit it.
• In Eulmore, there is a strip club called the Beehive which takes its inspiration from the Honeybee Inn of VII.
  • Eulmore itself is a distilled reference to the city of Midgar, being a vertically oriented city where the rich live at the top while the poor gather in the slums at ground level. This is further enforced by Lord Vauthry's Japanese name, Don Vauthry, a reference to Don Corneo, being a wealthy and powerful overweight man with a thinning hairline.
• The Achievement for defeating Sephirot, the Fiend, is "Veni Veni Venitas", A Line from the Ominous Latin Chanting from "One-Winged Angel", the music associated with Sephiroth. The achievement pokes fun at the similarities between the two's names, and the fact that, in the original concept work, the Fiend was flat-out named "Sephiroth"^note well, "Sefilos" thanks to Nomura being bad at romanization on private artwork, but the kana leave little room for doubt - our famous white-haired villain just inherited a discarded name from the previous title.
• During the fight against the 2nd phase of Sephirot, part of the lyrics will say "The seven hells become the seventh heaven".
• The first boss in the Ala Mhigo dungeon is the Magitek Scorpion, which is modeled after the same robot scorpion from VII and has similar attacks. In a blink and you miss it moment, an NPC before the fight will tell you to "attack while its tail is up", which is also a nod to Cloud's mangled advice for fighting the boss in Final Fantasy VII. Luckily, the boss here doesn't counterattack if you do attack it when the tail is raised.
• The final boss of the Alphascape tier has Omega take on both male and female human forms in an effort to grasp the Warrior of Light's strength. These forms are the male and female heroes on the Yoshitaka Amano box art◊ of the original 1.0 release. They can each use a Limit Break called Cosmo Memory. Its context here likely refers to Omega's long, draining trip through the Sea of Stars, but it also happens to share a name with the ultimate Limit Break of Red XIII of VII fame.
• 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.
  • 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.
• One of the major changes for version 2.0 was a total revamp of the game map, explained by the final events added to the 1.0 version of the game being a catastrophe that brought the "Seventh Umbral Era". This major catastrophe was caused by a Garlean trying to perform basically the same thing Sephiroth did with Meteor.
• The final Trial of the Heavensward Expansion 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'.
• A quest chain in the higher level area of The Fringes involves M'zhet Tia, of the M' tribe Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te who live in the eastern portion of the region who seeks to challenge M'rahz Nunh for the title of Nuhn of the tribe. Part of it, is because M'zhet's own father was once also nuhn of the tribe, when the M were large enough to require two nuhn's and had supposedly been exiled when the tribe grew smaller during the Garlean occupation, only to then abandon his son. What follows, is a retelling of events of Cosmo Canyon, Red XIII, and his father. Namely, that M'zhet's father had peacefully forfeited his title of nuhn, and chose to guard the tribe's home of Peering Stones from afar. A sickness one day caused the wildlife to enter a frenzy and they were about to swarm and attack the M tribe. M'zhet's father, M'aht, left his son in the care of the Vira Ananta and fought alone against the frenzied beasts. Though he drove the beasts into a cave, he was afflicted with a petrification poison, and so M'aht willingly sealed the cave's entrance with his own body before the transformation completed. Further more, M'zhet's facial features, hair style, color, and hair clip, evokes the image of a Miqo'te version of Red XIII.
• A Level 68 Weaver Levequest is titled "One Winged Angle".
• The Lifestream is basically a one to one recreation of the one from VII; all life is created from it and beings that die have their souls return to the lifestream where it is assimilated and is eventually reborn. The aether (which is what XIV's lifestream is composed of), is under threat by the primals that sustain themselves by eating it, which is similar to what Shinra did in VII by pumping out the lifestream to power machines and create materia while Sephiroth tried to absorb the lifestream to become a god.
  • Conversely, all forms of energy and matter in XIV are made up of aether; a primal siphoning it is bad because it serves only to empower the entity and is never returned to the land, but ordinary flora, fauna, and regular activity by sapient beings (even large-scale industry) merely converts aether from one form to another, so there is no danger of it slowly killing the planet like Shinra's Mako reactors were doing to FFVII's.
• 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 ultimate weapon from VII.
• Endwalker reveals that dynamis (AKA emotional energy) is how players can use a Limit Break. VII uses the same logic for its limit break system as explained by Cloud.
• The Eorzean airship routes are maintained by Highwind Skyways.
• The 2016 Rising event has a retelling of the Calamity by the use of puppets and a narrator with the Warrior of Light taking the leading role at the last minute. If you flub up your stage directions, the play takes an unexpected and weird turn of events, such as a fat cat emerging from Dalamud instead of Bahamut and said fat cat got the empire and the alliance to stop fighting because it was cute and cuddly. This is a nod to the play scene from VII where you could also choose hilarious options to end the play in different ways.
• The Ultima Weapon is based on the series' recurring superboss, and shares many details with its predecessors. It most closely resembles the VII incarnation, as a giant bestial quadruped with a winged humanoid in the upper half.

Chocobo's Dungeon (1997)

• Alpha the Chocobo in the Omega - Bend of Time raid resembles the chocobo from Chocobo's Dungeon.

Final Fantasy Tactics (1997)

• Ramza and Alma both appear for the Return to Ivalice storyline. Their father, Jenomis, 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 Big Damn Heroes moment midway through the fight).
• The chants said by Agrias and Cidolfas during the Orbonne Monastery are direct references to their ability quotes in Tactics. The reference is lost to those who only played the War of the Lions version which had them removed.
• The Deep Dungeon class of instances is a reference to an old roguelike published by Squaresoft. It was also the name of the set of maps in Tactics.
• Red Comet and his red chocobo horde in Bojza and Zadnor are a combination of Mythology Gag and Memetic Mutation, referring both to the infmous red chocobos from Tactics and their more infamous Choco Meteor, and also to the patch day efforts to go into one step of the Ivalice Raids requiring facing off against similar red chocobos... who often spawned for EACH player trying to do the event, creating multiple such chocobos, all of whom could drop Choco Meteor.
• When Thancred calls out Ungust for allying with the Amalj'aa to line his pockets, Ungust tells him to "blame yourselves or the gods," a nod to Tactics' mistranslations.
  • The "blame yourself or the gods" line gets revisited once more by Ba'gamnan in the Return to Ivalice raid, making it much more fitting considering the locale they're in.
• The process of upgrading your relic weapon from Atma to Animus involves undergoing the trials of the Zodiac Braves. There's also a minor group of bandits called the Corpse Brigade.
• All of the armor dropped from the Royal City of Rabanastre raid in the Return to Ivalice storyline references specific characters or units in Tactics.
  • Ditto for Ridorana Lighthouse and Orbonne Monastery, with the armor sets in the latter being based on Ramza, Agrias, Balthier, and the Oracle/Mystic unit.
  • So that we're specific on which sets are which... The Tank/Maiming sets are Agrias, the Striking/Ninja sets are Ramza, the Aiming set is Balthier and the Healer/Caster is Oracle/Mystic
• The final boss of the first Return to Ivalice raid is able to stack a debuff on raid members called "Unnerve", which will eventually transform them into a chicken unable to fight if it gets too high. This references the Brave mechanic from Tactics, a measure of a unit's valor that can be increased or decreased by a variety of different abilities and dialogue choices. If it ever drops too low in a given battle, the unit will literally transform into a chicken and automatically move as far away from any fighting as possible.
• After clearing Royal City of Rabanastre, Ba'Gamnan will paraphrase the infamous "Blame yourself or God" line from the original translation of Final Fantasy Tactics.
• The ending of the "Return to Ivalice" storyline is one large reference to the Ambiguous Ending of Tactics, where for years it was speculated that either that really was Ramza and Alma alive in the ending, or just Orran seeing their ghosts. Writer and director of those games, Yasumi Matsuno, has gone on record to say that it was the former case. Ultimately with him co-writing the raid story, this continuity's Alazlam decides that instead of releasing the Durai Reports equivalent, which would just be suppressed by the Garlean Empire, he'll add one final act to his play based off of the Zodiac Brave Story that essentially fulfills Matsuno's words, to honor Ramza for his Heroic Sacrifice. The storyline thus fulfills both sides of the coin.
• The description of the Construct 14 mount notes that it "will dispose of friends and foes alike if so commanded, so be careful what you wish for", referencing a scene from Tactics where Ramza jokingly orders Construct 8 to "dispose of Mustadio" and panics when it complies.
• The last portion of the Return to Ivalice raid takes place in the ruins of the Royal City of Lesalia.
  • The final part of Return to Ivalice takes place in the Orbonne Monastery.
• The second boss Anamnesis Anyder is the Cyclops summon from Tactics, called "Kyklops" here.
• The Heart of Sabik is referred to as Black Auracite (“Black Holy Stone” in Japanese), even before the Ivalice raid story introduced other Auracite crystals. And it has similar properties and is every inch as dangerous as the Auracite stones in Tactics.
• In the game’s Japanese script, the incantation spoken by Lahabrea when he commands the Ultima Weapon to cast Ultima is the exact same as the incantation spoken by Ultima the Angel of Blood herself in Tactics, when she casts Ultima in her second phase.

Einhander (1997)

• The first boss of the Keeper of the Lake is called Einhander, and even emulates the titular ship's gimmick of swapping between different gunpods to attack the party.

Final Fantasy VIII (1999)

• The Echo's ability to dive into someone else's memory is markedly similar to Ellone's powers.
• The Gunbreaker's starting 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. Prior to this, Squall's Dissidia look can be obtained as a Veteran Reward for having been subscribed for at least 330 days.
• Alisaie is told to choose a name for her new familiar, with little hesitation she names it Angelo]]. Later conversations shows that she named it after a pet dog she and Alphniaud shared when they were younger.
• The cutscene after defeating Eden's Promise in 5.4, which has Gaia wandering in the darkness, mirrors Squall wandering through Time Compression having lost their memories of Ryne and Rinoa, each struggling to remember them until they have a Memento MacGuffin from them, the ice pendant for Ryne and the feather for Rinoa. It's enough for both of them to find their respective partners back to reality.
• Ahriman bosses use an attack called Eyes On Me.
• When Ifrit grows low on health, he will comment "Thou art strong, mortal!". This is similar to what Ifrit says when low on health in VIII: "Not bad for a human!"
• The final boss of Akadaemia Anyder is the Guardian Force, Quetzalcoatl.
• The final tier of Eden, Eden's Promise, is a raid-wide reference to the final battle of VIII against Ultimecia. In 8, the Ultimecia battle has four phases: Ultimecia's humanoid form (the sorceress), the guardian force Griever (a great beast), Ultimecia junctioned with Griever (a fusion), culminating in Ultimecia's final form (an Eldritch Abomination). In Eden's Promise, the fights are the Cloud of Darkness (sorceress), Shadowkeeper (beast), Fatebreaker (fusion), and Eden's Promise (Eldritch Abomination). In Eden's Promise: Eternity (Savage), Eden's Promise defuses, but Gaia reawakens to her memories as Loghrif, becoming the Oracle of Darkness, with "The Extreme" playing.
• When fighting Nabriales, he'll cast Double and Triple, followed up by another spell that hits twice and thrice respectively. VIII had a similar concept for its magic system as well.
• In 6.45, you get the Wind-up PuPu for clearing the "Not From Around Here" quest as part of the Hildibrand storyline. Its Flavor Text and description talk about wanting elixirs, bringing to mind the PuPu sidequest in VIII where you had to give it 5 elixirs after destroying its UFO.
• The Triple Triad cardgame is taken straight from VIII and plays a remix of the match theme "Shuffle or Boogie" from that game as well.
• The Critical Engagement boss Canis Dirus has the design of VIII's incarnation of Cerberus.
• The "Proto-Ultima" sheds the wings like the VIII version did, and has the same Light Pillar attack.

Final Fantasy IX (2000)

• Gigi, the Mammet companion from the Heavensward Hildibrand questline, is an obvious reference to Vivi, the Black Mage from Final Fantasy IX. His appearance is very clearly based on Vivi's, his backstory as an artificial lifeform created to contain a powerful magic mirror's Vivi's. Later on it's revealed that his name actually is Vivi, and that he was created by the Sharlyan arcmagus Quan, who shares his name with FF9!Vivi's adoptive grandfather.
• The Antitower is one to Ipsin's Castle of IX. An Escherian place which is upside down. i210 weapons still do more damage then i1 weapons though.
• 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, Bahamut's attack on Alexandria. As a hint of irony, Bahamut razes Eorzea with countless Megaflare beams that are almost identical to the Holy Beam Spam Alexander used on him in that game, just colored orange instead of blue.
• 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, and Cruise Chaser itself can be bought as a mount from the store.
• The second to last main scenario quest in Endwalker? "You're not Alone".
• The theatre troupe that Jenomis is part of uses a traveling airship as their base of operations called the Prima Vista.
• The Dawntrail Collector's Edition features Garnet's ultimate eidolon, the Final Fantasy IX version of the Ark, as a mount and the latter as a minion. The Pre-Order Bonus features a minion of Zidane.

Final Fantasy X (2001)

• The Hrothgar, a race of burly feline men, have some facial options that can give them a horn on their head, thus making them a Ronso. On the First, the Hrothgar are called Ronso there, making the connection more obvious. Furthermore, in Amh Araeng there are locations on the map named after famous historical Ronso, such as Mount Biran, Garik, and Kelk.
• The arena you summon and fight Ramuh for Eden's Verse: Fulmination is the Gandof Thunder Plains, straight out of X. The buildings in the background are even the same design as the buildings in the Thunder Plains.
• Ysayle transforming into Shiva, looks very similar to Shiva's summoning animation from X.
• The 2nd boss of The Weeping City of Mhach uses a spell called Mega Death, which will instantly kill anyone unless they are under the Gradual Zombification or Zombie status. This is a nod to Yunalesca's Mega Death attack in X where the mechanics are exactly the same.
• Yojimbo is the final boss in the Kugane Castle dungeon, being the same character from X and using similar mechanics.
  • Similarly, Ixion is introduced as a mega-FATE boss and a mount for players to ride. He, of course, has Aerospark and Thor's Hammer as his special and ultimate attacks.
• The Endwalker story features Anima, whose role is revealed in the Garlemald story. He serves as the final boss of the Tower of Babil. In battle, Anima's strongest attack is Oblivion, which looks much the same as it does in Final Fantasy X; the party is sunk into a dark dimension below the battlefield, and Anima's lower half assails them with a barrage of punches.
  • This version of Anima has some story parallels to the original from Final Fantasy X. FFXIV's Anima is made from the body and concept of Varis Zos Galvus; the father of Zenos, whom Zenos murdered, but is later glad to use as the nexus of the Telophoroi towers. In the original game, Anima was also formed from the sacrifice of a parent; in that case the willing sacrifice of Seymour's mother, and the resulting Aeon was Seymour's personal summon until released by Yuna's party. The power of Anima is used to temper Garlean citizens into false worship of the dying Empire, similar to how Final Aeons such as Anima were used to perpetuate the church of Yevon in Final Fantasy X.
• The Garlean Empire refers to their machinery as "machina".

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

• One of the Paladin's actions is named "Spirits Within".

Final Fantasy Unlimited (2001)

• The "Cartridge" resource used by the Gunbreaker job is, in the Japanese script, called "Soil". Soil was the magic ammunition needed for Maguns in Unlimited. Similarly, the Japanese name for the Bloodfest ability is "Blood Soil"
• The Gunbreaker's unique Limit Break, Gunmetal Soul, could be a reference in name to the "Soul Gun Metal" Soil color used in Unlimited.

Final Fantasy XI (2002)

• Goblins, Qiqirn, and Mamool Ja share the same appearance and tendencies as the beastmen in XI.
• During his 2nd fight, Gilgamesh once again wields weapons that appeared in previous Final Fantasy games. in this case, he wields the XI versions of Hauteclaire and Ridill swords.
• The Immortal Flames and Twin Serpents are named after the Immortal Lions and the Serpent Generals.
• The legendary figure that the Black Mage soulstone is inherited from is named Shatotto and was said to be so powerful by herself that she could take on an entire army and win. Gerolt takes a few tries to get the name right, outright dropping Shantotto as one of them, and the achievement for completing the first level Stardust Rod is Shantotto's Noblewoman's Laugh.
• Aymeric's last name, de Borel, comes from a character in XI named Altennia Borel, who was a squire during the Crystal War.
• Various Miqo'te characters have last names that were carried over from XI. A list can be found at the FF Wikia.
• The 6.1 dungeon is Alzadaal's Legacy, modeled after the Alzadaal Undersea Ruins of XI - with an extra layer of homage as XIV could be considered the legacy of XI.
• Oracle of Darkness uses several moves named for the club and staff weaponskills from XI, such as "Spirit Taker", "Shell Crusher", and "Black Halo".
• During the Level 54 Dragoon quest, Heustienne, the dragoon you are training, is given a lance named Peregrine. The name and design is similar to that of the Dragoon Lance that's part of the Artifact I set (or AF1) from Final Fantasy XI.
• Eureka is one big love letter to XI:
  • Loss of EXP and leveling down is a mechanic used from the game.
  • The Eureka weapons are ones to 11's highest level weapons as well that could be obtained at level 75 or 99, and some for multiple classes.
    • Antaea for Paladins is for Red Mage, Blue Mage and Paladin.
    • Brunello for Red Mage for Red Mage, Blue Mage and Paladin.
    • Circinae for Bard is for Ranger.
    • Daboya for Dragoon.
    • Dumuzis for Monk and Puppeteer.
    • Kasasagi for Ninja.
    • Molfrith for Machinist is for Corsair.
    • Paikea for Black Mage is for Black Mage, Scholar and Summoner.
    • Rose Couverte for White Mage.
    • Shamash for Warrior.
    • Torigashira for Samurai.
    • Xiphias for Dark Knight.
  • Notorious Monsters spawning by chain killing certain enemies is also a mechanic fromm that game.
  • The Strider Boots increases your Sprint buff duration inside cities, which is a nod to the original version which boosted your movement speed. It's also a nod to the Hermes' Shoes in 1.0 which had similar effects.
  • Beating Fafnir can get you a wind-up minion of him, whose description makes a reference to the infamous drop rate for the Ridill weapon. The Japanese version gives a different reference to the weapon by saying it occasionally attacks three times. Fafnir itself was also a Notorious Monster in Final Fantasy XI and it also uses most of its attack from that game.
  • The Scorpion Harness is an obtainable drop from the Serket Notorious Monster, which is a nod to the gear of the same name from Final Fantasy XI and also the fact that for a long time one of the ingredients to craft it could only be obtained from Serket on XI.
  • Wind-up Mithra and Tarutaru minions can be obtained from Anemos and Pagos, respectively. Their flavor text implies that they're considered the ancestors of the Miqo'te and Lalafell. Which, in a sense, they are.
  • The public dungeon "The Baldesion Arsenal" within Hydratos features the ever-infamous Absolute Virtue as a boss, though he cuts straight to the chase with his impenetrability compared to his original self. To symbolize the overly-precise methods that the developers of XI wanted the players to use, XIV's take on the boss has a buff that allows him to instantly kill anyone that attacks him... provided they haven't completed "The Baldesion Arsenal: The Expedition", a FATE within the area.
• Endwalker reveals there's a second, more hidden form of energy other than aether: Dynamis, named after the Pocket Dimension of dreams created by Diabolos in XI.
• Fafnir from XI returns in Eureka and is once again a Notorious Monster.
• The Anamnesis Anyder begins with you fighting various sea life, including an Xzomit, a Yovra, and a Phuabo. Later on, the player can fight Panopts.
• The fights against Chaos and the Shadow Keeper both contain attacks named for abilities used by the Shadow Lord in XI. Chaos uses Implosion, Damning Edict, and Bowels of Agony. The Shadow Keeper uses Implosion, Giga Slash, Umbra Smash, and Deepshadow Nova (possibly named for the Shadow Lord's Dark Nova).

Final Fantasy X- 2 (2003)

• The Palace of the Dead serves as a reference to the Via Infinito in X-2, which was also an underground labyrinth filled with the undead. The map of each floor was also randomized.
• When you defeat the Ruby Weapon, the pilot activates Oversoul mode, which grants them extreme power 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.
• Equipping soul crystals to learn the specialized abilities of jobs are most similar to X-2's memory spheres in that XIV's soul crystals' powers draw off of their previous owners' memories.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (2003)

• The Rising 2016 event has a troupe that are named the Crystal Caravan.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (2003)

• The Crystarium's hunt is overseen by Clan Nutsy, which is led by a moogle, referencing Montblanc.
• The Porxie named Ezell II is named after his creator, who was a nu mou of the same name.

Drakengard (2003)

• The mysterious white orb is a Seed of Destruction, an object that can make multiple grotesque copies of whoever enters it and a plot device that has not been seen in Drakengard-Nier lore in ages.
• 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 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.

Final Fantasy XII (2006)

• The Garlean Legatus look dangerously similar to Judges.
  • The Law's Order series of armor are strong references to the Archadian Judges, specifically Bergan^note Aiming, Scouting, and Striking, Drace^note Casting and Healing, and Gabranth^note Fending and Maiming.
• Appearing in Return to Ivalice is Fran, the game's first Viera and a character based on a playable party member from XII, which is also set in Ivalice (albeit long before the events of Tactics, from which Ramza hails).
• Towards the end of Shadowbringers's initial story, it's revealed that Zodiark was first summoned in order to alter the rules of reality to halt the apocalypse. The description of Zodiark in XII ascribes a similar power to him.
  "He alone fashions the laws governing all things, and administers punishment in place of the gods. So is he Keeper of Precepts, and his authority is absolute."
• 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 Zodiark. The character in question is 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.
• One of the Legatii posted in Dalmasca is Noah van Gabranth, who even shares the helmet of his XII moniker.
• Ishgard's Hunt is overseen by Clan Centurio.
• One of the cutscenes in the village of Fanow is similar to that of a cutscene in XII in which Vaan asks a rather faux pas question to Fran. It even includes the tension of everyone staring at the one who asks the question.
• The Zadnor's Blades armor sets introduced in Patch 5.55 are basically the exact skins for quite a few XII cast members. Tank and Maiming is Basch. Striking, Ninja and Aiming is Penelo. Healing and Caster is Larsa.
• Adrammelech is one of the bosses of Castrum Lacus Litore (the critical engagement at the north end of the southern front). Like the Lucavi fought in the Ivalice raids, he uses his Final Fantasy XII model, but is created through Auracite, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. His title of "The Wroth" is referenced when he appears; he says "The heavens have spoken, and they are wroth indeed!"
• The first part of the Return to Ivalice raid series takes place in the Royal City of Rabanastre, which lie in ruins. You also get to explore the Garamsythe Waterway.
  • The second part of the Return to Ivalice raid series has the player sent to the Lighthouse on the Ridorana Cataract, which is revealed to also be an entrance to the Clockwork City of Goug.

Crisis Core (2007)

• The Red Mage's level 70 artifact weapon resembles Genesis' rapier in Crisis Core.
• One of the Main Scenario Quests in the Peaks is called "The Price of Freedom".

Dissidia (2008)

• One piece of art for Endwalker from Yoshitaka Amano which has two beings representing Hydaelyn and Zodiark look more like Cosmos and Chaos. Endwalker itself reveals that those are indeed their true forms. With that in mind it's worth noting that the light that Hydaelyn embodies is a force of stasis and passivity while Zodiark's darkness is activity and change — further mirroring Cosmos's harmony and Chaos's discord.
• Within the Bend of Time - Deltascape V1.0, the battlefield outside of a castle heavily resembles the Final Fantasy V stage from Dissidia.
• In the Fractal Continuum, an Allagan warship turned museum, you can find a set of (still functioning) artificial soldiers called Manikins, the same name for the Mooks of Dissidia.

Final Fantasy XIII (2009)

• The Twinning is full of XIII references. The first boss Alpha Zaghnal is modeled after XIII's Behemoth, a common enemy is the Flanborg, and the second boss is Mithridates, one of the Undying Cie'th.

Final Fantasy XIV 1. 0 (2010)

• In The Rising 2019 event, the gift exchange NPC is using Minfilia's 1.0 model.
• The 2014 Heavensturn seasonal event featured NPCs who referred to chocobos as "horsebirds", a translation which caused no small amount of controversy in 1.0.
• The Mining and Logging minigames at the Gold Saucer are based off their original Disciple of Land class's gathering system.

Final Fantasy Dimensions (2010)

• A mechanical FATE boss in Garlemald is called Heliogabalus, after the name of the empire's massive airship in Dimensions.

Nier (2010)

• The Obsolete Android Healing and Casting sets for the Tower at Paradigm's Breach are the same outfits worn by Devola and Popola.

Final Fantasy XIII- 2 (2011)

• A Gold Saucer quest is called "So You Think You Can Ride This Chocobo", a reference to the lyrics from the heavy metal Chocobo theme from XIII-2.

Final Fantasy Type- 0 (2011)

• Several hairstyles from the aesthetician are modeled after Class Zero in Type 0.
  • Likewise, Moglin the Chief of Moghome is named after the MOOGLE representative of Class Zero in the same game.
• The Bozjan Southern Front is home to a number of Magitek models ripped directly out of Type-0, including Gabriels, Dainsleif, and Helldiver.

Drakengard 3 (2013)

• The 813P-operated Aegis Unit is a machine that takes the form of a giant flower that attacks with pulsating rings, which is a reference to the final boss of Drakengard 3 - the specific move that initiates the ring attack is also called "Life's Last Song," in reference to the final chapter name/final boss theme, the Final Song.

Nier Automata (2017)

• A set of raids from Shadowbringers, Yo R Ha: Dark Apocalypse, adds Nier Automata content to the game.
• After clearing the Tower at Paradigm's Breach, the cutscene preceeding the tower's collapse shows 2B and 9S collapsed the same way they are found in Ending E of Nier Automata.
• At the end of the Copied Factory raid 2P pushes 9S to a corner of the platform during their fight, leading 9S to fall off while giving 2P a scornful look, mirroring a similar scene in Nier Automata where he gave A2 the same look before falling off a cliff.
• The title of patch 5.1, which adds the first of the Nier Automata raids to the game, is "Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty". This is a reference to the weapons wielded by 2B and 9S, Virtuous Contract and Cruel Oath; a deed and a vow.
• During the creation of the white towering humanoid, the various 2P prototype "dolls" pile onto each other haphazardly much like how the Machine Lifeforms in the Desert crawled onto each other to birth Adam.
• The Striking, Scouting, and Maiming sets are the Resistance uniforms as donned by Anemone and Jackass.