Behold the litany of situations in Square Enix's mind-meltingly popular franchise where the cast f*ck up badly.
- Final Fantasy III:
- Noah, the master who trained Xande, Unei, and Doga, decides to give his pupils a gift as a reward for completing their training.
You'd Expect: Noah would give them all the same gift, or at least one he knew they'd like (which is arguably the point of gift-giving). And if they object to their gifts, let them switch it around.
Instead: Doga gets granted immense magical power, Unei gains dominion over dreams, and Xande is rendered mortal. Xande is pissed at getting his immortality taken from him (especially as it was done so without his permission), seeks out the Cloud of Darkness, and becomes the bad guy.
- Noah, the master who trained Xande, Unei, and Doga, decides to give his pupils a gift as a reward for completing their training.
- Final Fantasy IV:
- After defeating Cagnazzo, the party becomes trapped in a corridor of Baron Castle as what was left of Cagnazzo's spirit tries to kill the party as vengeance, making the walls start to close in on the heroes. They can't just run out the room, because the doors both magically lock.
You'd Expect: Since the party has two members capable of using black magic, one of them would think to destroy the wooden doors with fire magic so they could escape, or use the Warp spell to teleport to the castle entrance. The party also has two people capable of using white magic, so one of them could teleport the group out of Baron Castle completely with the Exit spell. It's not as if Cagnazzo's trap prevents any of the spellcasters from using magic.
Instead: Palom and Porom do use magic to help the party escape, but it's by petrifying themselves with the Break spell to stop the walls from closing in. And since they became stone of their own free will, Esuna doesn't work when Tellah tries casting it. They do get better eventually, but there were far smarter ways to escape the trap than that. - Cecil procures the Crystal of Earth in exchange for Rosa's safety. When confronting Golbez on the Tower of Zot to actually make the exchange, Golbez shows up with Kain, but not Rosa.
You'd Expect: Cecil would insist Golbez either give him Rosa first or agree to make the trade at the same time. At the very least, Cecil should make sure Rosa is physically present during the exchange. Golbez hasn't exactly shown himself to be trustworthy — he made Cecil and company climb his tower full of dangerous enemies before the exchange even happens, and left the three Magus Sisters to guard his door just as one last "screw you" to Cecil. With that in mind, Cecil would assume that Golbez wasn't a man of his word.
Instead: Cecil hands over the Earth Crystal immediately. Golbez responds to Cecil's demand for Rosa with "Rosa? Who's that?" It's even worse in the Nintendo DS version, because you can read the map leader character's thoughts when opening the menu; Yang thought the deal was fishy, yet said nothing. - In the DS version: The party finally defeats Golbez thanks to Rydia's Big Damn Heroes moment as his body lays down on the floor after a battle to defend one of the remaining dark crystals.
You'd Expect: The party would take the crystal and move it somewhere else so that Golbez wouldn't be able to locate it anymore. Golbez is someone who survived after taking Meteor with only some mild annoyance, and they can still see his body in this version. So you'd expect they would take precautions.
Instead: The party leaves Golbez's body as it is without securing the crystal after a few reunion moments. As expected, Golbez stands up and teleports away with the crystal. - The party is getting ready to travel to the moon on their Cool Starship. After numerous fights and trials, the party is finally ready to take down the Big Bad.
You'd Expect: Cecil to maybe say a few words of encouragement and get down to business with his trusted and capable allies.
Instead: Cecil orders Rosa and Rydia off the ship claiming it's "too dangerous" because they're girls and all. Rosa and Rydia happen to be the party's primary healer and an obscenely powerful Summoner who can conjure a dragon to melt faces, respectively. They are the two most essential members of the party, with Cecil and Edge, the two claiming they should stay behind arguably being the most expendable. The girls have to resort to sneaking aboard the ship as it takes off in order to save the team from their stupid deaths all in the name of chivalry.
- After defeating Cagnazzo, the party becomes trapped in a corridor of Baron Castle as what was left of Cagnazzo's spirit tries to kill the party as vengeance, making the walls start to close in on the heroes. They can't just run out the room, because the doors both magically lock.
- In Final Fantasy V, one of the four Warriors of Dawn, a werewolf named Kelgar, decides to challenge Bartz over a misunderstanding.
You'd Expect: Kelgar to actually stop and listen to what Galuf and the rest of the party are trying to say. Then, once things are explained, tone down the machismo a little because he's way past his prime.
Or: Bartz to not hit him as hard as he possibly can.
Instead: They insist on fighting, and Bartz wallops Kelgar so hard he's bedridden. And then dies a short while later. Way to cost yourselves an ally for the fight against Exdeath, team! - Final Fantasy VI:
- Kefka and Emperor Gestahl have Celes dead to rights on the Floating Continent, with her friends in the player's party paralyzed by the magic of the Warring Triad. The Statues of said Triad, Demon, Fiend, and Goddess, are the godlike objects which are the source of all of the world's magic, so there's no way the party can escape on their own.
You'd Expect: Kefka or Gestahl would kill Celes right then and there. She's already betrayed them before, expressed no desire to return to the Gestahlian Empire, actively tried to halt their plans by joining the Returners, and already turned down a similar offer from Kefka while she was in Vector.
Alternately: If Kefka and Gestahl want to be really sadistic, they could use the Warring Triad's magic to hold her in place while she's Forced to Watch her friends die. It's not like she could do anything about it.
Instead: Gestahl offers Celes the chance to join them again by having Kefka giving her a sword and telling her to kill her friends. Naturally, Celes does no such thing, instead using the sword to stab Kefka, which causes him to go so insane at seeing his own blood, he then tries to use the Warring Triad's power to kill Celes, with the Emperor trying to stop him, not realizing he played right into Kefka's hand. - The Emperor trying to stop Kefka is another moment, too. After trying to cast several spells, Gestahl's magic doesn't work, which is because Kefka is standing in the barrier created by the three Statues of the Warring Triad. And Kefka even tells Gestahl this, point blank.
You'd Expect: That Gestahl would try something else, like drawing a sword or a different weapon, seeing as how Kefka literally just explained why magic wasn't going to work.
Instead: Gestahl keeps trying magic, uselessly, until Kefka fries Gestahl with thunderbolts, then kicks him off of the Floating Continent to let him fall to his death.
- Kefka and Emperor Gestahl have Celes dead to rights on the Floating Continent, with her friends in the player's party paralyzed by the magic of the Warring Triad. The Statues of said Triad, Demon, Fiend, and Goddess, are the godlike objects which are the source of all of the world's magic, so there's no way the party can escape on their own.
- Final Fantasy VII:
- The Ancients create a world-destroying object which, if used, summons a giant meteor to come and destroy the Planet. However, they need a way to keep this object from falling into the wrong hands, because if it did, said evildoer could use it to... summon a giant meteor to come and destroy the Planet.
You'd expect: They wouldn't make such a thing in the first place, since it has no apparent productive use.
Instead: They make their entire temple itself the world-destroying object, and as a security measure, design it so that anyone who activates the mechanism to shrink the temple down to usable size gets crushed inside. Because villains never have minions that they consider expendable and likewise, if the right hands come by, the mechanism tries to kill them anyway. - The party manages to get the world-destroying Black Materia back from Sephiroth before he's able to use it. Cloud, having figured out by now that he shouldn't be the one holding onto the thing, gives it to another party member, with instructions that they shouldn't give the Black Materia to anyone else, no matter what.
You'd expect: This order would be interpreted as "don't give the Black Materia to anyone else, no matter what, including me". There is no reason at all why Cloud would ever need the Black Materia for anything, and he's already been shown in front of a few party members as acting incredibly strange whenever Sephiroth is nearby. The only reason the party is hanging onto the Black Materia in the first place is to keep Sephiroth from getting his hands on it, and they've obtained it so recently that they haven't figured out what they're going to do yet to hide it or destroy it.
Instead: Cloud predictably falls under Sephiroth's mind control again, and casually asks for the world-destroying object back, which is quickly and cheerfully given. He then gives it to Sephiroth, who promptly summons the giant meteor to destroy the world. ...while the Shinra goons that have been chasing them through the whole game are standing RIGHT THERE!! - The party obtains the Black Materia from the above mentioned deathtrap, and they are even told outright by the villain that he needs it for his plan to wreck the planet.
You'd expect: The party to destroy it right then.
Or: If that proves impossible, then get as far away from Sephiroth as possible or at least hide the Materia someplace where he can't get to it.
Instead: They don't even make the attempt to destroy the thing and pursue Sephiroth as usual, and actually bring it with them. The result, the party pretty much hands it over to the villain on a silver platter. - A lesser act of stupidity, but extremely blatant nonetheless. At Wall Market, Cloud and the girls finish "interrogating" Don Corneo and are on their way out. Corneo asks them to wait a second.
You'd expect: Cloud and the others to just keep walking. Getting that intel was the only reason Tifa went to Corneo in the first place, and Cloud and Aerith were only there for her. Now that they have it, they have no reason to stick around and a very big reason to get to Sector 7 immediately.
Instead: Cloud stops in his tracks and hangs around long enough for Corneo to drop the trio into a trap door. The time spent fighting Abzu and then going through the sewers and the train graveyard could have been better spent saving Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, and getting to the top of the control pillar in time to throw Reno off before he could tamper with the controls. Smooth moves, spiky-haired boy.
- The Ancients create a world-destroying object which, if used, summons a giant meteor to come and destroy the Planet. However, they need a way to keep this object from falling into the wrong hands, because if it did, said evildoer could use it to... summon a giant meteor to come and destroy the Planet.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake:
- Cloud, Tifa & Barret have successfully snuck into Hojo's lab to rescue Aerith and thanks to the Mayor, they have yet to be caught by security.
You'd Expect: That they would tail behind his back and sneakily follow him until they find Aerith before escaping undetected. Alternately, they could simply knock him out and take his keycard before they search the entire facility for her, only keeping him alive albeit subdued to interrogate him in case they are unable to find her before they kill him to ensure that he will no longer pose a danger to Midgar once Aerith is found.
Instead: Barret proceeds to blow their cover by holding Hojo at gunpoint and while they're successful in rescuing Aerith, Hojo is able to call security for help and sic monsters & machines against him while also allowing him to trap the party inside the facility in order to force them to battle his creatures For Science!. - The heroes capture Professor Hojo and demand that he take them to the captive Aerith at gunpoint.
You'd Expect: For them to immediately pump him full of holes if he so much as sneezes in a suspicious manner.
Instead: They sit around and do nothing as he puts some distance between them and muses on how much it would suck for Aerith to see their fresh corpses.
The Result: Hojo is able to sic a bunch of monsters on them and escape. - The heroes capture President Shinra and demand that he confess to his destruction of Sector 7 at gunpoint.
You'd Expect: For them to learn their lesson from last time and immediately pump him full of holes if he so much as sneezes in a suspicious manner.
Instead: They allow him to sit at his desk barely supervised.
The Result: Shinra is able to get his hands on a gun, and might very well have shot someone had Sephiroth not done him in on the spot. - The Whispers of Fate are fighting the heroes in order to preserve the future where Sephiroth was defeated and the Planet saved.
You'd Expect: They would show visions as proof that the intended future is the ideal outcome for the Planet's survival, for example they could show instances of humanity rebuilding, the whole party together for the Final Battle, the Meteor being destroyed or Cloud breaking free of Sephiroth's control.
Instead: They showed visions that are not only confusing without context (e.g. Red XIII with his kin), but they also show visions of the Meteor about to destroy the Planet. This ended up causing the heroes to mistakenly believe that the original timeline is the Bad Future and inavertedly gave them the motivation to destroy them, thus ensuring that Sephiroth can restart his plans again, possibly even being successful in the new timeline. - A Wutai spy within the Shinra headquarters has heard rumors that the company is creating the ultimate Materia that if used, can turn the tides of battle when the war against them is renewed.
You'd Expect: For the insider to verify the Materia's location, the status of its construction as well as double checking as to whether or not said rumors ended up being true before they report said findings to the Wutaian government.
Instead: They immediately informed their findings to Wutai the moment they heard the rumors with the latter sending Yuffie along with Sonon as her bodyguard to steal it. Not only did it turned out to be All for Nothing due to the Materia currently being in development stage but it ended up forcing Sonon so sacrifice himself to allow Yuffie to escape before Nero could kill her.
- Cloud, Tifa & Barret have successfully snuck into Hojo's lab to rescue Aerith and thanks to the Mayor, they have yet to be caught by security.
- Final Fantasy VIII:
- Rinoa comes up with plan to neutralize Sorceress Edea's powers during an important military mission being run by her father: put a bracelet that can neutralize Edea's magic on the wrist of the sorceress. Rinoa is well-meaning, but her idea is so poorly thought out that Quistis outright laughs at Rinoa's suggestion and basically tells her to shut up. Rinoa is then told that this is Not a Game, and that she should stay where she is.
You'd expect: Rinoa to do as she's told, since the one in charge of the operation said why this was a bad idea. She might feel bad about it, but there's already a plan in place to take out Edea.
Alternatively: Rinoa could make an argument as to why this plan could work during this particular time. Maybe there's a way to distract the sorceress long enough to get the bracelet on her.
Instead: Rinoa decides to be rebellious and go to the sorceress alone so that she can put the neutralizing bracelet on Edea. Once Rinoa manages to reach the sorceress, it's clear that Rinoa has no idea what she's doing, and Edea swats her away with very little effort, letting Rinoa get easily kidnapped. - After Quistis shoots down Rinoa's aforementioned plan, Quistis relocates her team to the gate where they'll be stationed during the very important military mission to assassinate Edea. During this mission, Quistis feels sorry for what she said, and wants to apologize to Rinoa.
You'd expect: Quistis would make a mental note to apologize to Rinoa for losing her temper after the mission is over.
Alternatively: Quistis could leave her teammates and head back alone once she's sure things are going according to plan, leaving Zell and Selphie to do the mission without her. After all, it doesn't take that many people to throw one switch at the right time.
Instead: All three of them abandon their post and run back together, get locked in Rinoa's room because of her father, and only get back in position in the nick of time thanks to a serendipitous hidden passage into the sewers. - Irvine is tasked with assassinating Sorceress Edea during a celebratory parade after she kills the former president. Later in the game you find out that Edea is the one who raised most of the party, Irvine included, at an orphanage when they were kids. Irvine is the only one who remembers this.
You'd expect: Him to tell the party about this and the fact that he might have qualms against shooting the woman who raised them in the face.
Instead: He doesn't tell them, chokes up and can't kill her, compromising the mission and putting everyone in danger. - The assassination plan itself is full of these.
- Sorceress Edea is a potential threat to the world, and also plans to seize control of Galbadia Garden. The people currently in Galbadia Garden, naturally, don't want this to happen.
You'd expect: That they would assemble a team of the very best men and women they have at Galbadia Garden, and who are unknown so that, if the mission should fail, it can't be traced back to Garden. It's worth noting that just earlier this same day, there was an incident involving people from another Garden attacking the president on live TV.
Instead: They grab a bunch of greenhorns from another Garden who just graduated literally yesterday who showed up by chance, and are the very same people who showed up on TV earlier so the whole world knows they're from Garden. They fail, Edea takes over Galbadia Garden, and retaliates against the assassination attempt by launching missiles at the other Gardens. - The plan is to have a sniper shoot the sorceress from afar.
You'd expect: That the plan would be for the sniper to shoot her from a concealed location while she's giving her speech on the roof of the president's estate. The room in the gateway housing the gate controls would be perfect for this, as the sniper would be concealed, have a clear shot at sorceress while she's giving her speech from the room's single small window, and even has an escape route via the sewer entrance inside the gateway. A single person can shoot her and escape, no problem.
Instead: The plan is the opposite; to wait until the parade starts and have the sniper sneak into the president's estate and shoot the sorceress from atop the big, conspicuous carousel clock on the roof when her parade float reaches the gateway. Also, it should be noted that the parade float has a gigantic throne on the back of it, and the parade's route will have the float facing away from the president's estate when it reaches the gateway. Logically, attempting to shoot the sorceress from the estate should have the shot be completely obstructed by the throne. (It isn't though. Somehow.) - Part of the plan involves dropping the gates in the gateway to trap the sorceress inside.
You'd expect: That they wouldn't do this, since the parade float moves at about 1 mph and trapping it so that the sniper can take the shot should not be something they remotely need to be concerned about. Doing this would only serve to completely ruin the element of surprise.
Instead: They do it, alerting the sorceress to the attempt on her life before the sniper takes the shot, causing her to cast Protect on herself and No-Sell the bullet. Who'da thunk that a SORCERESS could use magic, huh? - The personnel undergoing the mission are split into two teams, the sniper team and the gateway team. The sniper team, well, snipes, and the gateway team lowers the gates in the gateway as explained above. In the event that the sniper fails, Plan B is to just attack the sorceress directly.
You'd Expect: That the gateway team would be the ones to go fight her, since they're already in the gateway with her, and why else would the gateway team need three people?
Instead: It's the sniper team who are supposed to fight her. The team that is halfway across the city and now have a huge crowd of paniced civilians and lots of soldiers on high alert between them and the sorceress after the botched sniping attempt. Squall's able to get to her quickly by jumping off the roof and stealing a car, but Irvine and Rinoa presumably have to run there fighting soldiers along the way while Squall duels Seifer. The gateway team just sits around and does nothing, apparently. - After the plan is complete, regardless of success or failure, the two teams would surely need to beat a hasty retreat to avoid capture.
You'd Expect: That the plan would include some sort of method of escape. As mentioned previously, there's an entrance to the sewer inside the gateway that could be used for this purpose.
Instead: There is no escape plan whatsoever. As a result, everyone involved in the plan is captured when the plan completely and spectacularly fails, Garden is found responsible for the assassination attempt, and the sorceress retaliates by having missiles launched at the remaining Gardens after she gets nice and comfy in Galbadia Garden.
- Sorceress Edea is a potential threat to the world, and also plans to seize control of Galbadia Garden. The people currently in Galbadia Garden, naturally, don't want this to happen.
- Rinoa comes up with plan to neutralize Sorceress Edea's powers during an important military mission being run by her father: put a bracelet that can neutralize Edea's magic on the wrist of the sorceress. Rinoa is well-meaning, but her idea is so poorly thought out that Quistis outright laughs at Rinoa's suggestion and basically tells her to shut up. Rinoa is then told that this is Not a Game, and that she should stay where she is.
- Final Fantasy IX:
- Princess Garnet is kidnapped by Zidane and his crew under the order of Cid, the ruler of Lindblum (though Garnet wanted to get taken anyway). The reason for the kidnapping was to protect Garnet from her own mother, a queen that had gone mad with power. Garnet talks to Cid about her mother and hopes he can do something. Cid assures her that everything will be fine and he'll form a plan to deal with her mother. Garnet wants to go with Zidane to Burmecia so she can see why her mother attacked the kingdom. Zidane and Cid tell her that it's too dangerous and she could be killed.
You'd expect: Garnet would stay put in Lindblum and let her companions get to the bottom of the situation without risking her life as Alexandria's princess.
Instead: She laces everyone's food except Steiner's with sleeping weed to knock them out so that she can return to Alexandria herself to talk to her mother. This results in Garnet being put under a knock-out spell by Kuja, having her eidolons extracted from her in order to be used by her mother for war, and then being set up for execution due to her "treason". If it wasn't for Zidane overhearing Brahne's plans to kill her own daughter, Garnet would have been dead. - After putting everyone to sleep, Garnet leaves Lindblum with Steiner agreeing to follow her.
You'd expect: That she would go to Burmecia to see with her own eyes whether or not her mother really invaded the country. Zidane and Cid even assume that this is what she was planning once they wake up.
Instead: Garnet goes to Alexandria to ask her mother directly whether or not she attacked Burmecia. Because there's no way her mother could just lie to her. As a result, Garnet is captured and her eidolons are extracted. Said eidolons are then used to wipe Cleyra off the map and devastate Lindblum, and later nearly destroy Alexandria as well after Kuja siezes control of the extracted Bahamut.
Even Worse: Garnet's dialogue during the next stretch of the game implies she knows full well that her mother did indeed invade Burmecia, but she thinks she can make her mother cease hostilities if she just goes home to talk to her, which begs the question of why Garnet wanted to go to Lindblum in the first place if not because she thought she couldn't trust her mother anymore or thought she couldn't stop her mother's aggressive actions alone. She also outright states that the reason she ditched Zidane and Cid was because they "wouldn't stop treating [her] like a kid" (read: keeping her safe and away from the horrors of war and anyone who would attempt to harm or manipulate her).
- Princess Garnet is kidnapped by Zidane and his crew under the order of Cid, the ruler of Lindblum (though Garnet wanted to get taken anyway). The reason for the kidnapping was to protect Garnet from her own mother, a queen that had gone mad with power. Garnet talks to Cid about her mother and hopes he can do something. Cid assures her that everything will be fine and he'll form a plan to deal with her mother. Garnet wants to go with Zidane to Burmecia so she can see why her mother attacked the kingdom. Zidane and Cid tell her that it's too dangerous and she could be killed.
- Final Fantasy X:
- During the blitzball tournament in Luca, the Al Bhed Psyches kidnap Yuna and take her to their ship, as part of their people's ongoing effort to stop summoner pilgrimages. Yuna in particular is especially high-priority for them because she's the niece of the Al Bhed's leader.
You'd Expect: That they would simply keep quiet, avoid drawing attention to themselves, and then hightail it back to their Home with Yuna in tow as soon as the tournament is over. Or even just have the ship's crew leave with Yuna immediately and come back to pick up the Psyches later.
Instead: They send a ransom to the Besaid Aurochs, demanding them to lose to the Psyches in the tournament in exchange for Yuna's safe return. Mind you, the Aurochs are infamous for being the worst blitzball team in history, having not won a single game in over 20 years, and the Psyches are (in gameplay at least) an extremely solid team with few weaknesses, making it doubly silly that they would risk compromising their mission for the sake of winning a sports game. They also deploy a swarm of illegal machina weapons into the city to try to stop any would-be rescue attempts. This complete lack of subtlety allows Yuna's guardians to easily locate and rescue her. (To add insult to injury, the Aurochs also beat them in the tournament as well, keeping the score tied instead of throwing the match, and then winning at the last second once they knew Yuna was safe.) - Shortly before Yuna's aforementioned kidnapping, she, Tidus, and Kimahri are looking for Auron in the city. Kimahri winds up running into some "old friends" and getting into a fight. Just then, Tidus hears that the tournament is starting.
You'd Expect: That Tidus, having promised the Besaid Aurochs he would help them win the tournament, would break up the fight, get Yuna, and head back to the stadium. He should have plenty of time to do so, since the opening ceremony, where Maester Mika gives a small speech and then the sphere pool is filled up, would have to play out before the games start, and on top of that, the Aurochs were seeded, which should logically mean they wouldn't play until the second round.
Instead: In an impressive display of Cutscene Incompetence, Tidus apparently just stands there gawking at a nearby TV screen from the beginning of the opening ceremony up until the Aurochs' match against the Al Bhed Psyches starts. Additionally, since Kimahri is also preoccupied with his fight, this means that Yuna is completely unattended, allowing her to easily be kidnapped. Because of this, Tidus has to take a detour to rescue Yuna, leaving the Aurochs completely on their own against the Psyches. As stated before, Aurochs are able to win the match, thankfully, but still. - In Guadosalam, Yuna finds a sphere that turns out to be a Video Will made by the late Maester Jyscal. In it, Jyscal reveals that he knows that he will soon be murdered by his own son, Seymour, whose traumatic childhood has caused him to grow into an extraordinarily hateful and power-hungry man who seeks to spread chaos and destruction across all of Spira. Jyscal accepts his impending death as punishment for failing as a father, but implores the viewer to put a stop to Seymour's ambitions.
You'd Expect: That Yuna would immediately inform her guardians about the sphere, then head straight for Bevelle to inform the authorities* . Maybe find a way to make the information as public as possible as a failsafe.
Instead: Yuna not only keeps this information hidden from her guardians (to protect them, even though it's THEIR job to protect HER), but she comes up with the extremely harebrained plan of marrying Seymour (who proposed to her earlier that day) in exchange for him turning himself in to justice. Naturally, Seymour has no intention of doing any such thing, and Yuna's guardians wind up getting involved anyway when they find and watch the sphere and promptly rush in to rescue their idiotic summoner. This results in a battle to the death with Seymour (who later revives as an unsent, becoming more powerful in the process) and the party being branded traitors.* - At one point, Rikku - aiding the party's escape - produces a flash grenade and yells "Cover your eyes!" as she tosses it at the villains.
You'd Think: Everyone in the immediate vicinity would cover their eyes, as instructed (including the villains, who are normally intelligent enough to know they should probably listen to the Al Bhed girl tossing bombs).
Instead: Seymour grabs the Villain Ball and stares straight at the bomb at his feet for a good two seconds before it goes off, temporarily blinding him.
- During the blitzball tournament in Luca, the Al Bhed Psyches kidnap Yuna and take her to their ship, as part of their people's ongoing effort to stop summoner pilgrimages. Yuna in particular is especially high-priority for them because she's the niece of the Al Bhed's leader.
- Final Fantasy X-2: Yuna and the Gullwings find a Sphere concerning Vegnagun and hidden secrets that New Yevon is holding onto. Both the Youth League and New Yevon want this sphere, and the Gullwings need to decide which group to hand it over to. Yuna is the High Summoner, so her word will carry more weight than anyone else on Spira. The conflict between the two groups is causing a ton of civil unrest, so whichever group gets the Sphere will be said to have the implicit support of the High Summoner.
You'd Expect: The Gullwings would Take a Third Option by copying what's on the sphere, and hand that copy over to both groups. Yuna could explicitly say that she's refusing to take sides and remain neutral as she hands them over. Or, if she doesn't want to do that or can't copy the sphere, she could just tell both groups what the Sphere contains.
Alternately: The Gullwings could do nothing at all as an attempt to truly remain neutral. By not handing over the Sphere or telling either group anything, they keep themselves completely out of the escalating conflict. The rest of the Gullwings even admit to Yuna that it feels like giving the Sphere away is just going to lead to more violence, no matter who they give it to.
Instead: Yuna gives the sphere over to only one faction, and whichever faction she doesn't support grossly overreacts by branding her and the Gullwings as traitors to their cause. It takes Yuna turning the collective opinion of Spira's populace against the conflict itself that convinces the rival factions to finally cool their jets. - Final Fantasy XII: Judge Ghis manages to extort the Dawn Shard, a piece of deifaced nethicite, out of the party's possession and sends them on their way. The Archadian Empire, who he serves, has the Midlight Shard as their basis for their own manufacturing of nethicite, and the Dusk Shard which they got off of Vaan in an earlier event. So he should know very well what it can do. He also got a demonstration as one of his spells was cancelled when he tried to off the party via You Have Outlived Your Usefulness.
You'd expect: Judge Ghis to just fly the Leviathan straight back to Archades with the nethicite in tow.
Instead: Ghis hooks the nethicite up to his ship's engines to see what kind of power it possesses. This drives Fran completely berserk, and she tears through Vossler's forces before the party has to step in to shut him down. This is the less significant effect, though; the nethicite also siphons all the power from the ship's engines in record time. The party escapes aboard the Shiva before everything goes pear-shaped, with both the Leviathan and the entire fleet accompanying it being decimated in the equivalent of a magical thermonuclear blast, killing Ghis and everyone on board the ships in one shot. In short, the curiosity of the judge perking up at exactly the wrong time caused the end of him and his plans. - Final Fantasy XIII-2 has Caius making an attack to provoke Noel to kill him.
You'd Expect: Noel will just drop his sword to prove his point of not wanting to kill.
Instead: He puts his sword nearly at his chest. Since he won't do it, Caius just grab his hand to stab himself with it. - Final Fantasy XIV:
- The Au Ra flee from The Empire after losing their homeland to them. The Au Ra arrive at Ishgard, hoping to find safety in the fortified city. While the Au Ra look mostly human, they also possess horns and scales on their bodies, which makes them look like a dragon and the people of Ishgard are currently at war with dragons.
You'd expect: Everyone in Ishgard to at least listen to what the Au Ra had to say since they weren't being aggressive.
Instead: The Au Ra are slain by Ishgardian soldiers just because the Au Ra people look like dragons to them (even women and children were slain). This causes some Au Ra to extract a revengeful kill on their attackers and at least one other cooks up foul experiments to make the people in Eorzea suffer. - During the main story quest "The Parting Glass", Teledji Adeleji gets a Near-Villain Victory when his plan for Ul'dah appears to go off without a hitch. With sultana Nanamo seemingly dead from a poisoned chalice, the Warrior of Light framed for her death, and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn arrested for regicide, Teledji is just about to consolidate more power for himself with the sultana gone, installing his friends in the Monetarists on the Council of Ul'dah on top of that. The only thing standing in Teledji's way is Flame General Raubahn, who accuses Teledji of being responsible for the crime committed during the quest.
You'd Expect: Teledji would keep quiet about any and all involvement. He's got the Crystal Braves, most of the Ul'dah top brass, and the rest of the council members believing what he's saying as it stands. Also, Raubahn is a man that is literally twice the size of the Lalafellian Teledji, and the Flame General is a former gladiator who got where he is by winning a thousand matches in a row. With this in mind, Teledji would try to diffuse the situation or resume finger-pointing at the Scions of the Seventh Dawn as the culprits.
Instead: Teledji goes full Smug Snake. While he doesn't quite admit to wrongdoing, Teledji's response gives only a token denial before what is all but a gloating confession, including saying that he had "sufficient motive" to commit the crime. On top of that, Teledji mocks Sultana Nanamo as a Puppet King right in front of Raubahn, the one person more loyal and dedicated to the sultana than anyone else in all of Eorzea. Teledji's mockery goes so far that Raubahn says Teledji can "mock her from Hell" as Raubahn literally cuts Teledji in half, instantly killing him and ending his plans right there, all because Teledji just had to try and get in the last word. - Speaking of the Crystal Braves, the same incident has them very publicly turning their coats, going from a controversial neutral force to throwing in their lot as the kind of private army they were formed to avoid. This is especially true for ringleader Ilberd, who's ordered the deaths of every loyalist member of the force to set this up.
You'd Expect: That Ilberd would recognize that his position is quite precarious. While he was fully aware the arrest is a wheels-within-wheels farce he was asked to take some fall from by deliberately escalating, the outcome was anything but certain once other Eorzean leaders got time to react. Additionally, his involvement shows the Crystal Braves are anything but trustworthy.
Instead: Ilberd continues to inflame a situation his backers want stabilized, including abducting and attempting to execute a valuable political prisoner and trying to assassinate a national hero in the process, all to push a personal agenda that simply cannot be achieved in the short term, especially in the current political climate. He's then surprised when the Braves are cut loose for being a liability and an incredibly convenient scapegoat, leaving them with no base, no money, no resources, and no friends in high places. - Inquisitor Guillaime (really a heretic in disguise) obviously is not pleased to have the adventurer, Cid, and Alphinaud, whom are in search for their airship, in Whitebrim Front.
You'd Expect: For Guillaime to do as much as he can to ensure that they are able to locate their airship. After all, the sooner they find it, the sooner they will leave. He even tells them to find it and leave as soon as possible.
Instead: He constantly gets in their way whenever they could find a lead in locating their airship. Even turning some of the people of Whitebrim against them. This leads to Alphinaud to focus his attention to Guillaime himself. Eventually leading to his deception to be revealed... - The mages of ancient Mhach are in the middle of a brutal war with Amdapor. Their most powerful mage have recently (and VERY reluctantly) summoned an incredibly powerful demon from the void called Diabolos. His summoner warns the people of Mhach of the dangers related to this creature and warns them to only keep him around as a deterrent from attacks by Amdapoor or Nym.
You'd Expect: The Mhachi to heed the warnings of their most powerful and knowledgeable mage and summoner.
Instead: Not only do they ignore the warnings against using him as an actual weapon, which in turn leads to the Calamity of Water and ushers in the Sixth Umbral Era, they ignore the warnings about trusting the words of the Obviously Evil demon from the void, taking advice from the creature on how to summon, enthrall, and restrain voidsent. Unsurprisingly, Diabolos' instructions were purposefully flawed and the Voidsent eventually managed to break free and rebel against their former captors, slaughtering many as they tried to escape the aforementioned Calamity of Water which caused a great flood. - The Garlean Empire want to eradicate the world of primals since said primals absorb the world's aether, which can kill the planet if left unchecked. They know that Eorzea is also combatting the primals.
You'd Expect: The empire would talk to Erozea's leaders on how to tackles the primal problem or at least find a way to get the empire and the Eorzean nations to unite.
Instead: They invade Eorzea for conquest and aim for complete genocide of the beastmen tribes (even those who are not affiliated with the primal worshipping ones). This has the Eorzean Alliance teaming up to resist the empire while the beastmen become desperate and summon stronger versions of their gods out of desperation, which screws over everyone. This is eventually justified in Patch 4.4 when its revealed that since the empire's founding, their leaders have been controlled by the Ascions the whole time. - Ysayle, a young girl affected by the Dragonsong War, gets a vision regarding Shiva and the dragons. Seeing the truth, she tries to make things right in the war by siding with the dragons. This is also around the same time where she obtains the Echo and is taught by the Ascians on how to summon a primal onto herself via Willing Channeler.
You'd Expect: Ysayle to find more information about the truth she witnessed.
Instead: She aids the dragons in attacking Ishgard and believes herself to be the reincarnation of Shiva that is destined to be with the dragons. It comes to head in the end of 2.5 where she dispels the magical barriers on the Steps of Faith so the dravanian horde can attack Ishgard.
What Happens: The Warrior of Light calls her out for her actions and reminds her that she gotten a lot of innocent people killed. Estinien reminds her that the dragons are not willing to parley for a peace talk and that he had to grow up with the fact that dragons destroyed his family and village. Hraesvelgr is very quick to remind Ysayle that she is not the reincarnation of Shiva, who was Hraesvelgr's soulmate, and the form she uses to "summon" her is nothing more than her own delusional ideals. The Awful Truth puts her in a Heroic BSoD. - In Stormblood. the Ananta summon Lakshmi after the Garleans kill the Ananta's broodmother's child. The Warrior of Light, Alisae, Alphinaud, and Lyse sneak in to see the primal talking to her followers, which consists of the broodmother being upset that her child's soul was not restored and the primal wanting more offerings.
You'd Expect: Alisae to stay quiet and continue to observe.
Instead: She goes out in the open the call out Lakshmi for being a false god and tell the Ananta to not listen to her since they would only experience more sadness and sorrow. Not only are the enemy alerted to the hero's presence, Lakshmi attempts to temper the group, which forces Alphinaud to dive tackle his sister out of the way while the Warrior of Light uses his Echo to take the brunt of Lakshmi's attack and prevent their friends from being tempered. Alisae does admit later on that she was extremely foolish and stupid for what she did and felt like she had to speak up since she knew all too well on what it as like for a parent to lose a child. - During the events leading up to the liberation of Doma, Yugiri hears that Zenos is coming to Doma for a status report. This happens directly after Yugiri practically has to beg on her knees for some Domans she rescued from slavery to not walk back into it because they've been so crushed by Garlean oppression, and she breaks her stoicism and grows very angry when her allies tell her that she shouldn't try to assassinate Zenos since he curb stomped everyone previously, the player included. Yugiri, who hails from Doma herself, wants to kill Zenos right then and there since he made Doma a living hell for its people.
You'd Expect: Yugiri would listen to the voices of reason or at least think of a better plan for confronting Zenos.
Instead: She insists that the problem with fighting Zenos before was a critical lack of shinobi and chooses to attack Zenos in the middle of the night by herself. The player character joins her so that she doesn't get herself killed. Predictably, Zenos curb stomps her and soundly defeats the player character a second time. Both would have been killed off if it wasn't for the villagers and Alisae coming in to aid them. The player and Yugiri both get chewed out for their reckless behavior, which has alerted the empire to their presence. - In Endwalker, Hermes creates Meteion, a being that is powered by dynamis (or emotional energy) instead of aether. Due to his depression of having to put down his creations whenever they are deemed unsuitable for life and dealing with the seemingly uncaring attitude from his colleagues in regards to his problems, Hermes sends several Meteia into the far reaches of the galaxy to find other life forms and see what their answers are for what makes life worth living.
You'd Expect: Hermes would have his Meteia ask multiple questions in case the original question didn't generate good answers or at the very least, come up with an alternate solution if he encountered answers he didn't like.
Instead: Meteion is extremely afraid to give her sisters' reports to Hermes because all the Meteia have discovered either worlds that were already extinct of lifeforms or civilizations that were on the brink of destruction. Ergo, the answer Heremes searched for was not a good one and could send him over the edge. Meteion tries to hide herself so that Heremes wouldn't learn the Awful Truth, but Emet-Selch, Venat, and the Warrior of Light corner her on Hermes's behest.
What Happens Next: Heremes forces Meteion to give her report and you can see him slowly breaking as the reports are read. Due to Meteion being The Empath, she starts to descend into madness and extreme nihilism as she feels the pain, loneliness, anger, and hate that her sisters experienced on their journeys and interacting with the peoples going through despair. Hermes then decides that all of mankind should be judged by Meteion to see if they are worthy of living or if they would succumb to the same despair that the other worlds experienced. This kickstarts the Final Days the ancients experienced and in turn, the entire plot from the very beginning of the game up until the present.
- The Au Ra flee from The Empire after losing their homeland to them. The Au Ra arrive at Ishgard, hoping to find safety in the fortified city. While the Au Ra look mostly human, they also possess horns and scales on their bodies, which makes them look like a dragon and the people of Ishgard are currently at war with dragons.
- World of Final Fantasy
- Snow is tasked with keeping "Big Jiggle" Golden Flan in check by kicking its butt every so often. The latest time he's done this, he had Lann and Reynn to assist him, but not once did the twins ever broach the topic of Imprisming it for their own, solving the problem for good.
- Taking any time to rest and recuperate in Grymoire for any reason when they can easily just go back to Nine Wood Hills (and Grymoire's time stops while they're there) and rest over there.
- Shelke's idea of using Countertek to nullify the seal on Lann and Reynn's Keeper powers is to engage them in combat, then wreck them with the skill, knocking them unconscious. She could've easily just explained who she was and then used Countertek to nullify the seal, thereby saving a bunch of time.
- Lann and Reynn forgetting about seeking out help from the League of S entirely until the Cogna are set loose.
- Upon first entering the real Nine Wood Hills, Lann and Reynn get attacked by Terra, who warns them to turn back before going berserk and needing to be knocked out.
You'd Expect: The twins wait for Terra to wake up to explain just exactly what she meant, or better yet, carry her with them while climbing the Crystal Tower.
Instead: Out of all the times Reynn overthinks things, this is the biggest exception, and she and Lann just leave her behind, allowing Segwarides to collect her for the Federation's plan. - Dueing the Intervention Mission "The Best Laid Plans", a Bahamutian Soldier has a plan to deal with Bartz that involves hiring Gilgamesh lure him away to be eliminated.
You'd Expect: The BS to let Gilgamesh have his duel with Bartz, and take credit for the victory.
Or: Deal with Bartz after Gilgamesh is beaten.
Instead: He shows up just before the duel, tells Gilgamesh to get lost, and sics his Mirages on Bartz.
As A Result: After then trying to use villagers as hostages, Gilgamesh has reason to retaliate against the Bahamutian Soldier, rescue the hostages, and get Bartz to escort them to safety.
That Said: Since it's an Intervention Quest, Lann and Reynn would've won Bartz's fights anyway no matter what.
- Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: Jake leads a rebel group that is attempting to overthrow Emperor Sohze, who seems to have lost his sanity and is engaging in stupid warfare. To invade the capital he has the plan to destroy the Fire Crystal, which the Emperor is using to make weapons.
You'd Expect: He'd tell the heroes what he was planning, at which time the party would explain that breaking the crystals was destroying the world, and then together they could find another way to cease weapon production.
Instead: Jake works with the party, then seems to betray them by shattering the crystal they'd just been fighting to protect from Veritas of the Dark and Veritas of the Flame, which causes the world to be one step closer to destruction. - War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: Vadim leads a group of bandits that provide support to a revolution against the king of Wezette. The movement is in dire straits due to an ally suddenly backing out.
You'd Expect: He'd go track down their most likely ally for the time being and aid him in taking back Leonis Castle until they have time to aid the revolution. He could also help the revolution actually stabilize.
Instead: Vadim goes to find his childhood friend Serges, who is not only firmly on the side of the loyalists, but just killed his sister Margritte in battle. He infiltrates Wezette Castle to ask Serges if he would defect for the third time. Serges finds him, says no, and kills him. - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles has the world covered in miasma, which is deadly to breathe in unless people use crystals to keep it at bay. Even the water is affected by Miasma. De Nam, a researcher, tries to build up an immunity to Miasma by taking sips of the tainted water over time.
You'd Expect: De Nam to stop drinking the water when it's clear that his immunity idea is not working and is making him sick.
Instead: He keeps drinking the water. Slaying a specific monster has you recovering De Nam's bandana, but it's not clear if he transformed into a monster or if a monster got him while he was weakened. In either case, De Nam is clearly gone.
