History FinalFantasyIX / TropesIToP

** Vivi is adorably naïve and innocent about the world around him, and he just so happens to be a powerful black magic user. He's also shown to be quite smart and perceptive, especially for his age.

-->'''Eiko''': Come on, Zidane! Why are you doing this!?
-->'''Zidane''': Because... Because I might've done the same thing if I were in his shoes. I probably would've fought against you guys and wreaked havoc in Gaia like he did... I know it sounds crazy... ...but I know, deep down inside, I have to do this.

** Zidane's name comes from the French 'jitan', so it should be pronounced 'zid-an'. Essentially the same way as footballer Zinedine Zidane. Judging from the fan dubs on [=YouTube=], a good portion of fans assumed it was 'zi-dayne'.

* NominalImportance: Played straight and almost {{Deconstructed}} with the Black Mages, who are all named numbers, being mass produced. Even after they gain sentience, they still refer to each other as #86 or #147. Even the leader is #288. Only Vivi has an actual name, and learning about the Black Mages, goes through an existential crisis as he wonders if he too has a number.

** This is actually the trick to easily defeat Ozma, the bonus boss. His constant barrage of attacks is because he has a special battle script that gives him a free turn every time a PC inputs a command while he's neutral. Neutral meaning not in the middle of an attack animation. While he's casting Doomsday which has a several second long animation, that's your chance to get a full round in without him being able to get 4 free actions.

** This is used more literally during the ending; after the party is [[spoiler:completely wiped out by Kuja's Ultima and helpless when Necron appears]], the four party members not participating in the final battle hand their power over to the four others, fully healing them and giving a few encouraging words as they do so.

* ItsAllMyFault: Garnet blames herself for the destruction wrought on the Mist Continent, and otherwise feels a very heavy sense of responsibility, beating herself up for not living up to her own standards. Zidane and Eiko manage to cheer her up later on.
** Rather justified in that, as she drugged the party during Cid's dinner, snuck off with Steiner back to Alexandria, thus wasting Cid, Tantalus' and the party's efforts to extract her in the first place, all in some childish fit of ego that she was being pushed to the side and could somehow talk her mother down. All of which led her Eidolon's being extracted and used...it literally IS all her fault.

*** There's a Tetra Master tournament in Treno that Zidane enters, and unfortunately you need to beat the first two opponents that you face, but you don't need to win against the third and final opponent. Fortunately you can save before each round, and the games aren't terribly difficult. You can also get a decent accessory for winning the final match, but there's plenty of other ways to get it by that point in the game.

** Tetra Master itself is an example of this. Getting the highest rank requires you to not only have a copy of every card, but each of those cards has to have a unique arrow pattern. This isn't too bad by itself, since there are 256 combinations and 100 unique cards, but the problem is that [[InventoryManagementPuzzle you can only carry 100 at a time,]] adding an extra layer of anxiety as to which cards to discard. And yet, this isn't the trope example. You also need to upgrade all cards to A type. Most cards start at P or M. If the individual card wins a battle, there is a 1/64 chance it will upgrade to X, where they then have a 1/128 chance of upgrading to A. To say that doing this for all 100 cards is tedious is a massive understatement. The Excalibur II Perfect Game Guide outright calls this the bane of the Final Fantasy IX perfect save, and that's a guide that already assumes you're patient and determined enough to put up with all the other repetitive, tedious activities such a file requires.

** Tetra Master itself is an example of this. Getting the highest rank requires you to not only have a copy of every card, but each of those cards has to have a unique arrow pattern. This isn't too bad by itself, since there are 256 combinations and 100 unique cards, but the problem is that [[InventoryManagementPuzzle you can only carry 100 at a time,]] adding an extra layer of anxiety as to which cards to discard. And yet, this isn't the trope example. You also need to upgrade all cards to A type. Most cards start at P or M. If the individual card wins a battle, there is a 1/64 chance it will upgrade to X, where they then have a 1/128 chance of upgrading to A. To say that doing this for all 100 cards is tedious is a massive understatement. The Excalibur II Perfect Game Guide outright calls this the bane of of the Final Fantasy IX perfect save, and that's a guide that already assumes you're patient and determined enough to put up with all the other repetitive, tedious activities such a file requires.

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Though this time they're green. They also are different from the standart sort of dwarves, and those in other Final Fantasy games, in that they live on the suffrace, and worship trees and the sun.

** And Necron, the enigmatic GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere TrueFinalBoss of the game. WildMassGuessing abound about just what the hell he's supposed to be.

* LighterAndSofter: To a certain extent. The plot is not without dark elements,but in many ways, the game feels like a throw-back at the most lighthearted, adventurous iterations of the franchise, such as ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''.

* LighterAndSofter: To a certain extent. The plot is not without dark elements,but in many ways, the game feels a throw-back at the most lighthearted iterations of the franchise, such as ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''.

* ItsAllMyFault: Garnet blames herself for the destruction wrought on the Mist Continent, and otherwise feels a very heavy sense of responsibility, beating herself up for not living up to her own standards. Zidane and Eiko manage to cheer her up later on. Rather justified in that, as she drugged the party during Cid's dinner, snuck off with Steiner back to Alexandria, thus wasting Cid, Tantalus' and the party's efforts to extract her in the first place, all in some childish fit of ego that she was being pushed to the side and could somehow talk her mother down. All of which led her Eidolon's being extracted and used...it literally IS all her fault.

* ItsAllMyFault: Garnet blames herself for the destruction wrought on the Mist Continent, and otherwise feels a very heavy sense of responsibility, beating herself up for not living up to her own standards. Zidane and Eiko manage to cheer her up later on.

* MusicalNod: It's also used at least once; the Castle Pandemonium theme in that game is a slower organ version of the Castle Pandemonium theme from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII''.

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Not only is Kuja from the same world as Zidane, they were created by the same person, making them something like brothers. Don't ask where Kuja was hiding his tail in that scanty outfit.]] [[BellisariosMaxim It's best not to think about it.]]

* LukeIAmYourFather: TheDragon Kuja is a "brother" of sorts of the main character Zidane -- they were both artificially created by the same man.

* InfantImmortality:
** During the attack on Cleyra, Zidane has to choose which way the refugees flee from the black mage army. Even if you make nothing but wrong choices, the two Burmecian kids survive.
** Potentially subverted however when [[spoiler:everyone in Cleyra dies anyway due to Odin's attack. However given that Cleyrans are seen after Clerya is destroyed, then it's possible that the mother and two children also somehow survived.]]
** Averted with [[spoiler:poor Vivi, who is technically only six months old, who dies during the post game.]]

%%* OurNymphsArePrettier: Nymphs appear in two roles -- antagonists who appear as enemies in battle and benevolent creatures that give the party money and AP in exchange for ore.%%Temporarily unlaunched.

* InspectorJavert: As TheCaptain of Alexandria's 'Knights of Pluto', Steiner is naturally distrustful of [[GentlemanThief Zidane's]] intentions with [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess Garnet]]. Zidane's a decent guy, though, if a bit of a ChivalrousPervert.

* OurNymphsArePrettier: Nymphs appear in two roles -- antagonists who appear as enemies in battle and benevolent creatures that give the party money and AP in exchange for ore.

* MonsterTown: Black Mage Village.

* OrphansPlotTrinket:
** Eiko and Mog have a matching pair of ribbons given to them by her grandfather before he passed away leaving her all alone, save the moggles,[[spoiler:in the ruins of their hometown]]. [[spoiler:After a certain HeroicSacrifice,]] it becomes a very useful accessory that she can learn her most powerful summon from.
** Not a physical trinket, the song that Princess Garnet is always humming turns out to be [[spoiler:a lullaby from Madain Sari, the lost village of summoners, revealing that Garnet is actually one of only two surviving summoners in the world, and not the true princess of Alexandria, who died before Garnet came on the scene.]] Which makes this somewhat of a subversion, as [[spoiler:Garnet didn't actually know she was an orphan.]]

* KidAnova: Zidane is 16 years old, and even though his love interest Garnet is only a year younger than him, he hits on older women as well.

* KidnappedByTheCall: Played with, Cid Fabool orders Tantalus [[TheHero (Zidane's group)]] to kidnaps Princess Garnet to initiate a political observation at [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Brahne's corruption]], but it turns out Garnet [[JumpedAtTheCall wants to be kidnapped in the first place]] for a similar reason.
* KidWithTheLeash: Eiko is the last of the summoners and is one of the two youngest in the group.

Tropes I to P for VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX.

* IAmWho: Zidane is told late in the game that [[spoiler: he was created by Garland to be Gaia's "angel of death"]]. This, combined with [[spoiler:Garland's attempt to destroy his soul]], triggers a very uncharacteristic HeroicBSOD. Of course, Garland wasn't counting on [[ThePowerOfFriendship his]] TrueCompanions.

* ImportantHaircut: [[spoiler:Dagger]] gets one. So important that it's even shown as a FMV scene. Doubles as a CallBack to the end of disc 2. In this case it's symbolic of her leaving her princess persona behind so she can focus on stopping Kuja. Tellingly her hair has grown back to its old length by the end of the game.

** Zidane is just sixteen years old, and yet acts as if he's in his early to mid twenties, and apparently has years of thievery under his belt. However Zidane was raised by Baku, who isn't exactly child friendly, meaning that he would have had to mature quickly. Additionally he was raised amongst a group of thieves, so Zidane would have been most likely stealing from a very early age. [[spoiler: Genomes may also mature at different rates to humans, though Zidane was designed to 'age normally' so he could experience the emotions that came with it, so he's able to learn to enter Trance, and he certainly ''looks'' around sixteen years old.]]

** Vivi is listed as being nine years old, and certainly looks and acts it. [[spoiler: However he's only six months old as of the start of the game. Vivi was clearly created to look that age and size, as his adoptive grandfather's height chart shows that Vivi never grew during the time he spent with him.]]

* ImprobableHairstyle: Garnet is able to cut off her long hair into a perfectly styled bob with one slice of a dagger while her eyes are closed. Look up a video of someone cutting their hair off with a blade, and you'll find that no matter how sharp it is, it's impossible to cut through hair with just one stroke. Garnet's hair also appears to grow up fairly quickly, as her hair is back to it's full length at the end of the game. [[spoiler: However we don't know how much time has passed, it's never stated if it's been one or two years since Kuja was defeated.]]

** Potentially subverted however when [[spoiler: everyone in Cleyra dies anyway due to Odin's attack. However given that Cleyrans are seen after Clerya is destroyed, then it's possible that the mother and two children also somehow survived.]]
** Averted with [[spoiler: poor Vivi, who is technically only six months old, who dies during the post game.]]

* InjuredPlayerCharacterStage: Garnet is injured *psychologically* after [[spoiler: her home kingdom is attacked and suffers heavy casualties with her unable to do anything to defend it as queen]]. For awhile she will fail to cast spells or do attacks when told because she is to busy replaying the scene in her head. She also does not speak in game at all during this section.

* InsultMisfire: When Zidane taught Dagger how to try and scare off people coming after her, he says to say "Get away from me you scumbags." Later, when [[spoiler:Zorn and Thorn]] have Dagger, she says this but it goes over her attackers heads. They don't understand what a "scumbag" is.

** [[spoiler:Garnet's spell list contains the names of several summons, a few of which are well-known Final Fantasy staples -- she just doesn't have the MP to cast them, and won't for some time. It's still a fairly large clue about her origin.]]

* InterspeciesRomance: Zidane and Garnet. [[spoiler:{{G|attacaBabies}}enome and [[WitchSpecies summoner]], respectively. Garnet and Eiko were Summoners, apparently a different species from normal people, since they were born with horns. Also, Zidane's not entirely human either -- obvious from the start since he has a ''tail'', but this turns out to be more than a cosmetic quirk.]] And then there was the Vivi/Quina marriage, which involved a techno-magical construct and an ambiguously gendered giant frog thing.

** [[spoiler: At the Black Mage Village they inhbitants are all scared of the Party that arrives because they're scared of humans, yet at that point the party doens't contain any humans: Zidane (a Genome), Garnet (Summoner), Quina (Qu) and Vivi (a black mage like themselves)]]

* ItsAllMyFault: Dagger blames herself for the destruction wrought on the Mist Continent, and otherwise feels a very heavy sense of responsibility, beating herself up for not living up to her own standards. Zidane and Eiko manage to cheer her up later on.

* JustFriends: After Zidane and Dagger/Garnet get "married" at Conde Petie, Zidane comments to Eiko "Anything for my lovely wife," and Dagger says that they're actually "just friends." Zidane comments that that's better than nothing. Later, Eiko asks if they're really "just friends" because it seems to her like they're something more. Zidane says that they are more than friends: they're a team.

* KidAnova: Zidane is 16 years old, and even though his love interest Garnet shares his age, he hits on much older women as well.

** Princess Garnet is the 17th [[spoiler: actually 18th]] person to hold that name. The game doesn't elaborate on how many people have held the name Brahne, but it can be assured that there won't be any more after the game's events.

* KissKissSlap: The ending had a "Hug Hug Slap": Garnet [[spoiler: ran to Zidane upon his dramatic reveal and happily embraced him, then beat on his chest angrily, because she thought he had died.]]

* LadykillerInLove: Zidane Tribal, the protagonist, has this as a major part of his CharacterDevelopment. He starts out as a fairly open skirt chaser (at the age of [[ArtisticAge 16]], no less), but then he falls for Garnet/Dagger, causing some emo-ness to ensue. Of course, in his case, it's made worse by the fact that Garnet's a princess, therefore supposedly not "reachable" for him even if he changes his ways. [[spoiler: Doesn't stop them from getting together in the end, though.]]

** The game is kind enough to not keep track of completion percentage, but it STILL manages to drive the player insane by having an obscure "treasure hunter ranking" that tracks how many treasures you collect. This includes many "key items" that can be permanently missable, one of which is because the guy who gives it to you needs three very easily missable key items and he DIES in the fourth disk -- and no, you can't just steal it from his house. Many of the missable items are chests that, for some reason, get refilled (so you miss the chance to gain their previous contents), during periods when you have no reason to be anywhere near their locations.

** Equipment that boosts stats also boosts stat GROWTH, meaning that you have to wear it starting at level 1 to get the maximum benefit out of it. Some of the best stat-boosting equipment is only available on disc four, and to get that far still at level 1 you need to run from every battle, find special "friendly monsters" to gain ability points, and use obscure strategies for many bosses. And to make matters worse, you have to get [[GuestStarPartyMember Marcus]] during the short period he is in your party to level 99, because Eiko later inherits his stat bonuses, but not his level (contrary to Amarant, who inherits Blank's level). Of course this also means you can't get perfect stats and Excalibur II in the same game unless you are willing to keep your game running for three years which is when the in-game clock resets.

* LateToTheTragedy: This gets ludicrous throughout the middle, wherein nearly every city the protagonist comes across is [[spoiler: obliterated]] literally moments before he arrives. The [[http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html list of console RPG cliches]] actually names this "curse" after the main character -- who, granted, was created to [[spoiler: bring destruction]], but not by arriving five minutes ''after'' every plot-related catastrophe.

** Steiner spends most of the first half of the game as the ButtMonkey and all-around buffoon, but when he actually gets into a fight, he's shown to be a pretty good swordsman. His general demeanor also starts to change when he helps rescue Dagger halfway through Disk 2, and he shows himself to be a competent leader and fighter alongside Beatrix during the invasion of Alexandria in Disk 3. This also happens every time he reaches Trance, where he goes from a knighty in rusty armor to a full on knight in shining armor. Since he's already one of the three melee monsters, this only makes him more dangerous.

** The characters split up early in the game to fit in with the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit. The entire first third or so of the game is like this, with all the party members together, then splitting up on their own individual sidequests, before they finally reunite in Disk 2. At that point, however, some of the characters are PutOnABus, leaving enough room for the last party members to meet the ArbitraryHeadcountLimit. When the whole party reunites at the start of Disk 3, they never split up again, except for the previously mentioned example.

* TheLifestream: The EvilPlan is to [[spoiler: prevent the souls of the people of Gaia from reincarnating, so the souls of the people of Terra can replace them]].

* LikeBrotherAndSister: Zidane and Freya most definitely. She's the only female he doesn't actively flirt with and they have a mutual respect and camaraderie from the beginning.
* LikeYouWereDying: Played straight by Vivi, whose race has a very short lifespan. Averted by Kuja, [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum who doesn't take the news of his pending demise very well...]] [[spoiler: Until the very end, where he finally regrets his actions and attempts to make peace with his arch-nemesis.]]

* TheLoad: Garnet in disc 3, who cannot reliably execute battle commands for plot reasons. She does however get control of her Eidolons this time, making her slightly more useful than she was at the beginning.

** There is actually an entire area of stone-based enemies that are susceptible to this tactic. The boss at the end is a reanimated petrified tree, [[{{DevelopersForesight}} and can be instantly killed with Soft OR Phoenix Down.]]

* LongGame: It's revealed that Garland is playing one of these in his attempt to restore Terra and its people; [[spoiler: essentially, he's merged Terra with the planet Gaia, and has been slowly assimilating the souls of Gaia's own [[TheLifestream reincarnation-cycle]]. He's also been using his personal Angel of Death, Kuja, to start wars on Gaia so that souls can be siphoned into Terra at acceptable rates.]] This is a long game that has been running for over ''five thousand years.''

** In the game's ending, his memory [[spoiler: never returns, but he [[EarnYourHappyEnding falls in love with Freya again]], anyway.]]

* LowLevelRun: The level 1 challenge. Yes, you can beat the whole game this way [[note]]Bosses don't give EXP, and the status effect Virus averts EXP gain. There's one series of mini-bosses that give unavoidable EXP, so at least one character must level up; the challenge then requires not using any levelled-up characters[[/note]] and even take out Ozma, the hidden superboss. Not for the faint of heart or patience.

** And then there's the fight with Kuja at the end of Disk 3, in an aversion of GameplayAndStorySegregation. The first time you damage him, Kuja simply laughs it off, the second time he scoffs at your attacks, and the third time he demands you show him your true power.

* MaleGaze: FMV with Dagger atop Lindblum castle playing with the pigeons.

* MeaningfulRename: Garnet takes up the name Dagger (by default) early on in the game both to conceal her identity and to represent the beginning of her casting aside her previous identity as a sheltered princess. Later on in the game it's revealed [[spoiler: 'Garnet' is one as well since her real name is Sarah and she was adopted by the Queen]].

* TheMedic: Dagger/Garnet. TheChick, MysteriousWaif, and meekly-RebelliousPrincess. There was also Eiko Carol, a BrattyHalfPint with even more White Magic.

* AMillionIsAStatistic: Averted. On the three occasions that cities are attacked and/or destroyed altogether, there is a huge amount of mourning: when [[spoiler: Cleyra]] is wiped off the map, the main characters (Freya in particular) are shocked by the loss of life- though they are forced into action very quickly; Zidane and Garnet are visibly horrified by the attack on [[spoiler: Lindblum]], especially since they actually have to walk through [[TearJerker the]] [[SceneryGorn ruins]] soon after; finally, Garnet actually [[spoiler: loses her voice]] when confronted with the destruction of [[spoiler: Alexandria]] and the casualties that resulted.
** Doubled by the fact that the [[SummonMagic Eidolons]] used were [[spoiler: forcibly extracted from Garnet.]]

* MindRape: [[spoiler: Zidane]] suffering a BSOD... not from [[spoiler: finding out that he was an alien who was meant to be the Angel of Death for his adopted homeworld,]] but from [[spoiler: actually having the man who created him rip his soul out.]] Fortunately, that just [[spoiler: made him wangsty until his friends could give him a sequential pep talk.]]

* MoneyForNothing: The enemies give absurd amounts of gil when beaten, and Quina can learn the "Millionare" ability fairly early too to increase that amount even more. In addition, the majority of the game's weapons and equipment can either be stolen from bosses, found in dungeons, or aquired in various side quests for free, so there isn't nearly as much a need to buy equipment in stores. Not to mention you'll probably find yourself with boat loads of various consumable items just from stealing and enemy item drops. There still are a few money sinks like synthesizing and the Treno Auction house, but getting the money for them is extremely easy. And if you exploit the Cotton Robe trick, it's more noticeable; for every 1690 Gil it costs to produce one, you can sell it to any merchant for 2000 Gil for a clean 310 Gil profit. If it's exploited in early Disc Two when you first visit Treno, you will end up with a ridiculous amount of cash (and consequently the funds to sink into powerful equipment at the Auction House), and if you do it after you get the GlobalAirship in Disc Three (by which time you will in most likelihood have 99 of every healing item already), you can end up with millions of useless Gil within an hour of gameplay.

* MonsterClown: Zorn and Thorn. It gets better, [[spoiler: later we find out they're actually two halves to the same being, known as Meltigemini. The lack of any explanation makes it all the stranger. ]]

* MrExposition: Dr. Tot, Dagger's former tutor, gives a lot of interesting background on summoning and other parts of Gaia's history along with [[spoiler:the truth about Dagger's past.]]

* MysticalWaif: Garnet [[LastOfHisKind One of only two remaining summoners]].

** Kuja [[spoiler: kidnaps a princess named Sarah (Garnet's real name) and a woman named Hilda]] like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI the original Garland]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII Emperor Mateus]] respectively. He also goes on a SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum upon learning he is mortal like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII Xande]] and [[spoiler: like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Golbez]] he is the brother of the main protagonist.]] His character design bears resemblance to [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth and his plan disrupts the natural cycle of life.]] Finally, like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka]] he uses this game's summons to gain more power and usurp his boss with Garland's death mimicking that of Emperor Gestahl.

** In the final dungeon, [[spoiler: you are traveling corridors that represent the past; the further you travel, the further you go back into the past. In FinalFantasyI, the final dungeon involves traveling back in time to get to the core of the world's problem. In both instances, you fight the four fiends along the way.]]

* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Played straight with Freya but averted with Garnet and Eiko. Freya's motivation stems from her lover Sir Fratley going off to war and never coming back which is also the reason she's never returned to her home. Garnet is essentially the main hero of the story with the other characters getting yanked into the plot based around the decisions she makes. Her main source of motivation is what's happening to her mother. Her father is dead but she doesn't express much angst over that. Eiko also serves as a sort of surrogate sister figure to Garnet. She mentions her dead grandfather a few times and is motivated by a crush on Zidane (that quickly disappears) but her protector Mog is revealed to be female, thus averting the trope. It's arguably inverted with Zidane whose main motivation is based around his attraction to Garnet. But then subverted at the end of Disk 3 for [[HeroicBSOD the poor guy]].

** The heroes arrive at Cleyra to warn the people there that [[spoiler: Alexandria is coming to attack them. This spurs the Cleyran leaders to enact a special, ancient ritual to strengthen the defensive spell that already protects the region. In performing it, the artifact that keeps the spell going breaks, leaving them defenseless instead. Oops.]]

* NoGuyWantsToBeChased: {{Lampshaded}} when Eiko's hitting on Zidane makes him realize what he's been putting Dagger through. In this case, it's "Nobody Wants To Be Chased."

* NotHimself: [[spoiler: Zidane]] displays this for a short while near the end of the game. Given his normally cheerful personality, this moment is notable as it hints at [[spoiler: what he was really capable of if he had been acting towards his intended purpose -- i.e., an angel of death and destroyer of worlds]].

* TheNothingAfterDeath: [[spoiler: The infamous [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Necron]], who isn't exactly foreshadowed all that well by any account; but as the TrueFinalBoss this seems to be what ''most'' agree that, at best, is what it's supposed to represent.]]

** Honorable mention goes to [[spoiler: Garland attempting to repossess his creation, Zidane's SOUL once it becomes clear Zidane is no longer willing of carrying out [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt his original purpose.]]]]

** This trope is zigzagged by the fandom; many players keep the name "Garnet" when she goes incognito because they think it's a much better name than "Dagger," which is her stock alias. Later, however, you find out that this still counts; [[spoiler: Garnet isn't her real name either. It's Sarah.]]

** Eiko and Mog have a matching pair of ribbons given to them by her grandfather before he passed away leaving her all alone, save the moggles,[[spoiler: in the ruins of their hometown]]. [[spoiler:After a certain HeroicSacrifice,]] it becomes a very useful accessory that she can learn her most powerful summon from.
** Not a physical trinket, the song that Princess Garnet is always humming turns out to be [[spoiler: a lullaby from Madain Sari, the lost village of summoners, revealing that Garnet is actually one of only two surviving summoners in the world, and not the true princess of Alexandria, who died before Garnet came on the scene.]] Which makes this somewhat of a subversion, as [[spoiler: Garnet didn't actually know she was an orphan.]]

* OverratedAndUnderleveled: We have the character Beatrix. Being the general of an entire army, she can take quite a few hits from the party before she falls, [[spoiler: and in fact [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose can't be defeated at all]]]]. However, in the short time you fight alongside her, she is just about as strong as just any other party member, and it shouldn't take more than a few hits to K.O. her. Of course; she doesn't have as much health as she appeared to have .

* ThePaladin: Beatrix. Each character in the game represents a class from the previous games and Beatrix, while she is never outright called one, she can use White Magic and the equipment of a paladin. She actually starts out as a villain in the game and a HopelessBossFight, but over the course of the game [[spoiler: she begins to have doubts about her queen and eventually joins the heroes' side as an ally.]]

** One particular big permanently missable example is the end of Disc 3/start of Disc 4, where a good deal of the towns, such as Conde Petie, on the map become unaccessible because of the plot. Esto Gaza is a great example of this trope. The town can only be visited on disc three, as it's blocked off after going to Terra. What makes it notable is that the shop there has some of the best and most useful weapons/armour in the game (including the Octagon Rod, which is the only way for Vivi to learn Firaga, Blizzaga, and Thundaga; it also sells other items like the Zorlin Shape that are useful for synthesis once endgame hits)... and nearly all of them are lost on disc 4. Furthermore, going through Esto Gaza is the only way to get to Mount Gulug, so everything in there is also locked off by connection.
*** Disc 3-4 transition closes up Esto Gaza, the only place you get Scissor Fangs. The other one is synthetized with a one-shot (but thankfully unmissable) weapon, the Dragon's Claws, and the Tiger Claws, which can only be bought on Daguerreo, during the events of disc three. If you get to disc four without either Scissor Fangs or Tiger Claws, bye-bye Aura flair.

** Also anyone who can use summon magic. While [[spoiler:Queen Brahne was wielding Dagger's summons]] she was able to conquer an entire continent. Given how it compares to when your characters use the same summons this is also an example of CutscenePowerToTheMax

* PhlebotinumMuncher: Black mages and many other monsters are spawned from concentrated Mist, which is a decidedly evil fog composed of [[spoiler: souls of the dead that have been blocked from going to the afterlife]].
* PhlebotinumRebel: World-stealing badnik Garland brought down by his own creations, [[spoiler: Kuja and Zidane, created to be his "angels of death"]].
--->'''Garland:''' Regrettable... I thought your soul would be perfect for a new angel of death...\\
[[spoiler:'''Zidane:''']] I AM the new angel of death! Yours!!!

** At least one of these is justified. Especially at the end of Disk I, because the person looking at the party is none other than [[spoiler:the SmugSnake Kuja.]]

* PlotlineDeath: [[spoiler: Queen Brahne dies in the arms of Garnet/Dagger]]. At this point not only your party shall have a Phoenix Down, but this character already has a couple of healing/reviving spells.

* PushedInFrontOfTheAudience: When Dagger crashes into the play being performed at the beginning of the game, she ad-libs a very nice exit scene. Justified since the play is the in-universe equivalent of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', and Dagger is a classically educated Princess who happens to love that particular play.

** In the game's ending, his memory [[spoiler: never returns, but he [[EarnYourHappyEnding falls in love with Freya again]], anyway. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Awww.]] ]]

** Garnet wears a skin-tight orange latex outfit showing off her butt, and her Trance outfit swaps in a different outfit to add AbsoluteCleavage to the mix. Bonus points for her nice rear being lampshaded for a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} when [[ChivalrousPervert Zidane]] accidentally gropes her while climbing up a ladder. "Ooo, soft!"