10 Genius Hidden Mechanics In Video Games

Since the release of the original Final Fantasy VII, several games in the series have included point-based relationship dynamics, whereby your future interactions with party members are determined by how you deal with them up to that point.

Final Fantasy VII, for instance, picked who Cloud took on a date to the Gold Saucer - between Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie, and Barret - depending on the player's dialogue choices and actions prior.

There are invisible numerical values applied to each character, which are weighted towards Aerith and against Barret, making them the most and least likely candidates respectively.

Speaking favourably to Tifa numerous times early in the game, however, can result in her quickly overtaking Aerith.

Similarly, Final Fantasy VII Remake will show players a different cutscene later in the game depending on which characters they deferred to throughout, and whether or not they completed certain side-quests.

And then there's Final Fantasy X, which also applies an invisible numerical value to your party members.

Unlike Final Fantasy VII, however, all party members are given equal weighting to begin with, and their standing can be affected by how often the player heals, protects, or even attacks them in battle, and also which character they speak to first during certain sequences.

Whichever character scores the highest will be the one who Tidus talks to during select dynamic cutscenes, as well as the character to throw the blitzball during Tidus' Overdrive move Blitz Ace.

While in no way a vital mechanic, it's nevertheless pretty neat that Square Enix put so much time into something the overwhelming majority of players totally took for granted.