Final Fantasy: The 150 Greatest Moments/Scenes
150. Shattered Glasses (AC)
We kick things off with the Turks, a group who function as secondary antagonists (capable of committing deplorable acts whilst being funny at the same time) throughout Final Fantasy VII before becoming allies of the game's heroes during its cinematic sequel, Advent Children. Though the group has four members, two are seen more than their counterparts throughout both the game and the film - the brash and cocky Reno and the imposing Rude, the former of whom is cocky and brash and the latter of whom speaks with actions rather than words. Rude is also notable for always wearing a black-tinted pair of sunglasses, seemingly never taking them off. What is perhaps the funniest moment of Advent Children therefore occurs during a combat scene in which he and Reno face off against a pair of more powerful adversaries and are knocked down. Getting back up, Reno steps on his partner's glasses and shatters them, an action that sees Rude offer the previously unseen emotions of shock and dismay for several seconds before he pulls one of several identical pairs from his pocket and resumes fighting. Of all the humorous moments that the Turks are involved in across the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, this is perhaps the funniest, just eclipsing: a) When Reno and Rude are overheard discussing their female interests and the silent Rude confesses to having a soft spot for party member Tifa. b) When Reno, Rude and female Turk Elena encounter the party (who they are tasked with hunting down) in a bar but refuse to do anything because it is their day off. On a footnote, if they ever do a live action adaptation of Final Fantasy VII, then Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson needs to play Rude the resemblance is uncanny.'...'
149. An Immortal Insult (IV)
Another light-hearted entry comes from an infamous scene in Final Fantasy IV, the series' SNES (or Super Famicom) debut. Early on in the game, the sage Tellah is in pursuit of his daughter Anna, who has eloped with a bard named Edward. He disapproves of the match (despite Edward being a Prince) because of his overprotective nature, but the magician isn't as powerful in his old age as he once was and in order to safely navigate his way through a cave that leads to Edward's castle home of Damcyan he becomes a travelling companion of lead character Cecil, a dark knight from the nation of Baron who has forsaken his country over their new morally questionable direction. The arrival of Tellah and his new companion at Edward's castle coincides with an attack by Baron's forces, however, which results in Anna's death as well as the theft of the nation's Crystal - a powerful magical artefact. Falsely blaming Edward for his daughter's demise, Tellah locates and confronts the grief-stricken Prince, facilitating a battle in which he utters the now infamous (and nonsensical) line from the top of the page before halting his assault when he comes to his senses and realises that his opponent had no part to play in his daughter's death and loved her as much as he himself did. Though it only found its way into the original game as a result of poor translation, an issue that dogged the series until the release of Final Fantasy VIII, the line has developed into something of a meme amongst fans and remains ever present in re-releases regardless of the fact that the rest of the game has since been translated near perfectYou spoony bard!
148. Iconic Monster Encounters (Various)
Love them or hate them, random encounters have long been a mainstay of the console RPG genre. Final Fantasies I through X all incorporated them, making it nigh-on impossible to take a few steps in a dungeon or on a world map without being whisked away for an impromptu battle, though more recent entries have taken advantage of improved graphical technology to add fightable monsters to the screen and make combat with them optional, initiated only by contact. Though the vast majority of monsters in the series are forgettable and are regarded merely as a tool for obtaining experience points by most players, some monsters enjoy enduring popularity and have become iconic trademarks of the series for a variety of reasons, making the search for them in each new release a nostalgic and enjoyable activity. These include the likes of the Flan (an amorphous blob that usually comes in a number of different elemental varieties) and the Bomb (a spiky-haired fireball with a face), but there are three others who transcend even these in popularity. The first of these is the Cactuar, an anthropomorphic cactus that is usually found in desert areas and is notable for its '1000 Needles' attack, which deals 1000 damage to a target. First appearing in Final Fantasy VI, subsequent games have seen the addition of giant and moustached variants of the species. More deadly is the Malboro, a despised yet instantly recognisable mass of tentacles that has a habit of using 'Bad Breath', a technique that inflicts every status effect under the sun on its targets, at the beginning of every battle. First appearing in Final Fantasy II, they are usually amongst the most challenging regular enemies that can be engaged. More lethal still is the Tonberry, a small and innocent looking being that carries a lantern and a chef's knife, the latter of which is frequently utilised to stab player party members and instantly kill them. First appearing in Final Fantasy V, they and their aforementioned monster brethren are always a delight to encounter regardless of the nuisance they can provide. 147. A Complete Collection (VIII)
'A game of cards?'One of the greatest things about the Final Fantasy series has always been the sheer amount of additional content included in the games alongside the main narrative, giving players a host of things to distract them from their numerous missions to save the world. One such distraction is mini-games, which are activities that offer players something to do besides exploring and battling, often with the incentive of prizes for success. Final Fantasies I and II featured a sliding numbers puzzle and a pairs game respectively despite technical limitations, whilst entries in the series from Final Fantasy VII onwards have included the likes of snowboarding, motorcycling, skipping, strategic, mathematical and Chocobo racing games, with Final Fantasy X going so far as to invent a new sport (Blitzball a cross between handball and rugby played underwater) for people to play. Final Fantasy VIII featured arguably the franchise's best mini-game, however, in the form of Triple Triad, a card game that has been chosen to represent the concept on this list. Highly addictive, the timewaster could be played against many of the game world's denizens, with new cards acquirable either through victory in such match-ups, the use of an ability capable of transforming wild monsters or (for a number of one-of-a-kind cards), an assortment of sidequests. The pursuit of a perfect collection was a long and arduous one, but the card game was one that players instantly fell in love with, to the extent where a number of third-party versions exist online (alongside an Android phone app) and allow people to play against each other even fifteen years after Final Fantasy VIII's release.
146. The Terminator (T)
'Oh, no! Phoenix down, where is the phoenix down!?'Final Fantasy Tactics is a severely underrated masterpiece. Featuring a grid-based combat system more akin to the Tactics Ogre series than other games in the franchise, it incorporates a complex yet incredible storyline comparable in style to George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, as a number of noble houses, individuals and organisations vie for political control of the land of Ivalice (which like Westeros is also made of up of seven once-independent Kingdoms) following its defeat to a neighbouring nation in a conflict spanning fifty years. It's not without its light-hearted moments, however, one of which comes when Ramza, the game's lead character, manages to activate an ancient robot named Construct 8 and attempts to assert his authority over it when it requests orders. First commanding it dance, a bewildered Ramza watches on as his discovery busts a move, before he opts to test its combat skills by pitting it against his machinist comrade Mustadio, who is mercilessly and effortlessly obliterated by the automaton. The scene borders on laugh out loud hilarious when Ramza realises the severity of his actions and frantically searches for a Phoenix Down to bring his pulverised companion back to his senses, all whilst Construct 8 stands idly by, oblivious to the consequences of its behaviour. Was it programmed by Skynet, by any chance? The game was first released in 1997, just two months before Terminator 2's averted judgement day...