The Final Fantasy series was named because the original game was supposed to be Squaresoft's last game before going out of business. No previous title put out by the company had as much success, and the future of the company just looked that bleak. Ironically, the game was a huge success, saving the company and becoming the first entry in what is arguably the greatest RPG series in gaming. Almost every role-playing game to come out of Japan since the first game's release in 1987 is indebted to the Final Fantasy series to one degree or another, and plenty of classic characters, plots, locations, and items have become embedded into the world's culture everywhere, including appearances in jokes on TV Shows such as Robot Chicken. The games themselves, are, of course, stunning: with complex plots full of heartbreaking twists and turns, beloved multifaceted characters and fun, addictive and innovative gameplay, Final Fantasy games rank among the pinnacles of gaming as both entertainment and an art form.
But while immensely popular and beloved, Final Fantasy games can be insanely difficult to fully complete. The main plots are difficult enough, but it is often the side objectives of the games which are most infuriating, especially some of the harder items and weapons to obtain. The most difficult of these are legendary. Here are fifteen examples which would make you tear your hair out trying to obtain and, since we're in a merciful mood, the means to obtain them.
15 The Egg That Laid The Golden Bird
The Chocobo is a species of ridable, flightless bird that first appeared in Final Fantasy II, and has since become iconic of the Final Fantasy series. Chocobos have served the role of everything from helping players get from place to place faster, to forming the core of breeding and racing mini-games. They even have their own spin-off series! While chocobos as a species are, literally, all over the place, there is one particular kind of chocobo that is extremely rare—the gold chocobo, which makes its appearance in Final Fantasy VII. It is obtained through the above-mentioned chocobo breeding side content, by mating a black chocobo with a special kind of yellow one while using a Zeio nut. Ihis will require multiple generations of breeding for the player to achieve. The gold variety of chocobo is the best variety in the game, for both racing and travelling—and there are certain parts of the map that are only accessible with it.
14 Gotta Collect 'Em All!
Final Fantasy games, especially those that came after the series' move from Nintendo to PlayStation, are chock-full of an endless number of fun and addictive mini-games, ranging from the simple to the complex. One of the most involved mini games in the series is the Triple Triad collectible card game, found in Final Fantasy VIII. The game is fun, and deceptively simple. The game is played with five cards per player on a grid: one player uses red cards and the other blue, and the goal is to capture all of an opponent's cards. A player can expand their deck by winning battles against other characters found in the world. But a player seeking to collect every card will find the task more than difficult. In the process of winning and losing, it is almost impossible to be in possession of all at the same time, and the pursuit of this goal could drive anyone to madness.
13 Not From A Farcical Aquatic Ceremony This Time
Another reoccurring element of the Final Fantasy series is a obtainable weapon called Excalibur, always one of the best in the game. Excalibur is a sword, and, much like its Arthurian namesake, is associated with Holy power. The Excaliburs are, as expected, usually extremely difficult to obtain, but there is a special version of Excalibur, first appearing in Final Fantasy XI—Excalibur II. To obtain this rare weapon, players will actually have to reach the final dungeon before a secret time limit of twelve hours encoded within the game is exceeded. Given the length of the game, this is next to impossible to do. Players must race through the main plot. The rare gaming virtuosos who do succeeded at this can find the sword behind a pillar in the room where Lich is defeated.
12 Looking Pretty Repels The Elements, Apparently
Yet another item present in most Final Fantasy games is the Ribbon. The ribbon is a piece of equipment that gives robust elemental resistance, and the difficulty in obtaining it also varies depending on which game you are playing. In FFVII it can be obtained by completing ten battles in the Battle Arena. In Final Fantasy XIII, it may only be obtained by linking with Chocobo World, making it virtually inaccessible outside of Japan. The Ribbon is, however, most infuriating to obtain in spin-off game Final Fantasy X-2, even though the player is given multiple means of getting it. In order to obtain it in this game, a player can either go through all coloured gates on the Abominable Garment Grid, by successfully activating all of the six towers found in the Bevelle Underground area, or as a rare drop from optional boss Angra Mainyu.
11 Little Balls Of Power
Final Fantasy VII, remembered as one of the best games in the series, reinvented Final Fantasy for the 3D era. One of its most famous and innovative features is its Materia upgrade system, which governs a character's stats and available commands, grants them abilities and even plays an important part in the plot. Materia are little balls of crystallized Mako which are found all over the place. One can only be found by using a gold chocobo to reach an otherwise inaccessible island. The best Materia are called Master Materia, which are obtained by using Materia and leveling them up to their max power. Depending on the specific Materia, this task may be extremely gruelling, winning an extremely high number of difficult battles. They are worth it though, as the proud owner of such a Materia may use all abilities of its Materia type. In the PlayStation 4 remake, doing so will get you a trophy.
10 Prize Of Pitiless Puzzle Ruins
The Final Fantasy series has been lagging in reputation and releases since the start of the new millennium. Final Fantasy XV represents an attempt by Square Enix to inject new life into the series. There is much that is new in this game, as well as much that has remained and—while the jury is still out on whether the game truly recaptures the series' spark or not—it certainly offers many hours of fun and challenge. The most difficult item to obtain in the game is the Black Hood, another item which has appeared throughout the series. It is found in the Pitioss Ruins, arguably the most difficult, and unusual, dungeons to ever appear in any Final Fantasy game. The area has no enemies, but rather lots of fiendishly difficult puzzles. The hood is the reward for completing this gruelling series of trials.
9 A Touch Of Pink
Final Fantasy IV—originally numbered II in North America—was the first game in the series to appear on the SNES console, and is remembered as a groundbreaking release and one of the best RPGs of all time. Another reoccurring item in the series, the Pink Tail, appeared for the first time in this game. It is, as it is in most cases in which it appears, an extremely rare drop from the Flan Princess, which spawns only in one room of the Lunar Subterrane. The pink tail is even harder to get in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, as the Flan Princess only appears in an even more extremely specific location within the same area, and only while the moon is full. It is worth it in both cases, however, as it is needed to get the Adamant Armour and Pink Armour respectively.
8 Butterfly Blues
Final Fantasy X was the first Final Fantasy game of the 21st century, and the first to be released on the PlayStation 2 console. Like previous entries in the series, the game features a unique and innovative upgrade system, in this case involving the collection of crests and sigils corresponding to various weapons. Those who wish to make the most out of the best equipment must collect these crests and sigils—and the best of the best ones are obviously a huge pain to get, often obtained through sadistically difficult mini games. Take the Saturn Sigil, the sigil for the Spirit Lance, weapon, for one example. In order for a player to receive this item, they must complete a butterfly catching mini game in the Macalania Woods area—not once but twice! This game consists of catching all the blue butterflies while avoiding all the red ones.
7 Lightning Hitting The Same Spot Twice
The most powerful weapon used by black mage Lulu in Final Fantasy X is the Onion Knight, which is powered by the Venus Sigil. In order for a player to obtain this sigil, they must go to the Thunder Plains and dodge the lightning bolts that are constantly raining down on the area a total of two hundred—that's right, two hundred—times! There is no way for you to know how many bolts you have already dodged as you are doing this, so it is just a matter of sticking around—leaving the plains, or saving and quitting, will reset the counter—and keeping at it until you get what you came for. Once two hundred bolts have been dodged, a chest containing the sigil will appear.
6 Viking Apocalypse Meets The Internet
Final Fantasy, usually a single-player franchise, entered into the world of massively-multiplayer online gaming with Final Fantasy XI. This bold move has been one of the series' hugest successes, which hundreds of thousands of players creating heroes and logging in to explore the vast world Vana'diel, and the game is still active and still expanding. The most difficult item for players to obtain in this game is a sword called the Ragnarok—which, like many other items on this list, has appeared throughout the FF series. For anyone in this online world to get this ultimate weapon, they must first be level seventy-five or above in one of three classes name—dark knight, warrior or paladin—and then complete a number of difficult, time consuming and expensive quests.
5 The Prize Of The Sun And The Moon
Final Fantasy went back offline for Final Fantasy XII, taking players to the land of Ivalice, which had previously appeared as the setting for the Final Fantasy Tactics games. One new weapon to appear in the game is the stunning Tournesol, a golden sword which displays the sun and the moon on its hilt. Gorgeous to look at, it is the best sword in the game, and nearly impossible to get. In order to synthesize it, three items are required which must themselves first be synthesized—and it is ridiculously hard to collect all of what is needed to make all of these required ingredients. One of these items must be stolen from optional superboss Zodiark! On top of that, a player will also need to fork over 600,000 gil. Adding confusion, there are fake Tournesols within the game, used by the boss Gilagamesh.
4 Everybody Needs A Hobby
References to the Zodiac are a reoccurring motif in the Final Fantasy series, and Zodiac themed sets of items and summons often appear. One of these item sets are the Stellazio, appearing in Final Fantasy IX. The Stellazio a group of thirteen rare coins, created by an artist who was also named Stellazio. These coins are coveted by a collector in the Dark City of Treno named Queen Stella, who gives the quest of tracking them down. These coins must be collected sequentially, and Stella will give the party a prize for each coin they present to her. On each coin is inscribed a hint pointing towards the next. The thirteenth and final coin, however, involves a more complex process to locate. Players must decipher the clue by looking at the clues from all twelve previous coins, in sequence, in their item screen to discover a brand new clue.
3 Sometimes Cheaters Do Prosper
While the creators of the Final Fantasy series work hard to insert difficult challenges and hidden items for players to find in their games, not everything that they are able to find was meant to be found. In Final Fantasy II, players are able to obtain an item, called the Killer Bow, which they are not actually supposed to be able to have. The item is actually a debug tool, but can be acquired using a cheating device—which were quite popular back in the day. If used, the Killer Bow gives the player an 80% chance of killing any enemy attacked. Because the item was not meant to be in the game, it has no animation and it will just look like you are punching the enemy. Later rereleases of FFII acknowledge the nature of this weapon, and call the player a “1337 haXXor” for acquiring it.
2 More Jumping Than A Platformer
Most of the items on this list are powerful weapons and upgrades, giving the player a boost in battle or access to other rewards, but not every impossible-to-acquire item in the Final Fantasy series is actually useful in gameplay. Some are of merely sentimental value. At one point at the very outset of Final Fantasy IX, players take control of young black mage Vivi as he wanders around the city of Alexandria. Players may come across a group of children who challenge Vivi to play a jump-rope mini game, which is a button-mashing spectacular with plenty of prizes. Upon completing 1,000 jumps in one go, Vivi is named the “King of Jump Rope,” and given an item to commemorate this fact. This item does absolutely nothing.
1 A Tactical Move
Not only are the main games of the Final Fantasy series almost all classics, but so are the spinoffs. One of these is Final Fantasy Tactics, released on the PS1. Unlike the main games of the Final Fantasy series, Tactics is—as its name implies—a tactical RPG game, in which armies do battle on a square grid. Despite obvious gameplay differences, much familiar about the Final Fantasy franchise has been retained in Tactics, including maddeningly difficult to obtain items. The most difficult items to obtain in the game are the Zodiac Stones—containing the spirits of demons called Lucavi—and the most difficult of these to obtain is the secret thirteenth stone, called Serpentarius. It is obtained on the final level of the Midnight's Deep area after defeating the boss Elidibus, the stone's owner and Lucavi inhabitant.