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A King Behemoth in the status in Final Fantasy VII.
Control (あやつる, Ayatsuru?, lit. Manipulate), or Manipulate, Chanting and Controlled, is a recurring status effect that relinquishes all self-control over a unit and gives the user the ability to choose their methods of combat, inflicted by the command of the same name. When an enemy is in the Control status, the user's command window changes to a set of commands that the target being controlled normally uses. The user can then choose the target of these commands.
The status only affects enemies. Some enemies and most bosses are immune to the status. The status can be of advantage to the player to help learn Blue Magic skills by forcing the enemy to use them, or it can be used to help defeat the enemy. It can also be used in battles to stop the enemy attacking the player, helping the user do things in battle without an enemy.
Appearances
Final Fantasy V
Users who have a target under the Controlled status, only possible through the Control command, are given a list of abilities. Usually the first one is Attack, and beneath it are between one and three other commands. A unit with the status has its sprite flipped horizontally, so they face the other direction. When in this status, the controller cannot attack; instead when it is their turn the enemy under control moves instead. If the target is under Berserk or Confusion, or is already being Controlled, the status will miss.
Final Fantasy VI
While not named in the game, Chanting is the name of the status that Relm or Gogo have when controlling a monster. While under the Chanting status, the controller does not get a turn from his/her battle menu. Instead, the menu lists up two to four abilities, always with the Attack on top. Beneath this may be the "Special" attack, and any other magic spells afterwards. The only way to get inflicted with the status is through the Control command.
Final Fantasy VII
The Manipulate status is a status induced through the Manip. command. The status cannot be applied on allies and one character can control only one enemy at a time. Units under this status turn a cyan color and face the opposite way, the same way the players are facing. The status lasts for the duration of the battle unless removed by an action. The two actions that do this are the unit with this status being attacked with a physical attack, or the ability White Wind is cast on them. Units in the Petrify, Resist, Sleep, Stop, or Paralyzed status cannot be inflicted with the status. Petrify, Sleep, Stop, and Paralyzed also cancel out the Manipulate status.
It is the seventh lowest, and therefore overall lowest status on the color priority chart. This means that if an enemy has another color-affecting status, the unit will not be cyan, but the other color. If they have more than one other color-affecting status, then the one with the higher priority will show on top. It has the lowest priority due to it being more obvious to the player besides the color due to other visual differences. Also, in this status, it is more useful to know what other statuses the unit has contracted.
Some enemies need to be manipulated with this status to learn the Enemy Skills Big Guard, White Wind, Death Force, Angel Whisper, and Dragon Force.
The SOLDIER:2nd enemy is susceptible to the status. If there is more than one left in battle, and the manipulated unit is requested to attack another unit of the same kind, the second unit will retaliate, relinquishing the status, but triggering the first unit to attack the second. This will continue until either one dies, or the player attacks them.
The Manipulate status can also be used to have full control during a battle situation. It is commonly used so players can damage themselves so their last two digits of a character's HP are 77. Doing this, they can restore themselves with a number of Potions to initiate the All Lucky 7s status.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
The Control status gives a unit control over another in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. The status can even cause targets to break the laws, resulting in the target getting the Yellow Card or Red Card for the violation instead of the user, a somewhat cheap, but effective tactic to get rid of certain opponents.
Gallery
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