The Evil Eye, also known as EYE in the NES version, is a mini-boss in Final Fantasy. The Evil Eye is a skull-type monster with a big head and one giant eye. It lives in the Cavern of Ice guarding the Levistone, and in the Flying Fortress, where it appears as a random encounter.
Stats[]
AI script[]
| Action | Probability |
|---|---|
| Attack | 40.00% |
| Silence | 8.00% |
| Slow | 8.00% |
| Thundara | 8.00% |
| Gaze (Pain) | 8.00% |
| Sleep | 6.00% |
| Hold | 5.00% |
| Flee | 5.00% |
| Death | 2.00% |
| Break | 2.00% |
| Kill | 2.00% |
| Gaze (Stone) | 2.00% |
| Gaze (Paralysis) | 2.00% |
| Gaze (Death) | 2.00% |
Prior to Pixel Remaster, Evil Eye has 200 morale, and only gains a chance to run away if the lead party member is Lv61 or higher.
Prior to Pixel Remaster and starting from the WonderSwan Color version (includes PS1, GBA and PSP):
| Action | Probability | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | 22.50% | |
| Magic | 40.00% | Thundara → Hold → Silence → Kill → Slow → Break → Sleep → Death |
| Enemy-exclusive ability | 37.50% | Gaze (Pain) → Gaze (Paralysis) → Gaze (Stone) → Gaze (Death) |
Prior to WSC (includes NES):
| Action | Probability | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | 14.0625% | |
| Magic | 62.50% | Kill → Break → Death → Thundara → Hold → Silence → Slow → Sleep |
| Enemy-exclusive ability | 23.4375% | Gaze (Stone) → Gaze (Death) → Gaze (Paralysis) → Gaze (Pain) |
Level grinding[]
Prior to Pixel Remaster, the Evil Eye in Cavern of Ice is found one step before the stone and must be battled to obtain the key item. It can be fought as many times as the player's party wants, because it does not disappear from its position after being defeated. The player can move to another adjacent tile, and then return to fight the Evil Eye again for level grinding purposes, as it gives out a considerable amount of experience points upon defeat. If the party has Protect Rings, the Eye becomes a relatively safe source of quick experience due its instant death actions always missing. However, it may still inflict petrify.
In Pixel Remaster, the Evil Eye encounter is instead a one-time trigger when the player interacts with the Levistone, which means it cannot be farmed.
Battle[]
The Evil Eye does not have any specific weaknesses, so the party can simply attack physically with a Thief/Monk/Warrior while using Haste on them, if available. The player's highest grade magic can be used to harm it while healing as necessary. The Evil Eye should not be too hard due to its low HP level, which ensures an easy battle if physical tactics are devised. It is, however, recommended to defeat it quickly, as the longer the fight goes on the more likely it is to use abilities that can possibly kill the entire party.
In versions prior to WSC, it has a high chance of using its instant death and petrify abilities immediately, so the fight should be ended as soon as possible.
Behind the scenes[]
Artwork of the monster's original design by Yoshitaka Amano.
In the original Japanese version, the Evil Eye (and Death Eye) greatly resembled a Beholder from Dungeons & Dragons, and was even called Beholder (ビホルダー, Bihorudā?). Outside of Japan, and for all ports, the design and name were drastically changed, likely due to copyright concerns (as, unlike much of the D&D bestiary, the Beholder is an original creation of the Dungeons & Dragons team and is an infamously guarded part of the intellectual property, being something of a mascot monster).
The original graphic of the Beholder was kept for the player icon of it in Dissidia Final Fantasy, in all versions.
The first instance of the enemies' revised Japanese names was in the Final Fantasy I∙II Kanzen Kōryaku-hen. The Japanese 1994 NES rerelease the book is a companion for only replace the sprites but still call them Beholders. The Japanese NES version of the game on Virtual Console use both the updated names and images.
Etymology[]
The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike.
The beholder is a fictional monster in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It resembles a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, single central eye, and lots of smaller eyestalks on top with deadly magical powers.