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"A GF is an independent energy force. By combining it with para-magic, it is possible to control tremendous energy. Memory loss is a possible side effect, but this has not been proven as of yet."

—Final Fantasy VIII Tutorial

Guardian Forces (GF) are the summoned creatures of Final Fantasy VIII, and they are used by junctioning them to a character. The GF govern major stat growth, elemental/status offense and defense, and the commands the character may use during battle. Each GF has a preset list of abilities they can learn, but through the use of certain items, the GF can learn additional abilities and forget those that were previously learned. (more...)

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"Return my mother...Tifa...and my village! I respected you...and admired you, but...You bastard!!"

—Cloud Strife

The Nibelheim Incident is a pivotal event in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII where Sephiroth, acclaimed hero of SOLDIER, descends into madness and destroys the village of Nibelheim. The town's destruction marks the beginning of Sephiroth's villainy after he learns of his "true" origins. The incident is frequently depicted in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, and has been subject to numerous retcons, although the basic chain of events has mostly remained the same. The scene has, ultimately, become Sephiroth's iconic scene, and is the reason that in numerous promotional materials Sephiroth is seen surrounded by flames.

The incident takes place between September 22nd and October 1st, 0002 of the Final Fantasy VII timeline. (more...)

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Final Fantasy X is the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It follows the story of Tidus and Yuna and was the first Final Fantasy to appear on a sixth-generation console, namely the PlayStation 2.

Due to Final Fantasy X's success and popularity, it spawned the first-ever direct game sequel to a Final Fantasy game: Final Fantasy X-2, released in 2003-04, which continued the events of Spira two years later through the eyes of Yuna. This came about as the result of an initial concept of spinning off Yuna and Rikku into individual titles of their own, which was later combined into one game.

Final Fantasy X is the first in the series to use full voice acting instead of the previous method of scrolling subtitles. The implementation of voice acting limits the player's ability to change the characters' names and Tidus is the only playable character, apart from aeons, whose name can be changed.

A remaster HD Version of Final Fantasy X was announced at the Sony Press Conference in Japan on September 14, 2011 as part of a 10th anniversary special, and is set to be released on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. (more...)

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The Ragtime Mouse is a creature found in Final Fantasy IX. The party can encounter it multiple times in various forests throughout Gaia. It acts as a quizmaster, asking the party a yes or no question every time it is encountered. It runs away if attacked, and the only way to defeat it is to answer all sixteen questions. The Ragtime Mouse is always encountered with True and False, who appear as a and respectively, like that on the PlayStation controller. The player attacks one or the other to answer true or false to the Ragtime Mouse's question. If the player attacks all enemies with a group-cast ability then the Ragtime Mouse will act the same as if the player only attacked Ragtime Mouse and run away.

The music that plays during Ragtime Mouse encounters isn't the regular battle theme, but a song called "Faerie Battle" that also plays during the Friendly Enemies battles. (more...)

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Quickening (ミストナック, Misuto Nakku^?, lit. "Mist Knack") is the term for the Limit Break system of Final Fantasy XII and its sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. In Final Fantasy XII, Quickenings use a new system over previous Limit Break systems, involving the real-time input of button commands, requiring fast reflexes to chain together attacks before a timer depletes.

In Revenant Wings, Quickenings use a more familiar system involving charging up a "Mist Gauge" to unleash a powerful attack. Quickenings also appear in Dissidia Final Fantasy as Judge Gabranth's EX Burst, and in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy for both Gabranth and Vaan. (more...)

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"Recent technological advances have produced the airship. Should these technical arts proliferate, they could one day drive magic from the world."

—Bookshelf at Mysidia, Final Fantasy II

An Airship (飛空艇, Hikūtei, lit. "Flying boat") is a recurring feature throughout the Final Fantasy series, having made an appearance in almost every game. As the name suggests, airships are a form of aerial transport, although their appearance has differed widely between games.

The airship is generally received towards the middle or end of the game, opening up the entire world to player exploration. This allows the player to both advance in the game's plot, and revisit places they've already been. Receiving free access to an airship is often a major event in the plot and opens up many new sidequests. Depending on the game, airships may be in common use over the world, or the player's may be the only one. Some games in which they are more common, such as Final Fantasy XII, provide the player with ferry services using airships, but this is much more restrictive compared to the player flying anywhere they wish. (more...)

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"I'm just not cut out for a princess, I'm afraid. Pirating's much more my style."

—Faris Scherwiz

Faris Scherwiz, real name Sarisa Scherwil Tycoon, is a player character in Final Fantasy V. Faris is a pirate captain who travels with a pirate ship and its crew, accompanied by a sea-dragon named Syldra. The party first encounters Faris when they try to steal the pirate ship, which leads to their adventures as the Warriors of Light.

Faris is courageous, sometimes reckless, and determined - she charts her own course and does not care what anyone else thinks of it. One of the key aspects of Faris's character is that she is selfish, in contrast of Lenna's altruistic persona. Being a pirate captain, she is also shown to posses great leader capabilities and dislikes being excluded from the party. Faris still has a caring side; as she finds out Lenna could be her sister she becomes protective of her.

Faris has two distinct appearances: her ingame sprite and her artwork design. In the ingame sprite she has long, loose purple hair, and green eyes. Her face is half-covered by her hair, but she also wears a green band. Her clothing consists of a dark blue sleeveless jacket with gold piping and a paler blue tunic. Over her shoulders she wears a baggy green shawl hiked up on her shoulders and secured with a red stone brooch. The cloth drapes over her torso and back. The tunic is secured with a plain brown leather belt with a red buckle similar to the brooch. She has brown leather bands on her forearms. (more...)

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Ivalice (イヴァリース, Ivarīsu^?) is a recurring world in the Final Fantasy series. Created by Yasumi Matsuno, Ivalice has been the setting of several games, one not even of the series, but linked to it by this setting. Unlike many other Final Fantasy worlds, every game set in Ivalice has always been set in the same universe, usually at different periods in time.

The Gods worked upon the world of Ivalice. In their efforts they created the twenty four Scions based on zodiacs, with the scions split in half as scions of Light and Dark, tasked with important purposes. Some believe there is a Thirteenth Scion based on discoveries of ancient texts. The scions of Dark, as the tale goes, rose against the gods and were bound to the world, hence why only half the Scions appear as Espers. The creation myths of Ivalice are many, but one of the better known ones is as follows:

Before Ivalice was created, there exists two warring tribes of gods, the Fabar and the Danan. The war lasted for thousands of years, until the Prophet Matoya predicts the death of the Danan god-king Xabaam in the hands of his trusted blade. Xabaam fears his trusted General Ahnas to be the death of him, and imprisons him and his loyal followers into the darkest labyrinths. Ahnas implores the death-god Heth to free him in exchange for his own life. Freed along with his followers, Ahnas sought revenge. (more...)

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The Sphere Grid is the name of the ability and character development system used in Final Fantasy X. It is a roughly circular grid of interconnected "nodes" arranged in smaller circular clusters, containing all the abilities and special skills the player characters can learn. The name of the system is used both to refer to the grid's design, and to the use of spheres to activate the nodes.

In "Beyond Final Fantasy" feature included with the PAL and International versions of Final Fantasy X, Yoshinori Kitase explains the purpose behind the Sphere Grid is to give players an interactive means of increasing their characters' attributes, such that they will be able to observe the development of those attributes firsthand.

At the end of each battle, every character in the party that took at least one full turn in battle will earn Ability Points (AP). Characters who are switched out their first turn, KO'd or petrified at the end of the battle, will not gain AP. For example, if the starting line-up is Kimahri, Wakka and Rikku, and Wakka is switched out his first turn and does not return, he will gain no AP because he did not take a full turn. Similarly, if Wakka is switched out for Auron, and Auron is immediately switched back out, he will also not earn AP. In the above example, if Kimahri acts first in battle and defeats all enemies on his turn, Rikku and Wakka will receive no AP because they did not get a turn. If the player defeats an enemy party using an aeon, Yuna will be treated as having taken a turn and will earn AP, even if she summoned the aeon on her first turn in battle.(more...)

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"A massive sea serpent that effortlessly controls water and rules all who dwell in the oceans. The raging swell of his "Tsunami" is enough to consume even the fiercest of foes."

—Dissidia Final Fantasy Summon Compendium

Leviathan (リヴァイアサン, Rivaiasan, or リバイアサン, Ribaiasan^?), also known as Leviatan, is a summon that appears in the Final Fantasy series.

A giant sea serpent, it first appeared as a monster that swallowed the party in Final Fantasy II, and went on to become one of the most prominent summons in the series alongside Bahamut, being known by titles such as "the Sea King," or "Lord of All Waters." In the later titles of the series, Leviathan's prominence diminished as Bahamut gained more status and popularity. Leviathan's trademark attack is Tidal Wave, also known as Tsunami, which calls on a massive wave of water to damage all enemies. (more...)