I couldn't miss the chance to practice my drawing!
Incapacitation was a status effect in the original Final Fantasy XIV. It was afflicted by dealing a certain amount of damage on specific body parts on enemies. It could be achieved by using some of the strongest weapon skills available.
The effects of incapacitation varied depending on the creature's genus, but were generally:
- The monster was weakened.
- The monster was prevented from using some of its special attacks (damaging a Dodo's head prevented it from using its breath attacks, for example).
- Influenced the type of loot dropped (e.g., most undead-type enemies could drop the Skull Eyepatch if killed with their head incapacitated).
The weapon skills that could incapacitate a monster's body part were as follows:
Weapon | Head | Limbs (Right) | Limbs (Left) | Limbs (Lower) | Other (Right) | Other (Left) | Other (Outer) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sword | — | Riot Blade | — | Red Lotus II | Spinstroke II | — | Luminous Spire |
Hand-to-Hand | Concussive Blow II | — | — | Seismic Shock II | Victimize II | Simian Thrash | Pounce |
Axe | Skull Sunder II | — | Maim | — | — | Brutal Swing II | Trunksplitter II |
Polearm | — | Moonrise II | Chaos Thrust | Skewer II | — | Twisting Vice | — |
Archery | Shrieker | Barrage | Foeseeker | — | Bloodletter | — | — |
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn[]
In Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, the specific-weaponskill-system for damaging parts of enemies was abandoned due to the relative obtuseness of the system (e.g., it was not always clear why certain attacks would actually damage certain body parts and, outside of previously having knowledge, it was not always clear an enemy could be damaged this way) as well as the streamlining of player skills. There are still some enemies which can be "incapacitated" (e.g., stunned for a time) by targeting another portion of their body, but this now usually works in a more "classic" Final Fantasy fashion—that is, the body parts in question can be targeted and attacked as separate entities, in a manner reminiscent of many bosses from the Super Nintendo and PlayStation eras.