Final Fantasy / Boss In Mook Clothing

The humerus-screamingly popular Final Fantasy franchise has several repeat offenders - identical or similar monsters that appear in multiple games.

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Recurring monsters

The Brachioraidos. Its looks and translated name have changed drastically with each installment, making it hard to notice. Its appearances in order have been:
- Final Fantasy VI as the Brachiosaur. Based on the Brachiosaurus. It casts Disaster, Meteor, Ultima, Snort and has over 46,000 HP. Don't even try to cut its MP with Osmose or Rasp to neutralize the former two spells; it has over 51,000 of it.
- Final Fantasy VII as the Vlakorados. Square stops caring what the monster is shaped like. This version's also pretty wimpy - it has a huge amount of hitpoints but low defense, and its attacks only do a couple hundred damage at a time when your hitpoints are already up into the thousands.
- Final Fantasy X as the Th'uban. This one breaks the tradition by being a bonus boss.
- Final Fantasy IV Advance as the Brachioraidos. Not a random encounter but a roaming sprite.
- Another case of the Brachiosaur breaking with tradition is in Final Fantasy XIV, where it appears as the biggest FATE boss in the Diadem. And we do mean the biggest. If, for some reason, you think it's just going to be another Notorious Monster, you've got another thing coming.
Many games have the Behemoth in this role. This is actually an example of Degraded Boss, as well, as the Behemoth debuted as a boss in Final Fantasy II, but is a recurring ultra-strong "regular" enemy in much of the rest of the series, and in later parts of the same game. Some incarnations have it counter most physical hits with one of their own, and counter magic attacks with Flare or Meteor.
Tonberries. They have loads of HP and two signature attacks. The first is Knife, is a deadly stabbing attack which the Tonberry must usually spend time getting into range to use. The other is Everyone's Grudge (aka Karma), which is based on the number of enemies (or sometimes Tonberries) that the target has defeated. If you're finding yourself in a place chock full of Tonberries, switching to a party that hasn't been used much can help.
- The Tonberry makes its debut appearance in Final Fantasy V...and it has as much HP as Leviathan.
- Oddly enough, the Tonberries in Final Fantasy VI (which are called Pugs in the original US translation) are much easier. You still have to have a fairly high level to beat them, but you're already close by the time you get to that part of the game anyway. However, they also punish you for level grinding, in that their main spell (which Strago can learn) is Step Mine. It does damage based on how many steps you've taken.
- Everyone's Grudge in Final Fantasy XI is based on the amount of Tonberries killed, and only them. Since you can't exactly switch out for another character solo, there's a quest in the game that allows you to reset the "Tonberry Hate". You'll need it, as some Tonberries can use Everyone's Rancor, which hits for 50 HP for every Tonberry killed. While Everyone's Grudge can be annoying most of the time, not resetting hate before facing a Tonberry with Rancor any time is suicidal.

Final Fantasy I

Final Fantasy

The Warmech (Death Machine) is the series' first-ever Superboss, and it wears mook clothing.
- It has as many hit points as the penultimate boss, and its abilities range from powerful physical attacks to nuking the party on the spot. Famously, it only has a 1/64 chance of appearing, in a single area, which also contains a really long bridge ready to trigger a random encounter. Those aware of Warmech walk across that bridge with held breath.
- Warmech is worse in the Video Game Remake - they doubled its hit points, which it regenerates 100 of per round (due to its high defenses, even knocking off 100 hit points per round is something you won't do until much later than your first potential encounter with it)^*. In both the original and the remake, people find it more difficult than the Final Boss. That being said, thanks to Sequel Difficulty Drop, it's really just keeping pace with the buffs the players got.
Piscodemons (or Wizards in the NES release) are this when they first show up on the final floor of the Marsh Cave. They have lots of HP, resist fire and ice magic, and can use devastating physical attacks — and on that final floor, you can fight anywhere from two to four of them at once! You're also not allowed to run from them. They reappear in several later dungeons, and while they aren't quite as threatening as before,, they can still beat your party up if you're not careful.
The Earthgift Shrine bonus dungeon has Abyss Worms. Higher Attack than the four bosses (and the four Fiends!), no magic weakness, and such a high M Def as to make your Mages practically useless. Good luck.

Final Fantasy III

The Dragons in the Crystal Tower. Harder than most bosses, but they can drop Onion equipment. They come in Yellow, Green and Red variations. The only thing stronger than red dragons is the final boss, and the Bonus boss added into the DS version.

Final Fantasy IV and The After Years

Final Fantasy IV

The DS version, in general, has a lot of these, adding to the already Nintendo Hard nature of the game.

You may encounter a variety of dragons after you recruit Edge that possess a lot of HP and may have a nasty attack. One of the worst is the Clapper/Thunder Dragon, which is slightly faster than your characters and uses a powerful attack. Good luck trying to revive your tank.
There will be instances where an enemy will have a party-hitting spell (whether it's a normal spell or a special attack). At first, these aren't too dangerous, but then it gets ridiculous to the point where two of these can kill a party that's overleveled. Oh, and they love to come in groups.
Trap Doors in the Sealed Cave. They cast instant death spells that are 100% guaranteed. But they have a weakness: reflect their death spell back at them!...which you can't do without Augments thanks to how their spell works. If you're not playing the DS version, good frigging luck.
Everything in the Lunar Subterrane. The last two floors are also applicable to the original SNES version. The really fun part? A lot of enemies encountered on these floors actually have the boss music playing during their fights.
- The most notably tough enemy is the EvilMask/Deathmask. Deathmasks start off an encounter by casting Wall/Reflect on themselves, then on your party. They then bounce very powerful spells like Holy and Flare off of themselves and bounce Cure3/Curaga spells off of you onto themselves. They have a whopping 37,000 HP and decent evasiveness and are very tough to run from. The DS version makes this worse by giving it Laser Barrage, an attack that deals large amounts of damage to your whole party. Oh, and they're incredibly common, too.
- Red Dragons count too, especially in DS version, where they fight you alone but have 50,000 HP. They also have Thermal Rays attack that hits entire party for 1,000-2,000 damage and are quite speedy, so if they decide to spam it you might as well restart.
Sand Worms, which you can encounter very early in the game, between Mist and Kaipo, at a time when Cecil's your only party member. Sand Worms can take about ten hits from Cecil at this point in the game and can deal ~200 damage to him when he'll likely only have ~300 HP. What makes this particular encounter worse is the fact Sand Worms are fairly easy in the original SNES version that you may have played if you're playing the DS version, and you may not have realized yet how much harder the remake is. You will when that Sand Worm completely annihilates you.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

Each tale (except Palom's and Edward's) has a certain enemy that only appears in a specific area in a specific moon phase, and is powerful enough to destroy players that don't prepare for them specifically. Defeating them is the only way to obtain colored tails that can be traded for powerful armor and accessories with unique effects.
- Said enemies also reappear in the final tale, with a twist that there are two versions of them - one can be encountered regardless of moon phase, usually appears alongside other enemies, is weaker and doesn't drop the tail, while the other appears in the same area in a specific moon phase, appears alone, is once again powerful enough to destroy unprepared players, and drops the tail.
Chimera Brain in Edge's Challenge Dungeon. It opens every battle with Frost Blast, which One Hit Kills 4 out of your 5 party members and critically injures the fifth. If it gets a surprise attack on you, just reload the game, because there is absolutely nothing you can do to survive. And it has a 75% chance of a surprise attack!

Final Fantasy V

Super enemies in this game are usually characterized by exceptionally high defensive stats, forcing you to rely on otherwise unorthodox strategies.

The Jackanapes (known as "Harpy" in the PSX version) is an example of one of these. The first time you can encounter it, its attacks will do several hundred more points of damage than you can take (even at higher levels, it will still eat your HP quickly), and it's fast enough that you're almost certain to lose one or two party members before you can run away. It also always back attacks the party, and it can dodge almost ALL of your attacks and magic, so if— no, when— you are unlucky enough to meet one, you won't be able to fight it out.
There's the also the Prototype, which has a couple of glaring weaknesses, but is very hard to hurt otherwise; the Dhorme Chimera, which outdamages you at the point of the game you fight it; and a group of five Mini-Dragons, which are upgraded Dhorme Chimeras.
In the Second World, a moogle advises you to avoid a desert; heeding such advice awards you an enemy-free journey, but disregarding it sends you against the Sandcrawler, an enemy with very high HP. While its regular attacks don't do a whole lot of damage, it frequently uses Maelstrom to reduce your entire party's HP to single digits, leaving you at the brink of a Total Party Kill. Then there's the Landcrawler in the Merged World, which has even more HP and, in addition to using Maelstrom frequently, uses Crush to deal heavy damage and inflict confusion on a single target. Luckily, the Landcrawler is vulnerable to Level 4 Graviga.
The Gil Turtle. While only spawning in a cave between Castle Bal and the overworld, in a specific spot (where you can gather gil on the floor), it's a complete behemoth of a monster with the same HP as Exdeath, heavy and undead status (meaning you can't cheese it with Phoenix Down/Raise spells), and immune to everything in your arsenal, except Slow. This monster also has automatic Protect/Shell status from the start of the battle, cutting half of all possible damage. 66 Agility (faster than anything on your party), Evasion and Defense of 40, and Magic Defense of 55. Its sole weakness is tier 3 Ice spells - everything else is reduced to zero damage. And on top of everything, it will counter any attack Twice with !Turtle, which sets Poison and Blind status. And when it finally dies, it casts Earthquake for over 3500 damage, which means you need to cast Float before the battle and for any killed party member.
The Tot Aevis from the Merged World brings this trope to mind. The enemy itself appears in a plot-related, but ultimately optional dungeon. While most enemies have between 2,000 to 4,000 HP, rendering them killable in a short time, the Tot Aevis has 33,000 HP, more than the boss of the dungeon that contains it. It can make use of a wind attack that targets all of the party and has a single target attack which can inflict Petrify. The reward when killing it is 7 ABP, more than the multiple enemy formations in the dungeon, second only to the boss, but otherwise gives nothing else, no EXP, Items, or Gil.
The Shield Dragon in the Second World's Sealed Castle and Exdeath's Soul in the Merged World's Sealed Castle are yet more examples of this trope. They have 20,000 HP (more than many enemies in The Very Definitely Final Dungeon) and exceptionally high defenses. Shield Dragon also has auto-Reflect, and its Knock Silly attack hits two party members at once and inflicts confusion on the targets. Exdeath's Souls always use instant death attacks and are just as difficult to kill.

Final Fantasy VI

A Tyrannosaur has 12,770 hit points and can cast Meteor, one of the strongest magic attacks in the game. Sometimes they will appear in pairs and always in a Pincer attack (regardless of any relic you may be wearing that is supposed to prevent them), which means they will deal increased physical damage.
Brachiosaurs, found in the same area as Tyrannosaurs, are even more powerful, at 46,050 HP, and not only can it use Meteor, but also Ultima, the most powerful spell in the game. They give a lot of experience and very useful items... if you are able to kill them, which may require using Ultima yourself. Ribbons can be stolen from them but this is nearly impossible, whereas the final boss can easily have a Megalixir stolen from him.
There's also the Fiend Dragon, found in the final dungeon. It's rare, but if you run into it, you have to deal with a monster that not only packs high HP and powerful magic but also is the only monster in the game (aside from the final boss) to have Heartless Angel, which reduces everyone's HP to 1. It then likes to follow up with Southern Cross, which also hits everybody, and will probably wipe out the whole party. Oh, and you can encounter two of them at the same time.
The Intangir on Triangle Island in the World of Balance. It has auto-Vanish, a staggering 32,000 HP, absorbs all elements, and is immune to almost every status effect. Most of the time, it doesn't do anything, but if you try to get the Vanish off it so you can actually hit it, it'll smack your party with Meteor and disappear again. The only legitimate way to beat it is to cast Stop on it, beat on it, wait for it to let you know that Stop has worn off by hitting you with Meteor, recover from Meteor, and repeat necessary. When you finally bring him down, he will hit whoever killed him with Meteor, which is a guaranteed kill if it connects. You gain no experience for beating him, but you do get a whopping 10 Magic Points. The Vanish/Doom trick works well against the Intangir since it's already invisible, though it will still hit whoever cast Doom with Meteor - and of course this only works in the SNES version.

Compilation of Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII

The Unknowns in the Gelnika. They're all horrifically bizarre looking, and all have a physical attack that's going to do over 2000 damage. They also like to throw status ailments at you that are sure to make any Malboro proud. The Unknown 2 is the worst of the batch though. It has two attacks. Tentacle hits for 2000+ damage and causes confusion, and Abnormal Breath inflicts all the status ailments. You better hope you have a character with Esuna and a Ribbon equipped.
The Ghost Ships in the Junon Reactor. They know an attack which removes a member of your party from the battle and have a ton of HP. They also have to be morphed into items if you want to stand a chance against one of the Superbosses without using any exploits.
The notorious Midgar Zolom. Not only is it stronger than everything you faced up to the point it appears, it uses an attack (Beta) that will (literally) nuke your party. The silver lining? Enemy Skill Materia can make Beta your Disc-One Nuke (if you survive it, assuming you survived long enough for him to cast it). Otherwise, you have to get a chocobo just to avoid dealing with the beast.

Final Fantasy VIII

The T-Rexaur. The game even tells you that "It's better to run if you encounter one". However, if you hit it with Blind (or better yet, Death), it goes down pretty easily. Junctioning Sleep and Blizzara are an even better way, and suitable for wearing it down — though remember that in this game, a Low-Level Run is usually the way to go.
Elnoyles and Ruby Dragon. Both have very high stats or any monster that could also be encountered in Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell.
The Malboro, in one of its deadliest incarnations in the entire franchise. Unlike its counterparts in FF4 and FF6 (where Bad Breath is single target) or FF7 (where it doesn't inflict that many statuses and isn't used that often), this incarnation's Bad Breath absolutely cripples the entire party with almost every negative status in the book (including slow-petrify) and is always used on its first turn. Defeating it requires either a lucky first hit with Degenerator, or a specialized character with immunity to berserk, confuse and sleep ready to throw Remedies. Even then, there's nothing stopping it from using Bad Breath again.

Final Fantasy IX

There is a monster called the Grand Dragon in a certain place accessible around Disc 1 that exists for the specific purpose of screwing you over if you don't heed the nearby Moogle's warning. Adequate preparation (stock up on Phoenix Downs, equip everyone with Antibody and Auto-Reflect) can render these Grand Dragons quite beatable, and thus turn this early accessible area into a convenient high-speed level-up treadmill. (Doubly so if you realize the Grand Dragons are a multiple of level 5, you'll be able to defeat easily it with Lvl5 Death.)
Yans. Cute little lambs that proceed to Comet and Meteor you to death. Thankfully, they're only found in one optional area. Unfortunately, if you want to be able to melee Ozma, you're going to have to go there to get the last friendly monster encounter (who also happens to be a Yan), making the risk necessary. Since Ozma is the simplest source of the pumice...

Final Fantasy X and X- 2

Final Fantasy X

In the final dungeon, about half of the enemies have either powerful party-hitting attacks, a lot of status immunities, the ability to inflict tons of bad status effects, or some combination of the above. And they all have over 40,000 HP.

Final Fantasy X-2

Azi Dahaka, which guards the electric gates that block the way to Vegnagun at the end of the game. Screw up on one note, get frustrated with the entire puzzle, and then try to go through the barrier thingy anyway? Yeah, bad idea. Only good thing about that monster is you can run away from it.
A lesser example is Aeshma in the prior area. It has relatively high HP for that area, made all the more noticeable by its unbreakable barrier that prevents all physical damage, meaning no critical health Cat-Nip'd Trigger Happy gunner can save you. And while you CAN escape, it won`t help if it hits you with Emblem of Thanatos, which does boss-level damage (well over 1,000) and is the first sign that it's more trouble than it's worth as it appears as a normal enemy.

Final Fantasy XI

Uragnites hide in their shell the second you hit them, which has them acquire massive damage reduction and a powerful Healing Factor effect, and any further physical hits while in the shell will be countered with a deadly area poison effect. It's normally best to build TP and use a Weaponskill when the thing pops out again, while mages can just whack the shell once, then run away and nuke safely while it's in the shell, immobile. Even being level 75, one of these mobs at 30-ish take awhile to kill.

Final Fantasy XII

The game has 80 different Rare Monsters, which show up among the normal fights on the world map but are boss-tough. Generally, though, they only come after you if you attack them first.
There's also Wild Saurian (which shows up in the first open area of the game), the Werewolf (second area this time), Dive Talon (shows up early, but you can get a Disc-One Nuke from it). The Wild Saurians can eat the wolves in the area, which adds to their overall HP and actually allow it to level up.
The Elementals (and their stronger versions, the Entites) can count since they're usually of a much higher level then the players in areas they are found in, and will aggressively attack the player if they so much as whiffed even a scent of magic in their area. Even White Magic will cause them to go Aggro. They also are immune to all elements, except their own (which they absorb) and their element's opposite (which they're vulnerable to). They also take around 1/2 damage from physical attacks.
In any Zodiac version, the Archaeoaevises in the Zertinan Caverns take the cake over every single other non-boss or non-mark in the entire game. In the original version, they were somewhat unremarkable by the time you'd be strong enough to go down and kill the Lightning esper, Adrammelech, in the Athroza Quicksands room, with these located somewhere close by in the Balamka Fault room. Not so now, where instead of the mid-10k HP they had originally, the WEAKEST ones have 161,622 hitpoints...and the strongest ones, which are level 99, have 961,622. That's right, the strongest Archaeoaevises have almost as much HP as THE STRONGEST NON-CLAN MARK IN THE ENTIRE GAME. And they like to spam Curse, which sets you with Disease (prevents healing), Sap (constant gradual HP loss) and Poison (the usual suspect), among other statuses, and deal extreme damage with all their attacks. Outside of the XIII games and the MMOs, these are likely the strongest non-boss enemies in the entire franchise. And you have to kill them for their Emperor Scales if you want the powerful Durandal sword, as they otherwise can only be stolen from rare, one-time enemies like Deathgaze. Good god.
A Lv. 99 Red Chocobo can be encountered (quite rarely) in Ozmone Plain. The game considers it a normal monster, despite its increased difficulty.
Shield Wyrms, especially those in the Cerobi Steppe (in the Nabreus Deadlands, they're only in one area and only one spawns at a time). These giant dragons have HP in the tens of thousands, a lot of dangerous attacks, and can heal and buff themselves. They very much fit the "Mook" part of this trope because they're practically everywhere in the Cerobi Steppe.

Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy

Final Fantasy XIII

In Chapter 5, Scalebeasts and Wyverns. It is possible to defeat them, but they are pretty powerful, and you can barely do any damage to them until they're staggered. While the game recommends avoiding them, and you can make use of the climate control orbs to do so, there is one Scalebeast guarding a chest, and you have to defeat it if you want what's in that chest.
Ochus, Tyrants, and Juggernauts all fit the bill well enough, but the absolute perfect examples are the Adamantoise and relatives. If you attack one of them as soon as you get to Chapter 11, it will step on you. Thankfully, they're quite docile and easy enough to avoid.
King Behemoth. They're rather common in Pulse, often seen prowling around and sometimes fighting other enemies. What makes them so hard? They have a TON of health, and they also take quite a while to stagger. Get him down to half health, and he instantly heals up to full health and stands on his hind legs. He's even harder to stagger now, and does a brutal physical attack that will kill anyone but a guarding Sentinel, as well as casting an Area of Effect lightning effect that will probably kill your Medic or Ravager. He's possible to kill in Chapter 11, but only barely, and you need a lot of patience.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Raspatil, an Undying Cie'th appearing in Oerba 400 AF. It has over three million HP, hits incredibly hard, and can summon other monsters, including Wladislaus. If you go for completing the bestiary, it'll probably be one of the last fights you have.
Almost anything that pops out of the spacial anomalies can easily wipe your party if you don't know exactly how to handle it. The Metal Gigantuar can easily wipe your party with 10,000 Needles, which in XIII-2 hits the entire party. Kanna Kamuy can Daze, Poison, and Deprotect at will, and then chomp you to death easily. Tonberries start out fairly manageable, but grow more and more powerful as the fight drags on, and will unleash a Total Party Kill attack if you take too long.
In The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, one of the final platforms contains a fixed encounter with a Proto-Behemoth and two Schrodingers. The Proto-Behemoth unleashes devastatingly powerful physical attacks; even if nothing else in the dungeon gives your party any trouble, the behemoth is still a threat. Meanwhile, the Schrodingers will spam Deprotega until it sticks, and then join in the melee alongside the behemoth - they have high HP, many resistances, drain HP from you on attacking, and their Chain Gauge rises at a snail's pace even with a full Ravager setup ^note. If you can't evade them, this can be a tougher fight than the actual final boss.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Every enemy in the large size group, such as the Chocobo Eater, Cyclops, and Dreadnaught, qualifies. They have massive amounts of HP, and often possess attacks that can potentially OHKO you if you don't guard them properly. A number of them are fought as mandatory battles at some point, but they appear as normal encounters in the same areas, as well.
All of the Last Ones as well, being far stronger versions of monsters that only show up once you've defeated a huge number of their species, and visually only distinguished by their pure pink color scheme. Almost every monster species in the game has one, including the aforementioned giant monsters, who tend to be much tougher than most actual boss fights in the game. They're also actually treated like bosses, in that you're graded on how quickly you can defeat them.

Final Fantasy XIV

In the starter areas, non-aggressive higher level mooks are sprinkled about. Though they might be there as Schmuck Bait.
There's a type of FATE (a randomly spawning timed event on the main maps that players can do for extra XP) that acts like a boss fight, but most of the time they're just souped up regular mooks. You can usually solo these in lower levels. However, sprinkled throughout the game are boss FATEs that are way tougher than the average boss FATE and grant unique rewards and achievements on their defeat. These FATEs require anything from a full party to several alliances to defeat, and unlike Hunts, FATEs enforce level sync, meaning you can't simply outlevel them. If "Torn from the Heavens" or especially "Thunderer" starts playing when you enter a FATE, you're going to want to ask for help.
Hunts are similar to Elite Mooks and can spawn in several locations around the map, forcing players to track them down. B-rank hunts are soloable by max level characters and the target of a weekly mission. A-rank and S-ranks spawn on timer, with additional special conditions for S-ranks, and are much tougher, requiring at least full party for A-ranks and alliances for S-ranks. Trying to take one of these on by yourself, unless you're really overleveled and it's only an A-rank, will end in a swift death.

Final Fantasy XV

XV features various forms of random encounters, one of which is are the imperial dropships that with drop off varying types of imperial forces. The troops dropped gradually increase in strength as the party defeats them, and players can quickly find themselves overwhelmed when the dropships suddenly start dropping swarms of Lightning Bruiser Magitek Assassins. They can also rarely drop the MA-X series mechs, which are normally boss encounters in imperial bases. Like the normal troops, the MA-X mechs gradually improve until they culminate in MA-X Angelus-0, one of the games Superbosses.
Another form of random encounter are the daemon spawns that occur at night. The most common spawns are Iron Giants, which can spawn right at the beginning of the game and rinse the party, all but forcing the player to sleep overnight in the early stages. And as soon as the player beats their first Iron Giant, the much stronger Red Giants can start spawning instead. Red Giants remain a considerable threat for almost the entire game.
The open world is also populated by many larger forms of wildlife that can be freely engaged at any time but are best avoided until later in the game, such as Griffons, Kujatas, and Bandersnatches. These can typically be identified by the much more apocalyptic-sounding music that plays when engaging them instead of the usual battle themes.

Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia

Manikins, which usually show up within Torsions. Some of them are no worse than tough monsters. But depending on what character they're copying, they can buff their allies up to full BRV, shield themselves and their allies from all BRV damage, execute powerful full-party attacks, or raise their dodge and become unhittable killing machines.

Boss In Mook Clothing / Final Fantasy