Video Game / Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

"From this day forward, you are the warriors of light."

"Chaos isn't a man. Or a monster. Chaos is just a fairy tale. The darkness, the beasts—this despair that eats away at people's hearts—it's easy to blame a single thing for all that. It gives people hope to think that the world can be saved with a single heroic deed. Even if it's never that simple..."

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an Action RPG developed by Team Ninja of Ninja Gaiden and Nioh fame, a spin-off of the shin-splinteringly popular Final Fantasy series. Set during an alternate version of the eventual Stable Time Loop from the first Final Fantasy, the story follows five disparate adventurers, led by a man named Jack, attempting to fulfill the Warrior of Light prophecy to vanquish the fabled source of all darkness, Chaos, and in the process restore the corrupted Crystals that once brought peace and prosperity to the lands. However, it quickly becomes clear that Chaos and his allies the Four Fiends do not yet exist as we knew them in Final Fantasy, and the path our heroes find themselves on is an altogether darker one...

The game was unveiled at Square Enix's E3 2021 presentation and had three different demos leading up to release for feedback and advertising purposes, including one less than a week before the full release with save transfers. The full game was released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 15, 2022 for console pre-orders and March 18 for everyone else.

Three expansions have been released for the game via a Season Pass. The first expansion, Trials of the Dragon King, released on July 20, 2022, adds a new mission-based storyline involving recurring series mainstay Bahamut, three new jobs, the addition of accessories, and the BAHAMUT difficulty mode. The second expansion, Wanderer of the Rift, released on October 26, 2022, adds another storyline revolving around another series staple, Gilgamesh, the Rift Labyrinth, a new dungeon with multiple randomly generated paths, the Blue Mage job, the new Chaos Monster enemy type, and new equipment and abilities. A third and final expansion, Different Future, which sees Jack’s group travel to Lufenia and face off against The Emperor, released on January 27, 2023.

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I only know one thing: I want to list tropes. I need to. It's not a hope, or a dream. It's like a hunger, a thirst:

• Action Bomb: Bombs are back, in all their self-destructing glory. Jack can force them to detonate prematurely by hitting them with certain spells and attacks.
• Adapted Out:
  • While elves are mentioned the only one seen is dark elf Astos, with no appearance from Elfheim. In addition, another notable exclusion is Matoya, one of the most well known characters of the original game who is not even mentioned or alluded to here. Other examples include the dwarves (who are only mentioned once), Sarda/Sadda, Lukahn/Lukin, Dr. Unne, Cid of the Lufaine, Chronodia, Bahamut, and all of the towns aside from Cornelia and Pravoka.
  • Bahamut, however, is the eponymous Dragon King in the "Trials of the Dragon King" DLC, and has a large role in that storyline.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In the original Final Fantasy, Garland wasn't much of a threat. He was limited to physical attacks and didn't have much health, meaning a decently prepared party could take him down easily. By contrast, Garland here (Jack, as well as Neon's version of him) is a massively powerful Magic Knight who can move like lightning and hits like a truck.
  • In the original Final Fantasy, Bikke the pirate never actually fought the Warriors of Light: he let his crew do the fighting for him and surrendered immediately once they were defeated. Here he takes on Jack's party along with his party and wielding a massive battle-axe against them.
  • In the original Final Fantasy, Astos is a rather unremarkable boss except for the fact that he knows RUB/Death spell. Here, he's a full-on Kung-Fu Wizard that weaves magic and hand-to-hand combat together, as well as being able to transform into the Ultima Weapon.
  • In the original Final Fantasy, WarMech was a normal albeit incredibly dangerous enemy that was only found in a single location in the game. As the Death Machine, it has been upgraded to the Final Boss of the "Wanderer of the Rift" DLC.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Garland as Chaos and the Four Fiends in the original Final Fantasy were nothing more than Generic Doomsday Villains who spread destruction because they were evil. Stranger of Paradise casts Jack and his companions in the respective roles, with them becoming villains as part of a Zero-Approval Gambit to free the world from the Lufenians' control.
  • Astos in the original game is presented as a one-note villain bent on conquering the elven kingdoms. Here he's cast in a much more important role as an agent of the Lufenians who eventually rebels against their cruel treatment of Cornelia and helps Jack and his friends break the cycle of Forever War.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the original Final Fantasy, the Lufenians were people whose ancestors lived in floating cities and were rather technologically advanced (one of them created the airship that you acquire during your quest) before they were cast down to earth by Tiamat, the Fiend of Wind. In Stranger of Paradise, they are the Big Bads of the game who have created a Forever War situation in order to keep Cornelia firmly under their control.
• Aerith and Bob: The characters include Jack, Ash, Jed, Sarah, Sophia... and Neon.
• Alternate Continuity:
  • This is how the developers describe the game's setting, calling it a "parallel universe that sits alongside the original game."
  • In the DLC, Gilgamesh and the Emperor both remark about having met another version of Garland other than Jack. The Moogle also mentions that version of Garland, also making a point to say that he isn't Jack. Similarly, a summonable monster makes reference to knowing a version of Jack and his friends who genuinely fell to evil and darkness rather than doing it as part of a Zero-Approval Gambit to create the Warriors of Light.
  • The final DLC has its own alternate continuity branch with dying to the Warrior of Light after taking to the fight to the Lufeanians by himself and becoming the God of Discord with a Warrior of Light becoming the God of Harmony.
• Animal Mecha: The Cray Claw boss is a robotic crayfish or scorpion with a third pincer mounted on the end of its tail.
• Animated Armor: When Jack rips the helmet off the defeated Black Knight boss, he discovers that he's been fighting an empty suit of armor.
• Anthropomorphic Shift: Kraken has a more humanoid form compared to his Final Fantasy I counterpart, which was basically an octopus wearing a cape and a breastplate.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Both classes that Jack has equipped give a flat percentage amount of job affinity to the other, meaning that the class still gets EXP when if not being played this. This also means the player can equip gear for classes and gradually level them up while not playing as it.
• Appearance Is in the Eye of the Beholder: In "Trials of the Dragon King", Bahamut explains that the rat's tail is not actually the tail of a rat, but some sort of mystical Amplifier Artifact whose appearance changes from world to world. It simply looks like a rat's tail to the people of Jack's world.
• Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Jack can only have two of his allies with him in the field at any given time, even though his full party consists of five people. Despite this, the teammates who were left behind will still appear in cutscenes and participate in dialogue.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Hitting an enemy at a weak point inflicts extra damage to its break meter.
• Awesome, but Impractical: In the first demo, the Black Mage's Flare spell creates an impressive-looking explosion which deals massive damage to all enemies in its blast radius. It is by far the most powerful spell Jack can cast. It's also the only spell that costs three MP bars instead of one, and the only spell where Jack is required to spend a full 2+ seconds charging it up—during which he can't move at all—before he can cast it. Thankfully the spell had been made more useful by the time the game was finalized.
• Bait-and-Switch: Jack and his companions assume the armored knight they confront in the Chaos Shrine is Garland, and he even shares Garland's voice actors (both Japanese and English) from Dissidia. However at the end of the fight it's revealed that the figure is actually Neon, and she played the part of "Chaos" hoping that a band of heroes would defeat her and restore hope to the people.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: The Pugilist and Monk Jobs carry on the grand Final Fantasy tradition of a party member who punches and kicks enemies to death. Though you can also equip a pair of bracers.
• BFS:
  • Jack and company can wield a variety of weapons, including greatswords whose blades are as long as they are tall and as wide as their torsos.
  • The Armored Knight's own sword in the Chaos Shrine boss fight, which is of similar length to Jack's but not quite as massive due to tapering to a point. The knight later forms a replacement sword out of ice after he loses his metal one during the battle.
• Big Bad: The Lufenians, a civilization of Advanced Ancient Humans that have been sending the darkness that creates monsters into the world of Cornelia alongside agents that play the role of the Warriors of Light. Their intent is to create a Forever War that will keep the rest of the world permanently under their control, and taking them down becomes the goal during the climax. After they are decisively dealt with in "Different Future", the Emperor of Palamecia decides to take a swipe at the power vacuum, turning him into Jack's final enemy.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Grotesque worms longer than Jack is tall appear as enemies in several areas.
• Bittersweet Ending: Jack manages to successfully overcome the Lufenians by stealing control of their "Groundhog Day" Loop and the darkness that let them unleash armies of monsters. In the process, he and the rest of his party are doomed to become the wicked knight Garland and the Four Fiends, who believe they must be a Necessary Evil to both wipe out the rest of the Lufenians and train up a new group of Warriors who will purge the world of darkness. The game thus ends where it began, with Jack storming the Cornelia royal palace and kidnapping Sarah, having fully embraced his role as the villain to set the true Warriors of Light on their journey, even pausing and waiting outside Cornelia until he sees four sunbeams draping over the capital city. Thankfully, the final DLC has the physical body of Jack dying at the hands of the Warrior of Light similar to the original final fantasy storyline, but this time breaking the cycle having becoming the God of Discord after killing the Lufeanian's before hand.
• Black Mage: The Mage Job focuses on blasting enemies from afar with powerful elemental spells, which Jack can charge up to produce more devastating effect and exploit enemy weaknesses. The Black Mage job itself is unlocked through progressing as a Mage.
• Blade Spam: Jack can unleash a flurry of rapid thrusts while wielding a lance or daggers.
• Bling-Bling-BANG!: Bikke uses a gold pistol.
• Blob Monster: The Fused Elemental is a gelatinous blob with multiple appendages sticking out of its lumpy mass. There's also the series staple Flan monsters, and their tougher counterparts the Flan Princess.
• Bookends: The first and the last story mission of the base game, and two of the the DLCs take place in the Chaos Shrine. In the case of two of the DLC you even fight against an armored swordman trying to kill you just like the first story Mission.
• Bowdlerise: In the final trailer, when Jack faces off against the Lich, instead of a Precision F-Strike he shouts "I don't give a damn who you are!"
• Break Meter: Enemies have a Break Gauge which depletes as they take damage. Jack can shatter any enemy whose gauge has run out, even if they have plenty of health left. Jack himself has a Break Gauge, and letting it get Broken will not only stun him for a few seconds, it will also reduce his maximum MP and make him lose any buffs and Instant Abilities he copied from his enemies.
• Breath Weapon: The Tiamat boss can exhale beams of green wind energy from her six mouths.
• Broken Faceplate: In the fight with Chaos Advent in the Chaos Shrine, when Jack reaches the second stage of the fight, he damages his enemy's helmet with a powerful punch. Ash and Jed are a bit shocked there's actually a human being under there.
• Can't Drop the Hero: You can boot Jed, Ash, Neon and Sophia out of the party freely, but Jack must always remain.
• Charged Attack: Jack can charge up both his regular attack as well as his spells to cast more powerful versions of them. For example, charging up the basic Thunder spell for a second or two will upgrade it to Thundara, and charging it for another second will upgrade it to Thundaga. He must stand still while charging up a spell, leaving him vulnerable to attack though the option to dodge is still available.
• Classical Chimera: A chimera is the boss of the Crystal Mirage, depicted as a black lion with batlike wings and a cobra for a tail. After Jack tears the chimera's wings off, it grows two new heads—one of a goat, the other of a dragon—from the stumps.
• Color-Coded Elements: The Mage's elemental spells are associated with specific colors. Fire is red, Blizzard is pale blue, Thunder is yellow, Water is dark blue, Quake is brown, and Aero is green. The Black Mage-exclusive Flare spell, meanwhile, is black, while the Dia spells are white and the Dark spells are dark purple.
• Combat Tentacles: Kraken uses his many tentacles to grapple and bludgeon Jack during a fight.
• Convection, Schmonvection: During the trip through Mt. Gulg, Jed complains about the heat, but no-one else has problems with the fact they're walking through a volcano. Sophia explains that it's because the Fire Crystal isn't working properly. If it was, they'd be in a lot more trouble.
• Cthulhumanoid:
  • Kraken has been reimagined as a gangly humanoid creature with long limbs, tentacle-like fingers, and actual tentacles growing from his back and face.
  • Illythid-looking Piscodaemons and their stronger variation, Mind Flayers, start appearing in the game during the Sunken Shrine section.
• Counter-Attack: The Swordfighter Job's special ability, Intercept, allows Jack to block an incoming attack and retaliate with his own. Certain weapons also have default moves that can be used to deflect a strike.
• Crystalline Creature: Jack's attempt to crystallize the Behemoth just transforms it into the Ur-Dragon King, a much deadlier monster covered in glittering pink crystals that protect it from harm.
• Dark Reprise: "Battle: Strangers of Paradise" features the elements of "Kindred Soul", the theme accompanying Jack's companions. Fitting, since you have to face them in battle when this music is playing.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: The Assassin job's unique skill, Assassinate, deals damage to enemies based on the number of marks they have, which can be applied with critical hits. With a fast weapon such as the Daggers or Fists, it's easy to rack up a lot of marks through high hit combos with low damage per hit against the enemy's back, and then double dip by using Assassinate afterwards to get an additional tick of damage per mark.
• Dem Bones: A lot of common enemies in the game are varieties of skeletons, armed with swords, spears and scythes.
• Double Weapon: The Black Knight boss fights with a double-ended polearm.
• Dracolich: The boss of the Hallowed Massif is the Dragon Zombie, who throws around its rotting flesh to poison the party and is a genuinely fearsome opponent.
• Dramatic Irony: A whole lot of it for those who remember the original Final Fantasy. In particular the exclamation that the Warriors of Light are complete with five members when the original game had four.
• Dressed to Plunder: The pirate captain Bikke is decked out in accordance with corsair fashion: a purple naval jacket, a tricorne hat, an eyepatch, and tall boots.
• Eldritch Location: The Chaos Shrine. Its architecture, while foreboding and evil, is not particularly unusual, but its role in the setting cements it as this. It didn't exist before the Lufenians began their experiments with Cornelia, but they didn't build it nor did it come from any alternate dimension they've observed. How it came into being, and how it continues to exist every time Cornelia is reset, is a mystery even to Astos and the Lufenians. Further, when it's time for Strangers to leave Cornelia, the Lufenians designate a point in the world for them to go to for extraction; Astos comments to Jack that it's supposed to be random, but they almost always choose the Chaos Shrine. The two chalk it up to laziness on Lufenia's part, but it further implies there is something unusual about the place that the Lufenians keep using it.
• Elemental Embodiment: Fire, water, wind and earth elementals. All of them look like female humanoid figures tethered to, and sitting on, a large, metal-framed sphere of their corresponding element. The Refrin Wetlands area's boss is a fire elemental and water elemental tethered to the same sphere. "Different Future" introduces holy elementals.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: The eight elements counter each other in a relatively consistent manner. Fire melts ice, ice freezes wind, wind blows away earth, earth grounds lightning, lightning electrocutes water, water extinguishes fire, and holy burns dark (and vice versa).
• Finger In The Barrel: Jack defeats the Cray Claw by stomping on the barrel of its Wave Cannon as the machine is charging up a shot. This ruins the barrel, causing the trapped energy to build up and obliterate the Cray Claw in an explosion.
• Fish People: The series staple Sahagin, once again depicted as a humanoid fish.
• Flat Character: At the start of the game Jack is an utterly silly '90s Anti-Hero with a nonsense motivation of "I'm here to kill Chaos." As the game goes on, this is revealed to be an Invoked Trope: The Lufenians wiped Jack and his friends' memories so they could be easily controllable Fake Ultimate Heroes for their Forever War. As Jack regains his memories, he begins to increasingly question his motivations, and by the climax his actual motivations of tearing down the Lufenians' rule due to his relationship with Princess Sarah in previous versions of the world's Lufenian induced "Groundhog Day" Loop are revealed.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The intro cinematic shows the dark knight Garland carving a bloody swath through Cornelia's soldiers, with each man he fells Soul Bursting them, just like Jack is able to do to monsters...
  • The fact nobody knows who Garland is becomes one, as Garland's role in the original game was an important event, yet nobody except Princess Sarah is aware he exists. This hints the game isn't just a remake, but that something is off with the timeline, as Sarah knowing about a person named Garland shouldn't be possible.
  • After defeating the first boss, Neon talks about how she wanted to become Chaos so that heroes would strike her down and in doing so bring hope to the people. That is precisely what Jack's plan is at the end of the game.
  • Jack's friends sometimes make comments that make no sense in context, like saying "Jack's back" after a fight without it being clear what it means, something Jack sometimes is confused by. It easily can seem like some nonsense, but the reveal the others have some vague memory of Jack's plan and goals make it clear they remember Jack in some form, and are commenting on the vague history they can recall. Jack even comments on this at the end of the game, realizing they knew he was going to become Chaos, which they all admit to having some vague memory of being the goal.
  • Even Jack's crystal is one. Jed's glows blue for water, Ash's glows gold for earth, Neon's glows red for fire, and Jack's glows black for... not wind. Later on, Sophia's crystal glows green for wind, meaning Jack's is black for darkness. Furthermore, and fittingly, those also match which Fiend each party member becomes, with Jack as Chaos to complete the set.
• From Bad to Worse: Mixed with Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, as the heroes go about restoring the elemental crystals, this actually makes things worse for everyone rather than better - wind? Tornadoes out of control. Water? Constant storms. Fire? Everything's hotter, including simple fire for cooking. Earth? Earthquakes.
• Fusion Dance: When Jack rips apart the Elemental Core, it causes Lahmu and Lahamu to violently merge with one another, becoming the bloblike Fused Elemental.
• Gemstone Assault: When the Behemoth transforms into the Ur-Dragon King, it gains the ability to make crystals erupt from the floor in various patterns. It can also launch crystals from its wings like Feather Flechettes.
• Gendered Outfit: The Garland armor worn by Neon has subtle differences that make it slightly more feminine, being curvier with a narrower waist, then the armor worn by Jack at the end.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Most of the non-Fiend bosses show up with no warning, such as the Chimera or the Iron Giant. This extends even to the DLC Bosses at times wiht the final boss of Wanderer of the Rift , a Death Machine, and first final Boss of Different future, The Emperor, not being hinted in the narrative before their appearance.
• The Goomba: Goblins are the first enemies which Jack encounters in the Chaos Shrine and also as training dummies in weapon training. They are easy to kill and not particularly threatening on their own, though they can be dangerous in groups.
• Gradual Regeneration:
  • The recurring Regen spell. Casting it at its base level makes the character recover small amounts of HP over time, while charging the spell up spreads the effect to the whole party.
  • The Warrior Job's special ability, War Cry, allows Jack to slowly regenerate lost health.
• Gravity Master: The Cray Claw can create gravity fields that either push things away from the field's center or draw them towards it. It uses the former to deflect incoming projectiles and split its Wave Cannon beam, and the latter to set Jack up for a pounce attack.
• Ground Pound: The Cray Claw's Giga-Graviton attack has it lift itself into the air with its tail, create a gravity field that makes it harder for its target to get away, and then pounce on them for heavy damage.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Jack cuts the Iron Giant in half at the waist with its own sword. He also crystallizes and rips off the Dragon Zombie's entire rear end. Being a robot and an undead, respectively, both bosses survive this and keep fighting.
• Hard Mode Perks: Playing the game on higher difficulties results in looted equipment being more likely to be higher rarity and boast higher job affinity values. Taken to its logical extreme with the Artifact rarity that is only obtainable in Chaos Mode after you've gone through the game's main story missions and places two job affinity bonuses on each piece of equipment.
• Harder Than Hard: Completing the game's main story unlocks Chaos Mode, which is even more difficult than Hard Mode. It also allows the player to upgrade each available mission's level up to 300, where the main story ends around level 130. Each of the DLC story addons includes difficulty modes that increase mission levels by 100 each: Bahamut, Gilgamesh, and Lufenia.
• Harping on About Harpies: Harpies show up as enemies in certain levels. They're depicted as female humanoids with feathered wings for arms and birdlike talons for feet, and they can cast wind magic.
• Haunted Castle: The Chaos Shrine, an abandoned old castle full of demons and monsters.
• Have a Nice Death: If you lose the True Final Boss fight of "Different Future" where you face Jack, he will taunt you and says he'll be looking forward to doing it again in 2000 years.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: While Jack can use a variety of different weapons, the game starts him off as a Swordsman wielding a greatsword if starting a New Game (on New Game Plus runs, you start with the equipment you last had on after fighting the boss). Fittingly, he is both the protagonist and the apparent leader of his team. The trope is also subverted; in cutscenes, Jack always fights with his fists and executions are always perfomed without Jack using his equipped weapon.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Jack can use Soul Shield to copy an enemy's special abilities to use against them, i.e., he can copy a Bomb's Fire spells and throw them right back at them, or he can use a Tonberry's Everyone's Grudge or a Cactuar's 1000 Needles against them.
  • Narratively, Jack does this in a few boss fights to finish them. And after the reveal of his plan, Jack proceeds to do this to the Lufeanians, turning their own network against them by corrupting it, then using it to destroy them and accidentally becoming a God in the process.
• How We Got Here:
  • The game's tutorial is a fight against Tiamat, before cutting back to Jack first meeting Jed and Ash at Cornelia's gates and working through several dungeons to get back there.
  • The entire game is also this, opening with Garland kidnapping Princess Sarah in the original Final Fantasy before cutting back to the story of what initially appears to be Garland's Start of Darkness and going through the entire thing until finally ending on him waiting for the Warriors of Light in the Shrine of Chaos. The game's DLC capping it off by having Jack Garland be the final fight with the player controlling the Warrior of Light.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: The Ronin Job's special ability, Iai-Giri, allows Jack to quickly draw his sword in a powerful slash. Several of katana combo abilities also have his use battoujutsu.
• Improvised Scattershot: The Cray Claw's Wave Cannon attack normally produces a single massive laser beam. If the Claw fires that beam into a repulsion field, however, the beam will split into multiple thinner beams that spread over a wide arc.
• In a Single Bound: The Dragoon Job, once again, allows the character to use the Jump ability.
• I Need You Stronger: In the end, Jack becomes Chaos and his companions take up the mantles of the fiends, so they can train the Warriors of Light to eventually be strong enough to defend the world. The final segment has him repeatedly defeating the Warriors and urging them to become stronger for a rematch. An indeterminate amount of time later after becoming the God of Discord , he finally is defeated by the then player controlled , version of the Warrior.
• Interface Spoiler: There's a non-hidden achievement for unlocking all jobs, yet it isn't granted when you get all eight basic jobs, ten advanced jobs, and nine expert jobs. The final job, the Cyclic Warrior, is only unlocked after you beat the game.
• Javelin Thrower: The Lancer Job's special attack lets Jack hurl his currently equipped spear at a distant enemy for heavy damage. The game switches to a Third-Person Shooter interface while he lines up the shot. Once it's been thrown, the spear then seemingly teleports back to his hand.
• Job System: Jack and the rest of the party can equip various Jobs which gain experience points and level up as they kill enemies. Leveling up a Job earns Jack Job Points for that specific Job, which he can then spend to unlock various active abilities and passive bonuses. If he sinks enough points into a Job, he can unlock an advanced Job which builds upon the base Job's abilities: for example, maxing out the Ronin Job will unlock the advanced Samurai Job, but other advanced Jobs require the player to max out two or three basic ones. Then there are expert Jobs that require the player to max out two or three advanced ones. Jack can have two Jobs equipped at a time, switching between the two of them on the fly in combat, and applies all stat/passive buffs to both slots.
• Kukris Are Kool: You can wield a pair of kukri-like knives which can be spotted on his waist outside of battle.
• Lag Cancel: Jack can cancel one of his Job-related specials to switch Jobs on the fly, switching faster than he would if he did so normally. The game teaches players how to do so once they gain access to the basic Mage class.
• Lamprey Mouth: The Worm enemies have circular mouths ringed with rows of sharp teeth.
• Laser-Guided Karma: One for the original Final Fantasy. with the Retcon reveal in this game's universe of them using Cornelia to create their Forever War, the Lufenians being stripped of their advanced society and forced into a humbling exile on the world below from the Flying Fortress thanks to Tiamat taking over is nothing but pure karma for what they did.
• Leg Cannon: The Cray Claw has guns built into its legs. It fires them only when making a sweep attack with one of its claws, catching people on the side of it the sweep doesn't cover.
• Literally Shattered Lives: Depleting a standard enemy's Break Gauge downs them, giving Jack the opportunity to finish them off by crystallizing them and shattering them. This is also done at several times narratively to certain people who are dead or dying.
• Long-Range Fighter: Guns allow Jack to snipe enemies from a distance with little fear of counterattack. However, wading into melee range for any reason other than to finish off a near-dead foe is ill-advised.
• Magic Knight:
  • The Mage and Black Mage Jobs an opportunity to wield a one-handed club weapon with a shield. The club can be imbued with magical properties during combos and for special moves, making the Mage classes much more offensively capable without MP usage than in previous Final Fantasy games.
  • Chaos Advent wields both powerful magic and a BFS during their boss fight.
  • Due to the mechanics of the Job System, Jack can serve as one in some capacity by switching between physical- and magic-oriented Jobs mid-battle. He also is able to copy certain enemy abilities for his own use, some of which are more esoteric in nature.
  • The series staple Red Mage class also returns in this game, along with its ability to wield both swords and magic in equal measure.
• Mana Meter: Jack has a segmented MP bar which is used to fuel his spells and special attacks. Though each section has 100 MP by default, its exact size is constantly in flux, as Jack's maximum MP increases every time he blocks an attack with Soul Shield or shatters an enemy with Soul Burst, and decreases whenever his Break Gauge gets broken or Jack dies or uses certain abilities.
• Manual Leader, A.I. Party: The player controls Jack while the A.I. controls his companions.
• Marshmallow Hell: Lahamu, the female half of the Elemental Core boss, invokes this with her grab attack, shoving the victim's face into her watery chest for a couple of seconds seconds before violently blasting them off of her.
• Meaningful Echo: At the end of the Different Future DLC, the final DLC of the game that brings the story to a close, a variant on the ending narration of Final Fantasy is spoken, talking about heroes who crossed time to save the world, restored the power of light, and whose struggles have been forgotten by the people now that the time loop is broken. However, the montage accompanying the narration and slight tweaks to the wording frame it as being not about the four Warriors of Light, but Jack and his comrades. Though the emphasis on the "You" now has double meaning as when it'd said the game has a focus on both Garland's trademark mask and was originally meant to address the Player.
• Metal Slime: Cactuars are ridiculously small and spend most of their time running away from you, making them hard to kill, let alone Break, but they offer a lot of experience and good items and their signature 1000 Needles can be copied, if you can get them to even attack.
• Meteor-Summoning Attack: The Behemoth's Comet spell drops a flaming space rock on its target's head.
• Mook Maker: There are clumps of purple Meat Moss called "dark vents" which will continuously spawn new enemies until Jack destroys them.
• Multi-Melee Master: Jack starts with greatswords, but he can later on pick up dual daggers, knuckle dusters, magical maces, lances, axes, katanas, staves, and one-handed swords along with shields. The Liberator Job allows him to use any weapon he can while using it.
• My Name Is ???: The boss of the first demo is listed as "Chaos?". The full game renames them "Chaos Advent".
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Jack continuously insists he can "feel" Chaos out there somewhere. This becomes more meaningful as his plan is to become Chaos, then after successfully doing so , accidentally becomes a God.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The original localization of the first Final Fantasy referred to the Crystals as Orbs. The Crystals the party members possess in this game have an ovular shape.
  • The iconic image of Cornelia from the original Final Fantasy is the Warriors of Light standing on a hill looking across a body of water at the castle and surrounding environs. The second trailer ends with Garland, armor splattered with blood and Princess Sarah slung over his shoulder, walking over a similar hill away from Cornelia, with the shot even framed the same way as in Final Fantasy. The final trailer recreates the same scene with Jack, Ash, Jed, and Neon as they leave Cornelia and pause to look back at it. This is then repeated in the game , once by the player characters then the traditional warriors of Light.
  • Sarah plays a lute just like in the original game, where the lute also became an item of importance for the heroes.
  • Various locations in this game's world are based on locations from other Final Fantasy games. According to the "Fool's Missive" notes that appear on loading screens, in-universe they're acknowledged as being based on locales from different dimensions. The Lufenians are the ones who did this in the name of their experiments using Cornelia as a testing ground.
    • Chaos Shrine, a shrine that appeared suddenly, sent from some unknown future to the present. It's based on the namesake shrine from the original Final Fantasy. The background music features some motifs from "Chaos Shrine" and "Sunken Shrine" during the final mission, while the boss fight has some of the original Final Fantasy battle theme.
    • The Western Keep, an ancient, war-scarred castle that serves as Astos's base of operations, is based on Castle Palamecia from Final Fantasy II. The background music features some motifs from "The Imperial Army", while the boss fight has some of the "Derelict Keep" theme.
    • The Crystal Mirage, an ancient translucent tower in the middle of a forest, is based on the Crystal Tower from Final Fantasy III. The background music features some motifs from "The Crystal Tower."
    • The Flying Fortress, a highly advanced fortress in the orbit full of mechanical contraptions that houses Tiamat, is based on the Tower of Babil from Final Fantasy IV. The background music features some motifs from "Tower of Babil", while the boss fight has some of the original "Flying Fortress" theme.
    • Ruins of Machina, a long abandoned mechanized facility still guarded by a Soul Cannon, is based on Ronka Ruins from Final Fantasy V. The area's boss is a robotic version of the Cray Claw boss from the same game. The boss also incorporates elements from the mainstay enemy Omega, notably using its signature wave cannon.
    • The area where Astos is confronted, Terra Tortūra, is based on the Floating Continent from Final Fantasy VI. Appropriately, Astos transforms into Ultima Weapon Origin as the continent was the first time the enemy was seen. It's based on the VII redesign, likely because the original was too close to a Behemoth. Which is probably why the Behemoth of VI is upright. The background music features some motifs from "Floating Continent".
    • The Sunken Shrine, a technologically advanced shrine that houses Kraken, is based on the Junon Underwater Reactor from Final Fantasy VII. The background music features some motifs from "Mako Reactor", while the boss fight has some of the original "Chaos Shrine" theme.
    • Mt. Gulg, an active volcano that is difficult to traverse where Marilith dwells, is based on the Fire Cavern from Final Fantasy VIII. The background music features some motifs from "Find Your Way", while the boss fight has some of the original "Mt. Gulg" theme.
    • The Wicked Arbor, a dense forest shrouded in miasma, is based on the Evil Forest from Final Fantasy IX. The background music features some motifs from "Danger in the Forest".
    • The Hallowed Massif, a frost-laden mountain prone to avalanches, is based on Mt. Gagazet from Final Fantasy X. The background music features some motifs from "Servants of the Mountain".
    • The Ancients' Tower, a white tower filled with trap mechanisms, is based on Delkfutt's Tower from Final Fantasy XI. The background music features some motifs from "Tough Battle #2".
    • Cavern of Earth, an ancient tomb that houses Lich, is based on the Tomb of Raithwall from Final Fantasy XII.
    • The Refrin Wetlands, a jungle-like seaside forest, is a direct nod to the Sunleth Waterscape from Final Fantasy XIII. It even features similar mechanics, such as manipulating the weather of the area to progress, and to top it off, the background music is a remix of "The Archylte Steppe" from XIII.
    • Pravoka Seagrot, which was captured by pirates led by the captain Bikke, is based on the Sastasha Seagrot from Final Fantasy XIV.
    • Vigilia Court, a twin-headed tower of modern design, is based on the Citadel from Final Fantasy XV. The background music features some motifs from "Somnus", and the area's boss is a winged Behemoth, much like XV's incarnation of the Behemoth King.
  • There are many nods to Dissidia Final Fantasy as well.
    • Garland's armor looks very similar to his design in Dissidia, and his claymore is similarly an updated design of his claymore.
    • The Lufenians play a major role in both games.
    • Both feature locations from other Final Fantasy games, though this game makes it more of a plot point of how and why these locations exist in Cornelia.
    • The plot of Dissidia focused on a Forever War between Cosmos and Chaos, and at the end of each cycle the status quo was reset and the warriors who had been defeated in that cycle had their memories erased. The Lufenians are doing the exact same thing to Cornelia, using it as a testing ground for their experiments with light and darkness, and "resetting" it when they want to start over, returning the world to an earlier point in time and erasing the memories of its inhabitants.
    • In Dissidia 012's bonus storyline "Confessions of the Creator", Cid claimed that Chaos went berserk in the 19th cycle of purification and wiped out all the summoned warriors. According to a script book with the Japanese release, the events of the game occur in the 19th "reset" by the Lufenians, and it is this time that Jack turns into Chaos by killing his friends.
    • A plot point in Dissidia was that the Lufenians had the means to transfer memories to other individuals, and created Chaos by infusing the memories of 10 individuals into a Manikin. The Lufenians have the same technology here, and Jack's transformation into Chaos comes about in part from absorbing memories from other people and his own memories from past times in Cornelia.
    • Both the Warrior of Light and the Emperor use a lot of their attacks from Dissidia and the second phase of their battles is their EX Modes from the PSP titles.
    • In Dissidia, Shinryu agreed to reset the cycles of war in return for being allowed to absorb the memories of the defeated warriors and grow stronger. The Lufenians' mysterious "collaborator" that allowed them to become a trans-dimensional civilization is heavily implied to be Shinryu doing the same thing, as the "collaborator" gives them the means to reset Cornelia to an earlier point in time, and in exchange asks that they be allowed to absorb the energy released by this process.
    • In the Wanderer of the Rift DLC, Gilgamesh fights similarly to Dissidia, including his weapon designs being the same and dual-wielding two copies of them at once. He also mentions traveling to "a world where battle reigns", where he encountered a man named Garland that lived for the thrill of battle. He thinks Jack is very similar to the Garland he knows, and speculates that because the Interdimensional Rift transcends time and space, the Garland he met in that other world may be a future version of Jack.
    • The Different Future DLC doubles-down on the Dissidia allusions. The primary enemies in the DLC are Manikins, the same type of creatures as in Dissidia, and the Moogle that accompanies Jack and his friends is from World B, as they claim to hail from a future world where warriors from myriad worlds came together to battle at the command of two warring gods, one of harmony and one of discord. At the end of the DLC the Moogle tells Jack that he, as Chaos, must become the god of discord to balance a Warrior of Light who will become a god of harmony, and a new world will be built upon their power. The Moogle also alludes to Dissidia's iteration of Garland, but interestingly states that he isn't Jack.
  • If an enemy's break gauge is reduced to zero, you can instantly finish off the enemy with Soul Burst, which is incredibly similar to the Daemonification mechanic from Final Fantasy XV DLC: Episode Ardyn.
  • The area trailer showcases that one of the bosses is a mechanical Scorpion peering from a broken roof of a chapel, bringing to mind two things from Final Fantasy VII, the first boss and Aerith's church.
  • The two Cornelian soldiers Jack can talk to are named Biggs and Wedge, continuing the tradition of them appearing as background characters.
  • Cid and Mid, two of the series' staples, appear in the Wanderer of the Rift DLC, but this time, both of them are tonberries. A conversation with Cid reveals that he was named such by "the Moogle" who also "explained the meaning behind the name".
  • Starting from DLC1, Jobs also start referencing other aspects of the series. Sage's Evocation/Ultima class change are respectively named Soul of Minwu and Soul of Xande
  • DLC2 introduces the 600% affinity effects, and all are a thinly veiled reference to a character somewhere in the series. Some are more complex to figure out, others are easier:
    • Memories of a Mother's Soldier refers to Sephiroth.
    • Memories of a Rhyming Mage is Shantotto.
    • Memories of a Puppet Awakened would be Vivi.
    • Memories of a Coward Redeemed is Kain.
    • Memories of a Tested Paladin leads to Cecil.
    • Memories of a Shadowy Mercenary refers to Shadow.
  • One of the monsters that can be summoned, Mrs. Prickles the Cactuar, has casual chat where she says she was chased by a boy with a tail, complains about how she almost got singed by a sword that goes boom and how the group of that blondie with the ball was really fast.
  • On the note of DLC2, the gun weapons introduced there get an ability called Soul of the Phoenix, which actually references Kaze summoning Phoenix with the Magun, right down to the bullets used for it.
• Oculothorax: The series staple Ahriman enemies appear in Terra Tortura. As usual, they're depicted as winged yellow creatures whose rotund bodies are dominated by a single giant eyeball.
• Once More, with Clarity:
  • Towards the end of the game, various moments are flashes back to illustrating how the entire party had been guiding Jack with his own plan.
  • This is also done to the player. The game opens with Garland carving his way back out of Cornelia. It's played again at the end of the game with an extra moment tacked on, showing that it was Jack starting the events of the original game.
  • The last DLC has the final fight inverts this on the character's side while also expanding on the players side. Now armed with all this information from the main game and DLC , the player must kill Jack's physical body as the Warrior of Light who only knows he has to Kill the embodiment of Chaos, Garland, with the warrior becoming a God in the process.
• One-Winged Angel: The Behemoth transforms into the more powerful Ur-Dragon King midway through its boss fight. Similarly, Astos transforms into the much more monstrous and powerful Ultima Weapon Origin.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Tiamat is shown as a wingless dragon with a bipedal body structure, a female humanoid body embedded in her chest and six heads.
• Patchwork World: According to the Fool's Missives, the various locales Jack visits over the course of the game were created by the Lufenians inspired by structures from other dimensions. To wit:
  • The Pravoka Seagrot is based on a similar pirate cove and monster nest from Dimension 14.^note Sastasha
  • The Western Keep comes from Dimension 2, a world that suffered under the reign of a despot.^note Castle Palamecia
  • The Refrin Wetlands come from Dimension 13, a world ruled by divine superbeings. ^note The Sunleth Waterscape
  • The Crystal Mirage is based on a similar towering structure from Dimension 3.^note The Crystal Tower
  • The Flying Fortress, a high-tech space station, was plucked from Dimension 4.^note Tower of Babil
  • The Wicked Arbor is based on a similarly foreboding woodland from Dimension 9.^note The Evil Forest
  • Mount Gulg is based on the lair of a flame deity from Dimension 8.^note The Fire Cavern
  • The Hallowed Massif came about from introducing a mountain from Dimension 10.^note Mt. Gagazet
  • The Cavern of Earth is based on a tomb from Dimension 12.^note The Tomb of Raithwall
  • The Ruins of Machina are based on ancient ruins found in Dimension 5.^note The Ronka Ruins
  • The Sunken Shrine is based on a facility from Dimension 7 used to harvest the lifeforce of a planet as a source of energy.^note The Junon Underwater Reactor
  • The Ancients' Tower is based on a similar structure from Dimension 11 intended to bend the laws of reality to one's will.^note Qufim
  • Vigilia Court is based on a skyscraper found in Dimension 15, where it was home to a crystal, the theft of which plunged the world into darkness.^note The Citadel in Insomnia
  • Terra Tortua is based on a floating landmass from Dimension 6 that was the site of a world-shattering cataclysm.^note The Floating Continent
• Peninsula of Power Leveling: In Chaos Mode, any stage that can be cleared quickly and drops a lot of gear/anima crystals can get you to the max average equipment level of 300 in a hurry. Noteworthy levels include Azure Memories: The Stymied, which requires you to defeat a Marlboro, can be reliably cleared in under 2 minutes, and drops a good number of anima crystals to upgrade other Chaos Mode levels, and Coral Memories: The Greedy, a stage with a lot of lootable chests and orbs to get equipment from and a primary objective of obtaining a Trident from a specific chest as opposed to killing enemies.
• Playing Both Sides: The Lufenians are both creating the monsters born of darkness and dispatching people like Jack and company to be "Warriors of Light" so they can keep a Forever War going where the rest of the world is left permanently weakened and theirs to control.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: The proper climax of "Different Future" is the fight against the Lufenian Nil. After that's taken care of, you still have one last showdown with the Emperor before the credits roll.
• Power Copying: Jack can copy named enemy attacks by blocking them with his Soul Shield. These copied attacks, called "Instant Abilities", don't consume MP but can only be used a limited number of times. Notably, he can only copy attacks with purple names; attacks with red and orange names can't be copied but orange ones can still be soul shielded (while red ones are unblockable).
• Power Fist: Various jobs can equip various types of gloves that help them punch monsters to death better.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • Jack responds to Neon's explanation of why she was trying to become Chaos with a blunt "Bullshit".
  • It is the first Final Fantasy title where a character uses the F-word. Special note goes to Jack confronting the Lich.
    Lich: No matter how much you dream, that season will never come. It will remain a dream, so long as I live, for I am-
    Jack: I don't give a FUCK who you are!
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: An interesting variation. Though it at first appears Jack and his friends are the heroes who will become the villains Chaos and the Four Fiends, the game's story reveals Jack and company as the "Warriors of Light" were actually the Fake Ultimate Heroes of the game's Big Bad, the Lufenians, and they all decided to become the villains of Final Fantasy to break the Lufenians control over the world and help create a true set of Warriors of Light.
• Punch Catch: Jack gets the upper hand on the knight in Garland's armor. He grabs the knight by the collar and punches him in the face, but when he throws a second punch, the knight catches it before shoving Jack away with a burst of dark energy. This marks the transition to the second stage of the knight's boss fight.
• Punched Across the Room: Jack defeats the knight in Garland armor with an uppercut that hurls him a good ten feet away and makes him flip over before he hits the ground.
• R-Rated Opening: The opening of the game gives us an illustration of why Garland was so feared in the original Final Fantasy. He literally cuts through all of the castles defenders easily while limbs come off and the cuts gush red that may or may not be liquified Chaos.
• Recycled Premise: Jack Garland choosing to Screw Destiny over being manipulated by the Lufenians is similar to how Ardyn Izunia from Final Fantasy XV was manipulated by Bahamut in Episode Ardyn and Dawn Of The Future.
• Red Herring: Sarah's request to find her knight Garland and Chaos Advent in the Shrine of Chaos. It's meant to throw you off the fact Jack is Garland, with the only reason for the confusion being Sarah is remembering a previous version of the world's "Groundhog Day" Loop and Garland has forgotten almost everything due to Garland handing over the Plot Device that granted him a Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory to Sarah in a previous loop as part of his true plans.
• Red Mage: The Red Mage job allows Jack to wield swords while being able to cast both White and Black magic in combat.
• Regenerating Mana: If Jack is low on MP and tries to cast a spell while in the Mage Job, he will quickly regenerate up to two MP bars. There's also passive abilities and the Lancet Command Ability that Jack can get that help him gain MP from attacking enemies.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The two elementals fought in the Refrin Wetlands, Lahmu and Lahamu, are named after a being from Mesopotamian myth.
• Repurposed Pop Song: The scene after the opening cinematic and the ending credits use "My Way" by Frank Sinatra as a nod to the game's How We Got Here plot. It signifies Jack and his friends defying the Lufenians and becoming Chaos and the Four Fiends on their own terms to liberate Cornelia from the "Groundhog Day" Loop imposed upon them.
• Reset Button Ending: The end of the game has Jack invading the Lufenians' Pocket Dimension to steal their crystal that controls Cornelia's "Groundhog Day" Loop, allowing him to reset the world to the version seen at the start of the original Final Fantasy and saving everyone who died over the course of Origin.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Anyone with a Crystal of Darkness can recall fragments of the world's previous "Groundhog Day" Loops, and absorbing enough darkness allows them to be free of having their memories reset entirely. This is how Sarah recalls her knight Garland but not that it's Jack, and why Jack doesn't recall his own last name: Jack gave his original crystal to Sarah in a previous timeline, in hopes of breaking the existing Stable Time Loop to create the one from the original Final Fantasy.
• Samus Is a Girl: The armored knight the heroes initially assume to be Chaos is actually a woman named Neon.
• Schizo Tech: The world of Origin has a strange mixture of archaic and modern elements with regards to the setting. On the one hand, the setting by and large resembles a standard fantasy setting, and the characters fight with swords and other melee weapons. On the other hand, modern technology exists, and appears to be quite common. Characters wear modern-looking clothes, environments have also been shown off that resemble modern architecture and even futuristic laboratories, and then there's the rather invokedinfamous scene where Jack whips out a smartphone and starts blasting Nu Metal through his wireless earbuds.
• Sequential Boss:
  • The Black Knight boss starts out on horseback, only for Jack to kill the horse halfway through. The Knight then continues the fight on foot with a completely different moveset.
  • Astos fights the party first in his dark elf form, before transforming into the Ultima Weapon.
• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: An armored griffon serves as a Mini-Boss. This griffon is slow and landbound while its armor is intact. Once it takes enough damage, however, the armor breaks off, and the griffon starts flying around and executing quick diving attacks.
• Shield Bash: The Swordfighter job has a skill that allows Jack to strike opponent with his equipped shield.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Jack gives a speech to this effect to the Lufenians after invading Paradise while infused with Chaos.
  Jack: WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! You arrogant bastards! Wanna play god? I won't let you! I'll rip that power from your hands and make it my own!
• Significant Double Casting: The same voice actors voice Jack's companions and the Four Fiends (Ash/Lich, Jed/Kraken, Neon/Marilith and Sophia/Tiamat) that the former would turn into, leading to some cases of Acting for Two.
• Slouch of Villainy:
  • The Armored Knight in the Chaos Shrine slouches in a sinister throne when the protagonists find them.
  • At the end of the game, Garland reclines against the same throne as he awaits the Warriors of Light to come and face him.
• Sphere of Destruction: The Ur-Dragon King's Megaflare attack produces a spherical explosion which covers most of the arena and inflicts heavy damage.
• Start of Darkness: The entire game serves as an origin for the seemingly Generic Doomsday Villains Garland/Chaos and the Four Fiends from the first Final Fantasy, showing they were Fake Ultimate Heroes and agents of the game's Greater-Scope Villain, the Lufenians, who created monsters and heroes to perpetuate a Forever War that would keep Cornelia weakened and under their control. After realizing the true scope of the horror they were helping create, Garland and his friends chose to end the charade, hijack control of the monster-creating darkness, and deliberately play the bad guys to train up an actual set of Warriors of Light. All to ensure Cornelia's future was permanently in the hands of Cornelians.
• Sole Survivor: Neon explains in the Chaos Shrine that she is the last living member of a previous group of adventurers who tried to rid the world of Chaos.
• Space Station: This game's version of the Flying Fortress is a Lufenian orbital station, in line with the original depiction in Final Fantasy, rather than a regular medieval castle floating among the clouds.
• Spell Blade:
  • Jack can unlock several magic-infused melee attacks by leveling up the Mage Job. He starts with a gale attack called Stormbreaker and can gain via leveling: Fiery Impact, Frost Swing, Aftershock and Sparkstrike.
  • Chaos Advent can imbue his sword with fire or ice magic and near the end actually makes a weapon of ice.
  • The Tyrant Job's special ability, Enchant, allows Jack to infuse his weapon with a certain element: Enfire, Enwater, Enquake, Enwind, Enthunder, Enwater, Enholy and Endark.
• Spin Attack: Jack can use a variety of attacks where he spins his weapon around; for example, the Spinning Slash is a special attack which he can use while wielding a greatsword.
• Summon Magic: "Trials of the Dragon King" adds the Evoker and Summoner Jobs to the game. Both Jobs can summon magical creatures to aid Jack or fight on his behalf. The former can summon spirits, while the latter can summon Bahamut himself.
• Super Mode:
  • Jack can spend two full MP gauges to activate Lightbringer Mode. In this state his attacks inflict much greater Break damage than usual and automatically shatter any enemy reduced to 0 HP, and he himself cannot be Broken while Lightbringer lasts.
  • Beating the final boss unlocks Chaosbringer, which has the same effects as Lightbringer and allows Jack to use abilities freely with no MP cost, but completely empties out his max MP.
• Super-Scream: Bats can let out a shriek which inflicts continuous Break damage to anyone in their immediate vicinity. Jack can copy this power for his own use, including against themselves.
• Sword Plant: The knight in Garland armor has two attacks which involve stabbing his sword into the floor. One creates a fiery explosion, while the other creates a burst of ice.
• That Man Is Dead: The armored knight reacts negatively to Jed saying they're Garland, instead insisting they are Chaos. Subverted when it's revealed the armored individual is actually Neon, who doesn't know anything about Garland.
  Jed: [shocked] It's Garland!
  Armored Knight: No. I am to become Chaos!
• Trailers Always Spoil: invoked An interesting variation. Initially, the advertisements for the game kept the big late game twist close to the vest. However, from the first trailer and demo alone, players speculated that Jack would become Garland and/or Chaos, and from there it wasn't hard to guess that his comrades would become the Four Fiends. The first theory became so widespread that the second trailer came right out and confirmed it, and Word of God admitted that since the fans had already guessed the twist, the marketing for the game shifted to emphasizing how it happens instead. Despite this, the game itself still treats it like The Reveal and avoids mentioning Jack's last name until the final battles, when it has become clear he's on the path to becoming Chaos.
• Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay: Elemental attacks can have an effect on the environment: fire attacks can light patches of grass on fire, and water attacks can extinguish them. Certain environmental objects can also be destroyed by your spells, such as a blast of lightning destroying stone blocks. At one point it's possible to knock a Bomb off a ledge into a group of Wolves below, causing the Bomb to explode and damage them while also setting the grass around them on fire. This gives players a greater degree of interactivity with the game world than most previous Final Fantasy games.
• Use Your Head: Certain finishing animations have Jack shatter the crystallized enemy with a powerful headbutt.
• Video Game Stealing: The game features the recurring Thief job, but with a twist: instead of snatching a valuable item from an enemy, the player can steal their Instant Ability to use against them later.
• Visible Invisibility: In its second phase, the Cray Claw can activate optical camouflage to turn itself invisible. The player can still see the machine by its glowing Tron Lines, and by the sparks and smoke coming out of its damaged parts.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Chaos Advent has far more HP and moves than previous enemies. Make no mistake, Chaos Advent will invokedknock you all down.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Cray Claw's Wave Cannon attack is a massive blue laser beam fired from a cannon in its mandibles.
• Wham Line: Near the climax of the game, a flashback has a line that confirms what this game actually was:
  Sarah: I never asked your name.
  Jack: It's Jack.
  Sarah: Oh stop. I meant your last name.
  Jack: Oh... Garland. My name's Jack Garland.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Jack slaughters monsters with gleeful abandon, but he seems to draw the line at killing human foes. Using Soul Burst on a stunned pirate results in Jack punching them out instead of crystallizing and shattering them. After becoming Garland/Chaos, however, he steps over that line and has no qualms with Soul Bursting Cornelian soldiers.
• Where It All Began: The march to the final confrontation takes place in the Chaos Shrine, the very same dungeon where Jack's journey began.
• White Mage: White Mage is an advanced Job in the game. Its White Magic command allows Jack to heal, buff, resurrect unconscious allies, and blast enemies with spheres of holy light.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ash reveals in the Refrin Wetlands that Jed's afraid of lightning.
  Ash: Still scared of lightning, Jed?
  Jack: I bet.
  Jed: I have a perfectly healthy fear. You go out there, Ash. Then tell me those bolts aren't a hazard.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: The griffon can flap its wings to produce a damaging Razor Wind.
• Wind Is Green: The Aero spell has a green icon and creates a green whirlwind.
• Wrestler in All of Us: The animation for shattering a Sahagin involves Jack performing an Argentine backbreaker on the creature.
• You Fool!: Chaos Advent bellows "You fools!" just before Jack punches them out.

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Yes, it was my way...

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