Summary
Despite being a series that has beenrunning for over 3 decades,Final Fantasygames are still known for being very accessible, since they are all very different in their setting, stories, and combat systems. While a few things will always be carried down between each entry, such as the appearance of Chocobos and Moogles, the games allstill feelvery unique, with each of them also having their own hidden mechanics that players might uncover during a playthrough.
However, because these hidden mechanics are never actually explained in-game, it’s very easy for players to go through the story without even realizing that they’re there, despite some of them having a drastic impact on the overall experience. With that being said, it’s time to reveal what these hidden mechanics actually are, and what sort of effect they have on the story and gameplay at large.
While it’s made clear very early on inFinal Fantasy 15thatPrompto’s passion in life is being a photographer, the game doesn’t actually explain how important his photos are to the story. Each time the boys rest at a campfire or a hotel, a selection of photos will appear that Prompto took during the day, which is a great way to reflect on recent events and really take in everything that has occurred.
After admiring these photos though, the player will then have the option to save them. The game doesn’t make clear why players should think about saving photos, but near the end of the story, these specific photos will actually play a bigger role as the gang takes a look back at them before heading into the final battle. A saved photo is also used for the Certificate of Completion, and the player will also be able to pick a saved image to show Lunafreya in the very last scene. WhenFinal Fantasy 15first released,many people wrote off Prompto’s obsession with taking photos as an annoying gimmick, but it turns out it has a much bigger and more emotional purpose further down the line.
Final Fantasy 10features what might be the mostcomplex yet beloved progression systemin the entire series, the Sphere Grid, where the player can acquire specific Spheres to power up their characters. Each Sphere is separated into a specific category, such as Magic, Speed, and Ability Spheres, but while most players will prioritize the Strength Spheres for characters like Tidus and Auron, they’re actually also extremely useful for Yuna.
Despite being the White Mage of the party who normally only uses magic, Yuna also has theunique ability to call down Aeonsto deal big damage to her enemies, and while it’s not stated in the game, Strength Spheres will make these mystical creatures much more powerful. Admittedly, the game probably doesn’t expect the player to even come near Strength Spheres, since Yuna already starts quite far away from them on the grid, but for anyone playing with an Expert Sphere Grid, it can be worth picking up as much strength as possible to make Yuna a little more versatile in battle.
Undoubtedlyone of the most divisive games in the series,Final Fantasy 13has been criticized for a number of reasons, including its linear and convoluted story, but the real-time combat was also polarizing because of its “Auto-Battle” system. All players needed to do is wait for the ATB bar to be fully charged and then click on Auto-Battle to throw out attacks for them, which was quite a step down from the classic turn-based strategy gameplay of previous games.
However, there is one simple mechanic that the game never mentions, but that actually adds an extra layer of depth to the combat, and that’s being able to cancel attacks. Once the player has lined up their attacks and spells in the ATB gauge, at any point, they can click the cancel button to halt the bar, and the character will quickly perform the moves and abilities assigned to them. This grants much more control over the characters and also completely negates the issue of waiting around until they are ready to attack, making the combat ofFinal Fantasy 13a lot more fun and fluid.
During the first few hours ofFinal Fantasy 9,most players will simplyattack enemies directly with Zidaneto whittle down their health bars, but there’s actually a hidden mechanic that makes it much more worthwhile to use his Steal ability instead. Each time the player uses Steal, they will increase the amount of damage that can be dealt by the Thievery Skill, which is obtained later on in the game, and is an incredibly strong move since it can’t be blocked.
This means that the Thievery Skill can be boosted from the very beginning of the game, well before it’s even possible to acquire it, so stealing from enemies with Zidane early on can make the mid- to late-game a lot easier thanks to this secret mechanic. For reference, the Thievery Skill’s damage will be the number of times the character has performed a steal, multiplied by their speed stat, so pickpocketing inthe first few areasis definitely recommended.
The Affection System is actually present in bothFinal Fantasy 7and10, but it has a much bigger impact on the story of the former game, where it can reveal a lot about the characters and their feelings towards one another. The way this works is that there is a secret system in the background that will change the “Affection Score” forTifa, Aerith, Yuffie, and Barret, depending on the player’s actions throughout the game. There’s a plethora of decisions that can affect the score, but some of the biggest include choosing who to give the flower to in Seventh Heaven, pushing off the right barrels during the church escape in Sector 5, and paying more attention to one girl over the other during the Don Corneo section.
Once the results have been added up by the time the gangreturns to the Gold Saucer, it will result in a date scene where Cloud will ride the gondola with the person he has become the most intimate and affectionate with. There’s a lot of interesting and revealing dialogue during these scenes which helps expand the characters and the wider story, such as Aerith saying that she wants to know the “Real” Cloud, which is a subtle hint to his traumatic past. The Affection System will also affect the scene with Cloud and Tifa under the Highwind later on, leading to the two having a very different conversation. This is a hidden mechanic that was rumored for quite a while before it was eventually confirmed to be in the game by Square Enix, and it even made a comeback in the Remake.
