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It was dark, save for the full moon. The sorrowful howl of a wolf shook the frightened Mog from his favourite tree. As Mog ran through the dark forest the trees grew faces and snapped and clawed at the poor moogle. ‘Home Sweet Home’, Mog thought as he leapt into his bed and pulled the sheets over his little head.

‘He he he!’, Mog heard.

Mog peeked warily. It was just his pumpkin-head on the windowsill.

‘B-but I don’t have a pumpkin-head, kupo!’ Mog gasped.

‘He he he!!!! Wark!!!’

The Headless Chocobo-Man leapt off his feathery steed and floated through the open window into the unfortunate moogle’s bedroom.

Mog awoke in a pool of sweat, clutching his own neck and begging for mercy.

‘A terrible nightmare, kupo!’

Mog decided that everybody on FFF should share his experience this Halloween!

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It is now October and Halloween is approaching. Final Fantasy Forums shall be hosting a Halloween mini-event...

World of Final Fantasy, aka the best Final Fantasy game lurking on the horizon (hey, I genuinely believe this!) has seen a new set of screenshots publicly released, now that the Tokyo Game Show has wound down for another year.

Red XIII is truly a contender for the most unique of playable characters in the Final Fantasy series. Appearing in FFVII and related compilation material, Red XIII (or Nanaki) is not only a member of a species other than human (a rare treat in a Final Fantasy game), but he is not even bipedal or humanoid. Perhaps one of character designer Tetsuya Nomura's most creative designs, Red XIII is a talking, red-furred, quadrupedal, feline-lupine hybrid with a flame at the tip of his tail.

Red is no beast, however, but a civilised, sentient, and well-spoken animal who proves to be far less bestial in action than many of the human inhabitants that he shares the world with. Red XIII is, instead, a beacon of moral wisdom.

Despite his originality, Red XIII is not regarded as a 'silly' comic relief character (unlike other...

Wedge and Biggs (also mistranslated as Vicks) are recurring names used for numerous characters in the Final Fantasy universe, most (though not all) of whom share the same standard traits. In any instalment of the franchise one might expect at some point to encounter a Wedge and Biggs (always appearing together). Most portrayals of Wedge and Biggs have the characters appear as a pair of guardsmen or soldiers, sharing an interest in technology or engineering, sometimes hopelessly pathetic at their jobs, and forming some of the game’s comic relief. In appearance the characters are typically generic guards, with no individualised character design (save for occasionally making Biggs taller and slimmer, and Wedge shorter and bulkier, or sometimes vice versa). At other times, however, Wedge and Biggs are given more important roles as a part of organisations that oppose the oppressive...

Birthweek 2015

Quina Quen drools over the cake as Golem’s stony hands struggle to hold Quina back from gobbling it up. Jumbo Cactuar springs upward towards the sky and then shoots nine carefully aimed needles onto the surface of the cake. Immediately after this a group of bombs float up to the needles, exploding flames onto the ends of each of them. As everybody watches with glee and delight Typhon enters the scene and with a hearty exhalation he blows the candles out (and a good portion of icing flies through the air with it and slides into Fat Chocobo’s carefully positioned beak). The tonberry which had been slowly edging towards the cake for the past hour finally reaches his destination.

Doink! Slice!

As the cake is portioned and shared moogles sing and dance merrily to the sound of flutes and harps, inviting us all to join in.

What’s the big occasion?

On June 6th Final Fantasy Forums will be 9 years old! Time for all of us to celebrate with...

Alexander is a very popular recurring summon in the Final Fantasy series. His appearance is that of a gigantic robot and often doubles as a mobilised fortress. Alexander is usually quadrupedal (or, more accurately, tripedal as his body sometimes serves as a third ‘leg’ in place of hind legs), and by his posture it is assumed that he moves about with his weight on his front limbs like a gorilla or some sort of a Mecha King Kong.

Alexander’s signature ability is ‘Divine Judgement’ (also sometimes named as ‘Holy Judgement’ or ‘Justice’), and he casts Holy elemental damage on the enemies of the party. Amongst the pantheon of summons in the FF universe Alexander is one of the characters whose origins, and the logic behind his design, are most difficult to unravel. This article discusses some of the themes associated...

Anyone who has played Final Fantasy VI will be aware of a certain talkative, loveable, and yet terribly perverted purple octopus. The creature’s goofy teeth and mischievously sinister eyes make him one of the funniest, most iconic and expressive monster designs in the series. Although the party fights Ultros four times in the game, his role serves more as light comic-relief than as true sub-villain material for plotline importance. Whilst there will surely be some fans who are frustrated by the goofy character, Ultros has been so warmly received by other fans that he has since made several cameo appearances (and has even been retroactively inserted into remakes and re-releases of earlier FF titles). Ultros is something of an oddity within the FF franchise, and it isn’t always obvious where he hails from. Ultros has his namesake origins in Greek mythology, but other than a...

There are many familiar recurring creatures in the Final Fantasy universe whose return fans welcomely embrace. One of these creatures is the Carbuncle. Since its first proper appearance as a boss and summon in Final Fantasy V it has popped up numerous times as a helpful ally, usually known for casting the (sometimes) useful Reflect status effect on the player’s party, bouncing magic spells back towards the opponents. Final Fantasy XIV (and similarly FFXI) give the creature more attention, and it is gifted to the Arcanist class as a personal pet-companion (becoming Final Fantasy’s answer to Pikachu). Regardless of the varieties of the...

Somewhere up North there are reindeer clopping about, eating their magical feed and bathing in the energies of the Northern Lights. The stars are glistening blindingly above, but also act like a cosmic orchestra, chiming a crisp, melodic soundtrack which pierces the otherwise silent, snowy landscape. Inside, there are sleigh-bells being shaken, tested, and approved for use. A large, red-faced, jovial man is chuckling ceaselessly as a collection of diminutive elves sew a big, red costume and start to wheel in large carts filled with letters, all in tune with the jolly music being provided by an in-house band. Either we’re dreaming, or Christmas must be approaching!

I hear groans from the back there that we’re still in November, but we thought that we’d give a heads up regarding our numerous plans for Christmas related competitions and events here on Final Fantasy Forums. This year there will be a number of returning favourites (Secret Santa, White Elephant, Candy...