List of Final Fantasy references in A Realm Reborn

[DefendPopPunk]

This sort of reminds me of the hooded failed clones in FF7 and the way they'd huddle up like that.

[mvenom]

Not sure if mentioned but Nepto Dragon from FF3 can be fished in FF14.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Nepto_Dragon

Screenshot after completing the quest which Nepto is needed for

[Bloodhawk]

The clockwork squire mob in Syrcus Tower is looks exactly the same as the various pulsework enemies in Final Fantasy XIII.

[Solaria_Luna]

Has it been brought up that the Armor of the Garleans looks like the Judge Magisters in XII?

That's the first thing that I thought about when 1) I saw the cover for ARR and 2) when I saw cutscenes with Garleans in them. (the higher ranking ones)

In the same vein for FF6's Riot Blade Entry, Ninja also has Spinning Edge (Celes' Desperation Attack) as well as Shadow Fang (Shadow's Desperation).

I just hope that we get Mirage Dive on Ninja for the next batch of abilities =D

Speaking of Riot Blade, I think Gladiators have a skill named Riot Blade.

[KylePearlsand]

The Gaelicat enemy found in the cloud sea is a reference to a enemy found in Final Fantasy V.

[Hilus]

Love this thread!!!

Congratz to all!

[Enkidoh]

Some new major updates for Heavensward! (I'm surprised no one has added this yet)

(Spoilers about and so are covered where appropriate)

Final Fantasy I

One of the main themes throughout the expansion is the player inadvertently relights the Crystals of Light (and hence restores the Blessing of Light) at regular points in Heavensward's story (and where each place that a Crystal is relit has an elemental affinity to that Crystal), ultimately opening the way to the final dungeon. This is a direct reference to the very first FF game where the Warriors of Light start the game with darkened crystals and relight them in turn, at the end of which path to the final dungeon is opened.

Also note the player's story party formation throughout Heavensward - with the player accompanied by three npcs pretty much at all times (Alphinaud and two others, Estinien and either Y'sthola, Cid or Ysyale), a nod to the traditional party arrangement for most of the series that started with FFI.

Matoya's Cave (both the area and the eponymous theme music), along with Matoya herself (Y'shtola's mentor), are of course taken directly from the same place, music theme and character from FFI (right down to the autonomous brooms who speak in reverse!)

Final Fantasy II

The Chocobo Forest area in the Dravanian Forelands is loosely based on the Chocobo Forests from past FF games, which first appeared in FFII.

The 'Wild Rose attire' offered as a Veteran Reward is directly based on Yoshitaka Amano's design of Firion from FFII.

Final Fantasy IV
If the player preordered the expansion they received an item code for, amongst other things, Baron Earrings and a Baron Circlet. These reference the Kingdom of Baron from FFIV (in fact, the official image of them on the HW website shows them being modelled by a male hyur with silver hair, closely resembling FFIV's main character, Cecil, in his PLD form).

Registering the serial code for the Collector's Edition of Heavensward rewarded the player with, amongst other things, a Baron Helm and a Kain minion - the Baron Helm was based on Cecil's DRK helm appearance in FFIV, and the Kain minion is of course a miniature version of Kain Highwind, Cecil's DRG friend and rival in FFIV (the minion's 'quote' even directly references Kain from FFIV).

The second 'Rising' event featured

'The Eighteenth Floor', where the player can speak with avatars of the FFXIV development team, including Yoshi-P himself.

This is directly taken from the secret area the 'Developer's Office' from FFIV, which also featured digital avatars of the developers, hence the name.

Final Fantasy V

The Great Gubal Library dungeon in the Dravanian Hinterlands is clearly based on the Ancients Library of Karnak from FFV, right down to the bosses and enemies inside (Byblos and Page 24).

Final Fantasy VI

The final area for Heavensward,

Azlys La is clearly based on the Floating Continent from FFVI. At the end of it, the player discovers the Warring Triad, the appearance for which was taken directly from FFVI.

Bismarck appears as the Primal of the vanuvanu beast tribe. Bismarck first appeared in FFVI as the Water elemental esper (instead of Leviathan).

Final Fantasy VII

Archbishop Thordan and the Heavens' Ward become the Knights of the Round, directly referencing the ultimate summon magic from FFVII. Also note that the Archbishop is the seventh to bear that name - a further possible allusion to FFVII.

Final Fantasy IX

During Battlecraft Temple Leves in the Coerthas Western Highlands, the player may encounter a Zahgnal as a Wanted Target. The Zahgnal was the final enemy the player had to defeat during the Festival of the Hunt in Lindblum in FFIX.

Final Fantasy XI

The name of the Aery dungeon is possibly loosely based on the dungeon 'Dragon's Aery' from the first FFXI expansion pack Rise of the Zilart. (Fittingly it has the name 'dragon' in it, and the Aery is of course Nidhogg's lair in FFXIV.)

Poroggos appear in

Matoya's Cave as servants.

In FFXI, Poroggos were an artificial beasttribe accidentally created by mages of Windurst.

Numerous enemies in HW are taken from FFXI, such as dhalmels, crawlers, and damselflies.

Final Fantasy XII

Clan Centurio appears as the overseer of the Hunt in Ishgard, which of course appeared in FFXII (and FF Tactics Advance too for that matter).

The gnath/vanth beast race are clearly based on the Urutan-Yensa from FFXII, right down to their attire and the fact they wield staff-like muskets.

Final Fantasy XII ~ Revenant Wings

The Manacutter airship mount rather closely resembles the Galbanna airship from FFXII-RW (although naturally scaled down considerably).

There's a lot more out there, but these are what I remember at this time - please feel free to clarify or correct me on any mistakes I've made though!

[Richiealvian]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned or if Bravely Default counts as an FF game, but.. there's so many skills on there that we have here in FF14.

[Enkidoh]

With 3.1 there is now a few more references to past FF games have become apparent: (Spoilered where necessary):

FFIII:

One of the bosses of the Void Ark raid is Echidna (the final boss in fact). Echidna was a boss from the World of Darkness in FFIII (as well as being a figure from Greek myth and an Australian animal ).

FFIV:

The final boss of the Pharos Sirius HM dungeon is the Mom Bomb, a boss from Mount Ordeals in FFIV.

FFV:

Krile Baldesion of course is introduced as the newest Sharalyan to join the Scions. Krile Baldesion was a playable character from FFV (she replaced the deceased Galuf in the party and literally inherited all his abilities and exp.)

FFVI:

Despite being a minion referred to in an earlier post of mine in this thread, Cait Sith has now appeared as an actual character in the Void Ark raid story (who of course first appeared in FFVI but also in FFVII and XI).

FFIX: The Void Ark itself is a possible reference to the Ark, an ancient Terran airship that appeared in FFIX as first a boss fought at the bottom of the Oeilvert dungeon and then could be used as the most powerful summon spell for Garnet.

FFXI: Of course, it should go without saying the current running new crossover event with FFXI is full of literal and subtle references to FFXI:

Iroha herself appears as the npc lost in Hydaelyn, who is the central character of the final storyline for FFXI Rhapsodies of Vana'diel.
- the 'lost master' Iroha is searching for is actually the player's character in FFXI (a god-slaying, world-saving adventurer just like the player's character in FFXIV)
- Iroha mentions Mhaura and Selbina by name when she first appears at Costa del Sol, small port towns in FFXI.
- the four FATEs Iroha is involved in are all references to FFXI:
- the first FATE on the beach near Costa del Sol against Robber Crabs directly references traditional player-run exp parties on the Valkurm Dunes which was the only way to level in FFXI originally (Valkurm Dunes was from level 10 to 20). The FATE's title even subtly jokes about this: 'Our Favourite Pastime'.
- the second FATE outside Haukke Manor against Voidsent referenced the player infiltrating the wastelands of Xarcabard and the depths of Castle Zvhal, a similarly spooky demon-infested haunted house, the stronghold of FFXI's original final boss, the Shadowlord, in FFXI. Fittingly the Voidsent demons fought in this FATE included the Kindred, demon slaves of the Shadowlord in FFXI.
- the third FATE out on the Sagoli Desert had the player literally fighting Serket. Serket was a scorpion NM (Notorious Monster) who also was found in FFXI in a desert area (Altepa Desert), was highly sort after by players for an item needed to craft a desirable piece of equipment (a Scorpion Harness) in FFXI.
- the final FATE at Bronze Lake in Outer La Noscea had the player fighting an ahriman named Spotter and a Dread Dragon. These were the infamous bosses of the rank 2.3 story mission for every starting city in FFXI.
- the key items gained after each event FATE is magicite, a similar key item the player was tasked with collecting during the rank 5 story mission in FFXI (in itself a reference to magicite from FFVI).
- static images of various enemies and npcs from FFXI flash during the event cutscenes, including the Shadowlord, Fenrir (from the Windurst storyline) and Prishe and Ulmia.
- several music tracks from FFXI play: Battle Theme #2 plays for the first few FATE battles, Battle in the Dungeon plays during the last FATE battle, the FFXI-style 'quest complete' fanfare music plays upon completing a FATE, and finally Recollection, an instrumental version of FFXI's theme song Distant Worlds plays during the event story cutscenes with Iroha.
- FFXI's own logo and the traditional FF title font are used for the 'FATE joined', 'FATE Complete' and 'Quest Complete' titles during the event.
- Iroha recites the lines from the opening narration to FFXI (which itself includes part of the poem 'Memoria di la Stona', a central element of FFXI's story).
- The 'goddess' Iroha refers to is not Hydaelyn or the Twelve, but Altana, the Goddess of the Dawn, the primary deity in FFXI.
- Iroha's Job in the event is a Samurai (SAM), who in FFXI could actually equip spears (and in fact, she actually uses FFXI-style spear weaponskills).
- At the end of the event, Iroha remembers her world, FFXI's setting of Vana'diel, and recites the names of the four main nations of Vana'diel's 'middle lands' (San d'Oria, Bastok, Windurst and Jeuno) - it should be noted that FFXIV's cities have certain subtle similarities to FFXI's nations.
- The player receives Iroha's unique costume (but not her spear!) as the reward for completing the event.
- The achievement for completing the event is an obvious reference to FFXI ('Heaven's Eleven')

FFXII: Sky pirates first appeared in FFXII as an occupation, right down to some sky pirates being cold hearted literal pirates looting airships, to others being more just adventurers in the skies.

FF Tactics: Worker 8 appears as an enemy within the Pharos Sirius Hard dungeon. Worker 8 was a secret character the player could recruit to their party in FFT.

One of the bosses fought inside the Void Ark is Cuchulainn. Chuchulainn appears from the Ivalice games, first as a Lucavi demon/Zodiac Brave in FF Tactics, and also as an Esper in FFXII.

[Dualblade]

FFIX's Ark was also the Dark summon of the game, which Void also tends to be associated with...now you have me thinking the final boss of the third 24-man will be Robo-Ark.