List of Final Fantasy references in A Realm Reborn

[Enkidoh]

Okay, now that Stormblood has been released, a multitude of new references have been revealed, including better context of snippets seen during the trailers and the Benchmark (spoiler tagged where appropriate):

General FF series references

Zenos's constant hassling of the player and the player's continuous inability to actually defeat him references many FF games where the player's party is thrown into a boss fight against a particular antagonist they cannot win (and usually end up getting story-KO'd by said antagonist, who departs without finishing them off, simply humiliating them), in particular the fights against Beatrix in FFIX, but it occurred in other FF games as well, hence why I put it here in 'General FF references'.

FFI

One of the bonus items for pre-odering Stormblood is a Wind Up Red Mage minion. This references the RDM Job which although appears in multiple FF games, it's appearance is clearly based on the FFI RDM sprite.

FFIII

Hien, the in-exile prince of Doma, is a reference to Hein from FFIII, although the similarities end with just a similar sounding name (the name also showed up in FFVIII's backstory as the 'Great Hyne' and the name of the antagonistic General Hein in the FF theatrical film FF The Spirits Within.).

FFV

The bonus items for purchasing the Collector's Edition all reference FFV:
-The Chicken Knife was a weapon from FFV, it was specifically one of two differing weapons you could get in the game that had a differing effect based on how you played, which as the name suggests the sword got stronger the more battles you fled from! (The other was the Brave Sword that got stronger the more battles you won). The trick was, you couldn't get both weapons, you had to choose one or the other.
- The Wind up Bartz minion references FFV's main protagonist Bartz Klauser and his trusty chocobo Boko, the minion's description even accurately states Bartz's care-free adventurous spirit.
-The Syldra mount is based on the syldra that towed Faris's pirate ship in FFV (a quote from Faris even appears in the Minion Guide listing for the mount).

The Sirensong Sea dungeon references the Ship Graveyard dungeon from FFV (right down to the sirens, although it should be noted the Ship Graveyard itself is already in FFXIV as a separate area in La Noscea).

When Alphinaud decides to head to the Far East to drum up support with the Domans for a rebellion against Zenos, he sets off with three women in his party, Lyse, Aliase and Tataru and no men, not including the player's character - this is possibly a wry reference to the later party make up in FFV where Bartz was the only male character in an otherwise entirely female party (and the source of countless memes ).

FFVI

The Magimaster boss from the Tower of Fantatics in FFVI appears as a boss in a dungeon. (Shown in a trailer - More info pending)

The upcoming Falcon mount event reward is a greatly cutdown version of the second airship gained in FFVI, the Falcon (it's clearly a scaled down replica)

The fallen Othard nation of Doma clearly references Doma from FFVI (which also fell to a tyrannical magitek-based Empire, although the FFXIV version was merely conquered where the FFVI's version's fall was a complete genocide).

The annata Primal Lakshmi is based on the Esper Lakshmi from FFVI (in the original SNES Ted Woosley translation she was known as 'Starlet')

Hien's theme is a remix by Masayoshi Soken of Cyan's Theme from FFVI (originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu.). Rather fitting for two men who both hail from a country called 'Doma'.

FFVIII

The Vysage, Lefty and Righty enemies appear (shown in a trailer - more info pending).

FFX

Ixion appears as a high level elite FATE. Ixion was one of Yuna's summon monsters (Aeons) in FFX (it also appears as a mount in FFXIV).

FF Unlimited

A very very obscure FFU reference appears in Rhalgr's Reach with an early level 61 sidequest involving a merchant trying to sell blowguns to the Resistance and features a minigame to prove their effectiveness (the Resistance member doesn't look very convinced). This possibly references the FFU anime's story where the Comodeen resistance movement actually uses blowguns as their main type of weapon (needless to say, they weren't very effective).

I admit as I am still rather early in SB's storyline I haven't seen everything the expansion has to offer so there are a lot of things I haven't seen yet or are unsure of (I only know of them due to their appearance in trailers), so please, add to this or clarify things I've gotten wrong!

[EggRollBandit]

I'm not sure how many people caught this one but I don't see it mentioned. After clearing MSQ we see a certain Roegadyn and Hyur on an on an isolated island, with the Roegadyn catching fish.

This may be a nod to the scenes with Cid & Celes on Solitary Island from Final Fantasy VI.

[Yasuhiro]

Final Fantasy VII - Final Level spoiler -

The Guard Scorpion boss from Final Fantasy VII appears as an encounter in the Ala Mhigo dungeon using assets from Final Fantasy VII Remake, which were first featured in Mobius Final Fantasy, an NPC also makes mention to "attack while it's tail is up!" the infamous mistranslation from Barret.

English Localization of the game calls it the "Magitek Scorpion" while the Japanese original calls it by its original name.

Only started Stormblood yesterday because of no internet so kinda spoiled myself when I wanted to see what nostalgia they brought to this expansion since Yoshida said this was going to be the most Final Fantasy expansion.

[Apoptomon]

Also, for FF6: Hien's childhood name Shun is the JP name of Cyan Garamond's son Owain. Cyan himself is (referenced) in the game in the form of Hien's father Lord Kaien - the original JP spelling.

[Yasuhiro]

Still haven't reached the end yet of SB but there's been so many things in the meantime.

Akihiko Yoshida presents us with this art piece.

Look familiar?

[Hayward]

Reunion side quest: Purbol Rain.

Azim Steppe FATE: Purbol Reign.

Too soon on SE's part?

Azim Steppe as a whole seems to be a tribute to Gran Pulse in FFXIII. Here's hoping no one at Development HQ have come up with the idea of putting massive Oretoises in the area. The lag would make early access look like a modem hiccup.

[Yasuhiro]

Cleared SB a week ago this is what I've seen. Gonna skip over stuff already mentioned

Final Fantasy V

An Easter Island head is found under the sea in the 'ruby sea' area a direct reference to the Easter Island head found under the ocean in Final Fantasy V
Shinryu retains all his moves from Final Fantasy V including his famous "Tidal wave" abilitiy


Omega's first raid tier is a massive homage to Final Fantasy V inclusing bosses and enemies with things like Alte Right, Level checkers and even Exdeath himself to name a few, Exdeath even follows the same move set as he does in the original FFV boss encounter with him, casting Doom at the start and using high tier magic like Firaga, Blizzaga and Thundaga

Final Fantasy VI

Lord Hien shares the same musical theme with Cyan from Final Fantasy VI slightly remixed to fit Final Fantasy XIV

Hiens childhood name Shun is a reference to the Japanese name of Cyan Garamond's son Owain. Speaking of names Lord Kaien's name is Cyan's Japanese name

Gosetsu is seen fishing on a desserted island with a sleeping Yotsuyu alluding to how Celes had to catch fish for a poorly Cid.

Fordola is infused with the power to use Magicks much like Celes was

Number 24 boss found in the level 69 dungeon is a reference to a boss of the same name and design in Final Fantasy VI. It is also called Magimaster in the original release of Final Fantasy VI (III)

The magna rider boss and enemies share the design and name of enemies found in Final Fantasy VI

Doma is also the name of a nation in Final Fantasy VI that the empire is trying to take over, Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood draws a ton of story parrelels to Final Fantasy VI

The party find Hien on a cliffside similiar to how Cyan was found in the World of Ruin in Final Fantasy VI

The last boss of the level 69 dungeon is a reference to the Inferno boss sharing the same name and design

The Muud Suud enemies appear as late game monsters sharing the same colour pallete as the famous Humbaba monster

The Gorgias enemies appear in the game under the name "mammoths"

The Brainpain monsters appear as common enemies around Doma

Lakshimi appears as a Primal

Final Fantasy VII

The Samuarai's idle pose is the same as Sephiroth's victory pose

The Guard Scorpion boss from Final Fantasy VII appears as a boss in the final dungeon, it uses the same model seen in Mobius Final Fantasy which also comes from the Final Fantasy VII remake
An NPC shouts out to the Warrior of Light to "attack while it's tail is up!" a famous mistranslation from Barret that resulted in a nasty attack from the Guard Scorpion if the player chose to follow his advice
The Guard Scorpion is called "Magitek Scorpion" in the English localization where as the Japanese version retains its original name

A sidequest storyline in The Fringes involves a Miqo'te who believes that his father abandoned him as a coward. He later learns that, in reality, his father died protecting their village from monsters whose poison turned him to stone. This references the story of Red XIII and his father.

Aulus mal Asina is based on Hojo right down to the experimentation and design

Final Fantasy X

Ixion appears as a FATE boss looking similar to its Final Fantasy X appearence

Yojimbo appears along with Daigoro in a level 70 dungeon using the same model seen in Final Fantasy X

The idle pose while in the water is very similar to how Tidus lays in the water during many moments in the game

Final Fantasy XI

The Antlion enemies found in Final Fantasy XIV uses the same model as the Antlions in Final Fantasy XI with updated textures

The Matamata enemies found in Final Fantasy XIV uses the same model as the Matamata turtles in Final Fantasy XI with updated textures

The Chapuli enemies found in Final Fantasy XIV uses the same model as the Chapuli's in Final Fantasy XI with updated textures

The Crakclaw enemies found in Final Fantasy XIV uses the same model as the Craklaw crabs in Final Fantasy XI with updated textures

The Flying Shark enemies found in Final Fantasy XIV uses the same model as the Rockin in Final Fantasy XI with updated textures

The Ruszor enemies uses the same model as the Ruszor enemies found in Final Fantasy XI

The Kojin Beastmen are most likely based on the Quadav from Final Fantasy XI

The Cardian enemies are reused as enemies in Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XII

Zenos fuses together with Shinryu alluding to Vayne Solidor merging with Venat in the game's final battle

Final Fantasy XIII

The Chaochu use the exact same design as the Ochu from Final Fantasy XIII retaining the same moves and skills, these Ochu were first seen in Sohm Al (Hard)

Other FF stuff

There is a FATE in the Ruby Sea called "Agni's Philosophy" referencing the Final Fantasy tech demo for the Playstion 4 of the same name.

[Enkidoh]

Yasuhiro already mentioned some of the references I've recently picked up so I won't steal his thunder, but a couple of extras:

The level 63 optional dungeon in the Ruby Sea, Shisui of the Violet Tides, may possibly reference the Underwater Shrine dungeon from FFI (both are temples/palaces located deep underwater), although the way to access to them differs (by submarine in FFI, through magical incantation that allows the player to breathe underwater and thus swim to it in FFXIV).

Also I was slightly wrong with my earlier comment about the Sirensong Sea referencing FFV's Ship Graveyard - if anything it

is more clearly one large reference to a non FF-game but still SE published title - the Island of Yamatai which is the setting of the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, both are mysterious 'cursed' islands covered in the wrecks of countless ships from different ages which were all lured there by a mysterious magical beacon (TR has both ship and aircraft wrecks, and Sirensong Sea seems to include amongst the Eorzean and Othardian shipwrecks a wrecked Garlean Dreadnought airship), is inhabited by the crazed (or undead in FFXIV's case) 'survivors' of said shipwrecks who have established a cult of sorts on the island, and the final boss of Sirensong, Lorelei, is likely loosely inspired by TR's main antagonist and final boss, Princess Himiko, who has also become a wraith like siren figure. The similarities are far too clear and obvious to be mere coincidence.

[Yasuhiro]

For the Rising Event I liked that the little mini game was like an old school RPG dungeon crawler it was cute.
Reminded me of the old Shin Megami Tensei, I've done some research and am wondering if Square has made anything in that style? I couldn't find anything so I'm chalking it up to just being a little nod to older dungeon crawling games. (Some are even still being made today by Compile Heart!)

[Enkidoh]

For the Rising Event I liked that the little mini game was like an old school RPG dungeon crawler it was cute.
Reminded me of the old Shin Megami Tensei, I've done some research and am wondering if Square has made anything in that style? I couldn't find anything so I'm chalking it up to just being a little nod to older dungeon crawling games. (Some are even still being made today by Compile Heart!)

Actually they did, and guess what it was called? Literally, Deep Dungeon, for PC and the NES in the mid/late 1980s which is what the FFT optional dungeon (later renamed 'Midlight's Deep' in the PSP remake of FFT) and FFXIV's Palace of the Dead content too for that matter was based on.

So yes that is exactly what the Rising minigame was referencing. (Good catch too Yasuhiro!)