What is a video game without its secrets? Half of what makes video games such a wonderful medium is the worlds developers conjure up for players to trek through and explore.
Going off the beaten path often leads to surprises that, while most likely discovered by countless people beforehand, feel special to the player in that moment.
While these hidden secrets are often locations, they can sometimes be bosses too, and hard ones at that.
Final Fantasyis a franchise that is older than most people reading this list, and very well may persist past their lifetimes. Starting in 1987, the series has rarely seen any downtime with spinoffs being released when mainline entries are still in the works.
Several Final Fantasy games are often considered the best RPG of all time and while fans cannot always agree on which one that is, they have to appreciate the fact that one series contains several of the most celebrates games in its genre.
With every giant, immersive world the developers make for a Final Fantasy game there exist tons of secret locations and bosses waiting to be uncovered.
For the bosses, some of them are even a challenge to find, let alone taking it on in battle. For the locations, a couple of them are areas that developers perhaps did not intend for players to find at all.
Finding these is not for everyone, as they sometimes require patients and meticulous searching. However, uncovering them proves one’s true adoration and love for that particular game.
So here are the 12 Hidden Final Fantasy Bosses Only True Fans Can Find (And 12 Hidden Locations).
24 Boss: Final Fantasy X – Omega Weapon
The Omega Ruins can be found by inputting a specific set of coordinates in the airship. After traversing through the hidden dungeon, players face off against two bosses, Ultima and Omega Weapon.
The first boss is a relatively small fry, but Omega Weapon proves a tough match, especially if one is playing the international or any of the re-release versions.
In the original, the boss has ninety nine thousand HP, but in subsequent releases his health is increased more than ten fold. Should one defeat the boss, they will be treated to some great items.
23 Location: Final Fantasy VII – Ancient Forest
The Ancient Forest is different than most other hidden locations because it is visible to the player long before becoming accessible.
To reach the forest, one has to either defeat Ultima Weapon when it becomes an optional boss or breed a green Chocobo.
Inside the forest are enemies that aren’t too challenging and some great materia. The most notable materia is Slash-All, which lets the holder damage all enemies with a normal attack.
Compared to FFVII’s other secrets it is not hard to do once reached, making the Ancient Forest a must do for any completionist.
22 Boss: Final Fantasy X – Penance
Penance is only available in the international versions, so apologies to those still rocking the original North American Playstation 2 release.
An extremely difficult boss in its own right, it is is only unlocked after defeating all of the Dark Aeons.
A player who does not know what they are doing will have a hard time with the Dark Aeons alone, let alone Penance.
Should one be skilled enough to unlock the boss, just head to the Calm Lands and get ready for the fight of a lifetime. Even with a nearly maxed out Sphere Grid, Penance will be a long, tense battle.
21 Location: Final Fantasy IX – Chocobo’s Paradise
While domesticated by humans, Chocobo’s Paradise is one of the few places where the trademark fictitious animal can live free.
The whole thing would be ruined if humans discovered it, which is why it is such a challenge to uncover.
To find it, one must fly to an unmarked spot on the map with their Chocobo and use a Dead Pepper.
Inside the haven is a side quest not unlike the loyalty missions from a Bioware game, but with Chocobo instead of alien species.
Despite being in almost every entry, it is rare to see a full fledged Chocobo society.
20 Boss: Final Fantasy X – Nemesis
Nemesis is the last creature that the old man makes in the Monster Arena, and is only unlocked once the player captures ten of every collectable fiend in Spira.
Once it is made, it starts roaming the world looking for members of S.T.A.R.S. to eliminate. Just kidding, it actually becomes the toughest fight of the original release.
While Penance and some of the Dark Aeons are harder, Nemesis is no slouch either.
The boss holds about ten million HP, massive attack power, and can inflict the party with numerous status ailments. Reigning victorious proves one is no average Final Fantasy X player, but a true expert.
19 Location: Final Fantasy XV – Menace Beneath Lucis
Final Fantasy XV is one of the shorter entries, ironic considering its almost ten year development, but it makes up for it with its plethora of side quests.
The Menace Beneath Lucis is the crown jewel of the bonus activities, only becoming available after completing the game.
A woman names Ezma near the Meldacio Hunter HQ will give Noctis a key after he collects several royal arms.
The location is actually eight complete dungeons and rewards players with the Hunter’s Medal Treasure. Be sure to do this before starting a new game plus, however, as the key does not carry over.
18 Boss: Final Fantasy XII – Zodiark
Final Fantasy XII is a mammoth sized game, and as such has a huge unlockable summon, should players have the confidence to first face it in battle.
Zodiark can be found at the end of the Henne Mines dig site.
While the mine itself is visited during the story, the second section is only reachable if players collects ten Espers (summons) and then speaks to Yugelu in Jahara.
Even before reaching Zodiark, the player must face off against tough foes in the mine. Achieving the extremely powerful Esper is difficult, but well worth the effort.
17 Location: Final Fantasy III – ???
“???” is an unnamed dungeon in the remakes of Final Fantasy III.
To reach it, the player must first obtain four letters from the Four Old Men and Prince Alus. This itself is a tough feat, and certain versions require at least one player to be at level ninety nine.
Once this is accomplished, “???” becomes accessible with the use of the Nautilus, one of the game’s air ships.
The dungeon itself is only one floor. Enemies drop rare loot and it is here that players can face off with the super boss Iron Giant.
16 Boss: Final Fantasy XIII – Long Gui
Final Fantasy XIII is a rather linear affair even when compared the most straightforward entries like Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy II.
Side quests are basically only offered in the form of Cie’th Stones on Gran Pulse that give extra missions to the players.
Should Lightning and company complete a certain amount of missions. the Long Gui will start appearing on the map.
At this point they become easy to access, but do not think about approaching one without the right strategy. If unprepared, this giant enemy will squash players like a bug.
15 Location: Final Fantasy VI – Dragon’s Den
One of Final Fantasy VI’s world maps is called The World of Ruin. This area features several optional locations for the player to explore, as well as eight legendary dragons to duke it out with.
If the player manages to beat all of these dragons, they enable access to the Dragons’ Den on the map’s northwest corner.
The dungeon features more powerful versions of the legendary dragons, and then a showdown with the Kaiser Dragon.
The battles are tough, but going through the area nets players some of the game’s most powerful equipment.
14 Boss: Final Fantasy Tactics – Elidibus
One wouldn’t expect Final Fantasy Tactics to hold so many secrets, as the player cannot freely move about on the over world like in other titles.
However, there is an optional dungeon called Midlight’s Deep that hides an intense boss encounter.
Making it to the lowest level of the dungeon is tricky because descending it requires more than just defeating enemies.
Players have to find the hidden exit to each floor. Once the bottom is reached, the party will face off against Elidibus, a wizard who can also transform into a demon.
13 Location: Final Fantasy XV – Going Out Of Bounds
Most games leave traces of cut content in the final product that players can see. Having such a unique development history means that Final Fantasy XV is filled with hints of unused areas.
In several locations it is possible to glitch out of bounds and find parts of the map that are surprisingly fleshed out.
This would lead anyone to believe that these areas were meant to be a part of the story at some point.
Given how linear the last several chapters are, it is easy to imagine that these areas were suppose to be fully explorable.
12 Boss: Final Fantasy VI – Omega Weapon
The Dragon’s Den itself is a challenge to traverse. The battles within are arduous, with nine high level bosses. What many my not realize is that if they go through the dungeon once again, a tenth boss will appear.
Omega Weapon shows up in the same place as The Kaiser Dragon.
Let it be noted that the monster will not show up in the original Super Nintendo or Playstation version, so be ready to fire up the old Game Boy Advance or any later release if you want to take it on.
11 Location: Final Fantasy VII – Materia Caves
The final battles of this seminal RPG can be quite tough even at high levels. However, they are a piece of cake if the player first reaches the Materia Caves and gets all of the goodies inside.
These secret areas can be reached with different types of Chocobo, ultimately needing a gold Chocobo to access all of them.
The best of the powerful Materia in these caves is Knights of the Round, a super powerful summon that strikes the enemy thirteen times.
With these newfound abilities, Cloud and party become nearly unstoppable.
10 Boss: Final Fantasy – Warmech
Warmech is often seen as the series’ first super boss, and most players encountered it entirely by accident. On a bridge in the Flying Fortress there is a very slim chance of running into the enemy during a random encounter.
Those unlucky enough to battle Warmech were probably instantly clobbered. Subsequent releases have toned down Warmech’s power, but it is still a difficult fight none the less.
The first entry in the legendary franchise is unforgiving, and Warmech no doubt contributes to that reputation. Players who do beat it gain eternal bragging rights.
9 Location: Final Fantasy X-2 – Fiend Colony
Final Fantasy X-2, despite taking place in the same settings as the original, offers a plethora of new quests and adventures for the players to entertain themselves with.
One of the more well hidden areas is the Fiend Colony on the Mi’ihen Highroad.
Players have to wait until chapter five in order to even be able to find it.
After progressing that far, one must dispatch a level four or five treasure hunting Chocobo.
The Chocobo will then return having discovered the dungeon. Inside, Yuna, Rikku, and Payne will find the standard bonus dungeon fare of tough enemies and valuable items.
8 Boss: Final Fantasy X-2 – Trema
Via Infinito is a massive labyrinthine dungeon that can be found in Bevelle near the end of Final Fantasy X-2.
It is one hundred floors with a boss encounter on every twenty stories. That seems like enough of a challenge, but it is only the start.
Paragon is found on the final room and seems to be the ultimate encounter.
However, defeating Paragon will reveal the true last battle, which is Trema. Those skilled enough to best the boss in the Playstation 3 version will earn a trophy to boot.
7 Location: Final Fantasy VI – Zone Eater’s Belly
Final Fantasy VI has the largest party of all of the entries. As per usual, not all of the party members are encountered during the main quest.
One of the most enigmatic extra characters is Gogo, who can be found in the Zone Eater’s Belly.
Reaching the belly of the Zone Eater requires Terra’s party to engage it in battle and wait to be swallowed up.
Inside are a small set of challenges awaiting to be conquered. Should the player accomplish this, they will be awarded by Gogo joining the party.
6 Boss: Final Fantasy XII – Yiazmat
The hunting side quests in Final Fantasy XII offer a plethora of extra missions for the player to take on.
Defeating the optional Hell Wyrm and doing all of the high ranking hunts, or Marks, will unlock the final one, Yiazmat.
While it takes a long time to unlock the boss itself, the battle itself is also a a solid test endurance. High level players will easily spend over an hour chipping away at Yiazmat’s fifty million health points.
Winning nets players several rewards, including a trophy in the PS4 version.
5 Location: Final Fantasy V – Gil Turtle Path
They say money makes the world go round, and the same goes for video game worlds too. These games are often filled with get rich quick schemes, and Final Fantasy V’s is the Gil Turtle Path.
In the south of the Gil Cave, the Gil Turtle Path can be discovered.
If players tear their way through the plentiful encounters with the Gil Turtles, the end of the path reveals a hefty sum of Gil.
If the initial payout is not satisfactory, the path can be done again for even more money.
4 Boss: Final Fantasy VIII – Ultima Weapon
The Deep Sea Research center itself is not immediately accessible, even after the player can see it. Once they are inside, the player can acquire Bahamut after facing off with the beast.
But that’s not all! Exploring further will reveal deeper depths of the facility and Ultima Weapon, a massive boss that commonly shows up throughout the franchise.
It bears a striking resemblance to Final Fantasy VII’s Ultima Weapon, and even brandishes one of Cloud’s weapons as a direct reference to this.
The fight also offers the chance to obtain one of the game’s most powerful magic spells, Eden.
3 Location: Various – Peninsula of Power
When bosses get too hard, many times the answer is simply grinding to a higher level. For those wanting to expedite this process, there is a way to do this in certain entries that have random encounters.
A Peninsula of Power is an area on the world map where players can fight enemies they are not yet meant to run into.
Usually they are peninsulas because they jut out of the landmass and almost touch another part of the map, hence why the different enemies appear.
Naturally, the enemies are much tougher, but they net a lot of experience.
2 Boss: Lightning Returns – Bhunivelze+
Not all of the bosses only true fans can find are that way because they are a well kept secret. Sometimes it is because only a true fan would get so far in a specific entry, as is the case with Lightning Returns.
Bhunivelze is the last boss of the third entry to the Final Fantasy XIII saga.
Players who enjoyed the game enough to run through it twice, we know you’re out there somewhere, will find that the ultimate battle is not quite the same.
Bhunivelze will now be super powered and pose a much bigger threat to Lightning.
1 Location: Final Fantasy XIII – Faultwarrens
Due to its extreme linearity, it is hard to imagine Final Fantasy XIII having hidden areas. However, a secret, much like life, finds a way.
The Faultwarrens are found on Gran Pulse, where the game finally opens up to players, and are accessed through a series of C’ieth Stone missions also called Titan’s Trials.
Completing one opens up more of the Faultwarrens, and doing all of them ultimately leads to Titan’s throne.
Useful items await discovery and those who do the whole thing earn either a trophy or an achievement (depending on the console).
—
Which of these Final Fantasy secrets was the most fun and rewarding to uncover and conquer? Sound off in the comments!
