#the resemblance to Ultima and the X-blade

[balimaria]

The significance of the combined keyblade having a braided cord as a chain has been noted before but it's only just now that I made the connection of the specific phrasing from Riku himself of "intertwined" in KH1. Cord. Twine. Intertwined. literally twines interwoven.

[sir-adamus]

i do like how FFXIV re-uses elements and plot beats from previous Final Fantasy games to tell new stories

like the Garlean Empire is a send-up to the Gestahlian Empire from FFVI (though named for Garland from FFI - same with Cid Garlond, who is a more direct reference) with their magitek and general bullshit, but Nael from 1.0 is essentially FFXIV's equivalent to Sephiroth, disenfranchised as a soldier and driven mad by the whisperings in her ear from a higher power, trying to end the world by Meteor. Garlean Legati are also modelled on the Judges from FFXII

Gilgamesh doesn't count because he's just the same Gilgamesh from V that has appeared in numerous other FF games, traveling between dimensions

Crystal Tower, the bosses within, and Doga and Unei are lifted from FFIII

Matoya is an elderly woman who lives in a cave, much like a character of the same name did in FFI

Shinryu and its propensity to come out of bumfuck nowhere to be a problem is from FFV, as is Omega, a mechanical being that lives within the Interdimensional Rift (and his raids basically feature cameos from other games). Krile and her grandfather Galuf also originate from V

Doma, Hien and his father Kaien are all references to FFVI as well (in the localisation, Lord Cyan, a Samurai, ruled Doma, and his son was Owain - they were Kaien and Hien in the original Japanese however)

the Return to Ivalice storyline uses elements from all across the Ivalice Alliance games, from FFTactics to FFXII (though while Ultima resembles her Tactics incarnation she's blended with Jenova from FFVII)

the Weapons from the Werlyt storyline are sendups to the Weapons from FFVII (though instead of being naturally occurring superbeings, these are highly destructive biomechanical super fighting robots)

the entire Eden plotline in Shadowbringers is FFVIII, with Ryne as a stand-in for Rinoa and Gaia for Squall (though with elements of Ultimecia)

the whole post-Endwalker story is Final Fantasy IV, just with Zero in place of Cecil - Golbez, the four Archfiends, all that is just IV

i know all the Alexandria stuff in Dawntrail is a whole reference to FFIX, however the concept of all memories of a person being erased when they die is from FFType-0, where the Crystals of Orience do the same thing

the biggest contribution FFX brings in is Anima - a ghoulish and grotesque Summon created using a dead parent of the initial summoner as a basis (Seymour's mother in X, Zenos's father in XIV)

the Black Mage soulstone is inherited from a legendary mage named Shatotto, who is one-hundred percent a reference to Shantotto from XI (who briefly attempted to invade Eorzea in a crossover event years back). Tenzen, from the Four Lords storyline, is also lifted from XI (his katana is referred to as the Phoenix Blade, and in XI it's what allowed him to summon Phoenix)