7 Hardest Summons To Obtain

[@FinalFantasyUnion]

Thanks for watching the video and reading the comments! We are running a Kickstarter campaign for a brand new initiative; a book called The Legacy of the Crystal that will take a journey through the Final Fantasy franchise from 1987-2021 in our typical granular style. If that sounds interesting, here's a link to the campaign: www.kickstarter.com/projects/finalfantasyunion/the-legacy-of-the-crystal-an-unofficial-final-fantasy-book

[@YourLastWish]

How are the magus sisters not on this list? U have to have every summon and other crap takes forever to get.

[@ronaldmarbut8104]

@@YourLastWish the sisters aren't actually hard to get really the hardest part is getting yojimbo because depending on where you are in the game and what you have you may not be able to afford em but getting the mirror and other items are not that hard

[@YourLastWish]

@Ronald Marbut doesn't matter cause you have to get him for them. Doesnt matter how hard he is to get it effects getting them

[@ronaldmarbut8104]

@@YourLastWish but they're not hard to get so it kind of does matter and the argument is moot

[@YourLastWish]

@Ronald Marbut not really because your argument to it makes no sense. A lot of hours invested to get them. No other summon even most on here take that long to get. Not saying they should be number 1. But top 5 for sure

[@virtualbunksie5117]

Alexander from ff7 was insanely difficult to find before the days of the internet. If you didn't buy the guides that come with the game you would've missed this, considering you fall unconscious every few hundred steps.

[@undine120]

gamefaqs came out before FF7 released. FF7 guides-a-plenty were on the site, I can assure you. You can look at the site now and see guides released while it still hadn't been translated for a US release yet that include (rudimentary) information on where Alexander is.

[@miguelon10821]

Another one hard to get was Zodiak from ff tactics, you need to get to the last level of the hardest dungeon on the game and have your summoner get hit by it and survive the hit

[@sigh6140]

I was really surprised to not see this on the list, seems like a huge oversight.

[@MagnaruKaiden]

I was expecting this too. They didn't specify one per franchise, so honestly I was expecting like half the list to be ff12. Getting a lot of them without a guide would be quite the difficult affair.

[@Karimyo99]

Just max faith in battle and you are good to go...

[@Kingnothing7x]

Oh yeah, I remember that being a pain in the ass

[@toastedt140]

@Matheus Vieira wow what a god gamer. Its tedious and luck based to replay the level until you get the right set of circumstances.

[@tiagocosmos]

oh man to this day i still remember the palpitations I got from fighting and winning against Zodiark only to ALMOST die to enemies in the Henne Mines while running to save the game.

[@kings_mark]

I got a last hit of Flare on him before he killed my black mage with those KOing physical attacks. Took me a couple of tries, but it was worth it.

[@grimmentry5115]

Killed him once then my Xbox crashed, second time I was killed by the enemies in the mine lol haven't went for a third yet.

[@OhThreeEleven]

Got stuck on Evrae as a kid. Didn't really get the level system, so I just kept dying. Gave up for a couple years and finally tried again, still not understanding the level system. I finally beat Evrae and IMMEDIATELY got schwacked by the monks in Bevelle, returning me to my save right before the Evrae fight.

[@lvelez6490]

I never managed to kill him. Only boss in FF that I never defeated. Haunts me to this day.

[@SullivansTravels]

@@grimmentry5115 what about the auto save after you leave the room? Just load that and try to save again ;)

[@gordonbarclay3598]

Currently replaying FF12 again, and after 15 years of countless attempts, I finally beat Zodiark.

[@Neotemplarking2112]

One honorable mention i would put forward is Bahamut in FFXII Revenant Wings, mission 80 is BRUTAL and you have to fight Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, and i think Titan and THEN you have to fight Bahamut when your party is already probably in rough shape and he loves to just constantly drop Mega Flare to decimate any units you have summoned

[@SeannyJay]

Worth noting that you can also get the gold chocobo needed for knights of the round by defeating Ruby weapon and taking the desert rose to Kalm and trading. Potentially quicker although a lot later in the game!

[@AbRas644]

If you're strong enough to beat someone like Ruby Weapon, you don't even need KOTR anymore, unless you want to fight Safer Sephiroth in God Mode.

[@valor1omega]

@Vegesther I think it was oddheader that covered it but if you had the desert rose, the tradable item you get from morphing the ship in the underwater tunnel and one other item then go to Aerith church where she shows up once as a ghost you can legitimately get her back. So the rose is worth getting. Look up that video for better details.

[@TheDitz42]

@@valor1omega Are we back in 1991 somehow? The Ghost Ship can me Morphed into a Guidebook, which can be traded to the Guy in Calm for an Underwater materia that helps with Emerald Weapon. Ruby Weapon drops The Desert Rose which is traded for a Gold Chocobo.

[@DarrenJensen1]

This is actually the way I prefer to get knights of round. I've actually never gotten a gold chocobo from breeding

[@ryantarr5080]

Or doing the save/fight trick as soon as you get highwind and have gold every chocobo within half an hour. With no failure if done correctly. Much faster than beating Ruby... You could do this at level 45

[@marvelousjoe5819]

Getting the Knights of the Round by breeding Chocobos were the most fun for me. It was so rewarding once you obtain the Gold Chocobo!

[@samcortez420]

Agreed, the chocobo breeding is probably my favorite part of 7.

[@carlbowen7965]

There was an alternate to breeding chocobos for the gold one: I forget which weapon but one of them drops an item that when traded to the old man in Kalm he gives you a gold chocobo (the other item is a complete set of mastered materia)

[@MortonGoldthwait]

8:12 I agree to an extent. Mindflayer in Final Fantasy IV DS/3D is the most powerful summon in the game. It paralyzes every non-boss enemy in the game and is paramount for surviving endgame encounters like Behemoths and Red Dragons. You can force encounters with Mindflayers by using sirens in the Lodestone Cavern and the reward is definitely worth the grind.

[@hassy-g2746]

Loving the ff8 piano cover during the number summon. Memories.❤️

[@cyanimation1605]

TPR does some great stuff.

[@MB-gl2bl]

@@cyanimation1605 I’ve always loved their work.

[@AndrewEvenstar]

@@cyanimation1605 all their sfuff is so good. Have all the youtube mp3s on my phone.

[@darkartist9936]

That level 99 Squall fight broke me on Dissidia. Originally tried with WoL and then said screw it and went with Cecil my main. Omega was so worth it imo.

[@bobsteel1981]

One thing to note: the original PC version of FFVIII came with Chocobo World on the disc too - I remember playing that back in the day. :)

[@occono3543]

It's still included with the Steam release, but the first one, not the Remastered one.

[@miracolbleid]

An honorable mention for Anima in Final Fantasy X. I think it is far harder than Arka in the first run, because if u miss to complete one (or some) sphere of destruction quest in the temples, you must face dark aeons in order to gain acces again later in the game.

[@markjensen7091]

Funny thing is I think it depends on what version of FFX you have. I played the original release from 2001 and it didn't include the Dark Aeons. This made it more difficult to get Anima because unless you had gotten the destruction sphere quests done at the times you went into the temples you could NEVER get Anima. I had to completely restart the game because I didn't know that detail about the destruction spheres. The Anima quest became easier due to KZbin and better online access. When I played FF in 2002, you didn't have good access to strategy guides and a lot of it was by trial and error. This is the era of dial-up internet. DSL was being implemented at this time. I spent DAYS trying to figure out how to get the Destruction sphere, how to get them, and how to complete the cloister of trials. To this day i cringe at the music from the cloister of trials.

[@AliceInBlunderland666]

@@markjensen7091 A little late but you could never *NOT* get Anima no matter what version of the game you play/ed. Naturally the international version of FFX and the remaster include the Dark Aeons so missing the DS in the Besaid temple and Macalania Temple would mean you would either have to toughen up your characters to the point where they could defeat Dark Valefor and Dark Shiva or else rely on Yojimbo to (hopefully) use Zanmato to instantly get rid of them. The other two temples don't have their respective Dark Aeons guarding them. Bevelle Temple you couldn't go back to once you left, but the Destruction Sphere is actually located in a chest you *NEED* to open in order to traverse the bridge into the next area (the actual missable chest only contains Kimahri's Knight Spear/Lance and doesn't have the tell-tale symbol that briefly appears when you open up DS treasure chests).

[@markjensen7091]

@@AliceInBlunderland666 Apparently, you didn't read anything I wrote in the comment. Anima is DIFFICULT in the ORIGINAL version. There was no dark aeons "in case" you missed the destruction spheres. The Original USA version, which is the one I bought in 2002, you only had TWO count them TWO chances it get Anima. IF you effed up the first time in the first cloister of trials, and couldn't get the Destruction Spheres, you had a 2nd chance when you went back into the temples. After that 2nd chance, you effed yourself and would NEVER get that chance again. Like I said, I literally had to restart the game and go thru the cloister of trials all over again in order to get Anima. Final Fantasy games can take days to complete, image going thru 2/3rds of the game and realizing you EFFED up big time and could never complete the game 100%. This also applied to the Al-Bhed cypher challenge, I missed the few crucial ones in Home, and didn't even know they were there. Alot of those Al-Bhed cyphers were not easy to spot, you had to pay extra attention. Back in 2002, KZbin didn't exist. The internet wasn't 5G, or high speed internet. It was literally thru the phone line. If you wanted to get music from Napster, it would take all night to download ONE song. Streaming didn't exist, face time didn't exist, rather all you had was blogs and chat rooms. So if you wanted to get anima, you either had to buy a book that gave you hints on HOW to get the destruction sphere, or you had do it "trial by error." As for the books, it was literally words on the page so you would have to figure it out on what they ment. You could also join a chatroom and network with people to get tips and tricks on how to complete certain trials. Also back in 2002, you had a thing called MEMORY CARDS for the PS2, soooooo you could only have so many save files. The memory card had like 8 MB on them so space was limited. There is a reason why the temples had a save sphere located in them. This way you could save at that point and try try try again to get the destruction sphere. Now days with the updates and the dark aeons, it's easier with resources on how to complete the missions. BUT overall, I give you a challenge, try to get Anima or play any FF game WITHOUT help from a guide or the internet. 9/10 you will fail at completing the game because you will always miss something.

[@mahmoud6843]

Anima is not hard obtain. The only reason its hard is because some people have not done the sphere of destruction quests on their first visits. Otherwise its very easy to get Anima. The only temples that were hard were Shiva and Zanarkand temples. Otherwise all of them were pretty simple

[@thephoenix6237]

Yeah and the Magus Sisters aren't all that easy either. I would have mentioned them both honestly over Zodiark.

[@hueysanchez7472]

Also, just finding Ultima in FFXII was a pain in the ass. Within the Crystal drove me crazy!

[@omegaweapon116]

Just horrible. I hate that place

[@Drewbe821]

I always figure Ark was a mirror distortion to Alexander as a summon. They both are Mecha style summons, but Alexander is holy element, and Ark is dark aligned.

[@MugenYomi]

You fight the Arc in the Terran city (it's where you get the first pumice piece)

[@AbRas644]

Personally I never saw the fascination of Ark, cause I had Bahamut already. Stormed through Memoria with Bahamut summoning every time.

[@MugenYomi]

@@AbRas644 for some I am guessing that it was more for the challenge of Ozma than the desire for Ark

[@CthulhuTheory]

Describing Alexander as a Mecha feels completely out of line to me. I get why you make the comparison, but it's ... wrong.

[@Drewbe821]

@@CthulhuTheory I'm just trying to avoid caling them Steampunk golems.😜

[@lysanderxx1664]

I was fortunate once to obtain the Cockatrice if FFIV and it was awesome! 100% chance to stone any enemy that wasn't immune, it makes 99% of encounters (even chest encounters) a piece of cake.

[@EggmanlandResident]

I'm a little surprised that Crusader from FFVI wasn't mentioned, given how it requires tracking down and destroying the 8 legendary dragons.

[@seguuro]

Right! But it was super satisfying to obtain the magicite 🤩

[@giannis8568]

I took me a whole decade to finally obtain Arc from FFIX, since only last year I choose to play Chocobo Hot & Cold till the end of it (with the help of a guide)! It took me a lot of time, but it really worthed it, heh!

[@MA16v3]

If you're gonna mention Bahamut being under the control of the Mysterious Girl, you also have to mention how, upon getting Bahamut and encountering her, she casts reflect(in reference to the strat used in FF4 to survive Megaflare) and how Bahamut just doesn't give a damn about it and nukes her anyway. Most cathartic moment in all of FF.

[@joshramirez1335]

Not that it’s particularly hard to obtain, but on my early playthroughs of FF7 I used to always miss Kujata. Darn that forest 😅

[@andrewbland2450]

Same here every fricking time

[@CthulhuTheory]

Never had that problem. Was always on the look out for red shinies. :)

[@alessandrevonalix5098]

Alexander is also easy to miss summon..

[@CthulhuTheory]

@@alessandrevonalix5098 I missed it the first time I went through that portion of the game and it was a pain to backtrack and find it.

[@zeropolicy7456]

The only missable that I always seem to forget in FFVII is Barret's Final Score. I always go out of my way to get Megaphone and Great Gospel, but I always forget Final Score because Barret's not in my party.

[@CucasNerdyCorner]

The eggman "summon" blew my mind a few weeks ago. I loved FFV so much and I thought I knew everything about that game. But when I saw that, I couldn't believe it lol

[@bardinblue9830]

I had never even heard of the Eggman summon in Final Fantasy V until this video! 😮

[@Corky1O1c]

I remember my first time playing FF XII Zodiac Age, I decided to try & do everything since I hadn’t done so on the original when I was younger. I ran into Zodiark without knowing what I was getting into AT ALL & had my random gambit set up, & I still somehow won. I wasn’t even overleveled! It’s one of my proudest “Learn on the fly” moments I’ve had when playing any game. 😂

[@AbRas644]

With the damage cap removed and the addition of the four busted ultimate equipment, the bosses are easier. Not to mention, that every character can have 2 license boards instead of only 1. This is why, I'm playing FF12 IZJS on the ps2 emulator, since in the Zodiac Age, you can manipulate the RNG to get Seitengrat every time.

[@namenotfound8747]

@@AbRas644 the original was hard, every optional boss was a nightmare. Zodiac age made it very easy to beat every option boss. Even if you don’t manipulate rng, the zodiac age was a breeze which I think made it more enjoyable to most people, particularly newer players not use to grinding three times as much as needed in the original. Which for me was great since I 100% the original, it was nostalgic and I hadn’t played that game in 5 yrs. With rng manipulation, it’s like playing the game on super easy mode. It’s akin to just watching a novel. Makes the whole story pointless.

[@vo1ce147]

@@AbRas644 izjs ver is by far the most fuck up experience to obtain a zodiark.

[@AbRas644]

@@namenotfound8747 I agree wholeheartedly. I loved Zodiac Age, cause it combined the aspects of 5 with the overall theme of 12, making it a much more inviting experience. From what I know, the IZJS version was much more of a challenge, similar to FF4 DS, so I decided to try it for the experience. Cause after playing 12 normal and TZA, I found it a bit boring since the challenge I expected wasn't there.

[@AbRas644]

@@vo1ce147 I can see why.

[@SpaceP1rate]

I remember spending over 20 hours in that crystal maze on the way to Zodiark, that was the last thing I did before retiring the game.

[@goon8791]

Spending all that time just to stop playing as soon as you get it. Man I've done this sort of thing so many times.

[@MB-gl2bl]

I needed a reason to revisit ff8 remastered and now I have it with added summon(s)! Great video.

[@sugoistalin7809]

If you do, reminder that it also comes with Chocobo World, so don't rely on Angelo Search to get them

[@Beryllahawk]

Oh do I ever remember chocobo racing and breeding. I spent so many hours on that stuff. Definitely worth it though! I sat straight up and went "WHAT" though when you mentioned Zodiark - I know next to nothing about FFXII outside of what I've learned from your videos. But Zodiark is kind of a big damn deal in FFXIV and so I was VERY wide eyed for a bit there. All the different lore of the games is so intricate and fun, and the summons are just as interesting most of the time. Great video!!

[@veemancer8392]

FFXIV took a lot from FFXII. I'm not sure where are you storywise so I'll try not to spoil anything, but if you look up the scions of light from FFXII, its all the names of the ascians. The scions of light were the counterparts of the espers you obtain, the scions of darkness (for example, Lahabrea's counterpart is Mateus) The ascians red masks in XIV pay tribute to their respective espers seal design. Its some interesting stuff to look into.

[@Beryllahawk]

@@veemancer8392 Oooh, that's fascinating! I'm just about ready for Endwalker, but I love chasing down lore connections. XII is one of the games I know very little about - I played VII, and some of VIII - then had a hiatus for a good long while, haha. I'll definitely have a look into the lore for XII though! Thanks!

[@dalejennings2677]

How about the last summon in tactics. Really surprised that wasn't here.

[@punkrockdavid]

Fuck yea! Getting a summoner to get hit and then tank the hit without dying??? Shieeeettyt

[@ItalianAvalanche]

Yeah that one was brutal! And actually worth it!

[@ShinraPowerCo]

@Luiz Fernando Pereira Ferreira easiest way for me to learn this was to Rend Magic on Elidibus so his damage would only be 1.

[@CuriousityKillsMe]

And there's a way for everyone on your team to learn Zodiac ( ya know... Except monsters) which I love.

[@eteretano2345]

Realy You can get zodiarkbin FFT? What versión ps1 or psp remake?

[@kamikaze82]

The Bahamut fight in VIIR was super hard for me. I must have fought him 6 times before I eeked out a win.

[@SixHundredandThirteen]

Hell yeah he kills automatically with mega flare

[@valor1omega]

I haven't gotten him in remake yet, but when I do it will be well worth it. I hope KOTR show back up in the remake part 2 or whatever part.

[@TheBlackSeraph]

I couldn't get him, either. Admittedly, by the time I was remotely strong enough to take him on I was near the end of the game and didn't care anymore-- Shiva was fun and satisfying even when she was first kicking my butt, but Bahamut just annoyed me.

[@SixHundredandThirteen]

@@TheBlackSeraph I never got him either I gave up , what's the point the game was already over

[@SixHundredandThirteen]

I heard they making 4 parts for the remake ?

[@alarsenal10]

Those low level Eidolons in IV for me. What a pain was to get them... Cool list as always! Thanks for the video!

[@speinz9430]

If you haven’t already, could you please make a video on why the Tokyo Olympics played Final Fantasy music?

[@marnixvanderlinden6116]

Would love to know too!

[@mrmacross]

Long story short, the music composer for the Olympics was "canceled" for admissions of bullying others when he was young. He was canned less than a week before the Olympics so they didn't have time to hire a new compose to create new tracks ahead of the event.

[@aerisgainsborough2141]

can you youtube a link to this please?

[@chrisy2128]

FF9 was the first FF I beat, and the one I poured the most time into growing up. The first time I got Ark and summoned it I was blown away.

[@Justin-td2er]

6:50 I may have missed it, but a big part of what makes Chocobo breeding a hassle without a guide is that in order to learn what to do you have to talk to the Chocobo sage but he doesn't remember all of it at once...oh no.....you gotta go back multiple times, and each time you gotta go straight back to the chocobo farm to jot down the sentence you just learned with one of the kids. Oh, and good luck finding the sage to begin with. Hint: snowy mountains

[@piousaugustus84]

The KZbinr Laneface did a video showing exactly how to easily get a gold chocobo without doing a single race. :) Also I'm actually surprised Anima from X didn't make the list.

[@leechallenor787]

Cheers I'll check that out. Yes Anima was little difficult 🎮

[@vo1ce147]

Nah he kinda hard and not hard at same time like if you type who really completionist it's kinda natural get since the requirements is obtain all the temple treasure, and the bit hard part is ofc find the ruin.

[@iceman4208]

Too bad u can't do it on the original one I wish

[@michaeldownie2724]

When FF X first came out and I first saw the Anima summon cutscene I honestly thought it was Ark based on the first few seconds of the anchor dropping down. I remember feeling a little confused when it turned out to be Anima. Felt even worse years later when it clicked that it was Seymours mother.

[@stephensaunders5059]

Anima for FFX? Surprised she wasn't on the list

[@bhazlett13]

Anima?! How about the Magus Sisters?! Anima is just a step towards getting them lol

[@GreelTheMindRaker]

Beating Ozma when I was 12 years old is still one of my greatest lifetime achievements.

[@typical_snowflake]

GG to you

[@GreelTheMindRaker]

@@typical_snowflake and GG to you as well good sir!

[@TheStandardBearer]

The excitement of summoning is always top notch! 🤜💥🤛

[@paulready8897]

The four random drops in ff4 were the most frustrating to get. I was only able to get one, the bomb summons. Just getting to Zodiark in ff12 was a pain, take one step and had a battle, by the time I reached Zodiark did not have much magic left. Then the fight was pretty brutal. Definitely had to be prepared for that fight with the right equipment and get lucky a few times as to not get your party wiped out.

[@05weasel]

The path to Zodiark kicked my ass so hard the first time I tried that I just kept grinding until I could make it through the mines easily. Zodiark was a bit of a push over after that. But that was my entire strategy for Final Fantasy games as a kid. Grind until there’s no difficulty.

[@chrishubbard64]

Then you learned that in ff8 grinding makes the bad guys more powerful too.

[@05weasel]

@@chrishubbard64 the only problem in an otherwise flawless plan

[@nealell3232]

Zodiark from FFT was also very hard to get. I mean you had to get to the bottom of the Midlight's Deep (Terminus), find Elidibus, get him to cast Zodiark against a summoner, survive it and only then could you learn Zodiark.

[@GreatestPanther]

I will not lie : in my second FF12's playthrough I kept Zodiark for last. I had Excalibur, and the Wyrmhero blade. The fight was over in 35 seconds .

[@kings_mark]

That fight is SO annoying.

[@OyVeey]

Don't you need to beat Zodiark to get the Wyrmhero though?

[@kings_mark]

@@OyVeey Not if he got it then used on new game +

[@GreatestPanther]

@@OyVeey no, you just need to beat Yazmat, Omega and finish the fishing quest :)

[@CampyClaptrap]

I think breeding chocobos was the first time I ever did RNG manipulation. I remember reading a guide online that had these hyper specific steps about waiting x seconds before taking x steps and entering and leaving the area a few times. At the time, I thought they had discovered a "cheat code" or something lol

[@welljer]

Deathgaze was a pain in the ass to get in FF6, straight random battle and having to find him multiple times as he flees battles

[@funb4gss125]

Love the video! Only Critique is just a mild joke but I'm pretty sure Knights of the Round is in the NorthEAST part of the map not NorthWest lol. Always like and share your videos though!

[@FinalFantasyUnion]

Thank you for the correction, my apologies for saying that incorrectly! ~Darryl

[@funb4gss125]

@@FinalFantasyUnion Oh you're fine man! I love the Videos you and your wife make! You guys rarely, if ever, make mistakes. Y'all are the best and I can't wait for the next video 😊

[@j800r_aswell]

KotR wasn't hard to obtain. Just tedious. Zodiark, however, was a nightmare. Especially considering risk vs reward as I personally feel Espers in XII were fairly useless particularly because they force most of the party to leave and battle still continues normally. Only time I used Espers was twice in the entire game and one of those was mandatory.

[@danielmarhuenda]

Same, in my current playthrough I have only use it in the mandatory time

[@mikemandeville4680]

I cannot speak to KOtR, because I have never gone for it. FFXII, I do agree that Espers are not very good. I just use them at the mandatory part of the game; more power to the characters.

[@ThundagaT2]

Espers can be handy if you need a quick MP boost, you could summon them, then syphon all their MP, then dismiss. Or if you're playing Zodiac Age, use their ultimate attack instead of dismissing for free damage.

[@GOODZ7777]

you could summon them if darkja ruins your main party and you need to revive

[@ShadowDeus]

My favourite summoning system was in Type-0. Loved controlling the summons, especially loved gliding around as "Teen" Shiva... (yeah just found out that type0 has a few different types of Shiva.) wish they would bring this summoning system to more FFs... it forced you to be more strategic with them rather than just using them when ever you had full MP or having to wait for an over limit bar to use them, or even worse wait for a field base summon to trigger randomly (i hated XVs dumb ass summon system, summons were cool, system was bad and half assed though IMO) Honestly now that i think of it Type0 had the best combat system too, though Crisis Core is a close 2nd.

[@Kingnothing7x]

Yeah, that's actually my least favorite part of XV, but honestly, if you could summon at will/X times per battle, it'd be BUSTED, they'd have to nerf the damage and it'd make the gods seem a lot less impressive. It is at least kinda cool when they show up and destroy everything in the area

[@act110mort048]

This is what I've been doing during the whole pandemic lockdown: endlessly playing video games such as Final Fantasy. 🤣

[@jaysmith-su2si]

Knights of the round. With mimic materia on everyone and a Phoenix summoning made you unstoppable in final fantasy 7. Casting knights of the round first in a battle. Then having the other characters use mimic to copy the last command made. Allowed them to summon knights of the round for 0 mp cost. Then continue to use mimic on everyone to keep casting knights of the round. And if you do die. The phoenix summoning would automatically revive your whole party. Keep in mind. When you master a Materia in 7. You get a free one of that same kind

[@Sevarrius]

Oh man that bring back memories. I had the exact same setup, I remember how proud I felt after I figured out the combo and farmed the mastered materia for each party member. Similar sense of achievement and pride after finally managing to breed a Gold Chocobo. Heck FFVII in general was by far the most time, effort and cognitive ability that my young self had ever dedicated to a game, especially given that I never had a guide nor did my family even have internet yet. I still replay FFVII from time to time but I can never be bothered to put in as much effort as that first playthrough.

[@codyfelts9531]

Nice list, although I think Anima deserves to be on the list as well. Getting the optional spheres in every prior temple as well as finding Animas temple itself is nothing to sneeze at

[@bhazlett13]

Anima is just a stepping stone to getting the Magus Sisters

[@codyfelts9531]

@@bhazlett13 Haha, fair point. Although they don't hold the emotional weight that Seymore's mothers love in physical form does, the magus sisters are technically more difficult to attain. Mine was admittedly a biased opinion based on fantasy

[@bhazlett13]

@@codyfelts9531 you've definitely got a point there, makes Anima that much more meaningful when you get her

[@crimsonmaelstrom573]

Ah, you mean Baaj Temple. Don’t forget that in order to get inside you had to dive-literally-into a Boss Battle and the only Party members you had then were Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku. Better hope you spent a lot of time boosting them up before hand.

[@hypnometal]

I never thought KotR was that difficult to obtain. Sure, you had to do a lot of chocobo hunting, breeding, and racing to do it, but I always found it quite doable. And yes, well worth it.

[@JackMcCrack10]

I think it was very overrated. You truly didn't need it by the time you obtained it

[@hypnometal]

@@JackMcCrack10 It did pretty much nerf the final battle once you got it, especially with W-Summon and Mime. And if you could use your Lvl 4 summons on Jenova right before Sephiroth, it would keep his HP down and KotR would make short work of those two forms easily.

[@TraxtasyMedia]

I remember a youth friend had a gameshark module for the PS1 and upon it were all the summons from the game FFVIII you could unlock.

[@Avalonsguard]

Crusader from VI would have probably made my list. The OG game for SNES had me grinding for hours before I gained enough HP/skill to be able to best them all.

[@pauldehayes1898]

Ohhhh Crusader. It could be a fair summon, given you had a party up to the task of not dying from those wild attacks that hit everyone......

[@valor1omega]

I think TKOR has gotta be the most powerful summons in all of FF games and the most awesome looking summons as well. 9999 x 12 is deadly. 119988 damage I don't think even zodiac is that powerful nor the summons from ff8. I guess we know why it never showed up in any other game, it's just too powerful and awesome.

[@Ninja_Decoy]

I would say anima from FFX is more powerful as she can hit 16 times for 99,999 damage for a max of 1,599,984 damage in the remaster/international version

[@hewmengshen7781]

Zanmanto one shot

[@Walamonga1313]

FFX summons are the most powerful by far, because they pretty much have to as endgame enemies have stupid stats. Yojimbo can Zanmato, Anima can deal huge damage and the Magus Sisters also do a shit ton more than a million iirc

[@hewmengshen7781]

That's right

[@valor1omega]

@@Walamonga1313 If I recall correctly but didn't those have to be fought and destroyed later on in order to completely beat the game which is why they didn't show up in x-2(better game)? I haven't played x in a long time(disk I can't remember if I threw it away or stored it someplace) and played it only once because of how stupid it was in lvling system and never bothered to get the non-story driven of the summonings as I just wanted it over with. So my memory is fuzzy on the details. Can you guys fill me in if I am wrong?

[@zexienzo4038]

Ahhhh I remember when I got Omega in dissidia. Couple thousand hours put into that game, I miss it so much.

[@kartavianmacrath7219]

The hardest one for me was Z from FF12, I loved the super-bosses from 12, I do not even remember most of them now, it has been so long since I played.

[@kartavianmacrath7219]

@@g-t8dry745rrfbjgdd I had a playthrough started off the zodiac age, please don't watch, but have not finished due to the chaos of the last three years lolol. I do hope to finish it though

[@jatinmarcob2128]

@@kartavianmacrath7219 Won't even lie that ff12 is in my top favorites of the ff games

[@kartavianmacrath7219]

@@jatinmarcob2128 agreed, I love the story and characters. It was the last new final fantasy I waited the game store opened to pick up my copy

[@joshuahendricks9558]

Ark will always be my all time greatest. I love Bahamut, but he is a series mainstay. Ark was rare, unique, and eternally memorable.

[@a_red_dragonfly]

Ozma ain’t nothing but a beach ball after you land a few Magic Hammers.

[@DarioSot]

Lmao, a beachball, you're so right! That's what it looks like😅😅😂😂😂

[@aerisgainsborough2141]

@@DarioSot he looks more like a gobstopper!

[@Kanerudo]

I was lucky enough to have a pocketstation for ff8. It was the worst id and without any chance to trade ids (1% chance for the rarest items) , my chocobo world never upgraded to the 25% for the A, B, C and D items with A being the rarest items. Still was fun to play it

[@seamushardin1763]

I think anima has the potential to be one of the hardest summons if you dont manage to get the destruction sphere chests in besaid and macalania, since you have to beat dark Shiva and dark valor to get the two chests in order to unlock anima, that being said, if you do manage to get them before the dark aeons start appearing it isnt remotely difficult to unlock as long as riku tidus and wakka have stone proof armor.

[@nikauloscollins3984]

Diabolos in FF6 is pretty tricky to get. Surprised it didn’t make the list!

[@Lightman0359]

The Advanced ports get overlooked. Diabolos and a few others [Cactuar, Gilgamesh and Leviathan I think] are GBA exclusive. Unless you meant Diabolos in 8, which was super easy to miss without a guide

[@RowdyBoy82]

Nothing in my life will ever again equal the excitement 12 year old me (like 1994) had when I got an Imp drop in FFIV. I never saw anything about it in Nintendo Power or other sources and was AMAZED. Nintendo Power had a 1-800 number to call in for game tips and I secretly called it to learn about the other secret summon drops. In my time, I've only been able to get Imp and Bomb. It was an incredible gem for young gamer me. ❤ 💙 💜 💖 💗

[@lloydlineske2642]

Hold up. The original FF4 (2 in America) Had a summon called Imp. It dropped from a Trickerster. Against any monster it would deal 1 damage except against only the weakest mobs.

[@Roblar]

For doom train on ff8, I thought you needed 100 steel pipes, malboro tentacles and whatever the 3rd thing was. Remedy +? The malboro tentacles weren't so bad, but the steel pipes were a few hour grind. Absolutely killer to realise you only need 6 😅

[@stviz87]

And the Tonberry king in FF8 was so annoying to get, or Griever for Quistis where you had to farm so many items

[@Bardguy5623]

I would like to bring a moment of attention to Anima, whom I missed in my first playthrough of FFX because I forgot to get the Besaid destruction sphere and I was NOT ready for Dark Valefor

[@danteespinoza8119]

Ff7 KOTR was so hard at 1st but takes a lot of time. Perhaps the 3 sisters also in ff10

[@AbRas644]

The thing about the Magus Sisters is the same, it takes time, lots of it, especially with the HD Remaster. To get them, you need every other Aeon including Anima and Yojimbo. Issue is, if you didn't get the Destruction Spheres of Besaid and Macalania, you need to face Dark Valefor and Shiva before getting them.

[@Cloud971]

@@AbRas644 Yeah i remember that too, i've been own on my first playtrough too.

[@piewy2196]

Theres a way to get kotr in 30 mins right after you escape junon someone made a video on how you can get a gold chocobo through breeding and it is a pretty much a guranteed gold chocobo everytime

[@AbRas644]

@@piewy2196 Yeah, I saw that. its part of the myriad of glitches FF7 is famous for!🤣

[@craigfunk3453]

Iirc from my own runs of After Years...you needed to save all the base Eidolons from the planet (I.E. face them with Rydia and not kill them) in order to reawaken Leviathan and Asura during their battles on the moon (again with Rydia in the party), and then finally you were guaranteed Bahamut since after enough damage Leviathan and Asura show up and knock Bahamut to his senses. (Orly other annoyance was the Cecil battle knowing you needed his family and Cecil there to even survive the battle let alone the extra people needed to save Golbez.)

[@TsuikeNovaus]

I feel good at the fact that I've gotten the majority of these, with the exception of Omega and the ff4 bosses, mainly because I refused to finish ff4(it's not one of my favorites) and I wasn't good enough at dissidia to get omega, no matter how much I enjoyed it. (I played ff8 originally on the pc, which did have chocobo world come with it, so I let chocobo world run on my pc while I was at school)

[@TheBlackSeraph]

For me it was all except for the PocketStation summons, Zodiark and Omega.

[@zukiginagato2215]

Omega from dissidia and FF8 were the only one's I got all 100%... i didnt rly play any other... i thought the challenges were fun to do e.e

[@sugoistalin7809]

I would also like to point out, about the ff8 summons, the remastered version also comes with Chocobo world, so relying on Angelo Search isn't needed.

[@Matt_Dowding]

thank you! Now I understand why it's called Cruise Chaser in XIV, I knew it was linked to Ark from IX because of Eternal Darkness, but I didn't know the origin.

[@DOC_951]

I immediately thought of FF7R and the vr missions to get Bahumut

[@Blanchedmyth522]

Fenrir from FFXI was one of the hardest for me, especially if you decided to go about it by soloing all the avatars. I haven’t played since Treasures of Aht Urhgan so I don’t know if they made it any easier.

[@SageLakshmi]

I was thinking Fenrir was the hardest too. I solo'd the main avatars except for Fenrir and Diablos. Diablos was tough but we beat him on the 1st try. Fenrir was harder to get a party for and there were no guarentees. Especially during 75 era which was the golden era of ffxi

[@AlexOvTheAbyss]

I felt like getting Knights of the Round was more time consuming than hard, but I've known how to do it forever. Without knowing how to do it, or having a guide, I feel like it would be a nightmare to try and get.

[@user-em6ie2be7x]

Knights of the Round was definitely worth the effort. I could've never beaten The 2 Ultra Weapons in FF7 without it.

[@JackMcCrack10]

I've never used KoTR and I've beaten both

[@gorimbaud]

The PC version of VIII included a Chocobo's World emulator, so western gamers were fully capable of experiencing those summons before the remaster.

[@aerisgainsborough2141]

Ribbon just broke the game and made it too easy.

[@gorimbaud]

@@aerisgainsborough2141 There were a ton of ways to break that game and make it too easy. Ribbons sure did a lot for it, though, but that's how Ribbons tend to do.

[@Ikuni17]

Getting a gold chocobo isn't that hard now and can be done without racing. You can manipulate the RNG for breeding and go from a wonderful yellow to gold in less than 30 minutes.

[@fatranga]

Or you cloud just beat emerald weapon

[@Thedowche]

@@fatranga ruby weapon*

[@After4th]

Chocobo World was playable on the PC port of FFVIII. Issues being unable to be passed down to the remastered edition on consoles.

[@adiksaff]

What a blast from the past! I don't remember much from Inward Chaos in Dissidia, but I may have 100% that game and loved every minute of it before.

[@ThroneofDrakes]

The one summon I had the most issues with obtaining that was not mentioned was eden on the original ps1 version

[@ICountFrom0]

People always go on and on about ozma. I pointedly didn't turn in the diamond to the last friendly creature because there's not quite enough in the game otherwise and I wanted the collection. I kept one person vunrable to each of ozma's attacks and the rest setup to absorb that element. Then I just trivially locked it in a loop, magic hammer, ether, and the other two using physical attacks (long range ability)...... sure, took three days, but...

[@Osteichthyes]

Every summon in FFXI. The grind to get enough fame to get the quests, the difficulty of the fights, the pain to get a group together that is capable of winning. Especially the later ones.

[@USCsteveO]

Kudos to you. I didn't have the cash flow to get into XI. When I did, I was working too much to enjoy it. Lol

[@zivi3862]

Loving the VIII background music!

[@Zoshnell]

"Need to get QUITE intimate with the chocobo breeding game." I see what you did there.

[@gjtrue]

I found Knights of the Round by mere chance. Finding the Round Island by flying the airship all over the place lol. I remember using the school internet to read up on getting the Gold Chocobo, but the site I was reading (which was mostly blocked/limited on School servers anyway) made no mention of the Summon. Wasn't until long after that I even knew that the holy-elemental summon Alexander was even in Final Fantasy VII due to Holy being a plot device in this game. Same for Bahamut-ZERO cuz I never guessed that password on the rocket.

[@AliceInBlunderland666]

I would have replaced the choice of FFVIII's Boko Summon with Eden. Not only do you have to fight Ultima Weapon, a tough optional boss, but also you have to remember tho actually *DRAW* Eden from him too...something I forgot to do once. Lucky it was that I knew about the invisible Save Point (via Siren's Move-Find) and had saved it prior to fighting it but luckier still that I remembered that I forgot to draw Eden *BEFORE* I saved again! Eden can be obtained from one of the bosses in Ultimecia's Castle but that's right at the end of the game.

[@pagannova3621]

good to hear Dissidia mentioned, once in a while. loved those two games

[@flippypwnage2789]

hey, cid gave me a magic lamp ....dead....

[@alexnelson8]

Hahaha. I remember the first time I played 8. Same story. The second time I played I was a TetraTriad master and broke the game with CardMod…

[@thesweetone]

FFT serpentarius not hard enough? really?

[@Austinarcher10]

Felt practically impossible to have a summoner survive the casting of the summon much less the battle.

[@dalejennings2677]

I just complained about that too.lol

[@ja-no6fx]

Man I remember trying to figure out how to get knifhts of thr round when I was like 11. How the hell did I do that without a guide lmao

[@bardinblue9830]

All of this is pretty true. Especially attempting to get the Cockatrice, Mindflayer, and Bomb summons in Rydia's own chapter in Final Fantasy 4: The After Years. On the second floor of the Sylph Cave, the Cockatrice enemy only shows up for battle kind of next to never! Another difficult summon to get is Zodiac/Zodiark in Final Fantasy Tactics, going through the Deep Dungeon with only Crystals from defeated enemies to light the way, and searching for each floor's hidden exits... and then getting Elidibs to summon Zodiac/Zodiark, but making sure that 1. there is at least one Summoner in the party, and 2. that the Summoner(s) can survive the attack... and GOOD LUCK teaching that particular summon to all characters in the party, for you completionists out there!

[@bardinblue9830]

In my Re-play-through of The After Years, I finally scored the Cockatrice summon for Rydia in her own chapter yesterday! That was after a couple of years of trying to even FIND a pair of Cockatrices to fight, getting aggravated at how infrequently they appear, and putting the game down for days... or months... at a time! I already have Goblin for her, as that was pretty easy to get at the start. Currently working on Mindflayer in Agart Mine. Problem with this one is that only one Mindflayer appears per battle, but at least it seems to appear more frequently than it did in the Magnetic Cave in the original game. Bonus: The Cockatrice Summon is able to take out the Green Dragon (the one that drops Green Tail) in just one attack!

[@bardinblue9830]

So yeah, another thing to note: The Goblin, Cockatrice, and Bomb summons (no Mindflayer) are available and usable in Final Fantasy IV: Interlude, between the original game and After Years on PSP... but Rydia leaves the party near the end for... reasons. Still it was fun to collect them anyway.

[@EditDeath]

The chocobo world summons were available in the PC version of FFVIII, which included the chocobo world mini game despite being in the US. So, available before the Remaster

[@Malacite]

Siren and Cait Sith can be a big pain to get in FF11, as well as Crusader in FF6

[@Lightman0359]

I wasvgoing to honorable mention Crusader, but Bahamut in 6 is equally a PITA, since Doomgaze is time-consuming to find and runs away.

[@Malacite]

@@Lightman0359 that's a joke right? Maybe I've just always gotten lucky with RNG but it's never taken me more than a few minutes to track it down and kill it. Crusader is vastly more annoying (and missable). Diabolos is also a pain if you're doing the enhanced port.

[@Lightman0359]

@@Malacite On the SNES cart [or 1.0 on emulator] I found Doomgaze more annoying, But I dislike RNG based requirements more than "do the hard thing" requirements. The dragons, if not prepared for them [especially the White/Holy dragon in the Fanatics' tower] can be difficult, but they are always in the same places and visible in the overworld. Doomgaze, if you are the wrong levels and not prepped for a troll boss... is a random reset on your way to other tasks. [First strike L5 Doom can party wipe with no response]. Nothing in base FF6 is really unfair to get [except maybe the paladin shield that is true tedium], at least not to the extent of later games' challenges like super-weapons like in 10 or 9's Excalibur 2 or the Zodiac Spear in 12 original. Guide-dammit stuff is always dumb

[@Puffytosser]

Quick note about the outro, graying out a “button” element usually indicates deselecting, which then implies unlike, unsubscribe, and de-notify

[@gabrieladerre2862]

I seem to remember that my fight to get the Ultima Summon, was more difficult than Zodiarc! That's probably because of the ridiculous grinding that I had to do, beforehand, in order to even survive getting past the ransoms to get it! I love FF12 though!

[@Eldergloom]

I only ever got Knights of the Round in one playthrough just so I could prove to myself I could do it. I'll never deal with chocobo breeding / racing again lol.

[@stevenbart2375]

I'm thinking maybe Odin from Final Fantasy V deserves an honorable mention. He's stupid easy if you know how to fight him, but I don't know if it's even possible to get strong enough to beat him legitimately before he insta-kills your entire party. The trick is to petrify him, which, for me at least, goes against everything I thought I knew about Final Fantasy bosses up until that point. With the exception of a few undead bosses being vulnerable to instant death by phoenix down, I think Odin is the only boss in the series that can be insta-killed. And the only reliable way to get the status to stick is with the spellblade job.

[@fyrelord7826]

So, you guys didn't mention this for the "Knights of the Round" section. There was another way to get a Golden Chocobo. Ruby Weapon, when beaten, drops the "Desert Rose", which you can trade for a Golden Chocobo. No breeding or racing required.

[@coreymay918]

I still remember that time I defeated Zodiark, only to walk back into the henne mines and get wiped out

[@marshallhashey5478]

i remember summoning the mumba guy back on the original release version of FF8. It was item you could obtain and use in battle.

[@DragonianDeity]

Getting the KofR from 7, was about the only time I needed the strategy book to learn about the breeding. That took forever it seemed. Worth it? Mostly yes. If you weren’t smart, using it against Emerald or Ruby Weapon was suicidal, so....it was in how to use it, that made it worth it.

[@playercris8634]

Knights of the Round is one of my fav summons

[@the1one826]

ARK reminds me of Alexander.... especially that attack shown