7 Items That Ended Up Being Almost Completely Useless

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Final Fantasy has featured countless items over the years, but not all of them have been winners. Throughout this list, we're going to run-through some of the items introduced that have been almost completely useless, including the likes of the Potion from Final Fantasy XIII and the Magic Lamp in Final Fantasy V.
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Credits
Writers: Darryl, Colin
Editors: Matt

[@Loyyid]

The underdog of the useless items: Elixir The player will save to use this for the final boss and by the boss fight, ends up using magic to heal themselves instead

[@einjharrelraca]

im really glad i broke myself of that habit. especiall with how elixer's aren't really that hard to get. of course i've been forcing myself to use theives so i may be a little bias.,

[@pianoman021]

I just commented that before seeing someone else did 😂

[@drakkar33]

I broke myself of that bad habit. Except FF7 remake hard mode brought me back to hoarding items since you can't use them 😂

[@odinsguide7685]

For who want beat the strongest bosses, it will be neccesary

[@gardenstateknicks]

​@@stevendouglas3781 that's because you knew what you were doing, I def used a good amount of mist mega potions for some of those boss fights 😅

[@LinkMan1NeoGAF]

The Odin summoned from the Magic Lamp will always instantly kill 1 part of Neo Exdeath, whereas a normal cast of Odin cannot.

[@ZioName]

Was about to post a comment about this, but you beat me to it. Using the lamp this way is a great way to shorten and/or make the fight easier. Was actually a use I found by mistake when I was doing a Dancer/Bard/Chemist/Mime team against the final boss. First two uses against Ex death, then unleash Odin against Neo for a quick kill.

[@ElTaitronAnim]

Agreed, I did the same thing on my playthrough.

[@Radman1889]

I do it constantly, especially in 4JFs

[@darkeneddragon19]

I think there is a slight misstep with the inclusions of the weapon magazines and magic lamp. When FF8 came out, the internet was not as ubiquitous as it is now. The only way you were learning about something is either working it out yourself, getting your big brother to help you or by having bought the guide book. The culture of just looking for the answer on KZbin/some forum had not started, so finding these magazines were a great way to implement a diegetic way to create the best weapons. Even better when you decide to randomly visit a shop, and lo and behold, you have a nice new upgrade you didn't even know about because you just had the items lying around. And in regards to the lamp, having a powerful summon at your fingertips cannot be understated, even if that power diminishes. Sure it can be a pain to replenish, but the good far outweigh the bad.

[@lunatickoala]

The culture of looking for the answer online had definitely started by the time FF8 came out. Looking at GameFAQs (haven't looked at that site in a while), there are walkthroughs and guides for FF8 dated 1999. Even before then, there were strategy guides in magazines or for the more popular games stand-alone guides that could be bought. There was a Nintendo Tip Line that people called for help with games and gaming magazines had a Q&A section that people could write in. And if someone didn't have any of those themselves, they could ask a friend who did and when people weren't inside online all day, they were more likely to actually go out and meet someone who did have access to the Internet (few people had a second phone line and thus couldn't just be on dial-up all day). In FF5, there aren't really any restrictions on changing job or skill so you if you need a powerful summon, you can always just change jobs or equip that skill in a free skill slot between battles. Tents are cheap and in casual playthroughs, most players are likely to have someone with either Summon or Gill Toss equipped because what's better than having something that's powerful but weakens over time? Something powerful that doesn't. And that's assuming that they even have the Magic Lamp and know what it does. It's in a very out of the way location that people aren't likely to find on their own, the item description isn't accurate to what it actually does, there isn't really an indication that you can recharge the item, and even being able to recharge that sort of item isn't something that Final Fantasy really does much. The description just says it calls a random summon, not that it cycles down. It's really not very useful. !Gil Toss, !Mix, or even just !Summon are much more useful, don't get weaker on repeated use, and much less of a pain in the ass to replenish. I think there's a speedrun route that uses Magic Lamp to take advantage of a quirk in how the Odin summon works when cast via Magic Lamp as opposed to being cast normally, and there are certain self-imposed challenges where it's useful because use of certain Jobs or Skills is restricted, but otherwise it's just a novelty item.

[@appleseed8282]

Yeah, the Mag and Magic Lamp are both pretty shaky listing's for me (a guaranteed free emergency Bahumet summoning is pretty good)

[@richiecook5259]

That wasn't actually their point. Their point was the guide item itself isn't required to have been found in any consecutive runs. So after playing the game and finding them literally ever and keeping that separate save, essentially gave you a gamefaqs page to revisit.

[@strombada]

I love that the justification for labeling the Weapons Monthly items as useless is basically "The internet exists."

[@TheDarkEnigma]

Yeah. Considering when 8 came out, the internet was nowhere near as common or useful as it is now, not really becoming properly common in homes till like 2002, using the internet as an excuse for it seems like a space filler at most. Plus they built the world up a bit too so they actually contributed to the game's lore

[@romusz]

Didnt need the internet back then, I had my trusty knockoff PRIMA strategy guide to tell me what I needed lol

[@MidnightWonko]

The Weapons Monthly items in FF8 are useless in much the same way that maps to any Metroidvania games are useless: considerably useful for a blind playthrough, but utter trash to anyone who knows what they're doing. So yeah, I'd say that's a fair assessment you made.

[@DragonNexus]

I do recall some higher tier weapons being easier to make than the one you're meant to make next. I definitely remember seeing tier 3 or 4 weapons before I'd done 2 or found the magazine for them.

[@RenoReborn]

No, the justification is that they are unnecessary to craft weapons at all, anyone running a 2nd playthrough of the game could easily boot up your older save with all your weapon recipes and look them up, it's not that unrealistic a scenario.

[@NijiBashira]

You are completely off about Potions in FF13. Healing the party for 150HP vastly outclasses the Medic Role at the very least until you acquire Cura. It costs less ATB than one Cure (technically it costs no ATB but it stops the ATB recovery while it's being used), less time (you don't have to switch to a MED Paradigm and back, which takes some time), it heals the entire party (unlike Cure), and 300 HP is a decent amount until Chapters 8 to 10, depending on how levelled your party is. Even in longer fights, throwing a Potion once in a while will lead to a faster, easier battle thanks to the time gained and the offensive momentum kept. I will give you that they have no use outside of battles, and do fall off significantly and irremediably around Chapter 11 at the latest, as Curasa and Curaja come into play (which heal a lot more at low HP) and character health skyrockets.

[@wcjerky]

Some context: FFIV, Gnomish Bread:: item space in your regular inventory was limited and stacks were capped at 99 in original versions. A fat chocobo could be used to 'expand' your inventory, but this, too, required an item. Given that different situations could call for different equipment, specifically elemental arrows/weapons/equipment and that rare items also took up space, those item slots were better used elsewhere and it was usually better just to use sight and soft reset. FFVIII, Weapons Magazines: Released in 1999, the internet was still young and BradyGames still had a market for walkthrough books, as bad as they were. The magazines , I imagine, were a way to help along new players with interacting with the systems, but those who played Triple Triad a lot usually bypassed them. It's actually a challenge to remember where all of them are without assistance.

[@ka1zoku_]

Another item that's useless in Final Fantasy VII is the item ink It inflicts darkness to any enemy but it does not decrease their accuracy at all

[@austa10]

Funny you mention that, it was a bug in the code the added the status but it added it in a different way so it didn't work properly. FF7 is a master class in programming. It's a great case study.

[@mattsully2238]

That's what happens when your slam 5 years of work into a 1 year development cycle. No judgement, they did the best they could. Quite frankly, I'm amazed the game runs as good as it does with the time crunch they had.

[@austa10]

@mattsully2238 there is a reason it is a Ledgendary game

[@juminlee]

​@@austa10ink caused the attack command to be less accurate but the problem was that all the monsters had named attacks and no actual "attack" command.

[@KnownAsKenji]

Wow, even more useless than Tissue, at least that one lets you know its probably garbage.

[@Iyasenu]

The Moogle item at the end reminds me of the Free Action spell you can purchase in Morrowind. The effect was Cure Paralysis on Self. But you couldn't cast it on yourself, because you'd be paralyzed. At least Cure Paralysis POTIONS could still be used in such a case.

[@atari460]

Who else was secretly hoping he'd mention the Tissue from final fantasy 7 and provide some new revelation of its use

[@franimal86]

You can use 99 of them to revive Aerith 🤭

[@KiomonDuck]

​@@franimal8699 tissues = fractured universe

[@vaanklammersteine]

IIRC, Tissues are the way the game tracks how many times you fought in the battle arena, and it would get more difficult with successive attempts... So though tissues are useless, having more in your inventory, supposedly made the battle arena more difficult (via mobs or reels options?), so getting rid of them ASAP was advised. Though I wouldn't quote me on this. :)

[@Calculusman1084]

theres dummied out text that indicates the Tissue was meant to be used after the Gold Saucer Date, or after the 'Night Together' that Cloud and Tifa have outside the Highwind. Essentially, its thought the cutscenes would play, and during the transition after, a pop up would appear saying 'Tissue Removed From Inventory'. Ohhhhh those crafty early RPG writers!

[@chuckrichardson83]

The tissues are for cloud so that he can clean him and Tifa up after their "little speciql night" under the highwind

[@michaellewis6942]

Not an "item", but the magic defense armors in the original FF7 were the definition of useless, since they didn't affect the stat in the sloghtest.

[@D33zNutzOnyaChin]

FF7: 1/35 Soldier Why… WHY?!? 😂

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

I spent hours of my life trying to figure out what that was for. I ran all over Junon looking for a door or a pedestal that needed it.

[@inthebasement2989]

Just to pickup!

[@Galaxyhoppah]

I was looking for this comment lol

[@steveoconnivo9666]

It's basically just a funkopop 😂

[@Kibernizzle]

As a kid I always wondered where the rest were and spent hours looking. As an adult I've concluded it's probably meant to be a soldier model in 1:35 size.

[@clearspira]

I've got to disagree with you about the Weapons Monthly. Back in 1999 your choice was between ''blind playthrough'' and ''spend twenty dollars on a guide''. They were crucial to knowing how to build the ultimate weapons back then. And remember, back then, you didn't know which cards to farm for each item at the start of the game either.

[@jesseberg3271]

GameFAQs did exist, and people were putting all of that information out as they figured it out, in .txt format. But if you didn't know about that, or you didn't have access to the Internet (which a lot of kids didn't) then it wouldn't help you very much.

[@mattsully2238]

Fair. I remember when your best resource for game knowledge was "that one kid at school"

[@jpined14]

@@jesseberg3271Remember most families didn’t own a PC back then. I didn’t have my first laptop until I was 14 or so and I was born in 91.

[@cashnelson2306]

gamefaqs existed in 1999 lol

[@clearspira]

@@cashnelson2306 Basically no one had a PC back then dude. And if you did, it was on an AOL dial up connection that your dad complained about because it cost too much and stopped him from using the telephone. Trust me, 99% of kids were NOT using Gamefaqs in 1999.

[@ZatomiAwake]

"Items that we're almost completely useless", Sarah from FF13-2 in the thumbnail. Savage lmao

[@rwilliamisen]

Right? Even I was like, “oh snap!”

[@kewol5901]

The worst thing is that it's not even her playable clothing, It's what she wears in 13-1 and 13-3. Y'know, The games where she's a literal MacGuffin the entire time. 😭

[@einjharrelraca]

i gotta disagree with the ff13 potion being there. paired with the doctor's code, potions become your best healing sources through the early game, probably until the 2ed or even 3rd crystarium expansion. you can even use them to block knockup effects with good timing.

[@cheffdonty]

I was really surprised when he said FFXIII potion

[@siscokidder]

there's the problem with potions though: normally they remain useful throughout the entire game, you can always chug them even when you're just about to fight the final boss, to restore HP without spending MP. but this philosophy gets shot if you automagically restore HP at the end of fights, *now* potions only have a combat use and if they restore a set amount of HP, then that amount needs to be substantial in order to remain relevant at the later parts of a game. it's just like with MMOs, if the potion restores 70-90 HP then once you have 1k HP it becomes meaningless; when you have 120 they're incredibly valuable, but for how long you'd have those HP values determines how long they remain useful. ergo, their inclusion on the list.

[@einjharrelraca]

@@siscokidder idk man. the fact that they are arguablly the best healing source in the game for about 25% of the game, and still retain some utility in the endgame makes them pretty useful in my opinion. but eh.

[@cheffdonty]

@@siscokidder potions do NOT stay useful is most games outside of just popping your reserves in menus lol. You move onto high potions pretty quick usually

[@siscokidder]

@@einjharrelracaanother way to put it is that this isn't a problem with the potions per say, it's a problem with FFXIII. the game nullifies OoC healing, which is about as valuable as in-combat healing, so the potions' design philosophy no longer matches the game.

[@ty_sylicus]

Me: Played through Final Fantasy VII multiple times over the years. Also me: Vaccine item?!

[@martymcfly88mph35]

Yeah, gives myocarditis though unfortunately

[@BenjaminGoose]

@@martymcfly88mph35 You're thinking of covid.

[@KnownAsKenji]

Honorable mention to the Imp robot from FFVI, though its not an item in any way. Thought for sure it could be a party member but noooo, some kid always gets it. I grinded the auction any my own Gil SO hard just in case. The ultimate bait. A '7 times Final Fantasy totally trolled you' would be a cool video, if it hasn't been done.

[@odeofdespair]

Likely an unfinished or unused feature. There could likely have been a recruitable imp character planned but there were too many characters in that game already. That happens a lot in games, items characters, etc. don't make it into the final product.

[@PMbarbieri]

@@odeofdespair There are a few dimmied characters in the game's files, but none of them is implied to be an imp. Given that you can get any of your characters to play as an imp, it would be useless to have a character specifically for that purpose. Plus, the robot imp is not the only unobtainable auction item: the model airship and the talking chocobo are there too.

[@gurvmlk]

That deserves an honorable mention for no other reason than tricking me into thinking there must be some way to win it when I was younger. Otherwise it wouldn't exist in the game at all.

[@SilverwindWorkshop]

I think you may have done the FF8 Magazines dirty here lol Is it really fair to call them useless just because a source outside of the game does what they do? Especially for such an early internet period?

[@richiecook5259]

Again 700th person who missed the point. The item itself isn't required, it's essentially just a recipe. Meaning after 1 playthrough... You HAVE a guide already, no internet needed.

[@kinggoldark3853]

Hard disagree on the Magic Lamp. Guaranteed summon damage, and since the order summons are called forth is not random, you can plan around using it to strike the right elementals or Odin. Additionally, it gives you access to pretty much all summons as long as you have the Chocobo in the Merged World. And as you mention, recharging it is free.

[@teethewicked]

The Magic Lamp is especially useful for utilizing Odin's Zantetsuken; normally he will only use Gungnir if any present target has Heavy status, but he only uses Zantetsuken if summoned via Magic Lamp. This is most notable in the final boss fight as one of the targets is vulnerable to instant death, but the other three targets are Heavy.

[@sjoerdhogervorst]

This exactly what I used the lamp for, and it was glorious.

[@veghesther3204]

IMHO the Magic Lamp in FF5 is still worthless.

[@lhfirex]

@@veghesther3204So you're wrong, then.

[@bradlyhaskell9821]

id say it is powerful but niche item. great item in fiesta runs especially

[@tjc3644]

I found potions with doctors code in xiii extremely useful on a low crystarium run as hp was low anyway and used in tandem with a medic greatly boosts healing as its instant and can bring people out of critical in time for the healer to cura. Also depends what character was healing as they all have vastly different spell casting speeds due to their animations

[@jasonreardon8477]

Potions in ffxiii were amazing. Its been awhile, but i remember using them as my primary source of healing most of the time as u could spam them fast without having to shift and i think taking less atb.

[@arumea5418]

I think calling FF8s magazines useless is kinda unfair considering the game released in a time period where you couldn't just google the materials, you had to actually discover things or pay money for a huge strategy guide book.

[@dansmith16]

The FFIX magazine was worthless since the internet stopped working for it.

[@richiecook5259]

Ff8 magazines is absolutely fair because you missed the point. The point is the item itself isn't required, it's essentially just a recipe. After finding all of them literally once, that save file is now a gamefaqs page of all the weapon recipes that you can revisit to your hearts content while playing again.

[@aspieatheist6040]

A lot of the "Drink" items from Final Fantasy V. You need the drink ability to even use them, which you don't get until later in the game. While it's the command that comes with the Chemist job class, that job class is not very useful in battle, so you wouldn't want to use it with that job class. Most of the effects of those drinks could be replicated by combining potions/items with the Mix ability, so they weren't necessary anyway, not to mention that the Power Drink was flat-out bugged in the first version of the game and therefore didn't even do the intended effect.

[@bradlyhaskell9821]

nowadays yeah but no guide or cheat sheet mix.... that was closer to the balance they wanted but hidden info is not a usable balance method anymore.

[@asham868]

Completelt disagree about potion, magic lamp and the magazines. All those are extremely useful. And saying that the magazine is useless essentially because internet exists is just silly.

[@DesenhoBoy]

What? The Potion is one of the best items in 13. and you can improve it's effects with another item.

[@metleon]

I was expecting the Fangs from 12 to be on here. They do fractional damage, so bosses are immune to them, and 25% max health isn't really worth it against regular enemies. If the enemy is weak to that particular element and the Pheasant Netsuke is equipped, they will instantly kill regular enemies. Though the appropriate Black Magic spell will also usually one shot regular enemies with a weakness, especially if the appropriate Staff is equipped to boost the damage. I only really see them being useful to kill the Baknamy in Nabudis if you're trying to get the good treasures there early, but it's still probably better to just run away.

[@milestraysandor5901]

First Dungeon: Should I use that potion or save it? Final Boss: I have 99 Megalixrs. Your Move.

[@Vayne_Solidor]

Optional superbosses are different, i never used an elixir in Zodiac Age until the 100 trials. (No Seitengrat, obviously)

[@thepureheartofdark]

I disagree with number 1. Early in the game, using a Doctor's code boosted potion when your AP is charging keeps you from switching to the medic job. Thus it keeps you from loosing DPS since medics can't attack at all. They can also be spammed to a degree since the use animation is so fast.

[@TheMapleTurtle]

Anyone who has played FFV Career Day Randomizer will inform you that the magic lamp is an ALL STAR. Free Bahamut, Free Leviathan, and then you save Odin to kill 1/4 of Neo Exdeath instantly. If you are still fighting Neo Exdeath, a follow up Syldra cast is also really strong.

[@bradlyhaskell9821]

godly in challenge runs strong but niche in more "normal" gameplay.

[@kain1799]

My guy sounding like he's never played a final fantasy game yet again

[@BenjaminGoose]

Your guy? Is he your boyfriend?

[@CarlMakesVideos]

Unlike the Moogle in FFA, the Moogle Belt in the sequel, Secret if Mana, is VERY useful. Using it afflicts the user with Moogle, or cures Moogle if they already have it (and you can use items when afflicted with Moogle). Since you can only have one status ailment at a time, simply using the belt twice removes any status ailment, functionally for free.

[@michaelrodriguez4818]

I love how if we had some of these items in real life, it would be world changing. A vaccine to literally everything? Yes please. A serum that instantly heals small wounds and big wounds quickly? Definitely.

[@PMbarbieri]

If the vaccine worked like in FFVII though, you would keep any illness you currently have, making it very dangerous.

[@mindlessmeat4055]

I will say that the gnomish bread in final fantasy 3 actually put gray dots on the map for places you haven't been before, at least in the pixel remaster. I found that super useful in that game.

[@gurvmlk]

That does sound kind of useful. Especially if you're not playing the game very frequently, so it becomes hard to keep track of where you have or haven't already been between sessions.

[@charlesedwinbooks]

To sort of argue in favor of the monthly weapon magazine in FFVIII, these magazines are only useless to repeat playthroughs/ veterans of that game itself. I think we often forget to review some of these items, or points, in the hands of brand new players vs the veteran players that most of us are now. And to add a little more to its usefulness the freedom of the internet didn't reign supreme as it does now. Whether your family even had internet in the 1st place to having to battle your family to get online / use the phone was a whole different problem. I know that isn't a problem today, but back then.

[@devastatheseeker9967]

I don't think the magazines are a fair pick. It's saying they're useless because you can just know what the items needed are which is using information outside the game or information you know from having played the game already

[@tomfrost6049]

Without the magazines I'm probably not getting better weapons because im not trying to spam certain cards in triple triad to convert into items or steal/mug from certain enemies for those crafting items. Those weapons mass were pivotal and dare I say, it felt so awesome to find them. Unlike when I found a magazine and it turned put to be a Timber Maniacs....

[@TacostandDj]

Definitely made a big difference back when the game came out and google was just a baby

[@georgehouliaras7239]

Chaos made Serah cry! Are there no limits to his wicked ways?

[@jamesoberry2227]

I like to do new team compositions every time I replay XIII, and I have to say, when I did a run with Sazh, Snow, and Fang, potions and Doctor’s Codes were insanely vital until I had sufficiently developed the Medic skill on Snow (and then some on Sazh for a backup). Normal play through though when you have a natural Medic on the team, yeah potions are useless outside the tutorial

[@jmarx3943]

In final fantasy VI, the beads relic increases evade on the equipped character, and that's all it does. The evade stat in this game is bugged, and does nothing, making beads worthless.

[@ericb3157]

oh, that reminds me of an annoying "feature" in FF6: "auto equip". it equips a character with the strongest weapons and equipment in your inventory that's not already equipped, but it ONLY considers the most basic stats. let me be more specific: in the first town, after the second multi-party battle, a shop there will sell you an amazing helmet called the "Green Beret". equipping it gives you a bunch of stat bonuses, including "increases max health a little." how much of an increase? about as much as gaining a level! BUT it has a Defense rating of 19, so "auto-equip" would replace it with a "Mythril Helm", which has 20 Defense...but NO ENCHANTMENTS WHATSOEVER!

[@benstevens44]

Final Fantasy VI could be its own list. If I remember correctly, the evade bug meant that the Dark status effect, intended to manipulate physical evasion, also did nothing. So the relic you could equip which would do nothing except grand immunity to that effect... totally useless. Which means I get to say: "The Goggles, they do nothing!"

[@jmarx3943]

@@benstevens44 "Up and at them!"

[@MidnightWonko]

Correct on the SNES version. Later versions fixed the evasion bug, though I still question the strategy of raising evasion when one could instead focus on making one's party the beaters of ass.

[@MidnightWonko]

@@benstevens44 Later versions of FF6 corrected the evasion bug, but even in the SNES version, darkness prevented Strago from learning Blue Magic, as he had to "witness" the spell to be able to learn it.

[@alxjones]

The fact that players can look stuff up outside of the game is a very bad reason to call an item useless. It's _the_ in-game source of that knowledge.

[@rockit2475]

Aerith’s Umbrella weapon in FF7 is pretty near useless. You can only get it in Disc 1, and you get it near the end of it too, and by that time you’ll only be able to use it for a few more hours before “you know what” happens. Plus it has zero materia slots and just goes all into damage but Aerith sucks with damage and is great with materia spells. AND you can only get it through the speed mini game at the Golden Saucer by getting 5000 points which is pretty high! It’s an all around near useless item in my opinion unless you want to try to make Aerith a damage dealer for the final few hours of disc 1 for some reason.

[@WalkerBoh84]

Honestly, she’s usually my main or #2 physical damage dealer from the Train Graveyard to probably Kalm, since that weapon you steal from Eligor is very strong for that section. You just don’t have her in the part much in that time frame.

[@WoobertAIO]

It has its uses if you're doing the Wutai sidequest. Since Yuffie steals your shit and all.

[@saladinboss2507]

Wow, that last Moogle one made me chuckle out loud awkwardly in public!

[@frontfacingjoe9235]

Say what you will about the potions in FFXIII, cause I wasn't able to beat bartandalus without it. since they were outside of the atb bar I was able to spam in the first bartandalus encounter when he did that on powerful move (I forgot which one it was) and had a slimmer of hp left for the medics to heal.

[@staples6]

The weapons monthly is a bit of a stretch. Especially for the ultimate weapons whose ingredients aren’t as likely to be in someone’s inventory already.

[@GlacierRain]

that was a very fun topic with potential for part 2. well done!

[@jg2096]

No mention of the Wymhero blade in ff12? You know the very powerful weapon you get AFTER defeating ALL the hints hunts with only the end boss to beat who you're already too strong for without it?

[@Devlington87]

Googling something wasn't exactly common in the 90s, so weapons monthly certainly had their place when FF8 was released.

[@richiecook5259]

That isn't his point. The item itself is essentially just a recipe, not actually required to begin with. Soooo when you play through the game once and get them all ... That save file IS a guide on weapon recipes now. I feel like everyone who is commenting this on repeat, didn't play the game. I don't blame you all though, 8 sucked coconuts through a narrow urethra.

[@Devlington87]

@@richiecook5259 I played it repeatedly the year it came out on the original grey PlayStation, the one where the power button had "power" written on instead of the power symbol even. I played it so much I had to blow on the CD and press reset a dozen times for it to start (which definitely helped it work, lol). I think FF8 is great. The sullen stoic protagonist expressing his feelings through the zany entourage he's surrounded himself with is clever story telling and the Ragnarok was the best airship IMO. Weapons monthly didn't help you to find the items, so I see the point there, and a memory card with a late game save file would indeed be worth it's weight in gold if you could find it for a later replay.

[@FinalFrantasy]

I just recently got use out of magic lamp on my 4 Job Fiesta run! Definitely useful under those restrictions

[@Mr.Lismos]

i disagree on the FF8 weapons montly. put yourself in the shoes of a first time player, unless they go around and grind or farm item like madmans most likely they won't be able to craft the higher level ones. so id say for a first time player of ff8, the weapon montly is a good reference on which items you need to build better weapons

[@Vayne_Solidor]

Well, VII Remake Hard Mode disables items, so they are really useless.

[@gogauze]

But, if you already happened to know that-because, say, you didn't get around to playing it for a year after release-you would just use them when you needed to. Also, moogle medals were farmable, sooo... I'm playing through Rebirth on Dynamic first, and I've absolutely needed to pop a few Elixirs here and there. I won't need them once I'm sitting on a pile of maxed out materia anyway...

[@KnownAsKenji]

What's even the point of that? Can't you just not use items if you don't want to? Oh, let me guess, Platinum Trophies.

[@riemaennchen]

Thats why I started spamming items towards the end of Rebirth because I figured its gonna be same in that game.

[@tomfrost6049]

Thats why im happy not playing hard mode, items saved my akin so many times. Mist mega/giga potions were the MVP of my entire playthrough lmao

[@Vayne_Solidor]

​@@KnownAsKenjiHard Mode is the best part of the Remake. And items being disabled is part of the fun, yes.

[@Petersmith57921]

I really love your calming voice its so nice to relax too

[@SludgeBob_]

I don't even remember seeing Vaccine in VII

[@nmarchan]

Going to nominate Phoenix Down from FFXIV. First of all, IT CANNOT BE USED IN COMBAT. Honestly, that's enough to make the list right there. Second, if you're dead in an instance and your team is out of combat, a healer (or 2 out of 3 magic dps) can resurrect you on the spot, or you can just release to the start of the instance and run/teleport back. Third, if you're NOT in an instance but an open zone, each character can play all classes, so literally anyone around could immediately switch to healer and res you, then switch back. Fourth, you can only hold one Phoenix Down in your inventory at a time, so even if you wanted to use them you can only do it once. Literally the only use for Phoenix Down is IF you're in one of the game's 3 "deep dungeons", AND the rest of your team is dead, AND you aren't in combat, AND you aren't playing a class with a resurrection spell, AND you don't think you can reach a Cairn of Return (which resurrects your whole party when you touch it) without dying yourself.

[@DarkFrozenDepths]

Honestly, I feel like Elixirs in FF13 were even more useless than potions simply cause there was so very little of them and that pressured you to never use them outside of a few instances. And when you got strong enough to not need Elixirs, that basically took all the reasons why Potions fell off, but now with an item you get only about 4 times tops in the entire game.

[@groudonvert7286]

An Elixir fully heal your party (unless a character is Koed) and restore your TP. In a Casual Playthrough it can be considered as an emergency item or, at the very least, they're useful for Toise farming. In speedrun and other challenges, they're very useful for specific fights that would go much more badly without them.

[@madaraman27]

😮😮13 is my favorite game and I had no clue elixirs were even in the game. I definitely buy that there's hardly any can I play the game at least five times and haven't found a single one

[@groudonvert7286]

@@madaraman27 There are 4 Elixirs in the game. One is in a chest guarded by the Immortal in chapter 13. The other are gained from dismantling the 3 Doctor's Code.

[@DarkFrozenDepths]

@@madaraman27 you get one in one of the areas in Orphan's cradle (you have to fight one of those big, machine-like enemies first), and the others come from dismantling the 3 Doctor's Codes (when it's at max lv) you can find in the game.

[@Vayne_Solidor]

Long Gui (superboss), it helps a lot there

[@Tony_409]

So like a lot of the accessories from FFXV similar to the Bulletproof Vest?

[@rkfakes]

12s pebble and knot of rust it just always felt like you got the zonk in a lottery game with the game telling you "here, take this, which wont sell for anything, but at least its.. something"

[@RagnarokiaNG]

I found FF13 potions to be very useful for a lot of the early chapters with the double healing accessory as your max HP stays quite low for a long time so it can effectively remove the need to swap to a healer to get faster battle times.

[@QuantumYuri]

Them saying that the Moogle Item is a nod to the mischievous nature of moogles reminds me of the infamous "It's not a bug, it's a feature" meme 😅

[@gurvmlk]

I've never understood that saying. If a feature is such a mess that it can be mistaken as a bug, that just means that the developers did such a horrible job at making their game that people playing it are assuming it's broken when it's not. And why would you want to admit to that? If I made a game, I would love for people to mistake terrible features as bugs. At least then the issue looks like an oversight, rather than the result of deliberate incompetence.

[@obsidianblack7249]

The items that only serve as a "You did it!" like the Iron card in FF3 or the Wyrmhero blade in FF12.

[@franimal86]

I always thought there was something off about vaccines in FF7, cuz of the battle square, but I didn’t know about it resisting positive status effects. Now I’m wondering if the spell “Resist” did the same thing

[@cipaternet]

mans said "just look up how to create the weapons in FF8" as though everyone had home computers with internet access in 1999

[@NovaSaber]

Magic Lamp isn't that bad. If it was random it would be be bad (but still better than the consumable Magicite from FFVI), but with a fixed order it's fine

[@dereckwilliams9955]

Awesome video, as always😊

[@ayakotami3318]

I flund the Potions on XIII myself quite useful till I glt Cura. It may not heal a lot but it helps in a pinch. . .especially at the beginning when your characters aren't yet a l'Cie.

[@mattsully2238]

Ff7 tissue or 1/16 soldier

[@GaNopper]

I mean... potions are broken good in FFXIII. The correct equipment and you heal 2k+ instant AoE, which is crucial for most superbosses who can reduce party hp to 1 if you need a quick response.

[@castorvolk]

00:55 ah yes, the powerful magic spell: grenade.

[@DuskoftheTwilight]

I think including the Weapons Monthly items on this list is a bit harsh, when FF8 came out we weren't quite in the era of online guides being ubiquitous, so having an in game way to communicate what items you needed to aim for for weapon upgrades as opposed to just randomly happening upon the combinations is a good thing.

[@Vyzar]

I gotta call out the Potoin from FF7: Dirge or Cerberus! Not the potion, the Potoin item specifically. Unless I'm missing something it heals you for 1 HP and that's it, and I can't think of many items in the entire franchise more useless than that lol

[@rockit2475]

Yeah the Potoin is just supposed to be a joke item. It’s a cool item when you see it that way

[@PMbarbieri]

Meanwhile, the rare Elixor is much more powerful than the Elixir.

[@heavymetalweatherman7774]

Great content lately. Keep it up!

[@norascarletempress]

I would say, the Phoenix down in FFXIV

[@frankbrodie5168]

Especially since it limits you to one. Well for dungeon use anyway. I'm fully aware that in the field areas your Chocobo saddlebag isn't classed as you holding the item. So you can stash one in there also. And am I right that you can't even use it if you're in battle anyway? Making it about as useful as saving you 10 seconds once every 3 years gameplay time if you revived a healer out of battle in a dungeon with one. Something I have actually done ONCE in my entire 8 years playing the game. lol

[@norascarletempress]

@@frankbrodie5168 yeah, you can only hold one and it can't be used in combat.

[@emmeownelan2076]

It can be useful in deep dungeons, but that's about it

[@TedBarton91]

I feel the FF8 one was harsh. That game came out before we all had internet, those magazines were absolutely essential to work out what items you needed to craft the correct weapon. The alternative would’ve been to just collect everything and hope, or pay the extortionate price for the game guide

[@donstarlancer]

Lol at that Moogle item😂

[@genkaiba15]

I know it was intended as useless, but my mind jumped immediately to the 1/35 Soldier from FF VII

[@dansmith16]

Gotta collect them all

[@FalloutJack]

I will point out something very important regarding the Final Fantasy 5 Magic Lamp: This is not how it works in the original game. They are referring to *later releases only.* If you are playing, for instance, the original or Anthologies version of Final Fantasy 5, the Magic Lamp situation is different and OP. There is a payment at the waterfall to obtain the lamp, and as long as you have the requirement in trade, the waterfall will continue to dispense Magic Lamps, as they are one-use Bahamut-summoning items. I had *FIFTY* of them, and I tilted them into the face of many enemies in the void world, and used almost nothing BUT the Magic Lamps in the final battle. It is probably because of this that the game was changed, because while it MAY have suffered a little in the damage quality, it was literally just back-to-back Bahamut, remaining totally effective in combat unto the very end.

[@gurvmlk]

To be fair though, that's probably also why it's so hidden. It's the kind of thing you'd probably never find without some sort of guide, or playground hearsay. Hence, you should be able to abuse it if you do find it.

[@FalloutJack]

@@gurvmlk Oh, indeed, especially if you had the materials to pay the cost. I just found it because I'm a nut who explores. 😁

[@gurvmlk]

@@FalloutJack I would never think to explore in that sense, but I can imagine some people doing so. Especially wandering into an area that seems to be almost pointless, it gets you feeling like there has to be something there.

[@Boneidolfitness]

The masamune blade and tissue in FF7

[@overtlycriticaldork3524]

How about a favorite item? I've always loved the 'spoon' throwable. Just a guess here but it probably saved me 30% battle time against the last boss.

[@heroshadow42]

The Moogle Plush sounds like the Teddy Bear from Earthbound

[@feychrysalis2501]

Magic Lamp is far from useless. Specifically because it's the only way to force Odin to one shot part of NED, a feat which isn't normally possible (bc the Lamp is hardcoded to always use Zantetsuken, but if you used a normal summon it would Gungnir instead if any Heavy enemies are in the fight, and the back of NED isn't Heavy so instakills work on it even though the other three parts aren't). In fact, I would venture to say that using it for damage, instead of for the utility summons, is what would make one consider it useless (as you kinda point out by making that the thing you claim makes it useless), but it really shines for the incredible utility it brings. FFV thrives off of exploiting weaknesses of bosses, so bringing out catoblepas to petrify one of the many susceptible to it, or using Odin to immediately take out the highest hp segment of NED (if you save it, skipping his last phase entirely) is what makes it so powerful.

[@StarGeminiZ]

The Moogle Plushie was a better mechanic in Earthbound.

[@MissDerpina2606]

I'm pretty sure in FFVIII we need the Weapons Monthly magazine before the weapons will be available in the shops to upgrade. I think we don't need to view/read the magazine after acquiring it to upgrade the weapons. But we need to collect it for the weapons to be available in the shops for the upgrade.

[@ThundagaT2]

Nope you dont. I never get weapons monthly 1st and i can always craft Lionheart once i get the materials. Besides its possible to actually make Lionheart before weapons monthly 1st can even be picked up (the magazine itself can be found as early as disc 1 at Deling City while controlling Rinoa to climb those boxes, you can enter the manhole cover and go into the sewer and find it there, funnily enough its only there while controlling Rinoa, and not later on when you have Squall and Irvine). Lionheart can be made earlier than that as soon as you have access to the Galbadia continent, and you either refine the Minotaur card to get 10 Adamantine, or raise the average party level above 30 and fight the Adamantoise on the beach near Dollet and have them drop it. Its also not true for the Combat King magazines for Zell's limit finishers, as long as you know the inputs and the sequence of moves, you can use all of Zell's moves and finishers right from the start, they just wont show up in the command list because you dont know them yet, but you can still use them. However it is true for the Pet Pals magazines, those actually need to be read for the limits they give to show up in the list for Rinoa to learn them.

[@MissDerpina2606]

@@ThundagaT2 I disagree because I clearly remember when I played the game that the weapons were not available in the shops for the upgrade until after collecting the magazines. But I'll check again. Also in which console did you play? I played mine on PS4. Maybe that feature is not available in PS4.

[@ThundagaT2]

@@MissDerpina2606 It was like that on the original ps1 version. The list of items just doesnt appear in the shop until you either read the magazine, or collect the items

[@MissDerpina2606]

@@ThundagaT2 I see. Thanks for the information.

[@dorping_Wolf]

okay, if we talk about the FF8 Weapons Monthly, then you should side note Zells Combat King magazines. as like the weapons monthly, they are not needed for Zell to use these limits. but also: its just for one character, and also these attacks are not even worth using ,since their inputs take to long (compared to base attack inputs) and even end his Duel limit prematurely.

[@darkmatter32x]

Elixirs. We all keep saying 'I will use it for "THAT" enemy.' But we never did use it until the end.

[@sashaanne703]

I can’t think of a single time I’ve used a status recovery item or an elemental ward potion in FFXIV. Granted, I haven’t done much Deep Dungeon, and the status recovery items might have use there, but the ward potions? Those are relics of a bygone era, imo.

[@BlakeAustin2011]

These were important in pre-Stormblood. In 4.0 Esuna it became a role action for all healers at a low level of 10. Prior, it was a white mage only ability. Leeches was a scholar equivalent. Note I’m saying the jobs. These were 30+ abilities at the time, if I recall. So paralyze and poison and gravity could be massively painful if not dealt with via pots. Additionally, healers had very limited mp resources until closer to endgame (scholars were not has handcuffed), and Esuna or leeches used a lot of mp. Thus the importance of antidotes and echo drops. The ward potions are truly a relic of the past, but they had a strong use at one point. That’s better than never having a use.

[@ManuFortis]

Should have mentioned phoenix downs. By the time you need one, if you are a decent player at least, you'll have revive spells instead. Or access to an inn, etc. They were so useless, Cloud didn't even bother to use one on Aerith. They're really only useful at all in the very start of the game, or during boss battles perhaps. But even then, proper healing and spell usage solves that for the most part. Heck, even in the MMO's, they basically are used less than most items. And again, spell access.

[@neubro1448]

To get to the point, the video starts 2:21.

[@scottydu81]

In FF1, if you buy as many Pure potions as you can with the cost of the Pure spell, you’ll never run out.

[@19Szabolcs91]

The item that summons the Fat Chodobo in FF3 DS... since the Fat Chocobo doesn't really do anything useful, since, unlike the Famicom FF3, you have infinite inventory.

[@timothyoswald8618]

Wait... I didn't dream FF Adventure?! No one ever mentions it.

[@WarriorVirtue]

There is one item that comes to mind. It's not from Final Fantasy (I know, blasphemy) but there's an item in The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess that you obtain late in the game called the Horse Caller. As the name suggests, it's an item that lets you summon Link's horse anywhere. The problem is that by the time you get it, you'll have fully unlocked the game's fast travel system, making your horse and thus the Horse Caller obsolete.

[@StubbsDK]

The scale Soldier items in 7!

[@aaronebsen4057]

Thought the tonic from ff7 would definitely be here. There are only 2 or three in the game. Came only from fort condor battles. And i never found a use anywhere in game for these things.

[@RyuSaarva]

Calling VIII weapon magazines useless because you can just look up that info online is a bit of a weird take.

[@Romnonaldao]

The point they are making is more that the magazines don't do anything except tell you how many of each item is needed. The magazine doesn't unlock the weapons, and they don't give clues on how to get the required items. So the magazines only make one step in weapon crafting slightly easierbut has no effect on the actual process in anyway

[@RyuSaarva]

@@Romnonaldao They do give clues, the item names tells you which monsters you should farm to get items drops and if you have already gotten some of them, then you know which enemies they drop from.

[@Romnonaldao]

@RyuSaarva the items names do not at all tell you what monsters drop them. You might be able to infer what drops some of them, such as "Fish Fins", but "Curse Spikes" or "Star Fragments" could be from anything. There's no hint in the magazines what drops those items. So, without looking on the internet, a player would have to fight and kill every monster and keep notes on what they drop and at what level they drop them, or play a shit ton of Triple Triad in the hopes that some of the cards become those items. But remember, no internet for this player, so they have no idea what players have what cards, or where to find the unique cards. By the time a player researched monster drops and card players to that extent, they would probably already have whatever items they need for weapon upgrades, and again they wouldn't have needed the weapon monthly magazines for that since the upgrades become available once you have all the items, not if you have the magazines or not.

[@RyuSaarva]

@@Romnonaldao Well they helped me when I was playing this game during release.

[@AnonymousUser35]

Ethers in 14 these days. Now that everyone's max mp is 10000 no matter the player's job or level, the base ether is useless even at low levels. It only ever restores 600mp as of the release of the Shadowbringers expansion. This is only enough to be able to cast 1-3 spells, depending on the job. Meanwhile all the various mages gain access to Lucid Dreaming at level 14 which restores significantly more mp over 21 seconds with a 60 second cooldown, in addition to various job specific methods to manage mp.

[@dopaminejunkyGG]

magic lamp? useless? this guy never did a 4 job fiesta before

[@mexmexican8619]

I never understood the viii weapon system and never got weapons past the 2nd you can get

[@silliestring]

When I first played FF7 I needed to use the vaccines to beat the final boss because of the transforming effects, so I wouldn't call it completely useless. I think you find most of them in the final area too, so I'm pretty sure that's what they were meant for

[@mjbuffalo716]

This is the first time I’ve heard about the Weapons Monthly thing about VIII, and I’ve been spending a quarter of a century scouring for those in order to make those weapons!! 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Imagino1234]

If we're counting key items, I would say the Lute from the very first Final Fantasy counts as a useless item. Sure, it's a gift from one of the princesses at the start of the game, but it serves no purpose whatsoever to the story thereafter.

[@aspieatheist6040]

In the original NES version of the game, you had to play the lute to open the final portion of the final dungeon. That was its use.

[@NeoSarinatan]

@@aspieatheist6040 That's true in literally every version of the game, Imagino has no idea that they're talking about.

[@Rhys-Lightning]

I liked potions in Star Ocean. Potion restored 20% of maximum HP meaning they still their use even at end game. High potions restored 40%, and so on.

[@keeganlafferty1395]

hold up, the Secret of Mana series originated from a Final Fantasy spin-off?

[@enchantersupremacy7096]

I remember buying 99 potions in the early game cause I thought I'd need to heal out of combat