7 Most Frustrating Puzzles In Final Fantasy History

[@PurpleSais77]

I pulled an all nighter doing the deep sea research centre in FFVIII. The save point doesn’t become available until you’ve completed the final fight. It was just beginning to get light when I beat ultima weapon. I went to the save point and accidentally hit load instead of save.

[@reversecolin1256788]

wow this may seem rude and it is but I am being sincere thank you for making me feel smart I am usually not!

[@lionhearte1]

And I think the save point at the bottom is invisible too without Move-Find...I really feel for you on that one though!

[@Sacrengard]

RIP

[@wcjerky]

F. Even worse news is that place is the best place to max speed through collecting Curse Spikes and refining 100 of them ad nauseum. Also, Quistis' limit break.

[@ristilukki]

Gotta love those moments. I lost my lvl 100 Chain of Memories save by muscle memoring a new save game over it. Lost so many hours of grinding cards. Never have returned to CoM since.

[@noahhobson4521]

I actually found the Bevelle Cloister to be worse than the Macalania Cloister, but that's more due to the tight windows for some of the button presses to change paths. A puzzle you didn't mention was the Chocographs from IX. Playing Chocobo Hot and Cold was fun for me, finding exactly where to go was not. I've never managed to get the deep sea chocograph without looking at a guide.

[@russrollins9978]

One thing I found while doing the Bevelle Cloister is that if you hold down the X button (PS) as you approach the junction you will usually get it. This is especially true for the ones with only 2 directions to choose from.

[@veghesther3204]

For FFX I do find Bevelle Cloister the worst part of the game puzzle wise.

[@67Daidalos]

I'm here with you. For Macalania temple, with logic and method, you can figure it out, though it may take you some time and backtracking. I found much more frustrating that when you know what you have to do, but the game just says "No, you haven't press the button in the right timing"... For me, it's the pinnacle of frustration (that or anything involving luck... like the chocobo racing)

[@TheBlackSeraph]

Bevelle's cloister is more frustrating, but at least you're guaranteed to get the destruction sphere. Macalania's destruction sphere chest is fairly easy to miss and if you do on PAL/International/HD versions, then you have to contend with Dark Shiva blocking the entrance if you want to look for it later. Have to disagree with chocobo hot & cold - I found it enjoyable and, if not easy, at least manageable.

[@noahhobson4521]

@@TheBlackSeraph I love Chocobo Hot and Cold. What I don't love is finding the chests that the Chocographs show the locations of.

[@balkthor]

Anyone who though Garamsythe was hard clearly never tried to 100% the Great Crystal in Zodiac, including weapons.

[@DAMusic-qu2ec]

Worst part of Macalania temple was completing the puzzle and then accidentally stepping on the pedestal reset tile.

[@deathnotehell1]

I mean it could be worse with Macalania Temple. You could have had the European version of the game meaning that once you found out that you needed those destruction sphere's to get Anima, you headed back to the Temple only to find out that Dark Shiva was there. That was a fun thing to fun into when I was seven.

[@ThundagaT2]

HD version does this too, so everyone gets to experience that now lol

[@shannonmaddox4743]

Zanmato, my friend

[@deathnotehell1]

@@shannonmaddox4743 Honestly kid me's reaction to getting their ass kicked by Dark Shiva and seeing how fast it moved in the attack order was something like "screw this. I'm going back to FF6 and try to figure out how to continue in ZoZo." I didn't realise you could jump from window to window and instead thought you needed to do the clock puzzle.

[@TheBlackSeraph]

First time I played FFX on PS2 I didn't know about destruction spheres and missed out on the one in Besaid Village. Got quite a surprise when I returned to Besaid to try and pick it up... :(

[@gejamugamlatsoomanam7716]

Ffx International for asia on ps2 had the dark aeons as well. Only north american release didn't have them

[@CALLOUSNarrates]

Personally I think you're missing the single worst and most frustrating one of all- The Great Crystal in the original FF12. It's not bad at all in The Zodiac Age with all the added convenience features, but in the original game it is absolutely hellacious.

[@torsvik2024]

The hidden cave in ffx-2, where you had to keep track of, amongst other things, how many combat encounters you have had, how many cheats you had opened, the number pin for the last gate you opened, and then do arithmetic to solve the current gate pin. There were 16 gates I think (it's been years since i played it). It was... a lot.

[@Pendergast891]

Im shocked you chose garamscythe over the Great Crystal as far as puzzles go. The lack of a usable map made navigating harder and keeping track of where gates are located and their switches

[@scribble71891]

The great crystal is unforgivable. Most people also forget the sub areas' convoluted naming was a puzzle in itself. How the devs expected anyone to figure that shit out is beyond me. It had everything it needed to be a great late-game dungeon, but they ruined it.

[@dantevic]

​@@scribble71891had to go online and draw out the map of the puzzle to even do it. Shit was impossible going in blind. Imagine people who didn't change internet during those ps2 days

[@TheBlackSeraph]

I think what makes Garamsythe Waterway evil is that you can spend ages on the sluice gate and be comfortable with the enemies you're fighting, but then end up fighting Cuchulainn the Impure who, if you don't know what you're dealing with, can decimate higher level parties because of continuous HP loss and a tendency to cast status ailments including disease. The Great Crystal is harder as a dungeon, but it's more consistent in its difficulty curve

[@TrixTrix228]

the strange thing with garmscythe is i managed to get to cuchulainn just by winging it. i didn't even know i was gonna fight an esper in there but i managed to managed to navigate the place without too many problems. great crystal however i had a hard time navigating cause everything looked the same with their rooms and there was no map

[@BrianOfAteionas]

@@scribble71891 Worst puzzle ever. I'm generally good at puzzles unless they ask too much of my memory. The convoluted naming was so confusing that the guide I used got it wrong. Worst ever lol

[@ramiel555]

Great Crystal in FF 12 is way more annoying to navigate. I spent TEN hours straight in there running around before I got to the boss/was able to save the game again. I was sooooo freakin paranoid about the power going out, or the game freezing, or just dying and losing all my progress.

[@BB-te8tc]

The worst part of the lightning tower recalibration is the distracting stock animations of the characters when you press each button. It makes me think that I have to wait until Rikku's done her little jump slash before I can press another button.

[@RVMan985]

Additionally, the worst part of the calibration is that it in no way shape or form affect your 100%. In fact, the game actively punishes you for calibrating each tower because in Chapter 5, when you fight Rhyos in the Thunder Plains, you will get a worse prize for every calibration or nothing at all. The guides say you will get something for each calibratin, but no, this minigame is busted and it hasn't been fixed in the HD Remaster. You do get the Samura's Honor Garment Grind and provided you got the Samurai Dressphere, it's almost useless.

[@CasualKeem]

For me the most frustrating part of Macalania Temple is that it kills the flow of the story. Story wise i get it. The Guado are trying to trap or stall the party. Still my gosh they did their job too well. After taking down the first major storyline boss, the mind is pumped to see what happens next. Only to be stuck sliding on ice for soooooo long😢.

[@n-ip01357]

This is so true! It's such a jarring change in pacing. 😂

[@imnoexpert1926]

Especially when you're like 10 years old I got stuck there for dayssss back then lol by time I finally did the puzzle I forgot what was even going on in the story

[@MrMeowstic7]

No shame in looking up guides

[@imnoexpert1926]

@@MrMeowstic7 I personally barely had computer access back then lol you woulda needed the strategy guide

[@CasualKeem]

@@MrMeowstic7 Not even the best guide can save you from how much time is lost waiting for that pedestal to slide on the ice.

[@n-ip01357]

While the Macalania Temple is frustrating, I found Bevelle's to be even moreso. The timing was so unreliable for confirming directions when navigating on the floating pedestal. It was far too easy to miss arrows purely due to poor timing of the flashes, rather than any sort of input error. It was so annoying, ugh. ;w; That said, the Final Fantasy X-2 tower calibration puzzle still gives me nightmares to this day. 😂

[@Assaultwatertaffy]

There was actually a bit of a trick to it. The arrows actually had two sets of patterns so about 50% of the time you'd move over the arrows you actually COULDN'T press the right one before hitting the end. You would look at the first set before you start moving to select the right pattern for the area you were trying to go to.

[@n-ip01357]

@@Assaultwatertaffy That is so interesting! I'll look for that the next time I play through X!

[@hashim2586]

Can confirm as I’ve done each and everyone of these at least twice (except icicle ridge). But i’d pick the great crystal over garamsythe watarway, there is just simply no way you make any reasonable progress without either manually drawing a map yourself or looking up for a map online. No way you’d ever just stumble upon ultima or omega by chance, and get decimated, you’d have work your ass to get all the way up and then get decimated.

[@hashim2586]

and whoever decided to put that save crystal outside of Aquarius switch, bless your soul.

[@Kaimine08]

The puzzle in FFVIII's Ultimecia castle where you had to figure out the paintings was the one that stumped me more than any of these puzzles. Although yes, a lot of these puzzles were nightmares.

[@_p_5764]

Was looking for this comment. Even needed a walkthrough for the castle.

[@ramiel555]

Dawg, same, I still don't know what you're supposed to do, and that's my favorite game in the series, lol

[@natecunha2795]

LOL, I'm currently re-playing FFX2 after many years and I JUST dealt with the lightning tower recalibration yesterday... (I think I had blocked it from my memory, but this video is quite timely)

[@davids2977]

Tower calibration has become a “I’m going to mash the buttons on each of these, fail each one, and move on,” activity for me.

[@lunarhail3559]

And that’s giving it enough time lol

[@mitenne69]

The reverse button. I remember, i must write on paper to push in the order

[@Forever_Zero]

For some reason never had trouble with the Macalania Temple puzzle, but the Bevelle one, for some reason I couldn't process it and got stuck for hours in my first playthrough

[@SwordsmanOrion]

Rikku's idle animation while someone else is doing their minigame is precious.

[@clearspira]

It genuinely amazes me that there is no trophy linked to tower recalibration.

[@rondeezy_thepancakeslayer1242]

The bane of my existence

[@callmeshaggy5166]

Thank god for that too. By the 4th or 5th towers you literally have to guess inputs as you will fail before they're even displayed.

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

There isn't one for getting all Garment Grids?

[@rikudaman]

@@QuantemDeconstructorThere isn't one. You also only need to do 5 towers for the garment grid. You don't need to do any to get 100%, you just need to watch the cutscene of the guy asking for help.

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

@@rikudaman yeah you're right, for some reason I thought the 10 full calibration reward was a Garment Grid Lady Luck makes getting all dress spheres VERY annoying though

[@NuevaBestia]

Shout out to ma boi Nasir for coding that sliding puzzle behind Sakaguchi's back in Final Fantasy I 🫡

[@paulnewhouse5126]

Nasir also did a lot of the programming for Secret of mana, The man is a legend. Even John Romero respected his work.

[@reloadpsi]

And just coding in general. His RPG code may have been a little buggy, but his code for tricking the NES into doing cool graphical stuff should've earned him renown alongside John Carmack in terms of how well he could push the resources available.

[@SolstaceWinters]

First time (and every time after) that I played FF12, I bumbled into Garamsythe Waterway after the initial plot. Thought it would be a good place to level up early on... turned out all my level 10 rats, bats, and ghosts were replaced with level 60 basalisks, gigantoads, and malboro overlords. Scared the crap out of me at first... but it didn't stop me. I started practicing Mists instead. There's a full-heal save crystal RIGHT THERE in the sewer entrance, so I just started full healing, then nuking, rinse/repeat. I both got good at Mists, and eventually learned how to stack enough Mist damage to kill those level 60 foes, getting insanely good treasures to sell, leveling up RAPIDLY, and I think even getting some later game equipment from the loot I sold at the bazaar. Pretty sure I got the Yoichi arrows and/or bow set from doing it, maybe I'm misremembering. But it was hilarious.

[@wiseguise5960]

The great crystal in XII trying to get to Mark fight. I never got to it even after following a guide for each gate. Frustrated me to no end!

[@mrskye08]

What's even more frustrating is when i got to omega mark 12, and it's sleeping 🫠🫠🫠 i didn't know there are other bosses you need to kill first before omega wakes up

[@jennyf-eg5gl]

Omg...giant pain in the butt. I panic slightly when ff15 map disappeared when you went into the vaults. I was like hell, no...I am not going through that again. Luckily, it wasn’t so bad. The panic was real. 😅

[@jekw23]

@@mrskye08I followed a guide years ago to get to it. Took ages. So exhausted just finding it. It basically one shot me and I said “forget this” and never went back to it. Tried again with Zodiac Age and didn’t even manage to get to it. The great crystal is a giant pain

[@mrskye08]

@@jekw23 hmm im sure you don't even wanna go back but here's my suggestion: Look for maps with names. Each zone actually had a name. The names are like indian words and it's confusing. But a map with the names is going to help you see what area you're exactly at. The map should also have correspoding gates (usually colored) so that you would know which where is the lock and which gate it will open. Focus on the map orientation, as if you're driving a car. Map orienteering is very important, more important than the enemies. So it's better if you're at a point where you can easily wipe enemies instantly so you can focus your attention to the map. But mind you even at level 99 enemies can still overwhelm you because there are tons of zombie like enemies there. Just have a good gambit system to automate. Most map guides are fairly accurate. Like it shows the exact position of the exits. Use that when orienting. For example: the map has 3 exits close to each other at one side and 1 exit at the other side. It should look the same in-game as well, and i use that to reorient myself. Personally i find the great crystal fairly easy to navigate with a map. I easily did the rare hunt as well as got all treasure, then fought ultima. But when i went to omega it's still sleeping because I haven't defeated the others.

[@jekw23]

@@mrskye08 thanks. Very helpful. The guides did help. It was more the time and effort to navigate…..just sucked all the energy out of me. No doubt I will go back again one day and pick the rest of the rare loot (and finally defeat Omega). I still have a few other super bosses to defeat.

[@zacheray]

I remember getting heated at the FFX ice sliding puzzle and wondering if i had to come back later.. pretty sure i got it though

[@keyblademasterclark]

I always thought Bevelle's was more frustrating

[@absi49]

if im not mistaken that garamsythe waterway puzzle have hints that you can find scattered around rabanastre, so its not as BS as people make

[@joshuariddensdale2126]

I just knew the clock puzzles from 13-2 would be on here. Some of them are ridiculously hard without cheating. As in, there are sites that instantly give you the solution after you screenshot the clock in question.

[@mrskye08]

Yeah i gave up on this too and went to the websites for solution

[@ThundagaT2]

The thing that bothers me the most about that puzzle is the ones that are timed. So Im under time pressure right, no big deal. But then they go and change the puzzle's layout every time you fail. Time pressure plus changing the solution is very frustrating. However the ones that dont have a time limit are fine, because those dont change at all, so i can just figure it out by taking my time.

[@sh4d0wfl4re]

@@ThundagaT2 I believe the game starts giving you more of the puzzles without a time limit after failing enough times, which is actually worse for my brain. It meant that I had to beat the puzzle before it gave me a freebie easy mode

[@LordPegasusBudda]

I never even knew that there were sites for this one ... I did them on my own with hours of determination and anger

[@UndertakerU2ber]

Really? I didn’t think the clock puzzles were that bad. I definitely needed to try the harder ones multiple times, but it was all about getting the “feel” of how the arms move around the clock based on the numbers: Which ones send it 45°, 90°, 180°, etc. Based on the layout of numbers, you’d generally want to knockout the higher, unpredictable numbers first before doing the lower, predictable ones. That is, unless there are numbers scattered across the clock. That’s when the higher numbers become more valuable since lower numbers are likely to result in dead ends due to the large amount of gaps on the clock.

[@ladynikkie]

The waterway puzzle in 12 is not that bad, but a real annoying puzzle is the great crystal, especially if you're trying to get to Altima or Omega MKXII. THAT'S A TRUE ANNOYING PUZZLE!

[@MullilluM]

Id give an honorable mention to that platforming puzzle dungeon in FF15

[@bardinblue9830]

Most frustrating puzzles in Final Fantasy games? Literally the entirety of Final Fantasy X and X-2. Hands down. Especially when attempting to not only acquire, but also power up the Celestial Weapons. Most other Final Fantasy games, you just needed to find the right treasure chests, fight the right bosses, or grind certain enemies an unconscionable number of times until a weapon got randomly dropped. What had to be done to find and power up all of the weapons was frustrating and mind-numbing! I was only able to fully power Rikku, Yuna, and Auron's weapons. If anyone was able to fully dodge 200 lightning bolts in a row with no pause, or catch all the blue butterflies without hitting a red and triggering a battle, or collect enough balloons while dodging birds while riding the most unresponsive chocobo in all of Final Fantasy... then I applaud you and hope you still have some active brain cells remaining. I couldn't do it. And admittedly, I had absolutely NO desire to play Blitzball beyond what was absolutely necessary.

[@lordnoodle2146]

I got them all bare the lightening dodging one because fuck that noise. At least there was some skill you could improve to get the rest but the lightening bolt one was made to be as random as possible and it is just tedious. There was an attempt to make blitzball fun, there was an attempt to make the chocobo racing game interesting and there was an attempt to make the red butterfly mini game straightforward. The lightening bolt was just you know this think you hate we programmed it in so do it, I don't know 200 times, no guage, perfectly or whatever. Is the prize worth it atleast? No let's make the magic user with a magic based overdrive have an attack based ultimate weapon. I have done blitzball in the past and enjoy the mini game but it is far far too much to get everything you need In comparison Macalania is annoying but pretty easy the only thing that can make it annoying is the fact if you miss it first time then there is too strong super boss to beat...

[@keyblademasterclark]

I've fully powered Yuna's, Rikku's, Auron's, and Wakka's. I have no desire to ever use Kimahri, and the other two are just too damn frustrating

[@ingridvanya]

I got a save on my ps2 memorycard with all the weapons. I don't no how 16 year old me did that, but I did. Tbh with help on the butterflies and the chocobo race. Did the lighting all on my own. A few years ago I tried again, but as soon as I started dodging the lighting I was like: nope, not doing this ever again. So I didn't get it again.

[@callmeshaggy5166]

@@lordnoodle2146 there's a very well-known lightning cheese where you get it to predictably strike the same spot every time. It just still takes nearly 20 minutes to do.

[@ThundagaT2]

The chocobo race isnt that bad if you take the time to learn its mechanics. A lot of people think that you dont have control over the chocobo when you actually do lol. Is it awkward to control sure, but you do have control over it.

[@sethkaiser7423]

I rather go with the sewers 1000 times than giruvegan zodiac gates puzzle in FFXII. Not only it does not have a map, some gates required you to go far end to another with a limit timer and also annoying enemies to bypass.

[@mistydolphin2524]

Worth a mention: the cave in ffx2's thunder plains. When you enter the cave, you are given a number. When you examine the next door, you are given another number. You have to add them together, but you are also given another number which would have to be added to the next door's number. Sounds easy right? Not even close. As they get more complex they start demanding that you memorize the codes to previous doors to add together, but also the number of battles you've fought since entering and the amount of gil you've gained or lost since entering. Thankfully you can remove the last 2 from the equation by equipping gear that prevents random battles. You better have a pen and paper on hand, and a calculator if you ever hope to try it. And if at any point you mess up and lost track, or accidentally pressed x too fast and missed the first half of the next code, u have to start from square one.. But the worst part? You have to do this puzzle not once but twice if you want all the prizes inside. Oh, and if you think you can just cheat and use the same codes you were given last time... NOPE! The codes are randomized everytime you enter. To quote the great idk who... NOBODY SAID THERE'D BE MATH!

[@daviddalrymple2284]

It says something about the tower calibration minigame, though, that it is EVEN WORSE than the math cave.

[@ShinDSER]

The math quote comes from one of the commentators in MadWorld.

[@Reynsoon]

​@@ShinDSERIIIII BLAAAAAME OOOOUR SCHOOOOOLS!

[@Milktube]

I had a ton of fun with that cave puzzle! It's nice to have something that is about remembering (or recording) information instead of obscure hidden secrets, imbalanced equipment, or just massive grinds.

[@Assaultwatertaffy]

Charm Bangles are your friend. No fights, no gil gained. A loooot of numbers end up being zero using them.

[@TurnOntheBrightLights.]

Garamsythe Waterway really wasn't bad at all in my opinion. I think Great Crystal is more deserving of this list!

[@MessyJoeHesse]

The great crystal did take me longer, but for some reason, I just found the waterway puzzle to be so annoying. Maybe it's just cause it triggers my ocarina of time water temple memories.

[@g0thicuk]

Shout out to the puzzle in ff12 that required you to ignore specific chests throughout the game

[@Satoascorpion]

Ebot's Rock in FF6 is just plain awful. The entire dungeon is dark and all you have is a small field of view around you. You navigate the dungeon by stepping on switches, which teleport you to a random room with a scrambled arrangement. The objective is to find chests that contain Coral. Then you have to take the random Coral to a mimic chest in a room you randomly access, and it only lets you pass if you feed it enough Coral in one approach. The problem? The game doesn't tell you how many you need, nor does it tell you how many you have. It only tells you how many each chest gives you when you open it. How much Coral you feed the chest doesn't accumulate, either. You actually have to have the full required amount when you approach the mimic, or you have to start all over. It's absolutely unbearable and is usually the first thing FF6 romhackers change when given the chance.

[@DAxBatres]

FF12 had the crystal dungeon and the late game one where the mini map was hazy. Found my ultima blade there luckily because I was lost 😅

[@lunarhail3559]

I have gained so many hours on my playtime lost in that bottom circle

[@alexw4482]

It’s a pain but there’s plenty of maps of it online. It’s definitely not something you should wander aimlessly.

[@Kamyuyon]

its so interesing that there is no entry from FF1-6. Neither 15 or 16. Was the complicated puzzle element a trend from the 2000s?

[@Cloud971]

7:03 Just to clarify that you have to get onboard the Hydra and talk to everyone first. Then you can go deeper to fight Ultima Weapon. I'm mentionning it because i still remember how many years i've been stuck on this one. If you don't do that you will see the hole below but cannot go throught it. Thanks to Piggyback

[@RogueSeraph]

Hydra? You mean Ragnarok?

[@Cloud971]

@@RogueSeraph Ragnarok is also called Hydra in the EU Version. 😉

[@Satoascorpion]

This is not true. You just need to exit the room you fought Bahamut in, then turn around and go back in. In the U.S. version, anyway. I guess I can't speak for any other version.

[@Cloud971]

@@Satoascorpion I'm talking about the EU version. So this was added huh? I wonder why...

[@radicalresix]

Honestly as a kid I had more trouble with the Bevelle cloister of trials than Macalania-- it was the only time I had to look up a guide because I got so frustrated!

[@Abeuss]

FF12’s “great crystal” and the “waterway” would have been impossible without a guide. It just wouldn’t be worth the time to me.

[@stevencollins8348]

The crystal even with a guide was not a good time

[@leighsimmons2663]

Forgot about the clock puzzle in ff13-2. Thanks for bringing back a nightmare long repressed

[@moonwolfv671]

I'm not usually the type to do the side quests, especially in the more recent games. I usually do my research first see if it's worth putting myself through the torture. Worst puzzle in my opinion is The Great Crystal in Final Fantasy XII, got totally lost and looked up a guide.

[@ferna5250]

Not a puzzle but trying to get Cid to live in FFVI always takes me an hour+, insufferable

[@qahnaarin8335]

I don't know if you'd classify this as a "Puzzle" but there was a weapon gotten in FFXII that required you to leave certain chests through out the game alone. If you unlocked even one of the chests through gameplay the chest with the weapon would change to a weaker one.

[@numanomiah]

Oh i remember that! It’s the Zodiac Spear

[@cookiemonstasharp9543]

I definitely didn't appreciate the Gargant Roo puzzle in FF9 the 1st time I played. Every time you went the wrong way, you're out of 1-2 mins every time when you include random encounters. That part took me about an hour my 1st playthrough. Good times though

[@foreal7712]

Finally beat the Thunder Towers! Praise the PC esc strat! Rikku’s 2nd tower was hardest to me because registering, memorizing, and physically finding the correct buttons to hit simultaneously was challenging.

[@mattsully2238]

Ffxv Pitious ruins remains a triumph of game design for those who finished it. It's a travesty that there wasn't a psn trophy associated with it.

[@RogueSeraph]

Pitious was frustrating as hell, not because it was well designed but because they decided to implement a platform dungeon in a game where the controls are the complete opposite of being platform controls. Good thing you can cheese the reward in less than a minute in case you're replaying FFXV

[@mattsully2238]

@@RogueSeraph that's kind of what made it great cause the controls weren't fantastic so when you finally succeeded after failing over and over, you got such a dopamine rush!

[@jennyf-eg5gl]

Those damn ruins were so damn frustrating, but like you...I kind of want to know who solved it. I think Noct spoke for all of us when he exited it that thing. 😅

[@goodmanwiseman303]

@@mattsully2238 exactly. That was part of what made games like sonic the hedgehog 2 and super mario bros 3 so satisfying back in the day is that the controls weren’t perfect, as opposed to something like the parkour controls in assassin’s creed, for example, where its very hard to fail. Having imperfect controls that you have to learn made pitioss much more memorable.

[@scitizenkane1]

@@goodmanwiseman303 the controls and mechanics in Mario 3 and Sonic 2 WERE perfect, which adds to the reason they are herald as the best platformers in their respective series. If you failed in those games, it was 99 percent no fault of the game design. Whereas the Pitioss Ruins was an entirely different story.

[@TheKarishi]

The jumping puzzles of FFXIV are a weird case, because an enormous portion of their difficulty can be attributed to simple control scheme issues; In short, they're platforming puzzles in a game that is fundamentally Not a Platformer. It's arguable that MOST of the difficulty comes from how the controls make it difficult to jump the proper distance and how the colliders of the terrain aren't necessarily a tight fit, making situations where you slam into an invisible wall when it seems visually obvious that you should have made a certain jump easily. This ends up being the largest barrier to the achievements attached to the jumping puzzles: Becoming demoralized by a system where most of your losses simply feel unfair, in a game that usually avoids eliciting that feeling.

[@stevencollins8348]

Pre flying in ARR some of them I would finally make the jump and AFK set a timer on my phone using an online weather guide so I wouldn't miss the window. Like the log jump in North Shroud I believe it was. Had to jump with a chocobo and dismount at the exact right moment if I recall

[@Lennis01]

Pitiloss dungeon in FFXV comes to mind. It's brutal enough when you are just trying to figure out what to do. It's downright aggravating when you know how to proceed, but can't make the jump because the camera makes it impossible to judge the distance. And to add insult to injury, the reward you get for going through that platforming hell isn't even that great.

[@clearspira]

And speaking of FF8, anyone remembers the Obel Lake puzzle? The one that has you hum in five random spots and then sends you to a desert that has some rocks telling you that they lie and other rocks giving you a nebulous direction? Not difficult if you have a guide. Hair pulling if you don't.

[@Cloud971]

Yeah, i did that some months ago while i was redoing FF8. I'm not afraid to say that i used a guide how would i know that without it?

[@clearspira]

@@Cloud971 You wouldn't know. Its arguably either a big scam or a malicious act because back in the day you had exactly two choices: do it on your own or buy a ludicrously expensive book. Its not quite up there with FF9 deleting half of the information out of said expensive book and forcing you onto their paid website for the other half but its up there.

[@saladinboss2507]

Obel Lake is FUN....with a guide.

[@eorzeantours1565]

I like it in spirit. I like that FF8 tried to do cool things with its overworld, but it wasn't quite there yet. The Chocographs from IX were the ultimate version of this imho. That said, I enjoyed the feeling that I was on a quest for a hidden treasure out in the world. With monkeys, and talking stone heads.

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

​@@clearspiraif I recall, Final Fantasy VIII was made with the strategy guide in mind. There is no way anyone could have done the Queen of Cards side quest without it except by a string of major luck. I remember being passed about the IX guide being so bare bones since I didn't have internet access at the time. It was a year later that I was able to finally get access to PkayOnline. I didn't have to pay for it though. They must have dropped the pay requirements after fan complaints, I'm guessing.

[@saladinboss2507]

I always have Zell in my party whenever I can in VIII, so the steam units puzzle has never really been an issue for me, but I forgot that him not being in the party changes things.

[@IceBlueEyesX]

I'd always had him in my party, too, so I figured that was just something that naturally happened in that area, regardless of who was with you.

[@Kartissa]

Well, he does have the most damaging Limit Break....

[@drinkmorecareless]

I despised Bevelle Temple in FFX. That stupid moving platform was such a pain in the ass.

[@Spookybluelights]

I personally found Bevelle temple a lot more obnoxious than the Maccalania temple. I could at least see where I went wrong and even though it took a few extra steps, everything I needed to solve it was fairly close. With Bevelle I was stuck on a track, tapping my foot while I waited for the platforms to circle around again only to get a bad pattern and not able to stop the stupid platform, it's torture and I hate it.

[@danielfernandes7970]

I really appreciate the love you guys give to spin-offs/sequels games in your videos. Keep up the good work!

[@josephlankford5541]

When I played the original FF7, that F***ing safe drove me insane. Not because of finding the combo, but putting it in correctly and within the small time frame you had.

[@Shadohime]

I didn't find Macalania Temple that frustrating, to be perfectly honest. Once you know the solution, it's fairly easy. The Cloister that I had problems with was Bevelle's. The fact that you have to press X at specific times just to ensure you're going the right way on those damn platforms is annoying to me. And while, yes, you're guaranteed the Destruction Sphere treasure of Bevelle (likely done because you only get one run of the cloister, unlike the others), there's another chest you can grab with a fairly potent lance for Kimahri, but doing so requires you to bring an extra Bevelle sphere to the end, something you'd never know you'd need to do without a guide.

[@mailowmailow5207]

yeah but who is using kimahri anyway?

[@randalledwards529]

Two thing about the ff8 deep sea research center bit. 1. When zell breaks the machine, the enounter rate isn’t increase, they are fixed. As in the fights on each screen happen on the exact same tiles each time. Once a fight was completed, it would not retrigger unless you left the screen and came back. This was actually a useful feature as you could guarantee to fight 3 of the enemies that you can mug curse spikes from in the first area which were needed for dark matters. 2. Bahamut would make you fight a ruby dragon no matter what answer you pick, however if you answer correctly, you wouldn’t know until after the fight and he asked you the next question. This was also exploitable as ruby dragons give a ton of xp and are fairly easy to kill with the right setup.

[@sephirjon9466]

The Lightning Tower Calibration is very much not a puzzle. If that's a puzzle, then Dance Dance Revolution is a puzzle game. .....It isn't.

[@Volumixen]

World of Final Fantasy's Icicle Ridge was just another Gym Challenge from Pokémon in several ice and one water Gym's puzzles. I also ground levels to get all the treasures and fight the holy dragon, which allowed me to do even more mirages' boards I never thought Ice Path (the original Ice puzzle, IIRC, in Gen 2) would help me anywhere but the later Gens Edit - Shoal Cave had some ice sliding puzzles, too, in Gen 3 now that I think about it.

[@sh4d0wfl4re]

honestly, WoFF had one of the least frustrating pokemon style ice puzzles I've run across. Sure it required you to have your "HMs" prepared, or make a call to your local storage fairy, but it didn't turn you around like many of the other ice puzzles

[@wcjerky]

Fun fact: Icicle Ridge is a modern iteration of the NES game _Kickle Cubicle._

[@theyinyang1103]

Surprised at no Pitioss Dungeon in XV, platforming in a non platformer to forever to get through.

[@aurun1015]

the FFX 100 lightning strikes in a row drove me insane

[@TheNerdBuster]

Crisis Core ... another reason why that puzzle sucked was that you couldn't see on that little screen on the PSP.

[@theStonerKid69]

What is the Macalania temple doing here? There's like...a total of like 10 actions you can take, and there's no encounters the entire time. If that is 'the most frustrating puzzle in FF history', then every other puzzle must be as simple as a maze designed for five year olds.

[@omaruck5mx]

To me, the paintings puzzle in Ultimecia's castle is the hardest in FF8.

[@mistydolphin2524]

Ikr, that one puzzle made wonder how anyone was supposed to figure it out without either a guide or help.

[@Nanobot1989]

I don’t remember that. What was it? I only remember having to beat bosses to get abilities back.

[@mistydolphin2524]

@@Nanobot1989One where you had to examine a series of paintings, and try to determine the title of the main painting. But it was all in Latin. It was like vividarium intervigilum viator or something. Meaning in the garden sleeps a messeenger. Idk how we were supposed to figure it out without a guide.

[@omaruck5mx]

@@Nanobot1989 this part is where you have to look at 10 or more paintings and then look at a big painting and combine the tittles from the previous paintings to get the name of the big one, the catch is that all the tittles are in Latin.... and you also have to guess it from the content of the painting itself 😵‍💫

[@wcjerky]

@@Nanobot1989 VIVIDARIUM ET INTERVIGILIUM ET VIATOR

[@TheBlessedRed]

Didn't really dislike any of these besides the Tower calibration one. When I saw the title of the video, I immediately thought of the Temple of the Ancients from VII and Fossil Roo from IX (Fossil Roo was EXTREMELY frustrating for me the first time I did it over 20 years ago). I also consider the Gunners Gauntlet from X-2 (just can't grt proficient with it for some reason) and I thought of my first time doing the Bevelle Cloister of Trials (took me literal hours to do the first time).

[@DOC_951]

This video can solely be about that damn platforming dungeon in FF15.

[@misamisaa4547]

Not me genuinely enjoying ice slide puzzles xD I need to occasionally look shit up (especially w Macalania cloister of trials) but if it's just sliding here & there, it's fun xD

[@matthewbeard7841]

The puzzle that gave me the most random trouble in any Final Fantasy game yet would have to be the cloister of trial puzzle in the Djose Temple in FFX. I don't know what it was, but the first time I encountered it back when I initially played FFX I just could not figure out how to get to the destruction sphere at the back and didn't want to leave early as I had gotten the puzzles and the extra secrets down easy in all the other temples up to that point. Legit took me like nearly 2 hours just flipping all the switches around to all the different configurations to try to find out what I was doing wrong. It wasn't until I randomly pushed the pedestal out into the void to do it correctly that I got it. I think what caught me up was that I tried pushing the pedestal out there before when the right switches weren't set and from there I just assumed that pushing it out there wasn't part of the solution. Definately caused me some chagrin as the puzzle wasn't *that* hard and I was just being a big dummy, haha.

[@leighsimmons2663]

I was stuck on this for weeks as a kid and with no internet to fall back on. I did the same as you and just assumed it had to be something else. 12 year old me just wasn’t ready for that level of frustration

[@LG1204]

The Garamsythe waterway control wasn't infuriating at all. You literally get the simplest instructions in one of the houses in the Lowtown that simply says according to compass directions which switches to turn on and in which order. Then you pull up your map - Upper side of the map is North so you can easily guess where the other sides are.

[@steveh1474]

that message was made for a piece of the medallion needed during the Chaos side quest, and not relevant at all for the Cuchulainn sidequest. which is crazy because the Cuchulainn quest is *even easier*. theres 4 switches in the main room. you need to go southeast and southwest, but theyre flooded! well... what if i hit both switches on the east? hey look, SE is no longer flooded! so if i hit both switches on the west, SW is no longer flooded! oh but theres still straight south now. it looks like theres a boss arena under the water, but how will i ever make south not flooded? .....what if i hit both south switches?? theres no way that could work, this is supposed to be one of the hardest puzzles in the series!

[@LG1204]

@@steveh1474 Yes, you're right. Getting to other 2 switches behind some gates did require some trial and error but it wouldn't take more than 20 minutes. At least it seemed intuitive.

[@edinaldoc1]

When i saw the video title, there are many puzzles in FFXII that came to my mind... And Garamsythe Waterway was the last thing i would have guessed. That puzzle is so chill compared to anything in the late game. The Great Crystal, Fishing quest, the two puzzles in Sochen and the Zodiac Spear (if that even counts as a puzzle) are some examples

[@LyntzbartzkyPerez]

6:53 “Damned imbeciles. why do you wish to fight” “It is our nature. There is no real reason. Maybe we were born…only to fight” Ngl one of my favorite quotes in the game

[@branmuffin184]

Man I LOVED the clock puzzles in XIII-2. They were so fun. If you were a numbers person and really enjoyed teasing out the logic in solving those, they felt so rewarding.

[@omarg2079]

man this channel is such a vibe, but i have not played nearly enough final fantasy to watch a good chunk of these videos without being concerned about spoilers for >20 year old games i havent played yet. i will say, i dont think i beat a single temple in ffx without googling it, half of the time i missed somewhere i didnt know i could interact with or walk on. wild stuff. this video is great though! :)

[@GibbyTheBeard]

I literally had to write down the 10th towers inputs so I could do them backwards. I remember sequences very easy. Can't do it backwards though 🤷‍♂️

[@stethespaniard2]

How do you not even mention the fact the safe is how you get Vincent in ff7

[@mattsully2238]

If i may, i categorize some of these as mini games not puzzles.

[@hensarita]

Ffxi’s mountain climb for Rise of the Zilart. A time based climbing puzzle with no jumping, janky hit boxes, endgame monsters, and a lose condition. Fuck that thing.

[@darc22005]

The mansion in ff7 crisis crore was frustrating for me because some of the pumpkins were physically off screen for all but about 2-3 frames and you could barely see them. I got a really shit randomized group for that one and spent an hour redoing the puzzle for that specific part. had about a page in my notebooks worth of notes just for that part of it. the other three numbers. perfectly reasonable. but that one part was frustrating

[@staples6]

36 10 59 97. idk how i've never forgotten that combo.

[@RogueSeraph]

Same, right 36, left 10, right 59, right 97.

[@RRViper7777]

At least for the Calibration puzzle for FFX-2 for the the reverse tower, you could use the advantage of the Home button for the PS2 version, though I don't know if you could do that in other versions or later versions (You probably could do this trick on any system where you can pull up a home screen without exiting the gme and then go back into it.). I think I wrote down the symbols as the appeared, hit home to pause the timer, reversed the order on the paper, and entered the game again to type the code in correctly. Took a bit but If I remember right, the prize for a perfect on that tower was more than worth it.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

WoFF Icicle Ridge being here is a disservice to actual puzzles that are shown here. The ice puzzles are incredibly simplistic and you have all the mirages you need before even reaching this place.

[@jamessnedeker4799]

Bevelle's trial was always more annoying to me. Missing the Destruction Sphere in Macalania though can be an issue because the international versions as well as the HD ports have Dark Shiva blocking access.

[@MyPisceanNature]

The most frustrating puzzle in any RPG I ever played was The Dead Sanctuary in Wild Arms. I had apparently not set the bomb close enough to the green statue when I had tried that, so I spent a literal week trying to figure out how open the damn door, before I was able to get a friend with an internet connection to find the answer for me 😂.

[@jaitheon1793]

If pitioss isn't top spot I call shenanigans

[@Devlington87]

Also, if you go back to macalania temple later you have to defeat dark shiva just to get in, which involves close to max stats, celestial weapons and super armours. I accidentally trod on that plymth return button when finished too many times too, so frustrating!

[@dartz005]

I remember my 1st try to get the Destruction Sphere in Macalania Temple. I had got to the point where I had the Sphere-associated treasure. I just needed to figure out how to get out of the temple while retaining the item. I think I had softlocked the puzzle somehow at the end & had to restart all over again. The 2nd time I didn't even bother with the Destruction Sphere & finished the puzzle to get out. I will admit I'm not the greatest with puzzles, but I had managed to get the previous prizes with some minor trial & error, & even got the Bevelle prize on the same playthrough.

[@BioHunter1990]

Macalania just takes patience. Bevelle is truly frustrating. You need to time your buttons perfectly a few places…and going back over the same path a dozen times can aggravate.

[@pc4mlc451]

An honorable mention would be Final Fantasy Tactics' "Deep Dungeon." Not only is it a slog to progress the encounters, the rarest drops lie within as well.

[@cdunlap0008]

Card collecting in the undersea research facility was what made me go in there frequently

[@Wwillow1992]

Most frustrating? Magus Sister. Magus Sisters were the most frustrating because you had to get everyone 😂

[@drewtheunspoken3988]

While not, strictly speaking, a puzzle I did get frustrated by the bug riding in Gizamaluke Grotto in Final Fantasy IX. It took me awhile to figure out the switches to get to where I wanted to go.

[@Zackff7ac]

Ff7 rocket code took me ages to work it out

[@GTArajgaming]

The original shinra manor safe puzzle should not only be on this list but it should be higher up the list. from the POV of a player who hasn't done it before they'd have to look around the manor and check out everything, piece together the code and then try to enter the code within 20 seconds. The boss also drop's red XIII's level 4 limit break too so that's neat.

[@tommyfraz.]

The Great Crystal in FF12 was far worse for me, than the Waterway. Having such a limited time to run from gate to gate, fighting enemies, and no map/cardinal direction help was brutal.

[@XXPYR0XX]

how did the lighting doging from 10 and the jump rope from 9 not make it on the list?

[@dragonwriterluc]

The other puzzle of the Thunder Plains in X-2 - the cave - was also rather frustrating. I kept careful track of everything and still ended up failing it.

[@OMGhappiness]

I loved X-2 but I never did any of the extra stuff. The lightning, the chocobos, the Yojimbo summon. Makes me want to go back and do it all right this time. My playstation stopped turning on in 2018 and I haven't replaced it yet. Gotta get a new one.

[@rjba02]

I still hate those gahdamn lightning towers. I've played through X2 so many times and I've never completed them. It was hardest on PS2 because Paine's sections moved down so fast that they were almost blurred on older TVs.

[@RobiN-ei2ih]

Macalania Temple is made even worse by the fact that in the original version (and possibly remakes), leaving the room to save restarts the puzzle and it was easy to do this unintentionally.

[@fenikkusu1307]

Not Necessarily A Puzzle In The Traditional Sense,But Navigating The Great Crystal In Giruvegan &/Or The Pharos At Ridorana For Some Of The Marks/Hunts/Espers In Final Fantasy XII Are Pretty Puzzling.

[@Xaero13]

Why is every single word you typed CAPITALIZED?

[@fenikkusu1307]

@@Xaero13 I Don't Know Lol.

[@CynicalBibliophile]

I happened to bring Zell with me for the Deep Sea Research Center (my main party was Squall, Zell, Quistis when not required to use specific characters) so I had a relatively easy time with the puzzle. The boss fight against Ultima Weapon though? That took some effort…especially the second time I played the game because RNG was not in my favor that run.

[@Its_KaReeM]

The clock puzzle in FFXIII-2 was more enjoyable than frustrating to me. Also, i expected Pitioss Ruins in FFXV to be included in this list as it was the most annoying puzzle i have ever encountered in the FF series. I raged the most on this puzzle. I don't want to remember that puzzle anymore lol xD

[@ScaricoOleoso]

That 13-2 clock puzzle... Back in the day, it drove me so crazy, I wrote a code in Matlab to solve it. Never bothered me again. 🤓

[@Edowin-jz2sj]

This is a good list of some of the more challenging, and sometimes fun, puzzles, but it's the mini-games that usually cause the most frustration for me, such as FFIX Jumping Rope, FFX Lightning Dodge & Chocobo Race, FFX-2 Shooting Game, FFVIIR Pull-ups, and FFVIIR: Intermission Shinra Box Buster.

[@Lennis01]

Yes, the pull-up game required near perfection and a willingness to push safe boundaries to get the top prize. Hardest single part of FFVII-R.

[@Edowin-jz2sj]

@@Lennis01 And a little bit of luck - I only beat it because I got the same button pattern through most of my winning game😯