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World of What? The Final Fantasy References in World of Warcraft
The incredibly popular Blizzard MMO likes to pay homage to other games (and books, movies, TV shows...). They really do. So of course they've made a couple of Final Fantasy references through the years, most of which are minor, but one of which is quite blatant. If you're a longtime World of Warcraft player, you'll probably recognize all of these. But if not, read on for a few references you might have missed...
Hawkstrider
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The Blood Elf racial mount, introduced alongside the Blood Elf race in the Burning Crusade expansion, is a giant chicken called a Hawkstrider. While this may or may not be an actual reference, per se, there's little doubt that the developers knew full well what a chocobo was! At the time of release, many of the players referred to it as a chocobo... and some players still do.
The Gunblade
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While it may not look much like Squall's familiar weapon, there's no denying that the name is the same. You can occasionally find this as a drop in the Nagrand zone in Outlands, which is also the location of...
Aeris Landing
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Kind of a strange name for a locale, no? Aeris Landing is the base of operations for a mysterious group called the Consortium, and you can do quests for them to get special items.
Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that all of these have only a coincidental or tenuous connection to Final Fantasy. You're probably wondering where the REAL reference is.
Well, here you go:
Aerith Primrose
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Aerith Primrose's official title is "Flower Vendor", and as such she only sells flowers and bouquets-- nothing else. She's also dressed in familiar pink and red garb. Sounds pretty spot on to me, Blizzard!
So there you have it. She never actually died in Final Fantasy VII. She just moved shop to a magical floating city in the sky called Dalaran. Don't you feel better now, Cloud?
