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Top 5 Airships of the Final Fantasy Series
You know what’s cool? Ships. You know what’s also pretty neat and kind of necessary to life? Air. What do you get when you put them together? Shipairs - or airships, (whichever you prefer). No Final Fantasy game is complete without them! So today I am going to be counting down some of the top five airships of the series. So stick around; it’s going to be a fun ride!
Number five was a difficult one to place. In terms of the responses I received from the questionnaire I sent out, there were two airships tied for fifth place. It was a difficult choice, but I opted to go with my favorite in the series, not surprisingly from my favorite game in the series, The Invincible!
5. The Invincible (Final Fantasy IX)
I think the Invincible is a great airship – and the name has a lot to do with that. It's called the Invincible, which gives me the impression of strength and greatness. With a name like that, an airship can easily find its way into the history books. It's also got a really cool history, as according to ancient Terran records in Oeilvert, it was developed many times over as a tool of war. Garland obtained the final version (the one seen in game) and used it to travel between Terra and Gaia. It can enslave Eidolons, and apparently also hosts numerous souls trapped within it. This gives it a bit more character than some of the airships in the series, especially since the Eidolons are a strong part of the plot in Final Fantasy IX and this helps tie the airship in.
The Invincible is actually acquired pretty late on in the game. It is however seen beforehand, usually in the appearance of a giant eyeball in the sky. It enslaves Bahamut, which is pretty cool, and is also the cause of the destruction on Madain Sari, the village of the Summoners. I like how they incorporated it into the pasts of one of the main characters. It isn't an airship that appeared out of nowhere, or was built specifically for the party in game. It existed long before then and had a direct impact on Garnet and who she became.
Aside from looking and being completely awesome, the Invincible has the added bonus of a cool looking interior, complete with glowing red light that would be great for disco and/or dance parties. And at the end of the day, what’s really more important to have on an airship than a disco/dance party?
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Eye in The Sky, Brought to you by
The Alan Parsons Project
4. The Lunar Whale (Final Fantasy IV) “Behold, my children! She has heard our prayers! She is risen! The promised Ship of Light - the Lunar Whale!
—Elder of Mysidia
There's a few reasons why The Lunar is so awesome. For starters it looks like a hybrid whale/blimp, so the design obviously reflects it’s cool factor. While the airship itself might be bigger and slower than the previous ones, it makes up for it by being a ship of legend. It was constructed to travel between the Red Moon and Earth, and after traveling to Earth, it was put to rest in the sea near Mysidia, a village of mages that bears much importance in the story.
In Final Fantasy IV, Golbez, the bad guy, uses the crystals to activate the Tower of Babil to call the Giant of Babil from the moon. The mages of Mysidia, the good guys, cause a whirlpool from which the majestic whale blimp rises to bring Cecil and his friends to the Red Moon. As well as this, Mysidian legend refers to the airship as “birthed from womb of Dragon’s maw, and borne unto the stars.” Which, I don’t know about you, but it sounds pretty badass to me.
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Hey, sexy. Do you come here often?
3. The Sky Fortress Bahamut (Final Fantasy XII)
I know what you’re thinking, this is a fortress – but I assure you, this counts as an airship too. The Sky Fortress Bahamut serves as the final dungeon in Final Fantasy XII. Once entered, you cannot leave and there are no save crystals. This might not sound so great if you're a player who likes to save after everything like me, but the Bahamut is still one of the great airships of the series.
The Bahamut serves as a capital ship, aircraft carrier, and super-weapon for the Archadian armies. It carries a large complement of fighters and has rapid-firing cannons placed on the hull. That sounds a little bit cool especially to those of you who are into super-weapons and rapid-firing cannons.
Okay, that sounds really cool. That seems like quite the massive, well-equipped, super ship they have built there. But was it built by a Cid? Designed by Doctor Cid to be Archadia’s ultimate airship…
This cannon and super-weapon is so large that it is capable of generating a whirlwind when flying. However, Bahamut’s most prominent feature is the cannon superstructure placed near the top. This is a powerful cannon powered by Mist that can destroy enemy airships with a single blast, drawing striking similarities to the summon Bahamut that the airship was named after. They're both incredible in size and strength, and they’re both legends in their own right. They both give the impression of greatness and power, and in some ways a sense of regality. Another similarity between the two is of course Bahamut's attack, Mega Flare, which was obviously an inspiration for the aforementioned powerful cannon. The creators of Final Fantasy XII did a good job of portraying the Dragon King through an airship.
The Highwind is definitely one of the most popular airships in the series. It serves as the party’s primary airship, and it was designed and built by Cid Highwind, a popular playable character in Final Fantasy VII.
There's plenty of cool stuff to talk about the Highwind. For one thing there’s a nice man on board who will let you save and rest FOR FREE, which is always good. Also it has a nifty Chocobo stable, and Chocobos make everything better. It’s also used to ram into Ultimate Weapon repeatedly, which is something I couldn’t personally do. The deck of the ship serves as a battle ground.
In the game, the Highwind is first being used by the enemy Shinra after they confiscated it from Cid when his space mission failed. The party steals it back in Junon after they rescue Barret and Tifa. The airship serves as the main form of transportation from then on.
I am personally not a fan of the way it looks, but it’s apparently quite fast. I remember Diamond Weapon heading over to Midgar and I could pretty much fly around the world before Diamond Weapon made it to his destination, leading to a pretty boring 5 minutes of me standing there, watching him walk across the planet.
The best thing about the Highwind though is probably how it’s incorporated into Cid’s ultimate limit. Why fight with a spear when you can just missile the enemy WITH YOUR AIRSHIP.
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Dat airship.
No wonder the Shinra stole it.
1. The Ragnarok (Final Fantasy VIII)
“Esthar's space shuttle. Based on an ancient Centra legend of the Dragon Ship. Esthar's finest scientific technology was used to build it. Esthar's flagship, until it was used to send Adel's Tomb into space.”
—FFVIII Info Corner
The Ragnarok is the epitome of cool when it comes to Final Fantasy airships. Of the airships on this list, 50% of the people who answered my questionnaire answered that the Ragnarok is their favorite.
There's a long list of things that makes this airship so great. Let’s start with its awesome timing. Rinoa and Squall are there, floating out in space, probably going to die soon. But what’s this? Is this an airship sent in space seventeen years prior to the game suddenly appearing before our heroes, giving them a way to survive and get back to their planet? Yes, yes it is. The Ragnarok, along with two other models of similar design, had been sent to watch over Adel, the sorceress, in space. It is unknown what happened to the other two. Considering the awesome mission this airship was entrusted to do, that just makes it even cooler.
Next is the fact that this airship is so awesome, that color coded aliens felt the need to take it over and claim it as their own. Of course they did, have you seen the thing? It manages to look graceful and aggressive at the same time. Not to mention its speed. That thing can move.
Another fun fact is that there are three draw points on the airship. Drawing magic is an important part of the game, and it's neat how they even incorporated that aspect into the airship. The airship gives you magic. You can find Cura and Life, and oh, one of them is a Full-Life draw point, which, last time I check, is a pretty awesome spell.
On top of all of this, the bridge just looks all kinds of great. The Ragnarok, in my opinion, is something Final Fantasy VIII did a great job of. They took the strengths of many of the previous airships, and made them better. There’s a reason it’s so popular.
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If this isn't awesome, then I don't
want to know what awesome is.
Final Fantasy has many different airships and they sadly could not all make the list. Which were you hoping to see? Which are you disappointed to see? What are your favorite airships in the series?
