What does a gil look like?

I have played at least most of the way through every final fantasy ever made (at least in the linear series... I'm just starting Tactics, and haven't touched the Chocobo's Dungeons), and as a staple to all of them the money system is the gil. In none of them have I ever seen a picture of a gil or a reference to what type of money it is (coin, credit, etc.) This is sort of a poll (though not in poll form) to get your ideas on what you think a gil would look like. Pictures would be appreciated, though not neccesary, and be as detailed as you like. I'm considering making and bringing some for my cosplay at next year's A-kon.

Also, if you're "right" about what it looks like, please either show proof or don't bother arguing. Just because you think it should be like something doesn't mean everybody else will agree with you. Thank you for understanding.

That's a good question! I've never really thought about it before. I'm guessing gil looks like coins or atleast something that's little tonberrys or moogles can carry in their pockets.

I personally thought they were small gold coins (like the size of a UK pound coin) with a symbol like a tonberry or chocobo on it.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...px-Gil_FF6.jpg

This is straight out of Final Fantasy 6. From the looks of it it looks, unsurprisingly enough, much like Japanese Yen.

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In Final Fantasy VI, this ability gives perhaps the only good visual representation of what a Gil coin looks like: a circular metallic coin with a small hole in the center with markings around it. This makes it visually similar to other, real-world currencies (most notably that of Japan, because it has the shade of a 5 or 50 Yen piece).

Final Fantasy Tactics contains an animation of gil as circular, golden coins when a Thief uses the Steal Gil ability. Final Fantasy XI also has a visual representation of gil in the form of normal gold and silver coins.

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In these games, the coin could be seen as a generic symbol for money, such as the sword the FF series often uses as a generic symbol for weapons. As such, it is not neccesarily the image of the coin. The coins used in "throw coin" are also not neccesarily gil, as one with four quarters could be said to have a dollar, though a dollar is a rectangular slip of paper, and they have 4 circular disks. These are not proof.

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Originally Posted by UnsEEn_nInjA

In these games, the coin could be seen as a generic symbol for money, such as the sword the FF series often uses as a generic symbol for weapons. As such, it is not neccesarily the image of the coin. The coins used in "throw coin" are also not neccesarily gil, as one with four quarters could be said to have a dollar, though a dollar is a rectangular slip of paper, and they have 4 circular disks. These are not proof.

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Yes, but the money's called Gil. If you're throwing coins you're not going to be fahsioning them out of stone. Come on, the freakin' skill uses up the blasted stuff! Surely that's proof enough?

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Originally Posted by Maxx Power

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...px-Gil_FF6.jpg

This is straight out of Final Fantasy 6. From the looks of it it looks, unsurprisingly enough, much like Japanese Yen.

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I haven't seen that pic at all in FFVI. When do you see it? :confused:

What I'm saying is that, while we know the coins to be a form of gil, they are not neccesarily 'a' gil. Throwing quarters could use up several bucks, even though you threw no dollars. Also, the coin would be horribly impracticle, considering how many you can have on you at any time. The leaves open any other form of money, though it's true that it's proof enough that coins are one form of the currency. (this is a discussion I've had before, though now with gil, concerning the neccesary problems discussing the difference between currency as an amount, and the basic unit that makes that currency separately when they have the same name. There is a distinction, but you might have to think about it.)

While that is a very good point, and logical, we dont have any solid proof to go on as to there being paper money, especially in the more 'mideval' games. We do, however, have the appearance of coin as fact, in multiple games even. I'd say it's more likely that they have gil pieces (coin-like) of different values, rather than paper money. Some games dont have the technology level neccesary to create paper currency.

I can think of a few more games with the coin stated, but I could be wrong because I havent played in a while.
-When finding hiding spots of gil in VII, doesnt it make the 'clink' noise of coins being pushed together?
-In IX, does Zidane toss a coin about a some point? I cant remember.

Anyway, I'd say it's likely that there isnt paper money, but probably gil coins of different values.

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Originally Posted by Evastio

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Originally Posted by Maxx Power

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...px-Gil_FF6.jpg

This is straight out of Final Fantasy 6. From the looks of it it looks, unsurprisingly enough, much like Japanese Yen.

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I haven't seen that pic at all in FFVI. When do you see it? :confused:

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When Setzer or Gogo uses GP Rain: the three discs that he throws are pictures of GP, not Gil; but they are both essentially the same.

Wallets probably aren't a big commodity in the FF world, so they seem to have a small hole in the center. This could mean that a character could hold gil on a string and carry it around in a pocket or something, assuming that it is extremely light, and very thin. There could also be the possibility of gil pieces that are sold or combined together to make higher value pieces, therefore, possibly changing the number on them, if it has one. The markings (lines on the GP) could also indicate its value, by length, or color, or w/e. Unfortunately, the GP thrown in FFVI is generic.

In FFX, however, Bribing often drops many gold pieces, and you can't actually see anyone actually take out the money, you only see them reach to the pocket, and it skips to them presenting the money to the enemy. Also, using Spare Change also only throws many gold pieces, and you don't actually ever see the Gil in detail.

I could show you more examples in the final fantasy games with coin toss. I dont remember which games had that feature.

FFI, II, IIIj, IV, and V have no depictions of GP or Gil. Unsure about the remakes.
FFVI has GP Rain.
FFVII has Spare Change/Law.
Not sure about FFVIII, that one escapes my memory.
FFIX has (surprisingly enough) no depictions.
FFX has Spare Change and Bribe.
Haven't played FFXI, XII, or XIII, nor any of the spinoffs.

Kingdom Hearts has the orbs of gold/purple/blue, but that's not GP, that's Munny.

FFX-2 actually has "ancient coins" that you dig from a desert and use on the Sphere Break minigame. I assume they were the gil used 1,000 years ago, when Zanarkand was still around..

There is also this scan a friend of mine did from his FFX Ultimania guide for me
http://ffproject.net/forumwiki/index...mage:Coins.JPG (scroll down)

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Originally Posted by Renmiri

There is also this scan a friend of mine did from his FFX Ultimania guide for me
http://ffproject.net/forumwiki/index...mage:Coins.JPG (scroll down)

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Who published that book?

The Ultimania Guides are from Square, officially. They contain information from the creators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimania

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Originally Posted by TheAbominatrix

The Ultimania Guides are from Square, officially. They contain information from the creators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimania

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Then we have it from the source. If that's what they say it is, that's what it is. That works. Thanks

I think they use credit cards for the larger transactions in FF7 and FF8 ;]. They had used Gold Pieces prior to FF7. I think the reason the changed is that FF7's world is a lot more advanced, so using gold pieces would seem kinda out of place. So yeah, in the more advanced worlds, I think they use notes and credit cards in addition to regular coins. Maybe the Throw materia exchanges notes into coins as a part of its power :p.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

I think they use credit cards for the larger transactions in FF7 and FF8 ;]. They had used Gold Pieces prior to FF7. I think the reason the changed is that FF7's world is a lot more advanced, so using gold pieces would seem kinda out of place. So yeah, in the more advanced worlds, I think they use notes and credit cards in addition to regular coins. Maybe the Throw materia exchanges notes into coins as a part of its power :p.

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Actually (I could be wrong, it's been a while), if I remember correctly, the earlier FFs used GP or G, but never actually called it gold, and a lot of that could be translation. We'd have to go to the original versions to tell in the pre-7 games, and I'm not compotent enough with the language to do it without a headache. If someone else wants to, though, feel free. I'm considering the topic gone now.

I always considered gil to be coins

GP is short for gold piece typically, so it's a safe bet that's what they meant. However, it's supposed to be gil, GP is simply from translation. Most re-translated earlier games have switched back to gil.

One thing I would like to add though, that occured to me about the space issue of mass amounts of coinage. That does make sense, but most FF games allow the characters to carry 99 of every kind of the 255 items. 99 of one kind of sword is bad enough, but 99 of every different kind of sword would be impossible to carry around, so gil is the least of the 'impossible to haul mass amounts of' worries.

Abominatrix is correct, Ultimania is from Square Enix and that page I showed you guys is from one of the 3 FFX Ultimania guides, scanned by Ryu Kaze, also the author of that Wikipedia page about the guides. He has all 3. :)

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Originally Posted by UnsEEn_nInjA

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Originally Posted by Mirage

I think they use credit cards for the larger transactions in FF7 and FF8 ;]. They had used Gold Pieces prior to FF7. I think the reason the changed is that FF7's world is a lot more advanced, so using gold pieces would seem kinda out of place. So yeah, in the more advanced worlds, I think they use notes and credit cards in addition to regular coins. Maybe the Throw materia exchanges notes into coins as a part of its power :p.

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Actually (I could be wrong, it's been a while), if I remember correctly, the earlier FFs used GP or G, but never actually called it gold, and a lot of that could be translation. We'd have to go to the original versions to tell in the pre-7 games, and I'm not compotent enough with the language to do it without a headache. If someone else wants to, though, feel free. I'm considering the topic gone now.

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FFVII also uses GP in the PSX version. In the pre-VII games, they never referred directly to it, but usually, they called it money, or a whatever euphemism that we used back in the nineties.

Also for the FFX-2 Ultimania, it is possible that the gold coins for sphere break are NOT the standard currency used in FFX. If it were, why would they not use it in normal chops? The answer would be that they are 1000 years old, and therefore, not the same thing. Money can change extremely rapidly over time; even the States' currency changes once every five years, and most vending machines don't even TAKE silver dollars anymore.

And The Abominatrix is right, there is the issue of "impossible hauling amounts." However, I think a gander from the world of Pokemon answers that. It's also not unsafe to say that if your Mage knows Mini magic, they can use it on inanimate objects; seems simpler than to cast it on a living thing. Normal fighters could know how to use it on inanimate objects if there is no Magic-user around.

Here's what it looks like:

http://i5.:bou::bou::bou::bou::bou::...u:/149z98z.jpg

At least in FFXI.

I thought it was re-translated in order to conform with the rest of the later games, so that new players wouldn't wonder what the hell GP was.

That was true that it's Gil in the PC version, but not on the PSX version.

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Originally Posted by Tavrobel

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Originally Posted by UnsEEn_nInjA

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Originally Posted by Mirage

I think they use credit cards for the larger transactions in FF7 and FF8 ;]. They had used Gold Pieces prior to FF7. I think the reason the changed is that FF7's world is a lot more advanced, so using gold pieces would seem kinda out of place. So yeah, in the more advanced worlds, I think they use notes and credit cards in addition to regular coins. Maybe the Throw materia exchanges notes into coins as a part of its power :p.

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Actually (I could be wrong, it's been a while), if I remember correctly, the earlier FFs used GP or G, but never actually called it gold, and a lot of that could be translation. We'd have to go to the original versions to tell in the pre-7 games, and I'm not compotent enough with the language to do it without a headache. If someone else wants to, though, feel free. I'm considering the topic gone now.

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FFVII also uses GP in the PSX version. In the pre-VII games, they never referred directly to it, but usually, they called it money, or a whatever euphemism that we used back in the nineties.

Also for the FFX-2 Ultimania, it is possible that the gold coins for sphere break are NOT the standard currency used in FFX. If it were, why would they not use it in normal chops? The answer would be that they are 1000 years old, and therefore, not the same thing. Money can change extremely rapidly over time; even the States' currency changes once every five years, and most vending machines don't even TAKE silver dollars anymore.

And The Abominatrix is right, there is the issue of "impossible hauling amounts." However, I think a gander from the world of Pokemon answers that. It's also not unsafe to say that if your Mage knows Mini magic, they can use it on inanimate objects; seems simpler than to cast it on a living thing. Normal fighters could know how to use it on inanimate objects if there is no Magic-user around.

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I thought GP was used for the Gold Saucer points, but Gil was the normal cash in FFVII.

A nice point. There is also the possibility that the "coins" had no monetary value at all. They could have just been called coins when they were discovered, because they were shaped like coins and no one knew what they were really for.

If you can carry 100 tents around with you, I think you've solved any weight issues involved with your items.

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

I thought GP was used for the Gold Saucer points, but Gil was the normal cash in FFVII.
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You're probably right. I haven't played FFVII in awhile, but GP sticks out in my head.

This is a screen shot of a gil from the ending FMV of the FF6 PSX release.

I think gil is basically like pounds and pennies, like 10 gil, 50 gil, etc. and maybe notes as well.

i allways thot gil was a chunk of gold

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f54/Vie-Tal/Gil.jpg

something like this maby?

Obviously they look different in every game. You might as well ask what Shiva looks like.

Perhaps it's the gold coin flipped in the Twelve trailer? (I'm still waiting for it....)

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Originally Posted by Eminem's_No.1_Fan

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f54/Vie-Tal/Gil.jpg

something like this maby?

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Well that's from a FF flash AFAIK. So no.

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Originally Posted by Tainted Angel

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Originally Posted by Eminem's_No.1_Fan

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f54/Vie-Tal/Gil.jpg

something like this maby?

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Well that's from a FF flash AFAIK. So no.

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I drew that myself in "Paint" on my computer!!! and what's AFAIK

Remember that mini-game in FFX-2 where you have to defeat Shinra to get that Lady Luck dressphere? Those coins.. I always thought gil sort of looked like that.

http://www.theplug.net/2004.10/boildollar1.jpg

There. I am actually quite proud of myself. :)

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Originally Posted by feona17

Remember that mini-game in FFX-2 where you have to defeat Shinra to get that Lady Luck dressphere? Those coins.. I always thought gil sort of looked like that.

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Those were the Sphere Break coins, and you get them at Bikanel digs. Presumably the ancient spirans used them a lot...

http://ffproject.net/forumwiki/image...re_break_1.jpg

By popular demand, here is another scan from Ultimania, this time from FFX Ultimania Battle Guide
http://ffproject.net/forumwiki/image...px-Ugcoins.jpg