Endwalker, the recent expansion for Final Fantasy 14, was well-received by players and critics alike. Some, however, found it odd that the expansion took a hard shift towards sci-fi content. During the main plot, for example, the characters learn that their planet's moon is an interstellar colony, and they reach the final zone by aiding in the construction of a starship. This was a surprise for players who expected a sword-and-sorcery fantasy experience.
In actuality, this content shouldn't have come as much of a surprise. Sci-fi content in an otherwise fantasy world has been a common aspect of the Final Fantasy series from the very beginning. Here are several moments when the series incorporated sci-fi elements.
10 Final Fantasy 15: The Niflheim Empire
Final Fantasy 15 is the story of four friends on a road trip, and the setting is appropriately modern-day: they drive a convertible between gas stations. That doesn't qualify as sci-fi on its own, but the game's antagonists, the appropriately-named Empire, have something a little stronger than combustion engines.
Their presence in-game is marked by the appearance of Empire airships, massive technological fortresses that hang ominously in the air, more like spaceships than aircraft. Their assault crafts harass the player throughout the game, with some complaining that they appear too frequently.
9 Final Fantasy 14: Alexander
Long before the spaceships of Endwalker, Final Fantasy 14 was already indulging in some sci-fi aspects. The primal Alexander, introduced in the Heavensward expansion, has a very different feel from the knights and dragons of the rest of the expansion's storyline. It takes the form of a supercomputer, designed to facilitate time travel.
During its focal raid, players are forced to compute themselves, with some of its boss encounters requiring them to make basic calculations or risk wiping the raid. These mechanics are fondly remembered to this day, mainly due to how many players continue to get them wrong.
8 Final Fantasy 14: The Allagan Empire
Long before the supercomputer Alexander, Final Fantasy 14 had even more sci-fi influence in the form of the Allagan Empire. They were capable of some of the most dramatic feats of technology in the setting, most notably the construction of the artificial moon Dalamud to imprison the elder primal, Bahamut.
Allagan architecture ranges from ornate and imperial to jagged and crystalline, but the floating fortress of Azys La in particular looks especially like a technological fortress, complete with force fields and an onboard computer system.
7 Final Fantasy 13: Cocoon
The conflict in this game stems from the hate and distrust between Gran Pulse, a terrestrial world, and Cocoon, an artificial one. The game opens on the space station-like Cocoon, filled with warmechs and laser gun shootouts, with a rebel force fighting against an overwhelming establishment force.
It's pure Star Wars and is the most sci-fi the series uses in one game. Furthermore, its sequels 13-2 and 13-3 dive even deeper into the sci-fi aspects introduced in 13, especially when it comes to time travel.
6 Final Fantasy 8: Love In Zero-G
The world of Final Fantasy 8 is fairly sci-fi by default compared to its predecessor, Final Fantasy 7. Much of the game is centered around the Gardens, mercenary academies that hover over the land like high-tech battleships. But one sci-fi scene stands apart from the rest: Rinoa, in a full spacesuit, drifting helplessly in empty space as her life support runs out.
Protagonist Squall, in a suit of his own, makes a daring zero-gravity rescue, and the two return to safety. For many players, this scene represents the climax of the game, and it's a uniquely sci-fi scenario.
5 Final Fantasy 7: JENOVA
The setting of Final Fantasy 7 is greatly inspired by present-day technology as opposed to science fiction. Its signature city, Midgar, with its rattling subway trains and dingy slums, bears a strong resemblance to cities of today. Of course, its fictional creators, Shinra Corporation, do use a fair amount of sci-fi technology as well, and the most blatant is Jenova, an extraterrestrial life-form.
The presence alone of an alien qualifies as sci-fi, but Shinra's use of her biological material also fits the bill. Their genetic manipulation, against a background of high technology, causes many of the major in-game conflicts and represents an ever-present threat, even while the party is carrying swords through an open field.
4 Final Fantasy 6: Magitek Armor
Magitek, on its own, is not explicitly sci-fi. On a certain level, it's steampunk, or just modern electricity in a slightly different form. In the introduction of Final Fantasy 6, however, the three sets of armor marching across a snowy field bring to mind a scene on Star Wars' ice planet Hoth more than anything. Perhaps the image is more than a coincidence, considering that two of the suits are piloted by soldiers named Biggs and Wedge, after Luke's fellow pilots from Star Wars: A New Hope.
3 Final Fantasy 5: Omega
Final Fantasy 5 uses a standard fantasy setting, but it still carries a touch of sci-fi in the form of Omega. This quadruped war machine is one of the game's two optional superbosses. Its origin and purpose aren't specified in-game, but it's packed with rocket punches and laser cannons.
Since then, it has appeared in many Final Fantasy games as a recurring boss battle. Notably, in Final Fantasy 14, it is given an appropriate sci-fi backstory as a machine from a distant world that battled against dragons, and players are even able to catch a glimpse of its homeworld in Endwalker.
2 Final Fantasy 4: From The Moon
The moon colony in Endwalker isn't even the first time this specific sci-fi aspect is used in the series. In fact, the zone and its caretakers, the Lopporits, are a direct reference to Final Fantasy 4. In that game, the moon - a second moon orbiting the Earth - was a ship carrying a lost people from beyond Mars to a potential place of resettlement.
These people, the Lunarians, decide the fate of those who live on Earth, setting up conflicts that drive the events of the game. The Lunarians' use of a moon as a colony ship matches its intended use in Final Fantasy 14 - and the Lopporits are there as well, called Hummingway in Final Fantasy 4.
1 Final Fantasy: The Flying Fortress
The very first Final Fantasy, despite being the story of warriors and mages battling monsters, still contained a major sci-fi-themed area called the Flying Fortress. One of the game's four main dungeons, the Fortress is an ancient, yet technologically advanced structure similar to the Allagan buildings from Final Fantasy 14. Its original depiction on the NES was steel and metallic, an unambiguous sci-fi structure. Later releases portrayed the fortress more like a traditional, if unusual, castle, but both include the Warmech: a rare monster in the form of an advanced combat machine, deadlier even than the dungeon's actual boss.
The upcoming Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, a re-imagining of the original Final Fantasy, includes the most detailed look at the Flying Fortress to date, and it's even more techno there than in its original depiction.