I’ll never forget descending into the pitioss ruins at 10 pm with no clue of what I was getting into thinking I would go to bed when I was done… I showed up to work the next morning with no sleep and the expression of a broken war veteran
Still got PTSD from that dungeon! It was absolute insanity on the first playthrough!!! We gotta have more optional dungeons like that in new ff games!!
@@the121smashchampionyeah i wish there were a couple dungeons in ff16 but i’m loving the game. gonna finish it tonight or tomorrow. it’s been helping me get over my breakup :/.
I bought the guide for the game exclusively for that nightmare fuel of a dungeon, even at level 99 you could get overwhelmed by the ghosts without the right setup, still my favorite ff game though
Even with a guide I messed up multiple times. Literally paused to check every turn. There were a couple of chests that took forever. Can’t remember if I got them all (pretty sure I didn’t have the heart to get the hardest ones as I think there some boss battles on the way)
ahhh but do you remember how in 7 the ultima weapon would change its colors depending on clouds hp....the closer to full life you have the whiter the blade is...
Yup. Crystal was an absolute nightmare the first time playing, but I've done it enough times now that I can do the Ultima and Omega sequences without looking them up. @@beauvsb5230
@@christhiancastillo1607 I don't remember any optional dungeons in ANY of the Xenoblade games. High level enemies where they shouldn't be, yes, but no straight up "optional dungeons" minus maybe the expanded Tethra Cave during the endgame of XB1.
The FF8 Deep Sea Research Center was a big one for me. I was slowly making my way down it for what felt like half a day before I had to travel for a week. I didn't know about the save point since it was hidden, so rather than losing all my progress I turned the TV off but left the console running. Was so happy it was still going when I got home.
However FF8's dungeon is TOO easy since EVERYTHING on the way to Ultima weapon either dies from Odin OR from the Degenerator limit even when using a lv 100 party. But yes FFX 2's 100 floors is a pain in the ass especially if all 100 floors have NO SAVE POINTS IN THEM AT all and Tremor could still easily killed a max stats party in 1 hit if it wants to before you get even 1 turn.
@@veghesther3204 think you can leave every 10 levels and save. But yes it was a major pain the first time. On the plus side you can get so crazy overpowered that nothing is a challenge….take a long time though
But like the wild arms games abysses that's 100 floors if you EVER leave the 100 Floors dungeon the area has no way to teleport BACK to the LAST floor you went to that means you still need to do ALL 100 floors on a SINGLE run of FFX 2 and that can still take 7 to 10+ hours.
Pitioss was the best dungeon; the lore of FF XV was so great but unfortunately the game didn't always clearly tell it. That dungeon told such a great story without any verbal narrative; it was definitely one of my favorite experiences in any RPG I've ever played
It was supposed to be the final dungeon but was moved to become an optional one because it didn't really fit with the rest of the game or something like that.
I agree. It was such a unique experience. I loved (hated) it. Lol My first time, I had no idea what I was getting into. I started it about 6pm one afternoon. I just kept telling myself I wasn't going to quit until I beat the damn thing....I didn't beat it until like 3 am. I was frustrated, hungry, but I went to bed soooooo satisfied. It created a memory I wont ever forget.
@@saladinboss2507 I feel this in my soul, I kept telling myself, “I’m not gonna finish this, fuck this place” and I kept going, but damn did I wanna give up so many times, the precise wonky jumps sucked
Yeah, started that monsters at 8pm, at 3am I paused the game, and shut the Tv off. Came back 7 hours later, and finished in about 2 hours. I hadn’t been challenged like that in a FF game.
I loved Pitios dungeon but another difficult one was Costlemark. If you didn't navigate it correctly it brought you back to a room full of monsters and each time you came through there were more of them and they got stronger as well.
Costlemark recieved a huge nerf since the puzzle was made more linear. Pitioss didn't. Plus, i'd rather fight 1000 Fire Giants than return to Pitioss again!
OMG! I've beaten Ultima a 100 times in FFVIII, but had no idea you could just walk out of the dungeon afterwards because I always have Encounter-None on! Lol That's awesome!
I remember I crashed the regalia into the mountains as I was celebrating finishing that monster of a dungeon in FF-XV, my roommates were like "what's wrong?" Yea...
@David Kirby Its a final fantasy game lol. They aren't trying to make gameplay easier for us, especially when it comes to reaching the post endgame dungeons
Deep Dungeon in FF:Tactics was tough on the levels that were completely dark, but had some of the most valuable loot in the game that you could only get with the Move/Find ability and very low bravery stats. It isn't as difficult as some of the others listed because you can finish it one or two levels at a time and not have to do it all in one sitting.
Final Fantasy Tactics Deep Dungeon first time playthrough, had no idea you had to find the secret hidden square to advance to the next level. Prior to all the fights it was just kill all enemies to advance. And getting to the 10th level to fight the secret boss to obtain the summon.
@Carl Johnson Oh don't get me started about all the rare items you can easily miss. Like the strongest sword in the game the Chaos Blade. I mean really, what kind of mean trick is that LOL.
The Deep Dungeon is available in all versions of the game. To get to it you have to completed Murond Holy Place Battles. Then enter Warjilis Trade City, it will trigger a scene and unlock the deep dungeon.
it's also recommended to bring Beowulf and Rapha for each battle, though for different reasons: Beowulf's ability to turn enemies into chickens means you can corner a mob on a panel (make sure to check the panel just in case its the exit, first), slap em with the spell once or twice, and then comb the rest of the map for the exit while the mob-turned-chicken hangs out in a corner unable to move or do anything to whoever is blocking it. Rapha, having the lowest base Brave in the game, and with Move-Find Item skill, makes for the best item hunter w/o significant effort (of course, you can use brave-reducing skills to make her even better at it.). Usually better to find the exit first and then come back for items (especially on floor 10: you really don't wanna be trying that while Elidibs/Elidibus is calmly dropping Zodiac on your party regularly.)
You will also need Catch and a summoner strong enough to survive Zodiac being cast on them on the final level. Good to note the dungeon scales with you like random encounters rather than story encounters.
Not sure how known this is, but in the first dungeon on the list, FF8's Undersea Research Base. If you time your movements in the room where you approach Bahamut with when the light dims, you won't have any "random" encounters with Ruby Dragons.
this is only partly true...while yes stopping during the light does prevent battle...once you speak with bahamut there are 2 manditory ruby dragons one after each selection you make while talking to him....the 2nd ruby dragon is always a back attack so be ready for a breath to the backside....youlll need some vitality to survive it
The Via Infinito from FFX-2 is easily the hardest I've experienced, because of the BS status effects (some even ignore ribbon) along with some the enemies have effects like auto-haste, break damage limit.
You could've just let your pokemon clear it. That game gave no reason to run regular party member since pokemon could do max damage every turn(I think it was 99 999). As I recall chocobo had some ability that could deal max damage and you could teach it to others too. Another alternative was with real party member using gunner job and some item that made you hit 9999 so it worked with the spam shooting ability gunner had.
@@janihelin8170 IIRC, Cat Nip got nerfed in the Remastered version. And I tend to use the 2 Mascots for the damage with 1 Alchemist (Stashed item abilities) for a healer. Not a perfect option, But it works.
The thing I loved about FF8s Deep Sea Dungeon even more, was that it punished you if you let Zell cheat your way through. If you solve the steam pressure puzzle properly, then the rest of the way is easy. But if you let Zell force your way through, then you’ll have fixed encounters against enemies of the same strength as those found on the Island Closest to Hell. Found this out the hard way when one of those encounters were two Iron Giants who wiped me due to Grand Sword hitting the party for 8k
Fun fact - those fixed encounters are essential to a lot of stat-maxing methods. In particular, the Tri-Faces on the first floor can be mugged for Curse Spikes which can be refined into Dark Matter and then Luck Ups.
That and Degenerator kills ALL those fixed enemies but you'll fight 2 Iron Giant's at once not just 1 and Odin CAN show up for all those fights since I still killed Odin ON DISC 2 on the PS4 remaster I had lv 100 party members 9999 HP on all and the Infinite HP cheat on and the ONLY 9999 attacks are EG counters/Lets Sharp if Squall gets hit by those against Tonberry/Tonberry King or Light Pillar. Omega in FF8 usually DIES before its Light Pillar turn Ultima weapon however can SPAM it.
I forgot which method I used, but I think I had Zell force his way through, because I got the fixed encounters. 1st set- 2 Tri-faces 2nd Set- 2 Iron Giants 3rd Set- 2 Ruby Dragons 3 encounters each. Best bet against these is to make sure your characters are well equipped, have tons of healing items/spells and to make you have used a Phoenix Pinion before hands. Fun fact: Once you use a Phoenix Pinion (which summons the Phoenix summon, to revive your fallen character/s) it give you a chance for the Phoenix to randomly show up occasionally (the same way Odin does) to recuse you from getting a *GAME OVER* when your party gets knocked out. This saved my butt a few times in the Deep Sea Research Center, while fighting the 2 Iron Giants and fighting Ultima Weapon.
I do still love FF2 “afterlife” dungeon and the angelic Emperor took me such a long time, but I doubt it’s considered optional as I feel like it has to be completed to see the story. The emperor split into two beings. First, the king of the underworld, and then rising to the heavens as the ruler.” Still love it! Also FF4 dungeon took forever to complete all the characters specific dungeons. Shout out to Edge’s ninja playground. 💛
Ah, yes, the Pitioss Ruins. I was a jump away of finishing it but failed so many times I wondered if I was going the wrong way, went back a bit and ended up falling on a hole that triggered the previous area's checkpoint, and then I decided to not torture myself anymore and left.
I just replayed FFXV recently and the Pitioss Ruins took me 2 and a half hours, of which probably 45 minutes of that was me stuck on 3 or 4 jumps. Nearly drove me insane.
Pitioss took me several crash landings, about 6 hours in the dungeon and a lot of help from a video guide but the sense of achievement was unreal! Amazing dungeon design, I don't even know how people begin to imagine designs like that one. I think it took about a week of in game time which made me feel bad for the guys outside waiting for me! (Shout out to Great Crystal and Omega Ruins for handing my under-levelled ass to me several times too RIP)
Pitios in 15 was such a pain. Took me like 3 hours. Died more times trying to even land versus the entire rest of the game combined. But the black hood was such an OP item. Was definitely a good way to end the 150 hour journey!
Pitioss is fairly difficult but I think the real challenge lies in the "A Menace Sleeps in Costlemark" dungeon. 60 floors of the hardest enemies in the game, many of them having instant kill moves, and NO items; limiting your healing to a few select options that have hefty cooldowns, and no revives if you go down. Your reward for beating it is the dark matter bracelet, an accessory boosting strength by 100; the highest in the game for an accessory.
Via Infinito literally scared me as a kid. The BGM…. Man I hated having to go there just to get one of the crimson spheres. As soon as I did I DIPPED quick and forever 🤣
The sheer irony is that when you do draw a physical map, it's very straightforward. The hardest part is running from the Zodiac way stones to their corresponding gates bc you can't avoid fights
It is mentioned that the Wyrmhero Blade in FF 12 has a similar appearance to Erdrick's Sword from Dragon Warrior. This may be an homage to FF 1, where you find Erdrick's grave in Elfheim... "Here lies Erdrick 837-866 R.I.P.".
Well done list. I am far too much of a casual to have attempted any of these, honestly - just watching my brother tackle Pitioss in FFXV was like to drive me batty, and he swore up and down and sideways for HOURS attempting it...I think it took him a week to finally get a clear. But he is just as proud of that clear as he is still of his first ever Ruby Weapon clear, and well earned I think!
I would have added Fanatic's Tower from FF3/6 as an Honorable Mention. 50-60 floors, NO SAVE POINTS, can only use magic and the boss you face on the top can wipe out your entire party on its last move when its dead can take a party off guard if you don't have Life 3/Reraise. Plus, you have to walk back down the tower as you can't warp out.
Or wall rings Fire Shields and Gaia Gear armor users and the other lethal spell their IS Meteor but I'll send Mog their WITH the No encounters relic in FF6 before going their and its NOT 50 to 60 floors long but 50 to 60 STAIRCASES long which is about 5 floors in total.
@@veghesther3204 Okay I do see your point but here's what I meant. Say, you're playing this game for the first time. How would you know how to handle the tower and prep up for it effectively? There's some NPC's who give you some helpful hints sure, but when playing for the first time how well prepared can you be on your first trek up? Plus the Mage Master at the top who uses Ultima as the final killing blow when you beat him. That's all I meant to say really as to how it's a difficult dungeon.
If memory serves, the Great Crystal in XII houses Excalibur, Maxmillian Armor, Mirage Vest, and the Zodiac Escutcheon... as well as the extremely rare Larva Eater which only extremely rarely drops the Danjuro knife. Another dungeon that would have been great for this list was the Deep Dungeon, or Midlight's Deep in Final Fantasy Tactics. Powerful enemies, impossible to see unless enemies drop crystals, and the path to the next floor down is randomly spawned and needs a particular ability to even find it! And THEN a Super Boss that has lots of minions with a powerful summon attack that can only be learned by Summoners in a Blue Mage-style! And teaching that Summon spell to other characters is a trick and a pain!
Yeah the FFT Dungeon definitely wins as far as the hardest FF dungeon. It would literally be impossible to grab up everything in it without a guide. Most other dungeons can be completed without one. I made my own map of the Great Crystal in 12 back when it came out. Tactics was on another level.
im a firm believer that the world of ff8 is also the world of ff3, the deepsea research facility houses the eidolon bahamut and is located in the far southwest corner of the map, in ff3 the floating continent where the warriors of light start is also in the far southwest corner of the map and also is home to bahamut
@@thebossthusiast1960 well 7&10s world is confirmed to be the same, that’s not a theory, it’s proven in 7r when we see the first founder of shinra electric power company was the al-bhed kid from x-2
From all the games mentioned I've only played XV; the pitioss itself wasnt too difficult for me, I really liked it. The hardest part tho was getting to the ruins with the regalia lol
I still have yet to do the Pitioss Ruins... But let me just say, the Faultwarrens was FUN, SO much fun, and in fact I even went back to complete the whole trial a second time because it was just so exhilarating✨
Same. I love the Faultwarrens. Pitioss is an amazing dungeon.. I found a few parts to be a nightmare, but I have a save right before the dungeon because I enjoyed it so much. It's a nice challenge.
I forgot all about that God forsaken crystal from 12. Hours and hours of running up and down. I think I repressed it. I'm also with everyone talking about midnights deep from FFT being an honorable mention. Because it's so hard it's easy - in the sense that you almost need a guide to figure out where the hell you are, where the treasure and traps are, and what enemies to anticipate
Ahh Pittios Dungeon. Started at around 11pm... as I was able to complete the dungeon, I stretched and I felt this massive feeling of accomplishment. Then I looked out the window... Is that the sun?
Pitioss ruins scared the crap out of me when I started because I saw so much about how difficult it is but in the end it was actually my favorite place in the whole game and I went back multiple times because it was just so interesting. Definitely requires a lot of precise movement but once you get the hang of it, it wasn’t that bad just hope that it resets you in each area if you mess up you just have to keep trying until you get the hang of how to make each jump, definitely my favorite dungeon of all the ones I’ve played a lot of interesting lore from that dungeon as well that was not really developed in the game
I'd like to list the Subterra of the Pharos in FF12 as an honorable mention. Here's why: You can't access this area until you unlock the very last dungeon in the main story of the game, but it's a major difficulty spike from the upper layers of the Pharos. The mobs are stronger AND always show up in groups, and the side rooms are pitch black. In order to turn the lights on, you have to collect Black Orbs which slain enemies drop, then put a very specific number of Black Orbs into a "Pedestal of Night" until it's full. You can put in 1, 5, or 10 at a time, but be warned: if you put too many in at once, they go to waste (thankfully the inscription on the pedestal gives you this warning) and you gotta collect more. To further complicate matters, sometimes you may run into a mysterious enemy known as a Magick Pot. It seems docile at first, but if you attack it, it uses spells like Flare that are powerful enough to oneshot even Level 99 characters. Instead, you have to give it an Elixir to make it happy, and Elixirs are not easy to come by in this game. I remember initially being scared to death of those things after reading about them. Now, there are actually 3 layers to this dungeon, but only the first is accessible to you when you first come here. So how do you get to the lower floors? By turning on all of the Pedestals of Night in each of the side rooms. There is also an optional boss called Phoenix in the northern side rooms of the first floor, and you must defeat it before exploring further as well. Thankfully its attacks are nothing special, but it has a randomly changing elemental weakness so any weapons or spells that use elements should be kept out of the fight. It's also a flying target, so you need ranged weapons, magick, or a skill called Telekinesis that lets you hit flying targets with melee weapons to deal damage to it. As you go deeper into the dungeon, the enemies get nastier and more numerous, and the number of Black Orbs you need to unlock the next floor goes up. The third floor, Abyssal, is filled with numerous high-level undead enemies that pop up with every step you take, and they love to spam debuffs like Disease and Poison on your party. Needless to say, you MUST be thoroughly prepared before coming down here. If you manage to obtain the hunt for an enemy called Shadowseer, he is actually the dungeon's true final boss. To get to him, you must activate all four Pedestals of Night on the Abyssal level of the dungeon. Once you do that, you'll gain access to a fourth level called "Unknown" that you can't access until you obtain the hunt for Shadowseer, and you can't escape once the fight begins. During the fight, Shadowseer will hit you with every trick in the book, and he'll also force you to run a gauntlet of bosses that you previously encountered while in the Pharos -- all while having to deal with an insane variety of powerful spells that can overwhelm you very quickly if you don't prepare. The fight is a true test of how well your gambits are set up, as well as how you react to certain spells being used in tandem. One of his favorite tricks is to use Fearga to wipe out your characters' MP, then use Invert to switch a character's HP and MP levels, a combo that can spell instant death for the unsuspecting. He can also Curse your party with multiple debuffs at once. After you clear out the bosses that Shadowseer summoned, then and only then can you fight him in earnest. He'll add Shock, Flare, Scourge, and Scathe to his already vast spell variety, and his defense gets stronger as he nears death. All I can say is, prepare well, and good luck.
Yeah im remember that one, i explore it without knowing anything about it, no walkthrough, the pitch black room, the eerie vibe, one of the most memorable dungeon
8:35 looks like a nice homage to dragon quest, cause that looks like the sword of light, and its called the "wyrmhero" blade, another word for wyrm is dragon, so it would be the dragonhero blade
Pitioss was the best area in FFXV. I remember the days when the reddit community were on that shit dissecting every detail in the dungeon. I think they brought a specific dungeon designer for it to be as complicated as it is.
I remember starting the Pitioss Dungeon in FF XV and literally staying up all night to finish it. That was a very difficult platformer to be sure, but totally worth it!
I remember the last "There's a menace" dungeon in FFXV was absolutely miserable. 99 floors of enemies consistently scaling up every 9 floors. I remember it took me days to get through that dungeon alone.
I know, right?! I failed the fist time and lost 3 hours and actually beating it took me almost double that time! No healing and no objects too! You had to use modified magic or the Great Chamberlain object for Ignis to heal and it made every fight so dragged out, as there were very few fireplaces in-between floors
congrats, i never even finished because i got to frustrated. no items, they were so cruel ( i thought you were talking about the costlemark chamber. that's the only one i didn't finish and it's been a while since i played the game so i thought that was what you were talking about) the only thing i had a problem with that 99 floor one is that it took too long and all those tonberries. those tonberries could one hit ko if your not careful and sadly i was one of them that kept dying to them
I really surprised the World of Darkness from FFIII isn't on here. You have to fight 4 bosses in 4 separate areas and then go on to fighting the Cloud of Darkness with no chance to save the game in between. It has to be done in a gauntlet and you can easily be killed before even making it to the CoD.
The reason is because WoD is a mandatory dungeon, and this was for optional dungeons. But yeah, losing in WoD = throwing controller at wall. Thankfully, the Quicksave feature included in the Pixel remasters allowed you to save anywhere…. Even right before the CoD
I was only able to beat Pitioss by cheesing it. There is a gap near the beginning with a platform the other side that's near the end of the dungeon, the gap looks to big to jump and you'll fall if you try, but if you sprint against a wall until the sprint meter is almost empty then sprint at the gap and release/jump just as you get a sprint boost you can make it over. It was easier to master that than do the dungeon properly.
It was nice seeing many familiar dungeons in this video. My thoughts are as follows: 1. Via Infinito (FFX-2)-Definitely tedious and challenging especially if unprepared. I’ll never forget my first time seeing a wandering Mega Tonberry in the open when the game is normally using random encounters. Seeing that made me suspicious; I had recently saved so with that in mind, I ran up to it and made contact. Chef’s Knife wiped out the whole party in less than 5 seconds. Yikes; that was a real eye opener. The good news is they can be avoided; they won’t actively pursue you and you can walk by them as long as you don’t touch them as they seem to be docile in that respect but after looking into it further, I later learned they were level 90 and with my party only being level 50 or so, we were at a clear disadvantage. 2.Omega Ruins (FFX)-The Great Malboro is the sole reason this dungeon should be treaded with caution; make sure you have someone with First Strike because they always ambush with Bad Breath. Even worse; this dungeon only has ONE save point; at the entrance. Once again, I learned my lesson the hard way; did some grinding and thought I was getting the hang of things until that fiend appeared. Lost an hour’s worth of progress. That sucked. 3. Tower of Agito (Type 0 HD)-This wasn’t challenging so much as it was tedious. If your character has ReRaise 2 and Ultima as spells set, just keep blasting the spell with the critical/kill strikes from time to time and then it’s over. The awarded accessory is totally worth it and cosmic Malboro is a joke of a fight. 4. Pitios Ruins (FFXV)-4+ hours of my life I’ll never get back tearing my hair out in frustration. Enough said. I don’t remember the FFXIII bonus dungeon well enough to comment on my experience of it; it looked and sounded familiar but having not played it in a long time, the details elude me. Looking forward to more Final Fantasy top 7 videos.
100% in 9 is a much bigger bitch than people tend to recognize. Without using cheat codes, and playing straightforward without using the PS4 version's built-in add-ons, getting Excalibur II is EXTREMELY difficult. You have to get to the very last room of Memoria AND defeat Lich there, and do it all in 11 hours and 59 minutes or less. There isn't even much you can do tricks and secrets-wise to ease the difficult of the blitzkrieg run. The best bet is to let Freya win the Great Hunt so you can get the Coral Ring and then try to level up super-fast using Grand Dragons outside the moogle vine of Gizamaluke's Grotto...which is no guarantee in and of itself, and you have to save after EVERY battle.
For the final fantasy 12 dungeon, I remember making a map with little circles showing where each room or doorway took me to. I haven’t seen another dungeon like that but I thought it was a very cool idea to not have any type of map for that.
I would've chose the basement of The Pharos for Final Fantasy XII. I at least beat The Great Crystal, I could barely manage a couple rooms in the basement even after casting every buff possible on my party.
Ah yes confuse and disease on the whole party, my favorite. In the zodiac age i just grinded ribbons so i wouldn't have to deal with that. Makes the place 10× better
Yes you definitely had to come prepared. But the Seer elite hunt was down there, so you (didn't) have to go there eventually. But at least the enemies dropped the black orbs for lighting the pedestals. Mapping out gates, switches, and ramps in the Great Crystal was maddening.
i find that literally impossible to believe. If the Crystal was "easy," and if you actually completed every side quest available from Ultima to Mark XII to the rare monsters from Phon Coast Hunt Club, etc., then you'd have to be a complete idiot to fail the Subterra of the Pharos. Literally the ONLY battle down there that gave me any grief whatsoever once I crossed level 70 was the Shadowseer, and that only because he summons all the previous sub-bosses from the dungeon to shield himself.
It took me hours of what I thought to be only 2 hours at most to finish Pitios Ruins! Add the fact that back then, we only use one TV for everything (gaming, and watching TV/movies). As the exhaustion creeps on with the constant tricky areas (where you will have to try more than once to pass to the next section), I also have to contend with the fact that people already wanted to watch the late night news (meaning my playing time is done). After saying "just one more section" multiple times to the people at home, I finally persevered, and got the Black Hood! I went out of the dungeon, filled my lungs with oh so sweet cold and musky air in front of my regalia, all the while promising myself never to return to that place.
The Via Infinito is by far the hardest of the optional dungeons I've done myself. There are ways you can cheese it, and you can just escape from its later encounters, but the sheer sense of dread and danger you feel in the final 21 floors of this dungeon are something else. You can be Level 99 with all 3 girls and get wiped out so quickly if you let your guard down even for a second. Not that it's unreasonably difficult, but it's still waaay ahead of everything else in the series I've played. Ironically I found both Chac and Paragon to be harder bosses than Trema, as Trema gets shut down very hard by having high physical Defense, while Chac and Paragon in addition to hitting hard physically also boast regularly used powerful party magic attacks and dispel your buffs one way or another as well.
I'm glad the pitioss ruins was on here. FF15 was my first FF game. It was a very interesting dungeon to do and the first time that I got through it when I got out and tried to fly out of the area I crashed into one of the surrounding walls and had to redo it.
The Deep Sea Research Center rather than being challenging, was actually the best place in the game to level up. As there were no random fights in that dungeon. All fights happened at set positions on the map, meaning you could reliably farm them. With the best farming spot being a screen where you would fight three Tri-faces, which while they could be hard fights. You could draw death from them, and cast it right back on them. Meaning you could finish the fights in a low amount of time, only have to fight them by going back to the screen from another screen and you'd never have to use any of your own stored magic to do it.
I am not into platformer gameplay at all, just not my thing but Pitioss was something else. I truly sucked at it and took me what felt like the whole day to get through, but man was it so interesting, so unique, not like anything I’ve ever experienced before or since. An amazing piece of gaming that I remember with great dread but also massive pride for sticking with.
Oh I'm not gonna lie my head and heart hurt seeing the Pitioss dungeon in the thumbnail. Just remembering the effort to get to it and through it hurt so much
Ah, Via Infinito. I remember the nostalgia from tearing through floors 41-100 with the Cat Nip Trigger Happy combo. Couldn’t do that in the PAL or remakes since Cat Nip got(a much needed) nerf
FFXV is a step away from being a masterpiece and the pitioss ruins was my favorite out of all dungeons. From the story telling aspect of it to the brain twisting puzzles, it really made a mark. It also took me a total of around 12 hours to complete. Amazing stuff.
say what you want about the way they released it, and the fact we didnt actually get a "full" experience except in a novel, but once you put everything together this game can easily have been a masterpiece.
Yeah, I'm glad to see the Great Crystal in here. I still remember getting Excalibur in there all those years ago and surpassing my Girlfriend and her sister in their playthrough almost 13 years ago. Those were some good times; Final Fantasy 12 was my first Final Fantasy and first game I ever put so much time into. The Marks were amazing to me, I ended up figuring out and killing all 50 before discovering another secret while running counterclockwise in a certain area and unlocking the Hell Wyrm, whereafter killing it, I received the legendary Mark Yiazmat which I put down after an 8-hour battle to the death. Then returned to the Great Crystal (My Favorite area
Pitioss was one of my favorite non enemy encounter Dungeons. I loved it despite it being frustrating at times. Faultwarrens is my favorite enemy encounter Dungeon despite the pain in the behind Neochu. I enjoyed fighting Attacus though.
The Pitioss Ruins were great. Definitely one of the most memorable Final Fantasy dungeons. The worst dungeon I've ever played in an RPG was one in Bard's Tale 2, I believe. It was in total darkness and had teleporters to different places. I'm not sure how they expected you to beat it, when you didn't know where you were
I spent so much hours on the original FFX-2 100-floors dungeon. Oversouling every creature was the most difficult thing. Every boss was easily dispatched with Trigger Happy Catnip combo wombo.
Really liked bosses in ff xiii-3, for my 20+ gaming career, never met so interesting boses like Aeronite and Bhunivelze+. Wining over them gave so mich satisfaction. I wish there was more like them in the next entries.
It's hard to argue against the great crystal, BUT, you can acquire the holy lance before deep diving & there's a save crystal before Ultima which is by the exit. Henne mines easily
I think Zodiark was my toughest fight in the game so far. Though I haven't fought Omega Mark yet. Don't know if there was a cheat to getting the Zodiac Spear either, just ran and out until I saw that stupid chest
For final fantasy X-2, I recommend catnip, invincible, and the mascot dress sphere. More specifically at floor 80 when you encounter the Chac! That creature is practically immune to everything being ribbon useless and the creature had over 400,000 HP only Rikku's special mascot move helps out a lot. As for FF12 fuck the great crystal I got so lost in that stupid dungeon so many times. I damn their rage quit
Can anyone tell me the track that plays in the "Omega Ruins" part of the video? I have looked around but I can't figure out what it is and it has been bothering me for a bit. Any help appreciated.
Ah yeah, Pitioss dungeon, the dungeon that was so hard that it was tough even before entering the dungeon itself, just trying to land the Regalia was a challenge itself.
The platforming one in FF15 will always be my most challenging and enjoyable dungeon. My earliest memory of a dungeon and one of the ones I had the most difficult with was the ant lion cave in FF2(snes). It was my first time playing a jrpg, I skipped almost every random encounter that I came across. By the time that I got to the ant lion boss was when I learned that you can’t run from a boss fight. I was way too under leveled. This is when I learned the importance of the grind.
I remember playing ff8 and struggling so much to get to ultima so many times. Then years later I learned that if you do the sequence with the switches right on the way down, you don’t have to fight anything in the whole dungeon
Optional super dungeons are great for testing skill, but I do have one major problem with all of them - the reward. The dungeons are often the hardest challenge the game has to offer. But after you beat them, you are almost always given a reward that makes you stronger. If you can beat the greatest challenge in the game without said reward.... what does a reward which makes you stronger actually benefit you? So basically the only way to get the reward is to prove you don't need it in the first place. I'd like to see a dungeon that gives you all the loot it has to offer at the beginning.... but you can't LEAVE with it until the trial is complete. That way the loot actually has a purpose.
That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. Typically they give you something that YOU ACTUALLY NEED...and even IF your claim were true, it's still an asinine assessment. "I got it by proving I didn't need it?" No, you got it by using something that you won from ANOTHER side quest....because almost all side quests reward you with something you need to complete another side quest/major part of the story.
I’ll never forget descending into the pitioss ruins at 10 pm with no clue of what I was getting into thinking I would go to bed when I was done… I showed up to work the next morning with no sleep and the expression of a broken war veteran
mam i recently bought the game again on pc and the fear and regret and ptsd hit me like a truck when i remembered it
Still got PTSD from that dungeon! It was absolute insanity on the first playthrough!!! We gotta have more optional dungeons like that in new ff games!!
@@the121smashchampionyeah i wish there were a couple dungeons in ff16 but i’m loving the game. gonna finish it tonight or tomorrow. it’s been helping me get over my breakup :/.
I also remember starting at night and completing it after sunrise 😅
The pitioss ruins were diffy. Well worth the reward, but damn it also kept me up!
Let's not neglect the hardest part of Pitioss-- landing in its valley without exploding.
But kamikaze car says no...
I may have excellent sense of orientation everywhere else, but the Great Crystal is a pure undistilled nightmare
And for me that has no sense of direction at all is tha worst of all, by far
I bought the guide for the game exclusively for that nightmare fuel of a dungeon, even at level 99 you could get overwhelmed by the ghosts without the right setup, still my favorite ff game though
I hated going in the Great Crystal! It was an absoulte nightmare!
Even with a guide I messed up multiple times. Literally paused to check every turn.
There were a couple of chests that took forever. Can’t remember if I got them all (pretty sure I didn’t have the heart to get the hardest ones as I think there some boss battles on the way)
Doesn't help that you can't unlock all gates at once. Unlocking one will lock another you already opened.
I love that the Ultima Weapon in 8 is wielding the Ultima Weapon sword from 7
ahhh but do you remember how in 7 the ultima weapon would change its colors depending on clouds hp....the closer to full life you have the whiter the blade is...
Glad you put in ff12s crystal. That map was absolutely maddening even with a guide
You didn't play long enoug, if you been there farming you'll soon get a mental image of that whole thing.
@beauvsb5230 Well duh.. However for the first few times you go through the place it's a pain.
Yup. Crystal was an absolute nightmare the first time playing, but I've done it enough times now that I can do the Ultima and Omega sequences without looking them up. @@beauvsb5230
Secret dungeons are one of my favorite things in jrpgs man. When you reach a place where you 'shouldn't' be, it feels awesome.
Do you have any recommendation on games that has it besides FF ?
@@alilahmamssi78 Several JRPGs have them, some of my favorites being Lost Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles and Ni no Kuni.
@@christhiancastillo1607 I don't remember any optional dungeons in ANY of the Xenoblade games. High level enemies where they shouldn't be, yes, but no straight up "optional dungeons" minus maybe the expanded Tethra Cave during the endgame of XB1.
@@alilahmamssi78 I'd look into the Star Ocean series.
It makes my heart sing to explore where only no one has ventured forth
The FF8 Deep Sea Research Center was a big one for me. I was slowly making my way down it for what felt like half a day before I had to travel for a week. I didn't know about the save point since it was hidden, so rather than losing all my progress I turned the TV off but left the console running. Was so happy it was still going when I got home.
However FF8's dungeon is TOO easy since EVERYTHING on the way to Ultima weapon either dies from Odin OR from the Degenerator limit even when using a lv 100 party.
But yes FFX 2's 100 floors is a pain in the ass especially if all 100 floors have NO SAVE POINTS IN THEM AT all and Tremor could still easily killed a max stats party in 1 hit if it wants to before you get even 1 turn.
@@veghesther3204 think you can leave every 10 levels and save. But yes it was a major pain the first time. On the plus side you can get so crazy overpowered that nothing is a challenge….take a long time though
But like the wild arms games abysses that's 100 floors if you EVER leave the 100 Floors dungeon the area has no way to teleport BACK to the LAST floor you went to that means you still need to do ALL 100 floors on a SINGLE run of FFX 2 and that can still take 7 to 10+ hours.
@@veghesther3204I thought the Bahamut fight was pretty tough in an otherwise pretty easy game
@@timyac Agree to that ... The omega fight was pretty tough until you learned the trick.
Pitios is a masterpeice alone. And trying to land the car on the tiny run way to get to it was also oddly fun.
Lots of Game Overs on my side from that.
Istg the landing rip but it was still a lot of fun
More game overs trying to land here compared to the entire game combined 😂
So... Top Gun landing segment... with the Powerglove. Understood!
oh yeah, that landing enough to be include with dungeon itself
Pitioss was the best dungeon; the lore of FF XV was so great but unfortunately the game didn't always clearly tell it. That dungeon told such a great story without any verbal narrative; it was definitely one of my favorite experiences in any RPG I've ever played
It was supposed to be the final dungeon but was moved to become an optional one because it didn't really fit with the rest of the game or something like that.
such a tragic story involving ifrit and eos, it had a very shakespearian vibe to it
I agree. It was such a unique experience. I loved (hated) it. Lol
My first time, I had no idea what I was getting into. I started it about 6pm one afternoon. I just kept telling myself I wasn't going to quit until I beat the damn thing....I didn't beat it until like 3 am. I was frustrated, hungry, but I went to bed soooooo satisfied. It created a memory I wont ever forget.
@@saladinboss2507 I feel this in my soul, I kept telling myself, “I’m not gonna finish this, fuck this place” and I kept going, but damn did I wanna give up so many times, the precise wonky jumps sucked
Yeah, started that monsters at 8pm, at 3am I paused the game, and shut the Tv off. Came back 7 hours later, and finished in about 2 hours. I hadn’t been challenged like that in a FF game.
I loved Pitios dungeon but another difficult one was Costlemark. If you didn't navigate it correctly it brought you back to a room full of monsters and each time you came through there were more of them and they got stronger as well.
Agree. Costlemark was way more rough imo.
It gets stronger 3 times as I went there 5 times and had the same final fight 3 times
Costlemark recieved a huge nerf since the puzzle was made more linear. Pitioss didn't. Plus, i'd rather fight 1000 Fire Giants than return to Pitioss again!
The costlemark menace dungeon.... much time was spent and many tears were shed
Costlemark was so sick, really felt like an ordeal and an accomplishment once you finally beat it.
Hats off to whoever figured out that FF15 secret dungeon. Even with a guide that place was absolute hell.
OMG! I've beaten Ultima a 100 times in FFVIII, but had no idea you could just walk out of the dungeon afterwards because I always have Encounter-None on! Lol That's awesome!
I remember I crashed the regalia into the mountains as I was celebrating finishing that monster of a dungeon in FF-XV, my roommates were like "what's wrong?" Yea...
same, had to do it 2 times
OOf that makes me wanna 🤢🤮
I just cried for you bro
@David Kirby Its a final fantasy game lol. They aren't trying to make gameplay easier for us, especially when it comes to reaching the post endgame dungeons
@David Kirby Thats actually not what I said in the slightest, but thank you for the unwarranted aggression
Deep Dungeon in FF:Tactics was tough on the levels that were completely dark, but had some of the most valuable loot in the game that you could only get with the Move/Find ability and very low bravery stats. It isn't as difficult as some of the others listed because you can finish it one or two levels at a time and not have to do it all in one sitting.
Sunken plane in ff7. Not quite a dungeon, I guess, but my god the first time I wandered into that place it was genuinely terrifying.
It's so alien even the enemies are nightmare fuel but hades materia is worth it 🥰
Everything there can be Morphed into sources...
Final Fantasy Tactics Deep Dungeon first time playthrough, had no idea you had to find the secret hidden square to advance to the next level. Prior to all the fights it was just kill all enemies to advance. And getting to the 10th level to fight the secret boss to obtain the summon.
@Carl Johnson Oh don't get me started about all the rare items you can easily miss. Like the strongest sword in the game the Chaos Blade. I mean really, what kind of mean trick is that LOL.
What i need to get this secret dungeon? Is only in the ps1 versión or in the remake in PSP versión?
The Deep Dungeon is available in all versions of the game. To get to it you have to completed Murond Holy Place Battles. Then enter Warjilis Trade City, it will trigger a scene and unlock the deep dungeon.
it's also recommended to bring Beowulf and Rapha for each battle, though for different reasons: Beowulf's ability to turn enemies into chickens means you can corner a mob on a panel (make sure to check the panel just in case its the exit, first), slap em with the spell once or twice, and then comb the rest of the map for the exit while the mob-turned-chicken hangs out in a corner unable to move or do anything to whoever is blocking it.
Rapha, having the lowest base Brave in the game, and with Move-Find Item skill, makes for the best item hunter w/o significant effort (of course, you can use brave-reducing skills to make her even better at it.).
Usually better to find the exit first and then come back for items (especially on floor 10: you really don't wanna be trying that while Elidibs/Elidibus is calmly dropping Zodiac on your party regularly.)
You will also need Catch and a summoner strong enough to survive Zodiac being cast on them on the final level.
Good to note the dungeon scales with you like random encounters rather than story encounters.
Not sure how known this is, but in the first dungeon on the list, FF8's Undersea Research Base. If you time your movements in the room where you approach Bahamut with when the light dims, you won't have any "random" encounters with Ruby Dragons.
this is only partly true...while yes stopping during the light does prevent battle...once you speak with bahamut there are 2 manditory ruby dragons one after each selection you make while talking to him....the 2nd ruby dragon is always a back attack so be ready for a breath to the backside....youlll need some vitality to survive it
and you say not sure how you know...its literally the first thing it says to you when you walk in...the blue light leads to death
That's VERY known. It was included in the Brady Games official game guide.
The Via Infinito from FFX-2 is easily the hardest I've experienced, because of the BS status effects (some even ignore ribbon) along with some the enemies have effects like auto-haste, break damage limit.
Yes those snakes that bypass ribbon is so horrible 😭 via infinito is a nightmare dungeon
You could've just let your pokemon clear it. That game gave no reason to run regular party member since pokemon could do max damage every turn(I think it was 99 999). As I recall chocobo had some ability that could deal max damage and you could teach it to others too. Another alternative was with real party member using gunner job and some item that made you hit 9999 so it worked with the spam shooting ability gunner had.
@@janihelin8170 IIRC, Cat Nip got nerfed in the Remastered version. And I tend to use the 2 Mascots for the damage with 1 Alchemist (Stashed item abilities) for a healer. Not a perfect option, But it works.
The thing I loved about FF8s Deep Sea Dungeon even more, was that it punished you if you let Zell cheat your way through. If you solve the steam pressure puzzle properly, then the rest of the way is easy. But if you let Zell force your way through, then you’ll have fixed encounters against enemies of the same strength as those found on the Island Closest to Hell.
Found this out the hard way when one of those encounters were two Iron Giants who wiped me due to Grand Sword hitting the party for 8k
Fun fact - those fixed encounters are essential to a lot of stat-maxing methods. In particular, the Tri-Faces on the first floor can be mugged for Curse Spikes which can be refined into Dark Matter and then Luck Ups.
Am I a madman because I always cheat for just that reason? 😂😅
That and Degenerator kills ALL those fixed enemies but you'll fight 2 Iron Giant's at once not just 1 and Odin CAN show up for all those fights since I still killed Odin ON DISC 2 on the PS4 remaster I had lv 100 party members 9999 HP on all and the Infinite HP cheat on and the ONLY 9999 attacks are EG counters/Lets Sharp if Squall gets hit by those against Tonberry/Tonberry King or Light Pillar.
Omega in FF8 usually DIES before its Light Pillar turn Ultima weapon however can SPAM it.
I forgot which method I used, but I think I had Zell force his way through, because I got the fixed encounters.
1st set- 2 Tri-faces
2nd Set- 2 Iron Giants
3rd Set- 2 Ruby Dragons
3 encounters each.
Best bet against these is to make sure your characters are well equipped, have tons of healing items/spells and to make you have used a Phoenix Pinion before hands.
Fun fact: Once you use a Phoenix Pinion (which summons the Phoenix summon, to revive your fallen character/s) it give you a chance for the Phoenix to randomly show up occasionally (the same way Odin does) to recuse you from getting a *GAME OVER* when your party gets knocked out.
This saved my butt a few times in the Deep Sea Research Center, while fighting the 2 Iron Giants and fighting Ultima Weapon.
you need higher vitality.....if youre getting hit for 8k on a grand sword sounds like you dont even have magic junctions to vit...
I do still love FF2 “afterlife” dungeon and the angelic Emperor took me such a long time, but I doubt it’s considered optional as I feel like it has to be completed to see the story. The emperor split into two beings. First, the king of the underworld, and then rising to the heavens as the ruler.” Still love it! Also FF4 dungeon took forever to complete all the characters specific dungeons. Shout out to Edge’s ninja playground. 💛
Ah, yes, the Pitioss Ruins. I was a jump away of finishing it but failed so many times I wondered if I was going the wrong way, went back a bit and ended up falling on a hole that triggered the previous area's checkpoint, and then I decided to not torture myself anymore and left.
World of Final Fantasy's Optional Dongeon is worthy of appearing on this list IMO.
which one 😂
I just replayed FFXV recently and the Pitioss Ruins took me 2 and a half hours, of which probably 45 minutes of that was me stuck on 3 or 4 jumps. Nearly drove me insane.
Pitioss took me several crash landings, about 6 hours in the dungeon and a lot of help from a video guide but the sense of achievement was unreal! Amazing dungeon design, I don't even know how people begin to imagine designs like that one. I think it took about a week of in game time which made me feel bad for the guys outside waiting for me!
(Shout out to Great Crystal and Omega Ruins for handing my under-levelled ass to me several times too RIP)
Pitios in 15 was such a pain. Took me like 3 hours. Died more times trying to even land versus the entire rest of the game combined.
But the black hood was such an OP item. Was definitely a good way to end the 150 hour journey!
Pitioss is fairly difficult but I think the real challenge lies in the "A Menace Sleeps in Costlemark" dungeon. 60 floors of the hardest enemies in the game, many of them having instant kill moves, and NO items; limiting your healing to a few select options that have hefty cooldowns, and no revives if you go down. Your reward for beating it is the dark matter bracelet, an accessory boosting strength by 100; the highest in the game for an accessory.
Was going to say this, Costlemark was ridiculous.
It is difficult but you have the option to magitek exosuit it.
i think i did it with the skill where noct hides on gladios shield and regens hp/mp ..this was pre exo
was costlemark really that bad for you guys? Tbh a very annoying one was the one where you get the balmung, felt tedious.
hmm I don't really remmeber any of the menace sleep that hard. Maybe I over prepare
I'm surprised you didn't mention any of the super hard dungeons for FF 1-7. Hell FF1 had some of the hardest dungeons
When I played FF1 for the first time and walked blind and unprepared into the poison cave. LOL
the chronodia dungeon in FF1 is a nightmare 💀
Via Infinito literally scared me as a kid. The BGM…. Man I hated having to go there just to get one of the crimson spheres. As soon as I did I DIPPED quick and forever 🤣
First time I played it was as an adult and that was still unsettling cause I was playing the game with my lights off at the time.
I remember FF XII dungeon. I drew a map myself while playing. You could get lost easily.
The sheer irony is that when you do draw a physical map, it's very straightforward. The hardest part is running from the Zodiac way stones to their corresponding gates bc you can't avoid fights
It is mentioned that the Wyrmhero Blade in FF 12 has a similar appearance to Erdrick's Sword from Dragon Warrior. This may be an homage to FF 1, where you find Erdrick's grave in Elfheim... "Here lies Erdrick 837-866 R.I.P.".
Which was changed to Link in the GBA remake...
Well done list. I am far too much of a casual to have attempted any of these, honestly - just watching my brother tackle Pitioss in FFXV was like to drive me batty, and he swore up and down and sideways for HOURS attempting it...I think it took him a week to finally get a clear. But he is just as proud of that clear as he is still of his first ever Ruby Weapon clear, and well earned I think!
This is the best FF channel on UA-cam. So glad I found it!
I would have added Fanatic's Tower from FF3/6 as an Honorable Mention. 50-60 floors, NO SAVE POINTS, can only use magic and the boss you face on the top can wipe out your entire party on its last move when its dead can take a party off guard if you don't have Life 3/Reraise. Plus, you have to walk back down the tower as you can't warp out.
There is prep you can do in it as well like wall rings and float
Or wall rings Fire Shields and Gaia Gear armor users and the other lethal spell their IS Meteor but I'll send Mog their WITH the No encounters relic in FF6 before going their and its NOT 50 to 60 floors long but 50 to 60 STAIRCASES long which is about 5 floors in total.
You can also rasp and osmose his mp away if you don't have life 3.
@@veghesther3204 Okay I do see your point but here's what I meant. Say, you're playing this game for the first time. How would you know how to handle the tower and prep up for it effectively? There's some NPC's who give you some helpful hints sure, but when playing for the first time how well prepared can you be on your first trek up? Plus the Mage Master at the top who uses Ultima as the final killing blow when you beat him. That's all I meant to say really as to how it's a difficult dungeon.
Moogle charm was a life saver for that area
If memory serves, the Great Crystal in XII houses Excalibur, Maxmillian Armor, Mirage Vest, and the Zodiac Escutcheon... as well as the extremely rare Larva Eater which only extremely rarely drops the Danjuro knife. Another dungeon that would have been great for this list was the Deep Dungeon, or Midlight's Deep in Final Fantasy Tactics. Powerful enemies, impossible to see unless enemies drop crystals, and the path to the next floor down is randomly spawned and needs a particular ability to even find it! And THEN a Super Boss that has lots of minions with a powerful summon attack that can only be learned by Summoners in a Blue Mage-style! And teaching that Summon spell to other characters is a trick and a pain!
Yeah the FFT Dungeon definitely wins as far as the hardest FF dungeon. It would literally be impossible to grab up everything in it without a guide. Most other dungeons can be completed without one. I made my own map of the Great Crystal in 12 back when it came out. Tactics was on another level.
The Necrol of Nabudis caught me very much off guard.
One of the best parts of FFXII is exploring the Necrohol way too early. Takes tons of strategizing to work your way through.
@@emiach I thought I made a mistake, got destroyed when I first got there.
Me too !!! I was looking for this comment
And there's a secret vendor too
Definitely a tough place even for high level parties
im a firm believer that the world of ff8 is also the world of ff3, the deepsea research facility houses the eidolon bahamut and is located in the far southwest corner of the map, in ff3 the floating continent where the warriors of light start is also in the far southwest corner of the map and also is home to bahamut
This is such an uncommonly discussed theory.
Cool theory, I also subscribe to the idea that a few of the FF games share worlds. 7+10 are the same world IMO, as well as possibly 4+6.
@@thebossthusiast1960 well 7&10s world is confirmed to be the same, that’s not a theory, it’s proven in 7r when we see the first founder of shinra electric power company was the al-bhed kid from x-2
Pitioss was such a big challenge and so unique in the FF world. It was a good game but that dungeon put it even higher on my list of best FF.
From all the games mentioned I've only played XV; the pitioss itself wasnt too difficult for me, I really liked it. The hardest part tho was getting to the ruins with the regalia lol
I still have yet to do the Pitioss Ruins... But let me just say, the Faultwarrens was FUN, SO much fun, and in fact I even went back to complete the whole trial a second time because it was just so exhilarating✨
Same. I love the Faultwarrens. Pitioss is an amazing dungeon.. I found a few parts to be a nightmare, but I have a save right before the dungeon because I enjoyed it so much. It's a nice challenge.
I forgot all about that God forsaken crystal from 12. Hours and hours of running up and down. I think I repressed it.
I'm also with everyone talking about midnights deep from FFT being an honorable mention. Because it's so hard it's easy - in the sense that you almost need a guide to figure out where the hell you are, where the treasure and traps are, and what enemies to anticipate
Ahh Pittios Dungeon. Started at around 11pm... as I was able to complete the dungeon, I stretched and I felt this massive feeling of accomplishment. Then I looked out the window...
Is that the sun?
Pitioss ruins scared the crap out of me when I started because I saw so much about how difficult it is but in the end it was actually my favorite place in the whole game and I went back multiple times because it was just so interesting. Definitely requires a lot of precise movement but once you get the hang of it, it wasn’t that bad just hope that it resets you in each area if you mess up you just have to keep trying until you get the hang of how to make each jump, definitely my favorite dungeon of all the ones I’ve played a lot of interesting lore from that dungeon as well that was not really developed in the game
These videos are well written and well delivered. Great job!
Final Fantasy XIV, getting to floor 200 of the Palace of the Dead in a solo run.
What?? Not Crystal Tower of FFIII?? Is a real nightmare. No Phoenix Dawn. No Eters. No save points. And in the end, the final boss: Cloud.
Pitios Ruin is insane and definitely the best dungeon
I'd like to list the Subterra of the Pharos in FF12 as an honorable mention. Here's why:
You can't access this area until you unlock the very last dungeon in the main story of the game, but it's a major difficulty spike from the upper layers of the Pharos. The mobs are stronger AND always show up in groups, and the side rooms are pitch black. In order to turn the lights on, you have to collect Black Orbs which slain enemies drop, then put a very specific number of Black Orbs into a "Pedestal of Night" until it's full. You can put in 1, 5, or 10 at a time, but be warned: if you put too many in at once, they go to waste (thankfully the inscription on the pedestal gives you this warning) and you gotta collect more.
To further complicate matters, sometimes you may run into a mysterious enemy known as a Magick Pot. It seems docile at first, but if you attack it, it uses spells like Flare that are powerful enough to oneshot even Level 99 characters. Instead, you have to give it an Elixir to make it happy, and Elixirs are not easy to come by in this game. I remember initially being scared to death of those things after reading about them.
Now, there are actually 3 layers to this dungeon, but only the first is accessible to you when you first come here. So how do you get to the lower floors? By turning on all of the Pedestals of Night in each of the side rooms. There is also an optional boss called Phoenix in the northern side rooms of the first floor, and you must defeat it before exploring further as well. Thankfully its attacks are nothing special, but it has a randomly changing elemental weakness so any weapons or spells that use elements should be kept out of the fight. It's also a flying target, so you need ranged weapons, magick, or a skill called Telekinesis that lets you hit flying targets with melee weapons to deal damage to it.
As you go deeper into the dungeon, the enemies get nastier and more numerous, and the number of Black Orbs you need to unlock the next floor goes up. The third floor, Abyssal, is filled with numerous high-level undead enemies that pop up with every step you take, and they love to spam debuffs like Disease and Poison on your party. Needless to say, you MUST be thoroughly prepared before coming down here.
If you manage to obtain the hunt for an enemy called Shadowseer, he is actually the dungeon's true final boss. To get to him, you must activate all four Pedestals of Night on the Abyssal level of the dungeon. Once you do that, you'll gain access to a fourth level called "Unknown" that you can't access until you obtain the hunt for Shadowseer, and you can't escape once the fight begins.
During the fight, Shadowseer will hit you with every trick in the book, and he'll also force you to run a gauntlet of bosses that you previously encountered while in the Pharos -- all while having to deal with an insane variety of powerful spells that can overwhelm you very quickly if you don't prepare. The fight is a true test of how well your gambits are set up, as well as how you react to certain spells being used in tandem. One of his favorite tricks is to use Fearga to wipe out your characters' MP, then use Invert to switch a character's HP and MP levels, a combo that can spell instant death for the unsuspecting. He can also Curse your party with multiple debuffs at once.
After you clear out the bosses that Shadowseer summoned, then and only then can you fight him in earnest. He'll add Shock, Flare, Scourge, and Scathe to his already vast spell variety, and his defense gets stronger as he nears death. All I can say is, prepare well, and good luck.
Yeah im remember that one, i explore it without knowing anything about it, no walkthrough, the pitch black room, the eerie vibe, one of the most memorable dungeon
8:35 looks like a nice homage to dragon quest, cause that looks like the sword of light, and its called the "wyrmhero" blade, another word for wyrm is dragon, so it would be the dragonhero blade
Pitioss was the best area in FFXV. I remember the days when the reddit community were on that shit dissecting every detail in the dungeon. I think they brought a specific dungeon designer for it to be as complicated as it is.
Loved the game. Imagine if they finished the second half of the game and not rushed it
I remember starting the Pitioss Dungeon in FF XV and literally staying up all night to finish it. That was a very difficult platformer to be sure, but totally worth it!
Pretty good list.
I thought the Alza'dal Undersea Ruins and Limbus were pretty crazy back in 11's hayday.
I just beat Via Infinito on the international version so no catnip. It was super challenging! So happy to be done.
For me the most difficult dungeon was Via infinito, it gives me anxiety and seeing Great tonberries walking in the dungeon was terrifying for me.
Hahahaha I felt that too lol
I mean all you need is gunner and trigger happy and you basically win with a certain accessory
@@joshuawidener8407 Not in the HD remaster...
I remember the last "There's a menace" dungeon in FFXV was absolutely miserable. 99 floors of enemies consistently scaling up every 9 floors. I remember it took me days to get through that dungeon alone.
I know, right?! I failed the fist time and lost 3 hours and actually beating it took me almost double that time!
No healing and no objects too! You had to use modified magic or the Great Chamberlain object for Ignis to heal and it made every fight so dragged out, as there were very few fireplaces in-between floors
not to mention the part you had to fight 3 giants and more without using items
congrats, i never even finished because i got to frustrated. no items, they were so cruel ( i thought you were talking about the costlemark chamber. that's the only one i didn't finish and it's been a while since i played the game so i thought that was what you were talking about) the only thing i had a problem with that 99 floor one is that it took too long and all those tonberries. those tonberries could one hit ko if your not careful and sadly i was one of them that kept dying to them
@kaylahanderson3479 yeah fortunately I was level 99 by the time I got to that one, I just kept cooking the best meals I could at every campfire.
@user-yd2tf1dg5m I thought the floor with those 2 massive dragon snakes was worse. Hell, just one of them was bad enough.
I really surprised the World of Darkness from FFIII isn't on here. You have to fight 4 bosses in 4 separate areas and then go on to fighting the Cloud of Darkness with no chance to save the game in between. It has to be done in a gauntlet and you can easily be killed before even making it to the CoD.
The reason is because WoD is a mandatory dungeon, and this was for optional dungeons. But yeah, losing in WoD = throwing controller at wall. Thankfully, the Quicksave feature included in the Pixel remasters allowed you to save anywhere…. Even right before the CoD
@@powerofk
You're not supposed to throw the controller against the wall. You're supposed to throw it against the console.
I was only able to beat Pitioss by cheesing it. There is a gap near the beginning with a platform the other side that's near the end of the dungeon, the gap looks to big to jump and you'll fall if you try, but if you sprint against a wall until the sprint meter is almost empty then sprint at the gap and release/jump just as you get a sprint boost you can make it over. It was easier to master that than do the dungeon properly.
It was nice seeing many familiar dungeons in this video. My thoughts are as follows:
1. Via Infinito (FFX-2)-Definitely tedious and challenging especially if unprepared. I’ll never forget my first time seeing a wandering Mega Tonberry in the open when the game is normally using random encounters. Seeing that made me suspicious; I had recently saved so with that in mind, I ran up to it and made contact. Chef’s Knife wiped out the whole party in less than 5 seconds. Yikes; that was a real eye opener. The good news is they can be avoided; they won’t actively pursue you and you can walk by them as long as you don’t touch them as they seem to be docile in that respect but after looking into it further, I later learned they were level 90 and with my party only being level 50 or so, we were at a clear disadvantage.
2.Omega Ruins (FFX)-The Great Malboro is the sole reason this dungeon should be treaded with caution; make sure you have someone with First Strike because they always ambush with Bad Breath. Even worse; this dungeon only has ONE save point; at the entrance. Once again, I learned my lesson the hard way; did some grinding and thought I was getting the hang of things until that fiend appeared. Lost an hour’s worth of progress. That sucked.
3. Tower of Agito (Type 0 HD)-This wasn’t challenging so much as it was tedious. If your character has ReRaise 2 and Ultima as spells set, just keep blasting the spell with the critical/kill strikes from time to time and then it’s over. The awarded accessory is totally worth it and cosmic Malboro is a joke of a fight.
4. Pitios Ruins (FFXV)-4+ hours of my life I’ll never get back tearing my hair out in frustration. Enough said.
I don’t remember the FFXIII bonus dungeon well enough to comment on my experience of it; it looked and sounded familiar but having not played it in a long time, the details elude me.
Looking forward to more Final Fantasy top 7 videos.
I knew the omega ruins was going to be on the list. Those random encounters are *HARD*
Oh the nostalgia, I remember getting 100% in FF6 through FF9, nowadays I only have time to finish the story missions in some games.
100% in 9 is a much bigger bitch than people tend to recognize. Without using cheat codes, and playing straightforward without using the PS4 version's built-in add-ons, getting Excalibur II is EXTREMELY difficult. You have to get to the very last room of Memoria AND defeat Lich there, and do it all in 11 hours and 59 minutes or less. There isn't even much you can do tricks and secrets-wise to ease the difficult of the blitzkrieg run. The best bet is to let Freya win the Great Hunt so you can get the Coral Ring and then try to level up super-fast using Grand Dragons outside the moogle vine of Gizamaluke's Grotto...which is no guarantee in and of itself, and you have to save after EVERY battle.
Jesus you just triggered my PTSD from the great crystal all of that juggling around the dungeon just to get Hastega LOOL, but very much worth it doe
For the final fantasy 12 dungeon, I remember making a map with little circles showing where each room or doorway took me to. I haven’t seen another dungeon like that but I thought it was a very cool idea to not have any type of map for that.
Me taking a first step in Omega Ruins in FFX: Oh, Gee golly wee!! I sure love some exploration!
Molboro: Bonjour!!
I would've chose the basement of The Pharos for Final Fantasy XII. I at least beat The Great Crystal, I could barely manage a couple rooms in the basement even after casting every buff possible on my party.
Ah yes confuse and disease on the whole party, my favorite. In the zodiac age i just grinded ribbons so i wouldn't have to deal with that. Makes the place 10× better
Yes you definitely had to come prepared. But the Seer elite hunt was down there, so you (didn't) have to go there eventually. But at least the enemies dropped the black orbs for lighting the pedestals. Mapping out gates, switches, and ramps in the Great Crystal was maddening.
i find that literally impossible to believe. If the Crystal was "easy," and if you actually completed every side quest available from Ultima to Mark XII to the rare monsters from Phon Coast Hunt Club, etc., then you'd have to be a complete idiot to fail the Subterra of the Pharos. Literally the ONLY battle down there that gave me any grief whatsoever once I crossed level 70 was the Shadowseer, and that only because he summons all the previous sub-bosses from the dungeon to shield himself.
@@threadbarephoenix9904 Go be a 2005 edge lord somewhere else. You can't show your face. Your channel has 0 content on it.
It took me hours of what I thought to be only 2 hours at most to finish Pitios Ruins! Add the fact that back then, we only use one TV for everything (gaming, and watching TV/movies). As the exhaustion creeps on with the constant tricky areas (where you will have to try more than once to pass to the next section), I also have to contend with the fact that people already wanted to watch the late night news (meaning my playing time is done). After saying "just one more section" multiple times to the people at home, I finally persevered, and got the Black Hood! I went out of the dungeon, filled my lungs with oh so sweet cold and musky air in front of my regalia, all the while promising myself never to return to that place.
The Via Infinito is by far the hardest of the optional dungeons I've done myself. There are ways you can cheese it, and you can just escape from its later encounters, but the sheer sense of dread and danger you feel in the final 21 floors of this dungeon are something else. You can be Level 99 with all 3 girls and get wiped out so quickly if you let your guard down even for a second. Not that it's unreasonably difficult, but it's still waaay ahead of everything else in the series I've played.
Ironically I found both Chac and Paragon to be harder bosses than Trema, as Trema gets shut down very hard by having high physical Defense, while Chac and Paragon in addition to hitting hard physically also boast regularly used powerful party magic attacks and dispel your buffs one way or another as well.
I'm glad the pitioss ruins was on here. FF15 was my first FF game. It was a very interesting dungeon to do and the first time that I got through it when I got out and tried to fly out of the area I crashed into one of the surrounding walls and had to redo it.
The Deep Sea Research Center rather than being challenging, was actually the best place in the game to level up. As there were no random fights in that dungeon. All fights happened at set positions on the map, meaning you could reliably farm them. With the best farming spot being a screen where you would fight three Tri-faces, which while they could be hard fights. You could draw death from them, and cast it right back on them. Meaning you could finish the fights in a low amount of time, only have to fight them by going back to the screen from another screen and you'd never have to use any of your own stored magic to do it.
I am not into platformer gameplay at all, just not my thing but Pitioss was something else. I truly sucked at it and took me what felt like the whole day to get through, but man was it so interesting, so unique, not like anything I’ve ever experienced before or since. An amazing piece of gaming that I remember with great dread but also massive pride for sticking with.
Oh I'm not gonna lie my head and heart hurt seeing the Pitioss dungeon in the thumbnail. Just remembering the effort to get to it and through it hurt so much
Not gonna lie, it was very jarring seeing Twinning dungeon footage without that the banger that is "A Long Fall". Phenomenal video as always
Ah, Via Infinito. I remember the nostalgia from tearing through floors 41-100 with the Cat Nip Trigger Happy combo. Couldn’t do that in the PAL or remakes since Cat Nip got(a much needed) nerf
I did the Pitioss ruins once and that was enough! That was some of the most frustrating platforming I had ever done
FFXV is a step away from being a masterpiece and the pitioss ruins was my favorite out of all dungeons. From the story telling aspect of it to the brain twisting puzzles, it really made a mark. It also took me a total of around 12 hours to complete. Amazing stuff.
say what you want about the way they released it, and the fact we didnt actually get a "full" experience except in a novel, but once you put everything together this game can easily have been a masterpiece.
I think a list of the hardest mandatory dungeons would be very interesting, as well! Thanks for all the great videos!
#1) Crystal Tower from FFIII
#2) Literally everything else
The Crystal Tower is pure fuckin sadism I tells ya
@@4QIceholeI don't think this can LEGALLY be argued. There is no other main story-contingent quest/dungeon that even comes close.
I have successfully mapped the entirety of the great crystal....I use it for my casual playthroughs on my stream...best investment of time ever
Yeah, I'm glad to see the Great Crystal in here. I still remember getting Excalibur in there all those years ago and surpassing my Girlfriend and her sister in their playthrough almost 13 years ago. Those were some good times; Final Fantasy 12 was my first Final Fantasy and first game I ever put so much time into. The Marks were amazing to me, I ended up figuring out and killing all 50 before discovering another secret while running counterclockwise in a certain area and unlocking the Hell Wyrm, whereafter killing it, I received the legendary Mark Yiazmat which I put down after an 8-hour battle to the death. Then returned to the Great Crystal (My Favorite area
I LOVE the omega ruins in ffX. Love the vibe, the music. It’s just awesome.
Pitioss was one of my favorite non enemy encounter Dungeons. I loved it despite it being frustrating at times. Faultwarrens is my favorite enemy encounter Dungeon despite the pain in the behind Neochu. I enjoyed fighting Attacus though.
The dungeon inside the giant robot in Final Fantasy IV/2 on SNES was crazy hard from what I remember.
The best of FF content always
The hardest part of the Pitioss Ruins for me was getting there. It's the only time I crashed the car in the game 😓
If you're anticipating Final Fantasy XVI, be sure to take our survey - we'll be compiling the results into a video in the near future: bit.ly/3WhM70N
Pitioss was my favourite, I think FFXV is a masterpiece that was never finished, do hope they return to this game
Thanks. Took the survey.
The Pitioss Ruins were great. Definitely one of the most memorable Final Fantasy dungeons. The worst dungeon I've ever played in an RPG was one in Bard's Tale 2, I believe. It was in total darkness and had teleporters to different places. I'm not sure how they expected you to beat it, when you didn't know where you were
I spent so much hours on the original FFX-2 100-floors dungeon. Oversouling every creature was the most difficult thing. Every boss was easily dispatched with Trigger Happy Catnip combo wombo.
I love/hated Pitioss, it was one of be best dungeons I’ve played but it can also be stressful if you can’t make jumps.
Really liked bosses in ff xiii-3, for my 20+ gaming career, never met so interesting boses like Aeronite and Bhunivelze+. Wining over them gave so mich satisfaction. I wish there was more like them in the next entries.
It's hard to argue against the great crystal, BUT, you can acquire the holy lance before deep diving & there's a save crystal before Ultima which is by the exit. Henne mines easily
I think Zodiark was my toughest fight in the game so far. Though I haven't fought Omega Mark yet. Don't know if there was a cheat to getting the Zodiac Spear either, just ran and out until I saw that stupid chest
Dungeons forever burned into my psyche: IV's Lunar Subterrane, VII's Crashed Gelnika, XII's Great Crystal
For final fantasy X-2, I recommend catnip, invincible, and the mascot dress sphere. More specifically at floor 80 when you encounter the Chac! That creature is practically immune to everything being ribbon useless and the creature had over 400,000 HP only Rikku's special mascot move helps out a lot. As for FF12 fuck the great crystal I got so lost in that stupid dungeon so many times. I damn their rage quit
Pitioss ruins is my absolute favorite dungeon. First time I did it took like 6 hours. Now I can do it in 22 min xD
This exactly
Pitioss was my absolute favorite. I loved it and would love to explore the lure of it
Pitioss wins the "best dungeon I'm never coming back to" award.
Can anyone tell me the track that plays in the "Omega Ruins" part of the video? I have looked around but I can't figure out what it is and it has been bothering me for a bit. Any help appreciated.
Ah yeah, Pitioss dungeon, the dungeon that was so hard that it was tough even before entering the dungeon itself, just trying to land the Regalia was a challenge itself.
Cloud's Ultima Weapon on Omega's FFVIII is nice to see
The platforming one in FF15 will always be my most challenging and enjoyable dungeon.
My earliest memory of a dungeon and one of the ones I had the most difficult with was the ant lion cave in FF2(snes).
It was my first time playing a jrpg, I skipped almost every random encounter that I came across. By the time that I got to the ant lion boss was when I learned that you can’t run from a boss fight. I was way too under leveled. This is when I learned the importance of the grind.
I remember playing ff8 and struggling so much to get to ultima so many times. Then years later I learned that if you do the sequence with the switches right on the way down, you don’t have to fight anything in the whole dungeon
Those Neochu's in XIII was really tough.
Optional super dungeons are great for testing skill, but I do have one major problem with all of them - the reward.
The dungeons are often the hardest challenge the game has to offer. But after you beat them, you are almost always given a reward that makes you stronger. If you can beat the greatest challenge in the game without said reward.... what does a reward which makes you stronger actually benefit you? So basically the only way to get the reward is to prove you don't need it in the first place.
I'd like to see a dungeon that gives you all the loot it has to offer at the beginning.... but you can't LEAVE with it until the trial is complete. That way the loot actually has a purpose.
That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. Typically they give you something that YOU ACTUALLY NEED...and even IF your claim were true, it's still an asinine assessment. "I got it by proving I didn't need it?" No, you got it by using something that you won from ANOTHER side quest....because almost all side quests reward you with something you need to complete another side quest/major part of the story.
Love your stuff dude
Thanks so much Devon!