All Call Backs and References (Gotta Catch 'em All)

Ajexmi

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Hey, so as part of a large project I am working on around Final Fantasy IX I'm making notes of all the references the game makes to previous instalments but also theatrical references (ie. Shakespeare, Addison, Ibsen, etc). I figured this could be a fun nostalgia trip to see how many we can get in one thread here.

So far:

Call Backs and FF References:
* The 'Hero's Journey' in Ramuh's trial is a recap of events from FFII
* Tetra Master is a call back to Triple Triad
* Many recognisable names of previous heroes and villains are used (Garland, Locke (some old dude NPC in Lindblum near the station, Cid (obviously), Gilgamesh (the four-armed man), et al)
* Reference to Cloud's buster sword in Lindblum's weapon shop
* Reference to Gogo (FFVI) as a legendary doll-maker in Daguerro
* Doga's Artefact and Une's Mirror (FFIV) are items available for auction in Treno
* BO(bby) CO(rwen) (Boko - FFV, FFVIII)
* During the chase at the beginning of the game in which Garnet and Zidane run through the Prima Vista Orchestra, they sound like they are playing Rufus Shinra's Welcome March from FFVII
* Theme of Mt. Gulug and The Crystal World are updated arrangements of Mount Gulug and Prelude from FFI
* Princess Garnet's real name is Sarah -- a call back to the name of the princess in FFI
* "No cloud nor squall shall hinder us" is a hat-tip to the protagonists of the previous two titles.
* The Invincible was the name of the big airship in FFIII.

Pop Culture:
* Yoda's 'Fear leads to Anger...' Speech preceding the Necron fight
* Star Trek reference in Lindblum: "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker!"

Theatrical References and Allusions:
* Lord Avon is Shakespeare (who was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon)
* King Leo is essentially King Lear in 'I Want to be Your Canary', and Cornelia is Cordelia.
* Amarant's aphorism "He who hesitates is lost" is a modern phrase that originates from a paraphrased line in the 1712 play Cato (Addison): "The women who deliberates is lost"
* Puck is an allusion to the character in A Midsummer Night's Dream
* Ipsen might be Ibsen (still looking into this one)
*Marcus and Cinna are two of the conspirators from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
* I Want to be Your Canary is an adaption of one of Romeo's lines in Romeo & Juliet. Originally: "I would I were thy bird"

I know there are some that I've forgotten, and probably plenty that I haven't spotted. Still getting over how weird it is that a game that is so heavy on referencing the previous titles doesn't have an iteration of Biggs and Wedge!

Anyway, what have you found? What's your favourite easter egg?
 
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Hey, so as part of a large project I am working on around Final Fantasy IX I'm making notes of all the references the game makes to previous instalments but also theatrical references (ie. Shakespeare, Addison, Ibsen, etc). I figured this could be a fun nostalgia trip to see how many we can get in one thread here.

So far:

Call Backs and FF References:
* The 'Hero's Journey' in Ramuh's trial is a recap of events from FFII
* Tetra Master is a call back to Triple Triad
* Many recognisable names of previous heroes and villains are used (Garland, Locke (some old dude NPC in Lindblum near the station, Cid (obviously), Gilgamesh (the four-armed man), et al)
* Reference to Cloud's buster sword in Lindblum's weapon shop
* Reference to Gogo (FFVI) as a legendary doll-maker in Daguerro
* Doga's Artefact and Une's Mirror (FFIV) are items available for auction in Treno
* BO(bby) CO(rwen) (FFVIII)
* During the chase at the beginning of the game in which Garnet and Zidane run through the Prima Vista Orchestra, they sound like they are playing Rufus Shinra's Welcome March from FFVII
* Theme of Mt. Gulug and The Crystal World are updated arrangements of Mount Gulug and Prelude from FFI
* Princess Garnet's real name is Sarah -- a call back to the name of the princess in FFI
* "No cloud nor squall shall hinder us" is a hat-tip to the protagonists of the previous two titles.



Theatrical References and Allusions:
* Lord Avon is Shakespeare (who was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon)
* King Leo is essentially King Lear in 'I Want to be Your Canary'
* Amarant's aphorism "He who hesitates is lost" is a modern phrase that originates from a paraphrased line in the 1712 play Cato (Addison): "The women who deliberates is lost"
* Puck is an allusion to the character in A Midsummer Night's Dream
* Ipsen might be Ibsen (still looking into this one)


I know there are some that I've forgotten, and probably plenty that I haven't spotted. Still getting over how weird it is that a game that is so heavy on referencing the previous titles doesn't have an iteration of Biggs and Wedge!

Anyway, what have you found? What's your favourite easter egg?

I don’t know if I have a favourite Easter egg because there are simply too many in FFIX to highlight only one.

While you are right that we lack the repeated Star Wars reference of Biggs and Wedge, we do instead get a Star Wars reference at the very end of the game where Necron briefly quotes elements of Yoda's "Fear leads to anger..." speech.

There is also a Star Trek reference. At least in the English localisation - I am unsure about the Japanese text.
There’s a Lindblum worker who says “Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor not a miracle worker!”
This is what Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy says to Captain James Tiberius Kirk many times in the original series of Star Trek.

I wrote an article about all the references to Shakespeare I could find in Final Fantasy IX. There’s more in the article, but to summarise a few of them here:
  • Marcus and Cinna are the names of some of the conspirators involved in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare gives particular, haunting prominence to Cinna during a famous mistaken identity scene where the angry mob kill Cinna the Poet instead of the conspirator of the same name.
  • ‘I Want To Be Your Canary’ appears to be a reference to a line in Romeo and Juliet. In Japanese the title is 'I Want To Be Your Bird' which recalls Romeo's remarks in Romeo and Juliet Act II, scene ii, line 180.

-

As a brief but relevant aside, do you recommend the Boss Fights book series (which I see you mention in FFPianoMusic's thread as a format you'd like to emulate)? I’ve been trying to keep tabs on any published books related to Final Fantasy and it alarms me when I encounter ones that I haven’t heard of before!
I've just looked into it and there’s a Final Fantasy V book in this series and an forthcoming Final Fantasy VI book. The latter appears to focus on music, but the FFV one appears to be detailing aspects of the game’s cultural significance, etc, and contains interview quotations and so on. However, I cannot find a preview for the contents page, so I cannot be sure what the book contains. Have you read it? If so, do you recommend it?
 
I don’t know if I have a favourite Easter egg because there are simply too many in FFIX to highlight only one.

While you are right that we lack the repeated Star Wars reference of Biggs and Wedge, we do instead get a Star Wars reference at the very end of the game where Necron briefly quotes elements of Yoda's "Fear leads to anger..." speech.

There is also a Star Trek reference. At least in the English localisation - I am unsure about the Japanese text.
There’s a Lindblum worker who says “Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor not a miracle worker!”
This is what Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy says to Captain James Tiberius Kirk many times in the original series of Star Trek.

I wrote an article about all the references to Shakespeare I could find in Final Fantasy IX. There’s more in the article, but to summarise a few of them here:
  • Marcus and Cinna are the names of some of the conspirators involved in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare gives particular, haunting prominence to Cinna during a famous mistaken identity scene where the angry mob kill Cinna the Poet instead of the conspirator of the same name.
  • ‘I Want To Be Your Canary’ appears to be a reference to a line in Romeo and Juliet. In Japanese the title is 'I Want To Be Your Bird' which recalls Romeo's remarks in Romeo and Juliet Act II, scene ii, line 180.

-

As a brief but relevant aside, do you recommend the Boss Fights book series (which I see you mention in FFPianoMusic's thread as a format you'd like to emulate)? I’ve been trying to keep tabs on any published books related to Final Fantasy and it alarms me when I encounter ones that I haven’t heard of before!
I've just looked into it and there’s a Final Fantasy V book in this series and an forthcoming Final Fantasy VI book. The latter appears to focus on music, but the FFV one appears to be detailing aspects of the game’s cultural significance, etc, and contains interview quotations and so on. However, I cannot find a preview for the contents page, so I cannot be sure what the book contains. Have you read it? If so, do you recommend it?

Nice -- I never would have caught the Star Trek references. I completely missed the Yoda one from my list, but I was aware of that one. The Cinna reference in particular is great: perhaps this menacing looking Cinna is the one that got away! Looks like I'll need to dig into Juilus Ceaser to unearth some information there.

I haven't actually read that one no. I am quite intimate with Kingdom Hearts II though, where I first learned of the books. The short chapters of informative yet personal experience seems to be a consistent trait in the books; so if they share similar structure and author passion, I would recommend taking the dive with them. I'm quite looking forward to FFVI coming out, despite not being much of a fan of the game at all.

With regards to books you haven't heard of, my book on Final Fantasy IX has just gone live on Kickstarter :)

 
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I think the references to Shakespeare's Caesar are primarily the names above anything else. That said, it is important that the Tantalus Theatre Troupe are a group of players (like Shakespearean actors) and are also conspiring to kidnap Princess Garnet (roughly analogous to the conspirators against Caesar).
It further continues the Leo = King Lear and Cornelia = Cordelia reference, which in turn strengthens the Puck and Lord Avon allusions.
The first act of FFIX really wanted us to think about Shakespeare.

Cornelia is also the name of the first town in the entire franchise whilst Leo can double as a reference to General Leo Cristophe from FFVI. These allusions can work twofold, but the Shakespeare connections are stronger.

I haven't actually read that one no. I am quite intimate with Kingdom Hearts II though, where I first learned of the books. The short chapters of informative yet personal experience seems to be a consistent trait in the books; so if they share similar structure and author passion, I would recommend taking the dive with them. I'm quite looking forward to FFVI coming out, despite not being much of a fan of the game at all.
I'll add the FFV one to my wishlist to buy someday appropriate.

With regards to books you haven't heard of, my book on Final Fantasy IX has just gone live on Kickstarter :)


Excellent! I like the sound of those essays.

Do you have a social media account for the project to help share it?
 
I think the references to Shakespeare's Caesar are primarily the names above anything else. That said, it is important that the Tantalus Theatre Troupe are a group of players (like Shakespearean actors) and are also conspiring to kidnap Princess Garnet (roughly analogous to the conspirators against Caesar).
It further continues the Leo = King Lear and Cornelia = Cordelia reference, which in turn strengthens the Puck and Lord Avon allusions.
The first act of FFIX really wanted us to think about Shakespeare.

Cornelia is also the name of the first town in the entire franchise whilst Leo can double as a reference to General Leo Cristophe from FFVI. These allusions can work twofold, but the Shakespeare connections are stronger.


I'll add the FFV one to my wishlist to buy someday appropriate.



Excellent! I like the sound of those essays.

Do you have a social media account for the project to help share it?

Yeah the dual reference was probably intentional but, as you say, weighted more towards the Shakespearean.

Re: the book -- That's very kind of you! I kind of accidently launched the campaign before I was ready, so the pages aren't quite set up yet. I have a portfolio and blog site that will have links and information in the coming days, but nothing on Facebook or Twitter yet.
 
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