Final Fantasy's Moogles Were Never Planned To Be Mascots (original) (raw)

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Moogles are one of the most famous aspects of the Final Fantasy series, but it has been revealed that they were never meant to be mascots for the franchise. The Moogle race debuted in Final Fantasy III, where they could be found hanging out with Doga the sage in his manor.

The Moogle race would go on to make regular appearances in the Final Fantasy games, alongside the chocobos, which are the other mascots of the series. The Moogles are often allies of the player throughout the Final Fantasy series, such as the Mognet Moogles in Final Fantasy IX or the ones who act as party members in Final Fantasy VI. There have also been villainous Moogles, such as the allies of Good King Moggle Mog XII in Final Fantasy XIV. The most recent appearance of the Moogles happened in Final Fantasy VII Remake, with the player able to use the Choco & Mog summon Materia in battle. The players of Final Fantasy VII Remake will also spend most of the game hunting down Moogle Medals and giving them to a kid dressed like a Moogle.

It seems that Square Enix struck gold with the design of the Moogles, as they were never meant to be mascots. The Square Enix website recently posted an interview with Hiromichi Tanaka, who worked on Final Fantasy III, as April 27 marked the 30th anniversary of the game's release. According to Tanaka, the Moogles were never meant to be anything more than cave-dwelling creatures and there were no plans for them to appear in future entries in the series.

Tanaka: How do I say this – it’s not a character that I remember at the time being in a special or important position, or even particularly memorable. It was just one character of many, and we added it in because we wanted someone to put in these caves. It was a race of cave people; we didn’t think it would become a mascot character. [laughs]

It was also revealed that Moogles can trace their origins to Dungeons & Dragons. According to Tanaka, Moogles' eyes had adapted to darkness in a process similar to Infravision, which is an old Dungeons & Dragons term for being able to see in the dark. In various editions of Dungeons & Dragons, the non-human races (elves, dwarves) could see in the infrared spectrum through a process called Infravision, but that was replaced in later editions with a new feature called Darkvision.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the Final Fantasy series (like the origin of its title) and it's always enlightening to hear from the original creators and learn more about the decisions that shaped the series. The developers of Final Fantasy III might have created a couple of winged teddy bears for the express purpose of making one area in the game look interesting, but they really created some of the most memorable creatures in gaming history, to the point where they have remained popular for thirty years.

Next: Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Ending Can’t Be Understood Without Original Game

Source: Square Enix