Critical Hit

A Critical Hit, also known as a Critical Strike, or simply a Critical, is the term given to a physical attack that is somewhat stronger than the normal version of the attack. Critical hits have a chance of occurring when the Attack command is used. They commonly take off double the normal damage the attack would, but cannot break the damage limit. Depending on the game, Critical Hits either play a different sound effect, the screen flashes, or the word "Critical" appears when it does occur. The chance of a critical is usually related to the Luck stat.

Some equipment or support abilities may increase the hit rate. Some command abilities also always hit with a critical hit, albeit sacrificing the accuracy of the strike.

Final Fantasy
The chances of a Critical Hit occurring is equal to the weapon's index number, though this is a bug in the game as it was supposed to be another variable. For unarmed non-Black Belt/Monks, the Critical Hit is equal to 0, while for unarmed Black Belts/Monks, it is equal to double that character's level. The percentage chance of a critical hit is equal to the Critical Hit +1, divided by 201.

Final Fantasy IV
Critical Hits are only caused through physical attacks through the Fight command, and are not applied to other commands such as Jump or Kick. There is a 1/32 chance of a Critical Hit occurring, and cannot occur if the character is in Toad or Mini status. There is a bug with critical hits that occurs in the SNES version of the game, in which some weapons prevents criticals from ever happening, and will never fix itself, even after unequipping the weapon. The following weapons have the No Critical bit applied to them, and as such are the cause of the No Critical Bug in the SNES versions. In the DS version, when you score a critical hit the screen will flash white and a louder hit sound will play. This can be increased by the Speed stat.


 * Rune Staff
 * All of Rydia's whips
 * Dwarf Axe
 * Ogrekiller
 * Ragnarok
 * Fuma Shuriken

Final Fantasy V
Critical Hits are only caused by a physical attack from certain weapons (Katanas, bare fists, and Yoishi's Bow). The chances to get a Critical Hit, however, are at a fixed percentage that depends on which weapon is being used. Most have a 12% rate of getting a Critical, but some have higher chances, most notably the Murakumo, Murasame, and the Mutsunokami. There are also three other weapons that can score critical hits: The Rune Blade, Rune Chime, and Rune Axe each consume MP with each physical attack they do in order to get a critical hit each time. The Rune Blade consumes 8 MP per attack, whilst the Axe and Chime each consume only 5 MP.

Furthermore, in the GBA port, the Gladiator Job Class has an attack called Finisher. One of the three possible outcomes is to score a "Critical Hit," which is essentially a stronger version of a physical attack. The chances of getting a Critical change as the character increases his or her Job Level.

Final Fantasy VI
Standard attacks have a 1 in 32 chance of being a critical hit. If the attack is a critical hit damage is doubled. Some weapons, for example the Rune Edge, Ragnarok and Lightbringer, consume 10 MP from user upon attacking for an automatic critical hit.

Final Fantasy VII
Nearly all physical attacks have a chance of being a critical hit, which means they take off double the normal damage. The chance of a critical hit is determined by the user's Luck and Level, and the enemy's level. The math to work out the chance of scoring a critical can be worked out in three steps. The first step involves the user's luck added onto the user's level, with the target's level being subtracted from the total, and having the new total divided by four. The result is then truncated to reach a whole number.
 * $$Critical = [(User's Luck + User's Level - Target's Level) / 4]$$

When determining a playable character's chance of landing a critical hit, the weapon's own critical percentage is added to the result to reach the total. In most instances, the weapon's critical percentage is zero, and no weapons make any considerable difference to the percentage.

The second step is to find a random outcome. The math for this is as follows:
 * $$Random = [Rnd(0..65535) * 99 / 65535] + 1$$

The third step decides whether it is a critical or not. If the result for Random is less than or equal to the result for Critical%, then the user will score a critical hit.

So as an example, if a user has a luck of 46, a level of 50, against an enemy with a level of 32, with a weapon critical% of 0. And a random number of 23432.


 * $$Critical = [(46 + 50 - 32)/4)] = 16$$
 * $$Random = [23432 * 99 / 65535] + 1 = 36$$
 * $$36 > 16$$

The result would not be a critical hit as 36 is more than 16.

There are 26 weapons that effect the Critical%. Tifa's Kaiser Knuckle is the only weapon to add just one. A number of Tifa's weapons, in fact her first eight, being the Leather Glove, the Metal Knuckle, the Mythril Claw, the Grand Glove, the Tiger Fang, the Diamond Knuckle, the Dragon Claw, and the Crystal Glove all add two. Her second best weapon, the God's Hand also does the same, as does Aeris's Striking Staff, Yuffie's Spiral Shuriken and Magic Shuriken, and Cait Sith's Battle Trumpet. Barret's Drill Arm and Pile Banger are the only two to add three. Cloud's Nail Bat, Barret's Rocket Punch, Tifa's Work Glove, Yuffie's Superball, Cait Sith's Trumpet Shell, and Vincent's Silver Rifle add four. Aeris's Umbrella, Red XIII's Hairpin, and Cid's Mop all add five.

Sephiroth's blade, the Masamune, always scores critical hits for the short amount of time he appears in battle. When using a hack, the same result will occur when the player uses Sephiroth with his Masamune.

There are other ways to score critical hits. Through the D.blow command, a player can score a definite critical Attack, only if it hits, which is three times less likely than a normal attack. Another method of definitely scoring a critical is through the Lucky Girl status, only inflicted by one of Cait Sith's Slots limit. The Lucky Girl status means every time the player strikes they will get a critical hit regardless of math.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Critical hits can be acquired automatically by striking an enemy from behind with an attack, and rolling a 6-6-6 on the DMW gives Zack a 100% critical accuracy for a limited time, as well as Cissnei's Modulating Phase, Lucky Stars.

Final Fantasy VIII
Whenever a Critical Hit occurs, the damage will always be doubled, unless if done via Squall's or Seifer's Gunblade trigger, which will do x1.5 damage. The formula for a Critical Hit is as follows


 * $$Critical Hit Rate = [[Luck+1]/256]*100$$

It is worth noting that Squall and Seifer cannot perform critical hits beside triggering their gunblades correctly. Also worth nothing is that whenever Squall performs his Renzokuken limit break, if the player times the R1 button in accordance to the bar in the gauge that appears at the bottom of the screen, in the window the moment it flashes, the damage dealt will be an instant Critical. If the timing is mistimed, then the damage is normal.

Final Fantasy X
Critical Hits are signaled with a screen flash and a different sound effect. The chances of a critical hit increases the higher the unit's luck is and the lower the target's luck is.

Final Fantasy X-2
Critical attacks are determined the same way as in Final Fantasy X. The accessory Key to Success causes Critical Hits to happen every turn.

Final Fantasy XII
Each time a character uses the regular Attack command there will be a small chance of getting a Critical Hit. The chances are determined by the weapon currently equipped. Katana and Ninja Sword weapons has higher Critical Hit ratio that other weapons.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Each time a character uses the regular Attack command and hits there is a small chance that a Critical Hit will occur. When this happens the attack will inflict double damage, the screen will flash, the target will make a facial expression and pose indicating that hurt and the target will be knocked back. Dual-Wielding characters will have an equal chance of scoring a critical hit with each weapon, essentially giving them double chance of scoring a critical. If a Critical Hit is scored with a Dual-Wielding Character's Primary Weapon but not the Secondary, the target will be knocked back after the combo is finished.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
There is a one-in-sixty-four chance of a critical hit occurring under normal circumstances, however this rate can be increased - attacking a staggering opponent and attacking whilst in EX Mode increases the occurrence rate to fifty percent, and whilst recovering bravery after an HP attack and during an EX Burst, attacks will always score a critical hit. Activating certain Extra Support abilities will also increase the critical hit occurrence rate when certain conditions are met. Some Battle Pieces allow the player to earn Destiny Points by scoring a critical hit within a time limit.