Gil

Gil, also translated as GP, Gold, and G, is the currency in all of the Final Fantasy games. According to Final Fantasy IV, the gil is named after the Gilbart family of Damcyan.

Appearance
Gil is almost never seen in-game. Usually, the only time gil is seen is when using the Gil Toss command. The currency is predominantly circulated in coins of varying value. The only mention of paper gil in the series is in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, where Luso delivers a letter containing several gil notes.

In Final Fantasy X, gil coins come in several colors (and presumably metals), and each bears an image on one side and the value of the coin on the other. In Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII, gil appears as silver coins with a hole through the middle, while in Final Fantasy V gil coins are gold with a hole. In Final Fantasy XII, Penelo can briefly be seen holding a pair of coins presumed to be gil, one silver and one gold, with unclear detailed markings on them.

This suggests that gil is loosely based on the (円) or ancient Chinese coins, with Final Fantasy X's gil coins appearing very similar to yen coins. The yen, along with other Japanese currencies such as the mon, have holes in some of their coins, a trait dating back to feudal times when coins were carried on string.

Usage
Gil is a metric currency, measured in base ten. Beyond this, the exact value of gil varies from game to game. For example, in Final Fantasy IV Potion costs 30 gil, while they cost 250 gil in Final Fantasy VI and 100 gil in Final Fantasy VII. Some items, such as Elixirs, have very low sale prices, usually only 1 gil, meant to discourage the player from selling such rare items. The value of items between individual shops and towns is universal for most games, and items do not change in pricing depending on where the player shops. There are a handful of exceptions to this, allowing the player to earn discounts at some stores, but this happens very rarely.

Gil also has many other uses. The most common of these is the Gil Toss ability, which allows the player to damage enemies by throwing money at them. Gil Toss often does great damage, but at the obvious drawback of costing a great deal of gil. In Final Fantasy X, gil can be used to bribe monsters to leave the battle as well as entice Yojimbo into attacking enemies. In Final Fantasy XII, the Turtleshell Choker accessory allows the equipped party member to cast spells using gil instead of MP.

In Final Fantasy VII, gil and GP are treated as separate currencies. At the Gold Saucer amusement park, GP is used to pay for many attractions, while others charge gil. GP is also used to buy items from the park. GP cannot usually be exchanged with gil, but a man randomly appears outside the park who sells the player GP for 100 gil apiece. Otherwise, GP can only be acquired by winning the Saucer's minigames.

Acquiring
Gil can universally be found in treasure chests and often as awards for subquests. Most Final Fantasy games allow gil to be won from enemies, but there are exceptions. In Final Fantasy VIII, the player earns a regular salary based on their SeeD ranking. In Final Fantasy XII, most monsters do not drop gil but instead drop loot, which can then be sold for both gil and access to exclusive Bazaar items. In Final Fantasy XIII players must find Item Spheres containing gil.

In some games, gil can also be stolen from monsters. Some games offer the player the chance to win more gil from battles by using certain accessories or abilities, and some penalize the player an amount of gil for fleeing from battle. In all of the above instances, items can be sold for gil as well.

Naturally, in games where monsters leave gil, stronger monsters usually leave more. The reverse applies for games that penalize the player for fleeing - the stronger the monsters they are fleeing from, the more gil they will lose.

Final Fantasy
Late game dungeons, such as the Chaos Shrine and Flying Fortress, contain monsters giving large amounts of gil, such as Black Knights, which give 1,800 gil a piece and attack in groups. Gil is also found in many treasure chests throughout these dungeons, and if a player is wishing to conserve gil, they should not buy magic until they can afford it.

The maximum amount that the player can amass is limited to 999,999 gil.

Final Fantasy II
Similar to the original Final Fantasy, in this game gil is obtained by defeating enemies, opening treasure chests and selling items.

Final Fantasy III
In Final Fantasy III, gil is earned similarly to previous installments, by selling items, defeating enemies and selling items and equipment. In the Ancient's Maze, Unei's Clone gives out 8,500 gil and the King Behemoth, 10,800 gil, even more than the enemies of Eureka and the base floors of Crystal Tower, making this dungeon preferable to those who do not want to get to the higher levels of the Crystal Tower just to obtain a slightly higher amount of gil per battle.

It is recommended to hoard a high amount of gil before going to the shops in Eureka as their valuable items, magics and summons are the most expensive in the entire game, and if the player buys all they need at once they do not have to come back and go through the entire dungeon again. Each level 8 magic spell costs 60,000 gil, each Crystal equipment 50,000 gil and shurikens can be bought for 65,500 gil each.

Final Fantasy IV
In the Lunar Subterrane, Behemoths and Ahrimans can be fought for 65,000 gil apiece. The same also applies to Red Dragons (only in GBA version). Also, this is the first entry to penalize players that run from a battle by deducting gil.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Gil may be dropped by the party after successfully escaping from battle just like its predecessor.

Final Fantasy V
In Bartz's World, an easy source of moderate amounts of gil is the forest by Karnak, where a set of five Wild Nakks is the only enemy group. These are easily dispatched with a group Fire spell to get 625 gil per battle in one turn.

Galuf's World has more useful gil sources. Firstly, the optional Gil Cave yields plenty of gil, but is guarded by the dangerous Gil Turtle. The cave can be completed multiple times. Secondly, Drakenvale is home to Zombie Dragons; these enemies drop Dragon Fangs, which sell for a reasonably large amount of gil.

In the Castle of Bal's basement in both Galuf's World and Merged World, the Objet d'Art enemy drops 507 gil a piece and attacks in groups of two or five. It should be noted that the basement is only accessible via Jachol Cave in the Merged World. Objet d'Art can be easily defeated with Gold Needles, the Level 5 Death spell, or by throwing Lightning Scrolls. They are, incidentally, also an excellent ABP source, giving 4 ABP for two or 8 ABP for five.

In the iOS version, earning gil earns the player achievements.

Final Fantasy VI
The best way to earn money is to wait until the World of Ruin and fight Cactuars in the Maranda Desert. They can easily be defeated with Blitz, Tools, or Bushido techniques, as they give 10,000 gil. Equipping Relm's Cat-Ear Hood doubles the gil earned for 20,000 gil each battle.

If the player needs gil in the World of Balance they should go to the southern continent and defeat Fossil Dragons with Sabin's Aura Cannon, as they give 1,870 gil apiece.

Final Fantasy VII
Gil is obtained in the standard methods: from enemies after battle, from chests and by selling items. Trickplay's ability, Gold Mountain, increases the amount of gil received after battle by 800 gil every time it is used.

The sell price for items and Materia is half the buy price.

An easy way to make plenty of gil is to sell a mastered All Materia to earn 1,400,000 gil. One can also exploit the W-Item Duplication Bug to duplicate expensive items and then selling them for money, such as Sylkis Greens.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-
Gil is dropped by various enemies once they are defeated and appear in the form of gold bars which Vincent can obtain and collect to buy items and weapon upgrades.

Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII is the first game in the main series where the player doesn't earn money from battles. Instead, they are paid a regular salary once they become a SeeD. The amount of money paid depends on their SeeD rank.

The salary is paid at regular intervals dependent on the amount of steps the player has taken. Since the player earns no steps during Laguna flashbacks, they can't get paid during those scenarios. Due to the fact that most steps are accumulated by driving a car or riding a chocobo, the player can make quick money by riding either one in circles on the world map. However, if the player doesn't fight battles in between payments, their SeeD rank will tend to decrease.

The player can easily make plenty of gil with Carbuncle's Recov Med-RF ability. The player can fight Mesmerizes on the Esthar continent prior to the Lunar Cry, or Trabia anytime thereafter, although they are far more common in Esthar. This will yield the player plenty of Mesmerize Blades which can be refined into Mega-Potions (1 Blade refines into 2 Mega-Potions). 100 Mega Potions sell for 500,000 gil, and are quite quick to acquire. The trick works better with the Mug ability.

It is also possible to rapidly generate gil without having to fight any battles. The player can purchase 100 Tents and refine them into 25 Mega-Potions (again with Recov Med-RF), which will then sell for more than the Tents cost, giving a net profit of 125,000 gil per iteration. This method becomes considerably more effective once the player has Tonberry's Haggle and Sell-High, increasing the profit to 180,000 gil per iteration. Furthermore, doing this with Cottages (purchased from Johnny's Shop in Esthar) can yield an even greater total of 240,000 gil.

Final Fantasy IX
Gil can easily be harvested by synthesizing the Cotton Robe and then selling it. Each time one synthesizes 99 Cotton Robes, they make 60,000 Gil. As money is most useful early in the game, prior to getting the Blue Narciss, it can be done easily three times, once per disc:

On the first disc the player can buy Wrists in Dali, Steepled Hats in Lindblum and synth them in Lindblum. On the second disc the player can buy Steepled Hats in Cleyra (at the end of Disc 1), buy Wrists in Dali on the way to Treno and synth them in Treno. On the third disc the player can buy Steepled Hats in the Black Mage Village, buy Wrists while getting the Burman Coffee during the Card Tournament and synth the Cotton Robes in Treno.

On disc 4, the Black Mage Village changes its wares and Steepled Hats are no longer for sale. The player is then forced to buy them from Atla's Mogshop in Burmecia.

Wrist costs 130 Gil, and a Steepled Hat costs 260 Gil. It costs 1000 Gil to synthesize a Cotton Robe and they sell for 2000 Gil each. The player makes 610 Gil profit each time.

Final Fantasy X
Gil can be hard to obtain in Final Fantasy X, but needed to use the Bribe command, or improve compatibility with Yojimbo. A commonly used method to obtain gil is to steal from and defeat Mimic enemies in the Omega Ruins, preferably with the Gillionaire ability, which notably is attached to a fully-powered Godhand.

The player can sell equipment pieces dropped by enemies for money, as due to the game's unique equipment system, the player will often find a lot of unique but obsolete gear. Battling the One-Eye at the Monster Arena and selling its drops yields a lot of gil fast.

Before acquiring the airship the player can make fast money by fighting Epaajs outside the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth that drop SOS Overdrive weapons, which sell for up to 75,187 gil depending on the number of empty slots.

Armor can also be customized to yield a lot of gil when sold. The player can go to Kilika and stock up on Tetra Armor. With this armor, the player can go to the Monster Arena and repeatedly defeat Kottos for Healing Spring items, which can be used to customize SOS Regen to the Tetra Armor and sell it for a massive profit. Tetra Armor customized with HP+30% will sell for 28,406 gil, and it can be customized fairly easily with only one Stamina Tonic. A lot of rewards earned from the Monster Arena monster capturing can be used for customizing armor and then selling the results.

Final Fantasy X-2
The Thief's Nab Gil ability comes useful early in the game, especially if the player wants to pay off O'aka's debt. If the player encounters the Angra Mainyu on the Bikanel desert while partaking in the excavation minigame, they can steal large sums of gil from it every time it is encountered.

After O'aka's debt has been paid, the player can buy his merchandise and then sell it to Barkeep for a profit, as O'aka will sell items at discounted prices. The player can purchase Hi-Potions for 50 gil and sell them for 125 gil in other shops, meaning the player can repeatedly purchase 99 Hi-Potions from O'aka and then cross the room to Barkeep to sell them.

Final Fantasy XII
Most Gil in the game is obtained by selling loot dropped and stolen from monsters. The value of the loot ranges over a wide variety of prices. Often the most valuable loot is obtained by acquiring a large chain of monsters, or with by purchasing the monograph for the monster genus in question. Monsters may drop equipment which can be sold. Humanoid enemies, such as bangaa or soldiers, may drop small amounts of Gil on defeat. This does not appear as loot but simply in the battle notification stream.

While usually in small amounts, Gil can be found in various treasure caskets around the world. The amount will normally range from 10-300, but can be much larger due to the semi-random nature of chests.

Gil is rewarded for hunting marks and usually ranges in the thousands. A piece of loot is obtained usually from hunts which can be sold as well.

The best way to earn large amounts of gil is to chain enemies that drop high-paying loot over and over. This is accomplished by finding a spot where such enemies spawn in larger numbers, preferably with few or no enemies of different types nearby to avoid breaking the chain.

A good target midway through the game are the Silicon Tortoises in the Giza Plains during the Rains season. Up to four or five or them can be found in the Tracks of the Beast area, and they drop Aged Turtle Shells, which sell for 1,075 gil. With fire-elemental weapons the player can quickly kill them, run back to the Save Crystal to zone away two areas, then return to find them respawned. As long as the player does not kill other enemies on the way there and back, eventually the Silicon Tortoises will drop multiple Aged Turtle Shells each time.

Shortly after the above method becomes available, in the first area of the Golmore Jungle, a dozen or more Panthers can be found in close proximity. The player can chain them to get Coeurl Pelts, which sell for 454 gil, then run back into the Ozmone Plain two areas to respawn them. There are no other enemies nearby so the player can easily avoid breaking their chain and get many Coeurl Pelts from the dropped loot. This method results in less gil than chaining Silicon Tortoises, but the high HP of the Silicon Tortoises and the comparative scarcity of fire-elemental weapons at that point in the game, may make the Panthers an easier and more appealing method depending on the player party's level of power.

In the Feywood, the player can encounter Tartarus and Cerberus enemies in great numbers, and can respawn them by running through the same four areas in a cycle. Both enemies drop Prime Pelts, which sell for 1,124 each, and as an added bonus the Cerberus rarely drops the Francisca, which sells for several thousand gil. While the profits per loot item are only moderately higher than chaining Silicon Tortoises as described above, the Tartarus and Cerberus are encountered in larger numbers and in several areas in close proximity, allowing them to be chained and killed faster.

A good enemy to chain for gil later in the game is the Dead Bones, found in the Nabreus Deadlands and Barheim Passage. They commonly drop Blood-darkened Bones, which sell for 1,435 gil, and with the Warmage's Monograph they may also drop Ancient Bones, which sell at 2,115 gil each. In both areas the Dead Bones may appear with other enemies, so maintaining a chain level to maximize drops may be difficult. Two areas in the Nabreus Deadlands, The Fog Mutters and Overlooking Eternity, feature an abundance of Dead Bones with few other enemies around.

Final Fantasy XIII
While gil is not obtained after battle, as with most other games, it is acquired frequently in treasure spheres and from selling unneeded items, such as weapons and components. There are component items that exist solely for selling, such as Platinum Ingots. The tortoise-type enemies, like the Adamantoise, give the best drops for selling.

The Estheim Residence in Palumpolum can be a cash grinding place after PSICOM raids it, as the officers battled within drop Incentive Chips. They can be sold for 2,500 gil at the save station and the officers are reset when the player attempts to retry battling the Havoc Skytank or circles the room.

Riding the chocobo on the Archylte Steppe often finds items that sell for a lot of gil. Doing the Bhakti sidequest also yields good selling items.

If the player repeats the Mission 24 in Taejin's Tower each time the reward for completing the mission is a Moonblossom Seed that can be sold for 6,000 gil, and it takes only a few seconds to walk from the Cie'th Stone to the Mark.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Gil is seen to be obtained after battle, at the Battle Results screen, unlike its predecessor. The Gilfinder abilities let the player obtain more money from monsters. The rare monster Raspatil gives 50,000 gil per kill on default, which is quickly increased with the Gilfinder abilities. Some drops obtained from enemies also make for good items to sell, especially with the Haggler skill.

After killing Don Tonberry the player can receive Scarletite as a common drop (which sells for 18,700 gil in shops with Haggler) or Hermes Sandals (which sell for 11,000 gil, again with Haggler). With a maxed character equipping a Collector Catalog, or preferably, a Durable Collector Catalog, the player will get a Scarletite essentially every time. This makes Don Tonberry a good monster to farm for money.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Monsters can drop gil as loot.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
Monsters can drop gil as loot.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
Acquiring gil in Crystal Bearers is not difficult, but acquiring a lot is a slow process. Gil can be obtained by selling OOPs that are occasionally dropped by monsters, and always dropped by closing Miasma Streams after their first Campaigns are cleared. The player can also obtain gil by helping people around the world, such as by saving them from rolling down a hill/staircase, by milking cows, harvesting vegetables, saving victims under rocks or ice, saving cows and goats from being abducted, or rescuing pilgrims from under the snow. To obtain the reward for these feats the player needs to take the letters from the Mail Moogle in which the people the player helped, or their affiliates, thank them and give out gil, usually between 100-200.

Small quantities of gil can be otherwise gained by throwing people in Alfitaria Capital City, breaking an artifact and collecting gil pouches from the shelves in the Royal Library and killing Claytaurs in its Miasma Stream.

A good way of earning gil is by going to the Forbidden Forest and angering a monkey by throwing it. Monkeys will attack and make the player drop five wallets, that they will steal. If the player manages to get all five wallets back the monkeys will drop a great amount of gil.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
GP is won from enemies and received as a reward for clearing some Battlefields. GP cannot be acquired in other ways - no chests found contain GP and the player cannot sell items or equipment.

Final Fantasy Legend II
GP can be acquired by defeating enemies in battle, or by selling items excessive items in the inventory, either gotten from treasure chests or Item Drops. Another way to get money is by using the Steal enemy ability which steals GP.

Final Fantasy Legend III
GP can only be acquired by defeating enemies in battle, or by selling items gotten from treasure chest or Item Drops. Another way to get money is by using the Steal enemy ability which steals GP equal to what the enemy drops when defeated.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
Gil can be earned by selling Gems, by shopkeeping in Urbeth, by selling items dropped by enemies and some gil is also found as treasures. The player can usually generate gil fast by opening a shop in Urbeth and buying things from local vendors and then selling it for profit.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
The most practical source of gil is generally the Confessions of the Creator scenario in Story Mode, where the player can obtain valuable equipment, which can be sold, as well as enemies (especially Assist characters) carrying a large quantity of gil. By making use of the Glorious Gold combination, the Beckoning Cat accessory and the calendar bonus, the amount of gil earned can be boosted.

If the player is willing to invest the time and effort to set it up, the maximum KP run of the Forsaken Lands gateway offers 54,720 KP. This can be exchanged at the Land of Discord Moogle Shop for a total of 182 Blue Moons (300 KP apiece); these can then be sold in the shop for 91,400 gil each, earning approximately 16.6 million gil. This is more than enough to buy 33 Lores, which are the most expensive items in the game.

Since the Land of Discord Moogle Shop requires a relatively large detour to reach it, a slightly less lucrative but more accessible option is to exchange the KP at the Elven Snowfields Moogle Shop, for a total of 273 Heike's Blades and/or Heike's Shields (200 KP apiece); these can then be sold in the shop for 55,930 gil each, earning approximately 15.3 million gil. Adding the gil earned while traversing the Forsaken Lands gateway can increase this figure to ~15.5 million, enough to buy 31 Lores.

On the player's Bonus Day, the Blue Moon has a 10% discount and the Heike's items have a 5% discount, increasing the gil earned to 18.6 million or 16.1 million, respectively. If the Bonus Day also happens to have the main shop buying for 10% more than usual, the result is 20.4 million gil or 17.7 million gil, respectively.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest
Gil is the player's score for the leaderboards.

Other Appearances
Gil makes an appearance in another title from Square Enix, Gyromancer.