The Evil Eye, also known as the EYE, is an enemy in Final Fantasy. It is encountered as a miniboss in the Cavern of Ice guarding the Levistone, and in the Flying Fortress as a random encounter.
Stats[]
Battle[]
Concept artwork of the monster's original design by Yoshitaka Amano.
The Evil Eye does not have any specific weaknesses, so the party can simply attack physically with a Thief/Monk/Warrior while using Haste on them, if available. The player's highest grade magic can be used to harm it while healing as necessary. The Evil Eye should not be too hard due to its low HP level, which ensures an easy battle if physical tactics are devised. It is, however, recommended to defeat it quickly, as the longer the fight goes on the more likely it is to use abilities that can possibly kill the entire party.
In versions prior to WSC, it has a high chance of using its instant death and petrify abilities immediately, so the fight should be ended as soon as possible.
Level grinding[]
Prior to Pixel Remaster, the Evil Eye in the Cavern of Ice is found one step before the stone and must be battled to obtain the key item. It can be fought as many times as the player's party wants, because it does not disappear from its position after being defeated. The player can move to another adjacent tile, and then return to fight the Evil Eye again for level grinding purposes, as it gives out a considerable amount of experience points upon defeat. If the party has Protect Rings, the Eye becomes a relatively safe source of quick experience due its Instant Death actions always missing. However, it may still inflict Stone.
In Pixel Remaster, the Cavern of Ice encounter is instead a one-time trigger when the player interacts with the Levistone and cannot be farmed.
Formations[]
- Pixel Remaster
| Number | Enemies | Can flee? | Musical theme | Location | Rate/1000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 312 | Evil Eye x1 | Battle | Cavern of Ice B2 | Fixed | |
| 747 | Evil Eye x3 | Battle | Dummied | ||
| 748 | Evil Eye x2 | Battle | Dummied | ||
| 810 | Evil Eye x1 | Battle | Flying Fortress 1F | 60 | |
| Flying Fortress 2F | 60 |
- Other releases
| Number | Enemies | Maximum | Can flee? | Ambush% | Musical theme | Location | Rate/64 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 105 | Evil Eye x1 | 4 large | 4 | Battle | Cavern of Ice B2 | Fixed | |
| Flying Fortress 1F | 12 | ||||||
| Flying Fortress 2F | 12 | ||||||
| 233 | Evil Eye x2-3 | 4 large | 4 | Battle | Dummied |
AI script[]
- Pixel Remaster
| Action | Probability |
|---|---|
| Attack | 40.00% |
| Silence | 8.00% |
| Slow | 8.00% |
| Thundara | 8.00% |
| Gaze (damage) | 8.00% |
| Sleep | 6.00% |
| Hold | 5.00% |
| Flee | 5.00% |
| Death | 2.00% |
| Break | 2.00% |
| Kill | 2.00% |
| Gaze (stone) | 2.00% |
| Gaze (paralysis) | 2.00% |
| Gaze (instant death) | 2.00% |
- WonderSwan Color to 20th Anniversary
| Action | Probability | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | 22.5% | |
| Magic | 40% | Thundara → Hold → Silence → Kill → Slow → Break → Sleep → Death ↻ |
| Ability | 37.5% | Gaze (damage) → Gaze (paralysis) → Gaze (stone) → Gaze (instant death) ↻ |
- Famicom to NES
| Action | Probability | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | 14.06% | |
| Magic | 62.5% | Kill → Break → Death → Thundara → Hold → Silence → Slow → Sleep ↻ |
| Ability | 23.44% | Gaze (stone) → Gaze (instant death) → Gaze (paralysis) → Gaze (damage) ↻ |
| Flee | Morale check[note 1] | |
- Morale check
| # Fear | Morale | Min flee level | 100% flee level | % at max level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 200 | — | — | 0% |
| 1 | 160 | 41 | — | 39.22% |
| 2 | 120 | 21 | 46 | 100% |
| 3 | 80 | 1 | 26 | 100% |
| 4 | 40 | 1 | 6 | 100% |
| 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100% |
- ↑ Evil Eyes will only make a Morale check in the NES release; other Morale-based releases prevent all Evil Eye formations from fleeing.
Behind the scenes[]
Sprite from the Famicom release.
In the original Japanese version, the EYE and its palette swap the PHANTOM greatly resembled a Beholder from Dungeons & Dragons, and was even called Beholder (ビホルダー, Bihorudā?). Outside of Japan, and for all ports after the MSX version, the design and name were drastically changed, likely due to copyright concerns. The original Beholder design would not resurface until Dissidia Final Fantasy, where it was used for a player icon.
Etymology[]
The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike.
The beholder is a fictional monster in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It resembles a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, single central eye, and lots of smaller eyestalks on top with deadly magical powers.