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The following article is based on a subject that has not been officially named in any official Square Enix material; the current title is merely a placeholder.
FFVII Ultima Beam

Ultimate Weapon's Ultima Beam is of the Hidden element.

Hidden is a secret element given to several attacks in Final Fantasy VII. There is no definite way to see this element except by the use of equipping an Elemental Materia with a non-elemental Materia in a character's armor. The only attack that deals damage from this attribute (and thus the only attack that can be absorbed) is Ultimate Weapon's Ultima Beam. Aeris's Limit Breaks have this attribute as well.

In the International version the Hidden element was removed, and can no longer be taken advantage of with the Elemental Materia.

While the element is not named in any version, it has been referred to as 10番目の属性 (Jūbanme no Zokusei?, lit. 10th Element) in official media.[1]

Mechanics[]

The Hidden element is attached to otherwise considered non-elemental Materia as there are fifteen elements: nine main elements that are normally used (and attached to Materia), Restorative used for the healing mechanics, and five other elements that are associated with physical attacks. All Materia that do not display an element have the Hidden element.

A Materia can only be of one element, and one byte of data (0 through F) controls this. The absence of an element would be "F", which the Materia with Hidden use. Enemy abilities are not restricted in the same way and can have any number of the elements, although most usually have at least one. Some of these attacks end up using the Hidden element, although only one of these inflicts damage upon a target. It is unknown whether this was done this way as an easter egg since it technically existed as an element, or whether it was accidental. The original Japanese release had many more damage-inflicting attacks with the Hidden element, although only Ultima Beam retains the element in the English releases.

One can link an Elemental Materia with a Hidden-elemental Materia on their armor to also become immune to enemies' Hidden-elemental status-changing attacks. The Elemental Materia must be at least at Lv2 for this to work. When a character is immune to a status, normally the word "Miss" will not appear over them when hit with an attack of that status. When defending from Hidden however, it will look like it misses rather than the character being immune; the Hidden protection overrides the vulnerability (but doesn't stop "Miss" from displaying).

Enemy abilities[]

Game Element Type Enemy Used By Effect
Curses Enemy Debuff Dorky Face Inflicts Silence.
Electromag Enemy Debuff Hell Rider VR2 Switches the party's row.
Funny Breath Enemy Debuff Dorky Face Inflicts Confuse on the party.
Smoke Bullet Enemy Debuff Marine, Attack Squad, Submarine Crew Inflicts Blind and Sleep.
Petrif-Eye Enemy Debuff Demons Gate Inflict Gradual Petrify.
Petrify Smog Cokatolis
Stone Stare Gagighandi
Stone Strike Enemy Debuff Bagrisk Inflicts Petrify.
Ultima Beam Enemy Attack Ultimate Weapon Inflicts major non-elemental damage to the party. Can be absorbed via Elemental linked to a hidden-elemental materia in a character's armor slot.
Poison Breath Enemy Attack Bagnadrana Inflicts Poison-elemental damage and Poison status to the party. Is hidden-elemental in original Japanese release, and Poison-elemental in all subsequent releases.
Bomb Blast Enemy Attack Bomb Sacrifices self to inflict major non-elemental damage to a single target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Diamond Enemy Attack Joker Inflicts non-elemental magic damage to a single target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Spade Enemy Attack Joker Inflicts non-elemental physical damage to a single target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Joker Enemy Debuff Joker Inflicts instant death on a single target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Peacock Enemy Attack Griffin Inflicts MP damage to the party. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Suicide Yang Enemy Attack Yang Sacrifices self to inflict major non-elemental damage to a single target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Lay Flat Enemy Attack Kyuvilduns Inflicts non-elemental physical damage to a single target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Dance Enemy Attack Garuda Absorbs MP from target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Beast Sword Enemy Attack Godo Inflicts non-elemental physical damage to target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Eyesight Enemy Attack 8 eye Absorbs HP from target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Blaster Enemy Attack Cuahl Inflicts non-elemental magic damage to a single target. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.
Sandstorm Enemy Attack Sea Worm Inflicts physical damage to the party and may cause Darkness. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release, and Earth-elemental in all subsequent releases.
Lapis Laser Enemy Attack Carry Armor Inflicts non-elemental magic damage to the party. Is hidden-elemental only in original Japanese release.

Materia[]

The following Materia are classified as having the "Hidden" element, and can be combined with the Elemental materia in a character's armor slot to reduce or absorb damage from Hidden element abilities. All Support Materia also technically have the Hidden element, although they have no effect when paired with Elemental.

Citations[]

  1. Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega, p.472
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