The Labyrinth of Time is a bonus dungeon in the 20th Anniversary, iOS and Windows Phone versions of the original Final Fantasy, but not in the Android or Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster versions. It consists of various floors, each containing a puzzle that must be solved in time to proceed. If the player fails to solve the puzzle in time, a dense fog will invade the area, sapping the party's HP and increasing the encounter rate, and the player will unlock the red seal of the floor when completing the puzzle, which is a sign of failure. Solving the puzzle in time unlocks the floor's blue seal; either way, a passage to the next floor becomes available. Stages become available in a semi-random fashion on each playthrough.
In the deepest floor the player will face superboss Chronodia, Master of Time. Chronodia's strength depends on the number of blue and red seals the player amassed. The more red seals unlocked, the weaker Chronodia will be, and the more blue seals unlocked, the stronger Chronodia will be. There are eight different versions of Chronodia with each version dropping a unique piece of equipment upon being defeated. After completing the dungeon and defeating Chronodia for the first time, the player will unlock the Time Chamber, which can be selected from the game's main menu and allows the player to replay any floor they have unlocked the blue seal.
After the Four Fiends are defeated for the first time, a hooded figure appears in the Chaos Shrine to reveal the entrance to the Labyrinth.
Floors[]
The floors of the Labyrinth of Time are randomly selected from among six floor types, each type containing between three to seven different floors. Which floor type the player comes across upon entering a new floor depends on which floor type the previous floor belonged to and which seal the player unlocked. For instance, the first floor is always from the Modern Maze floor type; if the player unlocks the blue seal, the second floor will be a Medieval Dungeon floor, whereas if they unlock the red seal, the second floor will be another Modern Maze floor.
Before entering a floor, the Light of Time allows the player to trade abilities for time. The maximum number of abilities to surrender (and their nature) depends on the floor to be entered. After the transaction is done, the player will enter the floor, which contains a puzzle. The black-caped man may randomly appear as the player enters the area, and offer a random service, such as giving an item, giving more time, allowing the player to leave the dungeon, or even removing any random encounters from the floor, including after the miasma has appeared. It is compulsory to solve the puzzle to proceed deeper in the Labyrinth. All of the puzzle areas, with one exception, lack random encounters.
On occasion, upon completing a floor, the player will not be sent to the next floor right away. Instead, they will arrive at an intermediate floor called the Inner Sanctum, which contains a healing pot that lets the party fully recover HP, MP and remove status ailments, a blue portal that leads to the next floor, and a red portal that allows the player to leave the Labyrinth of Time. This is the only time (except for the black-caped man who might give the opportunity) the player can leave. Otherwise, Chronodia has to be defeated to avoid getting a Game Over. In the iOS version, closing the app after reaching the Inner Sanctum (while still in the Labyrinth of Time), will bring the player back to the Inner Sanctum upon resuming play the app is next opened.
Modern Maze[]
Usually, Modern Maze puzzles are the easiest and the random encounters should not pose a threat.
- Fairies' Frolic (1 ability sacrifice): A fairy will dance (facing different directions, always repeats the same pattern). She leaves, and returns with four other fairies. The player has to find the first fairy.
- To reach the room, follow this route at each fork in the road:
- Southwest
- East
- From the room, follow this route to the seals:
- East
- North
- Fairies' Farce (1 ability sacrifice): This puzzle is one of logic. There are nine chests arranged in a square pattern. One of them opens the way. The others reset the puzzle (and halve the remaining time). Seven fairies give hints as to which chest is the good one, but one of them lies.
- To reach the room, follow this route at each fork in the road:
- Northwest
- From the room, follow this route to the seals:
- South
- Southeast
- Neat and Tidy (7 ability sacrifices): The player has to push eight blocks into eight pits. Automatons roam the area and will destroy the blocks on contact.
- To reach the room, follow this route at each fork in the road:
- East
- South
- From the room, follow this route to the seals:
- North
- East (around to the southeast corner)
- East
Medieval Dungeon[]
- The Guardian (1 ability sacrifice): The player has to find a treasure chest in a labyrinth inhabited by dragons who cannot be attacked. If the player comes within three steps of the dragons, they are brought back to the beginning of the labyrinth. There are three treasure chests, one of them containing the key to protect each fork in the road:
- East
- East
- East
- From the room, follow this route to the seals:
- South
- South
- West
- West
- West
- West
- Labyrinth of Darkness (2 ability sacrifices): The player must find a treasure chest in a dark labyrinth. Lighting candles along the way can help.
- To reach the room, follow this route at each fork in the road:
- East
- From the room, follow this route to the seals:
- North (from maze exit)
- West
- The Bat Cave (7 ability sacrifices): The player must count the bats in the area, the number of moving bats, and the number of still bats, and then tell one of those numbers to the black-caped man awaiting at the far end. The bats are moving among each other, which makes counting them harder.
Original Chaos[]
Starting here, the player might have a more difficult time getting through. The puzzles are harder, possibly longer, and usually require several abilities to be traded for time. As such, the random encounters (with usually powerful enemies) can be dangerous.
- Note for Note (4 ability sacrifices): The player has to repeat three melodies the black-caped man will have played before.
Netherworld Crypt[]
This is a powered up version of Original Chaos.
- Step by Step: The player has to cross a room full of robots. The robots do one step as the player does one. Touching a robot triggers a fight with a Warmech. While dangerous, they yield a lot of Experience, and no penalty is suffered from fighting them. Thus, if the player is strong enough to defeat them, they can easily go up several levels in a few minutes. Considering that, at this point, the only way to exit the Labyrinth of Time alive is to defeat Chronodia, it might be a good idea to fight the Warmechs, as the additional levels will help for that difficult battle.
- Fairies Frolic: A fairy will dance (facing different directions, always repeats the same pattern). She leaves and returns with four other fairies. The player has to find the first fairy.
- Buying Flowers: Several people will walk in a line to an area beyond, with several other people. The people who are in the line are flower-sellers. The others will attack if talked to. The player has a bag of random amount of gil. They will have to find the flower sellers and buy flowers to exactly deplete the gil. It is possible to buy once from each flower-seller.
- Twin Statues: Four pairs of statues have to be placed face to face.
- Trick Statues: Three pairs of statues have to be placed face to face. Each pair represents a monster roaming the area. When the statues face each other, those monsters will disappear. If the player touches a monster, they will do battle. The monster will then reappear somewhere else. The monsters do one step (in any direction) as the player does one step.
- Scavenger Hunt: In a big room, the player will first be given a hint, such as The key lies 11 feet away and will have to dig it up. If the first try isn't successful, another similar hint will be given.
- Robots And Buttons: The random encounters make this puzzle difficult.
- Labyrinth of Darkness: The player must find a treasure chest in a dark labyrinth. Lighting candles along the way can help.
- Lightning Rods and Candles: The player has to find the exit of a dark maze. Lighting candles along the way can help. Automatons roam the area and must not be touched. When the thunder sounds a lightning bolt will soon strike. The player has to be near a lightning rod to avoid being brought back at the beginning of the maze.
- Marching Orders: The player has to get in a line of soldiers. The commanding officer will put his soldiers to test, to march forward, stopping once in a while. The player has to march in time. The difficulty lies in that the officer gives no hint when he stops walking. One will need to cross the parade square twice: once to the right and once to the left.
- March of Souls: Several people will walk in a line. The player is asked three questions, such as "Who was the last in line?". If a mistake is made, the line will pass again, with the same or different people, and the player will be asked different questions.
- Slay or be Slain: A room has several dragons whose sprites can have four, two or no horns, short or long tails, and short or long wings. In battle, all are Red Dragons. The player is asked to defeat a random number of a dragon type (on twelve possibilities). Second, to defeat random numbers of two types of dragons, then random numbers of three types of dragons. The number and types will only be said once.
Space in Time[]
The deepest floor of the Labyrinth, here players will encounter Chronodia. Chronidia's strength depends on which seals the player has broken, becoming stronger with each blue seal broken.
Enemies[]
Random encounters[]
Random encounters in in the Labyrinth will get progressively stronger immediately upon breaking a seal; the player does not need to move on to the next floor. Encounters will reset upon restarting the dungeon, and completing challenges individually via the Time Chamber will ensure the player only sees the weakest encounter sets.
- Abyss Worm
- Black Dragon
- Blood Tiger
- Blue Dragon
- Bonesnatch
- Cockatrice
- Dark Elemental
- Dark Wolf
- Death Manticore
- Devil Hound
- Duel Knight
- Earth Troll
- Flare Gigas
- Flood Gigas
- Hundlegs
- Knocker
- Mad Ogre
- Pharaoh
- Rock Gargoyle
- Sekhret
- Silver Dragon
- Squidraken
- Undergrounder
- Yellow Ogre
Fixed encounters[]
- Black Dragon (Trick Statues)
- Black Goblin (Trick Statues)
- Dark Fighter (Scavenger Hunt)
- Holy Dragon (The Path to Peace)
- Knocker (Trick Statues)
- Red Dragon (Slay or Be Slain)
- Revenant (Traveling Salesman)
- Vampire (Trick Statues)
- Vampire Lord (Trick Statues)
- Warmech (Labyrinth of Disasters, Step by Step)
- Chronodia (Space in Time)
Musical themes[]
The theme for the Labyrinth of Time is "Mt. Gulg". The theme in the Inner Sanctums is "Flying Fortress".