Morale is a hidden enemy statistic in Final Fantasy exclusive to versions prior to the Pixel Remaster. Morale determines the probability with which the enemy will flee the encounter, as well as affecting the party's own attempts to flee in some releases. Morale can be reduced by 40 points with the Fear spell, making it possible or more likely for monsters to escape, or alternatively improving the party's chances of fleeing.
The morale stat is removed in the Pixel Remaster release; a monster's chance to flee is instead determined by a fixed probability rate in their AI script, and the Fear spell effectively does nothing.
Enemy escape[]
Before they decide their action for the turn, every monster will perform this check:
- IF Max Level = 50
- Morale - 2 * [Leader's Level] + Random(0...50) < 80
- IF Max Level = 99
- Morale - [Leader's Level] + Random(0...50) < 80
If this is true, the monster will flee. The formula differs between versions based on changes in the level cap; in versions with a level 99 cap, the party needs to be higher level before enemies can start fleeing and their probabilities scale much slower, though upon reaching the level cap they will have roughly the same probabilities in either version. In either system, any enemy with 180 or greater morale will not run away without the use of the Fear spell, regardless of the party's level.
Enemies will not flee from formations that prevent the party from fleeing except in the NES version. This oversight makes it so that even Chaos can be made with flee with enough applications of Fear, unlikely though it may be.
Party escape[]
In the Dawn of Souls and 20th Anniversary releases, Morale also factors into the party's chances of escaping an encounter, as escape attempts run a contested check between the runner's stats and those of the enemy party, including the enemies' Morale:
- 0...[A - 1] > 0...[B - 1]
- A = Runner's [Intellect + Agility + Luck]
- B = Average [Evasion + (Morale-100)/16] of surviving enemies