Overdrive (オーバードライブ, Ōbā Doraibu?) is the Final Fantasy X version of Limit Breaks. Overdrives are special abilities unique to each party member executable by filling their Overdrive gauge.
Mechanics[]
Overdrives are powerful attacks available when a character's Overdrive bar is full. Each character has an Overdrive skillset specific to their personal abilities. None of the playable characters' Overdrives are considered physical or magical, but fall under a third category of "special" damage. This means their power cannot be boosted by Str+% or Mag+% abilities, and they ignore targets' Shell and Protect.
Overdrive Modes[]
The modes of filling the Overdrive can be chosen once a party member has fulfilled certain qualifications for learning that Overdrive Mode, e.g. a character prone to damaging enemies will learn "Warrior", which lets them fill their Overdrive gauge by attacking enemies, and one prone to healing will learn "Healer", which boosts the Overdrive gauge when the person heals allies.
Remaining time damage bonus[]
Auron's, Wakka's, and Tidus's Overdrives gain bonus damage based on how much time remains once the Overdrive is completed. This affects most of the characters whose Overdrives count time towards 0. Lulu's Overdrive also counts time, but always reaches 0, and thus has no damage bonus.
The damage modifier applied is:
- 1 + (1/2) * (time remaining/total time)
In the earliest versions, Wakka did not receive this bonus.
Character Overdrives[]
Tidus[]
Press button at the right time for extra damage!
Description
Tidus's Overdrive is Swordplay (剣技, Kengi?, lit. Swordskill), which can inflict massive damage onto single or multiple opponents. Once the player selects Swordplay, a bar will appear with a time limit, and the player must stop the cursor in the white space in the middle by pressing to increase the Overdrive's power. This will become increasingly harder the more powerful Swordplay skill is used. The damage can be doubled by a critical hit.
Tidus learns new Overdrives from using his old ones a certain number of times. He has a total of four Overdrives: Spiral Cut, Slice & Dice, Energy Rain, and Blitz Ace.
Yuna[]
Summon an aeon in Overdrive!
Description
Yuna's Overdrive is Grand Summon (マスター召喚, Masutā Shōkan?, lit. Master Summon), which allows her to summon any aeon she has acquired and grant it a full Overdrive gauge. Once the aeon has used its Overdrive, the aeon's Overdrive gauge returns to what it was before. This means it is possible to unleash two consecutive Overdrives if the aeon's Overdrive gauge is already full before Grand Summoning it.
Wakka[]
Get the right combination for the ultimate shot!
Description
Wakka's Overdrive is Slots, where the player must stop the symbols on a slot machine, whose pattern determines the attack. Wakka can learn new Overdrives by winning them as prizes in blitzball tournaments. Once the prize is won, Wakka learns the new Overdrive (it is not necessary to have Wakka on the team to learn the new Overdrives). He has a total of four Overdrives.
Lulu[]
Unleash a barrage of spells on the enemy!
Description
Lulu's Overdrive is Fury (テンプテーション, Tenputēshon?, lit. Temptation). It allows Lulu to cast a barrage of the same spell, but without sticking to the "rules" of normal spell casting: each single attack is weaker than a normal spell; it can be used even when silenced; the spells bypass Reflect and Shell; and they do not consume MP. The player must rotate the right analog stick after choosing the spell.
For each successful rotation the counter goes up by one, indicating how many times the spell will be cast, capping at 16. How big a rotation is is based on Lulu's magic stat and how many successful rotations the player has already made, meaning that a successful rotation might be 720 degrees on the analog stick. Lulu's Overdrive is limited to the spells she has already learned in the Black Magic skillset.
Kimahri[]
Use fiends' skill against them!
Description
Kimahri's Overdrive is Ronso Rage (敵の技, Teki no Waza?, lit. Enemy Skill). His Overdrives are similar to Blue Magic. By using Lancet on certain enemies, Kimahri can learn their special skills, which he can then use as Overdrives. It is possible to use Scan to check what Overdrive Kimahri can learn, or if there is something to be learned at all. Kimahri can learn a total of twelve Overdrives. If Kimahri learns a new Overdrive using Lancet, his Overdrive meter automatically fills.
Auron[]
Enter commands for lethal sword attack!
Description
Auron's Overdrive is Bushido (秘伝, Hiden?, lit. Mystery). When the player chooses an Overdrive to use, they must input the button sequence to that Overdrive before the timer runs out. Auron has a total of four Overdrives. One is available from the beginning, while the remaining three must be learned by collecting Movie Spheres (eight Jecht's Spheres, Auron's Sphere, and Braska's Sphere).
Rikku[]
Combine items for various effects!
Description
Rikku's Overdrive is Mix. She can combine two items from the current stock to create an item which is immediately used as part of the Overdrive. The item can be healing, damage inflicting or status changing. Though the possible outcomes may seem endless, many different mixes have the same effect, even though different items were chosen for the mix.
Seymour[]
Damages all enemies.
Description
Seymour's Overdrive is Requiem, only used during the one time Seymour fights alongside the party against the second incarnation of Sinspawn Gui during Operation Mi'ihen. It is powerful enough to achieve Overkill on all four of Sinspawn Gui's parts, though its body may need to be attacked beforehand.
Aeon Overdrives[]
Valefor[]
Valefor is the only aeon usable by the player to have two Overdrives, Energy Ray and Energy Blast. Both deal non-elemental magic damage to all opponents. Energy Blast, the stronger of the two, is learned by talking to the Besaid Village shopkeeper and then talking to the village dog or its owner later in the game. Energy Ray consists of a ray being fired from Valefor's mouth on the ground below the opponents which explodes. In Energy Blast, she rises up into the air, flips, and produces a glyph that generates energy beams that rain down upon the enemy.
When fought as an enemy, Valefor uses Energy Blast exclusively as her Overdrive. Some forms of Valefor (such as Dark Valefor) can use Energy Ray at will without consuming her Overdrive gauge.
Ifrit[]
Ifrit's Overdrive is Hellfire, and deals Fire-elemental damage to all opponents. He jumps into the air and creates two large fireballs which propel the enemies into the air, shoots another fireball, and grabs part of the ground and tosses it at the enemy.
Ixion[]
Ixion's Overdrive is Thor's Hammer, and deals Lightning-elemental damage to all opponents. An electric bolt emerges from his horn which creates a spherical field that levitates the enemy, and another bolt of electricity is fired, which sends them crashing down to the ground.
Shiva[]
Shiva's Overdrive is Diamond Dust, and deals Ice-elemental damage to all opponents. Shiva spins and shoots ice at the opponent, then fires a blast of freezing air which holds the enemy in place, followed by Shiva snapping her fingers to break the ice and damage the opponent.
Bahamut[]
Bahamut's Overdrive is Mega Flare, and deals non-elemental special damage to all opponents. It automatically has the power to break the 9999 damage limit. Bahamut backflips onto the ground and charges Mega Flare by spinning his wheel and forming a spherical ball of energy in front of his mouth. It is fired in a large blast, engulfing the enemies in an explosion.
Anima[]
Deals non-elemental damage to all enemies.
Description
Anima's Overdrive is Oblivion that deals major non-elemental physical damage to all opponents. Oblivion was upgraded for the International and HD Remaster versions, dealing 16 hits with a damage constant of 4 instead of 1 hit with a damage constant of 75. If the player has the game set to display the short summon sequence, Oblivion will only hit once and the player will see the full damage at the end. It has the ability to break the 99,999 damage limit and is the only attack in the game that can deal around 1,599,984 damage.
Yojimbo[]
Pay Yojimbo for his services.
Description
Yojimbo has no Overdrive, but four special abilities he uses at random upon being paid gil along with a worker-employer relationship with Yuna. A full Overdrive gauge slightly (NTSC version) or significantly (subsequent versions) increases his chances of unleashing Zanmato, a one-hit kill similar to Odin's Zantetsuken from previous games. Zanmato ignores resistance to instant death and works on most bosses, including the Dark Aeons and Penance in the International and HD Remaster versions. To get a higher chance of having Yojimbo unleash Zanmato, the player must use him often and ensure not to have him die; dismissed right after summoned; or paid 0 gil (which dismisses him). The more times Yojimbo is paid properly, the higher the relationship level. Each of Yojimbo's four abilities corresponds to a particular point added or deducted towards the player's relationship level, e.g. a Daigoro means one has a low level of relationship, while a frequent Wakizashi means one is on the right track.
When faced as an enemy, Yojimbo always chooses Zanmato as his Overdrive, which inflicts 9,999 damage to all party members. Dark Yojimbo can also use it, where it always deals 99,999 damage and ignores Auto-Life. This can be mitigated by an aeon's Shield.
Magus Sisters[]
The Magus Sisters' Overdrive is Delta Attack that deals non-elemental magic damage to all opponents. All three sisters' Overdrive gauges must be filled. The attack was upgraded for the International and HD Remaster versions, dealing 6 hits with a damage constant of 10 instead of 1 hit with a damage constant of 60. The Delta Attack was originally used by the Magus Sisters in Final Fantasy IV.
Boss Overdrives[]
Whenever an aeon is fought as an enemy, they can activate their Overdrive as listed above. Some other bosses have Overdrives as well.
Braska's Final Aeon[]
Braska's Final Aeon has an Overdrive gauge which charges when targeted by an ability or performing an action. The Yu Pagodas can significantly charge the Overdrive gauge with Power Wave. Tidus can use the Trigger Command Talk to reset Braska's Final Aeon Overdrive gauge, but he can only do this twice in the battle.
Braska's Final Aeon has three Overdrive abilities:
- Triumphant Grasp deals heavy physical damage to a single player character and inflicts Zombie.
- Ultimate Jecht Shot replaces Triumphant Grasp when his HP falls below 60,000 HP after he draws his sword. It inflicts massive damage to the entire party, upwards of 5,000 each.
- Jecht Bomber is only used against aeons, and deals at least 4,000 damage, although it can be mitigated by three-quarters using Shield.
Sin[]
Sin has an Overdrive gauge during the final battle to get inside it. Sin's Overdrive is Giga-Graviton that serves as a time limit for the battle, as it results in an instant Game Over.
Dark Aeons[]
Dark Aeons have an Overdrive gauge, and will use the same Overdrives as their normal counterparts, with two exceptions:
- Dark Ixion will use Aerospark as his Overdrive during the first battle with him.
- The Dark Magus Sisters—Dark Cindy, Dark Sandy and Dark Mindy—will use Mega-Graviton as their Overdrive if they are separated, or if at least one of the sisters was defeated during the battle.
Dark Aeon Overdrives can break the damage limit, even if their other attacks cannot, and some Overdrives remove all forms of protection, including Auto-Life, meaning the only way the player could survive is by sacrificing an aeon.
For the most part, Dark Aeon Overdrives are not stat-based, but fixed damage. They technically depend on the aeon's stat (usually their Magic), but since this never changes, it has the same end effect as being fixed damage. Random variation still applies. Boost and Shield still work as would any other blanket effects that work on all damage, if any of them were possible to bring into play in the Dark Aeon battles. Most Dark Aeons' Overdrives are not considered physical or magical damage, but "special damage"; the exceptions are Aerospark (physical) and Mega-Graviton (magical).
99,999 is the upper damage limit. In cases like Delta Attack, knowing the actual (uncapped) damage is little more than a trivia point, but in other cases—such as Zanmato—the damage exceeds 99,999 by a small enough margin that additional protective measures can bring it below this point.
Other appearances[]
Final Fantasy X-2[]
Shuyin uses variations of Tidus's Swordplay skills called Spinning Cut, Hit & Run, Force Rain, and Terror of Zanarkand. Bahamut uses his Overdrive Mega Flare, but it is considerably weaker. Ixion has access to his Thor's Hammer Overdrive, but it is non-elemental. Ifrit's Hellfire only does around 500 damage to each party member and can be absorbed. The Magus Sisters still use their Delta Attack, but only if all three are still present. It reduces HP to 1 and MP to 0 for the entire party.
Valefor has access to both of her Overdrives, but only uses them after she attacks or gets attacked a certain number of times. Energy Ray deals around 300 damage and Energy Blast deals around 400 damage. Like Ixion, Shiva's Diamond Dust is non-elemental. Anima has access to Oblivion, which deals 16 hits to random party members and is non-elemental. Yojimbo uses all four of his attacks as he does not have a set Overdrive. Daigoro and Wakizashi deal non-elemental damage. Kozuka can inflict Poison and also drains MP. Zanmato will take each party member down to 1 HP and 1 MP.
Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy[]
Tidus uses his Swordplay attacks as his HP attacks, with Blitz Ace as his EX Burst.
Jecht uses Triumphant Grasp and Ultimate Jecht Shot as HP attacks, and uses a variation of Tidus's Blitz Ace, Blitz King, as his EX Burst. Similar to Tidus's Energy Rain, with two Perfects Jecht kicks a meteor at the opponent that ignites in orange energy and spreads out to converge on the opponent.
In Dissidia 012, while Yuna's Overdrive does not appear, her aeons use their Overdrives as HP attacks, save for Valefor's Energy Blast, which is a Bravery attack.
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT[]
Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia[]
Barring Auron, who has Banishing Blade as his default S1 ability, and Kimahri, who has both Lancet and Mighty Guard by default, the entire cast of Final Fantasy X as released has at least one Overdrive in their higher-order skills. Braska has a unique mechanic with an Overdrive gauge to bolster his skills.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy[]
Tidus's exclusive level 40 ability is Blitz Ace. During Battle Music Sequences it deals physical damage to enemies when they enter according to Tidus's Strength and Agility.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call[]
Blitz Ace is an exclusive reactive ability that costs 18 CP to equip. It is activated in Battle Music Sequence (BMS) when a boss-class enemy appears. It deals damage in direct proportion to Strength and Agility. It is learned by Tidus (level 40).
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy All-Star Carnival[]
Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]
Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]
Characters from Final Fantasy X use their Overdrives when they are summoned as Legends. In addition, the player can obtain certain Overdrives to use as abilities.
- Ability Cards
- Legend Cards
Final Fantasy All the Bravest[]
Tidus, Yuna, and Auron use their signature Overdrives Energy Rain, Valefor's Energy Ray, and Dragon Fang as their primary attacks.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]
The Final Fantasy X party members use their Overdrives as abilities.
Final Fantasy Explorers[]
Final Fantasy Explorers-Force[]
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]
Mobius Final Fantasy[]
World of Final Fantasy[]
Blitz Ace is Tidus's Champion summon ability. It inflicts neutral physical damage to one enemy, ignoring defense. It also grants Evasion+ to all allies. It is unlocked by completing chapter 18 and costs 1★ to use. When used "To Zanarkand" and Blitz Off!".
Spiral Cut is an active, water-elemental physical ability that inflicts physical water damage on a single target for 7 AP. It has low topple strength. It can be used by Lann (Tidus's Champion Jewel).
Final Fantasy Trading Card Game[]
A Tidus card can use Blitz Ace. It requires the discarding of a Tidus card and two Water CP, and grants Tidus Brave for the rest of the turn, as well as allowing him to attack once for each point of damage the player has taken.
One of Jecht's cards can use Ultimate Jecht Shot, and another can use Blitz King. For a cost of a Fire CP, two Light CP, Dulling Jecht and the discarding of a Jecht Card, Ultimate Jecht Shot can Break a Forward of the player's choice. Blitz King makes all the player's Forwards active and allows them to attack an additional time, but can only be used during the player's turn.
Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances[]
Kingdom Hearts series[]
Auron's Limit ability in Kingdom Hearts II is Overdrive, which enables the Bushido command. When used Bushido allows Sora and Auron to attack with Shooting Star and Banishing Blade. The finishing blow is Spiral, similar to Tornado.