Zombie (status)

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Faris as a zombie in Final Fantasy V.

Zombie (ゾンビ, Zonbi?), also known as Undead, is a status ailment in various games in the series, and is, along with "Zombify", often the name of the spell that causes the status. Its effects vary from game to game.

In some games, Zombie reduces the character's HP to 0 and makes them uncontrollable and hostile to the party, similar to Charm. In these games, a zombified character is flagged defeated for the purpose of Game Overs.

In other games, Zombie status makes the afflicted characters undead, acquiring the same inherent weaknesses, resistances and immunities as undead monsters, while leaving them alive and under player control. Typically, this means that healing magic (and some healing items), HP and MP drain and some Instant Death effects have the reverse effect. The reviving items and spells have the same effect as Death (though in some games it simply deals a significant amount of damage). The spell Reverse in Final Fantasy XII bears some similarities to this status. In some games, Zombie status cuts physical damage taken.

In some games, such as Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, both versions of the status condition appear, with the former known as Zombie and the latter referred to as Undead.

Zombie can typically be cured via Holy Water (also been called Magic Tag or Revivify), and not by normal healing items/spells. Zombie status usually persists outside of combat.

Appearance

Final Fantasy V

Zombie is inflicted by several enemy attacks. The player loses control of characters afflicted with Zombie, and they attack any random ally. This is not to be mistaken for the "Undead" status, obtained by using certain equipment, or using the Necromancer job. The game ends if all characters are zombies. If the status is inflicted to a hiding character, it will result in the hidden zombies bug. If Zombie is inflicted on a singing character, they will continue to sing. Zombified character's will still gain EXP and AP at the end of battle.

Zombied characters have green skin, white eyes and zero HP. They are immune to most damage, and equipping a zombied character with the Healing Staff will make them randomly heal party members. Zombied characters are immune to the Blind, Poison, Float, Mini, Toad, Petrify, and Instant Death statuses.

Game Element	Type	Effect
Holy Water+	Mix	Cures Zombie and restores all HP.
Dead Dance	Enemy Attack	Inflicts Zombie.
Zombie Breath	Enemy Attack	Inflicts non-elemental damage to party and inflicts Zombie on those KO'd by attack
Zombie Powder	Enemy Attack	Inflicts Zombie. Works even if the character is Hiding, which results in a bug.
Angel Ring	Accessory	Protects against Zombie and Old.
Holy Water	Item	Cures Zombie.

Final Fantasy VI

File:FFVI Zombie Symbol.png

Zombified characters have their HP reduced to 0, they attack random allies, and are considered "knocked out" for the purpose of Game Overs.

Whenever a character is under the Zombie status hits a target, there is a 1/16 chance of that character inflicting the Blind status, as well as a 1/16 chance of inflicting the Poison status. The Zombie status increases the attacker's hit rate on the affected target by 25%, apart from versions affected by the Evade bug.

There are also a number of ways to trigger the 0 HP character bug with the use of Zombie status.

Inflicting the Zombie status on an enemy makes it untargetable with no way of killing them, rendering them invincible. The Zombified enemies are treated as dead upon the defeat of all enemies. The status on enemies still works in the same manner as it does for affected party members; these enemies will attack the party and their own allies randomly.

Normally, zombies can only use regular attacks; magic, techniques, and items are inaccessible. However, if a character is given a command and is not given the chance to execute it prior to zombification, the zombie's first move is to execute the previously given command even if said command was magic, an item, or a technique. This can have potentially deadly side effects; the zombie may use a healing item/spell on an enemy or the wrong party member, or may blast a party member with a high-level offensive spell. Even moves that normally can only target enemies, such as Sabin's Blitz or Cyan's Bushido, may still wind up targeting the party if used by a zombie. If the move is a group-hitter like Fire Dance, the effects can be particularly devastating, as the entire party can be hit. After the zombie's first move, they will revert to plain attacks—unless the zombie's first move is Gau's Rage, in which case zombie-Gau's Rage will continue as normal, albeit hitting the party at random.

Game Element	Type	Effect
Soul Spiral	Blitz	Removes Zombie and other statuses at the cost of the user's life.
Tapir	Dance	Removes Zombie as well as other statuses.
Wild Bear	Dance	Removes Zombie as well as other statuses.
Transfusion	Lore	Removes Zombie as well as other statuses and restores all HP and MP at the cost of the user's life.
Choke Smoke	Enemy Attack	Revives a KO'd character as a Zombie.
Mind Blast	Enemy Attack	Inflicts Zombie as well as various other statuses.
Overcast	Enemy Attack	Inflicts a countdown on all targets, and at the end of the countdown (or if the afflicted party member's HP hits 0 by any other means), the target is turned into a Zombie.
Deadly Pollen	Enemy Attack	Inflicts Zombie on target.
Soul Extraction	Enemy Attack	Inflicts Zombie.
Holy Water	Item	Cures Zombie.

Final Fantasy VI also has the hidden Undead status inflicted upon a character who wears the Lich Ring relic. There are no cosmetic changes, but the character is damaged by healing magic and is healed by spells like Drain and Death. Certain monsters possess Undead status inherently, and Gau or Gogo can acquire Undead status through Rages, see here for details. Undead status has no effect outside of combat, since it expires at the end of battle.

Final Fantasy VIII

Zombie is caused by the spell Zombie, cast by Blood Soul and Forbidden. The target changes color to a dark greenish tint, receives damage from curative items and magic, and is instantly killed by Life magic and items. It is healed via the Esuna spell, the Treatment ability, or the items Holy Water, Remedy or Remedy+.

Zombified targets become immune to Instant Death and Doom, take double damage from Holy-elemental spells and attacks, and take half damage from physical attacks. Draining HP from a Zombie unit damages the drainer, unless both the caster and the target are undead/Zombie.

Final Fantasy IX

Several enemy attacks can inflict Zombie status on the party, turning them a dark brownish color. Aside from the usual effects of healing items and magic causing harm, it also depletes the Trance gauge and prevents it from building while the status is in effect.

The Zombie status prevents the afflicted character from being revived until cured and from earning Experience and Ability Points. It can be cured with a Magic Tag. The Auto-Life support ability will still revive Zombie characters, whereas every other revival method will fail.

Game Element	Type	Effect
Zombie Breath	Enemy Attack	Inflicts Zombie and non-elemental damage.
Zombie Powder	Enemy Attack	Inflicts Zombie.
Grand Cross	Enemy Attack	Exclusive to Necron. Inflicts every status ailment including Zombie. 1/8 chance to inflict per status.

Final Fantasy X

Zombie can be inflicted on enemies by use of the Zombie Attack skill, located in Auron's section of the Sphere Grid, and by weapons with the Zombietouch and Zombiestrike weapon abilities. Characters and enemies afflicted with the Zombie status have a glowing green body and black smoke clouds around their heads. Zombie can be cured via Holy Water or Remedy, but it notably cannot be cured with the spell Esuna. Evrae Altana and Fallen Monk start the battle under permanent Zombie status.

Zombie causes items and abilities that normally heal HP deal damage instead. Revivification abilities, such as Life and the item Phoenix Down, will instantly kill characters under the Zombie status and deal damage equal to the HP it would normally heal if the enemy is immune to instant death (such as Barbatos and Evrae Altana). A Zombie under the effects of poisoning will still take damage, as Poison inflicts non-elemental damage.

Abilities that normally drain HP or MP, such as Drain, Osmose, and Lancet reverse the effect if used by or against Zombies, dealing damage to the spellcaster and healing its target. If both the target and the caster are Zombified, the spells work like normal; the Zombie hit with the draining ability will lose HP and/or MP, and the spellcaster will regain the HP and/or MP.

A Zombified character can still be healed if it is hit by an elemental attack while equipped with the appropriate Eater ability. Another notable boon to the Zombie status is that characters under Zombie cannot be KO'd using standard Instant Death attacks. This can be used to the player's advantage in the battle against Yunalesca, who uses Zombie attacks, and later in battle casts Mega Death on the entire party, knocking out everyone not under Zombie status. It is not known if it is immune to spells that bypass immunities.

Game Element	Type	Effect
Zombie Attack	Skill	Inflicts physical damage and inflicts Zombie status.
Contamination	Enemy Attack	Inflicts major non-elemental damage and Zombie as well as other statuses.
Hellbiter	Enemy Attack	Inflicts moderate non-elemental damage and Zombie to party.
Lance of Atrophy	Enemy Attack	Inflicts moderate non-elemental damage and Zombie.
Pharaoh's Curse	Enemy Attack	Inflicts Zombie and Curse.
Triumphant Grasp	Overdrive	Inflicts non-elemental damage as well as Zombie.
Zombie Glare	Enemy Attack	Inflicts minor non-elemental damage and Zombie.
Zombietouch	Auto Ability	Attacks and Skills seldomly inflict Zombie status.
Zombiestrike	Auto Ability	Attacks and Skills always inflict Zombie status.

Final Fantasy XI

"Zombie" is one name that players give to the particular form of the Curse status that prevents healing effects from working on the character until it wears off.

There is also an internal-use only status that undead have to take damage from Cure spells; normally, this status is not accessible to players, nor can it be removed from the undead. However, a bug in the Absorbing Shield's enchantment (which absorbs status effects from monsters) allowed players to make themselves undead until it was fixed.

Possibly as either a reference to the above bug incident, or to past incidences of the Zombie status in the series, or both, some of the lore for certain seasonal events referred to certain non-player characters as "using a forbidden curse to mask their vital signs".

Final Fantasy Tactics

Undead is a status effect. The inflicted character appears in a purplish tint. Some human enemies and monsters are inherently undead. Curing items, magick and skills (except Chakra), damage undead characters. Even though Cure spells will damage the character, they will not try to evade it. HP loss from Cure spells will still trigger damage-dependent reaction abilities, such as MP Switch and Auto Potion. Regen status still works as normal.

KO'd zombified units retain their Zombie status and may return to "life" upon the counter reaching 0; and skills and items with drain properties will instead heal the target and damage the user. Reraise cannot be set on that character. If the character has Auto-Reraise (as from Chantage or Angel Ring), then Reraise will remain set when Undead is set. If the Undead/Reraised character is killed, that character cannot be revived by any means (aside from ending the battle).

The Death spell will restore the character to full HP. The Raise spell will subtract half of the undead character's Max HP, while the Arise spell will subtract all of the undead character's remaining HP. Though Undead absorb Death, they are not immune to attacks which have add: Dead, such as Suffocate (The 'Death' spell is a special-case—it both adds Dead and subtracts target's Max HP. The effect of the Undead ailment is to a: remove the add: Dead property from Death, and b: reverse damage from Death into healing.) Undead units will still try to evade Death, even though it's beneficial to them. When a Death Sentence runs out on an undead character, it will simply cancel out rather than adding Dead.

This status can be inflicted using the Mystic's Corruption, the Templar's Zombie, Zombie Touch and one version of Bioga used by the Lucavi Cúchulainn, and Reaver. The accessory Cursed Ring will grant the one with it equipped the Auto-Undead status as an expense for the one point bonus of Attack, Magick and Speed. It can be cured with Holy Water and if a character is equipped with Japa Mala, Cachusha or Ribbon, they become immune to Undead.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

The Zombie status makes the afflicted unit weak against the holy element, meaning curative magic and healing items inflict damage. However abilities that heal using a different element, such as Earth Heal, still heal zombified units as normal. Abilities and items that normally revive units from KO inflict severe damage upon zombified units. Conversely, abilities that normally cause Instant Death to a unit will instead restore full HP to a zombified unit.

When a zombified unit is KO'd, the zombie status is not removed, and therefore the unit cannot be revived using abilities or items. Instead a counter appears above their head, much like the Doom status. When the counter reaches zero, they are revived with 50% of their HP. Zombie can be removed with the item Holy Water. Zombies and Vampires are in permanent Zombie state.

Pictlogica Final Fantasy

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Gallery

Edgar as a zombie in Final Fantasy VI (GBA).

Terra as a zombie in Final Fantasy VI (iOS).

Rinoa as a zombie in Final Fantasy VIII.

Amarant as a zombie in Final Fantasy IX.

Tidus as a zombie in Final Fantasy X.

Enemies as zombies in Final Fantasy Tactics.

An Archer as a zombie in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

Etymology

[view · edit · purge]A zombie is an animated corpse resurrected by mystical means, such as necromancy. Since the late 19th century, zombies have acquired popularity in North American and European folklore.