For the second creature spotlight of October I’d like to cover a bit of an oddball, the Elvoret from Final Fantasy VIII. Not necessarily an favorite creature of all-time for me, but a really interesting one and a great one for Halloween. This creature was really iconic for me, because when I first played Final Fantasy VIII, I didn’t have a freaking memory card and the Elvoret battle was about as far as I could get in a single sitting. That probably sounds hilariously sad, but it’s the reason that the Elvoret and the boss music you fight it to are one of my most-remembered gaming moments.

This sucker interrupts your battle with soldiers Biggs and Wedge when you’ve gotten their health way down, blowing them away and taking over. This boss battle is technically the second of the game if you count it as part of the Biggs and Wedge fight, and it’s also a bit important, as “drawing” (literally sucking magic out of things) Siren from it is the only way to get the summon until the end of the game. You also fight dull recolors called Elnoyles as regular enemies much later in the game.

If I can recall Elvoret was a bit tough, but then again I was a highly inexperienced gamer back then. He attacks with his claws, fire and lightning spells, and a powerful non-elemental breath attack. This all sounds perfectly reasonable for a fantasy monster, especially a demonic-looking one. What is not explained, however, is why it has no legs and instead has a freaking stinger that it never uses. The lesser Elnoyle does attack with it, but this makes us ask the question of… what is these creatures’ relationship with each other? Are they the same species? Related evolutions? Are they actually demons or something?

Anyway, it’s one of the neater demonic designs I’ve seen. While no demonic nature is ever ascribed to it in the game, it definitely has the look of a devil. It’s a fierce, even angry-looking man with bat wings and broken horns, with a weird-ass super chin and wicked, large clawed hands. And then there’s the stinger. Yeah.

I think it’s an awesome design, somewhat standard, but just outlandish enough to be really memorable for me and a great design for an early RPG boss (which in my opinion should always be fairly interesting to help hook the player into a long game). Maybe I’m biased because I fought it over and over again, but either way I love him. And I thought he was a good choice for Halloween because he’s a devil… and also because color scheme.

So tell me what you think of this freaky devil bat man… with a stinger.