So, how are you feeling about the Final Fantasy series just now? If you’ve been a fan of the games for a while now𝔉, you’re sure to have a whole bundle of mixed feelings on that one.
Like Resident Evil fans, the Final Fantasy faithful sure have been through the wringer. Any long-running franchise is going to have highs and lows, but lately, the lows have been just amazing. Final Fantasy XV was a darn controversial one, and with that much-ballyhooed remake of VII apparently stalled in a ditch somewhere, wi🎃thout eꦉven a cell phone to call its mama… we just don’t know who to turn to just now.
It’s not really surprising, then, that Square Enix seems to be totally stuck in the past. Nintendo Switch is the latest syste🌠m to see a host of ports, which began with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy IX and will continue over the course of this year.
Why do we want to see them yet again? Because they’re fantastic titles, that’s why. The series high points were high, friends, there’s no denying. I’m not just saying that to try and justi🌞fy my quadruple-dipping on the eShop, either.
Nevertheless, there were some real missteps taken in the classic games too. Let’s cel𝔍ebrate those peaks and troughs, then, by casting a critical eye over some of the very best and very worst villains in the series’ repertoire. F🎉rom the destroying-a-whole-world-just-by-having-a-tantrum Kuja and wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey Ultimecia to the utterly pitiful Whelk, there’s something for everyone right here.
Watch out, though, there are going to be fran🧸chise-wise spoil♐ers throughout.
25 💎 OVERPOWERED: Jeno♔va (Final Fantasy VII)
So, I thought to myself, what’s the number one trait that any overpowered villain needs to have? Incredible strength and maꦡgical prowess is a given (and we’re going to be seeing a whole lot of those over the course 🙈of this rundown), but we need something a little more interesting to kick things off with.
How about the ability to return again and again and again and.. again? Final Fantasy VII’s Jenova has this in spades. Sephiroth’s beloved mom is defeated numerous times by the party, in all kinds of bizarre and monstrous forms. They’re among the g⭕ame’s most imposing bosses and possess a range of devastating magical attacks.
Let’s not forget, either: for most of the storyline, she♏ ‘was’ Sephiroth. That guy’s got a bit of a re🦩putation around here.
24 WEAK: Ozꦑma (Final Fantasy IX)﷽
If you’re a veteran of Final Fantasy IX, you’ve almost certainly whiled away considerable hours of your life playing that darned Chocobo Hot and Cold minigame. Hunting for chocographs could be a considerable pain in thꦚe behind, even if the rewards were well worth it.
It’s only through Chocobo Hot and Cold that you can battle Ozma, the game’s optional superboss. Probably t🅺he toughest battle in the game, yes, but mostly just through cheap shenanigans. If you select a move while Ozma isn’t already casting a spell, it’ll get another insta-turn, and it just loves to spread infuriating status effects all over your face.
Curse and Meteo🦋r combos are a bad time, friends. The good news is that, like all enemies in this game, it has very low HP, and can be dealt a righteous whupping in a few swift turns. There’s a lot🎶 of RNG involved, though.
23 🦩 OVERPOWERED: Kefka (Final Fantasy VI)
Kefka Palazzo is a bit of a controversial character among fans. Some will tell you that he’s a bit of a two-bit villain, making only brief appearances in the game and merely activating a devastating weapon (which anybody could do, technically)🔯 rather than being the true creator of the chaos.
As with Sephiroth, though, he has the advantage of being the villain of one of the most beloved entries in the series, and there’s a 😼lot of cache that comes with that. Nevertheless, he certainly came close to achieving his goals (not many villains can truly make that claim) and boasts every stereotypical mark of villainy in the book. The pure evil for the sake of it attitude, the maniacal laugh… he’s got it all.
22 OVERPOWERED: Kuja (Final Fantasy IX) ༺ 🧔
Kuja’s dress sense may be a little suspect (who likes short shorts? Wrathful alien assassins with inexplicable rat-tails like short shorts!), but we’re not here to judge by appearances. Not until the next entry on thi෴s list, anyway, wh🍎ich is just pathetic and hilarious.
Hurry back on board my t🐼rain of thought, though, Kuja is quite an underrated villain. He singlehandedly destroys the entire world of Terra with his magical might, simply because his daddy had sent him to his room (essentially). He adopts a Trance form of his own (the only non-party member seen to do so), and actually proves to be quite a sympathetic character🌌 in the closing moments of the game.
He’s multi-faceted, and I can appreciate thܫat in a villain.
21 WEAK: Whelk (Final Fantasy🌼 VI) ꩲ
Now, it may be a little unfair to snark on Whelk. After all, the very first boss of any game can’t be anything too imposing (it seems that Bloodborne’s Cleric Beast didn’t get that memo🐲, but still). You’re supposed to ease people into the experience gently.
Having said that, though, there’s easing players in and then there’s… well, a giant feeble snail thing. As we’ve reported over on , the Whelk was later renamed Ymir in ports of Final Fantasy VI, but it’s still a sea snail. The only wa💞y 𝓰was up, friends, that was the positive to take away from this sorry situation.
20 OVERPOWERED: Ardyn Izunia (🃏Final Fantasy XV)
As I say, then, the most recent entry in the main series was not to everybody’s taste. Not a bit of it. the whole badly-behaved boyband on tour with magical swords thing split opinion, and it was trying just a little too hard to🦄 hop on the recent open-world bandwagon.
The main antagonist, Ardyn Izunia, has also been controversial. His presentati🎃on was less theatrical, he didn’t bust out a demonic, winged, Godzilla-sized final form in battle (a favorite party trick of RPG villains).
He was a little more grounded, as immortal warriors imbibed by the powe𓄧r of legendary kings go.
Nonetheless, he was a powerhouse in his own way.
19 WEAK: Zorn And Tho𒆙rn (Final Fantasy IX)
I was a little conflicted here, I’ll admit. Queen Brahne herself could have easily taken this slot. When it came to outright villainy directed at the party themselves, though, I’🌼m going tඣo give it to her court jesters, Zorn and Thorn.
Right from the off, they’re hunting you down (on Brahne’s orders, but still) with their enhanced black mages, the Black Waltzes. After these are dealt with, they switch to performing rituals to remove the eidolons from Garnet and Eiko, and are even fought as a boss on two occa♈sions.
To their credit, though, their true form is a disgusting yet b꧒rilliant sight to behold, and their theme tune is excellent. This doesn’t excuse the fact that their manner of speaking makes me want to chew my own ears off at times (which 💧is ironic, as they’re not actually voiced), though.
18 ♛ 🐻 OVERPOWERED: Emerald Weapon (Final Fantasy VII)
So, as we’ve seen, Ozma was a bit of a disappointment as superbosses go. A gigantic floating marble that can crush your soul into tiny, sad, defeated hunks is a thing to see, there’s no doubt, but the battle is quite luck-dependent. That’s not a good time🧜 for anyone concerned.
Final Fantasy VII’s Emerald Weapon, on the other hand, is a beast of a fight. It boasts an attack that deals more damage to🎉 the party the better prepared they are to face it🔴 (Aire Tam Storm, or Materia Storm), it has one million HP, and trying to take it down can ruin your whole foreseeable future.
Is it truly a villain, in the conventional sense? Tᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚhat depends on your perspective. It took my childhood self about fifty attempts to beat it, though, so it’s a personal nemesis of mine. That’s for darn certain.
17 OVERPOWERED: Emperor Mateus (Final Fantasy ♛II)
What are ൩some other hallmarks of truly powerful villains, then? We’ve touched on some of the obvious ones already, but I’d like to think that becoming the Emperor o🧸f the underworld is probably right up there.
Emperor Mateus appears in the second main game, command꧂ing a mobile fortress and trying to bring the world to heel with his formidable magic. Heck, he was powerful enough to overthrow the Dark Lord himself.
16 WEAK: Necron (Final Fantasy⛦ IX)
What was the deal with Necron, exactly🐈? The game was all set for a brilliant and dramatic end with the Trance Kuja battle, and then… a lumpy blue thing with a face even its mom would want a refund for appears.
It’s claimed that Necron was born of Kuja’♏s fear of his own demise, and is a representation of demise itself, but we get no more backstory than that. The fight on the Hill of Despair isn’t exactly disappointing, and this lumpen thing is no pushover, but th⭕e whole concept is weak. This thing wasn’t even alluded to during the entire story, why throw it into the mix right at the end?