I do feel like Exdeath should be at least a spot or two higher. He's a threat that you're actively running into after about the halfway point, successfully kills one of the party, and he is absolutely hilarious. Plus his castle is made of the flesh and bones of the people he's killed, like how we build buildings out of wood. That's metal as hell. 🤘🏻
I honestly feel like Vayne Solidor doesn't get enough love. I understand why some people find him forgettable, but all of his machinations from the start had a noble purpose despite him doing dastardly things to get them done. He really ranks more as an anti-villain at best while still being the main driving force of the story. Gabranth was really just a broken man who harbored jealousy over his brother, but wasn't really the kind of mastermind that Vayne was.
@@Dzzy123 Yeah. Even in defeat, his ultimate goals were realized. The Occuria lose control over history and Larsa succeeds him to the throne of Arcadia. It may not have played out like he intended, but it played out nonetheless
"But more than that, the future you seek is not the past we loved. That is why we fought. And why I lost. But though you defeated me, my ideals are inviolate. Invincible."
Clicks to Emet because it's not just a ranking of every FF villain, it's a ranking of EVERY FF villain I haven't played the MMOs, if you don't like that, that's life Bruh moment.
It’s a shame Caius Ballad couldn’t be on the list. To be me he made me really love FF13. To the voice acting, cool abilities and the fact when you face him in Lighting Returns he look at you like “Why are you here? Didn’t I already beat you?” That’s some good shit right there.
Same. Caius Ballad of the *FFXIII* franchise is definitely and totally one of THE Best Epic Badass Antagonistic Final Fantasy Villain I Absolutely Respect and Appreciate from that game. Liam O'Brien did a Fantastic Job as Caius Ballad from *Final Fantasy XIII-2 & Lightning Returns XIII-3* games. I also Respect and Appreciate Kam'lanaut from *FFXI,* Gabranth from *FFXII,* Zenos yae Galvus from *FFXIV* franchises, Jecht from *FFX* and Barnabas Tharmr from *FFXVI* game from last year, as all the Best Epic Badass Antagonistic FF Villains there is throughout the years, of the *Final Fantasy* Gaming franchise there is.
@@blackdragoncyrus Without spoiling too much Caius was cursed of been immortal and seeing someone he cares about die over and over again. His motivation is just to save a friend. He's basically if you take a dash of Kuja style + the honor nobility of Golbez + the badassness of Sephiroth. Also.... **spoilers** One of the few villains/antagonist to "win" Which if I remember correctly are only Kefka, Ardyn and Caius
Kefka is a fantastic villain, and a perfect example of how great villains don't always need detailed backstories. It adds to his mystique and makes him all the more enigmatic and terrifying. Another thing that makes him such an effective villain is that he is completely remorseless, and isn't some tragic or fallen figure. He's just totally insane, and it is more believable that a person like that, who just cannot comprehend things like love or friendship, has the capability to destroy the world.
Kefka is incredibly overrated. What does he do? He giggles and kills people. Even his motives are bland. He's a one dimensional character. If this was a ranking of most maniacal villains he should win, as that's literally the only word you need to describe him. But it makes for a damn boring villian if that's all there is.
@@badrapsample2212 Yes, but we don't know what kind of person he was prior to that. I mean, you could say there is some element of tragedy because it's a terrible thing to happen to someone no matter what kind of person they were, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he's a tragic character.
@@lefi75I couldn't agree more. He loses every confrontation he has, he giggles and he....moved some statues. Then you don't even see him the next several hours. He's the definition of overrated
@@lefi75 By that logic, Sephiroth is overrated since you don't even see the real him till the end of the game, and it wasn't until the FF7 compilation that really fleshed him out.
It wasn't on here, but I believe Caius from XIII-2 deserves a high spot. His duty is to protect the seeress Yeul, but due to the events of XIII messing up the timeline due to the Goddess Etro's interference, Yeul's life is cut drastically because of her constant visions of the future. Each time Yeul reincarnates, she may look the same but has deviances in her personality that makes her a different person. Made worse by the fact he cannot die due to having the Heart of Chaos. Each time, just as Caius gets to know her, she dies. It happens so much that he loses it and goes on a crusade against Lightning, Noel, and Sarah in an attempt to kill Etro in order to stop the passage of time entirely, all so Yeul wouldn't die from her visions anymore. He accomplished what he set out to do by unleasing Chaos from Valhalla into the world. Yet even after his Heart of Chaos was destroyed, he maintained his immortality by becoming one with the chaos because all the incarnations of Yeul refuses to ever let him die. Caius, a man who jumped through timelines, killed the Goddess of Death, and caused the apocalypse all so one girl can finally be freed from her fate.
You get a like and sub from me. Kefka is the best villain in Final Fantasy. He is the only one that completes his goal. The only reason he is beat is because he has grown tired of his own existence and lets the heroes climb the tower. It was more than in his power to kill them at any time in the second half of the game.
"The only one who completed his goal?" He did not such thing. He wanted to erase the whole of existence and make it "a monument to non-existence" per his words. Sephiroth, Mateus Palemicia and Ardyn came closer to completing, completed and completed his goal , respectively.
@@Vayne_Solidor I think Kefka didn't really have much of a plan other than chaos and destruction. He achieved it. He was essentially like a sadistic child with a box of matches over an anthill but in Kefka's case its the world instead of ants. I suspect at some point he would have gotten bored and fully destroyed the world and himself along with it but I don't think that this was his ultimate goal. He just kind of makes it up as he goes along. With that in mind, I think OP's assessment of why he was defeated is actually quite plausible.
@@ΦιλήσυχοςΠολίτηςThat was only his declaration right at the end, in the face of his enemies, but his goal before that had been power and destruction. He also effectively turned the world into a blasted wasteland.
@@silverblade357 I take his words at face value, he did wanted to destroy the world, in the end he destroyed 4 cities only and not with his own power, he just pushed this world's auto-destruct button.
Solid list. I miss Emet-Selch on it of course, but his exclusion was explained in the intro. I used to have Kefka and Kuja as my fav FF villains before 14, and even from all of 14's villains they're still #2 and #3 after Emet =)
I personally feel Ardyn should be higher on the list, despite the DLC withholding valuable information on him. In the base game, it is described he was chosen by the gods to rid the world of the starscourge and become king. He travels in a black chocobo healing people of their sickness, in messiah-like fashion. When he is done, he is rejected by the crystal due to the corruption of the starscourge, conveniently discarded by the gods he believed, his brother and his people. Not even the mercy of death was granted to him. So he rose to the upper echelon of the empire's political structure just to puppeteer Noctis into becoming the king of kings, who would finally be able to kill him. And turning emo boy into a man would be no easy task. Ardyn took his kingdom, killed his betrothed, tormented him and his friends, all for the sake of character development. With DLC info, we learn that Ardyn's beloved was murdered in front of him and he was imprisoned for over 2000 years, until the empire set him free in an attempt to learn what the infamous addagium was all about. Then he proceeded to weaponize his powers into the imperial army, creating magitek soldiers. He wrecked the Lucian capital like it was nothing, and corrupted a god to use against Noctis. In the end he ruined the world, plunged it into darkness and set the stage for his final battle with the chosen king. Whatever the result, he already got what he wanted. The Lucis Caelum lineage would disappear. Victory would only determine if humanity would rebuild at dawn or perish in the dark. Death was just a sweet bonus.
A shame his story couldn't be concluded in game form, the book develops him as he should have been in the game. What I find most admirable about him is that despite all that happened to him there is still a dim light within him. He could have fully abandoned himself to the star scourge and turned full evil god to destroy everything and anything blindly, but through his actions he still kind of tries to save the day by letting Noctis have a chance to end him and the star scourge. Some hope and benevolence still live somewhere deep inside him. He still is vengeful towards the gods and bitter towards his bloodline but that's not all there is left of him. Anyway FF15 was a train wreck and it's a damn shame, so much unrealized potential
Dosent ardyn take over the world for ten years to and ultimately succeeds out taking out the royal bloodline like he wanted to at the end of the game. He definitely should be higher
Emet-Selch easily one of the best villains. He sees himself as the hero of his own story, burdened with restoring his own world which was sundered in ordered to save it from a catastrophe. He lived thousands of lifetimes and tried to give a reason to leave his legacy to the new life but only saw greed and avarice. He deemed them unworthy of his legacy and sought to destroy the new world(s) all for the sake of returning his to its formal glory. In many of 14's moments that he appeared, he was more often enlightening than a hindrance to the game's protagonist and even helped on several occasions. He was a complex character who had a heavy burden to bear and his last words "Remember... remember that we existed" was a great moment of passing his legacy to the protagonist and giving them the burden of his past and the memory of the old world.
Man it's so funny to me how these people make money out of gaming but feel like playing ff14 is too much somehow. Yet they sink hundreds of hours on singleplayer games even though ff14 can be played solo like a singleplayer game.
It's a good thing you didn't play 14... otherwise you'd need like 5 more spots on the list and 2-3 of the top 5 would be locked lol There's a good reason Emet-Selch beats even Sephiroth in villain popularity polls in Japan.
@@SaberRexZealotcompletely agree. Lists missing 14 like what? It’s got a huge following for a reason. Go watch the cutscenes online at least if you want to make a list
I feel that 14 is a bit of a special case as pretty much every era inn that game had it's own main villain and sometimes multible villains so I think that game would be better off as a list of it's own.
@@inspirations365can you really fault people for not being particularly interested in spending literally hundreds of hours on an MMO not to mention how tough it can be actually doing outdated end game content which is where a lot of the story is locked behind. Honestly it would almost be better in purely written form at this point for a large amount of people.
Despite of all opinions here (I also agree that Ardyn should be higher on the list) we just CAN'T deny that Kefka is just the pure impersonation of Evil in a twisted way. I truly love the fact that he was just a human being without any super human or God like powers. He achieves his goals just based on pure desire and man... Whenever he laughs it's easily the most distinguished character from FF VI. Imo
Good video, but I have a few comments: 1) You chose Cloud of Darkness as the main villain in 3. To maintain consistency, you should have chosen Necron in 9, Zeromus in 4 and the Void in 5. 2) Emperor Matheus from 2 should be higher. He destroyed towns and killed people at the same level as Xdeath and was so evil, his human side was split in two: light and dark. And even in hell and heaven, he wreacked havoc.
Vayne Solidor was introduced quite well. His opening speech was great and set him up for more. It's unfortunate we didn't get all that we could have from him.
Something i find worth mentioning with the emperor in ff2 is the fact that he has another counterpart during the versions of the game that have the soul of rebirth segment that i find far more interesting than his normal self.
Solid list and great video! FfXV has such a great story. It’s too bad it wasn’t delivered strongly on release. Ardyn was the first FF villi felt truly sympathetic for. Him and Noctis both got forced into this tragic fate. In the end they both get their peace.
I agree with Kefka having the top spot, he deserves it by virtue of actually getting what he wanted, a world of nihilism. All the other villains stumble on the last step of whatever plan they concocted or worse get upstaged by the Final Boss, but not Ol' Clown Boi. Sure he gets beaten later but that doesn't diminish his lasting accomplishment, the World of Ruin is still there after him and magic is gone too. FF6 was exceedingly morbid from this one guy.
Uhh, nope. Ardyn and Vayne get exactly what they want by the end of their games, whilst Kefka's legacy is certainly undone at the end of FFVI He wasn't planning on "losing" in the ways the other two were.
Besides Caius Ballad being my favorite for the single player ones, sad to say Emet Selch from XIV will definitely kick everyone out of this list without a problem. The way he was written as a character and a villain is unlike any I have ever seen in the series. Coupled by the excellent voice acting, he's absolutely phenomenal. Ofcourse MMOs are always not included what's new lol but I really feel bad for the writers working hard on these MMOs to be continuously ignored in rankings like this. Like one of the best writers if not the best that Square Enix ever had is from XIV and her name is Natsuko Ishikawa. Everything she has written for the game were all god tier, from job quests, to characters, to the main scenario. She's so good that I think she's the only writer I've seen so far who got a long standing ovation from the audience in a panel she attended.
I can't really understand what are your criteria for the ranking. Based on your own assessment I don't really understand why Ultimecia ranks higher than Ardyn, Golbez, or Kuja in your list. You even had a lot more to say about all the others. Is it just how 'bad' they are? How cool they are? How evil they are? How much of their ambitions they managed to complete? It's not very clear to me. It just seemed kind of... arbitrary. Which makes the fact you set Kefka at the top rather than Sephiroth (which you clearly state you gravitate more towards) even more confusing. I guess this isn't so much of a tierlist critique as it is a video content format critique. It would make discussions around your content more interesting and engaging if you clearly establish the criteria you used to come to that conclusion.
I understand he's not on here since he's not a main entry villain, but Caius Ballad really is one of the dopest antagonists of the series in my opinion. Stoked to see that so many other people think so as well!
I think what really pushes Kefka to the top tier villain in the Final Fantasy series is that he actually challenges the players of the game. When he talks to the group of protagonists at the end and challenges them, he's challenging everyone, including us. He's not wrong. Everything we build will eventually be destroyed. "Why do you yearn live knowing all things must die?" The entire game is built around loss and finding the answer to the questions he asks of the group at the end. Kefka's philosophy is a realistic one, and I love watching him grow more menacing as the game progresses.
I actually agree on Vayne. I se what the devs were going for: a more complex villain with a more noble goal of saving the world from the game's true villains (who you never fight directly and in fact I'm not sure you even speak to since they're godlike beings who jsut watch and manipulate everything). The issue is he lacs a strong personality as an antagoist especially as what villainy he does clashes with the fact he seems to be a genuinely good natured person who wants to do the right thing for the world. THis of course means his villainy feels forced in my opinion. and as you said since the game spends a lot of hemming and hawwing on who the big bad even IS Vayne in turn loses further chances to instill himself as a strong main villain. That's just my take on the character.
yeah id agree. I love 12 but Vayne just isnt a great or iconic villain in the same as many others. There is no real personal struggle between the heros and Vayne, i appreciate him being more nuanced and deeper than most ff villians in some aspects but he is more of an interesting side character than a main villain. (watching the rest of the list id probably put him higher actually, Barthandelous is just a mess of a villain to me, while more personality i guess his plan and methods just dont win me over) his goal is somewhat noble, but its just swapping one dictator for another. Not really breaking the wheel. They would have needed a lot more from him to really make him a main villain, a few meetings with the heros for example, he shouldve met them briefly in Archadia and Geruvaga at least and not the final cutscene of the game, literally asking "who are you?", its cool but doesnt exactly sell a personal conflict between the party and him. Gabranth was a better option in some way but he was wounded by then that he wasnt a threat. So you have the personal emotional threat being Gabranth thats too weak and the main villian with no personal emotional tie not even knowing who maybe half the party is, he would know Ashe and Basch and probably Balthier through Cid but not Fran, Penelo or Vaan.
Emet imho topped Kefka in 14 but 14 is an MMO so I dunno how much I can count it, however, Emet is undeniably the most iconic antagonist in FF since Sephiroth but also manages to trump Kefka in insanity while being significantly more justified with motives similar to Ardyn Izunia's on a more extreme level.
I think Garland deserves to be above Cloud of Darkness tbh. I'm not going to claim either of them are particularly amazing, both of them being early days FF villains, but Garland has motivations in a way that Cloud of Darkness really doesn't. The Cloud isn't doing what it's doing for any reason than just, it's a force of nature. Garland on the other hand is a Knight who made a pact with the four fiends to live forever. Neither of them really have a lot of impact on the story beyond their final act and even that is weak, but Garland has at least _some_ substance behind him.
Solid list. Mostly wanted to make sure the caveat about Ardyn's story really coming alive through his DLC was mentioned, so kudos for including it! Although he should *definitely* be higher than the XIII villain based on Darin de Paul's performance alone. Ranking Vayne here is super difficult, it's debatable if he's really a villain at all since despite presenting himself as one, he's working for a common good overall (and achieves it, rare for a FF antagonist). Mostly it's down to XII being a more realistic political tale over a more classical story. Sight nitpick: the Cloud of Darkness from III is *not* the "embodiment of darkness" as stated. She's actually a Void being, working to destroy both light and darkness, which otherwise should be in balance. Confusing given her title, but that's early FF English translators for you.
Vayne and Cid are villains due to the nature of how they achieve their goals, however I think that their approach was the only feasible one against the Occuria. It is a hard one to balance, because their overall goal is for the greater good of man and give themselves freedom, but their approach led to too much death. That being said, it is generally implied (especially in Japanese dub that translates a bit different) that they were willing to become monsters/tyrants to free humanity
@@ashm4938 Everything you just said reinforces Vayne being antagonistic, but not villainous. With Cid there's wiggle room since it's implied he loses his mind a little bit.
Okay, okay... so on *Ultimecia* The problem starts with the fact a lot of game lore is done through easily missed npc interactions. SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT You miss some data permanently if you get on the boat to Dollet without going back to the old man's house You miss some data permanently if you go to the white seed ship and then 1) don't immediately go left to talk to the teacher. 2) don't leave the room as the white SeeD leader takes a break to talk to the teacher 3) talk to the teacher one last time before leaving 4) talk to the teacher after having left. You miss some of the BEST information when you talk to Edea at the orphanage and when she says "Squall wait! if you don't go talk to cid immediately. Because... if you speak to him after, the game flag for some reason hid the Tutorial> INFO> Sorceress data. So, now that this is out of the way. You questioned her Motivation. Okay, well, this is why most people misunderstood FF8. She isn't evil for evil's sake. She's 1) hunted and 2) being controlled. Let's explain further. In the history of ff8, Hyne was a God. He wasn't the only one, but a god nonetheless... he created humans to do things for him. He took a nap and when he woke up some time later, humans had multiplied way too much and had turned the planet into something he didn't agree to the original humans to have made it into. Hyne being pissed kidnapped all the children and burned them alive. Humanity took arms against Hyne to take him down and Hyne realized he wasn't going to win. So he tricked them into a bargain: In order for him to have his escape, he'd give them half his body so that they could learn magic. Well, they got tricked and instead he hid himself and his magic inside women, which were 'the most protected people' However, humanity decided that they wanted that magic and were owed that magic so they started hunting and killing those sorceresses FOR their magic as Hyne had promised. Since when a sorceress dies, they pass on their power to another, humanity just kept killing sorceresses after sorceress. This made sorceresses go into hiding to avoid the sorceress hunts. It wasn't until Adel that a sorceress existed who was strong enough to prevent the hunts. Sometime during the present and future, sorceress hunts once again continue; and SeeD are part of this. Ultimecia even says as much herself that they'd hunt them (her). So she is already aware of her fate of being hunted well before knowing it as a self fulfilling prophecy because that's just what humanity does when someone who isn't Adel is there. (not that this excuses the atrocities Adel had done, but she DID prevent the sorceress hunts) Now to the last part, why time kompression? Well, this is more easily explained by the very well sourced theory within the game of... Ultimecia is being possessed by Hyne. At the very end of the game you see Hyne emerge from her legs (the half he was missing was his legs after splitting himself for the humans in his trick) and ultimecia is hanging upside down. So why? Because Time compression brings all the sorceress powers together, into one person (Ultimecia) which allows Hyne's possesion to finally take over. Proof of the possession comes throughout the game. those with sorceress knights see slower corruption. Those without start turning more monstrous, they hide their legs (except Ultimecia and you can see how bestial they become and then the 'worm sorceress') Adel started looking like a man, Ultimecia starts talking like a man (in the Japanese version). They also grow claws and veins throughout their body. The possession on Edea shows minor effects. (the claws and facial veins) So, Hyne influences Ultimecia, who's control over time allowed everything to happen. He wants to return the world to the 0 point, before humanity rebelled against him. Oh, and might I also mention that Ultimecia is actually Artimecia and a ton of ff8 revolves around Greek/Italian mythology about Artemicia of Caria (The city Halicarnassus used to be known as Zephyria (the sorceress knight) of tomb of the unknown king before it became halicarnassus is a really big one). Oh, to that end, Halicarnassus is also in FF5. A man who pretends to be a woman to lure people into a false sense of security in his floating castle beyond space and time. IF they ever remake ff8, they need to make this more apparent.
The main villain is Yu Yevon. Seymour is the best villain of the game but he is not the biggest threat or the endgame, so i wouldnt call him a main villain.
As many people are already giving praise to Emet-selch in the comments (and rightfully so), I'd like to give one for Lilith from FFXI. WotG is such an incredible experience that rivals a lot of FF stories, and that includes its villains and characters. If you're a fan of the franchise, dont miss out on XI like I have for many years because of people telling me it aint a real FF.
To place Seymour on the list, instead of Yu Yevon, or at least Yunalesca... to each their own, I guess. Also, I know Kefka is FF's Joker with no batman to keep him in check, thus granting him 1st place EVEN against super popular Sephiroth... but Yu Yevon actually destroyed the world, too. It surely ain't the same as before, and he would keep it destroyed if he had it his way. So by the "destroyer" criteria Yu Yevon should rank at least 3rd place. Finally, I gotta say: everybody forgot or didn't notice, but the vilest villain of FF7 (and one of the vilest villain of not only the FF franchise, but of video game history) is the scientist Hojo. That mofo did Lucrecia, Sephiroth, Vincent and Aerith's biological mother EXTREMELY dirty. Imagine how many more people he screwed "off the records".
@@99range92def let me ask you, did he die, go to hell, kill the devil, took over hell, and came back for revenge? because if not, than no, he isnt the best villain in the franchise...
Can you please please please please play Final Fantasy Tactics. You won't be disappointed I promise you. I would love to see that game end up on your lists.
This is way better than your 'main character' list. I'd add Caius Balad as 3rd place, but Sephiroth 2 and Kefka 1 is right on. Kefka was the first time I'd ever seen the villain win, and the heroes have to rebuild and figure out what to do next
This may be the most controversial list ever conceived. People have opinions on the villains of this series. Personally, I’m surprised Ultimecia was so high. Though I knew the Top spot would be between Sephiroth and Kefka.
For me, you're short changing Vayne. Vayne is pretty much the only villain in the entire series who isn't really evil. He doesn't want to destroy the world, he doesn't want vengeance against anything to do with any character in the game, other than the "gods" whom control everything from beyond. He's definitely not a good person, he does horrendous things as a means to his ends. In the end, was he really wrong though? I feel your dislike for 12 clouds your judgement on him, while, at the same time, your love clouds your judgement on Sephiroth. Sephiroth is basically a watered down Kefka with mommy issues. Please don't take this the wrong way, not an attack, just an observation. Sephiroth has no real reason to do what he did other than being lied to and not doing enough research on what actually happened. He's basically having a tantrum. He's iconic, for sure, but, FF7 is the most historically important RPG ever. He is definitely served by that.
Sephiroth and Kefka are nothing alike. They desire completely different things and have completely different personalities. Kefka was a tortured nihilist and Sephiroth is a war hero who lost his mind with grief and manipulation. You proved you didnt get the story of 7 by not understanding Sephiroths motivation. He wants to become the next Jenova for another world. He is living up to the legacy of Jenova that he sees as his new birthright. So he wants to conquer and destroy other worlds. They are both great villains and when you try to defend your point by disrespecting a great character you lose all credit to your argument.
Hey, great video! Do you think you'd ever make a video ranking all the game soundtracks? IMO Final Fantasy is the game series with the best music, pretty much every game sounds incredible, and there's a lot of variety between them I feel.
Ardyn is totally underrated. He is one of the few villains who knows and does win regardless if the hero succeeds or not. If Noct loses, he destroys everything Somnus built by plunging the world into eternal darkness If Noct wins, he destroys everything Somnus built by putting an end to the Lucis line, like he wanted. Dude is cocky nonstop because he’s literally already won before anything’s happened
I mean... Golbez was the villain for PART of FFIV. No mention of Zemus? We didn't really see him get fleshed out but he was still pretty badass. And that boss music!
FF3's main antagonist is not the Cloud of Darkness, but Xande who's more fleshed out as a character than CoD who's more like a force of nature and nothingness.
I'm glad you included Kuja and Golbez, but if you're doing that, why didn't you use Xande from FF3 instead of cloud of darkness? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to talk about present villains instead of space fleas from nowhere, but I wish it was more consistent.
FF13 needs the FF12 treatment and a little more because Barthandelus' plan is genius and he actually technically wins because pretty much everything goes his way except for the destruction of cocoon. There is a video by Final fantasy union that i definitely recommend checking out for anyone interested
Kefka: "You are a villain, alright! Just not a super one!" Sephiroth: "yea? Whats the difference?" Kefka: "PRESENTA- wait... EVIL LAUGHTER!" *kefka laugh with dancing mad bgm* Edit: grammar error. Gotta get my Megamind quote right, after all lol
The difference is that Kefka is a classic "pure evil" villain who achieved his goals (pure evil is played out, but the successful villain not so much) AND he has a very cool theme song. Meanwhile Sephiroth looks like a over the top drag queen with snake eyes who suffers from space mommy issues, but of course, he has a super cool theme song, hence why we will always remember his cosmic shenanigans (hell, Uematsu carried this franchise on his back)
@@groudonvert7286 The "pure evil" trope exists literally for thousands of years, what do you think the Devil is? Don't be gullible, to assume Joker is the "source" of this trope, lol
I mostly agree though, I would put Ultimecia way lower. You never really get to know her, she has no real personality and mostly replaces "C's" with "K's"? That's about it. Even Garland was more interesting to me.
I think she is actually pretty interesting. Aside from fan theories, a sorceress trying to avoid her own inevitable death by manipulating time is pretty cool. One has to wonder how she got into power, if she was always evil, why she is afraid of death, did she ever have a family, etc. I could even see a game or movie come out just to explain such an interesting concept, like Ultimecia being the main protagonist in her own story lol.
I think the only reason I even remotely like her is because "the extreme" slaps lol, besides having a good theme I didn't really like her. Didn't hate her didn't love her, she was just there
@@japan100100 Yes, the concept of a sorceress going that far to achieve her evil goes, manipulating time in a interesting way ("time compression" sounds goofy... and it is dumb, but it's "unique"), it's kinda neat. But as usual with FF8, the fanfic is actually better than the shitty original story, it would be way better if she actually "compressed" time (achieving her goals instead of being stopped at the last moment, similar to Kefka), then here it comes edgeboy and his circus of anime stereotypes saving reality
@@RRRRRRRRR33 Its a story, and so not everyone in a story gets a fully fleshed out backstory. I think of all the books and movies I have seen in my life, there are always characters that could've got more screentime and backstory. But the story has to focus on certain elements, otherwise everything gets bogged down by the details. Situations like this leave room for potential sequels, theories, or any other type of engagement from the community. Again, if I was in charge of Square Enix, I would definitely start cooking up a game based around an all-powerful sorceress that ends up culminating in her meeting her end via Squall and friends. That would be awesome, especially with today's visuals. Just breathtaking. I bet people would be crying over Ultimecia's death lol. Also keep in mind the limitations of the time when ff8 came out. Nowadays, we could remake the game, have internal dialogue and facial expressions play out on screen a lot better than before. The possibilities with FF8 remain high.
Kefka is just absolutely unhinged. and deserves the number 1 spot. I wish ff6 would get the remake treatment and have a huge fleshed out world. it would be so kool.
Emet-Selch and Elidibus are such good villains i have a hard time seeing them as antagonists. I hear a lot of good things from Lady Lilith from XI so i really need to get back to it.
I think its a fair list. Obviously everyone has there own opinions I never played 6 but heard its a great game, going have play it. Some the others I feel in the right or wrong place but a interesting vid, take a sub.
Highly recommend you give it a shot. Definitely a unique experience. Took me a bit to enjoy and truly appreciate the game but I really love it now. Thanks for the sub as well!
It's a bold move, to not put Sephi in the #1 spot. I *agree* with you, Kefka is the obvious choice to me and I knew it would come down to the two of them in the #1 and #2 spots, but still. Bold move. I guess the only thing I don't really know I agree on is Ultimecia; she just didn't impress me a whole lot.
Sephiroth/Jenova combo are so much better than Kefka. Kefka is just evil because he wants and doesn't have any story he just do stuff because he wants randomly. Everything in FF7 is soo much better written with backstory, twists and reasons behind.
He is not evil because he wants to, he's gone mad after all the amount of cruel experiments he was submitted to, he is the perfect example of a psychopath, a true villain. Sephiroth's reasons for turning into a villain are a little bit shallow for me, although I understand he was traumatized by learning his true origins. And the only reason ff7 is better written is because the amount of games, movies and other media that explains the whole context and story. FF6 is a super nintendo game, and that's it...I'm pretty sure that if squarenix would ever make a remake for ff6 the story would be different.
Ah, your points were totally valid as far as the rankings go. I wish Ardyn was higher on the list because of how well written he is. A lot of villains are very stereotypical (wanting to rule the world, etc) but even though Ardyn was bent on revenge, it was just so messed up why he turned out that way. Anyway, great list!
That’s all good and well but as Golbez was being mind controlled by Zemus you could argue it was all Zemus. All the things Golbez did wasn’t in full conscience but rather done by Zemus’s will
I KNEW YOU WOULD COME AROUND! ALL HAIL KEFKA! Mhaha Whoop Whoop! Honestly, solid list. Disagree with Golbez though. He is a constant thorn in Cecil's side or vice versa for that matter. They come to the point of hatred before the big twist. He's top five for me.
Have to disagree on that #1 spot. There are people who have never played a RPG in their life who knows who Sephiroth is. He is just too iconic not to be #1. There is a reason why to this day people ask for more ff7 lore.
Yes Galenth Dysley is the main villain in FFXIII but I know it, you know it and everybody else knows it... Caius Ballad is the main antagonist of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy ahah. Xande is definitely the main antagonist of FFIII, cloud of darkness is just there in the end. It's like saying the main antagonist of FFIX is Necron lol 😂 I think Square Enix just wanted more female characters in Dissidia so they decided with Cloud of Darkness lol. Speaking of Dissidia, I'm still mad they never added Seymour on the roster 😒🥲
You nailed the top spot! if nothing else, he is the one villain who succeeded. (Although, one could argue Yu Yevon also succeeded but he isn't typically counted.) I truly wish FFVI would get a remake treatment like FFVII has. Breaking it out of SNES era graphics, adding some top notch voice acting, expanding on the plot and the characters... Squenix could get so much out of it.
Sephiroth would potentially rank as a Top 10 villain in ALL video games, not just the Final Fantasy series. For that reason I would have to put him in the 1 spot.
I feel putting Ardyn at 7 is just criminal. And it totally sucks that sucks that much of the more important moments of his backstory and crucial moments for not just his character but how he also pulls the strings in FF15, but its hard to ignore how tragic his backstory among the rest of the FF villains and how he is one of the strongest villains in the Franchise. And I am curious about everyone's top 5 as well! If I were to rank mine: 1. Ardyn 2. Sephiroth 3. Kuja 4. Kefka 5. Caius
This list is very spot on for the most part. I would switch Exdeath and Vayne around because Vayne at least has some intrigue going for him by the end of the game, and Cid is a much more compelling villain in that game by a long shot. But ay its ok. Overall you are in my eyes absolutely spot on.
Excluding the MMOs, Kefka and good old Seph are definitely the stand outs. Many others are good within their game, but that's kinda where they end. They just don't carry. Kefka and Seph though just have a presence to their character that lets them live on far beyond their games. Oddly though, you'd think I'd side with Seph for number 1 since he's had much more content on him out there, but I agree that Kefka is just that special that even without much supporting content he is still a huge presence. Now if we add FF14 in there, I'd have to dethrone the two. Probably a good deal of recent-cy bias but Emet has just proven to be a huge character (there are others too but to be fair only one nominee and it has to be him). I've played 11 too and honestly, the villains there weren't that memorable. Even when I was playing I barely knew what was going on in the story. I'm not even sure who deserves consideration and I certainly wouldn't put them that high.
Kefka and Sephiroth are no doubt the toppest of tiers, but I wouldn't put Kuja and Ardyn that far below them. It's sad how the polarizing game of FF15 really made alot of people not care too much about him but anyone who played through it all or kept up with the lore can tell you he's an excellent villain. Also it's interesting how my top four were at least, to some extent, successful in their plans.
I do feel like Exdeath should be at least a spot or two higher. He's a threat that you're actively running into after about the halfway point, successfully kills one of the party, and he is absolutely hilarious. Plus his castle is made of the flesh and bones of the people he's killed, like how we build buildings out of wood. That's metal as hell. 🤘🏻
Exdeath is so metal! Even his theme is metal! The Metal lord of Final Fantasy. Also I agree with you, needs to be 1 or 2 spots higher
bruh this is like my very first jrpg where a main character dies, i was so devastated when it happened
Exdeath is awful - you can’t take him seriously with the name alone
@@StewNWT Notice how I didn't in my comment. I listed off four reasons why I like him and why he could be worth a higher spot.
@@StewNWT Exdeath is a problem with translation. It's actually Exodus. Just like how Ultimecia is actually Artemisia.
I honestly feel like Vayne Solidor doesn't get enough love. I understand why some people find him forgettable, but all of his machinations from the start had a noble purpose despite him doing dastardly things to get them done. He really ranks more as an anti-villain at best while still being the main driving force of the story. Gabranth was really just a broken man who harbored jealousy over his brother, but wasn't really the kind of mastermind that Vayne was.
All my efforts to see the reins of history back in the hands of Men!
Vayne was quite good. His overall goal of freeing man from the Occuria seems to come true, even in his death.
@@Dzzy123 Yeah. Even in defeat, his ultimate goals were realized. The Occuria lose control over history and Larsa succeeds him to the throne of Arcadia. It may not have played out like he intended, but it played out nonetheless
Vayne is very underrated.
Vayne was probably the best FF politician
it is a shame mmo's are not included since FF14 expansion Shadowbringers gave us Emet-Selch, who has since become the number 1 in my ff villain list
THIS. The greatest FF villain that only like 25% of the FF fanbase knows about
Certainly the most sympathetic villain of the entire FF series, if not him.. then Elidibus.
"But more than that, the future you seek is not the past we loved. That is why we fought. And why I lost.
But though you defeated me, my ideals are inviolate. Invincible."
Clicks to Emet because it's not just a ranking of every FF villain, it's a ranking of EVERY FF villain
I haven't played the MMOs, if you don't like that, that's life
Bruh moment.
im not even to shadow bringers its like 500 hours to get to it. the game also is bad until the dlc starts
Imagine seeing an ff6 remake. I think that kefka being the best villain wouldn't be debatable if we saw all of his horrors in graphic detail.
Many wish for for a remake but sadly until FF7 run its course the remake love for FF6 will not happen in a long time.
This!
I think it's better to just keep the memories tbh.
I don’t know how they could make kefkas iconic laugh a realistic laugh. I do want a remake though cause 6 is my favorite
@@Ironcorgi2 it would definitely be tough
It’s a shame Caius Ballad couldn’t be on the list. To be me he made me really love FF13. To the voice acting, cool abilities and the fact when you face him in Lighting Returns he look at you like “Why are you here? Didn’t I already beat you?” That’s some good shit right there.
Same. Caius Ballad of the *FFXIII* franchise is definitely and totally one of THE Best Epic Badass Antagonistic Final Fantasy Villain I Absolutely Respect and Appreciate from that game. Liam O'Brien did a Fantastic Job as Caius Ballad from *Final Fantasy XIII-2 & Lightning Returns XIII-3* games. I also Respect and Appreciate Kam'lanaut from *FFXI,* Gabranth from *FFXII,* Zenos yae Galvus from *FFXIV* franchises, Jecht from *FFX* and Barnabas Tharmr from *FFXVI* game from last year, as all the Best Epic Badass Antagonistic FF Villains there is throughout the years, of the *Final Fantasy* Gaming franchise there is.
Facts. Caius is the reason why I ended up liking the whole trilogy in the end. And he’s just so cool!
Why does that make him a good villain? Anything about his motivations and personality?
@@blackdragoncyrus Without spoiling too much Caius was cursed of been immortal and seeing someone he cares about die over and over again. His motivation is just to save a friend. He's basically if you take a dash of Kuja style + the honor nobility of Golbez + the badassness of Sephiroth. Also....
**spoilers**
One of the few villains/antagonist to "win" Which if I remember correctly are only Kefka, Ardyn and Caius
He was a well thought out character. Love him!
Kefka is a fantastic villain, and a perfect example of how great villains don't always need detailed backstories. It adds to his mystique and makes him all the more enigmatic and terrifying. Another thing that makes him such an effective villain is that he is completely remorseless, and isn't some tragic or fallen figure. He's just totally insane, and it is more believable that a person like that, who just cannot comprehend things like love or friendship, has the capability to destroy the world.
Kefka is incredibly overrated. What does he do? He giggles and kills people. Even his motives are bland. He's a one dimensional character. If this was a ranking of most maniacal villains he should win, as that's literally the only word you need to describe him. But it makes for a damn boring villian if that's all there is.
wdym he's not tragic/fallen? wasn't he literally driven insane by the magitek experimentation that gave him his powers?
@@badrapsample2212 Yes, but we don't know what kind of person he was prior to that. I mean, you could say there is some element of tragedy because it's a terrible thing to happen to someone no matter what kind of person they were, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he's a tragic character.
@@lefi75I couldn't agree more. He loses every confrontation he has, he giggles and he....moved some statues. Then you don't even see him the next several hours. He's the definition of overrated
@@lefi75 By that logic, Sephiroth is overrated since you don't even see the real him till the end of the game, and it wasn't until the FF7 compilation that really fleshed him out.
It wasn't on here, but I believe Caius from XIII-2 deserves a high spot. His duty is to protect the seeress Yeul, but due to the events of XIII messing up the timeline due to the Goddess Etro's interference, Yeul's life is cut drastically because of her constant visions of the future. Each time Yeul reincarnates, she may look the same but has deviances in her personality that makes her a different person. Made worse by the fact he cannot die due to having the Heart of Chaos.
Each time, just as Caius gets to know her, she dies. It happens so much that he loses it and goes on a crusade against Lightning, Noel, and Sarah in an attempt to kill Etro in order to stop the passage of time entirely, all so Yeul wouldn't die from her visions anymore. He accomplished what he set out to do by unleasing Chaos from Valhalla into the world.
Yet even after his Heart of Chaos was destroyed, he maintained his immortality by becoming one with the chaos because all the incarnations of Yeul refuses to ever let him die. Caius, a man who jumped through timelines, killed the Goddess of Death, and caused the apocalypse all so one girl can finally be freed from her fate.
exactly lol at first i thought he meant from ever final fantasy game.
You get a like and sub from me. Kefka is the best villain in Final Fantasy. He is the only one that completes his goal. The only reason he is beat is because he has grown tired of his own existence and lets the heroes climb the tower. It was more than in his power to kill them at any time in the second half of the game.
Wrong. Ardyn and Caius both succeed. While Kefka's victory didn't last long.
"The only one who completed his goal?" He did not such thing. He wanted to erase the whole of existence and make it "a monument to non-existence" per his words.
Sephiroth, Mateus Palemicia and Ardyn came closer to completing, completed and completed his goal , respectively.
@@Vayne_Solidor I think Kefka didn't really have much of a plan other than chaos and destruction. He achieved it. He was essentially like a sadistic child with a box of matches over an anthill but in Kefka's case its the world instead of ants. I suspect at some point he would have gotten bored and fully destroyed the world and himself along with it but I don't think that this was his ultimate goal. He just kind of makes it up as he goes along. With that in mind, I think OP's assessment of why he was defeated is actually quite plausible.
@@ΦιλήσυχοςΠολίτηςThat was only his declaration right at the end, in the face of his enemies, but his goal before that had been power and destruction. He also effectively turned the world into a blasted wasteland.
@@silverblade357 I take his words at face value, he did wanted to destroy the world, in the end he destroyed 4 cities only and not with his own power, he just pushed this world's auto-destruct button.
Solid list. I miss Emet-Selch on it of course, but his exclusion was explained in the intro. I used to have Kefka and Kuja as my fav FF villains before 14, and even from all of 14's villains they're still #2 and #3 after Emet =)
I personally feel Ardyn should be higher on the list, despite the DLC withholding valuable information on him.
In the base game, it is described he was chosen by the gods to rid the world of the starscourge and become king. He travels in a black chocobo healing people of their sickness, in messiah-like fashion.
When he is done, he is rejected by the crystal due to the corruption of the starscourge, conveniently discarded by the gods he believed, his brother and his people. Not even the mercy of death was granted to him.
So he rose to the upper echelon of the empire's political structure just to puppeteer Noctis into becoming the king of kings, who would finally be able to kill him. And turning emo boy into a man would be no easy task. Ardyn took his kingdom, killed his betrothed, tormented him and his friends, all for the sake of character development.
With DLC info, we learn that Ardyn's beloved was murdered in front of him and he was imprisoned for over 2000 years, until the empire set him free in an attempt to learn what the infamous addagium was all about.
Then he proceeded to weaponize his powers into the imperial army, creating magitek soldiers. He wrecked the Lucian capital like it was nothing, and corrupted a god to use against Noctis.
In the end he ruined the world, plunged it into darkness and set the stage for his final battle with the chosen king. Whatever the result, he already got what he wanted. The Lucis Caelum lineage would disappear. Victory would only determine if humanity would rebuild at dawn or perish in the dark. Death was just a sweet bonus.
Agreed. I think Ardyn is super underrated and should be top 3
He is too much tell and not enough show until the DLC and even then, the DLC is like what? 2 hours?
arden was one of the worst protagonists if we're being honest
A shame his story couldn't be concluded in game form, the book develops him as he should have been in the game. What I find most admirable about him is that despite all that happened to him there is still a dim light within him. He could have fully abandoned himself to the star scourge and turned full evil god to destroy everything and anything blindly, but through his actions he still kind of tries to save the day by letting Noctis have a chance to end him and the star scourge. Some hope and benevolence still live somewhere deep inside him. He still is vengeful towards the gods and bitter towards his bloodline but that's not all there is left of him. Anyway FF15 was a train wreck and it's a damn shame, so much unrealized potential
Dosent ardyn take over the world for ten years to and ultimately succeeds out taking out the royal bloodline like he wanted to at the end of the game. He definitely should be higher
*Me as someone whose first ff was FF1*: “oh man i hope Garland is high on the list”.
Erek: “Number 14 is Garland”
Me: “fuck!!”
Emet-Selch easily one of the best villains. He sees himself as the hero of his own story, burdened with restoring his own world which was sundered in ordered to save it from a catastrophe. He lived thousands of lifetimes and tried to give a reason to leave his legacy to the new life but only saw greed and avarice. He deemed them unworthy of his legacy and sought to destroy the new world(s) all for the sake of returning his to its formal glory. In many of 14's moments that he appeared, he was more often enlightening than a hindrance to the game's protagonist and even helped on several occasions. He was a complex character who had a heavy burden to bear and his last words "Remember... remember that we existed" was a great moment of passing his legacy to the protagonist and giving them the burden of his past and the memory of the old world.
It's hard to rank FF14 in anything because it's an MMO and therefore hard to get into but I think emet selch is easily the best FF villain.
I do have him second to Kefka, but agreed, Emet is a top-tier villain.
Man it's so funny to me how these people make money out of gaming but feel like playing ff14 is too much somehow. Yet they sink hundreds of hours on singleplayer games even though ff14 can be played solo like a singleplayer game.
It's a good thing you didn't play 14... otherwise you'd need like 5 more spots on the list and 2-3 of the top 5 would be locked lol There's a good reason Emet-Selch beats even Sephiroth in villain popularity polls in Japan.
At this point, no villain list for FF is complete without including 14. It’s a huge shame most series fans just completely skip it.
@@SaberRexZealotcompletely agree. Lists missing 14 like what? It’s got a huge following for a reason. Go watch the cutscenes online at least if you want to make a list
I feel that 14 is a bit of a special case as pretty much every era inn that game had it's own main villain and sometimes multible villains so I think that game would be better off as a list of it's own.
emet-selch/hades is easily top 5!
@@inspirations365can you really fault people for not being particularly interested in spending literally hundreds of hours on an MMO not to mention how tough it can be actually doing outdated end game content which is where a lot of the story is locked behind.
Honestly it would almost be better in purely written form at this point for a large amount of people.
Someone may have said it already but Kitase shot down the theory of Rinoa being Ultemecia. Good list!
Yeah as well as the "Squall is dead" theory but he did say that was an interesting one
Such a great list. That top 3 is full of some power houses.
Also here’s an idea for a future ranking…top weapons or top abilities.
Take care!
Despite of all opinions here (I also agree that Ardyn should be higher on the list) we just CAN'T deny that Kefka is just the pure impersonation of Evil in a twisted way.
I truly love the fact that he was just a human being without any super human or God like powers. He achieves his goals just based on pure desire and man... Whenever he laughs it's easily the most distinguished character from FF VI. Imo
Kefka suffers a really big issue : the evil clown is the most cliché antagonist ever. What does it differentiate Kefka from the Joker ?
Good video, but I have a few comments:
1) You chose Cloud of Darkness as the main villain in 3. To maintain consistency, you should have chosen Necron in 9, Zeromus in 4 and the Void in 5.
2) Emperor Matheus from 2 should be higher. He destroyed towns and killed people at the same level as Xdeath and was so evil, his human side was split in two: light and dark. And even in hell and heaven, he wreacked havoc.
Vayne Solidor was introduced quite well. His opening speech was great and set him up for more. It's unfortunate we didn't get all that we could have from him.
Something i find worth mentioning with the emperor in ff2 is the fact that he has another counterpart during the versions of the game that have the soul of rebirth segment that i find far more interesting than his normal self.
Solid list and great video! FfXV has such a great story. It’s too bad it wasn’t delivered strongly on release. Ardyn was the first FF villi felt truly sympathetic for. Him and Noctis both got forced into this tragic fate. In the end they both get their peace.
I agree with Kefka having the top spot, he deserves it by virtue of actually getting what he wanted, a world of nihilism. All the other villains stumble on the last step of whatever plan they concocted or worse get upstaged by the Final Boss, but not Ol' Clown Boi. Sure he gets beaten later but that doesn't diminish his lasting accomplishment, the World of Ruin is still there after him and magic is gone too. FF6 was exceedingly morbid from this one guy.
Uhh, nope. Ardyn and Vayne get exactly what they want by the end of their games, whilst Kefka's legacy is certainly undone at the end of FFVI He wasn't planning on "losing" in the ways the other two were.
Many villains try to destroy the world... Kefka succeeds.
but only Exdeath fixed the world.
Besides Caius Ballad being my favorite for the single player ones, sad to say Emet Selch from XIV will definitely kick everyone out of this list without a problem. The way he was written as a character and a villain is unlike any I have ever seen in the series. Coupled by the excellent voice acting, he's absolutely phenomenal.
Ofcourse MMOs are always not included what's new lol but I really feel bad for the writers working hard on these MMOs to be continuously ignored in rankings like this. Like one of the best writers if not the best that Square Enix ever had is from XIV and her name is Natsuko Ishikawa. Everything she has written for the game were all god tier, from job quests, to characters, to the main scenario. She's so good that I think she's the only writer I've seen so far who got a long standing ovation from the audience in a panel she attended.
Emet is the best but i also loved elidibus, and fandaniel, and yotsuyu all absolutely amazing antagonists
.
@@Angarato86 agreed. XIV has no shortage of very well written characters, even the antagonists
Kefka: And that’s how you win! Any questions? 😁
"That aren't about time travel?"
I can't really understand what are your criteria for the ranking. Based on your own assessment I don't really understand why Ultimecia ranks higher than Ardyn, Golbez, or Kuja in your list. You even had a lot more to say about all the others. Is it just how 'bad' they are? How cool they are? How evil they are? How much of their ambitions they managed to complete? It's not very clear to me. It just seemed kind of... arbitrary. Which makes the fact you set Kefka at the top rather than Sephiroth (which you clearly state you gravitate more towards) even more confusing.
I guess this isn't so much of a tierlist critique as it is a video content format critique. It would make discussions around your content more interesting and engaging if you clearly establish the criteria you used to come to that conclusion.
Well it's his top so I guess he puts whoever he wants where he wants, if you don't like it you can make your own top based on what you want.
You're right. Caius Ballad is actually so good it's not even fair to compete with him
I understand he's not on here since he's not a main entry villain, but Caius Ballad really is one of the dopest antagonists of the series in my opinion. Stoked to see that so many other people think so as well!
I think what really pushes Kefka to the top tier villain in the Final Fantasy series is that he actually challenges the players of the game. When he talks to the group of protagonists at the end and challenges them, he's challenging everyone, including us. He's not wrong. Everything we build will eventually be destroyed. "Why do you yearn live knowing all things must die?" The entire game is built around loss and finding the answer to the questions he asks of the group at the end. Kefka's philosophy is a realistic one, and I love watching him grow more menacing as the game progresses.
I actually agree on Vayne. I se what the devs were going for: a more complex villain with a more noble goal of saving the world from the game's true villains (who you never fight directly and in fact I'm not sure you even speak to since they're godlike beings who jsut watch and manipulate everything). The issue is he lacs a strong personality as an antagoist especially as what villainy he does clashes with the fact he seems to be a genuinely good natured person who wants to do the right thing for the world. THis of course means his villainy feels forced in my opinion.
and as you said since the game spends a lot of hemming and hawwing on who the big bad even IS Vayne in turn loses further chances to instill himself as a strong main villain.
That's just my take on the character.
yeah id agree. I love 12 but Vayne just isnt a great or iconic villain in the same as many others. There is no real personal struggle between the heros and Vayne, i appreciate him being more nuanced and deeper than most ff villians in some aspects but he is more of an interesting side character than a main villain. (watching the rest of the list id probably put him higher actually, Barthandelous is just a mess of a villain to me, while more personality i guess his plan and methods just dont win me over)
his goal is somewhat noble, but its just swapping one dictator for another. Not really breaking the wheel. They would have needed a lot more from him to really make him a main villain, a few meetings with the heros for example, he shouldve met them briefly in Archadia and Geruvaga at least and not the final cutscene of the game, literally asking "who are you?", its cool but doesnt exactly sell a personal conflict between the party and him.
Gabranth was a better option in some way but he was wounded by then that he wasnt a threat. So you have the personal emotional threat being Gabranth thats too weak and the main villian with no personal emotional tie not even knowing who maybe half the party is, he would know Ashe and Basch and probably Balthier through Cid but not Fran, Penelo or Vaan.
Emet imho topped Kefka in 14 but 14 is an MMO so I dunno how much I can count it, however, Emet is undeniably the most iconic antagonist in FF since Sephiroth but also manages to trump Kefka in insanity while being significantly more justified with motives similar to Ardyn Izunia's on a more extreme level.
I love seeing some quality RPG tier lists. Nice job, dude.
Hey thank you!!! Big fan of your channel as well - also some high quality RPG content!
mine would be Emet-Selch ff14
I think Garland deserves to be above Cloud of Darkness tbh. I'm not going to claim either of them are particularly amazing, both of them being early days FF villains, but Garland has motivations in a way that Cloud of Darkness really doesn't. The Cloud isn't doing what it's doing for any reason than just, it's a force of nature. Garland on the other hand is a Knight who made a pact with the four fiends to live forever. Neither of them really have a lot of impact on the story beyond their final act and even that is weak, but Garland has at least _some_ substance behind him.
If only this was Garland or Jack from Strangers of Paradise... That would definitely push his ratings up.
The fact that Kefka actually destroys everything successfully makes him an awesome adversary.
Solid list. Mostly wanted to make sure the caveat about Ardyn's story really coming alive through his DLC was mentioned, so kudos for including it! Although he should *definitely* be higher than the XIII villain based on Darin de Paul's performance alone.
Ranking Vayne here is super difficult, it's debatable if he's really a villain at all since despite presenting himself as one, he's working for a common good overall (and achieves it, rare for a FF antagonist). Mostly it's down to XII being a more realistic political tale over a more classical story.
Sight nitpick: the Cloud of Darkness from III is *not* the "embodiment of darkness" as stated. She's actually a Void being, working to destroy both light and darkness, which otherwise should be in balance. Confusing given her title, but that's early FF English translators for you.
Vayne and Cid are villains due to the nature of how they achieve their goals, however I think that their approach was the only feasible one against the Occuria. It is a hard one to balance, because their overall goal is for the greater good of man and give themselves freedom, but their approach led to too much death. That being said, it is generally implied (especially in Japanese dub that translates a bit different) that they were willing to become monsters/tyrants to free humanity
@@ashm4938 Everything you just said reinforces Vayne being antagonistic, but not villainous. With Cid there's wiggle room since it's implied he loses his mind a little bit.
I'm with you on the Kefka vote. I know it's tough to put another ahead what you're most attached to.
Sephiroth & Caius are the sickest villains! 💪🏼
Along with the best theme songs 🔥
Okay, okay... so on *Ultimecia* The problem starts with the fact a lot of game lore is done through easily missed npc interactions. SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
You miss some data permanently if you get on the boat to Dollet without going back to the old man's house
You miss some data permanently if you go to the white seed ship and then
1) don't immediately go left to talk to the teacher.
2) don't leave the room as the white SeeD leader takes a break to talk to the teacher
3) talk to the teacher one last time before leaving
4) talk to the teacher after having left.
You miss some of the BEST information when you talk to Edea at the orphanage and when she says "Squall wait! if you don't go talk to cid immediately. Because... if you speak to him after, the game flag for some reason hid the Tutorial> INFO> Sorceress data.
So, now that this is out of the way. You questioned her Motivation. Okay, well, this is why most people misunderstood FF8. She isn't evil for evil's sake. She's 1) hunted and 2) being controlled.
Let's explain further.
In the history of ff8, Hyne was a God. He wasn't the only one, but a god nonetheless... he created humans to do things for him. He took a nap and when he woke up some time later, humans had multiplied way too much and had turned the planet into something he didn't agree to the original humans to have made it into. Hyne being pissed kidnapped all the children and burned them alive. Humanity took arms against Hyne to take him down and Hyne realized he wasn't going to win. So he tricked them into a bargain: In order for him to have his escape, he'd give them half his body so that they could learn magic. Well, they got tricked and instead he hid himself and his magic inside women, which were 'the most protected people' However, humanity decided that they wanted that magic and were owed that magic so they started hunting and killing those sorceresses FOR their magic as Hyne had promised. Since when a sorceress dies, they pass on their power to another, humanity just kept killing sorceresses after sorceress. This made sorceresses go into hiding to avoid the sorceress hunts. It wasn't until Adel that a sorceress existed who was strong enough to prevent the hunts.
Sometime during the present and future, sorceress hunts once again continue; and SeeD are part of this. Ultimecia even says as much herself that they'd hunt them (her). So she is already aware of her fate of being hunted well before knowing it as a self fulfilling prophecy because that's just what humanity does when someone who isn't Adel is there. (not that this excuses the atrocities Adel had done, but she DID prevent the sorceress hunts)
Now to the last part, why time kompression? Well, this is more easily explained by the very well sourced theory within the game of... Ultimecia is being possessed by Hyne. At the very end of the game you see Hyne emerge from her legs (the half he was missing was his legs after splitting himself for the humans in his trick) and ultimecia is hanging upside down. So why? Because Time compression brings all the sorceress powers together, into one person (Ultimecia) which allows Hyne's possesion to finally take over.
Proof of the possession comes throughout the game. those with sorceress knights see slower corruption. Those without start turning more monstrous, they hide their legs (except Ultimecia and you can see how bestial they become and then the 'worm sorceress') Adel started looking like a man, Ultimecia starts talking like a man (in the Japanese version). They also grow claws and veins throughout their body. The possession on Edea shows minor effects. (the claws and facial veins)
So, Hyne influences Ultimecia, who's control over time allowed everything to happen. He wants to return the world to the 0 point, before humanity rebelled against him.
Oh, and might I also mention that Ultimecia is actually Artimecia and a ton of ff8 revolves around Greek/Italian mythology about Artemicia of Caria (The city Halicarnassus used to be known as Zephyria (the sorceress knight) of tomb of the unknown king before it became halicarnassus is a really big one). Oh, to that end, Halicarnassus is also in FF5. A man who pretends to be a woman to lure people into a false sense of security in his floating castle beyond space and time.
IF they ever remake ff8, they need to make this more apparent.
Although I'd switch #3's spot with #4, your top 5 is spot on ❤️🔥
would have been nice to know where you ranked the villains of: The After Years, X-2, 13-2, 13-3
Great list, but what ranking would they be in based on their theme songs?
Is seymor the main villian of X? Or is it jecht/sin??
The main villain is Yu Yevon. Seymour is the best villain of the game but he is not the biggest threat or the endgame, so i wouldnt call him a main villain.
I never saw Sin as the villain. Seemed more like a force that is used throughout the game.
Hi Erek, glad to see this video comming up :D I love it !
As many people are already giving praise to Emet-selch in the comments (and rightfully so), I'd like to give one for Lilith from FFXI.
WotG is such an incredible experience that rivals a lot of FF stories, and that includes its villains and characters. If you're a fan of the franchise, dont miss out on XI like I have for many years because of people telling me it aint a real FF.
To place Seymour on the list, instead of Yu Yevon, or at least Yunalesca... to each their own, I guess.
Also, I know Kefka is FF's Joker with no batman to keep him in check, thus granting him 1st place EVEN against super popular Sephiroth... but Yu Yevon actually destroyed the world, too. It surely ain't the same as before, and he would keep it destroyed if he had it his way. So by the "destroyer" criteria Yu Yevon should rank at least 3rd place.
Finally, I gotta say: everybody forgot or didn't notice, but the vilest villain of FF7 (and one of the vilest villain of not only the FF franchise, but of video game history) is the scientist Hojo. That mofo did Lucrecia, Sephiroth, Vincent and Aerith's biological mother EXTREMELY dirty. Imagine how many more people he screwed "off the records".
Emet-Selch is by far the best villain of the series
Not even close lol…. Maybe bottom 5? At best
Emet selch is number one and its not even close.@@chelseairene1015
@@chelseairene1015 This feels like some sort of rage bait that I will not even engage with 😬
@@99range92def let me ask you, did he die, go to hell, kill the devil, took over hell, and came back for revenge? because if not, than no, he isnt the best villain in the franchise...
Your metrics for a good villian are strange.@@marcosdheleno
Loved the twist in 7 when you thought Shinra was the enemy for the first 3rd of the game
Let’s be real, Hojo is the _real_ antagonist of FFVII.
Can you please please please please play Final Fantasy Tactics. You won't be disappointed I promise you.
I would love to see that game end up on your lists.
This is way better than your 'main character' list. I'd add Caius Balad as 3rd place, but Sephiroth 2 and Kefka 1 is right on. Kefka was the first time I'd ever seen the villain win, and the heroes have to rebuild and figure out what to do next
This may be the most controversial list ever conceived. People have opinions on the villains of this series. Personally, I’m surprised Ultimecia was so high. Though I knew the Top spot would be between Sephiroth and Kefka.
For me, you're short changing Vayne. Vayne is pretty much the only villain in the entire series who isn't really evil. He doesn't want to destroy the world, he doesn't want vengeance against anything to do with any character in the game, other than the "gods" whom control everything from beyond. He's definitely not a good person, he does horrendous things as a means to his ends. In the end, was he really wrong though? I feel your dislike for 12 clouds your judgement on him, while, at the same time, your love clouds your judgement on Sephiroth. Sephiroth is basically a watered down Kefka with mommy issues. Please don't take this the wrong way, not an attack, just an observation. Sephiroth has no real reason to do what he did other than being lied to and not doing enough research on what actually happened. He's basically having a tantrum. He's iconic, for sure, but, FF7 is the most historically important RPG ever. He is definitely served by that.
Sephiroth and Kefka are nothing alike. They desire completely different things and have completely different personalities. Kefka was a tortured nihilist and Sephiroth is a war hero who lost his mind with grief and manipulation. You proved you didnt get the story of 7 by not understanding Sephiroths motivation. He wants to become the next Jenova for another world. He is living up to the legacy of Jenova that he sees as his new birthright. So he wants to conquer and destroy other worlds. They are both great villains and when you try to defend your point by disrespecting a great character you lose all credit to your argument.
Dude...lol. Sephiroth has no reason.
And it wasn't an argument. I said for me, which means it's an opinion, my friend.
Psyched to see Kefka's spot! My ranking would be basically the same as yours.
Would like to see where you'd rank Garland if you included his back story from Strangers of paradise
Hey, great video! Do you think you'd ever make a video ranking all the game soundtracks? IMO Final Fantasy is the game series with the best music, pretty much every game sounds incredible, and there's a lot of variety between them I feel.
yep!!! That’s being planned. Might end up being next weeks video. Thanks for suggesting!
Ardyn is totally underrated. He is one of the few villains who knows and does win regardless if the hero succeeds or not.
If Noct loses, he destroys everything Somnus built by plunging the world into eternal darkness
If Noct wins, he destroys everything Somnus built by putting an end to the Lucis line, like he wanted.
Dude is cocky nonstop because he’s literally already won before anything’s happened
I mean... Golbez was the villain for PART of FFIV. No mention of Zemus? We didn't really see him get fleshed out but he was still pretty badass. And that boss music!
FF3's main antagonist is not the Cloud of Darkness, but Xande who's more fleshed out as a character than CoD who's more like a force of nature and nothingness.
I kind of agree with the order of the FF villains that I'm familiar with.
I'm glad you included Kuja and Golbez, but if you're doing that, why didn't you use Xande from FF3 instead of cloud of darkness? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to talk about present villains instead of space fleas from nowhere, but I wish it was more consistent.
I’m digging the list! I think it’s a solid ranking!
I LOVE your somewhat unexpected switch of #1 and #2.I totally agree that your #1 is the GOAT villain. Pure chaos.
FF13 needs the FF12 treatment and a little more because Barthandelus' plan is genius and he actually technically wins because pretty much everything goes his way except for the destruction of cocoon. There is a video by Final fantasy union that i definitely recommend checking out for anyone interested
Barthandelus "wins" because his whole goal is to literally lose.
Yeah, I’m with you on Kefka as the greatest villain. No ounce of goodness in that one. Evil through and through.
Honestly, it's always going to be a contest between Kefka and Sephiroth. Both are so alike and so drastically different but they're just so iconic.
The Kefka placement pushed me to subscribe
Well, I’ll say I atleast sorta remember Vane. I forgot that Bartholemew guy even existed.
Love these ranked videos Erek! Love listening to your insight. Keep ‘em coming. 😎✅
Kefka: "You are a villain, alright! Just not a super one!"
Sephiroth: "yea? Whats the difference?"
Kefka: "PRESENTA- wait... EVIL LAUGHTER!"
*kefka laugh with dancing mad bgm*
Edit: grammar error. Gotta get my Megamind quote right, after all lol
The difference is that Kefka is a classic "pure evil" villain who achieved his goals (pure evil is played out, but the successful villain not so much) AND he has a very cool theme song. Meanwhile Sephiroth looks like a over the top drag queen with snake eyes who suffers from space mommy issues, but of course, he has a super cool theme song, hence why we will always remember his cosmic shenanigans (hell, Uematsu carried this franchise on his back)
@@RRRRRRRRR33 Kefka works because the Joker works. It's not hard to copy-paste a villain with a story written over 5 generations.
@@groudonvert7286 The "pure evil" trope exists literally for thousands of years, what do you think the Devil is? Don't be gullible, to assume Joker is the "source" of this trope, lol
@@RRRRRRRRR33The Joker is the most well known villain when we talk about evil clown. Kefka is an evil clown.
@@groudonvert7286 Jester* and evil for the sake of evil is a trope since the Sumerian days
I mostly agree though, I would put Ultimecia way lower. You never really get to know her, she has no real personality and mostly replaces "C's" with "K's"? That's about it. Even Garland was more interesting to me.
I think she is actually pretty interesting. Aside from fan theories, a sorceress trying to avoid her own inevitable death by manipulating time is pretty cool. One has to wonder how she got into power, if she was always evil, why she is afraid of death, did she ever have a family, etc. I could even see a game or movie come out just to explain such an interesting concept, like Ultimecia being the main protagonist in her own story lol.
I think the only reason I even remotely like her is because "the extreme" slaps lol, besides having a good theme I didn't really like her. Didn't hate her didn't love her, she was just there
@@japan100100 Yes, the concept of a sorceress going that far to achieve her evil goes, manipulating time in a interesting way ("time compression" sounds goofy... and it is dumb, but it's "unique"), it's kinda neat. But as usual with FF8, the fanfic is actually better than the shitty original story, it would be way better if she actually "compressed" time (achieving her goals instead of being stopped at the last moment, similar to Kefka), then here it comes edgeboy and his circus of anime stereotypes saving reality
@@RRRRRRRRR33 Its a story, and so not everyone in a story gets a fully fleshed out backstory. I think of all the books and movies I have seen in my life, there are always characters that could've got more screentime and backstory. But the story has to focus on certain elements, otherwise everything gets bogged down by the details. Situations like this leave room for potential sequels, theories, or any other type of engagement from the community. Again, if I was in charge of Square Enix, I would definitely start cooking up a game based around an all-powerful sorceress that ends up culminating in her meeting her end via Squall and friends. That would be awesome, especially with today's visuals. Just breathtaking. I bet people would be crying over Ultimecia's death lol.
Also keep in mind the limitations of the time when ff8 came out. Nowadays, we could remake the game, have internal dialogue and facial expressions play out on screen a lot better than before. The possibilities with FF8 remain high.
@@linkshunter608 lol the only reason I don't completely dislike Sephiroth is because of One-Winged Angel xD
Kefka is just absolutely unhinged. and deserves the number 1 spot. I wish ff6 would get the remake treatment and have a huge fleshed out world. it would be so kool.
Emet-Selch and Elidibus are such good villains i have a hard time seeing them as antagonists. I hear a lot of good things from Lady Lilith from XI so i really need to get back to it.
I think its a fair list. Obviously everyone has there own opinions I never played 6 but heard its a great game, going have play it. Some the others I feel in the right or wrong place but a interesting vid, take a sub.
Highly recommend you give it a shot. Definitely a unique experience. Took me a bit to enjoy and truly appreciate the game but I really love it now. Thanks for the sub as well!
It's a bold move, to not put Sephi in the #1 spot. I *agree* with you, Kefka is the obvious choice to me and I knew it would come down to the two of them in the #1 and #2 spots, but still. Bold move. I guess the only thing I don't really know I agree on is Ultimecia; she just didn't impress me a whole lot.
Sephiroth/Jenova combo are so much better than Kefka. Kefka is just evil because he wants and doesn't have any story he just do stuff because he wants randomly. Everything in FF7 is soo much better written with backstory, twists and reasons behind.
He is not evil because he wants to, he's gone mad after all the amount of cruel experiments he was submitted to, he is the perfect example of a psychopath, a true villain. Sephiroth's reasons for turning into a villain are a little bit shallow for me, although I understand he was traumatized by learning his true origins.
And the only reason ff7 is better written is because the amount of games, movies and other media that explains the whole context and story. FF6 is a super nintendo game, and that's it...I'm pretty sure that if squarenix would ever make a remake for ff6 the story would be different.
My rankings:
1. Kefka
2. Sephiroth
3. Yevon/Seymour
4. Golbez
5. Emet Selch
6. Garland
7. Ardyn
8. Ultimecia
9. Ultima
10. Exdeath
11. Vayne
12. Cloud of Darkness
13. The Emperor
14. Barthandelus
Ah, your points were totally valid as far as the rankings go. I wish Ardyn was higher on the list because of how well written he is. A lot of villains are very stereotypical (wanting to rule the world, etc) but even though Ardyn was bent on revenge, it was just so messed up why he turned out that way. Anyway, great list!
Kefka is amazing, I think golbez should be a little higher though, but I’m biased towards 4 😊
I am definitely a Kefka fan. He is probably the main reason ff6 is my all-time favorite RPG!
So happy to see Kefka at #1. Hes the bad guy i grew up with, with FF6 being the first RPG i ever played. Loved that game.
THANK YOU! My heart forever belongs to FF6 and Kefka has no equal. ❤
Not to mention, Kefka is one of the few villains who actually succeeded in their goal
Garland is at the bottom of the list? Wtf?
Golbez isn’t even the final boss. It’s Zemus and all of Golbez’s actions were being done by Zemus through him
„Uhm, actually…“ 🤓☝️
You do realise this isn't a list ranking the final bosses? It's ranking each game's main antagonist.
neither is Kuja, but the ranking is villains not final bosses
Golbez RULZ
That’s all good and well but as Golbez was being mind controlled by Zemus you could argue it was all Zemus. All the things Golbez did wasn’t in full conscience but rather done by Zemus’s will
Great video! Emet-Selch is my #1, it's unfortunate it takes 150+ hours to experience that narrative, though. Minimum.
I actually forgot about Barthandulas from XIII because my mind tells me Caius is the final boss of all of XIII
I KNEW YOU WOULD COME AROUND! ALL HAIL KEFKA! Mhaha Whoop Whoop!
Honestly, solid list. Disagree with Golbez though. He is a constant thorn in Cecil's side or vice versa for that matter. They come to the point of hatred before the big twist. He's top five for me.
FF6 without Kefka : PEGI 7
FF6 with Kefka : PEGI 18
Kinda wish their Dissidia counterparts were considered in this. As well the version of garland from Strangers of paradise
No Caius!?
I’m glad you didn’t fall into the nostalgia of FF7. You could put a tier above Sephiroth and put Kefka above that. That’s how psycho he is.
Have to disagree on that #1 spot. There are people who have never played a RPG in their life who knows who Sephiroth is. He is just too iconic not to be #1. There is a reason why to this day people ask for more ff7 lore.
Yes Galenth Dysley is the main villain in FFXIII but I know it, you know it and everybody else knows it... Caius Ballad is the main antagonist of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy ahah. Xande is definitely the main antagonist of FFIII, cloud of darkness is just there in the end. It's like saying the main antagonist of FFIX is Necron lol 😂 I think Square Enix just wanted more female characters in Dissidia so they decided with Cloud of Darkness lol. Speaking of Dissidia, I'm still mad they never added Seymour on the roster 😒🥲
You nailed the top spot! if nothing else, he is the one villain who succeeded. (Although, one could argue Yu Yevon also succeeded but he isn't typically counted.) I truly wish FFVI would get a remake treatment like FFVII has. Breaking it out of SNES era graphics, adding some top notch voice acting, expanding on the plot and the characters... Squenix could get so much out of it.
Sephiroth would potentially rank as a Top 10 villain in ALL video games, not just the Final Fantasy series. For that reason I would have to put him in the 1 spot.
I feel putting Ardyn at 7 is just criminal. And it totally sucks that sucks that much of the more important moments of his backstory and crucial moments for not just his character but how he also pulls the strings in FF15, but its hard to ignore how tragic his backstory among the rest of the FF villains and how he is one of the strongest villains in the Franchise.
And I am curious about everyone's top 5 as well!
If I were to rank mine:
1. Ardyn
2. Sephiroth
3. Kuja
4. Kefka
5. Caius
This list is very spot on for the most part. I would switch Exdeath and Vayne around because Vayne at least has some intrigue going for him by the end of the game, and Cid is a much more compelling villain in that game by a long shot. But ay its ok. Overall you are in my eyes absolutely spot on.
Excluding the MMOs, Kefka and good old Seph are definitely the stand outs. Many others are good within their game, but that's kinda where they end. They just don't carry. Kefka and Seph though just have a presence to their character that lets them live on far beyond their games. Oddly though, you'd think I'd side with Seph for number 1 since he's had much more content on him out there, but I agree that Kefka is just that special that even without much supporting content he is still a huge presence.
Now if we add FF14 in there, I'd have to dethrone the two. Probably a good deal of recent-cy bias but Emet has just proven to be a huge character (there are others too but to be fair only one nominee and it has to be him). I've played 11 too and honestly, the villains there weren't that memorable. Even when I was playing I barely knew what was going on in the story. I'm not even sure who deserves consideration and I certainly wouldn't put them that high.
Kefka and Sephiroth are no doubt the toppest of tiers, but I wouldn't put Kuja and Ardyn that far below them. It's sad how the polarizing game of FF15 really made alot of people not care too much about him but anyone who played through it all or kept up with the lore can tell you he's an excellent villain.
Also it's interesting how my top four were at least, to some extent, successful in their plans.