Summary
Had it not been forFinal Fantasy, JRPGs would be much less popular than they are today. Dragon Quest may be more consistent, and Pokemon is more popular, but the greatest JRPG series is Final Fantasy. It has areputation for experimentationthat few series of its stature would dare to do.
In both gameplay and story, Final Fantasy has always bet it all. Instead of divvying up the characters into black-and-white moral spheres, Final Fantasy often explores the grey area, lending its roster complexity and depth. This focus on character development has given rise to some great narrative rivalries throughout the series; here are the best.
Stranger of Paradise was subject to mockery from its first showing due to the protagonist’s single-minded focus. Jack seeks to destroy Chaos, the reason for darkness in the world. He refuses to believe that bad things can happen to good people for no reason.
Even the revelation that Chaos is a myth doesn’t stop Jack. He becomes Chaos manifest so that the Warriors of Light can destroy him. Stranger of Paradise isa much deeper gamethan the memes would have you believe: Jack was at war with himself for the good of the world.
The opening cutscene of Final Fantasy 8 promises one of the greatest video game rivalries in history. Squall and Seifer are presented as yin and yang: they have contrasting designs, matching scars and seem to really hate each other.
Turns out they were play-fighting, and their rivalry is greatly de-emphasized from then on. While Seifer’s envy towardsthe naturally gifted Squallis a factor in him becoming a secondary antagonist, nothing in Final Fantasy 8 approaches the contention promised in its first few minutes.
It remains a matter of debate who the main character of Final Fantasy 6 is. Kefka’s answer would definitely be Terra. If Kefka’s choice to place the slave crown on her head and make her commit an atrocity didn’t emphasize it enough, their rivalry in Dissidia Final Fantasy does.
Throughout the events of Dissidia, Kefka urges Terra to join him and use her Esper abilities for destruction. Kefka desires power, Terra has power, and her optimistic rejection in the face of his nihilism frustrates him to no end.
There’s no nice way to say it: Wakka is a racist. He is a devout follower of the Yevon religion, and harbors a dislike for the Al Bhed - an ethnicitystigmatized by Yevonfor their use of machina. Dogma aside, he blames them for his brother’s death.
When Rikku joins your party, Wakka doesn’t realize she is Al Bhed. Once he does, he proceeds to insult and belittle her. The way he begins sentences with ‘you Al Bhed’ and doesn’t see Rikku the person makes his narrow mindset clear. However, he gradually overcomes his racism and improves his relationship with her, making his character arc one of the best in FF10.
Even if two people are on the same side, they can butt heads. Lightning and Snow embody that clash: both are determined to save Serah, but their mentalities are vastly different. Lightning, as the big sister, is fiercely protective and rational. Snow, on the other hand,thinks with his heart more than his head.
Snow’s tendency to give in to emotion annoys Lightning; in no uncertain terms, she tells him he’s too immature for Serah. As time goes by, she sees his warm nature and accepts him as a brother-in-law. Unfortunately for Snow, the sequels relegate him to secondary status.
Kuja is an underappreciated Final Fantasy villain, because Sephiroth had already become the quintessential antagonist by then. The rivalry between Kuja and Zidane deserves a bigger spotlight, because the two are brothers: as close to brothers as soulless, manufactured beings can get, anyway.
The revelation that they are empty husks with limited lifespans drives Kuja to madness and Zidane to catatonia, though he recovers through the power of friendship. Sadly, for Kuja there is no redemption but defeat. After the battle, Zidane slips away to be with Kuja for his final breath.
FF4 is where the series really came into its own with character-driven storylines. The standout is Kain, a childhood companion to Cecil. Both of them fall in love with their mutual friend Rosa, but she chooses Cecil. The ensuing heartbreak makes Kain vulnerable to mind control by the villainous Golbez.
When Kain reappears as an enemy, his jealousy still shows: he demands Cecil’s cooperation in exchange for Rosa’s life. Once freed of his mental slavery, though, he helps the party. Cecil may be the hero, but Kain is a much more interesting character and gives the rivalry a personal element.
You can rag on Final Fantasy 12’s experimental gameplay all you want. You can even say Vaan isn’t a strong protagonist. But there’s no denying that the dynamic between Gabranth and Basch is one of the best in the series.
Gabranth is actually Noah, Captain Basch’s brother. When their nation is occupied by the Archadian Empire, Basch flees. Gabranth stays on, determined to serve his former homeland even if it’s now Imperial territory. His bitterness over being abandoned by his brother drives him to frame Basch as a kingslayer: they’re identical twins, so it’s easy. Despite all that, the two make their peace by the end.
This may well be the most tragic rivalry in Final Fantasy. Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth used to be best friends, enjoying their top-dog status in the SOLDIER unit. The strongest was Sephiroth, able to hold his own against Angeal and Genesis together.
During one of their sparring sessions, Genesis starts dueling Sephiroth a bit too seriously. Angeal tries to break it up, leading to Genesis getting injured. The injury never heals, spurring the trio to discover the Jenova Project while looking for a cure. If Genesis hadn’t been a sore loser, all the events in the Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 might never have happened.
Once the man who would be king, Ardyn was a healer who loved humanity so much he took their darkness upon himself. The gods deemed him unworthy of the throne for this, and let his brother rule instead. Cursed with immortality, Ardyn is doomed to wander the earth while his legacy is buried.
The brash young Noctis, last in line to the throne, is the focus of Ardyn’s grudge. Halfway through the game, Ardyn abandons his aloof, Kefka-esque persona and reveals the true depths of his hatred towards Noctis’s entire bloodline. Noctis, for his part, acknowledges that Ardyn was just as much a victim as he was a villain. The two meet in the afterlife, where Ardyn tips his hat to the last Lucian king.
