Summary
If there’s one thing theFinal Fantasyseries has a lot of, it’s final bosses. While the series is famous for its breathtaking worlds and complex characters, it is equally famous for featuringsome of the most well-known final encountersin video games, and these battles can often be mammoth undertakings that push players to the limits in terms of party management and attack strategy.
But there are also times when the last foe to beat will present somewhat less of a challenge, and players may be surprised at how, following hour upon hour of grind and a narrative arc indicating a world-ending last battle, the whole thing is over relatively quickly.
It’s worth noting that, in this case, the definition of “easy” is comparative and dependent on player skill.
Zeromus is at the bottom of the list because he is, conversely, the most difficult to beat. But the amount of HP he has is reasonable, and with the right kind of party organization, besting him is a straightforward task. He appears inFinal Fantasy 4as the final incarnation of Zemus, the Lunarian with world-ending ambition, whose death in the game brings about his final form, one of pure hatred.
He has a range of powerful attacks but also has some major weak spots, and while he offers up a lot of resistance, he has a major weakness to Holy magic. Using this, while prioritizing offensive magic attacks, makes for a can’t-fail strategy and will allow players to dispatch him in less time than it takes to ride a chocobo.
The tyrannical leader of the Arcadian Empire, Vayne Solidor spends much ofFinal Fantasy 12being generally despicable andusing his political clout to dominate Ivalice. By the time he engages in the final battle with the party in his flying fortress, he is downed, only to gain access to manufactured nethicite that transforms him into The Undying, a super-powered menace.
He can be a headache, to be sure, but there are worse bosses inFinal Fantasy 12, and while he can resist various attacks, he still doesn’t have what it takes to resist a good summon. If the Gambit system is set up to heal frequently, party members can stay standing, and in the last moments of the battle, good use of quickening chains can dole out the damage that is heavy enough to finally kill him quickly.
The originalFinal Fantasy 7was aJRPG milestone for the PlayStation, and became many players' first taste of the legendary series. By the time they get to the epic three-part showdown with the floppy-haired villain, they could waste hours trying to defeat him if they were unfamiliar with the more intricate aspects of juggling materia with a good party strategy. Cue the sound of endless supernovas being unleashed as many PlayStation owners flung their controllers to the floor in disgust.
However, if the player has been thorough throughout the game, then the party will be comically overpowered, and their materia will be more than strong enough, and all that remains is to soak up his attacks while maintaining a good defense and, once the ironically-named Safer-Sephiroth rolls around, some max damage summons are all will be required. Pretty soon, he’ll be toast.
Garland was the primary antagonist of the very firstFinal Fantasyand, having made life difficult for the Warriors of Light, must eat humble pie when he is defeated by them in battle. Matters become more complicated when he is then sent back in time only to become Chaos, who traps the world in an endless death loop that only the heroes can break.
It’s dramatic stuff, but when it comes to the crunch, Chaos isn’t necessarily all that, despite his fearsome appearance. Non-elemental magic tears right through him, andif the Protect spell is in use, then the party is more than safe from whatever he has to dish out. The right mixture of tactics means that he can be sent packing in a tidy five minutes or so.
The floating city of Cocoon inFinal Fantasy 13faces catastrophe when the fal’Cie sends Orphan, the physical manifestation of its desire to end the world and summon the Maker, bringing about a final apocalypse. A spectral giant, Orphan has two difficult form phases and, at first, can seem like something of a bully due to its attacks.
But as is the case with so manyFinal Fantasygames, the key lies in making friends with its infrastructure.The Paradigm battle system, introduced at the very outset of the game, is the secret sauce in helping to ensure that Orphan can be defeated. Mastery of Paradigm means that the player can ease into a cosy one-two system of attacks and healing. Sticking to the rhythm will result in the battle ending sooner rather than later.
AFinal Fantasyvillain who is so fed up with the state of affairs that he’d much rather plunge the world into a state of non-existence, Exdeath is a warlord inFinal Fantasy 5. He seeks to plunge all living beings into The Void, where nothingness will consume everything. He is also quite a complex being, originally being a tree fused with evil souls.
His final form is the fearsome Neo Exdeath, but he joins otherFinal Fantasybosses who possess a fierce lookand then fail to provide an equally fierce challenge. The player should have a reasonable grasp of the job system and can use it to their advantage at this point in the game. He is also hopeless in the face of non-elemental magic.
Just when the party thinks it has won inFinal Fantasy 3by vanquishing Xande, who should appear to make matters worse but the diabolical representative of The Void, seeking to erase everything from existence. The Cloud of Darkness is a behemoth of cosmic doom and also happens to be resistant to elemental magic.
Non-elemental attacks, including Bahamut’s megaflare, will make a decent dent in her HP, and any character in the party with high-level melee attacks should be sent right to the front so they can mess her up properly. Even her dreaded particle beam is less scary once the Curaja healing spell is used to maximum effect.
Something of a control freak,Final Fantasy 8’s Ultimecia sought to reduce all time and space down to a single moment, gaining ultimate control over all existence in the process. Such a feat is impossible without immense power, and Ultimecia manipulates events across time to help merge past, present and future so she can achieve her ultimate aim of meta-cosmic eternal dominance.
But for a sorceress of terrifying ability, Ultimecia can’t handle magical or otherworldly powers used by the party, and being that magic is such a keystone of combat inFinal Fantasy, her uselessness in the face of it results in her becoming one of theweakest final bosses inFinal Fantasy. Aura magic used regularly will trigger limit breaks with ease, which in turn can be used to spam her into oblivion. She can’t interfere with healing spells either, and Guardian Forces are the finishing touch that will spell her doom.
Necron shows up shortly after the intrepid heroes inFinal Fantasy 9have dispatched Kuja, the primary antagonist of the game.Necron is the surprise final villainand carries a fearsome aura, as he is meant to be the living incarnation of nothingness and death itself. On top of that, this boss' goal is to return all life and existence to zero via cosmic annihilation.
But despite his lofty ambitions, Necron doesn’t have the power to back them up. This boss is a total pushover compared to Ozma, who appears earlier in the game and is widely considered to be one of the more frustrating enemies the party can face. As with Sephiroth, Necron shows up just as the party is at the height of its powers, so some well-placed attacks and healing should get the job done with ease.
