Summary
- Playable villains add engaging twists to Final Fantasy games, offering unique perspectives and gameplay experiences.
- Iconic villains like Sephiroth and Seymour become playable, showcasing their powers and abilities in a new light.
- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy features a diverse roster of playable villains, providing a unique fighting game experience.
Final Fantasy has some of the best villains in RPGs. They can be memorable based on their power levels, design, quotes, and more. One of the more iconic series villains is Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, who may be the poster child for villains in the series.
Final Fantasy: 8 Strongest Characters Who Use Guns, Ranked
Who’s the quickest shot in the Final Fantasy Frontier? This breakdown of some of the most powerful gunslingers in the franchise will find out.
As cool as it is to fight against villains, it can be even more engaging when Final Fantasy games let players take control of villains for long or short stretches. There are many scenarios where this has happened, from spinoffs to mainline games.
There will be some Spoilers ahead, particularly for Final Fantasy 10 and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, because some of these instances are a bit obscure.
7 Final Fantasy 4: The After Years
The Forgotten Sequel
Final Fantasy 4: The After Years
- Released
- June 1, 2009
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Genre(s)
- JRPG
Final Fantasy 4: The After Years was originally released in Japan as a series of episodes on mobile devices, but then its big break came on the Wii via the digital store. It was a sequel to the original game, which reused the same 16-bit aesthetic, taking place years in the future with familiar characters like Cecil and Rosa having children.
The playable roster is huge, including Golbez, who was a major villain in the original game but has now changed his ways. He’s not just a temporary party member like he technically was in the first game, as Golbez is a major party member and one of the strongest in the game.
6 Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Behold The Masamune’s Might
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
- Released
- February 29, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Genre(s)
- RPG
The original Final Fantasy 7 gave fans a flashback with Cloud as a young, budding member of SOLDIER who Sephiroth assisted in a few fights. Sephiroth wasn’t fully playable, as his attacks were mostly automatic, but he was playable in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which remade this flashback sequence in greater detail.
Final Fantasy: 8 Strongest Characters Who Use Swords, Ranked
Raise your blades and guard yourselves! These Final Fantasy sword-wielders have all the skill and abilities to slice and dice through any warrior.
Not only is this flashback longer, but players can take direct control of Sephiroth for quite a while, and he is powerful. Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis is a mobile game retelling every game that takes place in the Final Fantasy 7 universe, and there are some more moments where Sephiroth is playable in those, too. However, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth feels like the top choice for playing as this storied villain.
5 Final Fantasy 10
A Summoner Goes Rogue
Final Fantasy 10
- Released
- December 17, 2001
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- JRPG
Final Fantasy 10’s main villain is a whale-like monster named Sin , who reappears to force Summoners to go on a pilgrimage to stop him every so often. However, there is another villain, Seymour, who hides in plain sight, and the people of Spira love him.
Seymour can even join the party for one boss fight, and his magic is some of the strongest in the game. His turn to villainy isn’t that unexpected, because he’s almost too beloved, but regardless, it was an interesting choice to add him to the game’s roster.
4 Final Fantasy 15
His Own DLC
Final Fantasy 15
- Released
- November 9, 2016
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Language, Mild Blood, Partial Nudity, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
The original release of Final Fantasy 15 does not feature any playable villains unless fans want to count Aranea, who did antagonize the party for a bit before joining them temporarily. The main villain of the game, though, is Ardyn, who eventually got his own prequel DLC called Episode Ardyn.
His turn in the main game is a bit odd, and his motives are puzzling, but his DLC does a decent job of giving fans some closure. His weapon and magic rival that of Noctis’, the main character of the game, but his time is short-lived, as the DLC is only about two hours long.
3 Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
The Ultimate Twist
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
- Released
- March 18, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin’s entire campaign revolves around playing as a big villain from the original Final Fantasy, Garland, although this is a twist. At the start, players are made to believe the game is a reimagining of the original game starring a new batch of Light Warriors, with Jack as the star.
By the end, it turns out the game was a prequel, and Jack becomes Garland to reset the time loop and wait for new Light Warriors to finally break the curse. It’s a decent surprise for the franchise, and the gameplay is a neat twist on the Soulslike genre.
2 Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
A Villain For Every Fan
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
- Released
- March 22, 2011
- ESRB
- t
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
The Dissidia franchise was built as a fighting game that pits the heroes from the mainline FF games against their villains. Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy is the second and best game in the series, offering players a huge playable roster and a story mode that gives both heroes and villains time to shine. Golbez and Sephiroth are playable, for starters, and instead of Seymour, Final Fantasy 10 is represented by Jecht.
6 Strongest Parties In Final Fantasy Games, Ranked
If the parties of every Final Fantasy game faced off, who would emerge the strongest? The jury is out, but these parties would certainly be in the mix
Then there is Garland from the first game, The Emperor from Final Fantasy 2, Cloud of Darkness from Final Fantasy 3, Exdeath from Final Fantasy 5, Kefka from Final Fantasy 6, Ultimecia from Final Fantasy 8, Kuja from Final Fantasy 9, and Gabranth from Final Fantasy 12. No one is there to represent Final Fantasy 11 on the villains roster, but a side villain from Final Fantasy 5, Gilgamesh, is a secret unlock, along with Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy’s original villain, Feral Chaos.
1 Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary
A Level Playing Field
- Developer: Square Enix
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Released: October 19, 2017 (Japan)
- Platforms: PS Vita, PS4
Last but not least, another crossover game, Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary, which is a more chill party game experience. It can best be described as Monopoly if it were an RPG, offering playable villains and heroes from the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy franchises.
Golbez, Gilgamesh, Kefka, and Sephiroth are all playable in the game, in their most adorable forms to date. Itadaki Street was only released in Japan, along with its two predecessors, on the PS2 and PSP, but it’s not that challenging to work out the text if players want to bring a copy out West.
8 Best Open-World Games For First-Person Combat, Ranked
Open-world game enthusiasts looking for satisfying first-person combat should look no further than the following games.