Summary
MostFinal Fantasygames featurea diverse cast of party memberswho are a joy to control, letting players try various combinations to help combat feel fresh and invigorating to the very end. These characters fulfill many roles, ranging from a brute who unleashes a barrage of physical attacks to magic users who use elemental attacks or support the party regularly.
However, not all party members are useful in the eyes of players. Some characters aren’t all that effective in battle and require a lot of micromanagement to be useful in battle, most players would prefer to avoid such a painful course of action and resort to using party members who are less of a headache to control. This leads to a certain party member in mostFinal Fantasygames being relegated to the reserves indefinitely, which can be somewhat of a disappointment for players who want everyone in a party to pull their weight.
Blue Mages are tricky to use in theFinal Fantasyseries, but players can still get a ton of mileage out of these characters as long as they make it a point to learn as many enemy skills as possible. However, some Blue Mages end up being a pain to use because of how weak they are compared to the rest of the party, andKimahri is a great example of the same.
Despite seeming rather intimidating at first glance, it doesn’t take long for players to realize that Kimahri isn’t as amazing as he’s made out to be. He starts at an odd spot on the Sphere Grid where he lags behind everyone else in the party until players choose to remove a lock and set him on the same path as another party member, essentially making him a weaker party member compared to everyone else whom players will hate to use after a point unless they use special spheres to jump ahead and get powerful abilities.
There’s no denying that Umaro is one of the most powerful physical hitters in the entire game, being able to deal extremely high damage that can take out most high-level enemies. However, given his status as a berserker, mostFinal Fantasyveterans will be aware of one major drawback surrounding this party member that can make him a huge gamble to use in battle.
Umaro can’t be given any direct commands in battle, which can seriously mess up a party’s strategy if they need to be careful while dealing damage to a certain enemy. Counters and physical resistances can make him useless against certain enemies, and most players would prefer to avoid this headache altogether ina game with so many party membersthat they don’t need to handicap themselves with a wild card that can either end encounters in a flash or be completely toothless against certain enemies and bosses.
Final Fantasy 7is one of the greatest video games of all time, and it put JRPGs on the map for Western audiences. Almost every party member in this game is a blast to use, featuring impressive stats and Limit Breaks that can turn the tide of battle in a flash. However, there’s one companion that is universally hailed by most fans as one of the worst party members inFinal Fantasyhistory that players acquire when they enter the Gold Saucer.
Cait Sith is one of the most uninteresting characters in the game, withmost of the plot reveals surrounding this characterproving to be a complete nuisance. He was initially assigned to spy on the party before turning over to the good side and taking part in one of the most forgettable sacrifices in the entire series. To make things worse, his Limit Break, Slots, is so unreliable that players can unwittingly kill the party in a fight and set themselves back in one of the most frustrating gameplay moments inFinal Fantasy 7.
The character writing inFinal Fantasy 8may be all over the place, but most party members prove their worth in battle a hundred times over to make up for this. The ability to trigger Limit Breaks multiple times in one go is a useful way todecimate most enemies in the late game, and the broken Junction system can lead to the party being overpowered and capable of outpacing the difficulty curve, even with level scaling struggling to keep things interesting.
However, despite all these advantages for the player, Selphie never fails to irritate players for her lack of usefulness in battle. Despite the other party members boasting some amazing Limit Breaks, Sephie’s attacks are basic magic casts with a few special abilities interspersed in the mix. Spells like Full-cure, Wall, Rapture, and The End may be a blast to use, but pressing Do Over on her Slots over and over again can become so grating that players are better off relying on the abilities of other party members instead.
Quina is certainly one of the more interestingparty members inFinal Fantasy 9, with her being optional in the game’s early goings until a point where she permanently joins the heroes. However, there are some irritations surrounding her that make her more of a pain to use than it’s worth. For starters, Quina’s Frog Drop may have the potential to be one of the game’s best abilities but requires a ton of grinding where players must catch frogs over and over again at Qu’s Marshes to make this attack viable
Her melee attacks deal random damage, further adding to her unreliable nature in combat. While increasing her stock of Blue Magic is fun, players must Devour numerous enemies and hope that their HPs are low enough for this technique to succeed. A lot of work is required to make Quina viable in combat, and players may not find this effort worthwhile.
