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Five Favorite Females of Final Fantasy (Who Aren’t Aerith or Yuna)

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Image by Flickr user Cesar Pics (CC)

When I first made up my list of favorite female video game characters, it was…long. Very, very long. After a number of cuts, I had a manageable list of a dozen people, and subsequently got to writing. When I was done, my magnum opus reached into the double digits of word processing pages. Fine for a term paper, not so great for a blog post. So I took another look at my list and realized that I had enough characters from the Final Fantasy series to make them their own post, which is what you see below. There are reasons this post didn’t appear directly after the first post, mainly due to my own lack of organization and general forgetfulness, but there’s no sense dwelling on the negative now. The fact of the matter is that the Final Fantasy series has some of the most memorable women in gaming. Any conversation about the games is simply not complete without mention of Aerith (Aeris) or Yuna, two characters who have risen to near-prophet status through player worship, which has been egged on through the pivotal roles they each played in their respective games. Brillaint though they are, there are plenty of other female characters to discuss, so let’s get on with five of my favorites (from FF games that I’ve played).

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 Refia (Final Fantasy III)

Image by Flickr user Christian Walters (CC)
Image by Flickr user Christian Walters (CC)

Being the sole voice of sanity among a bunch of knuckleheads is something that would drive anybody mad. However the stalwart and nurturing Refia from Final Fantasy III, handled her position among the trio of Luneth, Arc, and Ingus with aplomb and charm…and a few coarse words when necessary. In terms of gameplay, I liked Refia’s versatility. I often had her working as a mage, but occasionally switched things up by giver her a chance to be a monk, thief, or knight. Even though I did poorly in following Final Fantasy III’s story, I did enjoy any conversation involving Refia and her lovely quirkiness.

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Porom (Final Fantasy IV)

If you’ve played Final Fantasy IV, then the tragic (and in the end, happy) story of Porom, and her twin brother Palom, is no secret. (If not, then you should probably skip this paragraph.) Like many women in the FF series, Porom is strong, emotional, and cares deeply for those among her care. I simply adored spending time with Porom, all adorable in her orange-striped costume – and Palom. They were formidable magical allies, and they were about the cutest things whenever they “fought” amongst themselves. Losing them in an act of tremendous self-sacrifice was as amazing as it was heartwrenching.

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Rydia (Final Fantasy IV)

The summoner Rydia was my most favorite character in Final Fantasy IV. Her story wasn’t wrapped up in angst and annoyance as is often the case. She had a legitimate quarrel to take up with the main characters, Cecil and Kain, after they inadvertently killed he mother. She rages on them with the intent of never seeing them again. But time heals all wounds, and when Cecil later comes to Rydia’s aid, a friendship between the two slowly blossoms. I loved having Rydia as part of my team. Her magic skills always came in handy, and she was a necessary compliment to the game’s other female teammate, Rosa, who was sweet but a little lopsided in her constant support of Cecil.

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Yuffie (Final Fantasy VII)

Image by Flickr user Josh Miller (CC)
Image by Flickr user Josh Miller (CC)

FFVII is rife with wonderful women, but none stick out in my mind quite as much as Yuffie with her boastful personality and fanatical ninja skills. I know now that Yuffie was an optional character in the game, but I don’t recall having any problems making her part of the team when I first played it. (If I recall, you had a conversation with her and if you picked all the right choices, she’d become a teammate. If not, she ran away. I guess I got lucky!) And once she was one my team, Yuffie and I were constant companions. She was a cunning fighter with fantastic skills. Her knack for trash talking didn’t hurt either.

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 Lulu (Final Fantasy X)

Image by Flickr user Digital_Panther (CC)
Image by Flickr user Digital_Panther (CC)

Forgive the strange introduction, but the first time I saw Morrigan in Dragon Age: origins, I thought “Hey! It’s Lulu!” Okay, so the two have absolutely nothing in common aside from looks, but the fact that I remembered Lulu several years after playing Final Fantasy X rather than, say, Yuna or Rikku, has to say something. So why Lulu over other, more catchy FFX women? Because she was me…well, except for her doll collection, that is. As one of Yuna’s guardians, she was distant, aloof, and occasionally angry at her friends for being such dolts. But nothing would break the bonds she harbored between Wakka, Yuna, Tidus, and the rest of the team. Her mean mage skills were welcome in any battle and I loved taking part in her interactions as she tried her best to keep everyone in line.


So now it’s your turn! Who are your favorite women of Final Fantasy?

 

12 thoughts on “Five Favorite Females of Final Fantasy (Who Aren’t Aerith or Yuna)”

  1. Reblogged this on Recollections of Play and commented:

    Following up on my previous United We Game post about some of my favorite women characters in games generally, here’s the “secret” part two of that post focusing solely on women in the Final Fantasy series.

    1. I don’t know much about Lightning, but I’ve read a little about her. She sounds like an interesting FF character. I have FF XIII-2. Played through the prologue, and liked it and her well enough. But I haven’t gotten much further with the game.

    1. She’s the one with the fancy name in FFIX? I’m afraid that’s all I know about her. Unless I got that wrong. In which case I know even less.

  2. 100% agree with Lulu and Reifa! (haven’t properly played the others yet to comment on them). But yes, Lulu was always the rock of my line up in FFX – I don’t understand how anyone could just not use her!

    1. I was never without Lulu in my party as well. Her abilities always came in handy, plus she was just fun to play. I also like characters who love their friends but don’t go overboard with affection. Lulu fit that bill perfectly. :)

  3. What a fun post. I have Final Fantasy IV, but I have yet to play it. Now I really want to check it out. Well, one of my favorite ladies from Final Fantasy was Vanille from FFXIII. It wasn’t the greatest game, but I did love her character. She was just sweet and adorable. I also liked Eiko from FFIX, who was tiny, but feisty. Freya was pretty cool in that game, too. And I also liked Terra in FFVI. She was interesting because of her character development, the way she started out passive and grew stronger and more capable of doing what needed to be done. She wasn’t a typical protagonist, as they are too often cocky and confident, and she definitely wasn’t.

    1. Nice! Unfortunately, the only character that you mentioned with whom I’m familiar is Vanille, and that’s just from reading about her. Gosh, it looks like I have plenty of catching up to do with Final Fantasy games! Ah, someday…

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