If you’ve kept up with the Koalition this week, you’ve probably noticed that we have a lot of articles about Final Fantasy. Yesterday, David and Tom posted their Top 6 Best Final Fantasy Heroes of All-Time, and they will be posting their top 6 villains later this week. Naturally, I began to think of my other favorite characters who never received as much time in the spotlight. In this article, I present my six favorite guest characters in Final Fantasy. These characters aren’t officially party members, and you cannot complete the game with them (outside of cheats); however, they are playable for a brief stint, and they all play an important role in their respective games.
6) Vossler (Final Fantasy XII)
Admittedly, Vossler doesn’t have any abilities that make him stand out from the rest of the cast. I’m strictly including him for narrative purposes. Vossler fights alongside Basch in the prologue, and he later joins the resistance. When Basch is framed, Vossler becomes suspicious of his comrade, but he nevertheless assists the party at the Tomb of Raithwall. In turn of events, Vossler sides with the Archadian empire and helps imprison your party aboard the airship Shiva. The patriotic guest character whom I had grown to trust was now my enemy, which made for a satisfying decisive battle.
5) The Moogles (Final Fantasy VI)
Granted, there is a moogle in Final Fantasy VI named Mog, and he eventually joins the party. In the beginning, however, players lead an entire tribe of moogles. In Final Fantasy VI, the empire is after Terra, and during her escape she falls and loses consciousness. Locke eventually locates her; however, he has to deal with an entire squad of soldiers. Fortunately, the moogles come to his aid, and, despite their adorable appearance, demonstrate their ferocious capabilities in battle. If it were possible, I would play all of Final Fantasy VI as a band of moogles.
4) Edea Kramer (Final Fantasy VIII)
When I first looked at the Final Fantasy VIII box art, I knew Sorceress Edea Kramer would be trouble. It turned out I was wrong to a certain extent. Yes, Sorceress Edea serves as the primary antagonist for about the first half of the game. In reality, Sorceress Edea was under control of the real mastermind, Ultimecia. Despite her intimidating appearance, Edea is altruistic, and she even adopted all of the main protagonists before they grew up. Despite her altruistic personality, she’s not about to let Ultimecia get away with controlling her, and she joins the party temporarily while Rinoa is possessed.
3) General Leo (Final Fantasy VI)
While the Gestahlian Empire in Final Fantasy 6 is undoubtedly evil, it has a few citizens and soldiers whose honor remains pure. General Leo is perhaps the empire’s most honorable soldier, until he realizes that the empire is evil. After all, he wasn’t the one who desired to poison the entire kingdom of Doma; nor was he the one who wished to reap the espers for the sake of power. Kefka is completely at fault, and Leo simply wanted to live an honorable life as a soldier. In addition, Leo is ferocious in battle, boasting abilities such as such as Shock. None of his abilities would help him during his fateful clash with Kefka, who kills him from the shadows. Even after his death, players continue to search for ways, through cheats or legitimate methods, to beat the game with General Leo in the party.
2) Beatrix (Final Fantasy IX)
Beatrix actually is similar to General Leo in terms of abilities and personality. She has an unyielding loyalty to Alexandria, and she dominates the battlefield with abilities similar to General Leo’s. She clearly demonstrates her battle prowess when she defeats Zidane and party multiple times. When the queen abuses her power, she determines she’s more loyal to the kingdom, and she later helps Zidane and his party. We eventually learn that Beatrix and Steiner have the hots for each other, and they would make even Solid Snake proud as they fight side by side in Alexandria, finding love on the battlefield.
1) Laguna (Final Fantasy VIII)
Even as a guest character, Laguna undeniably played a major part in Final Fantasy VIII’s story. We are first introduced to Laguna when Squall and his companions mysteriously pass out on a train to Timber. Immediately afterwards, we switch to Laguna’s perspective. At first, Laguna is a bumbling squad leader who just wants to make sure he, Kiros and Ward made it to the bar, so he could hit on the singer, Julia. Throughout Final Fantasy VIII, we see Laguna in other flashbacks as he continues with his life. He finds a family in the rural town of Winhill, leads the charge against Sorceress Adel, and becomes president of Esthar. Here he would help Squall and his party infiltrate Lunatic Pandora . Oh, and he wields a machine gun, which is a nice change of pace from the usual over-sized sword.
Who are Your Favorite Guest Characters?
When researching guest characters, I realized that guest characters aren’t a feature in every Final Fantasy. Some characters in Final Fantasy IV could technically count as guest characters; however, Square Enix later gave us the option to invite these characters to join the party permanently. Final Fantasy II had important guest characters who would later fight their own battles in the remakes. Otherwise, there are more than enough characters to fill everyone’s personal list, so feel free to share your list in the comments below!
