Hi there and welcome back to my Top 50 Memorable Final Fantasy Bosses listing. Yesterday we covered from #50 to #41 so today we’ll countdown the next 10!Remember, this will list will talk about spoilers, so if you’re worried about that, then don’t take the chance! Anyway, enjoy!
#40 – Phantom Train
Game: Final Fantasy VI
Other names: GhostTrain, G.Train
When do you fight him: Around a third of the way through the game
Location: Phantom Train
HP: 1,900
Difficulty: 5
This boss wasn’t that difficult, but my word it was memorable! The whole Phantom Train part of the game is fucked up actually, very little of it makes sense until you get to the end of the journey. But what happens on the train and then when you go against the damn thing is just weird. I’d love to know how they’d do it if they remade the game! What makes this battle so memorable? Well not only do you go against a damn train, but, well, Sabin can suplex the damn thing! Give it a go if you’ve not done it before, it’s hilarious! How many games can you say that you battle a train? It’s just great, and definitely memorable!
#39 – Gizmaluke
Game: Final Fantasy IX
Other names: Master Gizmaluke
When do you fight him: Towards the end of Disc 1 (of 4)
Location: Gizmaluke’s Grotto
HP: 3,175
Difficulty: 8
Now this is a hard boss, definitely the hardest boss of Disc 1. He’s fast and hit hard, and it’s hard to attack him if you’re constantly healing! His main two attacks are either hitting you with his tail for around 200 HP, a lot at that point in the game, or using Water, which can hit all of you for moderate damage. If you use magic on him, he’ll counter with Silence, so that’s Vivi and Quina partly disabled at least temporarily. He’s just a bastard to deal with and can easy knock out your party if you dilly dally for too long. This is what makes him memorable, although he’s a monstrous entity as well to look at.
#38 – Atma Weapon
Game: Final Fantasy VI
Other names: Ultima Weapon, AtmaWeapon
When do you fight him: Penultimate boss on the World of Balance (so around half way or two thirds through the game)
Location: Floating Continent
HP: 24,000
Difficulty: 6
I didn’t know until I researched to do this listing but the boss on Kefka’s Tower at the end is actually an older, more ancient Atma/Ultima, so technically they’re not the same boss. Either way Atma was a badass looking monster. He is tough, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never had too much of a problem with him. He has a heck of a lot of HP though, for a boss at this point of the game. So while he’s not that difficult to beat, you still get a lot of satisfaction in defeating him, knowing he was at one point on of the most powerful creatures on the planet. There’s a reason why he’s considered to be the last boss on the World of Balance (he isn’t, Nelapa is, but everyone forgets about him), he’s very majestic and has that aura about him.
Other names: Godo Kisaragi
When do you fight him: Completely optional, only available towards the end of Disc 1 and through Disc 2 (of 3) if you recruit Yuffie and go to Wutai
Location: Wutai
When do you fight him: Completely optional, only available towards the end of Disc 1 and through Disc 2 (of 3) if you recruit Yuffie and go to Wutai
Location: Wutai
HP: 10,000
Difficulty: 7
Godo for me can be a heck of a challenge, and due to the fact that he has given me problems on occasion, combined with the fact that you can’t get Game Over in this battle makes it very memorable for me. Unlike most bosses, Godo can be taken down in many different ways because he’s actually not immune to that many status effects. You can use Poison on him, although I don’t often use that tactic. My preferred tactic is to use Magic Hammer on him, and take out all his HP. After that all he can do is use Beast Sword which wastes around 250HP, so is quite easily manageable. But he has lots of ways to hurt you with moves such as Trine and Mini, which can be troublesome, not to mention the fact that with Cure2 he can cure over 1000HP whenever he wants to which is a pain in the ass. It’s a tough slog either way, because it’s only Yuffie that can be used in this battle, and 10,000 HP is a lot to take down with only one person.
#36 – Calcabrina
Game: Final Fantasy IV
Other names: Calca and Brina, Calcobrena, Calbrina, Calbrena
When do you fight him: Around two thirds through the game
Location: Dwarven Castle
HP: 5,315
Difficulty: 6
Generally speaking Calcabrina isn’t too difficult. Basically you start the fight with a load of dolls called Calca and Brina, that have come to life in the Dwarven Castle. They belonged to the dwarven princess. Unless you’re able to defeat all the Calca and Brina dolls quickly enough, they’ll merge into one massive purple doll hell bent on destroying you. What makes this fight memorable isn’t really that it’s a hard boss to take down, but it’s just how creepy the whole thing is. I’m not really one to be scared of dolls, but they do creep me out. The music certainly doesn’t help, in fact a large reason why the battle is so memorable is because of that damn music. It’s all good though, because at least the battle shouldn’t give many people too much trouble.
#35 – Black Waltz 3
Game: Final Fantasy IX
Other names: None
When do you fight him: Two thirds through Disc 1, first boss of Disc 2 (of 4)
Other names: None
When do you fight him: Two thirds through Disc 1, first boss of Disc 2 (of 4)
Location: Cargo Ship, Train tracks en route to Treno
HP: 1,292
Difficulty: 6
Any boss that you go against more than once gives them half a chance to appear on this list. The three Black Waltzes are all memorable in different ways but the third one is the only one you go against more than once, on top of the fact that he has the most dialogue and is, well, the most volatile by far, makes him definitely at the forefront when it comes to who will be remembered most. It’s quite sad really, he’s just a puppet controlled by Zorn and Thorn to kill anyone that gets in his way from his objective of bringing Dagger back home. He’s not terribly difficult mind, in either battle, although he can cause problems if you let him. But generally speaking you should be fine in taking him down, but yes, he’s an extremely angry puppet that won’t leave you alone until you put him out of his misery.
#34 – Ba'Gamnan (with Gijuk, Bwagi, Rinok)
Game: Final Fantasy XII
Other names: None
When do you fight him: Quite early on in the game, as an optional battle towards the end of the game
Location: Lhusu Mines, Nam-Yensa Sandsea
HP: 3,983
Difficulty: 7
This entry specifically is for the fight in the Lhusu Mines. The optional battle afterwards isn’t that difficult.I’ve talked about Ba’Gamnan in my “Top 50 Favourite Final Fantasy Characters” listing where he was coincidentally placed at #34 again. He’s just a horrible horrible dude, a bully, and a vicious huntsman. What I didn’t know until now is that you can actually fight and defeat Ba’Gamnan in the Lhusu Mines but I never even took the chance when I played through the game. He’s just so intense, so vile that when it tells you to run I just RAN. It’s quite an intense run from him and his sibling henchmen, because they are quite strong and can really hurt you if you’re slow in running away from them. Ba’Gamnan is one scary dude!
#33 – Seymour Flux (and Mortiorchis)
Game: Final Fantasy X
Other names: None
When do you fight him: Around three quarters of the way through the game
Location: Mt Gagazet
When do you fight him: Around three quarters of the way through the game
Location: Mt Gagazet
HP: 70,000
Difficulty: 8
When it comes to the battles of FF10 that people talk about being the most difficult, Seymour Flux is definitely one of those boss fights people mention a lot. This guy is a bastard. It’s definitely the hardest Seymour battle, the third of four battles against him. It’s a true test of how high you’ve levelled up, Seymour Flux. You can wing it through FF10 with relative ease without grinding or getting stronger on the Sphere Grid but this guy is the true test of if you’ve levelled up properly or not. Total Annihilation and Cross Cleave are both so devastating, if you have low HP you simply just won’t survive it. Lance of Atrophy sets you as a Zombie and if you’re not careful Mortiorchis will come in with the next move almost instantaneously by casting Full Life on you, giving an instant kill move. You can barely use Aeons because, like in all Seymour battles, he banishes them after one move. The one reprieve is that he’s weak to Poison, but otherwise, Seymour #3 is a heck of a battle, one so many people stumble on because if you’ve not grinded your character stats up high enough, it becomes almost impossible to win.
#32 – Emerald Weapon
Other names: None
When do you fight him: Optional superboss available two thirds through Disc 2 and anytime on Disc 3 (of 3)
Location: In the sea in a variety of different locations, accessible via submarine
HP: 1,000,000
Difficulty: 9
I’d put a difficulty rating of 10 but in truth he’s actually stupidly easy with the right strategy. I’ve probably attempted Emerald Weapon a good half a dozen times with terribly strategies and he’s kicked my ass each time. But when I did beat him, I didn’t even get hit so it shows you how easy it can be if you get prepared as much as you can before taking him on.Aire Tam Storm is the killer move really, it usually wastes 9999 on all characters, or at least it did with me. I’ve only just found out why though – it wastes 1111 for every materia you have so obviously most people completely load their characters with material, which is why it pretty much instantly obliterates the party. Other than Aire Tam Storm, Emerald Beam can pack some damage, but to be honest, it’s the Aire Tam Storm that’s the lethal move.
But if you use Knights of the Round combied with W-Summon, and then get another character to use Mime, then you’re pretty much sorted in terms of being able to inflict the damage to take him down. Also having Phoenix and Final Attack combined saves your party if you do get taken down. That’s the method I used but there are quite a few different ways to take him down. Also getting the Underwater material is imperative, because taking him down in 20 minutes may be problematic for some people.
But there’s no disputing that Emerald Weapon is badass, and incredibly memorable, for many gamers like myself, he was the first superboss that people ever encounted.
#31 – Odin
Other names: None
When do you fight him: Quite early on, certainly in the first third of the game
Location: Vile Peaks
HP: Unknown
Difficulty: 8
Like all of FF13’s Eidolon battles, you don’t have to defeat Odin to win, you simply have to fill his Gestalt bar. This is WAY easier said than done however. And because Odin is the first time you do one of these type of battles, it’s terribly overwhelming for a lot of gamers. It doesn’t make it very clear really what fills Gestalt bar unless you use Libra on him. Smacking him with loads of attacks won’t fill it up very fast – what fills it up fast is getting Lightning to heal Hope and by specifically doing combo attacks to hit Odin. Doing both at the same time is quite difficult, not to mention Odin’s attacks are devastating, and a lot of them are aimed at Hope who has lower HP.I failed this battle many many times because just figuring out what to do was a task in itself, and then when you finally “get it”, it’s still a bastard. Odin has appeared in many Final Fantasy games and is usually badass, he’s certainly badass in FF13 but he’s so frustrating as a boss battle and that’s why for me this incarnation of him is the most memorable, certainly for boss fights anyway.
