Final Fantasy II: All Characters RANKED!
Unlike the original Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II has some cool, though underdeveloped, playable characters. In theory, all of these characters can become equally as good due to how this game works, however, due to their starting stats, impact on the party, Ultimate Weapons, and overall time you can play as them, some characters are much better than others. Without further ado, RPG Ranked presents Final Fantasy II: All Characters RANKED!
10. Gordon
Gordon is one of my favorite characters in Final Fantasy II story-wise, going from a cowardly nobody to becoming a fearsome leader of the Fynn Army to essentially becoming the new King of Fynn. He joins the party with all-around balanced stats, but his low HP and MP make him essentially useless in the Kashuan Keep unless you leave the dungeon and grind him up to match your party's strength. However, there is not really a reason to grind Gordon up, as he is not present in the Soul of Rebirth portion of the game. He becomes an alright character in the Dreadnought and Coliseum dungeons, but nevertheless, Gordon does not offer enough to the party to be placed any higher than last place on this list.
9. Leila
Just passing Gordon on this list is Leila. Leila is a pirate, a soldier during the Liberation of Fynn and later the leader of the Fynn Army. In my opinion, she also has the most personality of any character in the game, making her one of my favorites to have in the team. Though she does not live up to characters like Gordon, Minwu, Hilda, Ricard, or Josef in terms of character development, she still is pretty awesome for an character conceived during the NES era. However, though she is one of my favorites character-wise, she is by far one of the worst to have as a party member. She joins the party with high agility and a nicely leveled Thunder spell, in addition to decent stats all around. However, like Gordon, she has a terrible Ultimate Weapon and is not playable during the Soul of Rebirth or in the endgame, therefore, she isn't anything but a bottom tier character. Overall, due to her superior Ultimate Weapon, her starting stats and spells, and a more extensive stay in the party, Leila ranks above Gordon, but falls far behind the other characters due to her not being important at all in the grand scheme of things.
8. Leon
Why am I ranking one of the four endgame characters near the bottom of the list? Because, simply put, he's an obsolete burden to your three person dream team. His health and MP are absolutely pitiful in comparison to your main party, and even though his stats and weapon levels are quite good, due to his lackluster HP, he'll die every few battles in the Jade Passage and Pandemonium. Literally the best thing you can do with Leon is use some tomes to cast Level 16 buffing spells on your actually useful party members. On top of all of his other rubbish, he also has the worst Ultimate Weapon of the four endgame characters. The only thing that Leon does better than the main three is that he is an actually cool character, unlike the other three main characters who have like one defining personality trait each. Overall, Leon has decent weapon levels and stats, but those don't make up for his abysmal HP and MP. Nevertheless, since he is an endgame character and he can become super useful if you grind with him for hours, I couldn't justify placing him below Leila or Gordon.
7. Scott
Even though he is only playable in the Soul of Rebirth dungeons, he brings more value to the party then the aforementioned characters ever bring. Due to his very, very solid starting stats, his high levels in swords & shields, as well as decent magic proficiency, Scott is best used like Firion: as a Red Mage. Slap the Flare spell, a good sword, and a good shield on Scott, and he will instantly become a force. His Ultimate Weapon, Wild Rose, is possibly the best weapon in the game, because not only does it grant very high strength and intelligence buffs that fit perfectly with the idea of Scott being a Red Mage, but it can also cast Berserk XVI, one of the best spells in the game. Overall, Scott is an amazing character and is the third best character in the endgame team against the Emperor of Light, but since he is only playable in Soul of Rebirth, he simply could not place higher on this list.
6. Josef
I think somebody must have delivered some onions to my house via Amazon Drone just as Josef got smashed by a boulder... oh, that was such a tear-jerker. But, I digress. Though he isn't in the party for long, his high strength and powerful fists make him much more useful in battle than Gordon and Leila ever could be. Along with Minwu, he is one of the two temporary characters who are able to outshine the main cast during their stay in the party! This old man carries the party through the Snow Cave, decimating all of the enemies in his path. During the Soul of Rebirth, he is still powerful, but is by far the worst of the four characters available. His Ultimate Weapon, Dragon Claws, is terrible, and since he is not in the party for long during the main game, he will likely be the weakest of the four statistically. Luckily, his Ultimate Armor piece found in the Unknown Palace is very powerful! But unluckily, it is still the worst of the ultimate equipment found there. Overall, Josef is an amazing character during his time in the main game, which causes him to edge his way over Scott, but he is the weakest of the four Soul of Rebirth characters.
5. Ricard Highwind
Ricard joins the party with decent proficiency in swords, spears, and shields, as well as amazing strength. Though his HP stat is low, due to his very extended stay in your party, he eventually becomes on par with your main three. I just wish he wasn't replaced for the dumpster-fire that is Leon right before the game ends... but I digress. His combo of the Abel's Lance and Wyvern Lance is easily the best combination of two weapons in the game, and he is easily the best or the second best Soul of Rebirth character because of this. Overall, due to being very powerful in both the main game and the Soul of Rebirth and boasting the best Ultimate Weapons in the game, Ricard ends up fifth on this list.
4. Minwu
I think everybody saw this coming... but Minwu is easily the best temporarily playable character in Final Fantasy II. He joins the party with a tremendous amount of high level spells, very good magic stats, and very high HP and MP. He is by far your best party member when you get him, and even in the Soul of Rebirth, Minwu is arguably the best character there as well. With two very powerful Ultimate Weapons (the Staff of Light and the Stardust Rod), Minwu can absolutely destroy any enemies in his path with magic. The Ultima spell he gets in the Soul of Rebirth is actually different from the original Ultima spell, as it only is dependent upon the spirit stat of Minwu, making it much easier to deal high amounts of damage with. Overall, Minwu is the best character in the game any time he is in your party because of his great stats, spells, and equipment, but of course, he can not beat the main party members of the game because that would make virtually no sense.
3. Guy
Most players of Final Fantasy II end up giving Guy axes and White Magic, which makes him the stereotype of a Knight character. He can destroy enemies with powerful attacks and support the team when necessary if he goes down this route, and during most of the game, this route fits perfectly with his character. Of course, Firion, Maria, and Guy are interchangeable due to having essentially the same stats, but since most people tend to stereotype these characters into a Knight, a Black Mage, and a Red Mage, I will be ranking these three based off of how they would fare if they were forced to be assigned these classes. Sticking to this approach, I have two reasons to place Guy in third place. One, during the mid-portion of the game where you have to travel to Deist and the Tropical Cave, you have powerful Wing Swords, Dark Bows, and Flame Bows, but nothing better than Mythril Axes for Guy. Unless you "cheat" and head to Mysidia first, Guy's physical attacks are nigh on useless during this portion of the game. The second reason I chose to place Guy in third is that I find his Ultimate Weapon to be the worst of the main three characters. His best weapon, the Gigantaxe, boosts strength and stamina, which are very easy stats to grind out compared to stats like agility and magic, which are boosted by Maria and Firion's Ultimate Weapons. Overall, the top three are essentially interchangeable and I am literally nitpicking the smallest things to come to this conclusion, but I find Guy to be the the weakest of the main three by the end of each of my playthroughs.
2. Maria
Maria is typically given bows and a plethora of Black Magic spells, which allows her to stay out of harm in the back row and spam powerful Black Magic spells to slay the enemy party. Now let's get into why I find Maria better than Guy. First off, I find Maria to have a more useful Ultimate Weapon than Guy. Even though her Artemis Bow is weaker than the Gigantaxe in raw attack power, the bonus stats it grants are significantly more useful. Bows are also the strongest weapon type to get early on in the game, as powerful Fire Bows can technically be obtained during the first visit to Fynn. I also find a Black Mage type character like Maria to be more useful than a heavy-hitter character like Guy, so with all of that said, I think that Maria has the advantage over Guy throughout Final Fantasy II. However, like I said, these last three are interchangeable, so take my placement of Maria over Guy with a grain of salt.
1. Firion
I personally find Firion to be the best character in Final Fantasy II. Firion is typically made into an agile, Red Mage-esque frontline fighter, which is essentially the best thing a character can be in this game. Swords are the best weapon class in the game, and since most people have Firion equip swords, this makes him the best fighter in the game. In particular, the Masamune, Excalibur, and Ragnarok elevate Firion to become the best character in the game due to their unmatched attack power. Overall, Firion is my favorite, but like I've repeated many times, Firion, Maria, and Guy could easily be swapped around on this list.
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