Final Fantasy IV: The After Years: All Characters RANKED!

Though Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is a subpar game in terms of story and dungeons, there are very few Final Fantasy games that live up to the sheer amount of fun you can have with the customization and variety of this game's 22 playable characters! Most of these characters are very good to use, but since there are 22 of them, some of them really fall behind the others. This ranking will be based off of the PSP version, as well as the 3D version, as they are similar enough that it makes very little difference in terms of their rankings (except for one character... but I'll get to that). Anyway, without further ado, RPG Ranked presents Final Fantasy IV: The After Years: All Characters RANKED!

F Tier

22. Calca

Oh boy. Calca really sucks. As much as I love the idea of what Calca and Brina could be, Calca simply just sucks more than all the other characters in the game in almost every regard. The central idea of Calca and Brina is to get powerful Doll Clothes that allow them to customize their stats and make their stats much, much better... they essentially function as Onion Knights! However, unlike Onion Knights, they are garbage. Whereas Onion Knights have unmatchable stats and access to all equipment and all magic spells save summons, these dolls have terrible abilities, no stats, and no magic. Unlike Brina, however, who has some saving graces due to her very high speed stat and her slightly usable Dance ability, Calca does not have either of these. Her Jive ability casts random enemy magic, and against enemies in the final dungeon, I couldn't even hit for 2,000 damage with the BEST of the Jive outcomes! At Level 99. He couldn't even deal 2,000 damage. Why I would even waste time grinding Calca to Level 99 is beside the point, but even at max level, he sucks. The only way to make Calca on par with the other characters would be to equip him with a full set of Phase Armor... all of which are obtained via rare drops from enemies in the room directly before the final boss. Overall, even if you do equip Calca with a full set of Phase Armor, the fact that his stats and abilities aren't suited to do anything well cause him to be the worst character in the game in my eyes.

21. Cid Pollendina

Taking the second to last spot is Cid. Cid has worse stats and abilities than both Luca and Gekkou, who are canonically much less experienced fighters! Last character ranking where I ranked the characters from Final Fantasy IV (see here), I had to put Cid in second to last of all the permanently playable party members, and sadly, I had to put him in second to last place again. I love Cid as a character, but Square Enix sure loves to give him the short end of the stick in every game he is in! When comparing characters like Kain and Zengetsu, or Edge and Tsukinowa, you see a couple of redemptive qualities in the weaker of the two, but Cid doesn't even get the decency from the developers to have ANY redemptive qualities in comparison to Luca and Gekkou. Instead, he was give two arse abilities: Risk Strike and Analyze. Risk Strike is literally just a downgrade to Yang's Focus, as instead of doing double damage, it has a chance of doing double damage. Otherwise, it MISSES. Such a garbage ability! And all Analyze can do is cast Libra for free... but who in their right mind would put an F Tier sentient rubbish bin of a character in a party that doesn't have a White Mage who can cast Libra? When it comes to abilities, Luca's Big Throw ability is much better than Risk Strike, and she also has much better bands than Cid (like Makeshift Cannon, potentially the most powerful Band in the game!). Also, Gekkou has Shuriken, which is amazing (albeit expensive) and Ninjistu—even his Payback Wave is a much better source of damage than any of Cid's crap. Sure, Cid has high strength and stamina (he doesn't even get the grace of having the highest HP in this game this time around!) but his embarrisingly bad abilities, his terrible speed, and the fact taht Luca and Gekkou and literally every other physical attacker in the game have the potential do deal more damage than him, he doesn't even have enough going for him to make anything higher than the F Tier.

D Tier

20. Harley of Damcyan

Unlike Cid and Calca, I see a couple of very situational uses for Harley that save her from the fiery depths of the F Tier. Harley is very much an unfinished character: her stats would be perfect for a Blue Mage or a weaker Sage-type character like the Scholar in Final Fantasy III! Or even some sort of epic Mage/Samurai hybrid would be AWESOME. But alas, such a dream will never come true because Harley barely brings anything to the table for the party. The most useful thing she contributes to the party is her Economical Band.. which should promptly be removed and given to the legendary spoony bard, Edward. Her other abilities are Piercing Sight and Gil Toss. Piercing Sight gives the target a weakness and casts Dispel on them... which would be kind of cool IF 1) it showed you the weakness it added and/or 2) it worked on every boss and enemy in the game. However, as it stands, without Libra or Analyze and a team full of Black Mages, Piercing Sight is just a trashy ability. I'd say a party of Harley, Palom, Leonora, Golbez, and Ursula would be your best bet if you wanna make use of her character. With the nuking potential of the Black Mages and Leonora, the healing of Leonora, and Ursula's Tenketsu, this would make for a viable team to exploit these added weaknesses! However, I have left out one key detail: why exploit a weakness when Flare or Meteor can do the job better? Sure, using Piercing Sight and -aga spells could potentially save MP, but due to the obscene amount of Gil and save points present in the final dungeons of the game, MP is not even an issue worth discussing! Now let's move on to her other, even worse ability: Gil Toss. The damage of this ability scales with level... but at Level 99, I was still only doing 2,000 damage with this ability! Why couldn't this ability be as powerful as Zenigage in Final Fantasy V? If it were, Harley could be a top tier character! However, as it is, she is D Tier material. Besides... the freaking secretary of a principality should not be throwing Gil! She should use it for the bettering of her people! The pure irony of Harley's character is utterly laughable. Ugh, Harley just makes me sad. If she was a Blue Mage with a Piercing Sight that was upgraded in the ways aforementioned, and with a Gil Toss on par with Final Fantasy V's Zenigage, she would easily be an A or S tier character. A travesty she is in D Tier, that's for sure...

19. Brina

Just like Calca, she kind of sucks. However, due to her above-average speed stat and slightly usable Dance ability, she has some situational uses that per her above the useless Calca and goshdarn-awful Cid and Harley. In theory, if you were to equip Brina with the Final Outfit, the Assassin's Dagger, the Phase Knuckles, and the Cat-Ear Hood, she becomes the fastest character in the game—something Calca can mot definitely not do. Her Dance ability has the ability to cast Curaga, Haste, Protect, Shell, Blink, Raise or Curaja on the entire party. But when I say "has the ability," I mean that loosely, as here's only a 5% chance for any of the good spells to be casted—40% of the time you will just get the useless Cure Dance! Though her speed is really awesome, the amount of effort you have to put into making her worth it is too much. On top of that, her garbage physical stats and the very unreliable chance of getting something useful with her Dance ability puts her in D Tier. This is really sad to me... because if you could just pick your Dance, Brina would be a mainstay in my party. But sadly, this could not be further from the truth...

C Tier

18. Zangetsu of Thunder

Each of the Eblan Four has a similar character to compare it to, and in this case, Zangetsu is the "Kain" Ninja. Essentially, instead of an array of White Magic spells and Jump, Zangetsu has four Ninjutsu abilities and the Human Kite ability (which functions identically to Jump). His four Ninjutsu abilities are Shock, Shadow Bind, Flash, and Blitz. Shock deals very weak Lighting damage, and Flash blinds an enemy... these are both rather bad. Shadow Bind is alright, as it stops an enemy. However, the best of the bunch is Blitz, which actually deals a great amount of damage for its low MP cost of 20! Though Blitz is no Meteor, I was able to hit a whopping 6,000-7,000 damage with this ability! Zangetsu has the fourth best Intellect stat in the game, just behind Golbez, Rydia, and Palom! His attacks are also nothing to scoff at, with access to powerful weapons like the Holy Lance! Even though he has middle-of-the-road strength, he can still do a moderate amount of damage with Human Kite as well. however, characters like Golbez and Edge are much better attack-magic hybrids, and Kain can deal much more damage with Jump than Zangetsu can with Jump—all while having much better physical stats and equipment to boot! Sadly, Zangetsu also has no exclusive Ninjitsu unlike the other Eblan Four, making him inferior to the others. Overall, Zangetsu is leagues above the previously mentioned characters and ist still a very viable party member to use, but due to his subpar equipment, bands, and the fact that he is a two-trick pony, Zangetsu falls behind comparable characters such as Edge, Golbez, and Kain.

17. Tsukinowa of Wind

No character can compare to Tsukinowa in terms of speed! Okay, well Edge and Ursula come rather close, but I'll talk about them later. Tsukinowa is what I call the "Edge" ninja... as he is essentially just a much weaker version of Edge. However, he is still a decent character: here's why. Though he has defensive stats more akin to a mage, equipping nice weapons like the Rising Sun and strength-boosting equipment can make him a powerful, back-row speed demon! He also can duel-wield, which automatically makes him a much more physically adept character than Zangetsu! However, even though he beats Zangetsu in speed and physical damage, Tsukinowa's Ninjutsu are not even worth going into detail for due to being absolutely abysmal. See, Tsukinowa's Intellect is half that of Zangetsu's and Edge's... which means he only can deal half the damage. His Ninjutsu selection is the worst of the Eblan Four, for sure. Like the others of the Eblan Four, his Bands are pretty dang bad as well! So overall, even though he has mage-like physical stats, subpar abilities and bands, and terrible Ninjutsu, his unmatchable speed and dual-wielding capabilities still make him worthy of his placement in the C Tier.

16. Leonora of Troia

The novelty of being able to have a Sage as a permanent party member in this game is simply amazing! And Leonora is not too bad of a Sage... I mean, she is leagues ahead of Tellah and quite a bit better than Fusoya! However, she definitely has he flaws. First, let's start with Leonora's stats. Along with Calca and Brina, Leonora is one of three characters with less than 4,000 HP. Her MP, although years ahead of sages like Tellah and Fusoya, is still rather low for a mage! Her speed and stamina stats are some of the worst in the game... her speed is comparable to Cid's and her stamina is comparable to Brina. Her Intellect is also rather low for a Black Magic user, ranking below the obvious Golbez, Rydia, and Palom, but also surprisingly being beaten out by Edge, Zangetsu, and on par with... Harley? Imagine a world where Harley made an ounce of sense. Anyway. Her Intellect is much lower than it should be. Luckily, her Spirit is the third best in the game, only behind Rosa and Porom. That's more like it! Overall, when it comes to stats, they are lackluster, to say the least. Now, let's get into her spells. When I called Leonora a sage, I was inaccurately describing her... she is more like child Rydia, but flip-flopped. She has access to all of the White Magic, but misses out on a TON of Black Magic! Story-wise, ti makes a whole lot of sense. However, her Black Magic sit he most lackluster of any Black Magic user in the game by a sizable margin! On top of this, she learns the -aga spells and Flare AFTER all of her White Magic spells... at around level 80! That's really late! I'm a sucker for grinding, but even I find that excessive. She also doesn't learn Quake, Bio, Toad, pig, Warp, Break, Death, Tornado, or Meteor. So even though she is technically the most versatile option to give Dualcast to, it is still in better hands with Palom or Porom. If Leonora had a better Intellect stat and Meteor, I could totally ignore her excessive grindiness and poor defensive stats. However, this is not the case. Honestly, at this rate, I think I would rather just Dualcast Holy with Porom... that'd probably be better anyway. So overall, being a sage, Leonora could be one of the best characters in the game, but due to her very subpar Intellect stat, a very much incomplete Black Magic selection, weak Bands, and the worst survivability of any character in the game, Leonora is nothing more than a C Tier character.

15. Luca

Luca is not a bad character. She is part of the very powerful Makeshift Cannon team, even though I would consider her the weakest link of the bunch. She also has access to powerful weapons such as the Gigant Axe! And she can be useful from the back row using her Big Toss ability, which is rather nice. Big Toss allows her physical attacks to prevalent no matter the Moon Phase! She also has quite good stats, better than Cid for sure, and much better abilities and Bands then him. Luca doesn't have any glaring flaws, nor any fantastic reasons to use her over any of the other characters, so with solid stats, Bands, and abilities, Luca is just the definition of an average C Tier character.

B Tier

14. Gekkou of Fire

I think outside of Bands, Gekkou is just a direct upgrade over Luca! Of all the characters in the game, I feel Gekkou is the first or second most underrated character of them all. I dub him the "Cid" Ninja, however, unlike Tsukinowa and Zangetsu, he is a much better version of who he is an imitation of. Gekkou completely outshines Luca and Cid in stats, but also in abilities. His Shuriken ability allows him to do insane amounts of damage from the back row, and his Payback Wave Ninjutsu is definitely worth using! Payback Wave is essentially the Final Fantasy 4: The After Years version of ???? from Final Fantasy V or Final Fantasy VII, or Final Fantasy IX's Minus Strike: it deals damage in the difference between current and max HP. This actually has the potential to be incredibly powerful, as Gekkou boasts the second highest HP in the game, only being outclassed by Yang! Overall, with amazing strength, HP, stamina, and abilities, I wish Gekkou could rank even higher on this list. However, his low Speed, weak Bands, and simply the fact that people like Edge and Golbez still do what Gekkou does better, Gekkou lands at the fourteenth spot on my list.

13. Rosa Joanna Farrell

Oh, how the original Final Fantasy IV's MVP has fallen. Rosa was the party's quintessential healer in the original, and she was also a mean Archer. In this game, however, Porom outclasses Rosa in many areas. Rosa has lower spirit and MP than Porom, and unlike in the original where Rosa has much better strength, stamina, and HP stats, this time around, they are on par in these areas. However, even though Porom is better than Rosa due to her better stats and her Dualcast ability, there are two areas in which Rosa triumphs over Porom: Bands, and battles. Her Bands Final Fantasy and Holy Burst have an edge over Bands like Makeshift Cannon. Also, Rosa's Blessing is much more useful than Pray, making Rosa better than Porom in regular battles. Overall, Rosa is still a great choice due to her Blessing ability and her useful Bands, but since she cannot Dualcast, nor reach the statistical and damage-dealing highs that she can in the original Final Fantasy IV, Rosa is no better than B Tier.

12. Rydia of Mist

Rydia is essentially in the same boat as Rosa... Palom beats Rydia due to having better Intellect and MP, and because Palom can Dualcast. Just like Rosa, Rydia has the edge in terms of Bands, as well as also having access to Female-exclusive equipment that Palom can not equip. However, there is no Mist Ring this time around to make her an ultimate support character. Bahamut also pales in comparison to Dualcasting Meteors... heck, with a Limit Ring, two Meteors will do triple the damage of a Bahamut spell! So just like Rosa, Rydia is better in terms of some things, but worse as a whole. Overall, Rydia beats Palom in Bands and equipment and is still a very powerful character, but Palom just outclasses her in stats and overall damage potential.

A Tier

11. Yang Fang Leiden

Yang boasts the highest HP, strength, and stamina in the game! Sadly, he loses his Brace ability in this game, but in its place is Cover Counter, which is a fantastic ability if used correctly and allows him to tank with his high HP and stamina! Combine Cover Counter and Golbez's Taunt, and you got a pretty epic strategy! On top of Cover Counter, his Focus and Kick commands remain, however, and they are just as cracked as they have always been! Yang has a plethora of decent Band abilities, and he is also very much flexible when it comes to Moon Phases due to his Focus ability. Overall, there isn't all that much to say about Yang—he has some of the best stats and abilities in the game and has great bands and damage to boot. But, his damage is outclassed, and his tankiness is outclassed, so even his pure stats can't rank him in the S Tier. Besides... he isn't even my favorite Monk in the game...

10. Cecil Harvey

Cecil is outshined by so many characters in his own sequel... it is honestly really sad. His stats and equipment draw are only matched by Kain and Golbez... but his abilities are much worse, causing him to be inferior to the two of them. Cecil's White Magic is useful for nothing more than out-of-battle healing, and his Cover command is a joke compared to Cover Counter and Taunt. Cecil beats Kain and Golbez when it comes to bands, however. With the extremely overpowered Vibra Plus band, the combo of Cecil and Ceodore can take down everything within seconds. However, that's too broken for my taste, so I'm not going to include that in my ranking... sorry Vibra Plus fanboys. Overall, I love Cecil just as much as I do in the first game, but since Ceodore, Kain, and Golbez come and take Cecil's world by storm, I couldn't justify Cecil being ranked higher than tenth when he is virtually outclassed by some of the other options.

9. Porom of Mysidia

Porom is definitely the best White Mage in the game! With access to Dualcast, Rosa can't even compare! Porom also has better spirit and MP, so overall, Porom is an upgrade to Rosa in all the most important ways. There's not much else to say that I didn't already say in Rosa's section, so I think that is about it for Porom. However... I usually don't give Dualcast to Porom like most people do... as I find one other character to be better than Porom at healing. And because she isn't my favorite healer, she falls behind some other not as essential characters. Anyway, overall, Porom is an amazing character, but since she isn't my favorite she lands in ninth place. Okay, time for number eight... hold on to your butts for this one, because this is going to be a wild choice...

8. Izayoi of Water

And for the most baffling choice on this entire list, I have Izayoi at number eight. Sure, her Bands suck like the rest of the Eblan Four's do. But that's about her biggest flaw. Sure, her Illusions ability sucks and is completely ironic and out of character because she always says she is "a ninja before she is a woman." Anyway, Illusions functions as Porom's Cry from the first game, so it is a pretty bad ability. So with bad Bands and a bad special ability, why do I think Izayoi is good? Because Izayoi is simply one of the most versatile fighters in the game. She has very well-rounded stats across the board, with her speed only rivaled by Tsukinowa, Edge, and Ursula. Her Ninjustu is actually pretty great, as her Frost does decent damage to all enemies due to her pretty decent Intelligence, and her Heal Salve is the best single-target healing ability outside of Curaja! However, if it were just up to her good speed and Ninjustu, and her decent strength, HP, and intellect, she would be around B Tier, probably just below Gekkou. In fact, if I was only basing this list of the PSP version, she would be there. However, a change was made in the 3D remake that makes her the character with the highest Attack in the entire game! Essentially, they changed Izayoi's bow formula to count as dual-wielding... this sounds insignificant, but basically, this means her Attack power is DOUBLED. This means with a Perseus Bow and a Perseus Arrow, Izayoi is able to do just as much damage as the Ultima Weapon. Beef up her strength and speed stats with her equipment, and you have the most damaging physical attacker in the game! Overall, I find Izayoi to be a top tier character due to her versatility granted to her with her Ninjutsu, her extremely powerful long-range attacks, her insane speed, and her well-rounded stats as a whole. Sadly, she falls behind the next few characters due to her subpar equipment and Bands, however, I find Izaoyi to be at the top of the A tier... and nobody in this world is going to change my mind. Suck it Eblan Four haters, because Izaoyi just cracked my top eight!

7. Ursula of Fabul

I'd say Ursula and Izayoi are just about neck in neck. Izayoi has better healing, faster attacks, and better multi-target damage, but Ursula edges out due to her slightly better damage when using the powerful Tenketsu and her superior Bands. Kick is as good as ever, and Tenketsu is really powerful, especially since it is not affected by Moon Phases! Ursula is honestly my favorite attacker in this game. I know she isn't the best, but she is my favorite. Ursula was essentially in my party at all times save when I was grinding up my other characters. However, as much as I adore Ursula, and think she is one of the best characters in the game, she is just not quite deserving of S Tier like the rest of the characters on this list.

S Tier

6. Ceodore Harvey

Ceodore is the perfect balance between his mom and dad: he hits hard, and heals heaps of health. With great spells like Raise, Haste, Blink, Protect Shell, Esuna, and Curaga, Ceodore is almost as good a healer as any. Sure, he doesn't have Curaja or the high spirit of more dedicated White Mages, nor does he have the attacking abilities and strength of more dedicated fighters, but I find Ceodore to be the perfect mix of the two. He also has access to most of the best equipment in the game, which alone elevates him above many other, more powerful fighters. He also has the edge over all the other healers in terms of speed, making him a pretty dang useful healer, even if he doesn't have Curaja. His Awaken ability can also be very useful in boss fights, or if you are extremely low on health and need to end a battle quickly... the stat buffs it grants are astronomical! And Curaja or Arise can bring him back to full fighting position as soon as the abilitiy wears off! Though it is a bit unreliable, it is still a very powerful move! Overall, ceodore is an amazing Paladin-like character, and he strikes the perfect balance between healer and attacker, which no other character can do quite as well.

5. Edward Chris von Muir

You know how I said Porom was the best White Mage? Well, White Mage doesn't mean healer... Edward is the best healer! Sure, this one is entirely up to preference, but I have always loved Edward. In fact, just like in this article, I ranked Edward in fifth place on my Final Fantasy IV: All Characters RANKED! article as well! Though his damage isn't quite as broken with the Loki's Lute as it is in the last game, his attacks are still quite good! And his physical downgrade is worth it, because when it comes to supporting the team, Edward becomes much, much more useful in this game! Using Salve, Edward can heal the whole party more than Curaja by using X-Potions in tandem with the Economical Band! X-Potions are rather easy to acquire in the final dungeons due to the extreme amount of Gil you get, so this is hardly a big deal! He can also use Phoenix Downs, Remedies, and Ethers with Salve, allowing him to revive the whole party, cure them al of their status ailments, or restore their MP—something no White Mage could possibly ever do in this game! As usual, he can use Escape to hide from battle when the going gets rough, which is especially useful as a healer when you need to avoid an attack from a boss so you can survive and revive your whole party with Salve! Edward's Bardsong, though a bit random, is still very much controllable, as you select if you would like to target one ally or enemy, or all allies and enemies! Though Healing Harmony and Life's Anthem are incredibly underwhelming, Hastemarch and Guardian's Ballad are absolutely broken... and since there is a 20% chance for this two abilities to show up, I feel it is definitely worth the risk judging that they have the ability to cast Haste, Protect, and Shell on the entire party! Because of this, not only is Edward able to become a direct upgrade to the much inferior Brina, but in my opinion, he also outclasses Porom and Rosa in terms of healing. Overall, even though Edward still has just as bad of stats as he always has, his abilities are absolutely broken in this game and, to me, Edward reigns supreme as the best healer in the game.

4. Palom of Mist

When it comes to raw damage, you can't really get more broken than Dualcasting two Limit Broken Meteors! And yes... I do give Palom Dualcast, not Porom or Leonora. It is way more epic on Palom, and since prefer Edward over Porom anyway, why not give Palom Dualcast? I think Palom having the most damage potential of any character in the game is more than enough to justify him a spot in fourth place! Besides, he is also part of Makeshift Cannon, one of the best, if not the best Band in the game... so, overall, he just deals a heck of a lot of damage! The only issue is that his speed is Cid level bad. So overall, Palom is the best damage dealer in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, but he is too slow and physically weak to go higher than fourth.

3. Kain Highwind

Just like in my Final Fantasy IV: All Characters RANKED! article, Kain comes in third place yet again (I've been referencing that article a lot... haha)! Kain's speed, Jump, and better White Magic cause him to be better than Cecil, and his bigger equipment pool and overall stronger presence in a party cause him to be better than Ceodore. Kain can equip every single really good weapon, from the Ultima Weapon, to the Holy Lance, to the Gigant Axe, et cetera. He can also cast Haste and Blink, the two spells a character like Kain can benefit the most from. He also can Jump for enormous amounts of damage and avoid harm while doing so... and he goes quite a bit faster than Cecil and Ceodore in battle. I don't really know what else that I can say except that Kain is one of the best characters, and is honestly too good to be true in my opinion.

2. Edward "Edge" Geraldine

In the original Final Fantasy IV, I had Edge in eighth place out of the ten permanently playable characters. And now I have Edge in second place out of 22 characters! Oh, how the tables have turned! Seriously, I adore Edge in this game. His stats and equipment are much better than in the original, his Mug ability is permanent now and isn't delegated to having to equip Hanzo's Gloves, his Throw is very useful because getting Gil in this game is easier than ever, his speed is the second best in the game, and his Ninjutsu is actually really strong in taking out large groups of enemies! His physical damage is only matched by those wielding the Ultima Weapon, the monks, and Izayoi, but since his speed is so freaking high, he will end up dishing out the most physical damage of any character in the game! Not only does he have powerful Ninjutsu, but he also has great Bands with the original Final Fantasy IV team, as well as the Eblan Four! He also can heal a little bit with his Heal Pill, and using his strongest weapons, he can caste Haste and Blink on the party—geez, Edge is so versatile... he can even support his team! Last but not least, he also can attack from the back row with quite a few of his weapons, allowing him to stay out of harm's way! Overall, though not as tanky as Kain, Cecil, Ceodore, or Golbez, I still find Edge to be the second best character in the game due to his insane speed and extreme versatility that is unmatched by any other character.

S+ Tier

1. Theodor "Golbez" Harvey, The Man in Black

The man. The myth. The legend. The Man in Black himself, Golbez! I don't know how the developers thought this guy was balanced... but I'm definitely not complaining, because Golbez is one of the coolest and most OP characters in any Final Fantasy game. He has the thin best HP, the third best Intellect, the second best stamina, the fifth best MP, and the eighth best strength... and he still has above average Speed and Spirit stats! In fact, Golbez has the highest stat average of any character in the game! On top of this, Golbez has access to some of the best equipment in the game, and he can choose to be more magic-oriented or attack-oriented... but trust me, either way, Golbez will be overpowered. Not only does have some of the best equipment and stats in the game, but he also has some of the best abilities in the game. First is his OP Black Magic. He has almost all of the worthwhile Black Magic spells, as well as being sizably faster than any other Black Mage in the game! His Pressure ability stuns a target, making it rather bad and the worst ability in Golbez's skillset. And last but not least is his Taunt ability, which allows him to tank damage ON TOP of dealing tons of damage with both physical attacks and magical attacks! Overall, Goblez simply can do it all! With amazing physical and magical attacks, useful special abilities, the best stats of any character in the game, the best equipment of any character in the game, and essentially no downsides save his lack of Bands, Golbez is most definitely the best character in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. And you will NEVER be able to change my mind on that ;)

Here are some of my favorite parties in the game:

Ultimate Party: Golbez, Edge, Kain, Palom, Edward
Ultimate Magic: Leonora, Palom, Porom, Rydia, Rosa
Ultimate Fast Attackers: Edge, Ceodore, Kain, Izayoi, Ursula
Ultimate Tanks: Golbez, Ceodore, Cecil, Yang, Gekkou
Ultimate Challenge: Calca, Brina, Cid, Harley, Zangetsu
Ultimate Ninjustu: Edge, Izayoi, Gekkou, Tsukinowa, Zangetsu
Ultimate Nostalgia: Edge, Kain, Cecil, Rydia, Rosa
Ultimate Band: Palom, Ceodore, Ursula, Porom, Luca

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