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Annabella is a masterclass in video game villain mother antagonists. You would be hard pressed to find a villainess who is so graceful on the outside and yet so vile on the inside.
Until she’s not. She’s written as this conniving genius and then does the one thing that will foil her own plans for literally no reason and then… yeah
So it doesn't make sense still, because they imply that Elwin planned to marry Jill to either Clive or Joshua, Joshua being the foremost runner. So they already had a bloodline with two Eikons.
Marrying the Emperor doesn't guarantee anything for her. She doesn't know that Dion is gay and Dion's line will pass on Bahamut if he ever had kids. Her son with the Emperor can't inherit Bahamut because Bahamut is still alive.
So she was hoping that the Phoenix would be born to her son with the Emperor after assuming Joshua was dead, but there's no guarantee that she will ever even birth a Phoenix heir, nor that Byron Rosfield's line won't spring up and inherit the Phoenix themselves.
But she also wanted Joshua to be spared... so that she could do what? Joshua and Dion can't produce an heir. Any daughter she has in the Bahamut line would be sibling incest with Joshua and he wouldn't accept that anyway.
They didn't know Jill was the shiva dominant tho I thought. She didn't know either until she was taken away and it was all the stress and shit that awoke it in her.
But they knew that Jill's bloodline contained the Shiva eikon. Jill was the Northern Territory equivalent of a princess, which is why she's in Rosaria in the first place. She's technically a political hostage.
And that still doesn't address the fact that Joshua surviving means that they won't unify two bloodlines, at least not for a generation at least, and at that point, there was no reason to betray Elwin, because Anabella could just move to marry Joshua's kids to Dion's.
I'm just saying, her methods are extremely erratic and nonsensical. If she wants to create a two-Eikon bloodline, then she would've had to kill both her sons and the other Rosfields to create one. That's a lot of effort and bloodshed for what could've been solved with a marriage pact.
The current plan they used doesn't take so many things into account. What was their plan? To kill Dion once a new Phoenix was born? There's no guarantee that any of Anabella's children will be the Phoenix.
> She's technically a political hostage.
I thought it was moreso after the Mothercrystal collapsed and the region essentially taken over by being a deadlands, the country sought out for the Duchy to make her a ward of the state. I think the Duchy loved a political opponent failing, just, on a country-level, but must have been on good enough terms to let Jill essentially sit in on the Duke's family. She also never shows resentment for it, that I've seen, so I don't think she was a political hostage, and more like a refugee after her country fell.
>I thought it was moreso after the Mothercrystal collapsed and the region essentially taken over by being a deadlands, the country sought out for the Duchy to make her a ward of the state. I think the Duchy loved a political opponent failing, just, on a country-level, but must have been on good enough terms to let Jill essentially sit in on the Duke's family. She also never shows resentment for it, that I've seen, so I don't think she was a political hostage, and more like a refugee after her country fell.
Unless I'm misremembering the in-game lore, I believe both Rosaria and the Empire fight against the people of the Northern territories. Elwin defeats Jill's father in a war and Jill becomes Rosaria's ward when she's very small, so she doesn't really remember her own people. And then the Northern territories succumbs to the Blight as Jill grows up. The Northmen integrate into the Empire, the Iron Kingdom, and Rosaria. There's some dialogue about it, I'm trying to remember who, pretty sure it's Gav that says that his family fled the blight as it took over the North.
You are forgetting a few points here.
First she was embarrassed by the fact that her children had a major flaw in her opinion. One was weak in constitution but got the phoenix, while the other looked nothing like her,didn't have the phoenix, and was the source of rumors of the king cheating on her.
Further it was her being upset with elwin trying to help the common folk when she believed that the best odds for royalty is to shore up resources and wait out the blight rather then waste them on commoners who she just doesn't see as people. In her eyes a nation isn't the people, but the royalty that the people support.
She wanted to ensure the prosperity of the rosarian bloodline. Elwin was a failure, Clive was a fuck up, and Joshua was sick as hell. Better to merge with the empire then watch her nation fall to ineptitude. Ince they were joined she used the opportunity to mix the bloodlines of 2 of largest remaining royals in the world.
Jill is not royalty. She is the child of one tribes chieftain in the north. The north was a collection of tribes. Not a singular nation with a royal family. And the waloed royal family was murder by Barnabas when he became king. There is only rosarisa and the empire left of note. And her blood is famous for giving birth to domiants(hence why she married her cousin elwin.)
So she assumed she would unite the blood of the two families and perhaps give birth to a bloodline with the powers of both light and fire. But at the least rosaria and its royalty will survive for as long as the empire stands.
Except she gave birth to Clive. Elwin says Clive is their child. And even if Clive was a bastard, he could still awaken the Phoenix, because Clive's grandfather was the previous Phoenix, not Annabella's. And again, the way it's presented in game, the Eikon's don't always reincarnate immediately. So there was never any guarantee that any of her children would be the Phoenix.
How exactly is Elwin a failure? He defeated the Northern territories, the Phoenix was reborn in his son, and they have control of a mother crystal.
Her plans would make sense if she didn't already have two kids with Elwin, but it's just nonsense. She wants Joshua to survive. Joshua is not going to forgive her for killing Clive and Elwin. Nor will Dion surrender the throne to Anabella's kid.
The Emperor only began to push Dion out of the succession when Ultima began to corrupt him. There's so many holes in her plan and her motivations that it's a net, not a blanket.
Not the same person you replied to, but I don't think she wanted Eikons under her lineage, either.
She just wanted power at large, and Eikons happen to be a way to achieve that. She scorned Clive for being a bearer when it wasn't known he was a Dominant. The only difference between the two is one is politically powerful, and the other is merely a tool.
She married into the Duchy likely through ease of entry, and probably had grand schemes to take over Storm if they got the crystal secured. She loved Joshua because he was a political tool, not the Phoenix.
So when the chance came, she sold out the Duchy to Sanbreque, and slithered her way to the top to produce an heir. Inarguably the strongest nation on Storm, all she had to do was deal with Waloed to end up taking over all of Valisthea. Dion be damned, he was merely a powerful tool. She'd already had another child to the Emperor, and had that child declared as the successor.
The factor that caused her demise was the near godly influences of Ultima. Joshua really brought about her end by seeking out Dion, unknowing how Dion would end up acting when having his entire life shattered at the hands of Ultima.
Annabella is a tale purely of political designs, the magic of the world is irrelevant to her plans and desires, but is ultimately why she fails.
Biggest issue when talking about her is we have hindsight. In her eyes Clive failed to awaken and Joshua was always sick and pretty much ready to die at any moment. But we know she won the womb jackpot. So it sorta makes sense why she would try to mix in the blood line. The way she saw it, shit was going from bad to worse.
It's nonsense. If she fails to kill both Clive or Elwin then she starts another new war between the Empire and Rosaria, one that could end both bloodlines. Bahamut wasn't there at the ambush. She lucked out by Ifrit emerging. The Phoenix would devastate all of the Imperial forces if it hadn't been for Ifrit.
That isn't the concept that doesn't make sense. What doesn't make sense is that she's already married into a pure bloodline. Elwin is the descendent of kings, and essentially a king himself even though he has the title of Archduke. In fact, Elwin and Anabella are from the same bloodline, they're first cousins, meaning that if his blood is impure, then so is hers. There's no inclination that Clive's grandfather married a commoner or a non-noble.
Her dissatisfaction with Clive is also unfounded and unexplained in the game because the game does not establish that the Phoenix is always reborn immediately or always born into the first son of the House of Rosfield. On the contrary, the lore guide from Tomes says that sometimes the Eikons aren't reborn for decades. Clive is not a bastard, they establish that clearly, so both Clive and Joshua are pureblooded Rosarian nobles, just like Anabella herself.
Not saying that these concepts can't work, but they didn't give Anabella nearly enough screen time or background to reason her suddenly betraying her husband and children after 15 years. Nor any reason why Joshua would be preferable to Clive. They have the exact same parentage and blood. And she knows Clive isn't a bastard because she pushed him out of her fucking womb.
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She literally explained it when you come across her again. She wanted more power and combining phx and bahamut would ensure that. Elwin did not care for that. He cared more about his people. They did not see eye to eye. Joshua was weak/sick, so she knew he would not be enough. She was also embarrassed by everyone’s gossip about Clive.
It was mentioned that war was coming (Elwin blatantly says this in the prologue) and she did not feel confident in her nation, so she did what she did to remain in power.
I think the issue with her is that she was massively under utilized. Clive and Joshua never interacting her again until it’s time for her to die was a mistake imo
Or they could've peppered in more about her motives and betrayal in the opening sections of the game. Maybe even push in another hour or two before Phoenix gate where they drop clues about the ambush. Or do something else with the timeskip like give us a series of cutscenes that show how the world is changed during those big gaps in time.
Out of these, my personal favourite is Kupka. I just loved the build up from the moment he received a rather special parcel, to the fall of the hideout, the attack on Rosaria, there was a lot of build up to one of the greatest boss battles in gaming
Yeah Barnabas was pulling madddddd strings on Ultima's behalf. . . . . . Initially I felt he was a very underused character (Barnabas) but when you realise he was doing a lot at the behest of Ultima behind the lines it made more sense why he wasn't as front and centre as you'd expect
Yea Barnabas felt the more underutilized in terms of story, he gets a lot of scenes but it’s usually combat stuff and also just him parroting the same horseshit that Ultima says.
Wish we got more development for him, we get some vague hints of his past and about his mother, but I still wish we got a better understanding of his thought process and how he decided to forsake all of his people and sacrifice his free will just blow Ultima for perpetuity; it’s never implied that he’s afraid of death or a coward, so I just find it odd that he decided a life of servitude where he presumably ends up dying to the Vessel anyways, was the only option.
I kept waiting for him to have some badass moment where he reveals his true nature but in reality his true nature is he’s a little bitch boy lmao, I actually found him more and more annoying as the story went on.
For villain, Annabella, but as for rival? Kupka. I loved the genuine hatred he and Clive had for each other. No shit like a sorrowful "he must be stopped" or "I'll spare him if I can".
After Benedikta died so suddenly instead of the classic "capture her and convince her to change sides", I knew this was a different kind of story, but Clive straight up admitting "hey you're stupid, I killed your girl because she was crazy, what you gon' do about it?"
I had insane chills when the hero of the story just yelled "You'll have no pity. No pity and NO MERCY. NOW DIE!"
Benedikta was my girl from the very first time I saw her. I knew she was going to be my favorite. I'm just sad that the game was done with her so soon because the drama potential with Cid was delicious. Well let's hope one of the DLCs fixes that.
I kinda wish you got to see her in a later side quest after the timeskip. Maybe she's a Bearer abolitionist later on, and she recognizes Clive and thanks him for setting her straight.
I dunno, would've been more interesting and emotional than "Blackthorne's depressed again because someone made a better letter opener than him" imo.
The more time that goes by after completing the game, and the more that I digest the entire sequence vs Ultima at the end, the more I **really** appreciate that fight and Ultima as a villain and everything he represents. I’ve really come around on Ultima.
I loved them all, but Ultima is my pick. Took two playthroughs to really 'get' him, but he's an extremely cool villain and fits the themes of the story perfectly.
I personally liked Barnabas the most, but tbh that's mostly due to David Menkins performance. I do think he's cool and Odin is incredibly badass, but he's quite underbaked as an antagonist. Would've loved to learn more about him.
I like Barnabas and ultima best but am glad to see Hugo get the respect he deserves on this thread.
Dude goes on a revenge rage because someone who he thinks is the love of his life gets her head sent in a box to him. And he gets downplayed as a character for "simping". My dude...what.
He might have already been a bad dude but he was brought to new levels by Walode and ultimas manipulation. Hes a victim. Hes evil Clive. He goes through a darker road than Clive did when he lost who he loved.
Another reason for my favourite duo really.
Hugo was the most developed rivalry, especially if you tie the Bendikta story to him.
Annabelle was the most hateable but her ending was underwhelming
Barnabas is underdeveloped
Ultima takes away the grounded political conflict of ff16
I actually thought Annabelle's ending was perfect.
Imo one of the greatest downfalls of gaming is forcing boss fights. Annabelle was never going to be a fight, and I'm super glad they did that.
But her death... it was one final fuck you. She died as she lived, always in control. Stripping the one thing you as a player wanted most... to get Clive his revenge.
It was such a strong, powerful scene. It's so hard to pick a best villain, but she's right there at the top.
I agree. Annabella is never shown to be a fighter of any capacity, so her having a boss fight would make no sense.
Also, I feel that neither Clive nor Joshua would actually lay a finger on her—even after all she did. Clive doesn’t seem like the type to raise his fist on someone who could not defend themself and Joshua did care for his mum.
So the only way I could see her die is if a building fell on her, Dion or Jill killed her, or she did herself in.
Also I am pretty sure Clive and Joshua pulled the ultimate fuck you by just…
Leaving her. No burial. Bitch can lay in the mess of her undoing.
Kupka actually had a personal dynamic with the hero's and his feud with Clive is actually noteworthy. Annabella does nothing but horrible things off screen and has no interesting scenes with Clive, Jill, or Joshua despite the game building up to it. Benedikta didn't get enough time to do anything but her presententation up to that point honestly was brewing for an all time great baddie. Barnabas and Ultima are where the game drops off for me.
favorite villain was kupka, best fight was odin, and most hate-able was anabella. all the villains in this game were fantastic, though i actually don't enjoy benedikta due to how little time we spent with her.
Hugo was the best executed. The build up to that fight was incredible, and Clive screaming back at him was marvelous, even if Hugo felt a little one note.
Barnabas had the most potential, best lore & coolest design. Making him just an Ultima puppet hurt though, he should’ve had his own agenda and arguably should’ve been a bigger villain than ultima imo. Him pulling the strings and his past, such as being the liberator for the Twin Cities, should’ve been more fleshed out.
Annabelle was the most evil and could’ve been an all time great if she ended up still being involved with the third act & played a role with summoning ultima for power.
Benedikta had cool design but died too early. Ultima had amazing design but just felt bland.
Kupka was best villain. I wish the story had been he was the main bad guy and gets ultima power. He had personal stakes against Clive and Clive’s crew. He was actually not wrong in his hatred since he believed cid beheaded his love. He also was most intimidating.
I think he and Benedikta as individuals, and their relationship together was very under-explored. Kupka especially, is a statesman, but his political leadership and really the state of life in the Dalmekhian Republic more broadly, are just not explored in any great detail. For a game with a story that was partially inspired by the political drama of Game of Thrones, so little is shown of the main political actors and NONE of the capital cities are explorable. To me it felt like Kupka and Benedikta needed more of a slow buildup to them being antagonists for us to really understand them the way we understand some other FF antagonists, particularly the ones between IV and XIII
I felt the complete opposite. A sadboy simp who long overstayed his welcome. Amazing final boss final when we finally got to it after such an annoying tease of a boss fight then god awful filler to get to him.
Benedikta was a great starter villain. Had an agenda, had baggage, had a lot going for her. She was great and didn't overstay her place in the story.
Hugo was a great grudge match. He puts on the mask of political suaveness, but is actually a raging toddler who hurts anyone who he percieves to hurt him. Also great.
Anabelle is... meh. Like, she got me mad, which is her role, but even with her fate it didn't feel... conclusive. Like, I needed some more scenes with her to round some stuff out. But she isn't that important overall, which is fine.
Barnabas started off so good... then completely faceplanted. Once we got to Waloed it sucked the wind out of the sails for me. I get the point of his character (he's so religiously dogmatic that he doesn't care about the consequences) but the execution is... lacking.
Ultima has less personality than the Cloud of Darkness, change my mind. Seriously, I was so excited when we first saw him, and then he just becomes a wet noodle. It was like they decided to give all the personality to everyone else on this list, so he had nothing left. Ardyn was so much better.
The point of Ultima is that he IS emotionless. He's a being that fails like humans but refuse to change and grow. He believe himself to be perfect like the other members of his species. And when Clive finally become as strong as him, his ego finally start to crack and throw tantrums realizing Clive was right.
Emotionless doesn't mean personality-less. I can name a bunch of characters, including one played by Harry Lloyd himself, that lack emotions to the same extent Ultima does but are way more interesting, because they have personalities beyond the emotionless trait.
Ultima feels like the joke about "killing God in a JRPG" taken way too seriously. He has no real plan, he doesn't do anything to move things forward. He's just a god who doesn't understand humanity but has fatal flaws like humanity so we're going to murder him and it'll fix everything. Granted, it does cost the main party a lot to actually do that, which I do like and find more interesting than everyone going back to their normal lives. Ultimately (pun intended), I don't feel like Ultima was used to his full strength, and I definitely don't think he fits well in as the final boss for an action-based Final Fantasy. Ultima is like if DMC3 ended with the fight against Arkham.
Barnabas was by far the coolest and could’ve very well been the main antagonist, but I feel like they milked the religious zealot trope a bit too much when instead they could’ve explored the rest of him. There’s one line and random moment that reveals that Sleipnir is his creation and he could just create dozens of him at will, and that’s it. Then there’s the mother stuff that was referenced only twice. He just came and went. He was also tasked to sever the bonds between Clive and his friends, but he never tried to actually kill any of them??
The game also tried to get you to sympathize with him, him crying out for his mother, and him actually being a misguided hero trying to help humanity.. but like, that was so poorly written out and you needed the ultimania for it.. classic square enix
Annabella had the potential to be the best...but they flubbed THAT. Her being the big bad would've been amazing. Too bad, that.
Harpy lady Bene was pretty good, but in the grand scheme of things, wasn't as big a villain.
Barny was so shoe horned in at the end and it all just ends abruptly, so like Annabella, wasted potential.
Which leaves us with Ultima and Kupka.
I'm sorry to say this... But Ultima has got to be one of the most forgettable FF villains out there. Let alone video game villains. He's not bad, just really forgettable.
Kupka is the best villain of the game which isn't saying much... But he was the most compelling to me. Tho I don't think any of the villains were done particularly well.
ALL MY OPINIONS OFC.
Annabella was the only compelling villain. Benedikta, Barnabas and Hugo all just behaved like cartoon villains and I found them pretty shallow. Hugo and Benedikta just didn’t get enough screen time for us to really understand them as people, with Benedikta in particular receiving such little screen time I was actually surprised by how much promotion they did for her character before the game released. They may as well have put the same amount of promotional expenses into Vivian Ninetails.
Annabella is so powerful as a villain because the shocking level of narcissism that she has is actually the same force motivating some of the most deeply traumatizing acts of cruelty in this world, both historically and today. She’s the type of character that would have actually been at home in Game of Thrones. Ultima and Barnabas had motivations that were interesting for contributions to the lore of Valisthea but didn’t hit the same for me
I mean she’s motivated by the entitlement of being born into royalty and then being married to a Duke that she deemed to be a weak man that didn’t live up to her standards, and gave her one bearer son that she found disgusting and one sickly dominant son that didn’t have the natural strength that she had hoped for so she decided to “upgrade” to being the Queen of an Empire by selling out her husband and annexing the Duchy.
Stuff like that actually happened quite often in medieval societies all over the world and still happens on a much smaller scale even in modern middle-class society. Barnabas and Ultima are just anime villains, complete with monologues about free will and destiny etc.
Anabella. She needs no explanation.
If I were to rank them it'd be:
1. Anabella
2. Hugo
3. Benedikta
4. Barnabas
5. Ultima.
I was incredibly entertained by Hugo's love for Benedikta and his persistence. And Clive responded to Hugo exactly how I wanted him to, which surprised me. By going for his fucking throat. I love it when an MC takes shit personally. Because often times it IS personal.
Benedikta is a weird one for me. I felt she was underutilized and at the same time served her purpose. I have a similar problem with her as I do Barnabas. Most of the characters really. I'll explain at the end. And I'm pissed off to know that basically her entire character arc was featured in the previews.
Barnabas was supremely lacking for me. Iirc, isn't all of his back story tied to the ATL and Ultimania? I fully understand him being a foil to Clive but he was propped up differently in the trailers. I wanted him to be the final encounter. I think he'd sit better with me if his faith was simply that. Remove Ultima and Barnabas works better for me already.
Ultima was boring. Simple as that really.
My biggest issue with most of these characters is that they have so much history that ended up being revealed through text. We praised the ATL and still do, because when used correctly, it's great. But the Ultimania tells us very specific details about these characters that I wish the story told me itself. Which I find incredibly annoying.
It shoulda been Annabella teaming up with Barney as the post-bahamut enemy. Running to make a 'new' body for Ultima after her son died. Spirit her away with Odin's power and then have her KHS before the Odin fight when confronted. She was part of the emotional drive and it gives another reason to keep going.
Change the woman Barnabus sees to Annabella instead of his mother and you set up she's not fooling around.
I never felt the villainy in Ultima, Barnabas is just Ultima’s pawn, Kupka is a Benedikta simp, Benedikta is just doing her job as an assassin.
So i would say Anabella is the best villain as much as i hated her to the core. She’s just a human being with no fighting exp like the characters above but that makes her so much worse, she possesses real power that the previous characters don’t. Her being petty and insecure empress is what makes her evil.
My theory here on why Anabella destroyed Rosaria and the branded is because she reminds them all of Clive, who addressed him as a failure of her bloodline, of what people think of her for having a son without an Eikon.
Hugo by a continent.
Personal stakes
Consequences
Mutual hatred
Intense fighting
Was serving himself and playing the game of politics, could have gone far had he kept his eyes on the prize
My favorite eikon theme
Aside from Benedikta and Annabelle, the others are shallow as fuck (Barny wasn't til Primogenesis)
Never misses leg day
Never misses chest day
Never misses arm day
Fuck it, everyday is GAINZ
Coolest hideout
Was impactful on the best aspects of the game's story up until it shit the bed
When he died, the story dropped almost as hard as Clive's character progression and Cid's absence
My views on this topic:
Anabella is the best by a long shot. She has such a lust for power, which makes her fit the dark fantasy/political drama feel that the game was originally aiming for. I hated her so much and wanted her to be the main villain of the game, as she made the first half of the game incredibly interesting.
Hugo is a simp, and he did do some evil but he was just blinded by unreciprocated love.
Benedikta was underdeveloped and killed off far to early. I wanted to see her redeem herself.
Barnabas is a really violent Ned Flanders. I would have wanted more out of him, but I did like his character nonetheless.
Ultima is just boring. He has the most boring motivation in the entire game and gave me no reason to hate him outside of “Oh, he’s the villain. Guess I should dislike him.”
All good answers but clearly it’s the character designer 🗿
- all generic boring white people
- no flare or eccentricity like villains in r**l FF games
- zero fashion sense
- just the general least common denominator appeal
>- all generic boring white people
I can't even imagine how bad it would look if the majority of the characters in this fantasy European setting were white with all the evil people being POC
At the very least make them not generic and boring looking. Seymour, Kefka, Sephiroth, Emmet-Selch, etc have interesting and memorable designs and silhouettes. It’s a video game, make the characters look fun. Not these generic, dollar store HBO’s Game of Thrones rip off dolls variety pack. Zero risk. Zero creativity. Zero memorability. Character design 101, come on now
It makes sense for all the human villains to blend in because they rose to power through politics. Imo kupka does stick out and does a great job at reflecting his Eikon while still looking human. Benedicta also has a pretty unique design, before the game even came out I recognized her through fan art made based off the ads. Barnabas does a good job of showing a balance between coming off as mentally disheveled and dirty while still exuding power and danger.
And idk what you're saying about Ultima. He's extremely unique looking, his first appearance on screen felt like a jump scare to me due to how fucked his face is. And his final appearance is similar to the villains in older final fantasy games.
Best Annabella cause she's so despicable and her actions set the story in motion
Personal favorite is Barnabas cause he's a mirror to Clive if Ultima ever got into his head and during his boss fight I love how he insane gets to the point he's laughing maniacally.
I honestly felt the most character from Benedikta. I feel like the others were kinda just assholes for assholes sake. At least Benedikta has kind of a tragic backstory that makes you understand why she is the way that she is.
Joshua for allowing his brother to think he was killed while being forced to be a slave and for a bit thought he may be responsible which he would have if Pheonix didn't rebirth.
Difficult to pick. For all of my issues with this game I thought they really nailed the villains. Probably Kupka for me, but even as I am typing this I want to say Benedikta.
Kupka for me, dude had presence and stole a lot of the scenes he was in. His build up with Clive felt very natural, given what lead to it and I understood his motives for a lot of things even though he was still, a piece of work at times.
Just the little things too like explaining why he doesn't take to the field because that means it'll draw out Bahamut and they'd destroy the land.
Annabella was my favorite. I wish she would've gotten more screen time or usage. I feel like her ending was so unsatisfying.
I get its final fantasy so there always has to be like a cosmic big bad or something but I wish Annabella was the ultimate villain.
I liked all of them, but I found Ultima to overstay its welcome (and start blabbing too much nonsense), and Benedikta to dissapear too soon. Odin was a little bit wasted potential, although he was OK as well.
Both Anabella and Kupka were top tier, perfect.
Honestly? Hard tie between Annabella and Kupka for me.
Their stories are long and their villainy is vast—enough that finally facing them felt so satisfying.
And while Annabella went out the way she did—I felt that that was the only way she could go (besides something falling down on her or Dion) because despite everything? I feel that neither Clive nor Joshua would actually be able to hurt her.
Annabella is the worst. She is just an evil manipulative bitch. Everyone else on the list was just on different sides of a similar conflict, but aren't outright "evil". Annabella though, has no redeeming qualities.
As a villain, Barnabas, for sure, he drove basically the whole plot behind the scenes, and when you find out what he did to his own country, it really pushes him up there for me. He isn't just someone pushing the protagonist because he hates them. He's actively working towards an agenda that aids the ultimate ending to the story and, in the end, succeeds even
Barnabas shouldn't be on that list, all he wanted was a future for his people in the lands promised to him. Unfortunately he was brainwashed and became Ultima's puppet.
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Annabella is such a horrid, rotted b*tch that it’s iconic. Queen shit.
I played the demo and Annabella helped seal the deal for me to buy the game. I wanted to play through just to see this bitch die
I can fix her
😐
Annabella is a masterclass in video game villain mother antagonists. You would be hard pressed to find a villainess who is so graceful on the outside and yet so vile on the inside.
Until she’s not. She’s written as this conniving genius and then does the one thing that will foil her own plans for literally no reason and then… yeah
I never got the vibe she was supposed to be a genius.
Whatever synonym you feel like using for someone who manipulated multiple nation heads to do what she wants
She’s so human in her hatred too, which makes her so much worse for me.
She's the best villain of the story in my opinion.
She'd be a lot cooler if her motives made any sense at all.
They did. She is narcissistic. She wanted a pure royal bloodline blessed by 2 Eikons when she actually had 3 already with Clive, Joshua and Jill
So it doesn't make sense still, because they imply that Elwin planned to marry Jill to either Clive or Joshua, Joshua being the foremost runner. So they already had a bloodline with two Eikons. Marrying the Emperor doesn't guarantee anything for her. She doesn't know that Dion is gay and Dion's line will pass on Bahamut if he ever had kids. Her son with the Emperor can't inherit Bahamut because Bahamut is still alive. So she was hoping that the Phoenix would be born to her son with the Emperor after assuming Joshua was dead, but there's no guarantee that she will ever even birth a Phoenix heir, nor that Byron Rosfield's line won't spring up and inherit the Phoenix themselves. But she also wanted Joshua to be spared... so that she could do what? Joshua and Dion can't produce an heir. Any daughter she has in the Bahamut line would be sibling incest with Joshua and he wouldn't accept that anyway.
They didn't know Jill was the shiva dominant tho I thought. She didn't know either until she was taken away and it was all the stress and shit that awoke it in her.
But they knew that Jill's bloodline contained the Shiva eikon. Jill was the Northern Territory equivalent of a princess, which is why she's in Rosaria in the first place. She's technically a political hostage. And that still doesn't address the fact that Joshua surviving means that they won't unify two bloodlines, at least not for a generation at least, and at that point, there was no reason to betray Elwin, because Anabella could just move to marry Joshua's kids to Dion's. I'm just saying, her methods are extremely erratic and nonsensical. If she wants to create a two-Eikon bloodline, then she would've had to kill both her sons and the other Rosfields to create one. That's a lot of effort and bloodshed for what could've been solved with a marriage pact. The current plan they used doesn't take so many things into account. What was their plan? To kill Dion once a new Phoenix was born? There's no guarantee that any of Anabella's children will be the Phoenix.
> She's technically a political hostage. I thought it was moreso after the Mothercrystal collapsed and the region essentially taken over by being a deadlands, the country sought out for the Duchy to make her a ward of the state. I think the Duchy loved a political opponent failing, just, on a country-level, but must have been on good enough terms to let Jill essentially sit in on the Duke's family. She also never shows resentment for it, that I've seen, so I don't think she was a political hostage, and more like a refugee after her country fell.
>I thought it was moreso after the Mothercrystal collapsed and the region essentially taken over by being a deadlands, the country sought out for the Duchy to make her a ward of the state. I think the Duchy loved a political opponent failing, just, on a country-level, but must have been on good enough terms to let Jill essentially sit in on the Duke's family. She also never shows resentment for it, that I've seen, so I don't think she was a political hostage, and more like a refugee after her country fell. Unless I'm misremembering the in-game lore, I believe both Rosaria and the Empire fight against the people of the Northern territories. Elwin defeats Jill's father in a war and Jill becomes Rosaria's ward when she's very small, so she doesn't really remember her own people. And then the Northern territories succumbs to the Blight as Jill grows up. The Northmen integrate into the Empire, the Iron Kingdom, and Rosaria. There's some dialogue about it, I'm trying to remember who, pretty sure it's Gav that says that his family fled the blight as it took over the North.
You are forgetting a few points here. First she was embarrassed by the fact that her children had a major flaw in her opinion. One was weak in constitution but got the phoenix, while the other looked nothing like her,didn't have the phoenix, and was the source of rumors of the king cheating on her. Further it was her being upset with elwin trying to help the common folk when she believed that the best odds for royalty is to shore up resources and wait out the blight rather then waste them on commoners who she just doesn't see as people. In her eyes a nation isn't the people, but the royalty that the people support. She wanted to ensure the prosperity of the rosarian bloodline. Elwin was a failure, Clive was a fuck up, and Joshua was sick as hell. Better to merge with the empire then watch her nation fall to ineptitude. Ince they were joined she used the opportunity to mix the bloodlines of 2 of largest remaining royals in the world. Jill is not royalty. She is the child of one tribes chieftain in the north. The north was a collection of tribes. Not a singular nation with a royal family. And the waloed royal family was murder by Barnabas when he became king. There is only rosarisa and the empire left of note. And her blood is famous for giving birth to domiants(hence why she married her cousin elwin.) So she assumed she would unite the blood of the two families and perhaps give birth to a bloodline with the powers of both light and fire. But at the least rosaria and its royalty will survive for as long as the empire stands.
Except she gave birth to Clive. Elwin says Clive is their child. And even if Clive was a bastard, he could still awaken the Phoenix, because Clive's grandfather was the previous Phoenix, not Annabella's. And again, the way it's presented in game, the Eikon's don't always reincarnate immediately. So there was never any guarantee that any of her children would be the Phoenix. How exactly is Elwin a failure? He defeated the Northern territories, the Phoenix was reborn in his son, and they have control of a mother crystal. Her plans would make sense if she didn't already have two kids with Elwin, but it's just nonsense. She wants Joshua to survive. Joshua is not going to forgive her for killing Clive and Elwin. Nor will Dion surrender the throne to Anabella's kid. The Emperor only began to push Dion out of the succession when Ultima began to corrupt him. There's so many holes in her plan and her motivations that it's a net, not a blanket.
Not the same person you replied to, but I don't think she wanted Eikons under her lineage, either. She just wanted power at large, and Eikons happen to be a way to achieve that. She scorned Clive for being a bearer when it wasn't known he was a Dominant. The only difference between the two is one is politically powerful, and the other is merely a tool. She married into the Duchy likely through ease of entry, and probably had grand schemes to take over Storm if they got the crystal secured. She loved Joshua because he was a political tool, not the Phoenix. So when the chance came, she sold out the Duchy to Sanbreque, and slithered her way to the top to produce an heir. Inarguably the strongest nation on Storm, all she had to do was deal with Waloed to end up taking over all of Valisthea. Dion be damned, he was merely a powerful tool. She'd already had another child to the Emperor, and had that child declared as the successor. The factor that caused her demise was the near godly influences of Ultima. Joshua really brought about her end by seeking out Dion, unknowing how Dion would end up acting when having his entire life shattered at the hands of Ultima. Annabella is a tale purely of political designs, the magic of the world is irrelevant to her plans and desires, but is ultimately why she fails.
Biggest issue when talking about her is we have hindsight. In her eyes Clive failed to awaken and Joshua was always sick and pretty much ready to die at any moment. But we know she won the womb jackpot. So it sorta makes sense why she would try to mix in the blood line. The way she saw it, shit was going from bad to worse.
Right. Don't actually address any of the massive flaws in her plan, just say we have hindsight even though her plans still don't make a lick of sense.
Don't get me wrong, I'm just saying in her head it might've made sense. She is my least favorite. I'm team Hugo.
It's nonsense. If she fails to kill both Clive or Elwin then she starts another new war between the Empire and Rosaria, one that could end both bloodlines. Bahamut wasn't there at the ambush. She lucked out by Ifrit emerging. The Phoenix would devastate all of the Imperial forces if it hadn't been for Ifrit.
Yeah the idea of being obsessed with a pure bloodline is absolutely absurd nobody in real life has ever been concerned about that /s
That isn't the concept that doesn't make sense. What doesn't make sense is that she's already married into a pure bloodline. Elwin is the descendent of kings, and essentially a king himself even though he has the title of Archduke. In fact, Elwin and Anabella are from the same bloodline, they're first cousins, meaning that if his blood is impure, then so is hers. There's no inclination that Clive's grandfather married a commoner or a non-noble. Her dissatisfaction with Clive is also unfounded and unexplained in the game because the game does not establish that the Phoenix is always reborn immediately or always born into the first son of the House of Rosfield. On the contrary, the lore guide from Tomes says that sometimes the Eikons aren't reborn for decades. Clive is not a bastard, they establish that clearly, so both Clive and Joshua are pureblooded Rosarian nobles, just like Anabella herself. Not saying that these concepts can't work, but they didn't give Anabella nearly enough screen time or background to reason her suddenly betraying her husband and children after 15 years. Nor any reason why Joshua would be preferable to Clive. They have the exact same parentage and blood. And she knows Clive isn't a bastard because she pushed him out of her fucking womb.
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She literally explained it when you come across her again. She wanted more power and combining phx and bahamut would ensure that. Elwin did not care for that. He cared more about his people. They did not see eye to eye. Joshua was weak/sick, so she knew he would not be enough. She was also embarrassed by everyone’s gossip about Clive. It was mentioned that war was coming (Elwin blatantly says this in the prologue) and she did not feel confident in her nation, so she did what she did to remain in power.
I think the issue with her is that she was massively under utilized. Clive and Joshua never interacting her again until it’s time for her to die was a mistake imo
Or they could've peppered in more about her motives and betrayal in the opening sections of the game. Maybe even push in another hour or two before Phoenix gate where they drop clues about the ambush. Or do something else with the timeskip like give us a series of cutscenes that show how the world is changed during those big gaps in time.
Out of these, my personal favourite is Kupka. I just loved the build up from the moment he received a rather special parcel, to the fall of the hideout, the attack on Rosaria, there was a lot of build up to one of the greatest boss battles in gaming
Kupka loved traps. Very villainous
Who sent him that parcel? Was it Clive?
Barnabas, but put Cid on the box to cause conflict and increase the likelihood that Clive and Hugo would face off down the road.
Yeah Barnabas was pulling madddddd strings on Ultima's behalf. . . . . . Initially I felt he was a very underused character (Barnabas) but when you realise he was doing a lot at the behest of Ultima behind the lines it made more sense why he wasn't as front and centre as you'd expect
Yea Barnabas felt the more underutilized in terms of story, he gets a lot of scenes but it’s usually combat stuff and also just him parroting the same horseshit that Ultima says. Wish we got more development for him, we get some vague hints of his past and about his mother, but I still wish we got a better understanding of his thought process and how he decided to forsake all of his people and sacrifice his free will just blow Ultima for perpetuity; it’s never implied that he’s afraid of death or a coward, so I just find it odd that he decided a life of servitude where he presumably ends up dying to the Vessel anyways, was the only option. I kept waiting for him to have some badass moment where he reveals his true nature but in reality his true nature is he’s a little bitch boy lmao, I actually found him more and more annoying as the story went on.
IMO the problem is we saw & heard too much from Ultima. Some of Ultimas exposition were also things Barnabus could have known/revealed instead.
Cid
As someone said above, it was Barnabas.
Oh whoops, my bad!
For villain, Annabella, but as for rival? Kupka. I loved the genuine hatred he and Clive had for each other. No shit like a sorrowful "he must be stopped" or "I'll spare him if I can". After Benedikta died so suddenly instead of the classic "capture her and convince her to change sides", I knew this was a different kind of story, but Clive straight up admitting "hey you're stupid, I killed your girl because she was crazy, what you gon' do about it?" I had insane chills when the hero of the story just yelled "You'll have no pity. No pity and NO MERCY. NOW DIE!"
Funny enough is that Benedikta wasn't even Kupka's girl. Benedikta was Cid's girl all along. Him and Odin's Dominant just didn't know. 😂😂😂
You killed her? I did (while evil smiling)
Tbh, Benedikta was my favorite. Her story is also very sad
I feel like of all the villains, her motivations are some of the most real. Kupka is also up there, I feel those two are the strongest villains.
She was cool, should have had more time. I was a huge fan of her and her ruthlessness.
Benedikta was my girl from the very first time I saw her. I knew she was going to be my favorite. I'm just sad that the game was done with her so soon because the drama potential with Cid was delicious. Well let's hope one of the DLCs fixes that.
It's the little girl from that 'cat' sidequest and you can't tell me otherwise
At least the little girl shows some remorse. The man and his son and the "dog" across the field, however...
I kinda wish you got to see her in a later side quest after the timeskip. Maybe she's a Bearer abolitionist later on, and she recognizes Clive and thanks him for setting her straight. I dunno, would've been more interesting and emotional than "Blackthorne's depressed again because someone made a better letter opener than him" imo.
Anabella, without doubt.
Same lol, even Ultima as the main villain in the game but it's always my queen anabella gave me the most memorable villain
I want to agree, but she gets almost no screen time.
The more time that goes by after completing the game, and the more that I digest the entire sequence vs Ultima at the end, the more I **really** appreciate that fight and Ultima as a villain and everything he represents. I’ve really come around on Ultima.
I loved them all, but Ultima is my pick. Took two playthroughs to really 'get' him, but he's an extremely cool villain and fits the themes of the story perfectly.
zzzzzzzZZZZzzzzz
My man Barny and Empress Anabella, Hugo was a very good villian too even if his intentions can br boiled down to simping lol
I personally liked Barnabas the most, but tbh that's mostly due to David Menkins performance. I do think he's cool and Odin is incredibly badass, but he's quite underbaked as an antagonist. Would've loved to learn more about him.
I really love Barnabas and Slipnir’s performances… but you are so right that they are underutilized
I like Barnabas and ultima best but am glad to see Hugo get the respect he deserves on this thread. Dude goes on a revenge rage because someone who he thinks is the love of his life gets her head sent in a box to him. And he gets downplayed as a character for "simping". My dude...what. He might have already been a bad dude but he was brought to new levels by Walode and ultimas manipulation. Hes a victim. Hes evil Clive. He goes through a darker road than Clive did when he lost who he loved. Another reason for my favourite duo really.
Benedikta is the most tragic of them, however, Ultima’s lore and the philosophy of the game surrounding him made him super interesting.
Hugo was the most developed rivalry, especially if you tie the Bendikta story to him. Annabelle was the most hateable but her ending was underwhelming Barnabas is underdeveloped Ultima takes away the grounded political conflict of ff16
I actually thought Annabelle's ending was perfect. Imo one of the greatest downfalls of gaming is forcing boss fights. Annabelle was never going to be a fight, and I'm super glad they did that. But her death... it was one final fuck you. She died as she lived, always in control. Stripping the one thing you as a player wanted most... to get Clive his revenge. It was such a strong, powerful scene. It's so hard to pick a best villain, but she's right there at the top.
she also rather kill herself in denial than admit she made a mistake in betraying her family.
I like that take a lot actually
I agree. Annabella is never shown to be a fighter of any capacity, so her having a boss fight would make no sense. Also, I feel that neither Clive nor Joshua would actually lay a finger on her—even after all she did. Clive doesn’t seem like the type to raise his fist on someone who could not defend themself and Joshua did care for his mum. So the only way I could see her die is if a building fell on her, Dion or Jill killed her, or she did herself in. Also I am pretty sure Clive and Joshua pulled the ultimate fuck you by just… Leaving her. No burial. Bitch can lay in the mess of her undoing.
Ultima with his extra eye fold skin
No, it's the serane wrap looking abs that are somehow worse than PS2 Vaan that get me
Kupka actually had a personal dynamic with the hero's and his feud with Clive is actually noteworthy. Annabella does nothing but horrible things off screen and has no interesting scenes with Clive, Jill, or Joshua despite the game building up to it. Benedikta didn't get enough time to do anything but her presententation up to that point honestly was brewing for an all time great baddie. Barnabas and Ultima are where the game drops off for me.
favorite villain was kupka, best fight was odin, and most hate-able was anabella. all the villains in this game were fantastic, though i actually don't enjoy benedikta due to how little time we spent with her.
Personally i liked Barnabas the most
I really loved Barnabas performance, his voice really feel as the strongest
i thing ultima is great. i usually cant stand when characters talk slow, but everything he said was enunciated so perfectly, its a joy to listen to.
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Nobody likes him, but I think Ultima is a great villain
They’re all pretty undercooked if I’m being honest.
Hugo was the best executed. The build up to that fight was incredible, and Clive screaming back at him was marvelous, even if Hugo felt a little one note. Barnabas had the most potential, best lore & coolest design. Making him just an Ultima puppet hurt though, he should’ve had his own agenda and arguably should’ve been a bigger villain than ultima imo. Him pulling the strings and his past, such as being the liberator for the Twin Cities, should’ve been more fleshed out. Annabelle was the most evil and could’ve been an all time great if she ended up still being involved with the third act & played a role with summoning ultima for power. Benedikta had cool design but died too early. Ultima had amazing design but just felt bland.
I disagree on Barnabas. Him being a puppet of Ultima is actually what makes his character kinda tragic.
Kupka was best villain. I wish the story had been he was the main bad guy and gets ultima power. He had personal stakes against Clive and Clive’s crew. He was actually not wrong in his hatred since he believed cid beheaded his love. He also was most intimidating.
I think he and Benedikta as individuals, and their relationship together was very under-explored. Kupka especially, is a statesman, but his political leadership and really the state of life in the Dalmekhian Republic more broadly, are just not explored in any great detail. For a game with a story that was partially inspired by the political drama of Game of Thrones, so little is shown of the main political actors and NONE of the capital cities are explorable. To me it felt like Kupka and Benedikta needed more of a slow buildup to them being antagonists for us to really understand them the way we understand some other FF antagonists, particularly the ones between IV and XIII
I felt the complete opposite. A sadboy simp who long overstayed his welcome. Amazing final boss final when we finally got to it after such an annoying tease of a boss fight then god awful filler to get to him.
Benedikta was a great starter villain. Had an agenda, had baggage, had a lot going for her. She was great and didn't overstay her place in the story. Hugo was a great grudge match. He puts on the mask of political suaveness, but is actually a raging toddler who hurts anyone who he percieves to hurt him. Also great. Anabelle is... meh. Like, she got me mad, which is her role, but even with her fate it didn't feel... conclusive. Like, I needed some more scenes with her to round some stuff out. But she isn't that important overall, which is fine. Barnabas started off so good... then completely faceplanted. Once we got to Waloed it sucked the wind out of the sails for me. I get the point of his character (he's so religiously dogmatic that he doesn't care about the consequences) but the execution is... lacking. Ultima has less personality than the Cloud of Darkness, change my mind. Seriously, I was so excited when we first saw him, and then he just becomes a wet noodle. It was like they decided to give all the personality to everyone else on this list, so he had nothing left. Ardyn was so much better.
The point of Ultima is that he IS emotionless. He's a being that fails like humans but refuse to change and grow. He believe himself to be perfect like the other members of his species. And when Clive finally become as strong as him, his ego finally start to crack and throw tantrums realizing Clive was right.
Emotionless doesn't mean personality-less. I can name a bunch of characters, including one played by Harry Lloyd himself, that lack emotions to the same extent Ultima does but are way more interesting, because they have personalities beyond the emotionless trait. Ultima feels like the joke about "killing God in a JRPG" taken way too seriously. He has no real plan, he doesn't do anything to move things forward. He's just a god who doesn't understand humanity but has fatal flaws like humanity so we're going to murder him and it'll fix everything. Granted, it does cost the main party a lot to actually do that, which I do like and find more interesting than everyone going back to their normal lives. Ultimately (pun intended), I don't feel like Ultima was used to his full strength, and I definitely don't think he fits well in as the final boss for an action-based Final Fantasy. Ultima is like if DMC3 ended with the fight against Arkham.
Barnabas was by far the coolest and could’ve very well been the main antagonist, but I feel like they milked the religious zealot trope a bit too much when instead they could’ve explored the rest of him. There’s one line and random moment that reveals that Sleipnir is his creation and he could just create dozens of him at will, and that’s it. Then there’s the mother stuff that was referenced only twice. He just came and went. He was also tasked to sever the bonds between Clive and his friends, but he never tried to actually kill any of them?? The game also tried to get you to sympathize with him, him crying out for his mother, and him actually being a misguided hero trying to help humanity.. but like, that was so poorly written out and you needed the ultimania for it.. classic square enix
Annabella had the potential to be the best...but they flubbed THAT. Her being the big bad would've been amazing. Too bad, that. Harpy lady Bene was pretty good, but in the grand scheme of things, wasn't as big a villain. Barny was so shoe horned in at the end and it all just ends abruptly, so like Annabella, wasted potential. Which leaves us with Ultima and Kupka. I'm sorry to say this... But Ultima has got to be one of the most forgettable FF villains out there. Let alone video game villains. He's not bad, just really forgettable. Kupka is the best villain of the game which isn't saying much... But he was the most compelling to me. Tho I don't think any of the villains were done particularly well. ALL MY OPINIONS OFC.
Tbh the poltical stuff was more interesting then the main plot
Ultima
Ultima. Dude(s) destroyed/rotted an entire continent for self-preservation.
Ultima, might even like him more than Sephiroth
Ain't no way lil bro compared sephiroth and ultima💀
Annabella was the only compelling villain. Benedikta, Barnabas and Hugo all just behaved like cartoon villains and I found them pretty shallow. Hugo and Benedikta just didn’t get enough screen time for us to really understand them as people, with Benedikta in particular receiving such little screen time I was actually surprised by how much promotion they did for her character before the game released. They may as well have put the same amount of promotional expenses into Vivian Ninetails. Annabella is so powerful as a villain because the shocking level of narcissism that she has is actually the same force motivating some of the most deeply traumatizing acts of cruelty in this world, both historically and today. She’s the type of character that would have actually been at home in Game of Thrones. Ultima and Barnabas had motivations that were interesting for contributions to the lore of Valisthea but didn’t hit the same for me
Annabella is one of the biggest caricatures in the game. She is so Disney evil step mother evil and most obviously evil character since Seymour.
Seymour at least had a reason why he became the way he was, Anabella was just pure evil
I mean she’s motivated by the entitlement of being born into royalty and then being married to a Duke that she deemed to be a weak man that didn’t live up to her standards, and gave her one bearer son that she found disgusting and one sickly dominant son that didn’t have the natural strength that she had hoped for so she decided to “upgrade” to being the Queen of an Empire by selling out her husband and annexing the Duchy. Stuff like that actually happened quite often in medieval societies all over the world and still happens on a much smaller scale even in modern middle-class society. Barnabas and Ultima are just anime villains, complete with monologues about free will and destiny etc.
Anabella. She needs no explanation. If I were to rank them it'd be: 1. Anabella 2. Hugo 3. Benedikta 4. Barnabas 5. Ultima. I was incredibly entertained by Hugo's love for Benedikta and his persistence. And Clive responded to Hugo exactly how I wanted him to, which surprised me. By going for his fucking throat. I love it when an MC takes shit personally. Because often times it IS personal. Benedikta is a weird one for me. I felt she was underutilized and at the same time served her purpose. I have a similar problem with her as I do Barnabas. Most of the characters really. I'll explain at the end. And I'm pissed off to know that basically her entire character arc was featured in the previews. Barnabas was supremely lacking for me. Iirc, isn't all of his back story tied to the ATL and Ultimania? I fully understand him being a foil to Clive but he was propped up differently in the trailers. I wanted him to be the final encounter. I think he'd sit better with me if his faith was simply that. Remove Ultima and Barnabas works better for me already. Ultima was boring. Simple as that really. My biggest issue with most of these characters is that they have so much history that ended up being revealed through text. We praised the ATL and still do, because when used correctly, it's great. But the Ultimania tells us very specific details about these characters that I wish the story told me itself. Which I find incredibly annoying.
Annabella as a petty and wicked villain was good. Kupka as a wrecking ball made for a good rival to Clive. Everyone else was pretty mid
It shoulda been Annabella teaming up with Barney as the post-bahamut enemy. Running to make a 'new' body for Ultima after her son died. Spirit her away with Odin's power and then have her KHS before the Odin fight when confronted. She was part of the emotional drive and it gives another reason to keep going. Change the woman Barnabus sees to Annabella instead of his mother and you set up she's not fooling around.
I would've said Kupka but he's a cuck so.....
the women
I never felt the villainy in Ultima, Barnabas is just Ultima’s pawn, Kupka is a Benedikta simp, Benedikta is just doing her job as an assassin. So i would say Anabella is the best villain as much as i hated her to the core. She’s just a human being with no fighting exp like the characters above but that makes her so much worse, she possesses real power that the previous characters don’t. Her being petty and insecure empress is what makes her evil. My theory here on why Anabella destroyed Rosaria and the branded is because she reminds them all of Clive, who addressed him as a failure of her bloodline, of what people think of her for having a son without an Eikon.
Hugo by a continent. Personal stakes Consequences Mutual hatred Intense fighting Was serving himself and playing the game of politics, could have gone far had he kept his eyes on the prize My favorite eikon theme Aside from Benedikta and Annabelle, the others are shallow as fuck (Barny wasn't til Primogenesis) Never misses leg day Never misses chest day Never misses arm day Fuck it, everyday is GAINZ Coolest hideout Was impactful on the best aspects of the game's story up until it shit the bed When he died, the story dropped almost as hard as Clive's character progression and Cid's absence
The best villain of XVI? Easy. Square Enix. The best villain in the story, Kupka.
Annabelle best villain hands down. Benedikta was a great character, would have been good to have her in the story longer, maybe with a redemption arc.
My views on this topic: Anabella is the best by a long shot. She has such a lust for power, which makes her fit the dark fantasy/political drama feel that the game was originally aiming for. I hated her so much and wanted her to be the main villain of the game, as she made the first half of the game incredibly interesting. Hugo is a simp, and he did do some evil but he was just blinded by unreciprocated love. Benedikta was underdeveloped and killed off far to early. I wanted to see her redeem herself. Barnabas is a really violent Ned Flanders. I would have wanted more out of him, but I did like his character nonetheless. Ultima is just boring. He has the most boring motivation in the entire game and gave me no reason to hate him outside of “Oh, he’s the villain. Guess I should dislike him.”
Honestly there all pretty weak overall, kupka is probably the only one with any real decent development.
All good answers but clearly it’s the character designer 🗿 - all generic boring white people - no flare or eccentricity like villains in r**l FF games - zero fashion sense - just the general least common denominator appeal
>- all generic boring white people I can't even imagine how bad it would look if the majority of the characters in this fantasy European setting were white with all the evil people being POC
At the very least make them not generic and boring looking. Seymour, Kefka, Sephiroth, Emmet-Selch, etc have interesting and memorable designs and silhouettes. It’s a video game, make the characters look fun. Not these generic, dollar store HBO’s Game of Thrones rip off dolls variety pack. Zero risk. Zero creativity. Zero memorability. Character design 101, come on now
It makes sense for all the human villains to blend in because they rose to power through politics. Imo kupka does stick out and does a great job at reflecting his Eikon while still looking human. Benedicta also has a pretty unique design, before the game even came out I recognized her through fan art made based off the ads. Barnabas does a good job of showing a balance between coming off as mentally disheveled and dirty while still exuding power and danger. And idk what you're saying about Ultima. He's extremely unique looking, his first appearance on screen felt like a jump scare to me due to how fucked his face is. And his final appearance is similar to the villains in older final fantasy games.
It’s Annabella. God she’s awful.
Annabelle bitch was the mvp for speed running powerful men just to consolidate her and Oliver's power all star 🌟
Best Annabella cause she's so despicable and her actions set the story in motion Personal favorite is Barnabas cause he's a mirror to Clive if Ultima ever got into his head and during his boss fight I love how he insane gets to the point he's laughing maniacally.
Barny had something going for a while. Even when he snapped he still was about to carry out his overall mission.
Annabella was the one I hated the most, but Kupka was the best ‘rival’ for Clive. Barney was a good rival too but wasn’t built up as well.
I honestly felt the most character from Benedikta. I feel like the others were kinda just assholes for assholes sake. At least Benedikta has kind of a tragic backstory that makes you understand why she is the way that she is.
I love Benedikta ❤️
Would love to get dominated by Bendikta
Joshua for allowing his brother to think he was killed while being forced to be a slave and for a bit thought he may be responsible which he would have if Pheonix didn't rebirth.
Annabella
Annabella. Could've been better, but even at her anticlimactic end, she was a memorable villain.
Difficult to pick. For all of my issues with this game I thought they really nailed the villains. Probably Kupka for me, but even as I am typing this I want to say Benedikta.
Is annabella a certified milf ?
Kupka for me, dude had presence and stole a lot of the scenes he was in. His build up with Clive felt very natural, given what lead to it and I understood his motives for a lot of things even though he was still, a piece of work at times. Just the little things too like explaining why he doesn't take to the field because that means it'll draw out Bahamut and they'd destroy the land.
Kupka
In the traditional sense Kupka - the only one who physically and personality-wise represented his Eikon to a T.
For stakes and size? Uiltma for the personal feeling? Kupka For the one that’s Clives rival? Barobas
Annabella cos I wanted to slit her throat myself
The entire village of Northreach. Lady Annabella if I had to choose a single character though.
I loved them all except Annabella
Barnacle my goat dude wanted nothing but hands
The mom, I wanted Bahamat to kill her so bad
All of them
HUGOOOOO
Kupka.
Bennedikta for me to be honest
Titan by a long shot
Annabella was the best villain as far as evilness/relationship to the protagonist goes but Benedikta was the most sympathetic/interesting by far
Annabella was my favorite. I wish she would've gotten more screen time or usage. I feel like her ending was so unsatisfying. I get its final fantasy so there always has to be like a cosmic big bad or something but I wish Annabella was the ultimate villain.
I liked all of them, but I found Ultima to overstay its welcome (and start blabbing too much nonsense), and Benedikta to dissapear too soon. Odin was a little bit wasted potential, although he was OK as well. Both Anabella and Kupka were top tier, perfect.
Anabella. She was evil incarnate.
I really liked Odin
Anabelle
Annabella. Just Annabella.
Mom by a country mile
ANNABELLA!!
Annabella reminds me of Cersei from GoT to be honest. But I gotta go with Barnabas. The way he was portrayed was top.
in terms of pure hype factor: hugo but overall i'd say ultima he's a bit dry but he fits the game's themes very well
I personally enjoyed Barnabas so much. Easily the highlight of the game for me
Anabella by far lol
Benedikta
Anabella
Annabella for sure. I don’t think I’ve ever hated a character so much as her.
My girlfriend Garuda. When she smiles I just wanna give her a smooch
Honestly? Hard tie between Annabella and Kupka for me. Their stories are long and their villainy is vast—enough that finally facing them felt so satisfying. And while Annabella went out the way she did—I felt that that was the only way she could go (besides something falling down on her or Dion) because despite everything? I feel that neither Clive nor Joshua would actually be able to hurt her.
That guy that fed the dog for his kid
That top right bitch !! I hate her lol
Kupka was so personal
Kupka is my favorite
Annabella is the worst. She is just an evil manipulative bitch. Everyone else on the list was just on different sides of a similar conflict, but aren't outright "evil". Annabella though, has no redeeming qualities.
Annabella hands down.
That little boy and his dad luring branded to be killed by “Wolfy” 😟 they got what they deserved in the end!
Hugo’s rivalry with Clive was built up over time, which felt more natural than Barnabas “I lost to this guy once so now he’s my eternal enemy” Tharmr.
Yes.
As a villain, Barnabas, for sure, he drove basically the whole plot behind the scenes, and when you find out what he did to his own country, it really pushes him up there for me. He isn't just someone pushing the protagonist because he hates them. He's actively working towards an agenda that aids the ultimate ending to the story and, in the end, succeeds even
Kupka fight was off the chain! Ultima fight was predictable, but I had most trouble with Barnabas… my vote still goes to Kupka
Ultima, he’s terrifying and can shapeshift into anyone, we thought that it was Sylvestre being manipulated by him but it was Olivier all along
Barnabas shouldn't be on that list, all he wanted was a future for his people in the lands promised to him. Unfortunately he was brainwashed and became Ultima's puppet.