For me it’s Beatrix from FFIX. She was an animal and it would’ve been awesome and made sense if she was in your party properly.
Edit: doesn’t have to be “greatest” perhaps but your favorite.
Greatest character to not join a party?
Final Fantasy GeneralIt bummed me out how many opportunities were missed with 15.
I remember seeing the "dark world" bit at the end as an adult and I was like "ohhh shit, we got ourselves a FF6 back-half here" and then it ended up just being an empty corridor to the final boss. It was certainly cool, I just wish it was at least a full chapter.
Royal Edition made Insomnia fully explorable.
But the open world isn’t
The stupid thing is, (from the last time I played it anyways) they do let you walk the boys to Insomnia from Hammerhead... in the Comrades DLC.
It's stupid, they should have just patched that into the main game.
Entire game was a missed opportunity
Although i see where you're coming from, i disagree.
FF15 added alot of cool things and was genuinely fun to play all the way to the end. Unless you're talking about versus 13.
I sometimes forgot the insane developmental hell that game (and the Fabulous Nova project in general) was.
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1mo
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1mo
Way too many. Especially when watching the announcement trailer. None of that footage or gameplay even made it into the final game. I still watch it sometimes to see what could have been.
I’m still pissed that they didn’t let use Aranea, Cor, or Iris as guest party members post-game. There’s no reason not to let us bring them with us
Wasn't she going to get a DLC?
Yeah, but they canned it
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww
I actually really want to play that now!
Specifically I just read they canceled it to make a new AAA game which ended up being Forspoken.
that, and some issues were going on with the director and the parent company so he willingly left. and his work aka the 5 upcoming DLCs were canned except for 1 which was episode Ardyn.
the 5 dlcs namely being episodes for Ardyn, Lunafreya, Aranea, Noctis and Dawn of the Future epilogue.
Honestly wanted her to stay and take Gladio’s place
Would've been such an upgrade! Aranea was one of the best parts of the game!
If you use the Windows Edition then you can download Flagrum and install the guest party mod. It let's you add a guest party member which could be Aranea, Iris, Umbra, Ifrit, Cor, Ardyn, or Sarah
Take all my upvotes. Aranea was the character I was most looking forward getting a DLC for in an otherwise passable game, in my opinion.
So technically she joins the party for a dungeon but would be cool to have her for a long time. She is maybe my favorite vixen in the entire series.
General Leo
When they gave us added content in FFVI ( dragon den etc), I’d always hoped there’d be a way to revive Leo.
Or a relic to turn Runic into Shock
If you’re playing the Pixel Remaster, there’s a mod that creates a relic that does that!
This is the answer. Like, yeah, you can glitch or mod him into the party, but he would have been a fascinating character to have from a narrative standpoint, too. It's such a shame the game didn't give Celes any development regarding her relationship to the Empire before she turned, because that could have filled that narrative void that losing out on Leo left.
At least Dissidia Opera Omnia gave him a story where he's revived and does some soul-searching where he ultimately decides to join the party, so I'll take that.
Ah shit I forgot about Leo!!!
The FF VI Divergent Paths hack adds him to the party with a storyline. It's pretty cool.
Yeah, the linked video also goes over all of the different romhacks where he's made playable, and Divergent Paths is mentioned.
The goat!
Leo is great as a character kefka will be more playing ya know
The answer
Bro got one move and it's just 4 regular attacks.
He had the offering / master scroll equipped. You can see it in his inventory. Also he had shock skill.
Give the Offering to Gau, and Rage into the Retainer. He becomes Leo. 4 attacks, and Shock.
Beatrix - I’m still kinda mad that you can’t have Steiner use her sword
Think about it. She wouldn’t want Steiner to use her sword
Fair. I was young and annoyed I crafted a trophy weapon I couldn’t use lol
Eh? I remember Beatrix being rather fond of Rusty in FFIX. They both admired each other but felt like they could never be.
She absolutely would have wanted him to use her sword if need be.
To be fair he gets the same skill from other swords though
I never understood why you could craft it. Was there originally a subplot where she breaks hers and you get her a new one? Or did the designers really just want a red herring?
Amarant can throw it.
It’s a kind of trophy i guess
One of the things I'm hoping for in the FF9 remake is having Beatrix as a permanent party member at some point. Just change her or Steiners kit a bit so they're not the same.
She was briefly in your party.
Guest stars don't count.
I think he might have wanted her to use his sword instead.
Reddas from FF12 would be awesome as a permanent character. I just thought he was cool.
The amount of time I kept Reddas around before hitting Pharos, he might as well have been permanent.
I did the same with Larsa. It was a shock to the system when I couldn't use him anymore!
Reddas is the best. The amount of side content that I did while I still had him in the party was insane.
RIP 🥲
Best Judge Magister
Definitely not the greatest since he's barely got any dialog, but Baigan is an interesting one to me. I find it odd that ff4 has two white mages, two black mages, and two sages but no red mages. It teases at Baigan joining the party, whose overworld sprite and concept art suggest he might fill the red mage role, but he never actually does. RDM being the only class from ff1 that doesn't get some form of representation in ff4 still feels like a weird gap to me
Assuming that would be his deal, he would have been a really useful addition to the cecil/yang/cid/tellah lineup that's a total lopsided slog to play through. Tellah has so little MP to support three melee characters with very little versatility and pretty poor defenses, adding a red mage into that crew would have rounded everything out
Baigan having full amano concept art is weird for a character that has such a limited role in the story too. I kind of wonder if he was originally planned to do more but then cut for technical or storytelling reasons
This is a great answer! I was wracking my brain trying to think of characters from IV.
One of the dwarves would have been cool too — either the King or his daughter.
She actually does in The After Years.
Always wanted Golbez in my party at the end of FFIV.
Technically you can get him in the after years but thats meh
It was kind of unfortunate we didn't get to play as him
To me it single-handedly justified my getting The After Years, other issues with that game aside
So y'all remember larsa from ff12? I was reallly wanting him to be a permanent party member
Larsa and his unlimited potions were awesome in OG FF12.
He was like -12- and smarter than the rest of the cast lol
Hey only Vaan. You can say alot of things about XII's cast but they are pretty mature and intelligent.
I was partly joking, I find it silly that he's 12. I like XII's cast a lot. I think their main issue is some of their clothes. They are intelligent, for sure.
I always used him when he was playable in zodiac age. Vossler and Reddas were awesome too, but Larsa was simply too cute.
The fact that he spams you with potions means it's time to do some easy grinding.
Eh, since guests are normally playable in zodiac age (which is awesome), no more infinite spam
Ahh, you're right. Totally forgot about that. I've only played Zodiac age twice, whereas I've played the PS2 version at least 10 times.
Another fellow 12 lover I see! I am planning to do a Ng+ or Ng- run after my perfect save, and after I'm done with at least the first playthrough of 4 3d!
Oh yeah, it's my all time favourite game. I used to play through it once a year, but stopped after I got the platinum in Zodiac Age a few years back. I did download mods for the PC version and gave that a try, but didn't put many hours into it. Was interesting though.
100% Beatrix. No game has ever made me want a character so bad as a party member than Final Fantasy 9. When she made the turn to be on your side, I got so damn excited, and then she left afterwards and I never felt so upset and disappointed from losing a temp party member. Like I understood Blank and Marcus leaving, but when it came to her, it felt like she was turned good and going to finish the end of the journey with us.
When ff9 first came out I got the strategy guide at the same time and before I played I looked at the different characters and I could have sworn blank and amarant were the same character and the reason his name was “blank” was because you weren’t allowed to name him yet. I was a very stupid kid.
I wish we could have also gotten Blank instead of Amarant lol
You and me both man. It would have made 1000% more sense, and backstory between the two would have been incredible.
Funny you say that, I used a gameshark to swap Amarant's model with Blanks lol
I remember the strategy guide for that game. Was absilutlety fucking useless. About 90% of the content in it was "go to the website" type shit.
Beatrix, Blank, and Marcus all not properly joining the party and us instead getting stuck with Amarant is one of the more perplexing aspects of IX.
Dion. To not even get him as a guest party member sucked.
Raijin and Fujin Especially if it would have followed a little more or Sefers perspective
Seifer is kind of the spurned protagonist of FF8
He has his own "mission", distinct fighting style, works in a party of 3, and is equipped just like the main character
Thats why hes such a great foil
What about we get a spinoff FFVIII game with Seifer as the MC, just like Jack Garland from Stranger of Paradise? That sounds good imo.
I still remember back in the day when the Gaming Intelligence Agency (GIA) did that exact thing as an April Fool’s joke with surprisingly convincing (for like 2000) screenshots/video. I was so disappointed when it turned out not to be real…
I remember reading a blog that was about how Seifer is what happens when Cecil's story goes bad.
I was waiting the whole game for him to get some big story thing that would explain why he’s so hell-bent on fighting for Ultimecia as well as his relationship with Rinoa, but he just gets… nothing. Cool character, but such a weird and awkward role in the story.
Xezat and Gilgamesh, FFV. Some of my favorite secondary characters from any FF.
Honorable mention to Ellone, I would've loved to see her and Squall interact on a more consistent basis.
Xezat has like five minutes of screentime and he still manages to make one hell of an impact.
I mean most of that impact is in the barrier tower but still.
Sorceress Edea in ff8 🥹
I was so excited when she joined the party just to leave
As a massive Gilgamesh fan, I think my answer is too obvious
Enkidu?
Exactly, the best companion a four armed weapon collector could ask for
It's a minor character but I've always liked Lani's design from FFIX and wished she joined instead of Amaranth
I would take just about any character over Amaranth. He is definitely a "tacked on, fill out the roster" character.
I would've liked to have cured Cid sooner and have him join and fill a role similar to Edgar from FFVI.
Biran & Yenke. I'll always have love for the Beavis & Butthead of Spira.
HORNLESS, HORNLESS!
Kimahri whiffs an attack
“Not good enough, Kimahri!
Orran Durai.
His Celestial Stasis has the chance to land disable, immobile, and stop against every enemy unit on the map.
Here’s the real top answer :)
Tactics>all
Holy crap, I just learned where my username came from! It's been over 15 years since I started using it.
It seems as though Agrias's companion, Levain got married to Orran.
Man, I really gotta play tactics.
Yep! Scrolled to far to find this
I’m a little bummed we didn’t get a level or two with Dion in party in FF16
I always wanted to see what Zangan could do that Tifa couldn't.
Whale blow
The 7th infantry Final fantasy VII rbirth
Those were some good dudes. 🫡
Definitely Beatrix. Found her more interesting than Quina and Amarant.
100% agree. Imo the story didn’t need them tbh. A less is more approach would’ve been to have her instead of them. And tbh I just didn’t like their characters and they’re irrelevant to the central plot.
That’s how I’ve always felt about Quina and Amarant.
Lani in FF9. Would have happily traded Amarant for her.
She appears a total of 5 short times in the entire game yet outshines Amaranth in every single one.
I loved the ghost from FFVI
General Leo. Fuck you, Kefka.
Seifer and Beatrix.
In a Playstation demo, you can actually play with Squall, Seifer and Rinoa. Classic trio. Too bad that Seifer couldn't rejoin after his "bad boy" phase.
Larsa in 12, and in 4 I would have kept Yang instead of Edge.
The significant increase in character choices was one the huge upgrades for installments post-IV (even though I love IV as much as VI). Would have been cool to get the option between Edge and Yang for the final assault on the moon, or to unlock him if you complete the Sylph cave. You get Edge so late in the game, it always felt like Yang was more important to the total story.
Exactly, same thought!
Some kind of Bangaa, Nu Mou, and Moogle from XII. Maybe even a Seeq but that’s a lot by that point.
A Guado in FFX, to give us more of their perspective on events and how they relate to the Guado, and also so we have one fully good Guado character.
If we are already counting Cid, Jill, Gav, Byron, as party members in XVI, then I would also add Jote to that lineup. Also I wish Benedikta went through a redemption arc.
I loved the Ivalice races. Bangaas were awesome, and I was also disappointed we didn’t get one for our party
Ehh, the XVI cast are very loosely considered party members, you can’t do anything with them. Changes nothing about how the game plays, they might as well be absent for all the battles, you wouldn’t notice.
For them I mean it in less of a gameplay way and more of a story and narrative way. Just having them along for the adventure would be nice.
Dion
Technically speaking,
PS: Happy cake day :)
Whether I'm going to count that depends entirely on the question beings asked.
"Who should have joined the party?" - Dion
"Who is your favorite party member in 16?" - also Dion :)
While this might be stretching the definition of "joining a party", male mithra and half elves being confirmed to exist in FFXI, but basically being limited to lore and a handful of npcs and not as a player controllable race.
I'm guessing FFXI and its big heaping plate of spaghetti code was never designed to accommodate adding new races, and by that point in the game's lifecycle I doubt most players were interested in rolling a brand new character to change races, but it was kind of lame that they brought out Lilisette in WOTG and said "half elvaan can exist and there's not any real reason they're so scarce, you're just not allowed to be one"
I knew a lot of people who wanted to play as an elf but couldn't get past the elvaan long neck and gangly limbs and ended up rerolling as a hume early on. I bet they would have preferred the half elf race as an option
Not me though I loved my awkward giraffe-elf
Dhalmel*
Dion, even though 16's party members don't add much to the game, it so odd to me that hes clearly designed to be a dragoon class, one of the few in 16 to be reminiscient of classic classes, and yet we never get to see him in gameplay, only in cutscenes
Golbez or Dion. Both were fleshed out really well (the writing in 4 can be a little wonky but still) and we’re characters that would’ve made sense to be in the party
General Leo FF6
For the people choosing Seifer or Sephiroth, are you saying you wanted a completely different game? Cuz that’s the only way that would make sense.
Minwu had good traits
He joined the team and even got a spin-off game (sorta).
Minwu is the main reason I’m sad about Soul of Rebirth not being in the pixel remaster. His time in the party was way too short.
I genuinely thought soul of rebirth was better than the actual game because it was so challenging. Also the concept of fighting your way out of hell is just so cool.
What is the spinoff game??
Ff2 gba, PSP, and pre pixel android have a secondary quest called soul of rebirth where the guest characters go on a smaller quest.
More of a temporary member though. >! Sadly killed off!<
I would say Fratley from IX
General Leo
Aranea for sure
And now this is gonna sound absolutely unhinged, but after seeing how she is in Dissidia Opera Omnia I would've liked for Jihl to join as well. Maybe even get a sort of redemption arc.
General Leo Cristophe. FF6
Dion. The way they started to play the Final Fantasy theme when he arrives to help out (making me think that oh, now the REAL, FINAL TEAM is here) only for them to just not utilize him in any way whatsoever, BARELY in the story, not at all in side quests and not in the DLC. What was even the point..
He could've offered a great new perspective to many lingering topics. The Clive's clubhouse gang had gotten super stale at this point as nobody was offering anything new, and everyone was too busy sucking Clive's nuts to offer any good tension or drama. It's ridiculous how they dropped the ball with this.
Plus dragoons are just the best in general.
Always thought Bugenhagen would've been OP, similar to FuSoYa from FF4.
I wished that Laguna, Kiros, and Ward merged with FF8's party at the end of the game.
The Warriors of Dawn FFV
Aranea Highwind from FFXV or Cissnei from FFVII Rebirth
I would love if Cissnei was a playable character in part 3
Seifer, dude could have had a sick redemption arc. Otherwise, Beatrix of course.
Any of the main characters from FF 16
mentioning because its recent, but Dion from ff16 wtf bro made every cutscene he was in epic as hell
President Millard Fillmore. He was neither democrat nor republican. (I am insanely proud of this one).
I always wanted to have Blank in my party haha
Seifer
Generals Leo and Beatrix
I remember she was a badass in Opera Omnia.
Olan Durai
I think General Leo and Beatrix should stay in party, at least for a few levels
Prishe FFXI
Cindy in FFXV
I know she’s not a fighter, but throwing a girl in the mix of thag group would’ve made a different dynamic. Plus, imagine her having weird goofy weapons, like fighting with a large wrench of something. Idk, maybe I’m stretching. Also, constant eye candy would’ve been nice.
FFVII Rebirth
I can honestly see him being swapped in for when Cloud goes on “sabbatical” for a decent portion of the game. Zack clearly landed in either the “main” reality, or at least one that’s still intact. So, they can either have us run an entire section of the game without someone who plays like the MC, or they can pop Zack in as a pseudo replacement.
Banon. FF6.
Free healing is always so welcome in this series.
I just want rich boy Larsa to keep tossing me free potions forever.
Edea
Sir Aymeric for some trusts in FFXIV. Bro deserved it!
Edea from ff8 and leo from ff6 Leo vs kefka/Edea vs ultimecia would go so hard
Reddas is my favorite. His past is really cool and I like his design. Also, we really need to see what his armor looked like, if ya know what I mean.
Edea from FF8!!!!! I wish she stayed
Beatrix, Aranea and Dion.
Bugenhagen gives me summoner/magician vibes in ff7. Kinda like Strago in FF6.
Zack would be great to play too in OG, but it’s not playable with the party for obvious reasons. (I haven’t played rebirth)
General Leo from FF6. Bro was the man and using him for the few battles were life changing.
Aranea, Sydney, and Iris not being party members in 15 was insane. That game treats women in a particular way I've only seen elsewhere in gay erotica, where it's like not outright misogynistic but it wants women offscreen asap
All the side characters in FF16. I hated not being able to switch between party members on battle. That’s one reason I didn’t finish the game.
Hildebrand as a Scion....... (FFXIV btw)
Leo from 6 & Beatrix from 9
Beatrix and Edea
gilgamesh. jecht.
fuck it, those mid summoners that got kidnapped by the al bhed in ff7
Don’t you mean 10?
I was crushing on Beatrix hard as a 14 year old playing FFIX back in the day
From the Golden Age of FF:
FF6: General Leo
FF7: Bugenhagen, Jesse, Biggs, Wedge. It would have been cool if you could choose between Reno or Rude per play-through. You choose one to join you and the other will die. Might have added interesting dynamics
FF8: Cid, Edea, Seifer
FF9: I love Beatrix but it would have been cool to have all of tantalus as options like Blank, Marcus and Baku. Also Lani would have been a Yuffie type recruit
FF10/10-2: the fact that Gippal, Belial and Yooj were not (fully) playable part members was a missed opportunity
Not sure if it counts, but…
First time seeing Sephiroth in my party and in battle was something. I have this crappy materia and Sephiroth has all these mastered spells, massive stats, long ass sword, and that ASMR slicing sound.
Agree with Beatrix, Jessie Rasberry is a definite second though
Aranea. I’m counting her since she doesn’t permanently join and they patched out the bug that lets you do exactly that lol
I mean, I feel like this is a post very geared towards FF16- The greatest party to only contain guests. Cid, Jill, Torgal etc. I adore Clive, but a FF7 rebirth/remake party switch system would have absolutely made 16 for me.
Beatrix (FFIX), Sorceress Edea(FFVIII), and Gabranth(FFXII).
Aranea Highwind in XV