Final Fantasy VII Character Ranking

[TrueSephiros]

I thought it maybe interesting for anyone of you who may not know, but this is the tier list compiled up when comparing, who's the best of the best within the game of FFVII. Yes, you will be surprised by the outcome, but everything I've stated was not just from senseless play, but from maxing out each character to their fullest potential, and these are the results.

Top Tier
Barret
Cid

Upper Tier
Yuffie
Cloud

High Tier
Tifa

Middle Tier
Red XIII
Aeris

Low Tier
Cait Sith
Bottom Tier
Vincent

Barret/Cid - They are undisputed the two best characters within the game, simply because Urgamax and HighWind both do 18-Hits for 9999, this surpasses even the mighty Omnislash which is 15-Hits and the powerful summon KOTR which is 13-Hits for 9999. However, Barret ranks slightly above Cid because even at maxed potential, Barret is always faster then Cid, pushing him just slightly above. Either or, you can't go wrong, since both deal out the same damage output.

Yuffie/Cloud - Yuffie is a better character then Cloud, some of you maybe going "what?!, that's not true, you must be joking!". However, it's very real, because put simply, Yuffie's Conformer can allow her to dish out 9999 damage without any handicaps. Not only that, but Yuffie can unleash Doom of Living for 15-Hits all for 9999, making this Limit-Break rival Cloud's Omnislash.

The reason why Cloud is under her, because his most powerful weapon Ultima Weapon has the huge handicap of HP dictates damage. This is a handicap, because once your low on hp, Cloud regardless of how strong he is, will not do 9999, this easily puts Yuffie above, for she can do exactly what Cloud is capable of doing, but w/out any handicaps.

Tifa - She's nowhere near as good as the Four Characters above her, however she's not as bad as the characters below her either. Her Limit-Break allows her to deal out 7-Hits for 9999, so it does make her quite effective.

RedXIII/Aeris - The only redeemable thing from RedXIII is Earth Rave which is 5-Hits for 9999, which is nowhere near as good as the characters above him. Aeris has only one good thing going for her, and that's Great Gospel, yes, that limit is good enough to place her here.

Cait Sith - His instant kill Limit if it wasn't so gosh darn random...however since it is, he has nothing really good going for him at all, everybody above him has far more value then he does. Since in the end, what will seperate you is your Limit Breaks, sadly for Cait Sith, none of his are profecient enough.

Vincent - One of the most loved FF characters, yet he is the absolute worst character within the game. His Weapon Death Penalty is garbage, because depending upon how many mobs you kill will decide it's damage factor, which is outrageous because even if your max, you won't be dealing out 9999 with it, if you don't kill enough mobs.

Worst yet, ALL of his Limits are horrible because of one reason, you simply cannot control him afterwards, making him completely random. He is by far the worst character in the game.


So there you have, this is an analysis of the characters at the end of the game, and at their maxed potential. Remember now, this is not a tier-listing of who's good from the beginning of the game to the Northern Crater. Because if we did it by that standard, then the tier listing would change.

However, I would consider that unfair because you aren't playing them at their full potential, which is reason why I have only stated this Tier Listing. I hope all of you enjoyed reading this, and if you have questions or something you would like to say, please do so.

I will be looking forward to reply to it.

 

[Scarlet]

I'm really not surprised at that you ranked Vincent as the worst. Vincent limit breaks were weak and uncontrollable. He was still a great character. Cait Sith as well, his slot limit break was garbage. (Instant death to enemies or your characters. -_o)

As for Cid's limit break Highwind. I'm rather shocked that it has more hits than Omnislash. I always knew Cid was one of the most power characters.

I'm am a little shocked you ranked Yuffie high. Your right, Doom of Living hits enemies 15 times, I didn't realized that.

 

[Rockman X]

Awesome analysis. I can't bloody stand Cait Sith fans who go around yelling garbage like "ZOMG CAIT IS TEH BEST CHARACTER AND HAS TEH BEST LIMIT!" Um...yeah, it would be the best if it's wasn't so random and difficult to get, it's really not worth the risk.

I've played VII twice, both times my final members have ended up as Cloud, Barret and Vincent. I never even got the Omnislash but Barret's limit breaks are just awesome throughout the entire game. Vincent is pretty good as a normal character, but as you said, his limits are crap. It's great and all that his HP goes up by 1/3 (it's around that, anyway), but since you can't control him your other characters could die and you'd have no way of healing.

If I ever decide to replay VII again I really should use Cid, I've heard alot of good things about him. I'd like to use Red too, he may not be the best when it comes to fighting but he's one of the best characters in the game storywise.

 

[Sephirothalpha]

Interesting, I never really looked at it that way. I agree up to the point of Vincent being the worst character, you should swop Cait Sith and Vincent around.

 

[Jimmy]

I agree with your rankings good job, but i think Vincent should be ahead of Cait Sith because even though you can't control his transformations they can deal 9999 damage a turn which is good.
Most people don't see that Yuffie is one of the best characters, which is indeed a shame, because like you said she as great techniques.
And i would put Aerith beneath Red and not at the same level, because Red is overall a good character to use, while Aeris like you said only as Great Gospel going for her.

 

[Daenerys]

Aerith should be equal to Tifa IMO, She has far superior limit breaks than people give her credit for.

Level 2 - Fury Brand, Depletes your limit break but fills your Allies ones.
Level 3 - Planet Protector - Makes Party Invincible
- Pulse of Life - Fully heals party

Level 4 - Great Gospel - a Fusion of her two level 3 limit breaks.

If you add on the fact that Aerith has the highest base magic stat - she's the closest thing FFVIIs got to a dedicated Mage

 

[Jimmy]

Aerith should be equal to Tifa IMO, She has far superior limit breaks than people give her credit for.

Level 2 - Fury Brand, Depletes your limit break but fills your Allies ones.
Level 3 - Planet Protector - Makes Party Invincible
- Pulse of Life - Fully heals party

Level 4 - Great Gospel - a Fusion of her two level 3 limit breaks.

If you add on the fact that Aerith has the highest base magic stat - she's the closest thing FFVIIs got to a dedicated Mage

Tifa can deal 9999x7=69993 a turn, Aerith can't even deal 9999.

Tifa bigger than Aerith.

 

[Feng Yun]

If glitches were to be taken into account, Vincent and Barrett would be the best once their ultimate weapons' power has been maxed out to full potential. Both are the equivalent of FFX's Zanmato with the exception that they come free of charge. But to attain this level of invincibility, Vincent must've dispatched tens of thousands of enemies (caps at 60,000 or so) and Barrett would need to have mastered enough KotR to fill up all the vacant materia slots in his Missing Score.

 

[TrueSephiros]

If glitches were to be taken into account, Vincent and Barrett would be the best once their ultimate weapons' power has been maxed out to full potential. Both are the equivalent of FFX's Zanmato with the exception that they come free of charge. But to attain this level of invincibility, Vincent must've dispatched tens of thousands of enemies (caps at 60,000 or so) and Barrett would need to have mastered enough KotR to fill up all the vacant materia slots in his Missing Score.

Yes, I've actually done that before, because awhile back I heard that from a buddy of mine from Japan, so I thought I'd grind and try it out, it's so beastly. Vincent's damage is no longer even numbers, but a block of glitches and jibberish, and he can annihilate Emerald Weapon in one shot/hit which is madness. However, the only reason I don't consider that unless your willing to spend 839048209394010398409234 hours to get Vincent to achieve this glitch affect. If I would've taken the glitch affect into account, then those two would infact be the best, however, since I don't take into account the Vanish/X-Zone in FFVI and this move literally takes out almost everything out within FFVI.

So this is a Tier Ranking w/out glitches, if you really want me too, I "could" post a tier listing with glitches, but I'd rather refrain from it, and use a tier list that is more plausible in which people can actually achieve.

The reason, Aeris isn't ranked any higher is simply because she can't deal any great damage output within a FF game to where who hits the hardest, the most and the fastest wins it all, this is seen in many other FF games as well. In the end, her ability of being one of the strongest magic wielders is completely overshadowed by characters who can achieve far greater damage than her in one turn.

Which is why I played Tifa above her, since she's got more damage output. I "was" going to put Aeris down by Cait Sith, however Aeris has far more redeemable Limits to offer than Cait Sith, which is why I coincided with putting her under RedXIII, because let's face it, those limits are better than what Cait Sith does have to offer on anything.

Honestly...since I've gotten really great replies for this, I might do character rankings for other FF games as well , who know's there "could" be something even I don't know about the game engine of certain FF games, but we'll see on that

 

[Rockman X]

If you add on the fact that Aerith has the highest base magic stat - she's the closest thing FFVIIs got to a dedicated Mage

See, people always say the same thing about Penelo in XII, but the thing is....in both games, I really cannot tell the difference. Not to mention you can only use Aerith for the first disc and that to me just isn't worth it.

Honestly...since I've gotten really great replies for this, I might do character rankings for other FF games as well , who know's there "could" be something even I don't know about the game engine of certain FF games, but we'll see on that

You should do that I'd be interested in seeing one for IX, and X as well but that might be out of the question considering the sphere grid.

 

[TrueSephiros]

See, people always say the same thing about Penelo in XII, but the thing is....in both games, I really cannot tell the difference. Not to mention you can only use Aerith for the first disc and that to me just isn't worth it.

Penelo is alright in XII, however she's not as weak as Fran, and she has better magical capabilities, so she's definetly not that bad in X. Ashe is w/out a doubt the best female and surprising, Vaan is the best character in the game, but that's another time.

However, I've used a cheat to keep having Aeris even beyond her death, and that's the reason why she's placed where she is. She only has her limit break, outside of that, she's decent at best, also her final weapon not giving her a full group of slots is another small factor as well.

You should do that I'd be interested in seeing one for IX, and X as well but that might be out of the question considering the sphere grid.

I probably most likely will, however, I don't know if I'll do one for IX, since although I did play it, and power lvl them all to max and obtained everything, I didn't do enough testing to decide who's the best, "but" I can do one for that.

As for X, believe me, I finished the entire sphere grid, infact I deleted it all and re-added it all so everyone could be 255 stats, I can definetly do a tier listing for that, and I'll do one for VIII as well, and maybe even the earlier ones like IV and stuff.

 

[Rockman X]

Penelo is alright in XII, however she's not as weak as Fran, and she has better magical capabilities, so she's definetly not that bad in X. Ashe is w/out a doubt the best female and surprising, Vaan is the best character in the game, but that's another time.

However, I've used a cheat to keep having Aeris even beyond her death, and that's the reason why she's placed where she is. She only has her limit break, outside of that, she's decent at best, also her final weapon not giving her a full group of slots is another small factor as well.

Ashe was one of my backups, she was pretty good. I used Vaan all the way through, he was good

Haha, see I'm paranoid of using cheats if they're not in-game. I had a gameshark but it fried a couple of my save files and eventually wiped out its own data so the disc was useless.

I probably most likely will, however, I don't know if I'll do one for IX, since although I did play it, and power lvl them all to max and obtained everything, I didn't do enough testing to decide who's the best, "but" I can do one for that.

As for X, believe me, I finished the entire sphere grid, infact I deleted it all and re-added it all so everyone could be 255 stats, I can definetly do a tier listing for that, and I'll do one for VIII as well, and maybe even the earlier ones like IV and stuff.

I can always do who's the best, but it would just be based on opinion, I don't power level xD

Oh so you can do X? I'd like to see that then Some oldschool FFs would be cool too, can you do VI as well as IV?

 

[Howl]

Hrm...I agree about most of those...
On the other hand, I used all of the characters; one just as much as the other. This is the one game where stats just didn't matter to me. ^.^

I only looked at stats and damage values during the last battle. I almost always have Barret and Yuffie in my final party. =]

As much as I like Vincent...his limit breaks were pretty frustrating.

 

[soggy]

So, from a different perspective, each character initially has been judged on base stats and limit breaks, however in FF7 sadly, or in any of the FF's really doesn't depend on the base stats for that long, you just develop playing favorite with different characters. For instance, they all do 9999 damage near the end of the game. Lets just say, if you can be BOTHERED to max out barret to 9999 with the help of a couple of power sources, sure. he's the strongest. But how easy is it to just omnislash it up? there aren't many mobs or bosses even that can stand up to cloud's level 4 ulti at the best of times, and near the end of the game, not many can stand up to any of the characters ulti (even tifa's if you've got the trick of the slots). I agree with vincent though. He's not the strongest character, but if you're playing through the game trying to beat the 12 hour score for completion, a little bit of galian beast doesn't go awry. Cid's highwind is awesome. Give any of the characters a mystile at level 99 and they're virtually unhittable from most spells and attacks. I think aeris is honestly nearer the worst of the characters because by the time you're at temple of ancients, playing a reasonable game not going mad from just pure grinding, she's around level 30-40, with her princess guard and bolt 3 quake 2 regen and the like. she's got lower hp and needs to be played a lot more, but I don't get the point of some of her limit breaks. Breath of the earth? Fury Brand? which actually tops the frustration of barrets mindblow (personally).
Some good points, but overall its just how you play your game in FF, and regardless of how others do, you might not choose to just use limit breaks all the time, and could go for the classic fun of counter-mime on all slots, or even a 4-cut with tifa and a slash all-longrange with vincent. Cait Sith has got the hp to be quite a fun tank, but otherwise, yes, he might as well be quina from FF9. Goddamn quina. Just saying from a different perspective, that's all.

 

[Vanilla]

Bottom Tier
Vincent

Why am I not surprised? Vincent's limit breaks were cool but it sucks to not have the chance to control him. Like there was this time when he keeps on using his fire attacks (I forgot what its called) but instead of beating the opponent he ends up healing him. I totally agree that Cloud and Yuffie share the same spot. There's no doubt that Yuffie and Cloud's limit breaks were awesome and useful.

 

[SlapBassHero]

I agree with this list!
Cid is my favorite character, and he was way stronger than Cloud. What's up with main characters being....average? Except Tidus in X...all he had was speed.

Oh, and in my first game I used Cait Sith. He really sucked.

 

[Archangel]

Why am I not surprised? Vincent's limit breaks were cool but it sucks to not have the chance to control him. Like there was this time when he keeps on using his fire attacks (I forgot what its called) but instead of beating the opponent he ends up healing him. I totally agree that Cloud and Yuffie share the same spot. There's no doubt that Yuffie and Cloud's limit breaks were awesome and useful.

I did the same thing. It was on the time keeper. Umm the big scorpion thing blocking your way. I unleashed Vincent's limit on to have it heal the monster. during the battle I was really close to having Cloud kill him to prevent further healing on the monster.


Anyways good list. I found it very informative once I read the explanations. Good stuff.

 

[soggy]

Actually, Vincent has one saving point. His death penalty adds damage for every mob he kills right? seeing as how the game has a glitch of displaying more than 4 figures in damage, vincent can do more than 4 figures, even up to 6 figures, in one shot. Which means he could take any of the weapons, in 1 or 2 rounds, tops.
Try it out. If not, just youtube 'vincent emerald weapon'

 

[Lionheart3k]

Excellent list.

I've never really looked at it like that, not been much of a Yuffie fan so i havent really used her that much and took no notice of her limits. As for Vincent well..i totally agree, he was arguably the best character in the game although i didnt like Cloud too much. But his limit was pathetic, i healed that same monster. Didnt know about the glitch..need to try that someday.

 

[resolrehtona]

lol

yuffie also has some great speed.
although, as much as caist sith sucks royal ass, his spin reel isn't as random as you think >_>
if fact, with practice, one can get the victory reel almost every time with a 20% fail rate >_>...
ok, yeah >_>
i've played the game too much ;
i never like vincent >_>
i didn't like him in my party, and i didn't like getting him at all >_>
oddly, he annoys the piss out of me ;
i'd rather use cait sith lol
but i'll stick to my yuffie cloud cid party