When one talks about some of the most legendary gaming franchises of all time, then it goes without saying that Final Fantasy would inevitably be mentioned in this discussion. After all, one can argue that JRPGs would've never been popular in mainstream gaming culture had it not been for the runaway success of Final Fantasy VII, a game that is still considered by many to be one of the greatest video games ever made.
Each Final Fantasy game has stayed true to the notion of providing the best JRPG experiences possible, coupled with a slew of boss fights — some of which are way too hard for their own good. This is especially true when it comes to the superbosses in the games, which can be downright brutal at times.
Keeping this in mind, here are ten of the most ridiculously hard boss fights in Final Fantasy history.
10 Ruby Weapon (Final Fantasy VII)
Final Fantasy has perhaps two of the most infamous and well-known superbosses in the entire series, with the names Ruby and Emerald Weapon causing their fair share of PTSD to gamers.
Initiating the fight with Ruby Weapon itself is a massive pain, since two party members need to be KOed from the get-go to prevent the enemy from sucking them both up.
9 Long Gui (Final Fantasy XIII)
Final Fantasy XIII might not be everyone's favorite game, but there's no denying the fact that this title opens up to quite an extent in the latter stages of the game.
This includes the appearance of Superbosses as well, and while Vercingetorix is still somewhat manageable, the same can't be said for Long Gui, who is easily one of the most annoying superbosses in the entire franchise.
The fact that this enemy replaces most of the Adamantoises on the map makes the act of whittling down their numbers even more daunting, if not downright impossible.
8 Emerald Weapon (Final Fantasy VII)
Even though Ruby Weapon is a tough nut to crack, Emerald Weapon is still harder by quite an extent.
Fighting underwater means there's a time limit to the battle, unless the player equips Underwater materia. However, that in itself is a double-edged sword, since Emerald Weapon's Aire Tam Storm hits party members for damage that's proportional to the materia they've equipped.
If the party doesn't prepare accordingly, then this move is pretty much a one-hit KO.
7 Kaiser Dragon (Final Fantasy VI)
Kaiser Dragon is a powerful superboss that needs to be fought multiple times in Final Fantasy VI, and is easily one of the hardest encounters in the entire game.
One might argue that Omega Weapon is a tougher opponent, but at least there's a set pattern to its attacks that players can prepare for. The same can't be said for Kaiser Dragon, who poses a massive challenge for players from the get-go and simply doesn't stop with its onslaught.
6 Enuo (Final Fantasy V)
Enuo is the final superboss of Final Fantasy V in its enhanced editions and is as challenging as one might expect of a Final Fantasy superboss.
Players need to be at their A-game if they wish to survive this encounter by the skin of their teeth.
5 Yiazmat (Final Fantasy XII)
One of the worst battles of attrition in the entire series, Yiazmat is easily one of the most boring superbosses on this list, causing no end of frustration due to its massive HP pool.
With over 30 million hit points, fighting Yiazmat is nothing more than a test of patience. Thankfully, players can still exit the battle without losing progress — a necessity, given how mind-numbingly boring it can be to whittle his HP down.
4 Chronodia (Final Fantasy)
The original Final Fantasy had a rather cruel prank for players who accidentally stumbled upon Warmech, the hardest enemy in the entire game.
However, the enhanced editions decided to take it up a notch with Chronodia, who is the hardest superboss in the entire game. The fact that this boss must be fought eight times in order to fill up the bestiary is just a cruel prank to play on completionists.
3 Ozma (Final Fantasy IX)
There's a lot of luck involved in fighting Ozma. If the player is lucky, then they'll be able to follow a reliable strategy and whittle Ozma's HP down until he's nothing but dust.
However, more often than not, Ozma will decide to up the ante with a number of moves that will completely decimate the entire party if they don't prepare accordingly, making for an encounter that is almost impossible to complete.
2 Penance (Final Fantasy X)
The sheer amount of grinding it takes to beat the Dark Aeons in Final Fantasy X is bad enough as is, but Penance decides to take it a step further by brutally punishing players who make even the smallest of mistakes.
Penance is no joke to fight, and players need to have their strategies mapped out to a T if they don't want to be completely annihilated by the moves of this boss.
1 Absolute Virtue (Final Fantasy XI)
Absolute Virtue is one of the most infamous bosses in the history of the Final Fantasy franchise. MMOs are known for having massive challenging bosses, but Absolute Virtue is simply too ridiculous to even be justified by this statement.
Absolute Virtue was so notoriously hard that the media actually started lambasting Square Enix for getting players "addicted" to this MMORPG. Fearing the bad press, Square Enix quickly nerfed the boss, making him a joke compared to his former iteration.