Final Fantasy Tactics tells its strong story primarily through the perspective of the young Ramza Beoulve, born into a proud and powerful family but swept through tumultuous currents and branded a traitor, a heretic, and an enemy to the common good. It is the noble truth behind Ramza's actions that the game's narrator explores, framing everything as a chance to redeem an unsung hero.
But Ramza was not alone. Throughout the course of FFT, he is joined by no fewer than 23 allies, plus the following assortment: a small collection of randomized squires and chemists given to you at the start of the game; units whose allegiance you purchase via a recruiting office; and any number of monsters potentially born into your party.
Since characterization only exists for those aforementioned 23 allies, we'll skip the total fluff and rank the rest. Where will your favorites fall? Everything is subjective, of course, but we've strived to consider things from every angle. And yes, we've included temporary guest characters — because frankly, the omission of one Delita Heiral would have ruffled too many feathers otherwise.
24 Ladd
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions improves upon the PlayStation version's often-bewildering translation, albeit at the cost of some of the original's biggest charms. "Tough... don't blame us. Blame yourself or God." That's a legendary line right there, so when War of the Lions transformed it into "Tis your birth and faith that wrong you, not I," well, let's just say some fans weren't thrilled.
But we've spent Ladd's first paragraph on a Delita line. That's not fair to the poor, sweet boy. It's hardly his fault he was a blank slate on par with the random units in the original game, and then he lost any semblance of memorability on PSP. You see, Ladd used to have one thing going for him: his name was Rad. It was literally Rad. This young lad was Rad. It was funny. People laughed. It was charming.
Now, this lad's just... Ladd. And there is no longer even a joke reason to keep him around.
23 Alicia
Alicia, like Ladd and Lavian, are all part of a packaged deal when Agrias joins the party. They're sworn to her, or something; the game doesn't really make it clear, but that seems like a fairly safe bet. All three of them are bog-standard units with the bonus of predetermined names.
War of the Lions ups the ante a bit, however, by requiring Alicia and Lavian to remain in the party in order to meet the conditions for a late-game sidequest. The sidequest in question? "Agrias' Birthday." It's about Agrias. Turning a year older. And Mustadio insists that she celebrate it. Alicia and Lavian are just kind of there.
So, yeah. Alicia. She exists. And she needs to keep existing if you want to complete everything that Final Fantasy Tactics has to offer.
22 Lavian
Lavian is Alicia with a cooler name. At least, we think it's a cooler name. Certainly, it's cooler than Ladd. It is not as cool as Rad, but then, obviously, Square Enix disagrees.
The best thing about Lavian is that Lavian is Alicia with a cooler name. Did we already type that? Heck, so we did. Another interesting thing about Lavian is that she is not Alicia. This, in turn, ties in with how Alicia is not Lavian.
Look, these characters are not great.
21 Marach Galthena
Marach and his sister Rapha are often-overlooked characters in the grand tapestry that is Final Fantasy Tactics. They first appear in the latter stages of the third chapter (out of four), and on initial playthroughs, their squabbling can come across as an irrelevant detour on the road to more important things.
Rapha, at least, has at least one highly sympathetic quality. Replays make this clearer, and solidify her as someone to root for from her very first scene. Alas, her brother Marach isn't so fortunate. Or rather, his in-game fortunes detract from his inherent intrigue as a character.
The Galthena siblings, you see, were kidnapped by the deplorable Lord Barrington as infants and raised to serve him with their strange magical powers. But whereas Rapha was subjected to horrible treatment, Marach was groomed as a decorated child soldier. His stubborn refusal to believe his sister makes Malach tough to like.
20 Luso Clemens
The first of two new crossover characters added to Final Fantasy Tactics' 2007 War of the Lions version, Luso Clemens is marginally appreciable in his own game (Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift) and even less compelling here. We get why he shows up; Square's Ivalice Alliance project was in full bloom at the time, and Luso's starring game was en route just a few more months down the line. It was a fun time to be a fan of the world Yasumi Matsuno created, but the happy tone found in Grimoire of the Rift really drives home the fact that Matsuno himself had nothing to do with it.
That's not to say it's a bad game, but there was little War of the Lions' staff could have done to make Luso click within the context of this ravaged and destitute version of Ivalice. He feels like a fish out of water without the fish-out-of-water story to make it work. He's hunting a mark, he bumps into Ramza, and... that's it, really. Use him if you like, because he's kind of fun in fights. But that's the long and short of it.
19 Byblos
As concepts for inexplicable team-ups go, Byblos has the rest of the gang beat. This roaming monster happens to be feeling helpful if the player makes it to the final stage in FFT's optional dungeon, Midlight's Deep. The boss here, Elidibus, is a right menace. Byblos just kind of shows up as a guest character, because why not? Monsters don't have to explain themselves. Just deal with it.
If he survives the encounter, Byblos then joins as a permanent and controllable party member. We dig the oddness here and wonder if a plot was planned for the big guy but never implemented. Who knows? Welcome aboard, Byblos. You're fascinatingly... dull.
18 Orran Durai
Orran, the first guest party member to pop up on our list, is the adopted son of the spectacular Cidolfus Orlandeau and the kind of guy who will write whatever he feels like — to heck with the consequences. In that regard, as games journalists who are well aware that everything we write may be torn apart by social media, we got to say, he's got our vote.
This fellow basically exists because Final Fantasy Tactics' framing device would not exist without him. It's his writings, the Durai Papers, that threaten to expose the Church of Glabados' significant wrongdoings. He's burned to the stake — we learn this during the ending, by the way, what a lovely little by-the-way! — but the Durai Papers are found by his descendant, Arazlam, the game's truth-telling narrator.
17 Goffard Gaffgarion
Goffard Gaffgarion is emblematic of how far Ramza falls between the end of the game's first chapter and the start of its second. He's left behind a "noble" life that had proven to be anything but noble, which is valiant and brave. But in doing so, he's limited his prospects to the point of becoming a common sellsword under the guidance of Gaffgarion, a ruthless man whose only allegiance is to coin.
Getting entangled with Agrias grants Ramza a way off this path, which inevitably sunders his relations with Gaffgarion. From thereon out, Gaffgarion willingly plots to kill his former subordinate; it's nothing personal, it's just good business. He's well-written for what he is, and a decent enough villain in a game that's bursting with solid antagonists.
As an aside, if one were to simultaneously shorthand both his given name and his surname, they would thus refer to the man as Goff Gaff. That's funny, right?
16 Boco
Wiegraf Folles is heralded as one of Final Fantasy's finest foes. He's cunning but not without good cause. He's the working class, the proletariat, rising up against Ivalice's bourgeoisie. It's a tragic moment when Wiegraf gives in and allows the powers of the more one-dimensionally wicked Lucavi overwhelm him in search of glory.
But was Wiegraf's self-inflicted fate not previously telegraphed? Enter Boco, once Wiegraf's proud steed. He rides in on the Chocobo during the climax of the first chapter, and he's dashing, and Boco's dashing (because he can use Chocobo Dash; we're here all week). But then, in Chapter Two, we learn that Wiegraf has seemingly abandoned poor Boco, who is about to be eaten by monsters.
What has gotten into you, Wiegraf? This Chocobo, Boco, who is perfectly ordinary in almost every respect save for his unique name, is still a good boy. We don't abandon good boys, not even in the middle of hard-times revolutions. Come here, Boco. Be safe. You aren't the most captivating character in Final Fantasy Tactics, but that's no reason to throw you to the wolves.
15 Rapha Galthena
We've already covered Marach, alluding to Rapha's tortured upbringing along the way. Barrington's foul treatment of his "adopted daughter" is as rotten as to include sexual assault, so yeah. It's a lot. Rapha endures far worse than Marach, who in turn cannot comprehend what their so-called father has been doing to his sister until he hears it from the fiend's own lips.
Rapha and Marach share a storyline, but whereas Marach's is one of breaking past a blindfold, Rapha must survive terrible things for years before she meets Ramza and gladly joins his side. It's tough to stomach, but it sure is nice to see Barrington knocked off his castle roof moments later. If only the writers had let Rapha herself be the one to give him the push he needed.
14 Reis Duelar
Final Fantasy Tactics sports a number of sidequests, the largest of which by far involves the introduction of two optional characters: Reis Duelar and Beowulf Cadmus. Theirs is a tale of love, and of a vengeful lord named Bremondt Freitberg who wishes Reis would see him with the same misty eyes she reserves for Beowulf.
Don't get us wrong, Bremondt's not remotely sympathetic here. Most people, when they realize a prospective romantinc interest is involved with someone else, will sigh a few times, maybe cry for half an hour if it really stings, and move on with their lives. Not so, Bremondt. Instead, he sends the honorable Beowulf packing from Lionel Castle and even tries to curse the guy into becoming a dragon. Which is, if we're being honest, kind of an awesome curse, but whatever.
Reis leaps forward, taking on the dragon scene so that Beowulf is spared. Eventually, Beowulf meets Ramza, and our ever-reliable hero agrees to help out. Reis is rescued, she gets to swap between human and dragon forms on a whim thanks to Beowulf's aid, and Bremondt turns himself into a dragon who Ramza and Beowulf swiftly kill.
So, Reis is pretty cool, then. She selflessly loves Beowulf and suffers for it until everything's resolved. Happily ever after. She's a ton of fun in combat, but between them — the hero Beowulf and the "prize" Reis — her role isn't really on par with her beau's. Bit of a damsel-in-distress trope, except this damsel can eat you. Props for that.
13 Cloud Strife
Listen, Cloud's a neat dude. He has an entire game to prove that. The man remains a cultural touchstone decades after he stole our hearts jumping off the top of a train. But it would be disingenuous to include all that when this is about Final Fantasy Tactics. We're looking at him through the lens of how he is portrayed in this game, limiting consideration of his elsewhere antics to a footnote. A considerable one, but a footnote nonetheless.
Within the context of his Ivalician appearance, Cloud has a brief, enjoyable story. It's a ton of winks to his more to his additional appearance, but not much else. If you find him the Materia Blade, Cloud can perform some neat and flashy tricks. Does he ever find his way home? Or does this particular Cloud spend the rest of his days in a foreign land? We reckon that's up to you.
12 Construct 8
Hardly forgettable, but factoring into Final Fantasy Tactics via a tangential role in the Beowulf and Reis sidequest, Construct 8 is dealt kind of a bad hand. Its robotic appearance and aptitude plays well in a land that's nearly devoid of such devices, and it's a real hoot when Ramza orders it to attack Mustadio to prove its strength. (Mustadio is swiftly killed, by the looks of things, which leads Ramza to shatter the fourth wall by demanding a Phoenix Down. Mustadio is completely unscathed in future scenes.)
The only time Construct 8 really gets to shine thereafter is in the battle against Construct 7, which occurs further into that same sidequest. But a few more lines don't exactly help to create a complex character. Hey, that's OK. It's enough to imagine Arazlam clearing his throat before spending a few minutes bewildering his listeners while he talks about a sentient robot whose existence was almost certainly not cited in the Durai Papers.
11 Meliadoul Tengille
Now we're getting to the good stuff. Meliadoul's revenge story fits FFT to a tee, with its myriad themes of woeful misunderstandings triggering fatal ambitions. In her case, Meliadoul loses her brother Isilud and buys into the belief that her father, Folmarv, is not a religious zealot and the human host of a deadly demon. This puts her at odds with Ramza, who is framed for Isilud's death when in fact it was their very father whose bloody onslaught did the deed.
While the high tension of battling a headstrong but misguided Meliadoul is memorable in its own right, it's her eventual realization that Ramza is friend, not foe, that cements her as someone to root for. That epiphany brings Meliadoul into direct conflict with her father and his allies, so it's only right to keep her in the party for most of the Final Fantasy Tactics' final stretch.
In the PlayStation version, Meliadoul's unique job class suffered from limitations that were thankfully removed in War of the Lions, so using her in battle no longer feels like lugging around dead weight. Thank goodness.
10 Argath Thadalfus
We know what some of you are thinking. "How is Argath in tenth place? He's awful." Well, that's sort of the point, isn't it? Argath is absolutely vile. His once-proud family's crestfallen nature pushes him to work hard to redeem the Thadalfas name, but he learns all the wrong lessons in the process, or perhaps he's simply rotten to the core and there was no helping it.
Argath thinks of the common folk as cattle. Their protection is his duty, maybe — until it isn't. They're pawns, and Ramza's steadily more altruistic personality disgusts him by extension. As for Delita, well, that relationship was destined for bad places even before Argath ruthlessly orders Delita's sister Tietra slain.
All of this comes to a head when that happens, capping off Chapter One and reinforcing its themes. Ramza comes away from it a changed young man, as does Delita. Argath's revolting behavior leads to his death, though War of the Lions' inclusion of a zombified Argath much later in the game is worth the price of admission if only to see his sudden cowardice in his final words before (re)dying: "Mother... help me." Eat it, you jerk.
9 Alma Beoulve
Alma is ill-fated to a string of kidnappings and imprisonments, be they literal or metaphorical. She spends the vast majority of Final Fantasy Tactics forced to survive the whims of grand schemes and captors of all kinds, from the misled to the truly evil. In most games, Alma would be a total non-starter, a woman whose only contribution to the plot is to be rescued.
Final Fantasy Tactics manages to avoid this almost entirely. How? The key is in a previous sentence: she survives. Alma's spiritual endurance is magnificent; so much so, in fact, that she's the perfect host for Saint Ajora, and thus, Lucavi leader Ultima. It's even stronger, really; she manages to break free from the joining, fighting alongside her brother Ramza in the game's very last battle.
That might not be enough, on paper, to drive home Alma's resilience. She's fierce. There's a certain Sansa Stark in her, for those familiar with A Song of Ice and FIre — in the beginning, she weeps for the injustices of the world, but by the end, she stands tall and actively defies them. Maybe the writing could have afforded to give her a bit more agency, but it works.
8 Balthier Bunansa
We've discussed the importance in this ranking of making sure that crossover characters are considered mainly for the merits of what they bring to this game, not their own. Even so, Balthier remains fantastic. His cutscene is a treat for every Final Fantasy 12 fan alive, his dialogue is as sharp as it ever was in his own Ivalician era, and he's damn near unstoppable in battle.
Balthier, you see, has a unique command called Barrage. Tap into it, and this leading man fires his gun four times in a row. There's a 50 percent reduction in damage per shot, but clearly it doubles his firepower overall. Sacrifice his long-range potential, however, and if you find the sword called Chaosbringer in Midlight's Deep? Equip Balthier with that brutal blade, trigger Barrage, and you'll have pulled off the single highest damage output in the entire game.
Plus, he's a thief. The Sky Pirate job class combines the best of both Thief and Machinist, so he's the perfect unit to snag the best treasure Ivalice has to offer. Yeah, Balthier's blitzing.
7 Beowulf Cadmus
Beowulf is Reis' bold lover, a man on a mission to cure her curse so that they can spend the rest of their days together. Once he's done so, Beowulf and Reis defeat the nefarious Bremondt so that they're genuinely safe to settle down. None of this can happen without Ramza's aid, but that's par for the course with this game.
The reason we consider Beowulf to be a much better character, qualitatively, than his lover is that we see things through his eyes far more than hers. Beowulf's got drive, and he tosses in a few unexpectedly funny lines along the way. His presence remains confined to optional content, but it's felt for the bulk of it and gladly welcomed.
6 Mustadio Bunansa
Mustadio is a swell dude. He's kindhearted and immensely talented with the mysterious mechanical contraptions of a bygone civilization. He joins Ramza's retinue early in Chapter Two, making him one of the first permanently playable characters, and he has much to say in a goodly number of cutscenes for a time.
More than any defining trait, it's Mustadio's persistence as a character that makes him work. He factors into FFT to an extent that most party members don't and his continued recruitment is mandatory for the bulk of the game's sidequests, giving Mustadio a rare second wind of sorts whereas most of Ramza's controllable cohorts just kind of fade into silence once they're yours to command.
5 Cidolfas Orlandeau
Spoilers: further doubt was brooked.
Orlandeau is famous to the point of infamy in Final Fantasy fan circles. Before War of the Lions tossed in Balthier, he was inarguably the most powerful unit in the game. Even now, it's terrifyingly close. Mustadio may tinker with machines all day long, but there is a figurative machine named Cidolfas 'Thunder God Cid' Orlandeau who probably could have obliterated the entire civilization of Goug all on his own if given half the chance.
Better yet, Orlandeau's a great character with some of Final Fantasy Tactics' strongest scenes. Though he's been sworn to defend Duke Druksmald Goltanna for decades, Orlandeau's passion for honor and the common good keeps him from following his lord's less defensible ambitions later in life. After springing the veteran soldier from prison, Ramza needn't do a bit of convincing; Orlandeau immediately offers his service, knowing Ramza to be on the right side of history with a single glance and a memory of the lad as a sword-loving toddler. (D'aww.)
Delita's schemes paint Cidolfas Orlandeau as a traitor, the slayer of Goltanna who shamelessly fled the crime. A sad fate for a superb man, but maybe not a final one — Orlandeau is Orran Durai's adoptive father, after all, and surely Durai descendant Arazlam's testament to the disgraced knight's true actions would clear his good name in the generations to come.