Tifa Lockheart- Final Fantasy VIII really don’t get why everybody has to give my girl the grief!! Yeah, she was a flake when she was a kid- for pity’s sake, who wasn’t? (Yeah… I know, Aegis wasn’t. But she doesn’t count.) The point is Tifa had her act pulled together even before her town went nuclear- or did no one notice that she was taking martial arts lessons from Zangan and guiding the SOLDIER contingent up the mountain? Yeah, that same mountain her father never wanted her to set foot on again after she hurt herself when she was little? She has her own life apart from Cloud, but genuinely wants to help him. She could have walked away when she found him at the train station- but she didn’t. Anyway, not what I wanted to say- I wanted to say that Tifa is an awesome fighter- not a crybaby flake.
"Of course! If you take me lightly, you're gonna pay for it!!"
Akia- Skies of Arcadia
The female pirate! Argh! Akia is literally the girl next door for Vyse- but manages to spice things up with her own personality- for instance, although she has a teddy bear in her room, if you examine her stove, Vyse comments that it has been blackened because Akia keeps throwing gunpowder into it to watch it explode. Akia has a strong personality, she’s happiest when she’s doing something with Vyse, particularly discovering new things, stealing, or other Blue Rouge behavior. Akia kind of drew the short stick in the game though- Fina comes down from the Silver Shrine and Vyse falls head over heels for her. Tough luck- but if anyone is strong enough to get over this unintentional rejection, it’s Akia.
"Some dead guy is having a big laugh at us."
Kid- Chrono CrossKid, Schala “Kid” Zeal, the game calls her. Forget the game, her name is Kidd. Kidd is quite frankly, one of my favorite characters of all time. A member of the Radical Dreamers, Kidd is a cunning thief with a personal grudge against a demi-human known as Lynx. Really, Kidd is the one who motivates Serge throughout the game- it’s Kidd who rescues him when he gets cornered by the game’s version of the Ghostbusters, and its Kidd who clues him in that Viper Manor might hold some of the answers he’s looking for. Every time Serge doesn’t know what to do, Kidd already has a plan. That’s why she is NOT Schala. I played Chrono Trigger. I met Schala- and she was a passive wuss. There is no way that Kidd would submit to that kind of person. Ever. Two quotes for Kidd!
“I’ll kick your arse so hard you’ll kiss the moons!”
“Ex-cuse me?! You’re just going to leave a poor defenseless girl like me to travel alone?!”
Elena- Grandia II
While Millenia takes the cake for sheer toughness, Elena is a close second to her evil doppelganger. You’d never know it to look at her, but Elena is stubborn, quite capable of sticking up for herself and sometimes downright rude. As a “Songstress of Granas” she works as the conscience for the group of misfits on their way to the Papal state- which has poor Ryudo grousing that they can’t possibly stop to rescue every kitten stuck up a tree. Despite their frequent disagreements, it’s obvious to anyone with eyes that these two love each other. All in all, Elena is one of my favorite people that I classify as “White Mage.” To me, white mages are fairly worthless. Give me a fighter, not someone to stand in the back and cast slow. If the enemy is dead, status effects aren’t needed.
Since I can’t find anything better… one of Ryudo and Elena’s arguments.
Ryudo: Whoa there, gumshoe! I don't recall 'hunting down reawakening God of Evil' as being part of my job description.
Elena: Saving those in need is the duty of those who follow Granas. I will not ignore my duty, Ryudo, and I most certainly not ignore these people. We must aid them!
Ryudo: Now you're just being stubborn. Let's try to be rational here. One: I'm not being paid. I repeat that - I AM NOT BEING PAID.
Beatrix- Final Fantasy IX Just a quick blurb on Beatrix- she halfway irks me, and I halfway like her. She’s entirely loyal to the queen of Alexandria, which makes her your enemy for the first half of the game. During this first half, you must fight her, a battle I compare to fighting a female Sephiroth when you’re at level 7. There is no way to beat her. And then, when you get to briefly play as her- her attacks aren’t nearly that strong. Also, also! She stole one of Cloud’s attacks! Climhazard! Totally belongs to Cloud! Sadly, this limited-time offer character is pretty much the strongest female in the game. Don't get me wrong, I like Dagger and Eiko, and Freya is okay, but none of them have the presence that Beatrix has- the one that tells you up front that they are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.
"I commend your courage, but I will show you no mercy."
Yuffie Kisgard - Final Fantasy VII
The ninja-girl of FF7, ah, Yuffie… you cost me so much… my dignity, my self-respect… my gil! Getting this girl into your party is a pain in the butt, in which any wrong answer to any of her prompts will result in her stealing some gil. Your gil, to be precise. And then, if you get the urge to go exploring and find Wutai, she steals ALL OF YOUR MATERIA! And engages you in a LONG subquest to get it all back. Still, you’ve got to admire the kid- she was 14, and tagged along with everyone else out to save the world, even braving her travel sickness for the sake of people she couldn’t admit to being friends with. Somehow I see her and Red XIII getting along very well- they’re the only two teenagers out on this crazy ride after all.
Yuffie: Cloud, sign this.
Cloud: What is it?
Yuffie: It's a contract that says when the war is over, all the materia will belong to me.
