130. Discovering The Esper (VI)
'Wh-where's that light coming from!?'
The prologue of Final Fantasy VI is a short and sweet affair, but it sets up the start of the game's storyline in a highly effective and awe-inspiring manner. It sees two soldiers of the Gestahlian Empire (which has been slowly conquering the world) named Biggs and Wedge accompany an unknown woman to the town of Narshe, where a magical being has been found frozen in the settlement's mining complex. They soon find this creature, only to see its magical energy react to the appearance of the woman, who is enslaved and forced to act against her will by a magical crown on her head. The reaction kills Biggs and Wedge (who despite lasting for less than an hour have seen characters sharing their names appear in almost every game since), but the woman survives unscathed, waking up free from mind control as an amnesiac in the house of a man named Arvis. She remembers only two things the crown being placed on her head and used to make her kill fifty soldiers as a test of its power, as well as her name Terra. Thus players were introduced to the series' first ever female leading character (for the first half of the game, at least), and one of the best.
129. Gaffgarion Turns Traitor (T)
'A change of plans...but a contract is a contract, after all!'
Final Fantasy Tactics begins with main character Ramza in the company of a group of mercenaries led by the excellently-named Goffard Gaffgarion. They are tasked with the protection of a Princess named Ovelia, who is soon kidnapped by Ramza's former friend Delita. A long introductory flashback chapter then fleshes out the details of how the two came to be adversaries and how Ramza, the youngest son of the noble House Beoulve, came to forsake his livelihood and become a sellsword, before returning to the present. Gaffgarion, Ramza and Ovelia's bodyguard Agrias attempt to track down the Princess, with the latter two unaware of the fact that Gaffgarion actually took on his mission with the intention of killing her, being complicit in a plot formulated by Ramza's elder half-brother Dycedarg to facilitate the accession of the infant Prince Orinus to the throne and allow Duke Larg (the brother of the Kingdom's widowed Queen and superior of Dycedarg and Ramza's other half-brother Zalbaag in an organisation known as the Order of the Northern Sky) to rule Ivalice as regent. His treachery is revealed when the trio catch up to Delita (who is ostensibly working for Larg's rival Duke Goltanna and his organisation, the Order of the Southern Sky) and his captive, where Ramza opts to support Agrias and the relinquished Ovelia, turning on his commander and fighting him in battle, though Gaffgarion escapes with his life intact for the time being. It's just one of many excellently-written plot twists in Final Fantasy Tactics' narrative, instilling players with the belief that nobody can be trusted as the game's assorted political machinations unravel.
128. Bombing Mission (VII)
'That should keep the planet going... at least a little longer'
Before it gets global in scale and pits the player party against the wrath of Sephiroth, Final Fantasy VII initially focuses on AVALANCHE, a small 'terrorist' organisation that opposes the Shinra Company in the city of Midgar. Their hostility is a result of their disapproval of the environmentally destructive practices of the corporation, which has become the world's foremost economic, military and political power as a result of their monopolisation of the global energy market. At the beginning of the game, group leader Barret (who also holds a personal grudge against the company) is accompanied by operatives Biggs, Wedge and Jessie on a mission to destroy an energy reactor powered by Mako, a substance of limited quantity that originates from the Lifestream (the source of life, as well as the emotions, memory and knowledge of the dead) that flows beneath the planet. Also accompanying them is the mercenary Cloud, a supposedly former member of an elite military unit of Shinra called SOLDIER (which infuses its members with Mako to enhance their abilities), though he is initially motivated solely by his paycheque. Despite his apathetic view of the mission, Cloud forms a destructive partnership with Barret as they fight their way to the reactor and set explosives, escaping in time from what becomes an inferno (and a sight to behold) as players get their first taste of the series' Playstation debut.
127. Blank Gets Petrified (IX)
'The entire forest is coming after us!'
Heavily damaged by Queen Brahne's cannons in its escape from Alexandria at the beginning of Final Fantasy IX, the theatre ship belonging to the band of thieves known as Tantalus isn't long for the skies after it clears the city, crashing into the aptly-named Evil Forest. Though the people aboard suffer from some cuts and bruises, everybody appears to be present and correct apart from Garnet, the Princess that the group have kidnapped. Lead character Zidane wishes to search for her, given her importance (as well as the crush on her that he has quickly developed), but is at first overruled by his leader, Baku, whose foremost objective is to find a safe way out of the forest and ensure the wellbeing of his men. Besting Baku in a sparring contest, Zidane earns the right to head into the forest to look for Garnet, forming an uneasy alliance with the royal knight Steiner and the black mage Vivi, both of whom were inadvertently aboard the ship when it took off, to do so. The trio succeed in locating her, engaging a plant monster that has taken her captive but struggling to overcome it until Blank, one of Zidane's thief 'brothers', makes a timely appearance to help them achieve victory. Such an action has unexpected consequences, however, as the creature's demise makes the forest gradually turn to stone. As the group, encumbered by the injured Princess, flee, Blank opts to sacrifice himself to ensure the safety of his companions, becoming petrified along with the rest of the forest. Events later on in the game bring him back into the fray, but such a dramatic action so early on more than adequately sets the tone for what is to come.
126. Bahamut Battle (AC)
'Are we having fun yet, huh?'
Final Fantasy VII featured an unprecedented three versions of Bahamut, the legendary summon, incorporating the original King of Dragons himself as well as new strains called Neo Bahamut and Bahamut ZERO. The game's cinematic sequel, Advent Children, opted to go one further, adding a fourth strain to the Compilation known as Bahamut SIN. Inevitably, this is summoned by the film's villains, a trio who refer to themselves as Kadaj, Yazoo (Last seen in 1982 with smash hit 'Don't Go') and Loz, against Cloud and his allies, who reunite during the course of the film to oppose the threat posed by the three. Given the high standard of CGI involved, the battle between the group and the dragon (who appears more scarred and demonic in appearance than his predecessors) is nothing short of sublime, even if everybody nonsensically gains the ability to levitate/fly in order to fight it. It is eventually bested after being hit by one of Cloud's Limit Breaks, but not before each of his allies has made their presence in the film known by unleashing their all upon it. Crisis Core would later add a fifth version of the dragon to the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII called Bahamut Fury, though owing to the game's PSP-standard graphics, the battle with it is nowhere near as visually impressive.