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In recent years,Final Fantasyhas had fewer party members than in the past. Final Fantasy 15 had four - putting it alongside the first three games in the series - and Final Fantasy 16 made the bold (read: divisive) shift to a single playable character in a full-blown action-RPG format.
But throughout the history of the franchise, we’ve seen some pretty beefy party counts. Call it nostalgia for times past, label it a simple exercise in arithmetic, whatever casts Float on your boat, but we’re answering this question one way or another.
Please note that, even in the non-mainline section of this article, we won’t be counting Final Fantasy’s mobile installments. Put plainly, things get downright silly once we invite Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia into the mix: as of this writing, the game sits at an astonishing 140 playable characters. Rather, we’re focusing on the mainline titles and the core (console/PC/etc) spinoffs. If you wanted the widest-ranging answer, though, there you go!
The Mainline Final Fantasy With The Most Playable Characters
Straight to the point: the mainline Final Fantasy game with the largest number of playable characters isFinal Fantasy 6. How many playable characters Final Fantasy 6 possesses, however, is a bit more complicated. In terms ofparty members who join you full-time(we won’t get into the weeds over the World of Ruin), there are14.
Once you toss in temporary characters, the number explodes to30. In addition to the main party members, we’re now includingBiggs, Wedge, Banon, ??????(the ghost),andall ten Moogles.
Yes, ten Moogles! Not counting Mog, since he joins ‘for real’ later on, there are a total of ten Moogles from his tribe that can be controlled by the player during the short sequence at the beginning of the game wherein Terra is unconscious, and Locke gets some furry little help to keep her safe from the Empire’s soldiers.
The Final Fantasy Game With The Most Playable Characters, Counting Spinoffs
Once we exit the realm of strictly numbered entries, new challengers emerge.Final Fantasy Tactics, for example, has18(as of War of the Lions),with a total of 24 counting slots for non-unique units. If we branch into the fighting game spinoff space,Dissidia 012 Final Fantasycomes off strongly with31 playable characters, narrowly edging out Final Fantasy 6’s all-considerations mainline record.
Depending on how you choose to look at things,this either gives Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy the crown, or the crown goes to Final Fantasy 4: The After Years instead. Not counting theunnamed characters whose only identification is by Job Class, this (rather controversial) direct sequel to the acclaimed FF4 has27 playable charactersthroughout its chapter-based approach.
Should you deign to count White Mage, Black Mage, all three Monks, and all three Guards,Final Fantasy 4: The After Years shoots up to 33. We realize we’re being picky in not counting the mobile gacha games, but those are just in another league, and more of a collect-o-thon in some ways. As mentioned earlier, though, the unrivaled winner there would be Dissidia Opera Omnia, with 140 characters and climbing.
