Top 5 Final Fantasy Quotes

Great, memorable quotes are plentiful in a story-driven game series like Final Fantasy, so I thought I would dedicate a list to the five most memorable and significant lines in the franchise. Obviously, this was incredibly hard to do considering the wealth of content I had to choose from, but I ultimately narrowed it down with confidence. Now, these are just my own choices (and some of the entries are unorthodox) so there's no need to take this list to heart. Now then...


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5. Everything Balthier Says (Final Fantasy XII)

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"The Ifrit is playing with fire, and I'd rather not get burned"

"Hmph. I daresay I've soiled my cuffs. If a dungeon's waiting for us at the end of the night, it had best have a change of wardrobe."

"With each passing day, the world finds new and exciting ways to kill a man"

Final Fantasy XII's cast of characters received mixed reactions from fans, but everyone agreed on one thing: Balthier was awesome. He was definitely the most likable character in the game, and part of that had to do with his suave attitude. Almost everything he says in the game is a witty and memorable quote. "The Ifrit is playing with fire, and I'd rather not get burned"? Wow, did he just make a summon monster reference? Don't think that's ever been done before. Gotta respect him for that. 

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4. "You spoony bard!" - Tellah (Final Fantasy IV)
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This quote is significant for the Final Fantasy series because of its notoriety and meme status. "You spoony bard" is known throughout the internet as a comical and somewhat ridiculous insult. While 'spoony' is in fact a word, its use in FFIV was most likely due to a bad translation effort. Now, the phrase is so iconic that they've left it in other releases of the game. But seriously, I enjoyed this quote even before it became a meme. There's just such a silliness to the phrase; it's practically a part of what gives FFIV its old-school charm. That is reason enough to warrant its place on this list.


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3. "You are just a puppet... You have no heart... and cannot feel any pain... How can there be any meaning in the memory of such a being?" - Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)
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The intricacy of FFVII's plot is owed to its subtle execution of Cloud's identity crisis. As players, we're never quite sure if Cloud's stories are a reliable source of information. He seems to confuse certain bits of his own past, and he constantly battles with his subconscious. Then, during a fateful encounter with Sephiroth, the "truth" is revealed: "You are just a puppet. You have no heart". As a first-timer, I was shocked and bewildered. Have we been playing as a lifeless puppet this whole time?

Eventually, we learn that Sephiroth was merely trying to deceive Cloud in an attempt to break him down. The truth is learned, but only after Cloud aids Sephiroth in summoning Meteor and ends up in a wheelchair after suffering a severe bout of Mako poisoning. It's frightening to know just how close Sephiroth was to achieving his goals, all through the use of a few stinging words.


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2. "Life...Dreams...Hope...Where'd they come from? And where are they headed? These things...I'm going to destroy!!!" - Kefka (Final Fantasy VI)
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I won't hesitate in saying that Kefka is quite possibly the greatest villain in Final Fantasy. His boundless insanity allowed him to step on absolutely everything on his way to world destruction, and all of his efforts were purely for the sake of watching people suffer. He's the perfect irredeemable villain in that regard. And, as if destroying the world wasn't enough, he comes down from the sky in a god-like form, and delivers this line: "Life...Dreams...Hope...Where'd they come from? And where are they headed? These things...I'm going to destroy!!!"

Not content with destroying lives and civilizations, Kefka expresses his desire to see concepts of reality destroyed as well. That is true megalomania, expressed perfectly through this chilling declaration.


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1.  "This is it. This...is your story. It all begins here." - Auron (Final Fantasy X)
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"This is your story". Such a simple line, yet so significant. This is what Auron tells Tidus during Sin's attack on Zanarkand. It works so well because it's as if Auron is speaking directly to the player. As Tidus trudges trough the unfamiliar land of Spira, we experience and shape his journey through our own decisions, effectively making it our "story" as well. Perhaps this is what makes FFX such an amazing game in the first place; the narrative style allows the player to walk in the main character's shoes and feel immersed in the experience. Through Auron's foreboding words, we're made aware of that fact.

In the end, it's the simplicity of the quote coupled with its enormous effect that compels me to name this the single most memorable line in the Final Fantasy series. If you don't agree with me...well, there's always the comment space. What quote from the series stood out to you?