Summary
EveryFinal Fantasygame is simultaneously the best and worst in the series, as the fanbase is so big and can be so divisive that each game has earned a fair number of admirers and haters. For example,Final Fantasy 7is perhaps the most successful entry in the series, but players weaned onSNES classicslikeFF4, or those who came in viaFF10orFF15, might not have seen what the hype was about.
Yet many more enjoyed its Materia-fiddling gameplay, its head-twisting story, and its endearing characters. Particularly Tifa Lockhart, the bar owner-turned-brawler who responds to random encounters with her fists. She’s become so popular that she’s turned up in all sorts ofFFgames, including ones that put her back in the player’s hands.
Starting with her debut,Final Fantasy 7made her the equivalent of the old Monk class, as she’s all about fisticuffs. Players can give her claws and different gloves to bolster her strikes, but she’s overall about giving her party’s different threats blunt force trauma. In terms of physical strength, she’sthe strongest woman in the game, and the 3rd strongest character overall, just behind Cloud and Barret.
Though it’s made some players over the years think she’s more pugnacious in personality as well. While she’s definitely no wilting flower, she still has her share of character flaws to face up to. She’s more emotionally dependent on Cloud, to the point where she lets him believe what he liked despite knowing better herself. By contrast, Aerith is blunter and has more of an attitude than her staff-waving would suggest.
Still, Tifa’s sheer strength and pretty design made her popular, effectively turning her into the Chun Li ofFF. So, when Square-Enix madeDissidia 012 Final Fantasy, the second of theirDissidiabrawling-based spin-offs, it was perhaps no surprise that Tifa would become the nextFF7representative in the game.
This time, she’s all about feinting her strikes to bait her opponents into leaving themselves open. She can cancel out her attacks at different times to keep them guessing. Though, likeFF7, her players need luck on their side too, as her EX Burst Attack is her Final Heaven Limit Break. This time, if her slot machine-style reels hit right, she’ll blitz her opponents to bits. If not, the results will be less favorable.
Dissidiawas essentially an arena fighter, though it still requires getting to grips with RPG mechanics to get ahead. So, fans likely figured theTheatrhythm Final Fantasygames weren’t just going to beElite Beat Agentswith Cecil, Tidus, and Celes pottering about. It was more like a classic RPG battle where players had to hit the beats to get ahead, complete with stats to raise after each event.
Tifa made it into every game of the series, but she was originally a DLC character for the (now delisted) iOS port of the original game. The sequels,Curtain CallandAll-Star Carnival, made up for that by giving players two Tifa variants: her OG look and herAdvent Childrendesign. She can even do her Final Heaven attack again too, provided players can keep up with the music.
8Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Solve Puzzles to Help Tifa Clear Out the Dungeons
Players today can still see what Tifa can offer inDissidiaandTheatrhythm, even if it means breaking out old hardware like a PSP or 3DS. ForPictlogica Final Fantasy, they’d need to import a Japanese 3DS, or an old Japanese iOS/Android smartphone, as the game was exclusive to the Land of the Rising Sun until it was delisted from their respective app stores back in 2019.
It was a straight-up combo of RPG elements with dot logic puzzles, as players moved their parties (4 members and a backup buddy) against hordes of monsters. They then had to solve different puzzles based on lining and arranging dots the right way. The faster they did it, the quicker their Limit gauge would charge to pull off big attacks.
‘Playable’ is a relative term when it comes toFinal Fantasy: All the Bravest. If players were blessed by the gacha gods, they’d get a 16-bit sprite of Tifa to add to their party, where she could Beat Rush or Somersault her foes into submission. Otherwise, they’d likely end up with any of the other classicFFcharacters. Some of which they likely already had to begin with too.
ThoughPictlogiawould test the brain,FF: AtBfelt more brainless, as players basically threw whoever they had on their side against their enemy parties. No strategy and no summon selections. Just chucking whichever characters they had against the wall. If they died, players would have to wait an hour for them to heal or pay real cash for an instant heal hourglass. Needless to say,it wasn’t received well.
6Final Fantasy Record Keeper
The Brawling Bartender’s Slightly Better Gacha Appearance
FF: AtBwas considered an embarrassing fiasco for its shameless money-grubbing, yet it lasted for a whole decade in the app stores, only getting delisted back in 2023. By contrast, the more consideredFinal Fantasy Record Keepermanaged 7 years, letting players useFF: AtB’s neat sprites in an actual RPG, with dungeon crawling and Active Time Battles and everything.
Players didn’t need to pay and pray to get Tifa either. Well, eventually. At first, players could only get her if they took part in special events or used a special item in the Hall of Records. But eventually, players could get her and Cloud by beating the Mako Reactor N.o.5 dungeon. She’s similar to herFF7incarnation, only she has more HP to make up for her lacking defense stats.
Tifa is technically playable inFinal Fantasy Explorers, which is surely the best kind of playable character around. It was an original multiplayer RPG for the 3DS that saw players explore an islandMonster Hunterstyle, but with a job system to diversify each party member’s gameplay, and a variant on the Trance systemfromFinal Fantasy 9.
In that game, players gained a powered-up form where they did 1.5x their regular damage. InFFE, the original characters turn into classicFFsummons and characters, depending on whether they have the right magicite. If they used Trance 50 times, they’d turn into Tifa on their next go, and use ‘Final Heavan’ (sic) to give foes a single, hard, light-infused punch.
If fans didn’t want their main lady to be reduced to a glorified summon,Final Fantasy Brave Exviusmade her a properly playable character. Sometimes. The game was basically a crossover between the classic RPG series and A-Lim’sBrave Frontierseries, complete with its Chain system where players could combine their commands into one long barrage.
Tifa turns up in both the original game andWar of the Visions, its sequel, as an optional playable character and a Vision, a physical manifestation of thoughts and feelings. She comes in her OG,Advent Childrenand AVALANCHE guises, each offering different stats and rewards if players gain enough of her trust.
3Mobius Final Fantasy
Tifa Goes From Gambling Slots to Slinging Cards
TheFFgames aren’t any strangers to dealing in cards, as people who got way intoFF8’s Triple Triad may remember. So, Square Enix decided to go back to card games withMobius Final Fantasy, where players tried to save the world of Palamecia from the armies of Chaos by putting together the right deck for the job.
It largely follows a cast of original characters, but December 2018 saw Tifa Lockheart get added to the game as its Ultimate Monk Hero. She offered a wide range of hard-hitting attacks, complete with perks that boosted EXP gain and attack power. Not that everyone got to try her out, as the game was delisted in Belgium and Korea in November 2018, 2 years before it ended for the rest of the world.
2015 was the year pigs flew, as that’s when Square-Enix announced they would actually remakeFF7with modern graphics and gameplay. Though it would take another five years forFinal Fantasy 7 Remaketo be finished, and even then, it only covered the first of the OG game’s three discs. Real-time gameplay and graphics came at a cost.
What got some fans in a tizzy was Tifa’s slightly redesigned look, where she gained a black undershirt and more realistic proportions, so to speak. Clothes aside, she looked almost the same as herAdvent Childrenmodel. There was just something about her cartoony, busty look that got them more attached than Cloud’s old Popeye arms. Still, they could alwayschange them with mods.
