The Complete Evolution of The "Four Fiends" Part 1 (Final Fantasy I - VI)
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2018
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Ever since their introduction in the original Final Fantasy, the Four Fiends (Lich, Kraken, Tiamat and Marilith) have featured quite heavily throughout the rest of the franchise. It hasn't always been as you might expect though!
Indeed, as the franchise progressed to Final Fantasy II (Zombie Borghen, Tiamat, Astaroth, Beelzebub), there was a very different interpretation of the Trope. And by the time we got onto Final Fantasy IV (Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia and Rubicante) and Final Fantasy V (Gilgamesh), things had started to flourish and take a rather different turn.
Join us, as we delve into the intricacies of the Four Fiends trope and how it has been put into play throughout the history of the franchise, starting with Final Fantasy I through to Final Fantasy VI.
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In this video, we will be covering different interpretations of the Four Fiends:
- Final Fantasy I (Lich, Kraken, Tiamat, Marilith)
- Final Fantasy II (Zombie Borghen, Tiamat, Astaroth, Beelzebub)
- Final Fantasy III (Titan, Land Turtle, Kraken, Salamander, Ahriman, Two-Headed Dragon, Echidna, Cerberus)
- Final Fantasy IV (Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia, Rubicante)
- Final Fantasy V (Gilgamesh)
- Final Fantasy VI (Ultros, Goddess, Fiend, Demon, Ultima Weapon, Tower of Kefka) 
Игры
This video has been an absolute fiend to pull together...! Yes, that's a terrible pun, but it's just such an expansive topic and it's for that reason that we decided to split it up into two parts. We hope you enjoy this part and are excited for part two as the interpretation of the Four Fiends gets even more interesting with the newer games! Hopefully we'll be able to share it soon. ~Darryl/Lauren/Chris
"An absolute fiend"
That pun was made by Chris for sure... x'D
Do you plan on recaping the brave exvius story at some point?
You should probably establish that *every* one of the original Four Fiends were all D&D monsters. Liches are undead wizards of extreme power, quite iconic in D&D, Mariliths are also called type 5 demons, and also just Mariliths, and their design is nearly identical. Kraken are, of course, in D&D, and there was some similarity between their designs, specific to those too. Tiamat is of course, you know, the most iconic evil god of D&D. You kind of understated D&D's influence.
Will you analyze Final Fantasy 12's four fiendish battles, if they realistically exist (kind of stretching it but the boss fights against Judges could be fiendish battles I'm not inclined to defend my argument however).
@@firetarrasque4667 Saying that they are all from D&D annoys me a little bit. While it is possible they are all D&D inspired, most things in D&D (including all of those) are based on actual mythology.
Well hey now. Let's not get carried away. Rubicante makes it extremely clear that it was Lugae who turned Edge's parents into chimerae. Rubicante would never do something like that because battles must be fought with honor. Now come, let me heal your wounds so that you may fight me at full strength.
BlackKnightJack
Yea man. Rubicante is a total boss!!!
Damn it, I just typed this exact thing.
Stopped the video to make this very comment. He was one of the hardest bad guys but damn if I didn't respect him.
@@johnnyscifi a boss is exactly what Rubicante is
Was about to say: they chose the screenshot which explicitly says that he had no hand in the perversion of Edge's parents! How they fudged that one is a mystery, haha.
The fiends from IV are my favorite. That whole game struck a chord with me while growing up. Although Gilgamesh is my favorite FF character.
I respect your opinion. The 4 fiends are much better designed than the simple L, K, M, and T
@@HolyFlare484 you can hardly say they’re simple
My first full FF was a FFIV cartridge I got with my GBA. I played it at first because I had nothing else, but as I followed the story and the plot I grew to love it.
4 blew me away! And the fiends personality had gravitas.
Rubi fought with such honor, that it was just such an awesome bit of extra plot.
"Rubicante was the worst. Destroying the kingdom of Eblan and turning Edge's parents into chimerea."
Imma stop you right there. That was Leugea's doing. Rubicante is honorable as Hell. He heals you before both fights with him!
Even tho the fight with him..... is pathetic as crap
The 1st elemental lord was challenging
The 2nd elemental was meh
The 3rd elemental is hard without Kain help
And Rubicante..... was pathetic
@@renokyrieliumgodofvoid8330 That depends. Which version are you talking about? I played the DS version. Which was hard as hell. So much so that I never beat it.
In the DS version Rubicante is very hard particularly because Inferno does way more damage than it should. Lugae, however, was absolutely insufferable because he has Reversal Gas which he doesn't have in any 2D rendition.
I was about to point that out too. Though it was done under his watch, and he feels dishonor due to it. /splits hairs
Aight, I'mma head out
i seriously don't understand why you guys don't have a more fitting number of subs to your on-going production quality. Dunno how long i am already subbed to you, but you guys keep delivering the finest FF-Franchise nerdgasm content you could wish for on RUclips.
My favourite iteration of the 4 fiends will always be the fiends of FFIV, they were the first time the fiends felt completely integral to the story, and the gimmicks to the fights were also fun. It also helps that FFIV DS is my favourite mainline entry.
Titan was in the first Final Fantasy, but not as an enemy. You had to give him a ruby to pass through his cave.
Yep, in fact his cave was called Titan's Cave.
Wasn't the encounter rate like a battle every few steps in thr titan cave?
@@nfguk9633 Nah. That was a specific part of the first floor of the Earth Cave and it had encounters with Giants every step.
@@fouronetwo813 ahh thank you I remember it from when the PlayStation release first came out so my memory is foggy :p
@@nfguk9633 No problem. It's fresh in my mind. I'm replaying it right now.
(14:58) Umm.... Dr. Lugae morphed his parents. Not Rubicante. Seriously, reading the subtitles here,He’s literally telling Edge it’s Lugae’s fault.
Hey Sigurd the Trigurd Knt of Chalphy, thanks for commenting! Yes, that's a goof on our side in terms of the delivery. It was more that until that moment Edge thought that Rubicante was the one who was responsible. Hope that clarifies! ~Darryl
Final Fantasy Union
Alright then.
Also, you dont fight the "medley" of fiends in the final dungeon in FFIV
#RubicanteDidNothingWrong
Sigurd the Trigurd Knt of Chalphy
Totally
Actually, in the 3d version of FF3, the Djinn serves more as the fiend for the wind crystal than the land turtle, since in the 3d version you don't actually restore the crystal and thus, get your jobs until beating the Djinn.
"...turning his parents into horrible monsters"
Shows images of Rubicante stating the exact opposite.
Yeah if memory serves he was furious that Lugae did that seeing it as dishonorable and an insult
@@TheSilverPhoenix100 Rubicante is one of my favorite Archfiends... He even aids Edge in death, teaching him the Inferno spell in an apparition... So freaking cool.
@@Gazing-09 Makes you think about the difference between Rubicante’s inferno and Ifrit’s hellfire.
This is what happens when an editor notices a speaker’s mistake, lol.
FFIV was certainly my favorite in general and in regard to the 4 fiends
Well, for sure because the 4 fields have their theme music, first time in the series.
Growing up my siblings and I played a game called Legend of Dragoon since then I loved elemental type powers such as fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness love them all.
Loved Dragoons. Played that game with my brother and best friend. That game does not get the love and respect it deserves
@@Hiphop4life7083 True that
Legend of the Dragoon was my far one of my favorite RPGs of all time.
ruclips.net/video/dLMQuYbh4q8/видео.html
I am loving all the research y'all are putting into and presenting! The 4 fiends in FFIV are my favorite and the music has a lot to do with it. I like the idea of the Warring Triad and Atma being Kefka's 4 fiends.
Awesome idea for a series, I’ll be checking out some more of these videos, great job!
I think FFVI also subverted the four fiends trope with Kefka, Leo, Celes, and Terra being the four lieutenants of the "big bad" Emperor.
Or Cid in replace of Terra
Hang on I'll be right back but first I suddenly have the urge to listen to the Four Fiends theme from FF4 about 19 times ok brb
That game had amazing music
This has quickly turned into one of my fav YT channels, because of these evolution vidoes.
Oooh, so THIS was the evolution video!
Interesting topic!
...
The LAND TURTLE guards the WIND crystal?
*WHAT?*
Great video. Final Fantasy is my favorite series. Wondering when you guys will make a part 2. Would love more evolution's on more Jobs/classes and summons.
I hope you touch on Final Fantasy Dimensions. The enemy empire has two tiers of elemental human generals, some of whom are fairly well fleshed out as characters.
Love that game
Amazing video! Great work
Man you guys deserve so many more subs. Love ur guys content.
Ultros is so funny, who could hate that goofy face?
when you said you'd be going into MMOs, I lost it! Yes! Can't wait for pt2.
I can’t see any significant connection to the monsters you have compared with the four fiends, but I really liked this video. Looking forward to watching the next one!!
I was waiting for Gilgamesh' jumping through dimensions and delivering a "Bartz?" monologue after you beat him in FFIV The After Years.
The FF4 fiends were definately the best. They even have a theme song named after them which is the best boss fight song ever!
And they have actual personality and connections with our protagonists
The cute panning and slow zooms used on each still-image somehow looks hilarious combined with the Millenial British accents. A random REAL documentary about video games: Overall soothing voiced and well researched with receipts.
I just came here as soon as I finished my 6.2 patch on FFXIV
Really great series of videos :)
Really interesting the origin of the trope in Japanese/Asian religion and mythology. Now you mention it. There are four lord's souls in Dark Souls as well. Each representative of a big bad. Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight. Gravelord Nito, the First of the Dead. The Witch of Izalith. Furtive Pygmy. All possessing a soul of a Lord. As for the Generals of Gwyn himself, you have Nito, Witch of Izalith, The Four Kings (technically one...) and Seath the Scaleless... *Deepest lore*
Nito is lord of the dead = Lich
Witch of Izalith created the chaos flame and pyromancy = Marilith of Fire
The Four kings live underwater in the flooded ruins of New Londo = Kraken of Water
Seath the Scaleless is a dragon in a crystal cave = Tiamat of Wind
I wouldn't try to make much sense out of Dark Souls lore. I've wasted way too much time trying to figure out what's actually going on.
The first point, sure. The second point...not at all. Nito, Witch, Four Kings, and Seath don't serve Gwynn in any capacity and in some ways actually oppose him so trying to shoehorn them into generals of Gwynn makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
@@Capnsensible80 that's what happens when people try to force ideas to fit something they want to happen
Technically, you could also make a point that Emperor Gestahl had 4 fiends working for him in FFVI... or rather 4 magitek warriors.
Terra, Celes, Leo and Kefka.
So that's another way you can see the 4 fiends trope being kept in FFVI.
So really, FFVI has actually 4 SETS of the 4 Fiends trope.
There's the 4 battles version with Ultros, the 8 fiends with the Dragons, the 4 servants of the villain with Gestahl's Magitek warriors, and 4 bosses in the final dungeon with The Tryad and Atma Weapon.
First time I’ve visited your channel, and I’m floored by the quality research, editing, delivery, and respect for the source material. Kudos. I’m subscribing.
Hey Patrick, thanks for taking the time to comment :) We're really glad to hear you enjoyed the video and that you've decided to subscribe! ~Darryl
Final "generals":
FF1: Lich, Marilith, Tiamat, Kraken.
FF2: Beelzebub, Astaroth, Tiamat, Iron Giant.
FF3: Two-Headed Dragon, Echidna, Cerberus, Ahriman.
FF4: Rubicante, Barbariccia, Cagnazzo, Scarmiglione.
FF5: The Demons of the Rift (Gilgamesh is just a mere general).
FF6: Demon, Goddess, Fiend (a.k.a. The Warring Triad).
For FF7 i allready know who will be there
Its either the Weapons(Sapphire, Diamond, Ultima, Emerald, Ruby) or the Turks(I forgot the members name..... except Reno because.... welp its my account name)
Most people are speculating that the Four Fiendish Fights that will be referenced in FF7 are Jenova Birth, Jenova Life, Jenova Death, and Hojo.
You can also say in FFVI you have Kefka, Leo, Ceres and Terra as the four generals of the Gesthal Empire
@@Totilio88 Terra wasn't a general. She was viewed as a weapon. A tool.
@@blackknightjack3850 oh yeah you're right
lol at the Star Trek joke in the script.
I can't hear the Four Fiends without hearing Hyadains song. It's just so catchy.
Edit: The FF3 DS screenshot has the characters name as Zhako, so I can only suspect it came from Ashe10 here on YT, one of my favorite content creators from way back in the beginning of YT.
wow, well done. you just got a new subscriber.
Great content once again
Awesome video. Please make more. MOAR.
Doesn't this mean Cagnazzo screwed everything up by kickstarting Cecil's journey?
Technically, though it probably expected Cecil to die as Mist burned down
Hi guys,
You messed up Rubicante pretty badly. He was actually the most honorable of the fiends and highly respected. Also he did NOT change Edge’s parents to monsters. That was done by Lugae and Rubicante was angry about it.
Great video, kupo!
The more traditional four fiends might have be appearing in FFXIV. In Eureka you have Pazuzu a wind boss, Louhi an ice boss, a yet to be named Fire boss coming in 4.44, and judging from the schedule it looks like it’s going to end with a fourth zone.
Very random, but the Four Fiends make me think of the Four Saint Beasts from Yu Yu Hakusho and even the elements match up with the order you fight them.
I never thought about the 4 battles with gilgamesh or Ultros as part of the fiend trend. Very cool!
5:35 I mean Hades is an earth-aspected god as a god of both death and wealth, not a fire-aspected god like the Dante's Inferno-ized Disney version. And yet Nald'Thal is fire-aspected in spite of clearly being a mashup of Hades (death and wealth) Castor and Pollux (twins) and Themis' Scales of Justice (Nald'Thal also represents balance and Ul'dah's logo is scales with Nald'Thal being the city-state's patron deity and is represented as scales in the Eorzean tarot cards used by the Astrologian class which are based on The Source's constellations (clearly representing Libra, which is based on Themis' Scales of Justice, even being wielded by Azeyma who is clearly based on Astraea (Virgo) here, really makes you wonder what connection they had to the Ascians)).
Awesome. I'm currently playing versions of FF1 so this is coming really handing on re discovering these under rated classics. The best changes I can think of are monster design and new themes for the 4 fiends.
The fact that there's not really enough in game lore about most Fiends is most regretable.
Cant wait for part two i love thies and thiers alot of the 4 fights in the other half of the games
I really hope you don't leave out the two FF Dimensions games! I loved the design of their Fiends! Probably my favorite interpretation of the trope!
Idk if anybody's mentioned it, but the 4 knights of Gwyn from dark souls is another example of the 4 generals trope
I love you for the Picard song reference
FF4 Rubicante was the most honorable. He healed the party before battle, and condemned the actions of Dr Lugae who transformed the Eblan King and Queen. Didn't stop Edge from blaming him though
i'm glad i wasnt the only one wanting to correct the whole rubicante and edge's parrents
17:55 that battle is completely optional, and if you choose not to fight it, Exdeath doesn't banish Gilgamesh to the void and will not show up for those last 2 scripted fights
One example of this trope in the Shin Megami Tensei series (besides the appearance of the *actual* Four Heavenly Kings from Buddhist lore) are the Four Heralds/Council of Four, a group of enemies based on famous biblical and mythological angels. One of the four, Michael/Mikail is even the final boss of SMT1
My favorite interpretation has been the FFIV version, the story anchors and challenge level astounded the younger me to the point it’s probably a nostalgia filter >_> the fights were great though!
Final fantasy trope examination? Oooh I hope you cover and expand upon character tropes (e.g. Perky Refugees like Selphie, Yuffie, Rikku, etc.)! There’s this really well written series of blog posts that examines this real well. I’mma comment it here once I find it
Yo you find that blog yet?
@@Capnsensible80 Testing if I can reply now...? I've been trying to post the link here for days!! Stupid algorithm...
I hope you do one on Alexander eventually, he's my favourite.
XIV also has the Four Lords in its Stormblood expansion, where they are based off the asian mythos (turtle, lion, bird, dragon/snake)
There was a rumor that used to circulate that Rubicante was the only Elemental fiend who was originally a human man. I do not think it is canon, but it does explain his chivalrous nature as compared to the other three.
On another note, I am always so powerful in Final Fantasy V that by the time I fight ol' Necrophobos (or whatever you wanna call him) I end up killing him too quick to get the final Gilgamesh scene. >.<
I do a LOT of grinding at the beginning of act 2 in that game so I can use bare class for the remainder.
That said, I'm going to love hearing about the Final Fantasy Legend (Even if it was never actually truly affiliated with the Final Fantasy series) version of the trope since it mixes the four fiends with the four guardians of Kyoto and makes them one and the same (it's also the only time when the last fiend in the sequence didn't have either the air or earth affiliation when an elemental affiliation was specified).
When he mentioned Chinese astrology, I was fully expecting mention of the 'Four Gods', which are indeed rather common in video games, including FF Legend (aka SaGa 1). They do sometimes have elemental affiliations, as well (such as in the Wild ARMs series), but historically, they're more associated with Chinese elements (of which there are five - the fifth is represented by their boss).
I've always seen the 5th change in Japanese media. In YuGiOh it was metal, in Blue Exorcist it was rot, and in Naruto it was lightning. Considering Asura was undead should I take it that rot is the real 5th element? Because that's the one that made the least sense to me.
It would be pretty cool to see a video about the super bosses throughout the series
FWIW, the Shiten'nō concept comes from Buddhism, and Japanese popular culture has traditionally applied the term to various historical/legendary figures (not just the Sengoku period from 1470ish to 1570ish but at least as far back as Minamoto no Yorimitsu in the 10th century and Minamoto no Yoshitsune in the 12th), and there probably wasn't a tradition of feudal lords at any point in Japanese history "assigning" four heavenly generals to lead their forces. This creates a much clearer line of continuity to various modern video games that include some version of Shiten'nō, as it would seem to have always been an informal classification originating in the popular culture of the classical and medieval periods.
I hope we see something about ff4 Tay in the next one. I love everything about the final dungeon in the main storyline
Great video Barbariccia will always be Valvalis to me 😛
Thank you! The first fiends name was different too i think
what platform are you showing FF 3 and 4 from it looks so clean and no pixels looks really good its at 17:06 on your video I keep seeing them and i's like to know the platform if its Android or what thank you.
Had to watch this one again so I can watch part 2
The fire one is my favorite but wind is a cool element and one of my favorite elements with Ice
Anobody knows the name of the song in the background of this video? it's very relaxing
Great work I found out i lost almost 30 minutes Haha ff6 has been my favorite game so far into ff7
Ooo, oo, the Big Four are a thing in Shining Force III, as well! Some real hard case clerical buggers...
My favorite Final Fantasy game, has to be Final Fantasy 3. It was my introduction to the final fantasy series it was my first Final Fantasy game.
21:00 Is it just me, or does that form look like the head of the Atma (Ultima) Weapon? I guess Atma Weapon is technically part of the Warring Triad tower fight as well.
The most badass fight in any final fantasy game is the one where you fight Rubicante with Edge solo in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.
what is the name of the background music you used in this video. It's so relaxing.
I also want to know
'Rubicante turned Edge's parents into terrible monsters.'
Rubicante in the image shown: 'Did not.'
love it when you mentioned ffbe universe
SUB
this video's opening song is
Bad Snacks - Easy Sunday
*The classic 1985 AD&D Adventure Module set, T1-4 **_The Temple of Elemental Evil,_** written by the Master himself, Gary Gygax, deserves mention as a possible influence...*
FFVII did have four fiends. Instead of corrupting Earth, Fire, Water and Wind Shinra corrupted Science, Space Travel, the Military, and Technology. The fiends were Hojo, Palmer, Hiedeggar, and Scarlet. They just switched the concept from elemental to corporate but the concept of corrupting the things that make up the world remain the same. I never noticed till I saw this video. Good job!
final fantasy isn't the only place you'll find four fiends trying to protect their crystal
19:34
Can you do a video on possibly most or all the adaptions of the The Divine Comedy in video games...... you know because of what you said in here I'm asking you if you can do it....maybe even do ones movies, TV, Comics, Music, and mores after this one.... but let me know what do you think about it OK good.
Please respond.
Could you talk about the Bravely series at some point? It's very much inspired by classic Final Fantasy, and features versions of the 4 fiends.
Hold up. In both the SNES and the DS/3DS remake of FFIV you face the Four Fiends only _TWICE_! Once individually and once all together in the Giant of Babel. _WHERE_ on the way to the battle with Zemus/Zeromus do you face the Four Fiends again?
In the manga/anime Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, there are "The Four Heavenly Kings": Kisaragi, Uzuki, Hazuki, and Minazuki.
Read the title as the 4 friends and lol'd when I saw my mistake xD
4:12 that is an... interesting party
What would 15s fiend be? The 3 former kings of Lucis and Ardyn from royal edition?
I know I'm super late to this but I wanted to make it known mainly because he's my favorite video game bad guy that Rubicante did not turn edges parents into monsters that was the Lugae he even apologizes to Edge about this and says he took no part in that. He even heals you to face you in even combat.
romancing saga 3 has the four noble demons
I guess maybe they changed the FF4 names for the American SNES FF2 version? I remember Milon, Kainazzo, Valvalis and Rubicante...
That's because of limitations on the number of characters for any name or text box in the game. Since Final Fantasy IV (originally released as Final Fantasy II in the US because it was the second of the US games) was originally in Japanese, fewer characters were usually necessary to convey names and such, because of the kanji and kana of Japanese. However, English uses an alphabet, so while each character space in Japanese could represent a syllable, it was only a single letter in English. Therefore, translators had to make due with the limited space they had available. In subsequent, updated releases of Final Fantasy IV and other games in the franchise, programmers were no longer hampered by these limits, and they have been able to translate more or less as strictly as they see fit.
When you were talking about Gilgamesh in FFV, I’m surprise you didn’t talk about The Demons of the Rift. They *are* Exdeath’s henchmen after all.
Yes, but there's 12 of them. Even then you only fight 3 of them in your quest to retrieve the tablets. Rip in pepperonis red demon.
BlackKnightJack
I know. But still has some relation to it like fighting them in the final dungeon.
Keep in mind that you could possibly skip picking up the tablets and fight exdeath head on, skipping 5 of it's 12 servants (the rift will open up once you get on the airship so you never really have to go to the other tablet locations to beat the game or pick up the legendary weapons) and Azulmagus is technically optional as well as Necrophobe (but you probably want the save point either way). Which leaves 5 of the 12 demons of the rift that are mandatory to beat at the very least.
4 of his servants. You only encounter 4 of them outside of the Rift (and only fight 3 of them).
RPGLover
You can skip the tablets.
But we both know how stupid that is.
Ogre Battle had four devas as well!
You should be a guest on Just a Minute.
When is part two.
Ff4 hold a place in my heart
Sorry i know it’s already been pointed out but when you say Rubicante made Edges parents in Chimeras, is the exact moment you show the scene where he says that he didn’t do that lol
So fun fact about "Titan" in FF III, it's not actually Titan (Tie-tan), it's Titan(Tea-tahn). This is due to the developers of FF III using two different katakana spellings in the game, one for the summon, and one for the enemy. One is closer to the Greek pronunciation, and one is closer to the English. This became an issue during the localization of the 24-man raid series in A Realm Reborn. As "Tie-tan" was already being used for the elemental primal associated with earth, and "Tea-tahn" was going to be a boss in that raid series they ended up renaming "Tea-tahn" to Acheron. In FF III these enemies shared a pallet swapped model so it fit.
At least until the added Acheron enemies in the next raid and they had to rename Acheron (formally Titan(Tea-tahn)) to Phlegethon.
There's a post on the official forums from when this originally happened (some time back in 2014) "The sad Tale of Phlegethon and Acheron", but I pretty much paraphrased it all here.
His voice is great his videos are great but need a break between before the music and his voice make us 2 relaxed.
In one of the screenshots you put in this video it literally says that Lugae screwed up Edge's parents, not Rubicante.