<–XV The Devil XVII The Star–>
This is my current Final Fantasy Friday post where I’ll be discussing which characters I think exemplify each card of the Major Arcana. If this is your first time here, please head over to my Final Fantasy Tarot page for explanation. Now onto the next card!
I played Final Fantasy VI long before I ever did my first tarot reading or even saw my first tarot deck, but the first time I saw the Tower card, I immediately thought of Kefka’s monolith to his own delusions of godhood.
The Final Fantasy series is riddled with nefarious towers, but Kefka’s always struck me as most aligned with the card, which speaks of sudden, disruptive, and potentially disastrous change. The lightning striking it in the Major Arcana is reminiscent of the Light of Judgment the mad clown gleefully dishes out. If you give the Devil any power in the previous card, the cataclysm of the Tower is what you then must face.
Alternates: The Tower of Babil (IV), The Shinra Tower (VII), Lunatic Pandora (VIII)
The Tower of Babil from FFIV that connects the core of the (false) Moon to the core of the Earth is awakened by Zemus/Zeromus for sinister motives. VII’s Shinra Tower is of course the headquarters of the Planet killing corporation, and though the Lunatic Pandora isn’t technically a tower, it certainly presents as an ominous, monolithic structure.
There are even more towers in the Final Fantasy series, arguably at least one in every iteration, but these three others stand out as close to what I believe exemplifies the Marjor Arcana card.
No happy guesses this week, and the series is starting to wind down. There are five more Major Arcana cards left for you to take your chances on!
Next week’s card is The Star and the light of hope it can potentially bring.
<–XV The Devil XVII The Star–>
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
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Dammit! I haven’t had a chance to catch up for a few days and would’ve guessed the Tower of Babil. Boo. I will make a comeback (probably not… others are pretty far in the lead!)
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The Tower of Babil would’ve been an excellent choice! Well for this next one, it’s going to be a character who exemplifies hope. Don’t give up (haha, fantastic for the last sentence). You’re actually not doing all that bad (I have score sheets because yes, I am ridiculous)!
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I have absolutely no idea for this one. I don’t know enough FF to guess an actual star, nor do I know enough about tarot to guess at something that would represent the cards meaning!
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I’ll give a clue! It’s going to be a character who exemplifies hope 🙂
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It’s not going to be Hope is it…
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Nope! No Hope (omg accidental rhyme…) I don’t think I’ve used anyone from FFXII because while I don’t hate the game, it really didn’t strike me as hard as the others. So if you wish hazard another guess. It’s someone from either IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, or X since those are the games I’ve played either to or near completion.
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Hmmmm. Yuna might make sense I suppose.
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I haven’t played VI, yet so that’s my very good excuse for not knowing this.
I’m going to guess Yuna for The Star. She has to be on one of these cards! 🙂
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She’s definitely a symbol of hope for Spira! VI was my very first Final Fantasy, and it brought me into the FF fold 😀
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My finishing strategy for this fun FF Tarot Card guessing game is going to be to keep guessing Yuna and hope she makes an appearance. 🙂
FFX was my first FF game actually. I fell in love with the characters, even though Tidus’s voice grated on my nerves a bit, and I was easily wrapped up in the quest to save Spira from Sin. After that was my failed attempt to complete FFVIII. FFVII was my third game, but I didn’t get to fully enjoy it since I knew a major plot detail prior to playing it. It was something to do with a certain misunderstood General and innocent flower girl. I’m sure you know what I mean 🙂 I tried FFXII but couldn’t get into it at the time. I wasn’t really interested in Vaan’s story I guess. And then came the mythical FFXIII Trilogy, which changed my entire life for the better. I know the three games are hated by many, but they will always have a special place in my heart. Lightning will also have a special place on my left arm, eventually lol.
I’ve decided I am going to make 2017 my year of Final Fantasy. Your wonderful FF Tarot Card posts have shown me how many epic stories are out there that I haven’t experienced yet.
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Yuna is definitely a very hopeful character, and the last few cards do boast a lot of ladies! Tidus’s voice was the worst I’d ever heard…until Aeris in Crisis Core ughhhhh (not enough “h’s” for my pain lol), but X was still a fantastic game. I loved that the world was called Spira and you have the sphere grid, which was kind of spiral like.
Hm, this is reminding me of years ago when I thought up titles for all the Final Fantasy games out at the time (not just FF and a Roman numeral, but legitimate titles), because I dubbed FFX The Spiral, since it’s core paradigm was about endless repeat until the cycle was literally broken by a dream of the future :O FFVII was Echos in the Darkness, but I might have to rethink that one even though I don’t hate it. VIII was Succession of Witches and IX was Melodies of Life (I didn’t really get lazy with the titles, I just thought they worked!). Oh and VI was The Two Sides of the Moon. I should make a post about this and see what names other people might come up with *makes notes*
Was there a reason you didn’t finish VIII? I think we might have talked about this before, but my memory is terrible!
Aw yes, I definitely know. My husband was listening to something earlier about the biggest WTF moments in video games, and her death was number 2 even though it’s considered the most iconic scene in video game history to this day.
I had the same problem with XII! I’ve said before that they should’ve concentrated on Baltier and Fran as the main characters instead of double filtering the player’s experience through Va’an. It didn’t make any sense to make him the main character, but someone I was discussing this with said they might have done it to appeal to younger players who might be better able to access the game through a younger character. That…still irks me because it’s poor story telling to use a character like that who really isn’t integral to the plot and who’s just along for the ride. If he were a member of Baltier and Fran’s crew or something like that then it would make more sense, but him and Penelo are just street urchins. The writer in me is fuming at such a fumble :p
Omg games that change your life are the best, and you shouldn’t let anyone take away that joy. I was already convinced to play FFXIII because I’d heard so many mixed reviews of it to let it go unchallenged, and believe me, I’ve heard a LOT of hate for FFVII that I just don’t understand. With that in mind, I really can’t trust anything I hear about any Final Fantasy without seeing for myself.
The year of Final Fantasy sounds fantastic and aw, I’m glad that my little weekly post helped push you in that direction. Your undying love of FFXIII and Lightning bumped it up on my list so there you go 🙂
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That’s a great idea giving them real titles! I hope you do this post since I would like to read more about this.
I couldn’t beat the second last boss of VIII and gave up. I’ve long forgotten the story now so I hope to play it again from the start one day. I think we did talk about this before, but my memory is also horrible… We might be having the same discussions over and over again and not be realizing it, lol.
Baltier and Fran were definitely more interesting. I completely agree with you. I will try to play through XII again though.
I’m glad I was able to convince you to bump up my badass idol’s game on your To Play list 🙂 Thank you once again for showing me the once General’s true awesomeness.
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I want to rethink them since I conceived of this idea years ago! I made a note for myself about it though so I won’t forget 🙂
Oh I’ve been there before. I gave up on finishing FFVII myself because I didn’t do some integral task when I had the submarine and couldn’t move on. It’s still my favorite game forever though, and I’ve seen the ending and read many articles, reviews, metas, and theories on it, but it irks me that I got stuck like that (and it was over a decade ago, too). Replaying VIII is not a bad idea. A lot of people give it grief, but even with some of the so-called plot holes (which may have a very interesting explanation), I still greatly enjoyed that game. I understood why Squall was the way he was and could relate to it.
I didn’t finish XII either, and I was right near the end! That happens to me a lot actually especially on replay. I’ll get to or near the end and then something will distract me lol. I think since I specifically have a project to play or replay all the Final Fantasies, it’s easier to stay the course, even if the course may take several years.
My memory is awful, too. I HAVE to take notes on everything otherwise it’s gone.
Yup! After World that’s my next project. I think it’ll be World, XIII then I am Setsuna. I also just bought Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture on a tip from the Well-Red Mage about a PSN sale. $8.99. I couldn’t pass it up1
Mmm the Great General ♥♥♥
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Oh good! I’m glad I’m not the only one who has been defeated by a Final Fantasy game, haha. I barely remember anything about FFVIII’s story so it will at least feel like a new game when I get around to playing it.
Ideas pop into my head all the time. If I don’t right them down they disappear quickly!
I highly approve of where XIII fits into your list 🙂 I can’t pass up cheap games either. It’s too bad our weak Canadian dollar kills those sales…
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Not in the least! And if I don’t play for too long I just figure I’ll start over. It’s similar to how I view books. If I start and stop, I’ll just start over because it’s been too long, and I won’t know what’s going on. I do love the card came in FFVIII, Triple Triad. It’s my favorite and I’d totally play it in real life. I think there may be an app hm.
I’m so happy for modern technology because I wound not remember to do ANYTHING without my to-do list. Like even less would get done.
Ugh and I’ve complained about the USD as compared to the euro or pound (not so much anymore with Brexit ughhh).
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Very cool! Looking forward to seeing who fits The Star! 🙂
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I feel like I should give some clues on this one lol. It’s going to be a character who exemplifies hope 🙂
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I finally caught up with your Tarot series and it is excellent so far, as always. There are sure a lot of towers in Final Fantasy, huh? I agree with going with Kefka’s Tower, especially since Kefka essentially becomes as monstrous as the tower itself. Let’s see, for the next one, I’ll have to go with Yuna, simply based on the art and description of the card. Seriously, she’s on water in the card, much like in that dance cutscene in the game… Keep up the awesome work on these!
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Final Fantasy loves its evil towers! Kefka’s just immediately comes to mind whenever I think of ominous towers. Even more than the Tower of Babil in IV and the Shinra Tower in VII. I think it’s because it’s the site of the last dungeon in the game with the villain himself, and agreed on the point of Kefka becoming as monstrous and twisted as those spires.
Yuna is really popular this week! She really is a beacon on hope in both her world and for all of you guessing 🙂
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