Best Boss Battles: Sephiroth (Remake)

We did it, everyone! Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is finally out! We survived the wait! Give yourselves a round of applause, Soldiers!

To celebrate, I want to talk about one of my favorite boss fights in the Final Fantasy franchise. Which also just so happens to feature my favorite video game villain of all time. The man himself: Sephiroth.

Sephiroth is a final boss that needs no introduction. Even if you’ve never played FFVII before, you know who this guy is. Hell, he got into Smash Bros and people didn’t complain that another anime sword fighter got a DLC slot! Why would they? He is the video game anime swordsman! Iconic barely even begins to describe it!

As such, there have been plenty of Sephiroth boss fights. He was the final boss of the original FFVII, obviously, and you fought him in Crisis Core as well. He was even an optional boss in the first two Kingdom Hearts games, and he was so difficult that he became a staple of that series (until he wasn’t).

Since we’re celebrating the launch of Rebirth, however, I felt it fighting we have a look at the final confrontation with Sephiroth at the end of Remake.

Oh, don’t you worry, KH Sephiroth. I’ll have words about you one day. Maybe then I can shake you from my nightmares…

God, I’m starting to sound like Cloud!

On a presentation front, this fight is nothing short of jaw-dropping! The arena itself is a visual spectacle, with Midgar itself being consumed in a storm all around you. If you stagger Sephiroth, you can hit him with a cinematic air-launcher combo attack, taking you to different platforms throughout the chaos. If he hits you hard enough, however, he can do the same to you. It’s cinematic as hell and it’s a real treat for the eyes!

Even better is the music. One-Winged Angel: Rebirth is one of the best versions of the iconic boss track ever produced! Even more so because it changes in correlation with each phase of the fight! As the fight increases in tempo and intensity, so too does the music! It’s exciting, terrifying, and an absolute treat on the ears! Nobuo Uematsu and his team were cooking with this one!

Sephiroth himself cuts an extremely threatening figure. When he’s not attacking, he calmly walks towards you. Slowly. Menacingly. Like he could kill you at any time and he’s just taking time to play with his food. It adds to the feeling of the fight, like you’re really going up against the strongest living thing on the Planet.

Speaking of: let’s get into the fight itself.

The first phase is a one-on-one duel between Cloud and Sephiroth. It’s fairly straight-forward. Sephiroth will come at you with some heavy-hitting sword combos as well as Firaga and Blizzaga. A nice warm-up to get you in the zone for when the fight heats up.

In phase two, Cloud gets some support in another party member. Who shows up first will be decided via the performance of those characters in the previous boss fight. Here, it will either be Tifa or Aerith. Whoever you get, you’ll get a fun scene with some entertaining banter; it gives you a nice break from the tension and helps rear you up for the next round.

But Sephiroth is ready, too. Not only does he keep his same move set from phase one, but his sword strikes are greatly expanded on and deal much more damage. On top of that, he can now cast Thundaga and Aeroga, spells that are much harder to dodge than his previous two. It’s intense, but still nothing the average player can’t handle by this point in the game.

Phase three is where the fight really starts to go crazy. Sprouting his iconic one wing, Sephiroth overwhelms Cloud and the other party member with magic. Luckily, the third member (either Barret or whichever of the girls didn’t appear in phase two) is there to save the day.

This is where Sephiroth takes the kid gloves off. Along with his entire set of attacks from phases one and two (minus his basic slash attack, so he won’t hit you with his weakest move anymore) he has a whole new mechanic: Elemental Infusion. This will increase his resistance to damage from that element, as well as dictate which of his new super-powered elemental attacks he’ll hit you with. He even starts to use his own Limit Break: Octoslash. It’s chaotic as all hell, and you’ll need to keep a careful eye on your health lest the One-Winged Angel overwhelm you.

Finally, we come to the fourth and final phase. Dropping his entire list of moves, Sephiroth starts hitting you with his strongest moves. He drops black holes, devastating slashes, and to top it all off: Divine Proclamation. As you fight, Sephiroth will count down from 9. If he reaches the end of the countdown, it’s an instant death.

Don’t let that stress you out too badly. By the time you get to this phase, Sephiroth has very little health remaining. On top of that, he counts really slowly. I’ve played through this boss fight four times over the years, and not once have I seen him reach the end of the countdown.

Not even on hard mode. Speaking of: hard mode Sephiroth is certainly a challenge. He hits way harder and you don’t get any items to help make up for it. But compared to other bosses on hard mode, he really isn’t that difficult. I had more trouble with the Hell House! If you can survive long enough to reach Sephiroth on that difficulty, then be assured, you have everything you need to beat him.

And if you don’t… I dunno. Get good.

This is one of the best Sephiroth fights in any game. It’s intense, dramatic, and thrilling, with incredible visuals and jaw-dropping music. It fits the character perfectly and makes for a great finale to Remake.

Considering how crazy this fight was, I can’t even imagine what Safer∙Sephiroth is going to be like. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Enjoy Rebirth, everyone!