I'd go with Sephiroth, but Final Fantasy games have really cool villains. Really love the character design on Sephiroth and I really like the way he fights. I also love his english voice actor, and his musical theme, One Winged Angel. But, as I said, Final Fantasy has other very good evil guys (wordplay alert), such as Kefka, Kuja, or even Seymour. All those are good examples of how a villain should be.
While Kefka and Sephiroth are definitely two of the best villains in the game, and while the Queen from Final Fantasy 9 is certainly my second favorite villain, I'm afraid there's a very little known villain in the FF9 that I call the Living Onion(That's not it's name). After the airship crashes, he'll be the first boss you fight, there's a cage above his head which Garnet is in. When I was very little, the moment I saw that being, I knew I would be a Final Fantasy fan. As such, this small vile kidnapping monster is my favorite villain of the games.
My favorite would be Kefka from Final Fantasy VI. Darn, his intended twisted design is enough to make me feel "boy, this guy's gonna be trouble". Yeah, I know, for the first parts of the game he's pretty weak, especially for someone in his position. At that point though (I played Final Fantasy VI as a young teenager), I still didn't think him to be the main enemy, kinda what Gilgamesh feels like in Final Fantasy V. Then there you go, he becomes a freaking demigod with a design that's intimidating. You'll never forget getting hit with your first Heartless Angel (the multiple hitting type), or behold the cool effects of Forsaken (although Ultima is obviously the stronger spell, because it ignores magic defense, haha) I wish he makes an appearance in some other SquareEnix games as an optional boss to fight at least. Sephiroth got that privilege with the Kingdom Hearts series, and boy I sure did enjoy the fights. If so, I hope Kefka gets the same. I bet it'll be crazy!
I think in the Super Nintendo era of things, I would definitely have to go with Kefka, where-as in regards to the PSX series, Sephiroth probably made the most impact to me at least. If you compare the two for me, Kefka would have to win out really. Not only was he more of a villain due to the things he did within the game and his armies he raised, but he was just generally down-right a psycho! In regards to Sephiroth however, it was more an unfortunate accident and that he couldn't really control himself, so I don't really see Sephiroth as a villain, but rather a misguided individual.
Everyone is gonna say Sepiroth, however I really liked Seymour as an enemy, his aeons were pretty badass so always felt cool when you managed to defeat them.
I know, I know, everyone either thinks Sephiroth is overrated & hates him, or automatically chooses him as their favorite, but oh screw it. He's my favorite. Final Fantasy has some great villains but Sephiroth is the one that has always stood out to me the most. I think that's why I choose him, really; because he is just so easily identifiable in the Final Fantasy series. If you show a picture of him to someone who doesn't know Final Fantasy but knows a thing or two about games, they'll most likely say, "Oh yeah, that guy." Plus I always thought he was the coolest when I was younger. If we're going for a less common answer, I'll say my second favorite - Kuja. Not gonna lie, I had a bit of a crush on him while playing FFIX, lol.
I am goint to second Caius here... His motives were clear and he is (SPOILERS AHEAD) one of the only villains in Final Fantasy who has succeeded. After finishing FF XIII-2 and seeing the "happy" part of the ending, I was positive that that's how the game is gonna end. But nope, Caius comes back and everything goes horribly bad.
I love Kefka. He's humorous, positively insane and a massive threat throughout the entirety of the game. A major part of his plan actually succeeds, and his final boss fight is one of the most epic fights in any JRPG.
Kefka is utterly insane ,chaotic and destructive. I would call Sephiroth the sexiest villain perhaps, but not the evilest or best villain. Kefka is a terrifying being.
Kefka's definitely the best in my opinion. Just the fact that he ending up legitimately demolishing the world is enough to warrant a sense of respect for him, as well as how utterly insane he is.
It's Kefka for me, because he actually WINS. Even though you defeat him, he still succeeded in his master plan. I couldn't believe it. He's great.
There is a constant uproar of debate of whether Kefka is the best villain or Sephiroth? I would call it even. Kefka is the definition of true insanity, and Sephiroth gives off a menacing aura. They are both strong villains, who transform into more challenging forms. Kekfa is a wild card of nihilistic destruction. Sephiroth's evil is a bit more purposeful. I honestly can't choose between them.
I like the design of Sephiroth the most and I like how his sword contrasts with the protagonists. I don't know much about his backstory though and I mostly only know of him through the few interactions I've seen in FF8 and even then I admit I don't pay much attention because I don't care much about the plot.
I know I'm in the minority here, but I loved Seymour. He was so bizarre and gaudy, he fit the theme of the game so well, he wasn't overdone or underdone, he just blended in perfectly to the story. I think that when a game is designed well, it's hard to pick out perfect elements because they don't stand out so much, but FFX was such a rich game in terms of how smoothly things blended that I sincerely believe most people don't notice how good it was. Perfectly done, could have had more detail for sure but absolutely hit the mark.
If you showed a Sephiroth image or a toy to someone who likes videogames but hasn't played FFVII they would probably recognize the guy and even give you his name. That's how famous Sephiroth is. The same example wouldn't be so obvious with other FF villians because most of them aren't as memorable in the "collective videogame mind". Now, (spoiler alert) being a villian that has been so attached to "earth" that can even keep causing evil after being dead that's really crazy evil. That's why I really like Seymour.
Kefka. Love that guy. He has some amazing one-liners. I was a little worried he might not come out quite as well in Dissidia, but I was surprised how well those games encapsulated his manic personality. They managed to snag an amazing VA for him. Seymour was great, he just didn't get enough screen time or focus. I think the story would have been better served if he'd shown up a bit earlier, appeared more often, and took over for Yu Yevon in the final battle. The story could easily have been twisted to make him Sin's new summoner. As it is, his end is a little anti-climactic.
Yeah, totally agree, but that's why I believe he's one of the best. He wasn't over-the-top, he was just this believable element of the story that could have gone in a ton of different directions. Sin was technically the main boss, and him being Jecht was the whole climax of the storyline, but Seymour had the human element while Sin was the mysterious element. I know most people focus on the big profound villains, but I love it when there are supporting characters that contribute to the story without feeling like there's going to be some reverse deus-ex-machina nonsense to make the villain more evil. I just like a mortal villain with some humanity or sentience to them, rather than the over-the-top side of things. It's such a sharp contrast against the premise of FF itself that it makes the story have that extra dimension.
