Talk about getting WAY too bored, WAY too easily....I've decided to post a question to everyone here on dA that feels like answering: What would be your ideal final fantasy line-up? By "line-up", I mean: male lead, female lead, party members, main villain, and theme song. So below is a list that I feel is pretty close to the entirety of all who fall in said categories. That said, each group has its own rules about those listed so you don't just post something like, "Aerith would be the lead, and Garnet and Ashe would be in the party!" (note: I have NOTHING against ANY of those 3; my reasons are listed among the rules for the overall party listing, so you should be enlightened). I also have made rules concerning the overall line-up for your perfect FF. Believe me, I love the series to DEATH. But....there are some basics that the series has adhered to time and time again, and as a loyal FF fan, I believe even the ideal line-up needs to follow those basics. But enough rambling; on with the details! And boy, are they details....

Overall rules:
-Starting from FF4, there is usually a trend with the main female characters, meaning the lead and the 2 others either in the party or closest to the main character. Each of the females has a certain personality type: Angel (Rosa, Terra, Aerith, etc.), Energetic/Carefree (Yuffie, Selphie, Eiko, etc.), and the 3rd is hard to condense into just one word, but I suppose Serious/(Older) Sisterly (Rydia, Celes, Tifa, etc.) works best. What this means is that there are never 2 Angels in the party, and so forth. Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't others who fit these types that join temporarily, but permanent female party members never really share these types. As such, please have only one of each type of female listed in your ideal party. That means you can have an Angel as your lead and the other 2 are party members, or an Energetic/Carefree as the lead and the other 2 as party members, and so on. I'm not trying to limit you, I'm just trying to go along with how Square usually does things.

-In total, you can have 6 - 9 party members. However, there are requirements to certain numbers of members. Also, it should be noted that these are the PERMANENT members, not your perfect party plus any temporaries you'd love to have. About the numbers:
6 - Male lead, female lead, 2 male party members, 2 female party members
7 - Male lead, female lead, 2 male party members, 2 female party members, 1 additional option from male/animal
8 - Male lead, female lead, 4 male party members, 2 female party members
9 - Male lead, female lead, 3 male party members, 2 female party members, 2 additional options from male/animal

-Some characters listed under 'Main Villains' are also listed in 'Male Party Members'. Why? Because I included characters that appeared in Zack's DMW, and also went by which Dissidia villains were considered to have ended on "good terms" with their hero counterpart. As such, make sure you read the entire list to see who's both good AND evil, and decide whether you'd rather have them on your side, or you'd find the experience more enjoyable if you were trying to kick their ass.

-Some female leads are never actually playable, likewise not all the male leads are the actual main character of their respective games. The way the list of leads even worked was that I started with the actual main character. If it was a male, I listed his love interest(or multiple, as some FFs never specified which is the actual one -cough- 7 -cough-), or, if it was a female, I'd list the main guy, then list his actual love interest as another possible female lead (13 has this circumstance).

-On the note of FF13, in honor of it having a female lead, you can decide whether the male lead or the female lead is the main character of your FF. But please try and decide within reason (meaning that between Zidane and Penelo, I don't think Penelo has what it takes to be a great main character).



~MALE LEADS~
Bartz, Cecil, Cloud, Firion, Locke, Luneth, Noctis, Snow, Squall, Tidus, Vaan, Vincent, Warrior of Light, Zack, Zidane

Male lead rules:
-Just choose your favorite. That's all there is to this one.

~FEMALE LEADS~
Aerith, Ashe, Celes, Cissnei, Cosmos, Garnet, Lenna, Lightning, Lucrecia, Maria, Penelo, Refia, Rinoa, Rosa, Serah, Shelke, Stella, Terra, Tifa, Yuffie, Yuna

Female lead rules:
-Remember what I said about the females in the overall rules.
-The female lead does not have to be a playable party member, as apparent with choices like Cosmos and Lucrecia.
-It would be nice if you'd intend on your male lead and female lead to fall in love over the course of time. In other words, please try and choose 2 leads that you think would match up as a couple. If you choose your 2 leads but don't have such an intention, please state that and give an explanation. I'm always curious to see what people have to say about stuff like this.

~MALE (ANIMAL) PARTY MEMBERS~
Amarant, Angeal, Arc, Auron, Balthier, Banon, Barrett, Bartz, Basch, Biggs, Blank, Cait Sith, Cecil, Cid H., Cid P., Cloud, Cyan, Edgar, Edge, Edward, Firion, Fusoya, Gabranth, Gadot, Galuf, Gau, Genesis, Gogo, Golbez, Gordon, Guy, Hope, Ingus, Irvine, Jecht, Josef, Kain, Kimahri, Kiros, Kuja, Laguna, Larsa, Leo, Leon, Locke, Luneth, Minwu, Mog, Noctis, Onion Knight, Palom, Red XIII, Reddas, Reeve, Reks, Ricard, Sabin, Sazh, Scott, Seifer, Sephiroth, Setzer, Shadow, Snow, Squall, Steiner, Strago, Tellah, Tidus, Tseng, Umaro, Vaan, Vincent, Vivi, Vossler, Wakka, Ward, Warrior of Light, Wedge, Yang, Zack, Zell, Zidane

Male (animal) party member rules:
-I combined the 2 since not all animals in one's party are male, but most are. Just remember the rules I stated concerning the number of party members and about the villains.
-You don't have to do it this way, but if you decide you want 6 or 7 party members, try picking 2 men to match up love-wise with your 2 female party members. FF8/12 and FF10 has this type of set-up; fans, based on their individual preferences, mentally paired party members up with each other so that everyone (humanesque everyone, anyway) had someone. Again, this isn't a requirement, but it'd be nice.

~FEMALE PARTY MEMBERS~
Aerith, Ashe, Beatrix, Celes, Cissnei, Edea, Eiko, Fang, Faris, Fran, Freya, Garnet, Krile, Lebreau, Leila, Lenna, Lightning, Lulu, Maria, Paine, Penelo, Porom, Quistis, Refia, Relm, Rikku, Rinoa, Rosa, Rydia, Selphie, Shantotto, Shelke, Terra, Tifa, Vanille, Yuffie, Yuna

Female party member rules:
-Again, just remember what I said about the 3 females. Each is pretty clear as to which category they belong in. But if you're not sure, by all means, say so. I can tell which one I believe certain females are in, as well as my reasoning if you'd like.

~MAIN VILLAINS~
Chaos, Cloud of Darkness, Exdeath, Garland, Genesis, Golbez, Hojo, Kefka, Kuja, Mateus, Sephiroth, Seymour, Shuyin, Ultimecia, Vayne

Main villain rules:
-Don't choose someone to be a party member AND a main villain. As I said in the overall rules, the party members you list are permanent. If the villain, by some strange twist of things, is in your party temporarily, that's one thing. But not permanently.

~THEME SONGS~
1000 Words, CALLING, Eyes On Me, Kimi ga iru Kara, Kiss Me Good-Bye, Melodies of Life, REDEMPTION, Safe and Sound, Somnus, Suteki Da Ne, The Messenger, Why

Theme song rules:
-Choose your favorite FF theme song to play as the theme for your perfect Final Fantasy. Whether it plays at some crucial point in the storyline itself or just in the credits, it's the song meant to add that last perfect touch to your FF's story. Do you want to bring on the tears with Suteki Da Ne? Or bring a smile with CALLING? Maybe even a sense of everything finally being over with REDEMPTION? It's your call.


That's everything. If you're still reading this to this point and actually want to post your choices, you've made this whole thing worthwhile. I just find this particular poll so fascinating because on the small scale I did this in my area, no 2 lists were the same. So lay it all on me; I want to know what you have to say. ^^

Oh, and one more thing: if you either see a name that you think is in the wrong place, or don't see a name you think should be listed, say so. Though in some circumstances, I might not know why you think a character should be listed elsewhere, or why they should be listed at all, so to be safe, please list your reasons why. It'll save both you and me posting headaches.