I thought it maybe interesting for anyone of you who may not know, but this is the tier list compiled up when comparing, who's the best of the best within the game of FFVII. Yes, you will be surprised by the outcome, but everything I've stated was not just from senseless play, but from maxing out each character to their fullest potential, and these are the results.

Top Tier
Barret
Cid

Upper Tier
Yuffie
Cloud

High Tier
Tifa

Middle Tier
Red XIII
Aeris

Low Tier
Cait Sith
Bottom Tier
Vincent

Barret/Cid - They are undisputed the two best characters within the game, simply because Urgamax and HighWind both do 18-Hits for 9999, this surpasses even the mighty Omnislash which is 15-Hits and the powerful summon KOTR which is 13-Hits for 9999. However, Barret ranks slightly above Cid because even at maxed potential, Barret is always faster then Cid, pushing him just slightly above. Either or, you can't go wrong, since both deal out the same damage output.

Yuffie/Cloud - Yuffie is a better character then Cloud, some of you maybe going "what?!, that's not true, you must be joking!". However, it's very real, because put simply, Yuffie's Conformer can allow her to dish out 9999 damage without any handicaps. Not only that, but Yuffie can unleash Doom of Living for 15-Hits all for 9999, making this Limit-Break rival Cloud's Omnislash.

The reason why Cloud is under her, because his most powerful weapon Ultima Weapon has the huge handicap of HP dictates damage. This is a handicap, because once your low on hp, Cloud regardless of how strong he is, will not do 9999, this easily puts Yuffie above, for she can do exactly what Cloud is capable of doing, but w/out any handicaps.

Tifa - She's nowhere near as good as the Four Characters above her, however she's not as bad as the characters below her either. Her Limit-Break allows her to deal out 7-Hits for 9999, so it does make her quite effective.

RedXIII/Aeris - The only redeemable thing from RedXIII is Earth Rave which is 5-Hits for 9999, which is nowhere near as good as the characters above him. Aeris has only one good thing going for her, and that's Great Gospel, yes, that limit is good enough to place her here.

Cait Sith - His instant kill Limit if it wasn't so gosh darn random...however since it is, he has nothing really good going for him at all, everybody above him has far more value then he does. Since in the end, what will seperate you is your Limit Breaks, sadly for Cait Sith, none of his are profecient enough.

Vincent - One of the most loved FF characters, yet he is the absolute worst character within the game. His Weapon Death Penalty is garbage, because depending upon how many mobs you kill will decide it's damage factor, which is outrageous because even if your max, you won't be dealing out 9999 with it, if you don't kill enough mobs.

Worst yet, ALL of his Limits are horrible because of one reason, you simply cannot control him afterwards, making him completely random. He is by far the worst character in the game.


So there you have, this is an analysis of the characters at the end of the game, and at their maxed potential. Remember now, this is not a tier-listing of who's good from the beginning of the game to the Northern Crater. Because if we did it by that standard, then the tier listing would change.

However, I would consider that unfair because you aren't playing them at their full potential, which is reason why I have only stated this Tier Listing. I hope all of you enjoyed reading this, and if you have questions or something you would like to say, please do so.

I will be looking forward to reply to it.

I agree with your rankings good job, but i think Vincent should be ahead of Cait Sith because even though you can't control his transformations they can deal 9999 damage a turn which is good.
Most people don't see that Yuffie is one of the best characters, which is indeed a shame, because like you said she as great techniques.
And i would put Aerith beneath Red and not at the same level, because Red is overall a good character to use, while Aeris like you said only as Great Gospel going for her.

Tifa can deal 9999x7=69993 a turn, Aerith can't even deal 9999.

Tifa bigger than Aerith.

If glitches were to be taken into account, Vincent and Barrett would be the best once their ultimate weapons' power has been maxed out to full potential. Both are the equivalent of FFX's Zanmato with the exception that they come free of charge. But to attain this level of invincibility, Vincent must've dispatched tens of thousands of enemies (caps at 60,000 or so) and Barrett would need to have mastered enough KotR to fill up all the vacant materia slots in his Missing Score.

Yes, I've actually done that before, because awhile back I heard that from a buddy of mine from Japan, so I thought I'd grind and try it out, it's so beastly. Vincent's damage is no longer even numbers, but a block of glitches and jibberish, and he can annihilate Emerald Weapon in one shot/hit which is madness. However, the only reason I don't consider that unless your willing to spend 839048209394010398409234 hours to get Vincent to achieve this glitch affect. If I would've taken the glitch affect into account, then those two would infact be the best, however, since I don't take into account the Vanish/X-Zone in FFVI and this move literally takes out almost everything out within FFVI.

So this is a Tier Ranking w/out glitches, if you really want me too, I "could" post a tier listing with glitches, but I'd rather refrain from it, and use a tier list that is more plausible in which people can actually achieve.

The reason, Aeris isn't ranked any higher is simply because she can't deal any great damage output within a FF game to where who hits the hardest, the most and the fastest wins it all, this is seen in many other FF games as well. In the end, her ability of being one of the strongest magic wielders is completely overshadowed by characters who can achieve far greater damage than her in one turn.

Which is why I played Tifa above her, since she's got more damage output. I "was" going to put Aeris down by Cait Sith, however Aeris has far more redeemable Limits to offer than Cait Sith, which is why I coincided with putting her under RedXIII, because let's face it, those limits are better than what Cait Sith does have to offer on anything.

Honestly...since I've gotten really great replies for this, I might do character rankings for other FF games as well , who know's there "could" be something even I don't know about the game engine of certain FF games, but we'll see on that