Jihl Nabaat: A Great Villain Square-Enix Never Made *Spoiler Alert*

[Yliette]

To begin with, I'm REALLY enjoying FFXIII. Never mind if it's too linear that it feels more like a strategic adventure game rather than an RPG. The Paradigm Shift battle system is simply genius and the characters are the most diverse personality wise I've seen.

Now to say what I truly feel. The moment I got on the Palamecia I was more than shocked that they killed Jihl Nabaat off way too freaking early in the game. Prior to playing the game I already spoiled myself she would die but I didn't expect it to be TOO soon. I set high expectations for her and I honestly thought she'd be one kickass villain.

I'm very much disappointed with Square Enix. Other than Ultimecia there aren't any other competent female villains in the series. Cloud of Darkness from FFIII doesn't really count since it's genderless. Scarlet and Elena from FFVII weren't too memorable. Queen Brahne? Puh-LEASE! But Jihl Nabaat had potential! With her elegant yet ruthless personality she could've helped shape the greatness of FFXIII. Again I can't help but shake my head when the game never even showed her fight. They did her only little justice by explaining her backstory through the Datalog.

Again they should've let Jihl live longer and even made a damn hard boss fight with her. It's like they aborted a baby that was a potential child prodigy.

[Loony BoB]

I definitely agree that they should have done a lot more with her. I would have actually liked it if she ended up being the boss of the entire game. She struck me as having huge potential, definitely.

[VeloZer0]

I wouldn't have minded her being offed to show how callus L'Cie were to humans, but the effect probably would have been a whole lot greater if they had developed her enough to make me actually care.

I thought just about every story element in this game was poorly expanded upon. IMO it probably should have been twice as long if they just expanded on what they already had set up. And would have probably also been twice as good.

[Yliette]

I hated how they made Jihl into some minor bad guy crony. In fact she felt more like an expendable extra rather than an eloquent and intimidating femme fatale.

And had she only survived and was molded to a three-dimensional character, I can just imagine all the Jihl Nabaat fansites popping up. IMO the only decent villains in the series are Kefka, Sephiroth, and Seymour. Jihl could've qualified as one of Square's elite villains.

[Future Esthar]

To present a villain without a fight is a really poor plot device.

They could have at least fight her before being killed by Barth.

[Goldenboko]

To present a villain without a fight is a really poor plot device.

Whether or not you fight a villain has nothing to do how well he/she is used in the fight. You never fight Emperor Gesthal in FFVI but he's clearly a much more developed villain then say, Judge Ghis in FFXII.

In all, I'd say I was surprised how quickly they off'd her but also concede that she didn't have too much room in the plot.

[Ezme]

It definitely would be an interesting question to ask, if plot involving Jihl was actually cut or if she always was such a small part.

I loved Jihl, great overtones of Beatrix imo

[Eagle299]

The more I think about it, the more I think Jihl would have been done better if, instead of Barthandelus killing her, he had made he a l'Cie with the Focus of killing the heroes. Telling her just enough truth about them, that their Focus is to destroy Cocoon, to motivate her to do her best to kill them, all with the intended purpose of using her as a tool to make the heroes stronger in the long run. Maybe the first fight, Pre-l'Cie, she takes them on in a mecha. Second fight she starts in a mecha, then after they bust the new model open, she pops up and reveals her new l'Cie powers, maybe even summons a hostile Eidolon. And for her final act, have her realize her master is the true enemy, only to be killed by him when she turns on him. Sort of the noble in the end type enemy, who really does believe she's fighting for the right side.

[Future Esthar]

Exactly Eagle299.
I couldn´t tell best.

[Goldenboko]

I felt that Barthandalus was suppose to have the situation "under control". He had been thinking out this plot for generations, overlooking the danger of trusting anyone to do his dirty work would've been a glaring oversight. Bart killed Jihl right away because he was probably aware of the unpredictability too much giving power to humans could cause (see Cid, who tried to kill the l'Cie to stop them from destroying Orphan). It's only in the final moments of the game, when Fang and Vanille use Ragnarok to save Cocoon's inhabitants, that Barthandalus miscalculates.

[Rad Bromance]

I totally agree. I was so excited to get to fight her and see what she would do and then she died, in such an abrubt, unimpressive, anti-climactic way and I was like "...THAT'S IT!?!?!".

It's like she wasn't around long enough for me to decide if I liked her or not.

[Wolf Kanno]

Yeah, she's terribly underused and got the shaft in the plot but to be fair she is sorta of a glaring reminder of how bad all the villains in this game really were. The others get some better closure but they were all poorly utilized. Cid is the other character who just felt like he was thrown in whenever the writer wanted to throw a curve ball and most of his scenes after Chapter 9 are less "That's awesomne and caught me by surprise!" and more "W-T-F *heavy sigh followed with an eye roll* Okay whatever...".

[Zora]

To present a villain without a fight is a really poor plot device.

They could have at least fight her before being killed by Barth.

Warning: Chapter 9 spoilers below/

Not necessarily a fight, but some sort of climax. For example, Queen Brahne died during her hunt for power and turned against Kuja., or General Leo in Final Fantasy VI also died when he turned against the main villain, because of what his conscious told him to do. Although, General Leo was more of an opposition than a villain, since unlike the Emperor and particularly Kefka, he had a conscious.. Both of these weren't fights per se, but rather some climax where you see the character's defining qualities, well, led to their death.

And Jihl just didn't do that. Her anxiety didn't seem like a defining quality: Honestly, based on her first impressions, she seemed like the type of villain that stays cool and calm no matter what's in her way. She just wasn't developed well, and is taken away from the story before there's any climax.

[Sword]

And for her final act, have her realize her master is the true enemy, only to be killed by him when she turns on him. Sort of the noble in the end type enemy, who really does believe she's fighting for the right side.
This is what they did with Yaag, who I felt also deserved a lot more screen time.

[Omni-Odin]

To present a villain without a fight is a really poor plot device.

They could have at least fight her before being killed by Barth.

Warning: Chapter 9 spoilers below/

Not necessarily a fight, but some sort of climax. For example, Queen Brahne died during her hunt for power and turned against Kuja., or General Leo in Final Fantasy VI also died when he turned against the main villain, because of what his conscious told him to do. Although, General Leo was more of an opposition than a villain, since unlike the Emperor and particularly Kefka, he had a conscious.. Both of these weren't fights per se, but rather some climax where you see the character's defining qualities, well, led to their death.

And Jihl just didn't do that. Her anxiety didn't seem like a defining quality: Honestly, based on her first impressions, she seemed like the type of villain that stays cool and calm no matter what's in her way. She just wasn't developed well, and is taken away from the story before there's any climax.

I agree with you on this, but the examples you gave are my exact examples of what Jihl is. I always felt
Leo's death was ridiculously anti-climactic, but that's just me. I think Jihl should have been the Barthandelus character, who overthrows the old man and reveals herself as the main fal-cie. Not the obvious opposite, "Well of course Disley is the bad guy," crap.

[Jessweeee♪]

It would have been interesting to have had the opportunity to fight her in a previous encounter or see a bit more development beforehand, but I'm quite happy with the scene of her death. As Goldenboko pointed out, it's sensible, and to dispose of her any other way wouldn't be as tidy. I think it's a pretty epic moment, even if it isn't so much for Jihl. You're all geared up to fight her, and then she's killed, and the party is like "oh okay super pope wants to fight? Well then let's ge--wait what is that oh fuck."

[Roogle]

Jihl Nabaat could certainly have used more character development throughout the course of the game.

One of the shortcomings of the story is that I feel like the antagonists have very little to do with anything and hardly develop or change.

I felt very little emotional connection to any of the enemies that I fought throughout the game. Eagle299 proposed a decent scenario that would have created a recurring adversary which is something that the game could have used.

[Rodney]

I definitely agree that they should have done a lot more with her. I would have actually liked it if she ended up being the boss of the entire game. She struck me as having huge potential, definitely.

I agree with this. In all FF history, there's never been a game with a female protagonist/female antagonist combination. It would've been nice to have that, for a refreshing change of pace. Jihl looked she could've been one of the best, most ruthless FF villains of all time.

[Roogle]

Female antagonists can be a rare breed, occasionally. If you look at the Final Fantasy series, only Final Fantasy VIII stuck with a female antagonist throughout the entire story, and that makes it somewhat unique in the world of role-playing games.

[Bolivar]

I really liked Jihl, and I really liked Rosch, too, it would've been better to have them both as recurring side villains like rufus and the turks in FFVII. But the fact that they were under the flase leadership of the Fal'Cie makes the plot too concentrated for an FF which usually has tons of memorable side characters.

I mean I just feel the entire time this game had no real villain. There's no iconic antagonist who you're really supposed to hate or love. Yes, there is Barthendalus, but he just seems to be someone else's agent the entire time, but it's really just him, or maybe it's actually Orphan he's acting on behalf of, or maybe he and Orphan are the same, oh wait, Orphan is something weird now, so what the hell has been happening this whole time?

I'm one of the few here that really, really enjoyed FFXIII, but it's obvious how rushed the game was. Some of the concepts just aren't fleshed out enough (some are fleshed out too much with the menu text-supplement) and Jihl seems to have been a casualty of that.

She was hot, though.

[Roogle]

Who is Rosch? I found myself not learning the names of many of the antagonists because a lot of them seemed to come and go so quickly.

[Wolf Kanno]

He was the guy villain who fought you in the giant robot named after the more impressive VII incarnation, Proud Clod I believe. You meet him in Chapter 7 and then he disappears from the plot til Chapter 12

[BG-57]

There are many missed oppurtunities in the storyline, of which the second tier villains has already been covered. I'll only add that I wish that Jihl and Rosch had been given more clear motivation. Backstories would have been nice too.

As for the Fal'Cie why was Barthandelus the only EDIT Cocoon Fal'Cie you get to fight? They really missed a chance to have them like the Lucavi of FFT, with specific traits and personalities, but with a common goal. Most of them were remote and indifferent, like cogs in a giant machine, which was intentional I suppose. Why not have the heros try to appeal to some of the other Fa'Cie and end up fighting them?

[Wolf Kanno]

The game strongly hints they are all on the same page about bringing back the Maker. That's partially why I hate the ending cause the conflict is far from over cause there are still the fal'Cie of Pulse to deal with, not to mention all the Deus Ex Machinas and red herrings the ending has to begin with. :roll2

I think its hard to argue that XIII dropped the ball with the villains in this one. The more interesting conflict in the story was the characters dealing with their destiny as opposed to a battling a well thought out villain.

[Raven Riley]

Yes I agree with you OP the potential of Jihl was wasted :-/

[Lamia]

Bart is an awesome villian. He must be.

BECAUSE I ABSOLUTELY HATE HIM.

The first battle with him made me want to rip my hair out. It was the first serious boss fight of the game so after I successfully beat that battle I didn't have too much trouble on any of the storyline bosses for the rest of the game, including second and third fights with Bart. Also, the things Bart said in battle were hilarious.

MUAHAHAHHA! WHAT CAN MERE L'CIE DO?

He seemed maniacal, like Kefka.

[Bolivar]

There are many missed oppurtunities in the storyline, of which the second tier villains has already been covered. I'll only add that I wish that Jihl and Rosch had been given more clear motivation. Backstories would have been nice too.

As for the Fal'Cie why was Barthandelus the only EDIT Cocoon Fal'Cie you get to fight? They really missed a chance to have them like the Lucavi of FFT, with specific traits and personalities, but with a common goal. Most of them were remote and indifferent, like cogs in a giant machine, which was intentional I suppose. Why not have the heros try to appeal to some of the other Fa'Cie and end up fighting them?

That's a pretty good call, BG, it was a shame you don't really get to meet any of the other Fal'Cie, or really find out what the Pulse Fal'Cie want. In general it feels like XIII may have had this expansive fictional universe, but you only get to be led through seeing a few characters, even less in any real depth, and don't get to really get your hands dirty with anything, you just get to "oooh and ahhh" at the backgrounds' High-Defness.

It's like being in a museum where the tour guide is a dick who wants you to kill him.


not to mention all the Deus Ex Machinas and red herrings the ending has to begin with.

I don't believe you! I demand elaboration!

[BG-57]

It doesn't help matters that most of them aside from Barthandelus and Titan don't even talk. Most of them hover and look ominous, but wind up more a part of the scenerey than anything else. Huge omission given that they sustain Cocoon and Pulse.

I would say there are several wall-bangers about the ending but the most glaring is they were called to become Ragnarok, destroy Orphan and with it, Cocoon. Fang only briefly become Ragnarok, but otherwise they wind up doing exactly what Barthandelus wanted! The game makes it out like they were using free will, but had it not been for Fang and Vanille's last minute sacrifice, all of Cocoon would have been destroyed. Calling the way they save Cocoon contrived is putting it mildly.

Or are you kidding? :greenie:

[[.Pearl.]]

I know, right!? They left so much unsaid! The only thing we know is that she's super sexy and loyal to the Sanctum. I really want them to put her in Dissidia Duodecim, but I highly doubt they will since she's such a minor villain. :(

[Marky Tee]

I'm very much disappointed with Square Enix. Other than Ultimecia there aren't any other competent female villains in the series. Cloud of Darkness from FFIII doesn't really count since it's genderless. Scarlet and Elena from FFVII weren't too memorable. Queen Brahne? Puh-LEASE! But Jihl Nabaat had potential! With her elegant yet ruthless personality she could've helped shape the greatness of FFXIII. Again I can't help but shake my head when the game never even showed her fight. They did her only little justice by explaining her backstory through the Datalog.




not sure if its been said already but beatrix was a flippin awesome villan
thats who i imagined jihl turning out like
so sad