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

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 (SPOILER)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 (SPOILER)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 (SPOILER)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.

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 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.

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

And had she only (SPOILER)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.

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.

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Originally Posted by Future Esthar

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

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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 (SPOILER)how quickly they off'd her but also concede that she didn't have too much room in the plot.

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

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.

Exactly Eagle299.
I couldn´t tell best.

I felt that Barthandalus was suppose to have the situation "under control". (SPOILER)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.

I totally agree. I was so excited to get to fight her and see what she would do and then (SPOILER)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.

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...".

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Originally Posted by 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.

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Warning: Chapter 9 spoilers below/

Not necessarily a fight, but some sort of climax. For example, Final Fantasy IX spoiler Queen Brahne died during her hunt for power and turned against Kuja., or Final Fantasy VI spoilerGeneral 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.

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Originally Posted by Eagle299

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.

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This is what they did with Yaag, who I felt also deserved a lot more screen time.

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Originally Posted by Zora

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Originally Posted by 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.

---

Warning: Chapter 9 spoilers below/

Not necessarily a fight, but some sort of climax. For example, Final Fantasy IX spoiler Queen Brahne died during her hunt for power and turned against Kuja., or Final Fantasy VI spoilerGeneral 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.

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I agree with you on this, but the examples you gave are my exact examples of what Jihl is. I always felt

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Leo's death

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was ridiculously anti-climactic, but that's just me. I think (SPOILER)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.