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The Top 10 Ragnaroks
Jul. 15th, 2011 12:01 am[It was decided in roughly November of 2023 that GameFAQs once-loved Top 10 Lists feature was being phased out. I had written a few lists between 2009 and 2012 and generally engaged with that community a fair bit, so I figured I would cross-post my lists on this site over ten years later, backdated. You may still be able to view the original version here.]
After the Top 10 Excaliburs and the Top 10 Masamunes, DetroitDJ commented that he liked "this emerging list series a lot". It wasn't really planned as a series, but DDJ had a couple of suggestions for what could be down the road. Among these suggestions was the Top 10 Ragnaroks.
Ragnarok, in Norse mythology, is the battle between the Aesir, the gods of Valhalla, and the Vanir. Several important figures in the mythology are expected to die during Ragnarok, and then the world as we know it will end. There aren't that many games that focus on the mythological idea of Ragnarok, and personally I'm glad that the market isn't flooded with games featuring the end of the world.
Anyway, the issue in coming up with this list is that the Top 10 Ragnaroks was going to have more of a Final Fantasy slant than even the Top 10 Masamunes and the Top 10 Excaliburs, at least if it focused only on weapons. Like Excalibur and Masamune, the Final Fantasy series has adopted this name regularly to denote extremely powerful swords. There aren't that many weapons named Ragnarok in other games... so instead of focusing on just weapons named Ragnarok, to keep this list at least a little bit varied, I'm going to consider places and events called Ragnarok as well, as long as they result in death. This list will list the deadliest.
Ragnaroks still aren't exactly commonplace, and there's still a lot of Final Fantasy (you've been warned), but I think this list will be more interesting this way. I hope some of you agree..
#10: Valkyrie Profile (PS)
Everybody who knows this game probably expected this one. Valkyrie Profile is a beautiful game with amazing graphics and sound and a simple-to-play, difficult-to-master battle system emphasizing the timing of your attacks. The relevant part is that it's a story based loosely on Norse mythology where one of the three valkyries, Lenneth, is tasked by Odin to recruit human warriors called "Einherjar". These warriors generally die a noble death in the mortal world of Midgard, then train with Lenneth before being sent to Valhalla to participate in Ragnarok, the battle at the end of the world.
When you go for the good ending, or "A Path", Ragnarok is only mentioned in passing. It's not possible to describe very well without spoiling everything, but Ragnarok happens in the background while the Aesir of Valhalla end up fighting amongst themselves, a lot of Gods die, and Lenneth Valkyrie really saves the day. With the "A Path" being what I would consider to be the proper way to play and end Valkyrie Profile, Ragnarok is nothing in the face of what happens immediately afterward. There is implied death, but it doesn't seem to matter much in the scope of this game. The end of the world has to be worth at least #10, though.
Ragnarok is of some importance in this game in that, when you begin, you are sure the ultimate goal of the game is to participate in Ragnarok and ultimately have some kind of positive outcome. Each time you access the world map to travel between cities or dungeons, the game reminds you how many periods are left until the end of the world. The introductory sequences sure make Ragnarok out to be pretty important as well, but there are two main paths through the game and Ragnarok is only significant in one of them. In the medium ending, or "B Path", Lenneth Valkyrie and her Einherjar predictably participate in Ragnarok and have a chance to beat the big bad guy. This ending is adequate, but not suitably epic, nor is it canon with newer games released in this series.
#9: Breath of Fire III (PS)
Breath of Fire III is the story of the last member of the brood, a race of dragon people, trying to find the reason that his people were exterminated centuries ago. In a world filled with lore of Dragons and magic, the main character, Ryu, eventually meets a scientist named Momo. It's hard to say why she accompanies the group for so long, but since the game eventually takes on a heavy sci-fi flavor it's definitely useful to have someone with her technical skills around.
This Ragnarok is pretty impressive, but Breath of Fire III isn't a magic-heavy game; there are actually quite a few better attacks at endgame. Deadliness: Moderate, although the animation suggests that this spell should be able to destroy continents. This one gets the #9 spot.
Among her other gifts, Momo is one of the game's better magic users, and she eventually gains access to an attack spell called Ragnarok. Only used by Momo and a few enemies, Ragnarok actually has the same statistical power as Nina's deadly Mjollnir spell, making it a wise investment to keep boosting Momo's Intelligence statistic as much as possible. And it looks pretty great: a shadow looms over the battlefield when cast, followed by a screen-blocking meteor. End of the world indeed.
#8: Final Fantasy IX (PS)
In Final Fantasy games that feature a Ragnarok, generally speaking, Ragnarok is a step up from the Excalibur. In Final Fantasy IX, the guy who usually wields the big swords is Adelbert Steiner, and he has the privledge of wielding both of these great weapons. Both are acquired through sidequests and could probably be passed over pretty easily - you won't want to miss the Ragnarok, though.
It's a very useful weapon regardless, but for that first leisurely playthrough at least, Ragnarok will be Steiner's best weapon. Deadliness: High. That makes it #8 in my books.
Steiner's Excalibur is his third-strongest weapon, and it teaches the useful Climhazzard ability that hits all enemies for heavy damage. The Ragnarok is an even better choice, as his second-strongest weapon, exclusively allowing him access to the Shock ability. Shock essentially triples Steiner's damage, practically guaranteeing that he will hit the 9999 damage cap. There is a stronger weapon, but it's that Excalibur II you've heard about. Getting the Excalibur II means getting to the end of the game in 12 hours, so to put things simply, you aren't getting it on your first try.
#7: Golden Sun (GBA)
In Golden Sun, Ragnarok was an extremely valuable psynergy attack that could be used only by Isaac, and it is very helpful in his quest to prevent the four great lighthouses from being lit. Unlike most psynergy, Ragnarok's power was based on Isaac's regular physical attack, but boosted slightly and earth-elemental. Given that Isaac is generally more suited as a fighter than a psynergy specialist, and that Isaac has a great affinity for the earth element, this made it his attack of choice against most bosses. And it looks pretty awesome: a giant sword quickly descends and pierces the ground under the enemy, causing a great explosion.
Particularly if we're only considering the original Golden Sun, Ragnarok is quite good. You can use this stylish and powerful attack fairly early in the game to great effect. Deadliness: High, but only to a single target. I rank it #7 among Ragnaroks.
In the second and third Golden Sun games, Felix and Matthew can also use Ragnarok with the same great results... but a lot of new psynergy abilities were introduced including an upgraded version of Ragnarok called Odyssey. Odyssey pretty much makes Ragnarok obsolete, unless you've set your characters to very weak classes. And with all the new Djinni introduced, it became easier to select different and better classes for these characters that don't have access to Ragnarok. Not that Ragnarok is bad, but there are other good attack options available if you are using the superior Ninja or Samurai lines of classes.
#6: Final Fantasy VII (PS)
Final Fantasy VII is the story of a guy with sword-like hair and a big sword chasing down another guy with a big sword in order to sword, er, I mean save the world. Along the way he finds many other very large swords. One of them is called Ragnarok.
Breaking Final Fantasy tradition, every player will get a Ragnarok as part of the storyline; no crazy treasure hunt, minigame or optional boss needed here! Deadliness: Quite high, especially when paired with Omnislash or something like that. It also has considerable style points. Yes, this Ragnarok is generally great. #6.
In keeping with Final Fantasy tradition, Cloud's Ragnarok is a very strong weapon. Its power is very close to that of Cloud's best weapon, the Ultima Weapon, but Ragnarok has several other slight advantages. Ragnarok has a larger bonus to Spirit (and thus better magic defense), Ragnarok's materia slots can still gain AP, and Ragnarok doesn't have Ultima Weapon's special trait of damage based on Cloud's HP. This means that the Ragnarok can still do great damage when Cloud's hit points are very low. There are lots of reasons to be using the Ragnarok at endgame.
#5: Battletoads (NES)
Ragnarok (or Ragnarok's World) was actually the name of the planet on which some of the Battletoads games took place. No references to Norse mythology here, although it's a pretty cool planet. The varied nature of its many tunnels just screams "video game setting"!
Planet Ragnarok is a little bit different in the same-titled Game Boy game, but it's still really... um... strange. Strange, fun, diverse, and worth revisiting every so often. Although it is unusual to compare a sword to a magic spell to a planet, the difficulty of this game is legendary; you could say it's harder to survive than a sword or a magic spell. Deadliness: Very high, especially for player 2, who always dies on stage 11. Let's call this one #5..
First, you have your beautiful surface world, lush with vegetation, water, and humanoid pigs. Second, a giant straight tunnel deep into the underground filled with electricity and mean birds. Third, a racetrack that appears to be built on some kind of exaggerated animal flesh or something. Fourth, an ice cave. Fifth, deeper underground and somehow naturally lit, a series of waterfalls and chasms that are perfect for extreme surfing. Sixth, a series of caves filled with giant snakes that must be climbed upon to get out. Seventh, a tunnel full of flames, lava and inexplicable lasers. Eighth, ninth and tenth, still underground, a crazy machine-filled series of shafts, tubes and spikes.
#4: Mega Man Zero 4 (GBA)
WMega Man Zero 4 was the final game in the Mega Man Zero subseries, where Zero from the Mega Man X series repeatedly tries to help out small human resistance groups in a disastrous future where maverick reploids have more-or-less taken over the world. Throughout the Mega Man Zero games, we find that all the humans are generally being isolated, manipulated or killed by different parties. Ragnarok was a big part of what made Mega Man Zero 4 such a grand finale to this darkly-themed series.
In the epic final showdown, Zero fights with Ragnarok itself as it plunges into Earth's atmosphere. Of course, we know that the humans ended up being fine because they came out with the Mega Man ZX series that stars humans. Ragnarok was pretty significant, and its relationship with Norse mythology in that it caused "the end of the world as we know it" was actually kind of clever. Deadliness: Massive, although I think the total number of people it killed was zero. *cough* Let's call it #4.
Early in the game, we learn that the antagonist, Dr. Weil, calls his scheme "Operation Ragnarok", and the eight "robot masters" are actually referred to as the "einherjar warriors". The plan is to use Ragnarok to destroy nearly all areas that humans are able to inhabit so that the survivors are all forced to live under Dr. Weil's rule. After defeating the einherjar, Ragnarok is revealed to be a satellite designed to destroy the Earth's natural environments. For some reason, instead of using it to rain destruction upon the Earth, Dr. Weil instead chooses to crash the entire satellite into the human settlement that Zero had been using as his base of operations.
#3: Final Fantasy VIII (PS)
When the idea of the Top 10 Ragnaroks was proposed, the Ragnarok from Final Fantasy VIII was suggested as a surprise guest! The reason this one is distinct among Ragnaroks from the Final Fantasy series is that it isn't a weapon, but rather a vehicle. The Ragnarok is one of at least three space shuttles created by the advanced civilization of Esthar. These shuttles were used to drag an evil sorceress' tomb into outer space years before the start of the game. What happened in the seventeen years after that... we don't know.
Deadliness: Unknown, as it never actually comes close to killing anything, but I'd imagine it could take out an army. Did I mention that the space shuttle Ragnarok is a great place to play cards? That totally makes it worthy of spot #3.
At one point in Final Fantasy VIII, some of the main characters are literally lost and drifting through the cosmos. It is a powerful moment where the player feels completely helpless. And then, by the most pronounced instance of deus ex machina I've ever seen in a game, out of anywhere they could be in the vastness of space, they drift directly into the abandoned space shuttle Ragnarok. The shuttle is filled with monsters when you find it, but when the monsters are destroyed you are not only saved from the horrible fate of drifting endlessly through space... but you've also got some stylin' transportation for the rest of the game. It looks kind of like a gigantic flying dragon.
The Ragnarok is used as a weapon on one occasion, showing that it has access to a large beam cannon and two large gripping "claws" on the front. I've sure if you had more occasions to use it offensively, it would be pretty effective. This is explored somewhat in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy where Laguna Loire uses a weapon that looks like the Ragnarok in an attack called "Ultimate Ragnarok Cannon".
#2: Age of Mythology (PC)
Ragnarok in Age of Mythology is a god power available to the god Baldr of the Norse civilization. Most of the best god powers cause some kind of major interference or destruction over a radius. Ragnarok, however, is quite difficult to use effectively... and a bit more difficult to predict.
Ragnarok can only be evoked in the Mythic Age, toward the end of a game. When used, all regular villagers or dwarves will suddenly convert into a special unit called "hero of ragnarok". These strong units use more resources than villagers, and you lose the villages who were working to maintain your civilization's wealth. This makes your army suddenly and drastically grow in power, but the hit on your economy and production is dangerous. Most would say that Ragnarok is best used as a final "big push" against a strong opponent, and that one must be careful to time this properly. Having as many villagers as possible with good upgrades and positioning before Ragnarok begins is important.
This Ragnarok is unique and interesting as an RTS play strategy and, of course, it can be pretty deadly. Deadliness: Quite high; after all, if you use it well a civilization is destroyed, and if you don't... well, in all likelihood, your civilization is destroyed. I guess that's not a good thing, but judging by the scale of deadliness this Ragnarok should probably be #2.#1: Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
In the second half of Final Fantasy VI, you are exploring a world which has recently undergone some changes, and trying to find the allies you had made earlier in the game. If you can find your friend Locke Cole (who is able to pick locks), you can find a few survivors who have locked themselves away in a ruined city overrun by monsters. One of these is an old man who apparently smiths swords, who asks a simple but very difficult question that is familiar to many who have played this game: the sword, or the stone?
The man has found a piece of magicite, the remains of a magical esper, and believes it can be forged into a very powerful sword. If you choose the sword, you won't be disappointed: like many swords named Ragnarok, it is awesome. It has the highest power in the game, always delivers critical hits at the cost of some magic power, provides some big stat boosts, and increases your evasion statistics by 30. The evasion is a big deal: it'll basically make about 25% more attacks miss the character. Oh, and it occasionally casts a super-powered Flare spell at your enemy each time you swing it. Final Fantasy VI's Ragnarok is a beast! And it's not even the best weapon in the game: you can swap your Ragnarok for an Illumina (AKA Lightbringer) by betting it at the colosseum, which is even better. Choosing the sword Ragnarok effectively gives access to some truly game-breaking equipment setups.
The other option is to choose the stone. If you keep Ragnarok in magicite form, the esper Ragnarok can be summoned to change an enemy into an item, but that isn't really the big draw of it. Characters who hold this magicite will be able to learn the powerful Ultima spell. Ultima in this game is ridiculously broken. It goes through barriers, it never misses, and it hits all enemies for crazy damage. Ultima is easily the game's strongest spell.
Deadliness: Absolutely crazy whether you go sword or stone, and the sword even provides some defensive ability. I guess that's what makes it such a hard decision. If you think the sword or the stone ain't good enough, try playing the GBA version of Final Fantasy VI - you can get both! That ought to make it good enough for #1.
Deadliness: Absolutely crazy whether you go sword or stone, and the sword even provides some defensive ability. I guess that's what makes it such a hard decision. If you think the sword or the stone ain't good enough, try playing the GBA version of Final Fantasy VI - you can get both! That ought to make it good enough for #1.
So that's the list. Isn't the end of the world wonderful?
Here are some other notable games with deadly Ragnaroks: Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls (GBA), Final Fantasy III (NES), Final Fantasy IV (SNES), Final Fantasy V (SNES), Final Fantasy X (PS2), Final Fantasy XII (PS2), Final Fantasy Tactics (PS), Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (GBA). I told you there was a lot of Final Fantasy.
I can't really think of many other named weapons that are both interesting and frequently recurring as those I've already written about, so this list "series" is kind of dead for now. Kind of. And for now.
