Top 10 Worst Final Fantasy Dungeons

This is probably the first timed segment in the Final Fantasy series, and it definitely wasn't the last. When you're able to explore the castle after being let out of the dungeon, you'll see many treasure chests that you can't open because of the fire blocking them.

So how do you get to them? You need to defeat the Liquid Flame at the end of the fire ship and then watch as the fire crystal is destroyed, just like the other two before it. After that happens, you're told that you have ten minutes to escape the castle before it blows up. Only then can you finally collect these goodies, but there's another problem: with the exception of the chests that contain money, all of them have monsters that you must fight and kill before the loot is yours.

Not to mention that this place now has random encounters, and the clock will still count down in the middle of a fight. If you want that loot, you need to finish these fights fast. There's also a boss at the gates. He starts out as the sergeant with two Cur Nakks. If you kill the Cur Nakks first, then the sergeant turns into Iron Claw. This is the only opportunity to encounter one if you're going for a full bestiary. Needless to say, Square's first attempt at a timed segment was severely lacking in polish.

The first entry in this franchise was groundbreaking, but it was also made when video games were designed to be difficult. The Cavern of Earth is one of the earliest and most frustrating dungeons in the game.

To the left of the dungeon are fixed encounters with Gigas and Lizards, two of the strongest enemies up to this point. It's good for grinding levels and getting money, but I prefer the peninsula of power north of Pravoka. It also has a frustrating layout full of winding pathways and dead ends.

The most frustrating part is that you have to traverse this level twice. First, to get the Star Ruby to feed the Stone Golem to the west and gain access to the Sage's Cave to obtain the Earth Rod, which lets you go deeper into the dungeon to fight the Lich, the real cause of Melmond's woes. The worst part is that your party can't learn Exit at this point, so after you defeat the Vampire, you have to exit the cave on foot.

The Exit spell is located at Crescent Lake, but you need to upgrade your White Mage or Red Mage to White Wizard or Red Wizard to learn it. You can only upgrade your classes after obtaining the Airship, and you need the canoe to do that. The canoe will only be given to you by one of the elders in Crescent Lake after clearing the Cavern of Earth. It's dungeons like these in early NES games that make me very thankful for the internet.

Many people consider D-District Prison one of the worst dungeons in the Final Fantasy franchise. But those who were able to make it to this point might beg to differ.

For starters, the following commands and abilities are locked when you enter and can only be unlocked after defeating one of the eight bosses: Draw, Save, Resurrect, GF, Item, Command, Magic, and Limit Break. Second, your party splits in half, and you need to interact with green lights to switch between them. You'll need both parties if you want to beat all the bosses and unlock all your abilities.

The reason this mechanic worked in Final Fantasy VI was because players could switch between parties at any time outside of battle. One of the good things about this dungeon (at least in the versions released outside of Japan) is that there were seven GFs that were missable, and this dungeon gives you one last chance to snag them.

So if you missed any of them, you'll want to take on Sphinxaur and Sphinxara first to unlock your draw ability, as that's the only boss fight in the castle before the final boss that doesn't have a GF you can draw. But even then, it might be too late to make good use of them.

Even though this dungeon was totally optional, I almost developed a hernia trying to beat this place. For starters, it's located in an area in Hulldagh Pike that's only accessible with the Regalia Type-F. If you land in an area where there are no roads, it's an automatic Game Over. Needless to say, the landing strip is quite short. Secondly, you can only enter the ruins at night. But what makes this place a nightmare is that it's pure platforming hell. You need to make precise jumps onto many small platforms and avoid these red spikes. Otherwise, you can get teleported a fair way back.

Furthermore, there's no map to help you, and you can't save your game while in here. The worst part is the dungeon's exclusive treasure, the Black Hood. It's supposed to allow you to evade attacks automatically, but it doesn't work all the time. Many people think that the stealth sections in Zegnautus Keep in Chapter 13 were worse, but Square Enix thankfully introduced a patch that let people bypass that by playing as Gladiolus and Ignis. This is what happens when you let one person design an entire dungeon (seriously).

For the most part, Final Fantasy VII is a pretty flawless masterpiece. It can be difficult to choose a dungeon I detest, but if I had to pick, the booby prize would go to Temple of the Ancients.

After obtaining the Key Stone from Dio and Cait Sith giving it to the Turks, Aerith becomes locked into your party for the duration. You better level her up and get her Level 4 Limit Break. Once you enter the temple, there's no way to leave until you acquire the Black Materia that Sephiroth is after. You also can't change your party once you enter, so you need to ensure they're at a high level and have the best gear to avoid much frustration.

The actual dungeon is a maze that looks like something out of a Maurits Cornelis Escher painting. There are obstacle courses, including rolling stones (not the band), the giant clock room, and the gate room. The clock room was harder in the Japanese version because players didn't initially have the option to wind the clock. They had to wait for the hands to be in the desired position or let the second hand knock them off three times.

The Red Dragon and the Demon's Gate are the hardest bosses up to this point. If you didn't acquire Aerith's Level 4 Limit Break, you're in for a rough time. Once you complete this dungeon, you can't visit it again. You need to be thorough if you want all the goodies, such as the Morph Materia.

Lastly, upon completing this dungeon, Aerith leaves your party for good, and I shouldn't have to tell you why.

This is what you call a double whammy. After Zidane and his party are captured by Kuja, Zidane has to go to Oeilvert to retrieve something for Kuja. What makes this dungeon difficult is that you can't use any magical abilities once inside. Therefore, it's tempting to have all your physical fighters - Steiner, Freya, and Amarant - join you here, but this is a beginner's trap. Once you finish your errand here, Kuja will go back on his word and try to give the other four party members a nice lava bath. You then control Cid and have six minutes to rescue the others.

This is done by playing redlight greenlight with a hedgehog pie. If Cid moves when the monster looks at him, Cid will get scared and run back to the beginning. Once rescued, you have to make your way through the Desert Palace with the party members you left behind. If your party consists mostly of physically weak magic users, you're in for a rough time. This dungeon would've been okay if it weren't for this ridiculous beginner's trap.

There are many bad dungeons in all of Final Fantasy II, but the final two dungeons are arguably the worst of the lot. Both have the infamous dead-end rooms which are prevalent throughout every dungeon in the game. If you enter one, so much as a simple about-face will almost guarantee a random encounter. What makes these dungeons so arduous is that you must first make your way through Jade Passage to get to Pandemonium. Both dungeons are long and consist of the strongest monsters in the game. Also, there's no shortcut to the overworld from Pandemonium. If you use the Exit spell to escape, you have to go through Jade Passage all over again. These dungeons are a perfect combination of everything wrong with Final Fantasy II's dungeon design.

While not technically a dungeon, it's still an arduous part of an otherwise awesome strategy game. This is a three-part battle where you can't leave to level up between parts.

The first fight is at the castle gates, and it's your standard battle. But afterwards, it gives you the opportunity to save your game, and believe me when I say save on another file. The second fight starts with a 1 vs. 1 fight between Ramza and Wiegraf, who is very strong. If Ramza isn't at a high enough level, Wiegraf can down him in one hit. After sustaining enough damage, he'll reveal his true form, Velius. When your party rushes in to help, he'll summon his own minions to back him up. What's worse is that his HP, MP, and CT are all displayed as question marks, so it's a real guessing game to see how much fight he has left.

The last part, which takes place on the rooftop of the castle, requires you to keep Rafa alive. Elmdor is accompanied by two assassins that can insta-kill your party members. Like I said, if you need to save your game between these fights, do so on another file. If you're too underpowered to win, you won't be able to grind levels out in the field.