As far as difficulty curves go, Final Fantasy has never been particularly consistent as a franchise. There’s a fairly large disparity in quality between the three Famicom entries (Final Fantasy I through III,) while the SNES games range from varying shades of easy (IV & VI) to occasionally challenging (V.) 

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The PS1 era follows suit in this regard, with VII, VIII, and IX all over the place as far as challenge goes, but Final Fantasy VII is arguably the easiest of the trio. All the same, while an easy RPG on a whole, Final Fantasy VII has its fair share of challenging boss fights to keep Cloud on his toes. 

10 Lost Number

Lost Number is especially worth fighting ASAP for anyone using Red XIII in their party– as the boss drops his ultimate Limit, Cosmo Memory– but Lost Number jumps between physical attack & magic attacks, with its two sides working in conjunction with each other. This can end up turning into a chaotic fight fast, but it's worth fighting through it.

After enough damage, the Lost Number will exclusively start using one style of attack– while something of a mercy, Lost Number will still be quite the heavy hitter here, so it's best to finish the fight as soon as humanly possible.

9 Midgar Zolom

In the grand scheme of things, the Midgar Zolom isn't too difficult. As far as the story is concerned, the party isn't even expected to fight it. The story pushes Cloud towards catching a Chocobo and just zooming right by the Midgar Zolom. Those who stop to fight it, however, will quickly find themselves painfully underleveled.

Generously, losing to the Midgar Zolom doesn't actually trigger a Game Over, instead kicking the party back to the overworld. It's also worth noting that it is possible to beat the Midgar Zolom here, but it's incredibly difficult and requires a keen understanding of the mechanics a fresh player likely won't have without a guide.

8 Schizo

Schizo is fought very suddenly in Gaea's Cliff and he's surprisingly sturdy to boot. Any players who miss the healing spring right before Schizo might find themselves panicking, especially since Schizo is deceptively hard. At first glance, he seems easy enough, but his two heads have different attributes, with the left using ice and the right using fire.

Using All- spells can be particularly dangerous in this fight, but it's also worth noting that this is one of the first boss battles after Aerith leaves the party. Considering how overpowered Healing Wind is, players might be finding themselves hurting for convenient healing, scrambling to reorganize their playstyle still.

7 Bizarro Sephiroth

Bizarro Sephiroth is one of the coolest final boss fights in gaming in large part due to its hidden mechanics. Depending on how well the player makes it through Final Fantasy VII, Bizarro Sephiroth (the final boss' first form) will not only be puffed, the player will be allowed to take multiple parties with them in the final battle.

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The default is the standard one party, but it's possible to fight Bizzaro Sephiroth with two or three parties depending on: if Yuffie & Vincent are recruited, the result of the fight with Jenova-SYNTHESIS, and party level. Bizarro Sephiroth also influences another boss fight, but more on that later.

6 Rapps

Depending on when exactly players choose to go to Wutai (and if they have Yuffie in the party,) they can potentially be greeted with one of Final Fantasy VII's single hardest set pieces. Upon landing in Wutai with Yuffie recruited, Shinra infantrymen will ambush the party only for Yuffie to rob everyone blind of their Materia.

The path to Wutai is long and dangerous, with Cloud refusing to let the party leave until they get the Materia back, and the side quest ultimately ends with a boss fight against Rapps, one of Don Corneo's pets. Without Materia, this already hard boss is even harder as its Aero3 will also do around 1.5k damage, something hard to get around without access to magic.

5 Carry Armor

Throwing Bolt after Bolt at Carry Armor can potentially get the job done quick enough if the party's Materia has been leveled enough (Bolt3 is what you're looking for specifically,) but that doesn't mean Carry Armor can't do some serious and nasty damage. Notably, Carry Armor can grab two of the players' party members, locking them in place while draining their health.

Carry Armor basically takes after Reno in this regard, but the former is far more dangerous than the latter. Considering the set piece sees the party going after Huge Materia, though, a challenging boss fight is very much welcome.

4 Safer Sephiroth

As is the case with Bizarro Sephiroth, Safer Sephiroth (the final boss' penultimate form) gains buffs based on how well one gets through the game– gaining health buffs for max level characters along with some notable stat increases. Unlike Bizarro Sephiroth who offered the player multiple parties, however, Safer Sephiroth is just the player's core three characters going in for the kill.

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Safer Sephiroth is hard in general, but his boss fight only gets tougher if the party is lacking in Health. Equipping Magic Materia willy nilly will result in those stat penalties coming back to bit the party– Safer Sephiroth hits hard and even if he follows an attack pattern, it only takes one slip-up for him to be able to wipe the party.

3 Demons Gate

Demons Gate is notably the last boss players fight while Aerith is in the party, potentially resulting in the player losing Aerith's ultimate weapon in the process since she leaves with it (not that this is a problem.) While that may be frustrating for completionists who like a comprehensive inventory, it is worth keeping Aerith equipped to the nines if only because Demons Gate is surprisingly hard.

This is a difficulty spike truly out of nowhere. The fact Demons Gate is just so fast and heavy hitting makes it a challenging battle by design, but him gradually nudging towards the party adds an element of real-time tension that captures how hard the boss can be. If nothing else, it's a good note for Aerith to leave the party on.

2 Emerald WEAPON

The WEAPON bosses are some of the most memorable in Final Fantasy VII, even if they aren't all particularly difficult. Diamond WEAPON puts up a decent enough narrative challenge, but isn't too daunting. Ultimate WEAPON makes for a fun, lengthy fight, but he can be defeated with enough persistence. Emerald WEAPON is a different beast entirely, on the other hand.

Exclusively fought underwater, the party needs to defeat Emerald WEAPON within 20 to 30 minutes. That seems more than generous for a boss fight, but the fact there's a timer at all should put into perspective how grueling the fight with Emerald WEAPON can be. Even fully prepared and max level, this is a fight that can take a bit of time. (Lest one has Knights of the Round.)

1 Ruby WEAPON

The single strongest enemy in the game and very likely the last challenge players face in their playthrough of Final Fantasy VII, Ruby WEAPON makes for one hell of a superboss. Just gaining access to the boss is a challenge in and of itself since the buggy is ultimately destroyed when the player gains access to the Highwind– requiring one breed a Gold Chocobo.

While this means players will naturally fight Ruby WEAPON late game, this doesn't mean any Level 99 party can just walk in and dominate the fight. Even at max level, Ruby WEAPON can be viciously hard, demanding players equip the absolute best Materia at their disposal and even take advantage of unorthodox strategies (entering the battle without a full party, for instance.)

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