Often in a console RPG the bad guys will have a chance to finish off the player characters. Obviously they never do (or the game would end) but the justification for letting them go changes. Our first introduction to the character Golbez in Final Fantasy IV immediately marks him as an idiot for not killing off the players. Here's the scene...
Cecil, Edward, and Yang are desperately trying to defend Fabul's crystal which the Red Wings are here to steal. The party is running out of steam (the party had two healers but they were both girls and therefore hid during the assault) and has fallen back to the crystal itself. In walks Kain who become evil. He trivially takes out Cecil. Golbez then walks in and trivially takes out Edward and Yang. Kain wants to finish the party off but Golbez tells him to just get the crystal and leave. One solid blow to Cecil's head and the bad guys win! They also kidnap Rosa to advance the plot.
A little while later Cecil is climbing Mount Ordeals to become a paladin. Golbez suddenly decides that Cecil is a problem and sends one of his fiends (Milon) to take him out. Kain gets antsy and wants to go too. After all, he was able to take Cecil out with ease in Fabul. Golbez calls Kain incompetent and tells him to sit down and shut up. I'm calling Golbez incompetent. Milon and his zombies are all chumps. Kain alone would probably be a decent fight. Kain and Milon likely take the party out. Kain, Milon, and Golbez certainly do.
I wonder if this is a spot where the drastically reduced plot in the US version is hurting the story. We eventually learn that Golbez is actually a good guy being mind controlled so I could believe he went easy on Cecil in a passive-aggressive outburst against the true evil guy. But we're given no indication that this could be the case. As far as we know at this point in time Golbez is just stupid.
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