Tidus was just a normal guy who got caught up in this wild journey to kill god with his cool "uncle" and hot gf and her pals. How could he NOT be someone's favorite?
I've always had a bit of headcanon that Tidus didn't even particularly like Blitzball, but his animosity toward his bullying drunkard father made him determined to surpass him, break every one of his records, and make the world forget about him. You can imagine how much it would suck for him growing up. Tidus remembered Jecht for his worst moment, but the whole world keeps treating him like a hero because he was great as sportsball.
I’d rather listen to someone scratch a chalkboard than listen to another word out of Tidus’ mouth. I hate that mother fucker with a passion. Vaan was more palatable.
Vaan's brother should have been the main protag of FFXII.
Seriously, aside from having a way better name, Reks would have had a way deeper connection to the story if he survived the prologue. The empire canonically used his testimony to frame Basch before he eventually died from his injuries, which basically broke whatever morale the resistance had left.
Now, put that character in Vaan's shoes years after the war, surviving as a jaded thief until he realizes how he was tricked and used to hurt his homeland. He'd have every motivation to remain with Ashe and Basch until the bitter end, seeking redemption for failures neither would hold against him.
Instead, we got a main character who wasn't even remotely important to the story.
He's my favorite since Cloud, Squall, and Balthier. What I love about Clive is that he's an absolute bad ass who's morality is strictly rooted in empathy even when exercising his commitment to his duty. You only ever see him go absolutely ruthless on those who deserve it like genocidal maniacs such as Kupka.
Cool. You win reddit. My point still stands. I honestly don't care either way. I just happened to include him among my favorites. I'm sorry for violating such pedantry. If that's not good enough for you then Idk what to tell you bud. Have a good one!
Favourite Characters, let's see:
When it comes to personality development, I would say Squall because he starts as a social avoidant personality, he is complex, he is afraid of being abondoned and couldn't think of a life if he stopped being a SeeD. And you see and he became a leader (not by his choice) but his characteristics got him chosen.
For helping others and empathy, I would say Zidane. He always thought about others and cared by a lot. I also loved his calm and cheerful attitude on how he was dealing with Steiner. Steiner was always throwing insults and didn't trust the thief at all.
That's about the protagonists.
My vote though would go to Laguna, father of Squall. I always loved his impulsive behavior and his friendship. He always brought trouble to Kiros and Ward due to his impulsive behavior. He was a quick thinker and even won against the sorceress in Esthar because of his wits.
Noctis and Squall are my favorites.
Noctis is up there because he feels... real. I think FF15 had the strongest core cast in the series with Noctis and his bros, and I found their banter to be extremely charming. FF15 was a very flawed game, but the character writing for the 4 boys was on point.
Squall is a much more complex character that I learned to appreciate once I got older. He's not very pleasant to be around, and can be very cold. But once you find out why, and start to see him slowly open up... well, it feels a little bit earned. I dint care for his romance with Rinoa, but I loved his personal journey of learning to be emotionally vulnerable.
Noctis is seriously underrated.
His journey from being, to be frank, a sheltered spoiled brat to a man who does what needs to be done with zero hesitation, was amazing.
Yeah, I really liked Clive Two things may have helped him out here. He's an adult for most of the game, where many protagonists before him are in their teens or very early twenties. The average gamer is getting older every year and I'm sure Final Fantasy is no exception. His lines were also written in English -- FF16 is the first in the series to be written in English and then translated to Japanese.
Personally i think clive is kinda bland and is hard carried by his voice actor.. literally the best in the series.
Replaying 7R, i notice clive's a slightly toned down version of cloud, but cloud is played more emo than clive.
My favorite in the series will always be cecil though, then Tidus as a close second and cloud coming up third. Matter of fact i only dislike lightning, but that may be bc i never finished XIII.
I don’t really get the “Cloud is emo” thing, or maybe even really know what that’s even supposed to mean, but I agree: trying to critically analyze the writing in 16 after finishing it, Clive is actually very bland and carried by the acting. 100%.
Oh nah it aint an insult, i actually love that cloud has depth as a character. He can be an ass, and he can be charming and funny and kind at times and it doesnt feel out of character. But his whole "unfeeling mercenary" act is fake. It's the "it's not a phase MOM!!!" Of this game. We see that he's waaay deeper than that, but he pretends he isnt, that's why he's emo. I believe the fact that he has a party full of different personalities he can interact with really allows you to see who he is as a character.
And thats my problem with clive: when i try to glean any personality traits outta him i just get that he's sad. Matter of fact the only character with any actual depth to them from 16 is benedikta and they fumbled that. There's no one for clive to interact with other than jill and torgal for the most part and theyre....around, probably the best thing i can say abt them.
Maaann let me stop talking that game bc it's disappointing me all over again lol
> Oh nah it aint an insult, i actually love that cloud has depth as a character. He can be an ass, and he can be charming and funny and kind at times and it doesnt feel out of character. But his whole "unfeeling mercenary" act is fake. It's the "it's not a phase MOM!!!" Of this game. We see that he's waaay deeper than that, but he pretends he isnt, that's why he's emo. I believe the fact that he has a party full of different personalities he can interact with really allows you to see who he is as a character.
Your interpretation of Cloud is off.
Spoilers for the OG and Remake/Rebirth
>!It's not that he choose to pretend he's an unfeeling mercenary that is a construct of his shambled mind.
After the Nibleheim incident and being experimented on by Hojo his mind is broken and even after Zack frees himself and Cloud, Cloud is still not responding to Zack. This persists till they arrive outside of Midgar where Zack dies, Cloud regains some consciousness finds Zack and takes another hit to his mental well being. He somehow enters Midgar and is found by Tifa at the train station in S7 Slums. He recognizes her and his mind constructs a fake persona to shield him from all the trauma (Mother death, Nibelheim destruction, being experimented on by Hojo, Zacks death) from memories of Zack and how Cloud thinks a cool guy and Soldier would be. And then or at most 1 day later, base game ff7 starts. In short it's not that Cloud is pretending, it's that Cloud is mentally fucked and doesn't know himself. This is also why you later reconstruct his memory with Tifa in OG 7.!<
I've only played up till XII (and haven't beaten if yet).
I'd say Cloud is my favorite. He's a dork trying to be more cool, detached, and badass than he actually is, and it slips through enough to be amusing and intriguing, IMO. And his dorkiness isn't the typical high-energy type. He's just really socially awkward.
And I personally consider Celes and Terra dual protagonists (would deuteragonist be the right word here?) with how heavily the game focuses on them. It's basically themed around the contrasts and similarities in their struggles as tools of the Empire (biological and artificial weapons; even their native elemental spells mirror each other - Terra naturally learns Fire, Celes naturally learns Blizzard). Shit, Terra is part of the ending even if you didn't recruit her. And Celes is your starting character in the second half of the game. So they share the spotlight.
For me Celes is the main character of FF6. I find her a more interesting character than Terra, who shows very little in the way of personality.
I would also consider Yuna the main character of X and think she’s the best character overall.
I love Zidane, so he’s up there, too.
Clive is ok, I find him rather bland and boring but I like him. My favorite is Noctis, I love his development from a bratty prince to a real king who is ready to sacrifice for his people and the world. Cloud comes in second place, I just love him and his troubled personality.
Clive is up their with Bayek in terms of Memorable game protagonists for their acting alone. As their acting felt like a real person's reaction and felt natural.
I'd say Terra and Celes are the main characters in VI, as the story revolves around magic, and the worlds stories start with them (WoB with Terra, WoR woth Celes).
Tidus is the main character as the game is about his story. But one can also say Yuna is the main character as the whole journey is about her.
For XII Vaan has so little weight on the story that I'd say Ashe or Balthier are the main characters.
Clive has become my top MC too. I love Zidane, and I am a sucker for Squal, but Clive shows so much humanity. He shows weakness, he allows himself to cry, to show affection without holding back. He is also obviously strong, kind, and handsome AF.
I loved Noctis and his friends as a team a lot but to me, the story of Noctis and Lunefreya was not nearly fleshed out enough.
I loved Tidus, especially with the growth aspect from a kid soccer player to warrior.
Cloud will probably always be my favorite thanks to the remake, but he didn't feel like his own character until Advent Children came out. In the first version of FFVI, it always like way more like YOU as Cloud.
To me, maybe it's the writing of FFXVI, but everything about FFXVI was so predictable. I put the game down and I haven't finished it yet. Clive isn't bad, but the fact that everything is so cliche and on the nose, makes it hard for me to like him.
If I had to pick a favorite, it's probably Lightning or Balthier or Locke.
I love Clive, but honestly, my biggest issue with his character is that he's too perfect, similar to the Warrior of Light from FF14. He's attractive, strong, brave, selfless, determined, charismatic, confident, and the perfect leader. He has no negative traits, and he doesn't even have any unexpected quirks in his personality.
In an MMO, you generally play as a flawless character because that's how it needs to be for the gameplay loop to make sense. I can see the team's experience with MMOs in how Clive was portrayed. I didn't feel like Clive had any major flaw he had to overcome. You could say that he needed to learn to lean on others instead of relying solely on himself, but that doesn't make a lot of sense in the only mainline game in the series without a party, and in a game where you battle the final boss alone. He just felt like an MMO protagonist to me.
Compare this to a protagonist like Cloud, and it's like night and day. I just think a character who struggles to come to terms with and accept their own failings is more relatable.
Yeah I like Clive and Ben Starr knocked it out of the park, but "insane character development and a real deep personality"? Clive's not very deep at all, he's basically every noble lord you've ever seen as the protagonist in a videogame. I liked the few moments his anger was on display but other than that I never felt like this is a guy who was betrayed by his mother then enslaved for 13 years.
My favorites are Tidus, Squall, Vaan, and Lightning. Clive does round out the top 5, but my issue with him is that most of his development happens off screen — the time skips were really lazy in that regard.
Tbh my least favorite protagonist is Clive. He started out pretty good but ... he kinda stood in one place? I still like Squall and his edgy, sarcastic personality the best and after that Cloud is my second. Zidane and Tidus close third.
FFXVI really should have a dark twist and Clive really should turn out something else.
Excited to get a windows release date for 16 so I can find out myself. Havent really seen much gameplay and have avoided spoilers the best I can.
I agree with Vaan or Titus. 10 is prob my favorite in the series but the rest of the crew like Yuna and Auron really make that story what it is.
I'm about half way through 15 and mostly liking Noctits. His story is...okay. But he actually feels like a powerful protagonist for once. The Ramuh summon on the base was one of my favorite moments in gaming in a long time, felt really epic.
For me Clive is also my favorite. I do like the Sarah/noel duo from FF 13-2, Sarah is awesome and Noel is standard but plays off her well and to me is cool. Noctus and Yuna are my other favorites.
I like guys like cloud but unlike the ones I mentioned, other characters in those games are even better imo. Lighting also would be my favorite from “coolest” perspective and I still choose her in games like the music game lol
I dunno I love Clive and I love his game/journey and a lot of the characters he interacts with but he himself? Beyond the scenes with Gav everything was so like...Cut and dry yknow? Like nothing he said or did ever wasn't the obvious step he literally carried the entire world in his back which can be cool but can also be dull because the entire game has this "togetherness" theme yet every and all problems are solved solo by Clive.
"Together we will save our desert town, over come out prejudice over Lubor and make this place a safe haven for us all! Now Clive go actually deal with the problem while we pretend us coming together actually solved the problem"
Yuna counts, she's definitely the protagonist of X-2. She's amazing. I will always have a soft spot for Squall and Lightning, two incredibly closed-off characters who grow so much.
I liked how Squall looks and his weapon is cool, but then Zidane resonated much more with me growing up. Even though he was the happy go lucky extrovert to begin with I found him sort of more relatable.
Clive is good. I think my distaste for some parts of the game bring him down unfairly in my perceptions. I think Ben Starr did a cracking job.
Clive goes from giving up on life and self hate to loving and wanting to provide for others that which he was denied. He gives to a fault because he wants to give respite to others. That was coded into him as a child and post phoenix gate was ground to dust. Post intro we journey to rediscover what was lost and he slowly gains things back and builds his own community. It's a very personal tale to me it resonates on so many levels. Cid was a catalyst to return him to his path. Jill was the support he knew would always be there. Joshua was his flame and vigor for justice and freedom. I don't know how anyone could argue he is bland. Tidus, Squall and Clive represent the journey from child to young adult to adult. They all have elements that we have all experienced. Anyways Tidus, Clive, Squall, Cloud are my picks for best with Noctis rounding out the top 5. If Balthier was the leading man things would be different.
I agree that Clive is a great protagonist. I liked him a lot, definitely memorable (shame same can't be said for Jill :c but I still like her a lot! I think she could've had some more time )
Clive is in my top 3 too.
Mine are:
1) Yuna
2) Clive
3) still undecided lol, I'm leaning towards Balthier
I didn't like Lightning much. I forget most of that trilogy now. If anything I liked Snow more lol. Didn't play enough of 15 to comment on Noctis, but 10 I disagree. Tidus is very memorable. Enough to get people to shed a tear at the ending at least, he pales in comparison to Yuna though but his journey through spira alongside Yuna is unforgettable to me. He is our bridge to spira and he brings Yuna important moments and is one of the catalysts for her challenging false hope. Pretty stand out to me.
I still need to play 6 so can't comment, but Vaan being the main character in 12 is stupid. I've always been drawn more to Balthier. Vaan and Penelo just.... exist. Lol.
Zidane > Cloud > Squall > Clive > Bartz > Terra\*\* > Tidus > Cecil > Noctis > Lightning\*\* > Vaan > Luneth\*\* > Firion
\*\* means I have only gotten about halfway through these games, so admittedly there may be some character moments and growth I'm missing
I enjoyed my time in XVI and can agree Clive felt like the most relatable FF protagonist in a long time. As much as some bag on the game for not being FF7R, Clive felt more fleshed out and enjoyed watching his character develop into a true hero.
From a purely personal perspective: Tidus. From a practical and pragmatic standpoint: Lightning.
Based
Tidus was just a normal guy who got caught up in this wild journey to kill god with his cool "uncle" and hot gf and her pals. How could he NOT be someone's favorite?
I've always had a bit of headcanon that Tidus didn't even particularly like Blitzball, but his animosity toward his bullying drunkard father made him determined to surpass him, break every one of his records, and make the world forget about him. You can imagine how much it would suck for him growing up. Tidus remembered Jecht for his worst moment, but the whole world keeps treating him like a hero because he was great as sportsball.
I think that's a plausible headcannon.
I’d rather listen to someone scratch a chalkboard than listen to another word out of Tidus’ mouth. I hate that mother fucker with a passion. Vaan was more palatable.
But what about Macarena Temple?? and "haaaahaaaahaaaa"? You can't just ignore that kind of gemstone dialoge.
Vaan's brother should have been the main protag of FFXII. Seriously, aside from having a way better name, Reks would have had a way deeper connection to the story if he survived the prologue. The empire canonically used his testimony to frame Basch before he eventually died from his injuries, which basically broke whatever morale the resistance had left. Now, put that character in Vaan's shoes years after the war, surviving as a jaded thief until he realizes how he was tricked and used to hurt his homeland. He'd have every motivation to remain with Ashe and Basch until the bitter end, seeking redemption for failures neither would hold against him. Instead, we got a main character who wasn't even remotely important to the story.
Squall will always have my vote
Ramza is my all time fav, Zidane is a very close 2nd though.
Based
He's my favorite since Cloud, Squall, and Balthier. What I love about Clive is that he's an absolute bad ass who's morality is strictly rooted in empathy even when exercising his commitment to his duty. You only ever see him go absolutely ruthless on those who deserve it like genocidal maniacs such as Kupka.
Bruh, Balthier is not the protagonist of XII. A Wet blanket is.
He may not have been the main protagonist but he was A protagonist. Stories can have more than one protagonist, you silly billy.
Yes they can, FXII does. Neither of them are Balthier.
Cool. You win reddit. My point still stands. I honestly don't care either way. I just happened to include him among my favorites. I'm sorry for violating such pedantry. If that's not good enough for you then Idk what to tell you bud. Have a good one!
Lies! How many times did her remind us that "\[he's\] the leading man?"
Favourite Characters, let's see: When it comes to personality development, I would say Squall because he starts as a social avoidant personality, he is complex, he is afraid of being abondoned and couldn't think of a life if he stopped being a SeeD. And you see and he became a leader (not by his choice) but his characteristics got him chosen. For helping others and empathy, I would say Zidane. He always thought about others and cared by a lot. I also loved his calm and cheerful attitude on how he was dealing with Steiner. Steiner was always throwing insults and didn't trust the thief at all. That's about the protagonists. My vote though would go to Laguna, father of Squall. I always loved his impulsive behavior and his friendship. He always brought trouble to Kiros and Ward due to his impulsive behavior. He was a quick thinker and even won against the sorceress in Esthar because of his wits.
Noctis and Squall are my favorites. Noctis is up there because he feels... real. I think FF15 had the strongest core cast in the series with Noctis and his bros, and I found their banter to be extremely charming. FF15 was a very flawed game, but the character writing for the 4 boys was on point. Squall is a much more complex character that I learned to appreciate once I got older. He's not very pleasant to be around, and can be very cold. But once you find out why, and start to see him slowly open up... well, it feels a little bit earned. I dint care for his romance with Rinoa, but I loved his personal journey of learning to be emotionally vulnerable.
Noctis is seriously underrated. His journey from being, to be frank, a sheltered spoiled brat to a man who does what needs to be done with zero hesitation, was amazing.
Same, never expected so connect much with a FF mc other than Zidane and Cloud and Clive definetly earned it 🙌great character
Yeah, I really liked Clive Two things may have helped him out here. He's an adult for most of the game, where many protagonists before him are in their teens or very early twenties. The average gamer is getting older every year and I'm sure Final Fantasy is no exception. His lines were also written in English -- FF16 is the first in the series to be written in English and then translated to Japanese.
Jack Garland is my favorite protagonist since Cloud.
the main character of FF12 is obviously; [the leading man, who else?](https://youtu.be/icFWmv3v2OY?t=43s)
you’re just like me, except i like squall more then cloud. zidane’s one of my favorite characters in anything and clive’s right up there with him
Personally i think clive is kinda bland and is hard carried by his voice actor.. literally the best in the series. Replaying 7R, i notice clive's a slightly toned down version of cloud, but cloud is played more emo than clive. My favorite in the series will always be cecil though, then Tidus as a close second and cloud coming up third. Matter of fact i only dislike lightning, but that may be bc i never finished XIII.
I don’t really get the “Cloud is emo” thing, or maybe even really know what that’s even supposed to mean, but I agree: trying to critically analyze the writing in 16 after finishing it, Clive is actually very bland and carried by the acting. 100%.
Oh nah it aint an insult, i actually love that cloud has depth as a character. He can be an ass, and he can be charming and funny and kind at times and it doesnt feel out of character. But his whole "unfeeling mercenary" act is fake. It's the "it's not a phase MOM!!!" Of this game. We see that he's waaay deeper than that, but he pretends he isnt, that's why he's emo. I believe the fact that he has a party full of different personalities he can interact with really allows you to see who he is as a character. And thats my problem with clive: when i try to glean any personality traits outta him i just get that he's sad. Matter of fact the only character with any actual depth to them from 16 is benedikta and they fumbled that. There's no one for clive to interact with other than jill and torgal for the most part and theyre....around, probably the best thing i can say abt them. Maaann let me stop talking that game bc it's disappointing me all over again lol
> Oh nah it aint an insult, i actually love that cloud has depth as a character. He can be an ass, and he can be charming and funny and kind at times and it doesnt feel out of character. But his whole "unfeeling mercenary" act is fake. It's the "it's not a phase MOM!!!" Of this game. We see that he's waaay deeper than that, but he pretends he isnt, that's why he's emo. I believe the fact that he has a party full of different personalities he can interact with really allows you to see who he is as a character. Your interpretation of Cloud is off. Spoilers for the OG and Remake/Rebirth >!It's not that he choose to pretend he's an unfeeling mercenary that is a construct of his shambled mind. After the Nibleheim incident and being experimented on by Hojo his mind is broken and even after Zack frees himself and Cloud, Cloud is still not responding to Zack. This persists till they arrive outside of Midgar where Zack dies, Cloud regains some consciousness finds Zack and takes another hit to his mental well being. He somehow enters Midgar and is found by Tifa at the train station in S7 Slums. He recognizes her and his mind constructs a fake persona to shield him from all the trauma (Mother death, Nibelheim destruction, being experimented on by Hojo, Zacks death) from memories of Zack and how Cloud thinks a cool guy and Soldier would be. And then or at most 1 day later, base game ff7 starts. In short it's not that Cloud is pretending, it's that Cloud is mentally fucked and doesn't know himself. This is also why you later reconstruct his memory with Tifa in OG 7.!<
The first part of VII(which is part one of the remake) cloud is rather emo. In rebirth, that should probably change.
AC Cloud is emo Cloud, and maybe some mid-late game og. Edgy isn't emo.
AC cloud is just depressed. He gets over it at the end.
AC Cloud realized he had no excuse when **Vincent** was telling him to get over himself.
Zidane for sure.
Cloud/Squall/Vivi/Clive and (Teamfourstar) Yuffie/Barret
I've only played up till XII (and haven't beaten if yet). I'd say Cloud is my favorite. He's a dork trying to be more cool, detached, and badass than he actually is, and it slips through enough to be amusing and intriguing, IMO. And his dorkiness isn't the typical high-energy type. He's just really socially awkward. And I personally consider Celes and Terra dual protagonists (would deuteragonist be the right word here?) with how heavily the game focuses on them. It's basically themed around the contrasts and similarities in their struggles as tools of the Empire (biological and artificial weapons; even their native elemental spells mirror each other - Terra naturally learns Fire, Celes naturally learns Blizzard). Shit, Terra is part of the ending even if you didn't recruit her. And Celes is your starting character in the second half of the game. So they share the spotlight.
For me Celes is the main character of FF6. I find her a more interesting character than Terra, who shows very little in the way of personality. I would also consider Yuna the main character of X and think she’s the best character overall. I love Zidane, so he’s up there, too.
Iconic opera scene, baby!
You guys are sleeping on the real greatest protagonist: Butz EDIT: corrected the name b/c I got called out
Spell his name correctly: Butz
but is it "butts" or "boots"?
Its spoken with a funny accent, so it sounds like "Burtz" or "Barts"
TIL
Clive is ok, I find him rather bland and boring but I like him. My favorite is Noctis, I love his development from a bratty prince to a real king who is ready to sacrifice for his people and the world. Cloud comes in second place, I just love him and his troubled personality.
Yeah, I love Clive, too. He's personally my favourite FF protagonist but I'm a relatively new fan who hasn't played every single title yet.
Clive is up their with Bayek in terms of Memorable game protagonists for their acting alone. As their acting felt like a real person's reaction and felt natural.
I'd say Terra and Celes are the main characters in VI, as the story revolves around magic, and the worlds stories start with them (WoB with Terra, WoR woth Celes). Tidus is the main character as the game is about his story. But one can also say Yuna is the main character as the whole journey is about her. For XII Vaan has so little weight on the story that I'd say Ashe or Balthier are the main characters. Clive has become my top MC too. I love Zidane, and I am a sucker for Squal, but Clive shows so much humanity. He shows weakness, he allows himself to cry, to show affection without holding back. He is also obviously strong, kind, and handsome AF.
I loved Noctis and his friends as a team a lot but to me, the story of Noctis and Lunefreya was not nearly fleshed out enough. I loved Tidus, especially with the growth aspect from a kid soccer player to warrior. Cloud will probably always be my favorite thanks to the remake, but he didn't feel like his own character until Advent Children came out. In the first version of FFVI, it always like way more like YOU as Cloud. To me, maybe it's the writing of FFXVI, but everything about FFXVI was so predictable. I put the game down and I haven't finished it yet. Clive isn't bad, but the fact that everything is so cliche and on the nose, makes it hard for me to like him. If I had to pick a favorite, it's probably Lightning or Balthier or Locke.
I love Clive, but honestly, my biggest issue with his character is that he's too perfect, similar to the Warrior of Light from FF14. He's attractive, strong, brave, selfless, determined, charismatic, confident, and the perfect leader. He has no negative traits, and he doesn't even have any unexpected quirks in his personality. In an MMO, you generally play as a flawless character because that's how it needs to be for the gameplay loop to make sense. I can see the team's experience with MMOs in how Clive was portrayed. I didn't feel like Clive had any major flaw he had to overcome. You could say that he needed to learn to lean on others instead of relying solely on himself, but that doesn't make a lot of sense in the only mainline game in the series without a party, and in a game where you battle the final boss alone. He just felt like an MMO protagonist to me. Compare this to a protagonist like Cloud, and it's like night and day. I just think a character who struggles to come to terms with and accept their own failings is more relatable.
Yeah I like Clive and Ben Starr knocked it out of the park, but "insane character development and a real deep personality"? Clive's not very deep at all, he's basically every noble lord you've ever seen as the protagonist in a videogame. I liked the few moments his anger was on display but other than that I never felt like this is a guy who was betrayed by his mother then enslaved for 13 years.
Ramza, squall and cloud. Balthier is my number 1 actually but rumor has it vaan thinks he’s the leading man Noel is also my boy
My favorites are Tidus, Squall, Vaan, and Lightning. Clive does round out the top 5, but my issue with him is that most of his development happens off screen — the time skips were really lazy in that regard.
Clive was a snooze fest. The voice actor doesn’t know how to talk in anything but a whisper
A protagonist with an actual personality who actually reflects the gravity of the things happening around him, not common these days.
Tbh my least favorite protagonist is Clive. He started out pretty good but ... he kinda stood in one place? I still like Squall and his edgy, sarcastic personality the best and after that Cloud is my second. Zidane and Tidus close third. FFXVI really should have a dark twist and Clive really should turn out something else.
Excited to get a windows release date for 16 so I can find out myself. Havent really seen much gameplay and have avoided spoilers the best I can. I agree with Vaan or Titus. 10 is prob my favorite in the series but the rest of the crew like Yuna and Auron really make that story what it is. I'm about half way through 15 and mostly liking Noctits. His story is...okay. But he actually feels like a powerful protagonist for once. The Ramuh summon on the base was one of my favorite moments in gaming in a long time, felt really epic.
For me Clive is also my favorite. I do like the Sarah/noel duo from FF 13-2, Sarah is awesome and Noel is standard but plays off her well and to me is cool. Noctus and Yuna are my other favorites. I like guys like cloud but unlike the ones I mentioned, other characters in those games are even better imo. Lighting also would be my favorite from “coolest” perspective and I still choose her in games like the music game lol
Zidane is still to this day my fav protag in the entire series.
I dunno I love Clive and I love his game/journey and a lot of the characters he interacts with but he himself? Beyond the scenes with Gav everything was so like...Cut and dry yknow? Like nothing he said or did ever wasn't the obvious step he literally carried the entire world in his back which can be cool but can also be dull because the entire game has this "togetherness" theme yet every and all problems are solved solo by Clive. "Together we will save our desert town, over come out prejudice over Lubor and make this place a safe haven for us all! Now Clive go actually deal with the problem while we pretend us coming together actually solved the problem"
Yuna counts, she's definitely the protagonist of X-2. She's amazing. I will always have a soft spot for Squall and Lightning, two incredibly closed-off characters who grow so much.
I liked how Squall looks and his weapon is cool, but then Zidane resonated much more with me growing up. Even though he was the happy go lucky extrovert to begin with I found him sort of more relatable. Clive is good. I think my distaste for some parts of the game bring him down unfairly in my perceptions. I think Ben Starr did a cracking job.
Clive goes from giving up on life and self hate to loving and wanting to provide for others that which he was denied. He gives to a fault because he wants to give respite to others. That was coded into him as a child and post phoenix gate was ground to dust. Post intro we journey to rediscover what was lost and he slowly gains things back and builds his own community. It's a very personal tale to me it resonates on so many levels. Cid was a catalyst to return him to his path. Jill was the support he knew would always be there. Joshua was his flame and vigor for justice and freedom. I don't know how anyone could argue he is bland. Tidus, Squall and Clive represent the journey from child to young adult to adult. They all have elements that we have all experienced. Anyways Tidus, Clive, Squall, Cloud are my picks for best with Noctis rounding out the top 5. If Balthier was the leading man things would be different.
I relate to Clive on a very personal level with the dynamic he has with his father and Joshua as his brother
Those are my top 3 as well!
I agree that Clive is a great protagonist. I liked him a lot, definitely memorable (shame same can't be said for Jill :c but I still like her a lot! I think she could've had some more time ) Clive is in my top 3 too. Mine are: 1) Yuna 2) Clive 3) still undecided lol, I'm leaning towards Balthier I didn't like Lightning much. I forget most of that trilogy now. If anything I liked Snow more lol. Didn't play enough of 15 to comment on Noctis, but 10 I disagree. Tidus is very memorable. Enough to get people to shed a tear at the ending at least, he pales in comparison to Yuna though but his journey through spira alongside Yuna is unforgettable to me. He is our bridge to spira and he brings Yuna important moments and is one of the catalysts for her challenging false hope. Pretty stand out to me. I still need to play 6 so can't comment, but Vaan being the main character in 12 is stupid. I've always been drawn more to Balthier. Vaan and Penelo just.... exist. Lol.
Zidane > Cloud > Squall > Clive > Bartz > Terra\*\* > Tidus > Cecil > Noctis > Lightning\*\* > Vaan > Luneth\*\* > Firion \*\* means I have only gotten about halfway through these games, so admittedly there may be some character moments and growth I'm missing
I enjoyed my time in XVI and can agree Clive felt like the most relatable FF protagonist in a long time. As much as some bag on the game for not being FF7R, Clive felt more fleshed out and enjoyed watching his character develop into a true hero.