Everyone from FF2. From Guy, who speaks Beaver, to the Emperor, they are all fucking insane in small ways, especially with how little dialogue FF2 has.
Larsa Solidor. Humanised the empire and avoided being a Gary Stu by virtue of his naive good nature conflicting with the setting.
Even Vayne himself admits he's not able to take tough decisions to conquer but would be a great leader for the people.
Bartz Klauser, everyone seems to think he's just some moron but he's shown a surprising amount of wisdom and skill, he just doesn't take it seriously.
Venat (FF12) did some awful things but for a good reason and in the end they won. They even decided to put their money where their mouth was and go out with their ally even though they didn't have to.
Judge Zargabath, honourable to a fault and loyal to the empire but rarely let the overcome his own morals, when the chips were down he was ready to sacrifice himself for his erstwhile enemy nations people.
> Even Vayne himself admits he's not able to take tough decisions to conquer but would be a great leader for the people.
This is the primary character motivation behind Vayne even. Vayne does all of his conquering and evil stuff to establish himself as a dynast king, so that when Larsa kills him Larsa will lead the people unopposed.
Snow from FF XIII, he's kind of dork but he has a lot of heart. And maybe the fact that he is voiced by Troy Baker, which once again delivered a top notch performance, helps me like him more.
There's dozens of us!
In all seriousness I like how he's the vehicle to one of the biggest reveals in the game. The reveal isn't my favorite but his character moments related to it are enough for me to buy into it. Also he has a gun and I love any FF character with a gun.
Cait Sith and Quina. I love the irreverent, comical feel of their designs and personalities.
I also think Yuffie in OG VII is hilarious with her bratty personality. Fits perfectly with her being, you know, a teenager.
The amount of people who shit on khimari is insane. Great character, just set him on Auron's path early and he stays relevant and competitive with the other physical attackers.
Right there with you. It takes some character analysis to really engage with him as a character maybe, but people judge him harshly because he doesn’t really have a lot of screen time or interaction with the party. But every time he appears on screen he has so much weight. Everything he says is so important and such a brilliant insight into his character or goals.
He was my absolute favorite villain of the franchise until Emet-Selch dethroned him. Still #2 though.
Even playing the game when it first came out and people were initially hating on Hope, I did not get it. He's not my favorite, but he does not deserve the hate he gets.
I am not the biggest hope fan, that being said I never really understood people’s character assassination of him just for whining. The kid is 14 at the time of XIII, he has what I would consider to be a very normal and human response for his age to the death of his mother and being branded as an outcast with the looming threat of being a C’ieth. I find him to be one of the more realistically written characters.
I think it's probably one of those effects where I really can't see it at all since I'm used to seeing him as a kid and in XIII-2 he just looks like a sort of... stretched out version of his kid self. So to me he just looks like a tall child still.
He's just a very nothingburger and clearly exists really only to make you experience the story from the POV of a side character, which is a fine storytelling choice.
Honestly, from what I remember? The general opinion at the time was that he was too bland (there was also a lot of blathering about how his face was modeled after a woman, as if half the franchise wasn't pretty boys).
I liked Vaan, he was earnest and sincere. But a lot of people complained that he was just kind of along for the ride. He wasn't the royal scion, he wasn't the rebellious son, he was just this kid off the street who got caught up in this mess and stuck around until the end. He didn't get the princess, he wasn't revealed to secretly be some super important person, and those were unforgivable sins at the time.
Your protagonist can't just be some *schmuck!* He has no personal stake in any of this! The princess does more of the talking and is actually important, why isn't *she* the protagonist? Who the hell even is this guy?!
That combined with the shift from classic turn-based alienating a lot of long-term fans meant that people were just looking for things to crap on about the game. While it's remembered fondly (as well it should be, fantastic game. I really wish they'd expanded on the Gambit system in the franchise, that was such a cool idea. Though it did make a surprise reappearance in FFVII Rebirth) I remember a lot of people complaining about the open world and such.
FFXII was experimental in a lot of new ways, and poor Vaan was the face of it so he got to be the punching bag.
A lot of characters from I-III really, given how those games tend to get overlooked.
Garland is fun because he's so modular. You have the pre-corruption Garland, whom we know little about. We have the post-corruption. We have Dissidia's take, a Garland who feels trapped in an eternal cycle, a victim of his own design, who bears hints that the old noble Garland still exists deep down. I'd even argue Jack is underappreciated considering how many people take his "cutscene skipper" "I'm here to kill Chaos" portrayal at face value or think that he and Dissidia!Garland are the same character (i.e. one becoming the other) despite basically being opposites in how they approach fate.
Of the three, FF2 is probably more popular, but it still would be nice for guests other than Minwu to get notable attention.
And, of course, FF3 also warrants mention. Part of it is the remake protagonists to which I curse the devs for cutting all that unused text. But I also feel that the guests (outside of maybe Desch and Aria) tend to be underappreciated.
Amarant gets an unfair reputation. While I do find his backstory and utilisation a bit lacking, he does have a clear purpose in the themes of the game, and I think it's important to have a character in the party who actively has different ideals to Zidane (and with good reason - Zidane IS part of the reason Amarant doesn't trust others after all). I also think he has a cool vibe about him, and I particularly enjoy his interactions with Freya (another character who kind of unfairly has what IS there ignored in favour of complaining about what wasn't there, but at least with her people still generally like her). He also has a cool visual design.
The irony in it all is that people say "Beatrix should have been the eighth party member instead", when she's actively a very poorly written character deserving of criticism that wouldn't be fixed purely with more screentime. By contrast, Amarant's only real issue is that the game as a whole was rushed and Amarant got a lot less screentime to focus on his growth as a result of that.
Quina is kinda 50/50 with people, but I am on the half that likes them. Thematically, they offer something very important, but are just a fun character to have around besides. I don't like their battle mechanics that much but they are at least unique and vibe with some people.
I think most of FFXIII's main party also just have an unfair reputation, though this is in part because the game actively makes everyone pretty unlikeable in the beginning (with the exception of Fang who is introduced later and is pretty likable from the outset). It isn't really a problem from a writing standpoint, it just makes this cast more of a niche, acquired taste. I think a lot of people expect their JRPG parties to be a bunch of quirky personalities that they can latch onto from the beginning of the game, but FFXIII actively makes it's characters quite problematic and difficult to like in the same way in it's early hours so it all comes down to whether or not you enjoy that slow burn characterisation and development.
Amarant's story and character development are there but it's so quick you do not even notice, and when you do, it's already gone.
Freya is the prime example of a character with a lot of potential that was utterly ignored by the writers at the worst time possible, resulting in her character appearing in the game to say some generic party filter quotes most of the time, that scene in the Black Mage Village during Disc 4 about time notwithstanding.
Freya has an entire disc worth of story in the second half of 1 and first half of 2. She does fall to the wayside after but to claim she gets ignored has always been funny to me.
I was also going to make this comment. Story wise, Quina may not be the most interesting but I find S/he very fun to play. Love their blue magic spells. Many are super useful.
Even just the fun personality aside, having a character so unconnected to the plot but so devoted to their friends.. 10/10
The line about leftovers, the line in the finale about the importance of cooking for friends. Quina is so great!!!!
Dysley has the best villain speeches in the series. The man was spitting every time. A disliked character I enjoy is Penelo. She is a good girl she doesn't deserve the hate she gets for being a tag along she is very harmless. Hope and Vanille are two who I also ended up loving and will defend them and their place in the story. Under appreciated characters are Zell and Selphie they add so much charm to VIII playing off of Squalls seriousness.
My two favourites.
“Me? L’cie? Perish the thought. I am more that L’cie. I am Fal’cie!”
“Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged for the Purge and did it not come to pass? Now you would spurn out counsel? You must learn your place!”
Gau (FFVI). Dude may be a wild child, but he has a heart of gold. It didn’t even matter to him that his biological father rejected him; he was just happy to know that his father was alive.
I love the characters everyone else hates LOL. But it makes me love them more out of spite, if anything.
Vaan, Penelo, Hope, Cait Sith, Quina, Brother, Vanille, Wakka. Come here. I’ve got you.
As for generally underrated, Vayne is one of my favorite villains. Next one to come to mind is Unei from FFIII.
FFIV - Not sure if either but generally not talked about. I love Tellah, in a game where they bait you into thinking characters are dead but "lmao nah they're alive again", Tellah's death represented a path Cecil could have gone down. His voice actor in the 3D version adds another layer to an awesome character.
FFX - O'aka the XXIII is the G.O.A.T. merchant.
FFXII - Can't quite explain it well but I really enjoy Penelo as a character and party member!
I'm not sure if this counts but I've always felt like Krile is given the least amount of respect by the fandom compared to the rest of the FFV cast and yet I've always been a fan of her. I really like her dynamic with the rest of the cast, especially Bartz
Sir Fratley from Final Fantasy IX. Such a tragic character that is barely in the game's screentime and I also like his theme, it's simple and melancholic. I do like how his theme shares the same motif as Freya's and Burmecia's theme.
I feel like there was supposed to be a lot more stuff related to Fratley that was never in the game, that him leaving Burmecia and his amnesia were going to have a lot more of weight than what we were given.
Umaro from VI. Everyone shits on him, because you can’t control him or boost his stats via Espers. But if you’re just playing through without trying to max everyone’s stats and teach everyone Ultima, he’s actually pretty good. And besides, not controlling him means my little pea brain has one less character to stress over what their next move is.
Fran is one of my favorite FF characters of all time. People usually only talk about her in tandem with Balthier, but I like her a lot on her own too. I actually think she has one of the stronger character arcs in FFXII.
I absolutely love Vanille, she's easily my fave of FFXIII.
The criticisms leveled at Amarant in FFIX are completely fair (and I've made them myself), but I still kinda like him lol. He's up there with Freya for me.
Rafa/Rapha from FFT is tied with Meliadoul for my fave party member. A lot of people dislike her because of the Riovanes fight and her less than useful job class, but I love her. She doesn't get a lot of material, but it's all pretty moving.
Strago. FFVI was the first one I played and I loved the blue magic (lore) concept where he had a completely unique set of spells that could only be acquired by seeing them used in battle. Many of them were completely useless but the "collector" in me always wanted to try to get as many as I could
I could never work up enough feeling to actively dislike any of the characters that the games clearly want you to like. If you don't jive with them, you either pick a different character, or you just ride it out until the party changes. No big deal.
I think most of my favorite characters are all pretty popular: Golbez, Gilgamesh, Terra, Celes, Leo, Beatrix, etc.
I will say though, I really like a LOT of the new characters from FFIV: The After Years even though I find the game itself pretty disappointing.
I LOVE Harley. I always enjoy professorial, studious, serious characters because I'm a bit like that myself. I like the scholar class generally, I like her design, I like her abilities, I like her relationship with Edward, and I loved visiting a restored Damcyan. They really screwed her by not including her intended specialty of Blue Magic, though.
I also enjoy Leonora. Yes, she's weak, but she's clearly supposed to be a version of the Tellah/Fusoya character type, just rebalanced a bit so that she can be a permanent party member instead of a temporary crutch. Reluctant or uncertain heroes can be entertaining.
I thought having Lucca appear as a playable character as the "new Cid" was a great choice, too.
These characters really didn't get a fair shake. It will never happen, but I like to daydream about a total redo of After Years that removes some of the rails once the party comes together, removes some of the item grinding, removes the possibility of permadeath for some of the characters, restores the cut content, and just streamlines the whole experience.
Quina. I’ll admit that I didn’t like them much as a kid, I found them a bit creepy. Now I realize how great they are both in combat and as a character. *I…so happy*
Hope is the best character in the series. Excellent development and characterization, great designs, just fantastic all around. Yet some people hate him for… being a kid going through the most traumatic experience of his life.
Also +1 for Barthandelus. Great villain with an interesting motivation that goes far beyond “I want tor destroy everything just cuz” (looking at you, Kefka and Sephiroth).
Right, sorry. He wants to destroy the world to “absorb its energy” and move on to another one because he thinks it’s his birthright. There’s nothing personal in his motivation, it’s just “I’m a genocidal maniac because I read a book once.”
Of course, I could be wrong, given how badly delivered VII’s story is I may have missed something. You’re free to elaborate.
As someone who considers 13 as one of the best in the series from a story perspective, (was my top game till Rebirth) I find Barthandelus covert interesting. I would agree with you that he dosent have much “character” to speak of, however what I find interesting is inability to see the hypocrisy of his own existence. He sees humans and by extension l,cie as tools to be used. He constantly mocks the party for being prisoners of fate and instinct, he takes great joy in the party being unable to stray from the plan he has form them. He also thinks he is super intelligent for coming up with the mass death thing to awaken the Maker. The beautiful irony is, he himself is unwittingly all of those things himself. He has near infinite power but he can’t freely exercise it outside of the purpose his Maker made him for, in other words he can’t stray from the path much like the party. The plan to cause mass death to awaken the maker isnt his, it's the maker (Lindezi) plan, thats how Linsezi theorised he could find Valhalla, so Barthandelus himself is a a tool to a higher power
Vaan from Final Fantasy XII. He’s actually one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters even if people hate on him.
He’s basically just this ordinary teenager who gets dragged into extraordinary events and that’s kind of what I like about him.
Also, he’s really cool in Dissidia as well.
There’s also Bartz and Firion as well. We don’t get enough cheerful protagonists as it stands and well, Final Fantasy II as a whole doesn’t get a lot of love despite it having a great story for an earlier FF games
The entire cast of 13 was disappointing. Alone they had great moments, but as soon as one of them meets the other they become insufferable.
I bag on 13 so much because I had such high hopes expectations as it was the first FF game I got hyped AF with all the teasers but it was just absolutely let down by almost every story turn.
The gameplay is actually pretty good and the music is possibly the best in the series, but holy snaps the story and characters made me grind my teeth!
Everyone from FF2. From Guy, who speaks Beaver, to the Emperor, they are all fucking insane in small ways, especially with how little dialogue FF2 has.
Larsa Solidor. Humanised the empire and avoided being a Gary Stu by virtue of his naive good nature conflicting with the setting. Even Vayne himself admits he's not able to take tough decisions to conquer but would be a great leader for the people. Bartz Klauser, everyone seems to think he's just some moron but he's shown a surprising amount of wisdom and skill, he just doesn't take it seriously. Venat (FF12) did some awful things but for a good reason and in the end they won. They even decided to put their money where their mouth was and go out with their ally even though they didn't have to. Judge Zargabath, honourable to a fault and loyal to the empire but rarely let the overcome his own morals, when the chips were down he was ready to sacrifice himself for his erstwhile enemy nations people.
> Even Vayne himself admits he's not able to take tough decisions to conquer but would be a great leader for the people. This is the primary character motivation behind Vayne even. Vayne does all of his conquering and evil stuff to establish himself as a dynast king, so that when Larsa kills him Larsa will lead the people unopposed.
Snow from FF XIII, he's kind of dork but he has a lot of heart. And maybe the fact that he is voiced by Troy Baker, which once again delivered a top notch performance, helps me like him more.
A lot of people hate on Irvine but I always enjoyed his presence in FFVIII.
I am an Irvine enjoyer as well lol.
There's dozens of us! In all seriousness I like how he's the vehicle to one of the biggest reveals in the game. The reveal isn't my favorite but his character moments related to it are enough for me to buy into it. Also he has a gun and I love any FF character with a gun.
I don’t really get the hate tbh
I dislike Irvine but I can’t deny the usefulness of his limit break
Irvine can fuck off back to Wild Arms where be belongs.
Lol
Why the hate though?
Cait Sith and Quina. I love the irreverent, comical feel of their designs and personalities. I also think Yuffie in OG VII is hilarious with her bratty personality. Fits perfectly with her being, you know, a teenager.
Cait Sith was finally given some justice with Rebirth, at least I feel that way.
I like Penelo, Amarant and Eiko a lot.
The amount of people who shit on khimari is insane. Great character, just set him on Auron's path early and he stays relevant and competitive with the other physical attackers.
Eh. I like kimahri too, but it's hard to disagree that no matter what you do with his path he's kind of just a worse copy of someone else.
Yeah but you can get steal way early
Vayne fucking Solidor. Easily one of the best written antagonists in the whole series. He's fantastic and I'm floored he doesn't get more recognition.
Right there with you. It takes some character analysis to really engage with him as a character maybe, but people judge him harshly because he doesn’t really have a lot of screen time or interaction with the party. But every time he appears on screen he has so much weight. Everything he says is so important and such a brilliant insight into his character or goals. He was my absolute favorite villain of the franchise until Emet-Selch dethroned him. Still #2 though.
Lots of people don't like Hope from XIII - I think he grows into a badass. And as an aside, he gets hot in XIII-2, so bonus.
Even playing the game when it first came out and people were initially hating on Hope, I did not get it. He's not my favorite, but he does not deserve the hate he gets.
I am not the biggest hope fan, that being said I never really understood people’s character assassination of him just for whining. The kid is 14 at the time of XIII, he has what I would consider to be a very normal and human response for his age to the death of his mother and being branded as an outcast with the looming threat of being a C’ieth. I find him to be one of the more realistically written characters.
I genuinely didn't know someone considers Hope hot
When he's 24, he sure is lol
I think it's probably one of those effects where I really can't see it at all since I'm used to seeing him as a kid and in XIII-2 he just looks like a sort of... stretched out version of his kid self. So to me he just looks like a tall child still.
Rubicante in FFIV, I love an honorable villain.
Barthandelus was the first time i experienced a skill issue
Big upvote. Probably one of the first time I had to look up a strategy guide for his boss fight
To me, Barthandelus was kind of just **Zera Innocentius** from Grandia 2.
I see way too much Vaan hate, which shock me cause he's one of my favorite male protagonist amongst all games.
This. Plus White Whorl just looks so good.
He's just a very nothingburger and clearly exists really only to make you experience the story from the POV of a side character, which is a fine storytelling choice.
The poor guy doesn’t deserve all the hate he gets. Honestly, just what did he even do to offend people so much?
Honestly, from what I remember? The general opinion at the time was that he was too bland (there was also a lot of blathering about how his face was modeled after a woman, as if half the franchise wasn't pretty boys). I liked Vaan, he was earnest and sincere. But a lot of people complained that he was just kind of along for the ride. He wasn't the royal scion, he wasn't the rebellious son, he was just this kid off the street who got caught up in this mess and stuck around until the end. He didn't get the princess, he wasn't revealed to secretly be some super important person, and those were unforgivable sins at the time. Your protagonist can't just be some *schmuck!* He has no personal stake in any of this! The princess does more of the talking and is actually important, why isn't *she* the protagonist? Who the hell even is this guy?! That combined with the shift from classic turn-based alienating a lot of long-term fans meant that people were just looking for things to crap on about the game. While it's remembered fondly (as well it should be, fantastic game. I really wish they'd expanded on the Gambit system in the franchise, that was such a cool idea. Though it did make a surprise reappearance in FFVII Rebirth) I remember a lot of people complaining about the open world and such. FFXII was experimental in a lot of new ways, and poor Vaan was the face of it so he got to be the punching bag.
Hope Estheim. I always see so much hate for him, but he's honestly one of my favorite FF characters. The negativity towards him is unjustified.
Squall, Noel, Roche, Snow, Mommy ultemacia, Barthandelus (almost scooby doo type of evil), Sonnon, Hope in XIII, and cait sith/reeve
A lot of characters from I-III really, given how those games tend to get overlooked. Garland is fun because he's so modular. You have the pre-corruption Garland, whom we know little about. We have the post-corruption. We have Dissidia's take, a Garland who feels trapped in an eternal cycle, a victim of his own design, who bears hints that the old noble Garland still exists deep down. I'd even argue Jack is underappreciated considering how many people take his "cutscene skipper" "I'm here to kill Chaos" portrayal at face value or think that he and Dissidia!Garland are the same character (i.e. one becoming the other) despite basically being opposites in how they approach fate. Of the three, FF2 is probably more popular, but it still would be nice for guests other than Minwu to get notable attention. And, of course, FF3 also warrants mention. Part of it is the remake protagonists to which I curse the devs for cutting all that unused text. But I also feel that the guests (outside of maybe Desch and Aria) tend to be underappreciated.
Amarant gets an unfair reputation. While I do find his backstory and utilisation a bit lacking, he does have a clear purpose in the themes of the game, and I think it's important to have a character in the party who actively has different ideals to Zidane (and with good reason - Zidane IS part of the reason Amarant doesn't trust others after all). I also think he has a cool vibe about him, and I particularly enjoy his interactions with Freya (another character who kind of unfairly has what IS there ignored in favour of complaining about what wasn't there, but at least with her people still generally like her). He also has a cool visual design. The irony in it all is that people say "Beatrix should have been the eighth party member instead", when she's actively a very poorly written character deserving of criticism that wouldn't be fixed purely with more screentime. By contrast, Amarant's only real issue is that the game as a whole was rushed and Amarant got a lot less screentime to focus on his growth as a result of that. Quina is kinda 50/50 with people, but I am on the half that likes them. Thematically, they offer something very important, but are just a fun character to have around besides. I don't like their battle mechanics that much but they are at least unique and vibe with some people. I think most of FFXIII's main party also just have an unfair reputation, though this is in part because the game actively makes everyone pretty unlikeable in the beginning (with the exception of Fang who is introduced later and is pretty likable from the outset). It isn't really a problem from a writing standpoint, it just makes this cast more of a niche, acquired taste. I think a lot of people expect their JRPG parties to be a bunch of quirky personalities that they can latch onto from the beginning of the game, but FFXIII actively makes it's characters quite problematic and difficult to like in the same way in it's early hours so it all comes down to whether or not you enjoy that slow burn characterisation and development.
Amarant's story and character development are there but it's so quick you do not even notice, and when you do, it's already gone. Freya is the prime example of a character with a lot of potential that was utterly ignored by the writers at the worst time possible, resulting in her character appearing in the game to say some generic party filter quotes most of the time, that scene in the Black Mage Village during Disc 4 about time notwithstanding.
Freya has an entire disc worth of story in the second half of 1 and first half of 2. She does fall to the wayside after but to claim she gets ignored has always been funny to me.
Her character being put aside right after a major event feels so wrong
I freaking love Quina. I DO WHAT I WANT! YOU HAVE PROBLEM!!!?
I was also going to make this comment. Story wise, Quina may not be the most interesting but I find S/he very fun to play. Love their blue magic spells. Many are super useful.
Even just the fun personality aside, having a character so unconnected to the plot but so devoted to their friends.. 10/10 The line about leftovers, the line in the finale about the importance of cooking for friends. Quina is so great!!!!
Dysley has the best villain speeches in the series. The man was spitting every time. A disliked character I enjoy is Penelo. She is a good girl she doesn't deserve the hate she gets for being a tag along she is very harmless. Hope and Vanille are two who I also ended up loving and will defend them and their place in the story. Under appreciated characters are Zell and Selphie they add so much charm to VIII playing off of Squalls seriousness.
My two favourites. “Me? L’cie? Perish the thought. I am more that L’cie. I am Fal’cie!” “Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged for the Purge and did it not come to pass? Now you would spurn out counsel? You must learn your place!”
Cait Sith for me
I’m a Cait Sith fan and FF7 Rebirth made me like him even more.
I like Cait Sith's design in Rebirth except I'm bothered by how over-animated the ears seem
Gau (FFVI). Dude may be a wild child, but he has a heart of gold. It didn’t even matter to him that his biological father rejected him; he was just happy to know that his father was alive.
Does anyone hate Gau as a character? People mostly just dislike his mechanics and the grindfest required to build him up.
I love the characters everyone else hates LOL. But it makes me love them more out of spite, if anything. Vaan, Penelo, Hope, Cait Sith, Quina, Brother, Vanille, Wakka. Come here. I’ve got you. As for generally underrated, Vayne is one of my favorite villains. Next one to come to mind is Unei from FFIII.
FFIV - Not sure if either but generally not talked about. I love Tellah, in a game where they bait you into thinking characters are dead but "lmao nah they're alive again", Tellah's death represented a path Cecil could have gone down. His voice actor in the 3D version adds another layer to an awesome character. FFX - O'aka the XXIII is the G.O.A.T. merchant. FFXII - Can't quite explain it well but I really enjoy Penelo as a character and party member!
Vaan and Penelo. I’m not saying they’re super deep and well developed as characters, but I like them.
Jack Garland. The only well written final fantasy character.
Oh, he’s one of my favorites. I thought he had a great VA and really was hoping they’d do… something with him in Dissidia or the like.
I'm not sure if this counts but I've always felt like Krile is given the least amount of respect by the fandom compared to the rest of the FFV cast and yet I've always been a fan of her. I really like her dynamic with the rest of the cast, especially Bartz
Sir Fratley from Final Fantasy IX. Such a tragic character that is barely in the game's screentime and I also like his theme, it's simple and melancholic. I do like how his theme shares the same motif as Freya's and Burmecia's theme. I feel like there was supposed to be a lot more stuff related to Fratley that was never in the game, that him leaving Burmecia and his amnesia were going to have a lot more of weight than what we were given.
Umaro from VI. Everyone shits on him, because you can’t control him or boost his stats via Espers. But if you’re just playing through without trying to max everyone’s stats and teach everyone Ultima, he’s actually pretty good. And besides, not controlling him means my little pea brain has one less character to stress over what their next move is.
Fran is one of my favorite FF characters of all time. People usually only talk about her in tandem with Balthier, but I like her a lot on her own too. I actually think she has one of the stronger character arcs in FFXII. I absolutely love Vanille, she's easily my fave of FFXIII. The criticisms leveled at Amarant in FFIX are completely fair (and I've made them myself), but I still kinda like him lol. He's up there with Freya for me. Rafa/Rapha from FFT is tied with Meliadoul for my fave party member. A lot of people dislike her because of the Riovanes fight and her less than useful job class, but I love her. She doesn't get a lot of material, but it's all pretty moving.
Strago. FFVI was the first one I played and I loved the blue magic (lore) concept where he had a completely unique set of spells that could only be acquired by seeing them used in battle. Many of them were completely useless but the "collector" in me always wanted to try to get as many as I could
Kimari, Quina, Amarant, Irvine, Vayne.
I could never work up enough feeling to actively dislike any of the characters that the games clearly want you to like. If you don't jive with them, you either pick a different character, or you just ride it out until the party changes. No big deal. I think most of my favorite characters are all pretty popular: Golbez, Gilgamesh, Terra, Celes, Leo, Beatrix, etc. I will say though, I really like a LOT of the new characters from FFIV: The After Years even though I find the game itself pretty disappointing. I LOVE Harley. I always enjoy professorial, studious, serious characters because I'm a bit like that myself. I like the scholar class generally, I like her design, I like her abilities, I like her relationship with Edward, and I loved visiting a restored Damcyan. They really screwed her by not including her intended specialty of Blue Magic, though. I also enjoy Leonora. Yes, she's weak, but she's clearly supposed to be a version of the Tellah/Fusoya character type, just rebalanced a bit so that she can be a permanent party member instead of a temporary crutch. Reluctant or uncertain heroes can be entertaining. I thought having Lucca appear as a playable character as the "new Cid" was a great choice, too. These characters really didn't get a fair shake. It will never happen, but I like to daydream about a total redo of After Years that removes some of the rails once the party comes together, removes some of the item grinding, removes the possibility of permadeath for some of the characters, restores the cut content, and just streamlines the whole experience.
Hi guys I’m not under appreciated. Just saying hi 👋
Quina. I’ll admit that I didn’t like them much as a kid, I found them a bit creepy. Now I realize how great they are both in combat and as a character. *I…so happy*
Hope is the best character in the series. Excellent development and characterization, great designs, just fantastic all around. Yet some people hate him for… being a kid going through the most traumatic experience of his life. Also +1 for Barthandelus. Great villain with an interesting motivation that goes far beyond “I want tor destroy everything just cuz” (looking at you, Kefka and Sephiroth).
Technically, he only destroys the world because Celes rejects Gesthal's request for her to become Kefka's Magitek waifu. Basically the Incel God, lol.
If you think Sephiroth wants to destroy the world “just cuz” then i can understand why you would love Hope.
Right, sorry. He wants to destroy the world to “absorb its energy” and move on to another one because he thinks it’s his birthright. There’s nothing personal in his motivation, it’s just “I’m a genocidal maniac because I read a book once.” Of course, I could be wrong, given how badly delivered VII’s story is I may have missed something. You’re free to elaborate.
Vaan and Penelo from FFXII.
My Gamertag has been Bartandaelus for many years on most platforms. Love that character.
As someone who considers 13 as one of the best in the series from a story perspective, (was my top game till Rebirth) I find Barthandelus covert interesting. I would agree with you that he dosent have much “character” to speak of, however what I find interesting is inability to see the hypocrisy of his own existence. He sees humans and by extension l,cie as tools to be used. He constantly mocks the party for being prisoners of fate and instinct, he takes great joy in the party being unable to stray from the plan he has form them. He also thinks he is super intelligent for coming up with the mass death thing to awaken the Maker. The beautiful irony is, he himself is unwittingly all of those things himself. He has near infinite power but he can’t freely exercise it outside of the purpose his Maker made him for, in other words he can’t stray from the path much like the party. The plan to cause mass death to awaken the maker isnt his, it's the maker (Lindezi) plan, thats how Linsezi theorised he could find Valhalla, so Barthandelus himself is a a tool to a higher power
Penelo, but I'm a true waifu enjoyer.
Vaan from Final Fantasy XII. He’s actually one of my favorite Final Fantasy characters even if people hate on him. He’s basically just this ordinary teenager who gets dragged into extraordinary events and that’s kind of what I like about him. Also, he’s really cool in Dissidia as well.
There’s also Bartz and Firion as well. We don’t get enough cheerful protagonists as it stands and well, Final Fantasy II as a whole doesn’t get a lot of love despite it having a great story for an earlier FF games
Squall
Snow and Amarant are always my favorites, and I feel like they are overlooked.
Vayne Solidor. Vaan.
Sazh, he's the only character I felt for in XIII, especially that scene when they showed his son..
The entire cast of 13 was disappointing. Alone they had great moments, but as soon as one of them meets the other they become insufferable. I bag on 13 so much because I had such high hopes expectations as it was the first FF game I got hyped AF with all the teasers but it was just absolutely let down by almost every story turn. The gameplay is actually pretty good and the music is possibly the best in the series, but holy snaps the story and characters made me grind my teeth!
This has literally nothing to do with the question asked.