Worst Final Fantasy Lead

[KingPK 0]

See, the reason people dump on Squall more than Zidane (who wasn't that much of a lead himself), was that IX had a much, much better supporting cast than VIII, so that hid Zidane's relative blandness. You had Dagger, who wanted to see the world, not be a queen. You had Steiner, the overprotective, dense knight who didn't trust Zidane as far as he could throw him. You had Eiko, the last of her race, having no one but Mog to keep her company. And you had Vivi, one of the best characters ever to come out of a FF game. You just HAD to feel for the poor guy.

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

In VIII, all the characters lived in the same orphanage. What kind of a cop-out is THAT!?

[AndrewTS 0]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

In VIII, all the characters lived in the same orphanage. What kind of a cop-out is THAT!?

If your story's climax shares a similarity to "Santa with Muscles," you have problems.

[chaosrage 0]

Squall was an asshole. His "go tell it to a wall line" after Quistis just poured her heart out to him sums his whole character up to me. When he wasn't being a jerk he was whining about all his problems. What a guy.

 

See Cloud only had no personality. He didn't make you want to stab his eyes out with something. That makes him better.

Edited December 6, 2003 by chaosrage

[AndrewTS 0]

See Cloud only had no personality. He didn't make you want to stab his eyes out with something. That makes him better.

"WHAT ABOUT ME?! WHAT ABOUT SQUALL?!"

[Guest Kamui]

Squall was an asshole.  His "go tell it to a wall line" after Quistis just poured her heart out to him sums his whole character up to me.  When he wasn't being a jerk he was whining about all his problems.  What a guy.

 

See Cloud only had no personality.  He didn't make you want to stab his eyes out with something.  That makes him better.

Did you actually, you know, play the game to the point where Squall softened up a bit? Because it happens.

 

I liked Squall, his character was realistic- he was an asshole at the start of the game. How many of those do you *really* get as lead character, anyway?

 

On IX having a better supporting class- I loved Rinoa, Quistis, and Selphie and didn't mind Zell. Only character I had a real problem with was Irvine, but oh well. I didn't like any of IX's supporting cast like I liked VIII's girls.

 

And I'm sorry, I'll take the interesting asshole over the uninteresting one, every single time.

[Damaramu 0]

Squall was an asshole.  His "go tell it to a wall line" after Quistis just poured her heart out to him sums his whole character up to me.  When he wasn't being a jerk he was whining about all his problems.  What a guy.

 

See Cloud only had no personality.  He didn't make you want to stab his eyes out with something.  That makes him better.

Did you actually, you know, play the game to the point where Squall softened up a bit? Because it happens.

 

I liked Squall, his character was realistic- he was an asshole at the start of the game. How many of those do you *really* get as lead character, anyway?

 

On IX having a better supporting class- I loved Rinoa, Quistis, and Selphie and didn't mind Zell. Only character I had a real problem with was Irvine, but oh well. I didn't like any of IX's supporting cast like I liked VIII's girls.

 

And I'm sorry, I'll take the interesting asshole over the uninteresting one, every single time.

I'll take a lead that wants to be a hero and doesn't whine like a little bitch.

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

Squall was an asshole. His "go tell it to a wall line" after Quistis just poured her heart out to him sums his whole character up to me.

I laughed at that. Quistis was all 'Meet me in the 'Secret Area' so I can tell you my life story.' It's like 'Oh give me a break!' So when he told her that, I cheered.

[Damaramu 0]

Squall was an asshole. His "go tell it to a wall line" after Quistis just poured her heart out to him sums his whole character up to me.

I laughed at that. Quistis was all 'Meet me in the 'Secret Area' so I can tell you my life story.' It's like 'Oh give me a break!' So when he told her that, I cheered.

You said Oh give me a break to that? And you were still able to sit through the rest of that cheesy fucking game?

[Star Ocean 3 0]

As soon as Rinoa goes unconcious, after barely tolerating her presence, Squall suddenly "can't live without her." That's almost as lazy as the spoiler plot twist.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

I must say that I think Terra probably was the best main character. There really isn't much you can hate, she did the Square amnesia thing before it was cliche, you see her develop better than most other mains, and her story had a great uniqueness that added a nice touch to her character.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

In VIII, all the characters lived in the same orphanage.  What kind of a cop-out is THAT!?

Apparently the game was supposed to be about Laguna originally. I guess it got scrapped at some point and the other storyline was put into place. It explains why Laguna has a bunch of levels, and why the freaking song is about Laguna and his love interest. And why Laguna was a million times cooler than the other members of the cast.

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

I remember the orphanage part. So lame. And the idea that GFs made them forget it all. And the Rinoa/Squall romance was terrible. I thought Rinoa was about 10 million times worse than Squall ever was. If they bothered giving Squall a decent love interest *coughQuistiscough*, the game would have been much better. Instead, we had Rinoa crushing on two guys, and everyone telling Squall to take off in the middle of a pivotal battle to see Rinoa. Blarg.

[Guest Kamui]

As soon as Rinoa goes unconcious, after barely tolerating her presence, Squall suddenly "can't live without her." That's almost as lazy as the spoiler plot twist.

Uh, maybe he was hiding his real feelings up until that point, like Squall does for, say, EVERYTHING?

[chaosrage 0]

Did you actually, you know, play the game to the point where Squall softened up a bit? Because it happens.

 

I liked Squall, his character was realistic- he was an asshole at the start of the game. How many of those do you *really* get as lead character, anyway?

Not too many, thank god.

 

I know he changes but for most of the game he's a complete asshole. You're supposed to be able to relate to the main character more than anyone in the game because it's a ROLE playing game. Why would you want to role play a shithead like Squall?

 

Maybe if he had good reasons for being such a jerk. But he doesn't. The best they could come up with was he lost his sis when he was little. Well lots of people lose loved ones and they don't hate everyone.

[Guest Kamui]

If you honestly think Squall hates everyone, you either didn't play the game very long (I don't mean until the end- I mean a FEW HOURS) or the character went completley over your head.

[chaosrage 0]

Or maybe it went over yours.

 

Dude, did you even read my post? I knew he changed and I knew about Ellone so I had to at least make it to the end of the 2nd CD. I played enough of it to get sick of him always putting everyone down and thinking to himself "Why don't they leave me alone?" or "What do they want from me?" every 10 minutes.

[Guest Kamui]

Did you actually, you know, play the game to the point where Squall softened up a bit? Because it happens.

 

I liked Squall, his character was realistic- he was an asshole at the start of the game. How many of those do you *really* get as lead character, anyway?

Well lots of people lose loved ones and they don't hate everyone.

That's the line I was going from- Squall never hated everyone. He just has a hard time trusting people. That doesn't mean he hated them- he's just always been alone, and isn't used to people around him opening their hearts to him.

 

The Quistis thing is a good example- he grew up always thinking you're supposed to keep your emotions to yourself, and here's his teacher- his TEACHER- opening up her entire emotions and life to him. What the fuck was his reaction supposed to be? It was entirley realistic, at least to me.

[EricMM 0]

Realistic or not (and I don't think people are debating this)

 

HE. WAS. A. DICK.

 

I know people like him in real life. I'm sure that if I worked extra hard I could find the good in them.

 

But I don't have time.

 

He (squall) made me super unsympathetic to him. Rinoa was stupid to fall for him, handsome or not.

[Anya 0]

I also don't think Squall hated everyone. Actually I don't think he hated anyone, he didn't even seem to hate Seifer. He seems like a jerk and hateful in his conversations with people, but you can see what he's thinking most of the time and can see it's not that he is trying to be mean, he just has bad social skills. Like with Quistis, he doesn't reply like that to be an ass, he is just scared to get involved.

 

Rinoa was not stupid to fall for him, he is really cool.

[Guest Kamui]

I also don't think Squall hated everyone. Actually I don't think he hated anyone, he didn't even seem to hate Seifer. He seems like a jerk and hateful in his conversations with people, but you can see what he's thinking most of the time and can see it's not that he is trying to be mean, he just has bad social skills. Like with Quistis, he doesn't reply like that to be an ass, he is just scared to get involved.

 

Exactly.

 

 

Rinoa was not stupid to fall for him, he is really cool.

 

And I think she probably knows whether or not Rinoa was stupid to fall for him better than you, Eric, considering she's a girl. Unless there's something you're not telling us.

[EricMM 0]

Girls, even in real life, can be stupid.

 

OMG ad hominem?

 

There were multiple articles that considered Zidane a "breath of fresh air" after the depressed bishonin of FF 7 and 8.

[Guest Kamui]

There were multiple articles that considered Zidane a "breath of fresh air" after the depressed bishonin of FF 7 and 8.

Zidane's different, yeah, but does different = good? He was just boring (kinda like Cloud, I guess). Squall was very interesting, that is undeniable, and he had a unique personality to him.

 

But hey, if you'd rather play as an uninteresting, boring character, that's your choice. /shrug

[Damaramu 0]

There were multiple articles that considered Zidane a "breath of fresh air" after the depressed bishonin of FF 7 and 8.

Zidane's different, yeah, but does different = good? He was just boring (kinda like Cloud, I guess). Squall was very interesting, that is undeniable, and he had a unique personality to him.

 

But hey, if you'd rather play as an uninteresting, boring character, that's your choice. /shrug

I thought Squall was very boring. And I did think Zidane was a fresh of breath air and wasn't boring. But I hated FF9 overall but still I had no problem with Zidane. So to say he's boring and Squall is interesting...well that's an opinion...one that I very definetly disagree with.

[Slayer 0]

Last night I tried to post something in this thread, but kept getting the white screen of death until I gave up, and it's amazing how it's really blown up since, even if half the posts are Captain Anime defending Squall (face it, you're in the minority here)

 

Butz, Cloud and Zidane file under the "bland lead" category, but being bland doesn't make them bad necessarily (especially in Cloud's case).

 

I thought in FFIV they could've started off with Cecil as more evil and doing his evil deeds before the remorse kicked in, thus making him a stronger character when he actually does his face turn, but I wouldn't put him on the bad lead list.

 

I don't even think you can argue Terra was the lead in FFVI. Similar to what someone else said, you can make the argument that Kefka was the true lead, and that at least five of the heroes could tie for ME status in the game (Terra, Celes, the royal brothers and Cyan), because they all had strong stories and face time.

 

Who does that leave now? Squall and Tidus and Neo-Yuna?

 

Well, FF8's whole game system turned me off after a couple days of trying to play, so I didn't even pay attention to the character development, hence I can't really vote for Squall, though I wouldn't be that aloof if I was surrounded by cute girls all the time (side note: I knew a girl who looked exactly like Quistis)

 

I don't own a PS2 anymore, hence I haven't played FFX2, although I made the point about not getting Yuna's transformation from demure conservatively dressed girl (which appeals to me) to scantily clad "Yuna Croft" (which does not)

 

With that, my vote goes to King Whiner himself, Mr. "Whaaa whaaa my daddy didn't hug me enough as a child" from FFX. If character development is enough to turn you off of a game, it can't be a good thing

[Guest Kamui]

As I pointed out in that FFX-2 thread (remember, Angelslayer, the one where you called me an anime elitist and that somehow got stretched out for six pages?)- my personal take on Yuna's change was simply that, at the end of FFX,

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

what she's been believing for her entire life (Yevon- it was those teachings that resulted in the formal outfits, after all) was revealed to be a sham and a hoax

. Anyone who goes through that kind of change, especially someone as young as Yuna (remember, she's only 19 and she's believed in the Yevon stuff for all her life), will naturally react with rebellion- and the clothes are obviously a form of rebellion. Also, as the developers have pointed out numerous times, the clothes/hairstyle have a bit of Tidus in them, which is deliberate on her part.

 

I loved Tidus/Yuna almost as much as I loved Squall/Rinoa, but I don't get why T/Y are much more well-liked than S/R. Oh well.

[Damaramu 0]

As I pointed out in that FFX-2 thread (remember, Angelslayer, the one where you called me an anime elitist and that somehow got stretched out for six pages?)- my personal take on Yuna's change was simply that, at the end of FFX,

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

what she's been believing for her entire life (Yevon- it was those teachings that resulted in the formal outfits, after all) was revealed to be a sham and a hoax

. Anyone who goes through that kind of change, especially someone as young as Yuna (remember, she's only 19 and she's believed in the Yevon stuff for all her life), will naturally react with rebellion- and the clothes are obviously a form of rebellion. Also, as the developers have pointed out numerous times, the clothes/hairstyle have a bit of Tidus in them, which is deliberate on her part.

 

I loved Tidus/Yuna almost as much as I loved Squall/Rinoa, but I don't get why T/Y are much more well-liked than S/R. Oh well.

Because they come from an MUCH better game with an MUCH better story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Angleslayer likes guys.

Edited December 6, 2003 by The Mighty Damaramu

[Slayer 0]

As I pointed out in that FFX-2 thread (remember, Angelslayer, the one where you called me an anime elitist and that somehow got stretched out for six pages?)-

Ah yes, good times

 

my personal take on Yuna's change was simply that, at the end of FFX,

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

what she's been believing for her entire life (Yevon- it was those teachings that resulted in the formal outfits, after all) was revealed to be a sham and a hoax

. Anyone who goes through that kind of change, especially someone as young as Yuna (remember, she's only 19 and she's believed in the Yevon stuff for all her life), will naturally react with rebellion- and the clothes are obviously a form of rebellion. Also, as the developers have pointed out numerous times, the clothes/hairstyle have a bit of Tidus in them, which is deliberate on her part.

Ehh, to quote Underbiker, "I'm still not feeling it."

 

Besides, I liked FrigidSoul's explanation best: "Everything I believed in was wrong... oh well, time to dress like a whore!"

 

I loved Tidus/Yuna almost as much as I loved Squall/Rinoa, but I don't get why T/Y are much more well-liked than S/R. Oh well.

I hate them both, so there

[Slayer 0]

Because they come from an INFINETLY better game with an INFINETLY better story.

I hope you're not spending an INFINITE amount of money on your college education

[Damaramu 0]

Because they come from an INFINETLY better game with an INFINETLY better story.

I hope you're not spending an INFINITE amount of money on your college education

Nah..the government is.

Let me fix it for you.

[Slayer 0]

Nah..the government is.

I'm glad it's not my taxes at least

 

Let me fix it for you.

Not that there's anything wrong with that

[Damaramu 0]

Nah..the government is.

I'm glad it's not my taxes at least

 

Let me fix it for you.

Not that there's anything wrong with that

I continue my campaign for Angleslayer as god.