Favorite/Least Favorite Final Fantasy Protagonist

[Nieroshai]

I like Cloud Strife. Nonono, not the emo Cloud from Advent Children and Dissidia and Kingdom hearts. I mean the smart-aleck Joe Cool with an epic sword from the original FF7. He wasn't emo. He was silent, mostly because he was playing the part of a mercenary drifter, but always came through when it counted. The Cloud that butted heads with Barrett, led the team despite hardships, and pulled out of being psychically controlled and severely poisoned with pure Mako energy as cocky as ever despite being a little depressed over the loss of his friend(Aerith is not a love interest, nowhere does the game even imply it) and justifiably worried about his own sanity. Cloud is a more sensible, and dare I say more cheerful, character than Squall. If anything, Cloud is a more brash verson of Lightning from ff13, the seasoned fighter and loner with a bit of an attitude.

Now for my least favorite character. Wakka from ffX. Wakka is dense and stupid, as well as racist and a zealot. The only redeemable aspect of his character is that he doesn't get annoying til the second half of the game, giving players time to be annoyed at Tidus's voice acting and distract from all but Wakka's worst gaffes like calling the destruction of the Al Bhed homeland "happy festival fireworks" to their faces.

 

[Nieroshai]

Favorite: Auron, for everything he does is badass, and pretty much everyone Dissidia except...

Least Favorite: Cloud, a character who from then on made everyone think that all JRPG protaganist were emo's. Warrented or not the only reasoning behind it I ever hear is "Urrrrrr... Cloud!".

The funny thing, as I notice while working on an ff7 "let's play," Cloud is only ever "emo" (rightfully depressed, rather) late in the game when Sephiroth proves he can telepathically take Cloud over, coupled with Aerith's death. Of course, you CAN choose the dialogue options in scenes that let you that are the more depressed options, but you could just as easily choose the brash and confrontational options. You can start a rivalry with Barrett even. If anything, Cloud is cocky and smug but genuinely looks out for the group. The only genuine emo in FF7 is Vincent, for blatantly obvious reasons to anyone who unlocked him.

 

[Nieroshai]

This will not create many friends. Og well OT:

Favourite: Vivi

Least favourite: Hope or Cloud from Advent Children

Glad that you point this out, that Cloud is actually portrayed differently in 7 than in Advent Children. Kudos.

 

[FalloutJack]

Let's see... For a favorite CENTRAL MAIN protagonist, let's go with Zidane. I love FF7, of course, but the love of the characters was a team effort, whereas Zidane is awesome on his own. (BTW: I opted for central main because it's really hard to pick a favorite here.)

Now, for least favorite protagonist? Gee, who could I possibly p- Squall. Goddamn Squall and his incredible dialogue - "..." - and his nonsensical weapon which is supposedly popular and useful in FF8. Somehow, I just don't see it. And of course, because I'm known for huge rants about this game (or at least alluding to the huge rants I've had before), I have to say that this was a REALLY EASY pick because virtually ALL of the characters in that game are unappealing to me, including the freakin' villain.

Any other questions?

 

[Knuxxx]

My Favorites:
Zidane - Easily the most normal of the characters. Well rounded and charismatic and kept things fun, he's easily one of the most memorable. Not to mention his change from carefree clown, to responsible leader was a pretty nice one

Auron - This guy is basically what Cloud and Squall were aiming for. But Auron doesn't have the angst, so it comes off more natural and less angry

Hope - Say what you will, hope I liked. out of the entire cast of chracters of FF13, him and sahz are the two I think were well done. But what puts hope above Sahz is that he shows real development in the story. How he is when he starts is completely different from how he is when the story ends. He gets stronger and faces his personal deliemma and overcomes it. Though I will admit, I still make fun of him. A guy named hope? C'mon...

My Least Favorite:
Vanielle(or however you spell her name) - I don't really HATE hate her, but she does annoy me. Out of the list, she's the most tolerable of them just because of the cut scene with her and sahz

Snow - OH DEAR GOD, square you HAD to do it, didn't ya? make a character so annoying you cut him out a quarter of the game to keep the player from bashing their skulls in with the controller. He IS the poster-boy for annoying characters. I don't remember a line he had that didn't have the word's "hero" or something about his stupid girlfriend. It got so bad, I found myself subconsciously letting out a sigh every time he said the magic words. He's like the FF version of Dom... "BE A HERO! BE A HERO! SERAH!!! HERO!!" Somebody kill this guy...

Payne - Can somebody PLEASE tell me, where in the HELL did this ***** come from?!

As far as the whole Cloud vs Squall debate goin on, I find it asinine for somebody to hate one and love the other. They're both essentially the same character, but one is significantly overrated and the other isn't Cloud's lines sound depressed and Squall's sounds angry. If it helps any, at least Squall makes development as a character and stays that way, cloud develops, then goes back.

Honorable Mention - Though not a protagonist, I will never forget about the Hypello. "Ride ze Shoopuf??" xD

 

[Speedwagon]

Favorite: Balthier from XII
Least: Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope, Hope I hate his guts, little whiny b*tch. from XIII

 

[Knuxxx]

My Favorites:
Zidane - Easily the most normal of the characters. Well rounded and charismatic and kept things fun, he's easily one of the most memorable. Not to mention his change from carefree clown, to responsible leader was a pretty nice one

Auron - This guy is basically what Cloud and Squall were aiming for. But Auron doesn't have the angst, so it comes off more natural and less angry

Hope - Say what you will, hope I liked. out of the entire cast of chracters of FF13, him and sahz are the two I think were well done. But what puts hope above Sahz is that he shows real development in the story. How he is when he starts is completely different from how he is when the story ends. He gets stronger and faces his personal deliemma and overcomes it. Though I will admit, I still make fun of him. A guy named hope? C'mon...

My Least Favorite:
Vanielle(or however you spell her name) - I don't really HATE hate her, but she does annoy me. Out of the list, she's the most tolerable of them just because of the cut scene with her and sahz

Snow - OH DEAR GOD, square you HAD to do it, didn't ya? make a character so annoying you cut him out a quarter of the game to keep the player from bashing their skulls in with the controller. He IS the poster-boy for annoying characters. I don't remember a line he had that didn't have the word's "hero" or something about his stupid girlfriend. It got so bad, I found myself subconsciously letting out a sigh every time he said the magic words. He's like the FF version of Dom... "BE A HERO! BE A HERO! SERAH!!! HERO!!" Somebody kill this guy...

Payne - Can somebody PLEASE tell me, where in the HELL did this ***** come from?!

As far as the whole Cloud vs Squall debate goin on, I find it asinine for somebody to hate one and love the other. They're both essentially the same character, but one is significantly overrated and the other isn't Cloud's lines sound depressed and Squall's sounds angry. If it helps any, at least Squall makes development as a character and stays that way, cloud develops, then goes back.

Honorable Mention - Though not a protagonist, I will never forget about the Hypello. "Ride ze Shoopuf??" xD

 

[LittleBlondeGoth]

Favourites: Vincent Valentine, Balthier, Vivi, Tifa.
Vincent just rocked VII and the sequels for me, overshadowing Cloud (though I do like him too). The way his story seemed so involved with everything, yet got so little coverage just hooked me. He is technically the emo one, not Cloud, but can you really blame the guy? Though not in a 'aww, he just needs a hug' way. More in a '30 years in a coffin should have driven him stark raving bonkers' type way. Oh, and as a brief fangirl moment, allow me just to say that the way they modelled him for AC? HOT. Balthier stole, amongst other things, the show in XII. The VA alone was fantastic, but he beats bloody Vaan any day of the week. Should have made him the lead. Vivi I adored from the start, and Tifa I always liked in general - strong but flawed.

Oh, and an honourable mention to Zidane as well, for being a a remarkably normal but fun lead character.

Least favourites: Vaan, Quina, Cait Sith.
Not many surprises here by now. If I could have played FFXII without Vaan in the party at any point, I would have. Same for the other two - probably my least played characters ever. Heh, last FFVII playthrough, everyone was level 99 except foor old Cait. Actually, you can probably add Tidus and Wakka to this list as well.

Squall... Wasn't sure at first, but he grew on me.

 

[LittleBlondeGoth]

Favorite: Vincent Valentine or Snow, I'd say Vincent is a Protagonist? Maybe more a Anti-Hero though.

Least: Aerith probably

Yeah, Vincent's a protagonist - he's the lead in DoC, after all. Not that I've spent much time playing or ogling him in that. No sir. That would be wrong.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Favorite:
Yuna, Lightning.

Least favorite:
Cloud, Wakka. (Really, 'least favorite' to me is really least favorite; by no means bad, but just not as good as others. I can't really think of any plain bad/annoying FF protagonists).

 

[Wondermint13]

Favourite(s): Lulu 10, Yuna 10 Irvine 8
Lulu, just because ok!!!! Yuna made me cry so she gets a cookie and Irvine I just couldnt hate.

Least Favourite(s) Quina 9, Yuffie 7, Selphie 8
Yuffie is f***ing irritating and steals my materia, Selphie just doesnt fit in with anything and Quina... well.. yeh, You all know why.

 

[Sacman]

Favorites: Cecil and Lightning...

Least: Hope... FUCKING HOPE... he makes me want to stalk and cannibalize small children...<.<

 

[lordlillen]

havent played that many FF games but here goes:
Fave: aurno becuase of cheer badasery and lighting because when i wanted someone punched she punched them
Forgot to mention hope why? becuase he tried to stab snow in the face)

Hate: Vanile... ITS A GOD DAMN WAR WHY ARE YOU HAPPY!? and the fact that she never got punched (atleast how far i have played, please tell me someone atleast slaps her)
Snow because shut up.


oh and dihonorable mentions to tidus (i like his voice actor even tho he did a shit job in that game) and squall because i hardly know anything about those charackters and im not going to jump on the band wagon for nothing.

honorable mentions to mr.t

 

[Kiefer Killjoy]

Favourite: Cloud, Cid (VII) Irvine, Squall, Laguna, Wakka

Least favourite: The entire casts of XII and XIII

Recent FF games haven't made a good lasting impression on me.

 

[DrWilhelm]

Favourite: Zidane, mostly because FF9 was the first Final Fantasy I finished and therfore has a special place in my memories. Cecil was quite good, but I found the plot of FF4 to be too simplistic to realy make any of the characters stand out for me.

Least Favourite: Damnit Vaan! Why are you presented as the main character in this game again? You have pretty much no interesting qualities and hardly any connection to the major plot events. You're less interesting than Penelo for pity's sake! FF12 would have been sooooo much better if the main character was Ashe, Basch or Balthier. It doesn't help his case that in the one game where he was an important character, he was still boring, though Revenant Wings was just boring in general.

 

[Zeema]

Zidane is my fave

i hated Vaan

 

[Canadish]

Auron was the best. The man just stole the scene by standing there.

The worst was Vaan. I hate him with every fiber of my being.