What I personally don't understand is why SNOW is so hated. Yes, the guy is flawed and has gotten himself into trouble because of his excessive optimism, but he is still by far the kindest person in the group. While characters like Lightning and Hope were wallowing in their own despair, being full of teen angst and whatnot, Snow was the only character that had faith in their abilities.
People hate Snow because he's responsible for killing Hope's mother...Even though he had nothing to do with it. They were facing certain destruction, asked for volunteers on a dangerous mission and Hope's mother willingly joined the group. People die during war and while I understand Hope's hatred for Snow, since he's just a kid and doesn't understand this, I don't get why other gamers blame Snow as well. Even though Snow had nothing to do with this, he still blamed himself for it.
People hate Snow because he's the kind of "Bro"-person. You know, the kind of people many gamers hate for some weird reason. I can't even get into this because I have no idea why this phenomenon exists.
People hate Snow because of the excessive optimism, even though we eventually see there was a reason for this. The game went out of the way to show that snow had always been on the verge of breaking down (after he 'realized the truth') and his optimism was the only thing that kept him AND THE OTHERS going. Even Lightning said this in the end. And SO WHAT?! Why is excessive optimism worse than the constant emo, darkness consumes my soul, teen angst ridden bullshit FF characters we constantly get to see? Optimism is always better than pessimism in nearly every way possible, so I was absolutely glad that Snow was usually there to keep the team's hopes up.
I mean fuck, the guy is as selfless as you can get. He wasn't responsible for what happened to Serah, but he takes the blame when Lightning blames it on him for no reason and doesn't even fight back when that stupid **** punches him for unjust reasons. I mean, Lightning comes up with a stupid reason as for why he's responsible, even after having rejected her little sister when she confronted her with her problem. Snow takes the blame. Hope's mother dies, Snow takes the blame. Whenever people were in danger, Snow tried his best to help as many people as possible, even if it meant endangering himself.
Seriously, Snow is without a doubt the kindest person in the group. All he does, he does for others. Only his decision of staying with Serah at the beginning of the game was a bit less selfless. He does have an ego, but who doesn't. And he somewhat deserves it. He was a hero, just like the rest of the group.
Yes, he has his flaws and yes he makes mistakes (like everyone else in the game constantly do), but I never found those reasons enough to hate a guy like that. Don't get me wrong now, I'm not saying "I'M RIGHT AND YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE STUPID FOR HATING HIM" or anything. You don't have to like the guy, but I just personally never understood the reason for the hate he's getting. He's IMO the most underrated FF character ever, along with Zack.