Vanille is technically something like 300+ years or something. They aren't very clear on how long they had been crystals if I remember, but she is older than everyone in the party other than Fang.
The only character that I think sort of bugged me was Snow with all of the hero stuff that he was throwing around. But he did not really bug me too much, though I don't use him in my party unless I'm forced to do so.
I really liked Hope though, because he was just a normal kid tossed into a situation not of his making. He was by no means at all a fighter. He was a city kid that had probably never really know violence of any kind, though why he had a boomerang on him I don't know. Suddenly he is wanted and forced through a lot of crazy situations with probably one of the most cold unfeeling people possible along with a man in his 30s that he can't relate to at all and a girl his age that he just doesn't understand. So he was feeling alone and confused. I thought his reactions were quite normal and understandable. Which was why I liked him and as the game goes you see him slowly change and evolved as he gets used to his situation seeing that he can't keep pushing it off on someone as not his problem. Eventually, he accept the problem as his own and goes on. I thought the scenes with Snow carrying Hope through his town were very interesting to watch because you could see it in Hope how he was trying to hate someone that he just did not understand. Hope did manage to actually blow Snow up a little, which I think really helped.
Lightning is definitely my favorite character. As I've told a few people, since she was so commonly reference to Cloud, she acts how I think Cloud should have acted. She is a soldier and is driven. She was pretty lost for a while, but would not really admit that to anyone. She's used to having objectives, goals to deal with and the only way she knew how to keep going was to give herself one even if it was impossible or beyond her understanding. Plus, she slaps, punches or otherwise beats up everyone else in the game when they need a good wake up call. Snow is just way to naive in just about everything he does, Lightning is his reality check which sadly Snow seems to fail on still. But either way, Lightning takes nothing from no one and gives out in spades. So I really like her for that, but she has a deeper side to her. So she is not wholly unfeeling or uncaring, but having to raise Serah alone she's had to figure out how to make things work on her own. I just wished that she wore pants or shorts, I think a mini-skirt isn't really a practical thing to be wearing as a soldier, even if she is just part of some locally police force.
Sazh is definitely a fun character and very easily likable not to mention a father. I don't remember the last time I've seen a father as a playable character in any RPG. So it is certainly a rare treat to have a parent running around with you. He has a quirks, the whole chocobo thing still doesn't make a lot of sense, but I guess you have to keep it somewhere while you running all over the place. He probably has most of the best lines in the game being the comedic relief in the group. The scenes with him and the Cataur are certainly very entertaining.
Fang and Vanille being from the same village look quite a bit different. So it is a little weird to know that they're together. But Fang is pretty much Lightning if she didn't take life so seriously. I guess it helps that Fang is missing some of her memories, otherwise she's probably be quite a bit more down like Vanille is. Though considering Fang's overall attitude and outlook on life, which while I think is realistic tends to be very relax and just takes things in very long strides. She enjoys pretty much everything she does and lives how she wants. She actually seems the most simplistic of the group. Vanille seems like a vapid waste of space with the way she presents herself, but you realize all of that is just a front for her while she is struggling and dealing with the weight of what she knows and everyone does not. So she is actually very down and depressed inside, but so not to worry anyone she presents a very cheerful exterior to mask it all away. Most of this does not really even get hit clearly on until you are very deep into the game, so it is very easy to just really hate her and then when you find out ignore it and keep on hating her. There are moments with Sazh early on that she shows that other side, but it is so vague that you don't get much of a sense of what is happening inside her head. If she had been presented earlier as being more complex I think people would have gotten behind her more than wanting her to just shut up, though the bad Australian accent apparently doesn't help (I didn't know it was bad, but I don't really hear a lot of Australian accents either).
But I don't think it is problem only have 6 main characters in the game. It is better to have 6 well polished and defined characters than a dozen poorly constructed or half way done characters. So I think the number works out well for them and with the traveling party that they have it ends up not making the scenes very crowded. They are full, but not too full. Anymore and I think they'd be cramped at times and characters would get ignored or forgotten.
She was frozen in crystal for most of those years, so the age she was when she was crystalized, plus a few weeks, would be a more accurate age for her. Anyhoo...
Once I put Vanille in my party, I beat him in a little under 5 minutes, thanks to her Sab role.
On a next playthrough, I'll have to use him more. I didn't use him as often as I wanted to, because once I'm stuck on a routine, it's hard to break from it.
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