Which XII Characters were most Important?

[Locke4God]

In what Order would you rank the importance of each main FFXII character?


I'll explain below, but I'll go

1. Ashe
2. Balthier
3. Vaan
4. Basch
5. Fran
6. Penelo

Ashe - Well there's not much of a story without her. She's kinda driving the action in most cases, or at least is the reason for most of what takes places

Balthier - Well he's actually driving the action, always outspoken, always leaderly, always with inside information and resources

Vaan - I couldn't place him lower, because he's technically the lead character and who's eyes your looking through. Plus he's pretty good anyway

Basch - I kinda want to rank him higher, because he's immensely important, but in the end, he's not the leader that Balthier is, he's not as important as Ashe, and he's not the point of view character that Vaan is.

Fran - Starting with Fran, we're kind of at back up roles, however Fran is very powerful as a Mage, and with only Ashe as another true Mage, you really need Fran

Penelo - I played her as a range weapon specialist and backup mage, and sorta somebody to fill in if I needed a lineup change or somebody with full HP or magic.

[Xanatos]

Exactly the same as mine...

Ashe lost everything, her country, father, husband...at one point she had opportunity to solve everything, to take her revenge, she refused knowing that Sun Cryst may harm the innocent. Her nations wellbeing is more important to her than her selfish motives, just shows what kind of leader she is.

Balthier was important character, he had more at stake than some are willing to admit, after all he fought against his own nation, against his own father, he was prepared to sacrifice his own life, all for greater cause, just shows what kind of determination he has.

Vaan is someone you can easily identify with, personality wise, more or less, rather what he represents, and the way he looks at world of Ivalice. He's a regular fellow after all.

Basch went through hell of war, and torture, as Balthier he had to face some hard decisions, nevertheless he stayed loyal to his country, loyal to lady Ashe.

As in any other entry there are characters who had small to none impact on the story, in this case that would be Fran, and Penelo, though Fran did have impact on me, she's smoking hot =).

[Kurt Zisa]

Yeah im gonna have to agree with you guys too.
Ashe is trying to restore her kingdom which kind of relates to all the other characters too.

Basch. without him his brother would be just another judge and he's loyal to Ashe and Dalmasca. (random nerd fact: in early development he was going to be the main character but they drafted up Vaan instead because we could relate to him more)

Balthier he sees things the others dont, he's the first one to see 'Lamont' as Larsa and he's on top of most situations. After all he is 'the leading man'.

[Locke4God]

I'm wondering if there's really any other way to look at it.

Penelo is pretty unanamously considered the #6 is this game, and I think you would be hard pressed to rank Fran ahead of any of the other 4 in terms of either relevance or usefulness.

Ashe is the strongest Mage, and it'd be really really difficult to say that any of the other guys are more important.

Balthier is more relevant and charasmatic than either of the other 2 guys, which just leaves kind of a debate on whether you put Vaan ahead or behind Basch