Character Discussion *Probably Spoilers*

I'm a little surprised there isn't a thread like I have in mind yet. At the very least, I'd expect a "favorite character" thread. There is a party leader thread, but your party leader could be different from you favorite character. Either way, to make this thread not just a "favorite character" thread, I'd like to discuss all of the party members in the game; your thoughts on them, etc.

First, the main character: Lightning. For like the first few hours of the game, I thought she was a total bitch. First of all, kicking Sazh off of her (It is a little weird when a man grabs a woman like that, but that was a little harsh.) Then repeatedly punching Snow in the face for being too hopeful, and blaming him for something that was out of his power to prevent. And finally, the way she wanted to toss Hope aside (though I didn't care much for Hope at that point and he's still probably my least favorite character, but I'll get to that.) Halfway through the game, she has redeemed herself a lot, though she still isn't exactly my favorite; she's still got some residual ice queen behavior that hasn't totally thawed away yet. I guess this is because she is a strong woman, but Fang is also a strong woman, and she doesn't really exhibit any ice queen behavior.

Second, my current favorite: Snow. (I say "current favorite" because I haven't beaten the game yet-as of this post, I've just obtained Hope's Eidolon on Gran Pulse-and I'm starting to have second thoughts.) I love his determination and positive outlook, no matter what happens. I will admit that he is a bit of an idiot on occasion, and I don't really understand why he did some of the things he did (like throwing Serah into the Pulse Fal'Cie thing in that one flashback. Afterward, it appeared like he hadn't intended for that to happen, crying out "Serah!" and trying to grab her back when she started to phase through.) I also thought he was pretty melodramatic in places.... but he's my favorite! Maybe. I switched him in as party leader as soon as I could, at the very least.

Playing through the beginning of the game, seeing his mother die, of course I felt sorry for Hope. Then, he wanted to catch up with Snow for some reason, and I was like, "Okay... so he wants to find out what his mother's last words were, or something?" It didn't occur to me that he actually blamed Snow for his mother's death until I read one of those story summary things, and then, I was like, "...what? That totally wasn't Snow's fault. Your mother choose to fight, and died as a consequence." And then he was acting like a little emo kid for most of the game and wanting to kill Snow. There was the fight with Odin, though, where Odin was pummeling the crap out of Hope and leaving Lightning mostly untouched, and I felt a little sick to my stomach for the kid. Not just that battle, though; a few others, too. He's gotten better, but I'm just not a fan of the "normal kid turned superhero" stereotype that he falls under.

Sazh is my second favorite, and might become my favorite. He was the one I thought I might like the best before the game came out. The very beginning of the game, due to his somewhat pessimistic personality, I wasn't sure about him. Then, when the story followed him and Vanille, I started to like him a lot more. He was essentially taking care of a kid whilst missing his own son, and then when he found out about Vanille's involvement in Dajh's fate, he made the right choice, in my mind (and he had a much better case than Hope. Then again, he's an adult, while Hope's a kid... eh.) I love his weapons and battle poses; they pretty much kick ass.

I like Vanille a lot, too. At first, I thought she was gonna be another annoying young girl, but she didn't kick anyone in the nuts or steal anyone's materia, and she has such an upbeat and cheerful personality, I'd find it hard to dislike her. Plus, she's hot (how old is she supposed to be, though? Jail bait?) My current party consists of Snow as the leader, then her, then Sazh.

Then there's Fang, and she's also pretty cool. I dunno, though; I think I don't like her weapon, maybe. I don't really have a lot to say about her.

So that's my take so far. I was a little disappointed that all the characters were introduced so early on, and there's only six to choose from (no different than XII, I suppose.) These characters are alright so far, though. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, and their melodramatic moments. Oh well. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

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.

Y'know, I'm not a big fan of people hitting other people in a serious manner, unless it's for a good reason. I don't think she had a good reason to hit Snow. Lightning's striking of Snow seemed more like she was annoyed with him than she wanted to get something through to him to me. I really liked Fang's response to her hitting her: "Does that make you feel better?" It's like, "Does this really solve anything?" Of course it doesn't. And if I recall correctly, it didn't make Lightning feel better, either. Beyond that, the flashbacks showed she had it in for Snow before any of this happened. The fact that she raised Serah on her own is a reason for her behavior, but not necessarily a good excuse, in my mind. But it's all good, because she's gotten better as the game's progressed.

Hope, I feel the same about; there are reasons for him to have behaved like he has, but that doesn't excuse it either. Doesn't make him any more likable during those segments of the game to me. And as for Vanille; I didn't mean her literal age :P 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...

Wuv, Yer Mom

I'll definitely agree that Fang had the best response back to Lightning after getting hit by her. True it doesn't really solve anything in the end, but Lightning does really only know how to solve and act things out through physical means. So I think for her hitting is the first reaction for her and possibly only reaction.

She certainly didn't like a lot of what Snow was doing and never really liked him. Though I think Snow is a little too naive and all hero without a brain sort of type that getting hit is about the only thing that will really get through to actually stop him for a second to think over what he is doing. Because he goes through a lot of the beginning just going off impulse not thinking about anything before he does it. He just assumes that because he is the "hero" everything will work out for him. Reality isn't so simple though and Lightning's punches help to stop him for a second. Because you really think someone as thickheaded as Snow is really going to listen to any one let alone reason when he's got something in his head already.

It may be Lightning's only answer to a problem but I think it is effect in places just to get someone to stop for a second, even if it just stuns them. Everything stops for a moment and you lose everything you were thinking. Some well places words at that moment can them to stop and listen when they would have otherwise just push you aside. Snow and Lightning never saw eye to eye, so I don't think just words would have been enough, Snow the type that only listens if you get up in your face and pushes back roughly.

I certainly wouldn't be hitting people, but that's not my style. It is Lightning's style and I think it suits her. She's not afraid to do whatever she wants even if she does come off as the bad guy sometimes. Someone needs to be handing out the reality pills. ^^;

I looked around for her age and couldn't find anything about it. My guess would be that is probably underage. But then again I think Serah is 19 or 18 and getting married, I certainly hope that she is at least 18. And Serah is a stick of a character and looks like 14, so Vanille could be 18 as well. Oh well, Serah's character has a rather complicated internet history though.

so at the end of the game, my opinions have changed a bit. Snow probably remains my favorite. Even with the "dumbass" aspects of his personality, he was the one with the most hope throughout the whole game (except maybe for a little while towards the end, there) and that inspired all the other characters-even Lightning. Sazh, I wanted to use more, but his stats were so abysmal at the end there (now that I'm back on Gran Pulse however, he's back in my party.) Hope, I actually used through the end of the game. He got over his emoness pretty well, and was actually a very upbeat character at the end there, eh? So that's good. Lightning got better too, but she's still kinda down on my list. Fang is definitely a badass.

So I remember in some thread or another, people talking about how they could only use a team of Lightning, Fang, and Hope to beat the game. That using anyone else was near impossible. Well, I just want to brag a little bit; I beat the game using a team of Snow, Vanille, and Hope. The only thing that would've made it even more awesome would've been if I'd used a team of Snow, Vanille, and Sazh. Which I probably could have. And of the last three bosses, I only died once, on the second to last form. So what's the deal? It didn't seem as hard as people made it out to be. Did people just not upgrade the weapons of characters they didn't use, as a friend of mine suggested? My Snow had a strength of 1677 going into that last battle. Vanille had a magic of around 1450, I think (maybe it was even in the 1500's.) Maybe I also did more grinding than most people too, however, because there were a few points where I stopped and ground away for a while, and my characters were near their potential in the Crysterium. Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

Congrats on finishing the game. I beat the game using Sazh, Fang and Vanille actually. I didn't know that people making some claim that it was impossible to do except for one party combination. That is certainly not true, which is the good thing about the game. You can win in anyway you want so long as you have a good strategy.

But anyway, Hope definitely did get better. He started turning around when he got home and then on Gran Pulse he made a few more long strides to becoming less emo and by the end all of that had pretty much gone away.

Fang is most certainly awesome and I don't think there was a moment that she was not really. It is sort of her character and who she is. And Snow will be Snow, fair too optimistic for my good. It is a little funny that he is the optimistic one since that is usually left to the bubbly one, which is Vanille, however Vanille is only pretending to be optimistic. The real optimist is Snow. So it is strange to see how that worked out like that.

Figured I'd throw my two cents in this thread. I avoided it for a bit, because I wanted to finish the game first so I could see all the characters development through the end. I just wanna add that this game probably holds the honor for me as being the FF game that has the most playable characters that I really like. :)

My favorites are Fang, Hope, Sazh and more recently: Vanille. Lightning and Snow are alright, but something about them deters me from liking them as much as the other characters. Lightning seems too serious all the time, and Snow seems to carefree... I will say this though: They're both stubborn, and they have good character interactions with one another because of their opposite personalities. So together they're great, but apart, not so much...to me anyway.

To be honest, at first I didn't really care for Vanille that much. I suppose it was her overly-enthusiastic gestures, or the way she came off as being too optimistic and giddy at first that made me go "Ugh..." about her. Once more of her story unfolded, I came to appreciate that she was hiding a pretty big secret from the others, and she was putting up a front to throw everyone off that something was wrong. Also, in the fight against Orphan (first form), she was dang helpful! Especially after losing to it twice when I almost had him beat! :shake: Once I put Vanille in my party, I beat him in a little under 5 minutes, thanks to her Sab role.

So yeah... Rock on Vanille! :woot:

I used Fang as my lead as soon as I was able to do so, and only switched her out when I had to. I love her design, I like her attitude, and I love her voice! Great pick on that. I love her carefree nature, but I also like that she feels the need to protect Vanille. It probably hindered Vanille's character appeal a bit, because it made her (Vanille) seem weak, but she proved that she should hold her own. It's still nice to see that sisterly-like bond that they share. :) It also made the ending seem pretty great too.

I loved every scene that Sazh was in. He was the most entertaining and interesting character in the group, I think. He's also pretty selfless and has a good heart. His kid was adorable too. :D 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.

I don't think Hope is as bad as I've been reading about from other people. Hope is the character I felt empathetic for the most during the story. He's just a kid that was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got swept up in something he didn't think he was capable of handling... Poor guy... I am glad that he got over his vendetta against Snow when he did. That did seem to go on for a bit too long.

I wish some of the secondary characters had a bigger role or a bit more development though (Jihl for example)...but I understand why they don't. The game focuses on the journey of the l'Cie, so the story would seem a bit jumbled I suppose if the game shifted focus to expand on the other characters. There's always the Datalog to read for that kind of info too, so it's not that big of a waste.

So those are my thoughts!

I think my favorite would have to be Fang. She doesn't say a ton of unnecessary emotional crap but she manages to be encouraging and keeps the party moving. And she's badass in battle. She makes me thing of Freya, in a weird sort of way, I think...
Lightning just likes hitting people in the face and being extra angry about not so huge things.
Hope is much too weak and whiny for me to deal with. Every time he opens his mouth, I'm either embarrassed for him or irritated by him lol.
Vanille is quite likable, in my opinion, but her voice does get a bit irritating on occasion. She seems like she's gonna be the annoying one, but I found Hope to be that one.
Sazh is awesome. The fro is awesome. The chocobo chick is unbeatable (although I do worry about how hygienic it is to keep a live animal in your hair...) All I have to say is, I better get to ride that thing when it grows up!!
As for Snow, though his intentions seem good, his heroics make him seem moronic. He annoys me and, quite frankly, I was jealous that Lightning got to punch him in the face and not me.