That's weird, I didn't think much of the characters in this game. Garnett & Vivi were great. Zidane was a little giddy for my taste and Kuja was pretty feminine. Steiner was fun and goofy, but not really that strong of a character. And behind that you have Freya who was very solid, but didn't tie in very well to the main story. I would have loved the game if she had been the worst character, but unfortunately Eiko, Quina, and Amarant are all toss ins. If you were to compare, Freya is on the level of Vincent from Final Fantasy 7, and he was an optional character. VII, VI, X, and IV all had much stronger character line ups, although I will say I give IX a character advantage over VIII, V, and all the early games.