What if Squall wasn't there...

[Wolf Kanno]

Let's just say Squall ran away from the orphanage to find his sis and was never heard from again. How well do you feel VIII's story would have gone over if you were left with the rest of the cast and it was done with no real main character.

[Jessweeee♪]

The orphanage would never become Garden!

[Jiro]

Irvine would've been the leading man.

[WhiteStorm]

Seifer would have been the hero, gotten the girl and saved the day.

[Crop]

They all would have died in the worst assassination attempt I've ever seen in my life. Special forces my arse.
It was the only point in the game when I finally understood why Squall was so depressed about being around them morons.

[Jiro]

Seifer would have been the hero, gotten the girl and saved the day.

Seifer would have just bullied Zell so much that he probably would have quit Garden and gone and cried.

[WhiteStorm]

LOL

Yeah, that seems most likely to happen.

[Dr. Acula]

Rinoa probably wouldn't have bothered joining the party and Quistis would have become a sorceress instead. "Sorceress Trepe" has a rather nice ring to it, methinks.

[Tuhkasieni]

Seifer would've bullied Zell, and Zell would've been the new emo and ended up with Rinoa...and eventually Rinoa would've left him for Seifer... uhm, and that leaves Zell to be an easy target for the sorceress ......... XDD

[Loony BoB]

Nida saves the world and got the girl. Acutally, probably didn't get the girl. Rinoa would have ended up with Seifer, I suppose. Which would have been an interesting twist on the JRPG love story.

[Roogle]

It sounds like the game would have to take an ensemble approach and it might have given us the opportunity to see more of other characters in Garden like Xu or Nida. Maybe we would have been able to see more of Trabia Garden, too? Just a thought.

[Depression Moon]

I did wonder about Xu and what her story could've been. We don't even know what weapon she uses.

[Cihnyl]

Really, if Squall did leave the orphanage to find his sister and was never heard from again, well, Laguna wouldn't see him in his head giving him encouragement to take on Adel. Therefore, there would be continual war waged; Esthar versus Galbadia. Ellone would also be not saved by anyone, and in that case, Adel would have extracted power to add to herself. It'd be anarchy.

Even so, Galbadia Garden remains, so a protagonist may rise at a later stage and defeat Adel. Edea on the other hand... well, I don't know about her.

[Jiro]

Those are some good points!

[Darth Cid]

If Squall wasn't around, a more tolerable character could fill the party.

[-JJ-]

Vaan would have traveled through Time/Space with Gilgamesh,
Joined Edea's group of Rowdy Orphans, being one himself.
Quit the group to become a Sky Pirate.

Vaan; Iv'e always wanted to be a Sky Pirate, free to go where I will!
White Seed; You mean like a Nomad or something?
Vaan; No! S-K-Y Pirate! Like, just wait a few more years... N00B!
White Seed; ...

After becoming somewhat in touch with his Homosexuality, Vaan would becomes attracted to
Seifer. After seeing Seifer's interest in Gunblades, he Learns to wield a Gunblade himself, only to be rejected by Seifer, thus, the rejection becomes hatred. Vaan follows Seifer, and joins B.Garden.

The opening Scene is an FMV of Vaan getting cut by by Seifer and Crying for a Band-Aid.

The story than begins as usual. Just with a lot more OMGGG! EDEA IS LIKE TOTALLY A SORCERESS! LOL! ^.^