Serah or Noel?

[Del Murder]

Who do you find yourself controlling most of the time? At first I played Serah because she's the main character and her roles (RAV, MED, SAB) were ones that required a bit more user input than Noel's. But then Noel grew on me and I feel like he's more of a lead than she is. Serah's pretty annoying most of the time and I don't feel like she adds anything to the game. Noel however has a pretty strong personality and his characterization and voice acting is very good.

[nirojan]

Noel....Serah's not that annoying, but Noels VA and personality is alot better. Serah has the whole Japanese Melodrama after every chapter "Lightning... will I ever see you again"<--THAT GETS ANNOYING FAST! Serah's running animation was obviously made for the otaku crowd (the whole school girl run), but in some of the boss fights, i found myself switching my lead to Serah to access Esuna to get rid of the debuffs (Apparently AI doesn't deem this a priority). Other than that it was Noel thru most of the game.

PS. Del you shoulda probably made this thread have a poll ;)

[Del Murder]

Yeah, annoying is too strong a word. She's no Vanille for sure. She's just...bland? Uninteresting? Unimportant? I feel like Noel has a purpose in this story and Serah is just along for the ride to find her sister.


PS. Del you shoulda probably made this thread have a poll ;)
Done!

[Lamia]

Serah is my leader. I'm a female gamer though and I will admit that I always pick the female protagonist in games when given the choice.

I don't think Serah's bland. Yeah, so the reason she decided to go with Noel is because she wants to find her sister, sure. But her objective changes at a point in the storyline (SPOILER) after they look at the oracle drive with Hope at Yachas Massif, Serah turns to Noel and tells him that although she originally only wanted to find her sister, she now wants to save the future as well now. Serahalso develops into a character that was unsure of her ability to protect others nonetheless herself into someone that is more powerful and competent (both in ability and mentality). Yeah, her character isn't the most interesting ever, but it makes sense to go that route with Serah considering the fact that she is the younger, skinny, and girly-er sibling of a complete badass. lol So, I find Serah's search for strength intriguing enough. Lightning would be proud :p

[ShineTheLion]

I'm a dude and I used Noel as the leader for most of the game. I like his outfit and design, and I don't think Serah's outfit is very fitting of her character. She should have had a more conservative outfit with less skin showing like that school girl thing she had before. I don't tend to mind if a character has "sexy" clothing in general, I just don't think it fits Serah's character. It's kind of like how Yuna turned into a diva in X-2. I was scratching my head and thinking "yeah okay whatever..."

But, to be honest, the reason I use Noel isn't so much because I don't like looking at Serah. It's more that I like looking at Noel if ya know what I mean. :roll2 Haha, he was just well designed and pretty much eye candy. Not just his costume looked great, but his appearance was strong and relaxing. He's a pretty charming character, all around. I was a bit disappointed to not see any strong male leads that I could really relate with in Final Fantasy XIII (Snow = dumb and annoying, Hope = emo but grows on you, Sahz = stereotypical comedy relief), so having Noel around this time was a huge relief for me. This is why I used him 95% of the time. Oddly enough, I think the 3 women of Final Fantasy XIII are more manly than their male companions. Haha, thank goodness they sent us Noel. He's the good kind of manly too. He's kind and courageous, and caring, and unselfish, and strong... and whoops there I go swooning again.

Okay, yeah. I'll end here by saying Noel was a really awesome character and Serah felt like an odd protagonist. I really liked her development throughout the game, but I still think she was sort of an odd character to choose to lead the game, and I'm not sure if she is entirely important to the plot just because of her particular "ability" in this game. Noel seemed to be the one leading them for the most part, and was much more closely connected to the events that were distorting the time line. I guess they threw Serah in so you could have a character to relate with that didn't know what was going on at all. This way you could learn with her.

[Cloudane]

Hmm I'm only a few hours in and hadn't realised you could change who you walk around as (if that's what you mean). So I have to say Serah.

And I think that makes sense. Serah is indeed quite a weak character, but it comes across to me as "her story". Noel clearly has his too, but I can't help feeling that it's secondary.

So I don't know which I'll control. As someone with 'a chocobo in both stables' though I tend to agree with the above that Noel is actually the better eye candy :jess:

[Jessweeee♪]

I feel like Serah's POV is better for someone who has already played FFXIII. I like Noel's character better though. Serah reminds me of FFX-2 Yuna.

[ShineTheLion]

I feel like Serah's POV is better for someone who has already played FFXIII. I like Noel's character better though. Serah reminds me of FFX-2 Yuna.

I played FFXIII and I don't like Serah's POV very much. I think it is generally unconvincing that even though she is untrained in combat, she has instantaneously mastered the art of slaying the crap out of Caius and other monsters with her bowsword, just because "she can fight if she has to". I'm glad they didn't animate her doing any crazy moves, she mostly just uses the weapons in their most basic functions, so it is at least somewhat convincing, but I still never pictured Serah as the type of character to fight. Part of the beauty of her character in 13 was that she was sort of a moral support who was innocent of bloodshed, unlike the other protagonists. They've sort of thrown her character image out the window in exchange for a less convincing one here, much like they did to Yuna in her game's sequel.

Noel is mysterious and seems like he fell out of the Kingdom Hearts universe, but I feel his mystery is more compelling than Serah's contradictory character development.

[Jessweeee♪]

I mean like, in Noel's POV it's more like "hey who are those people I've never heard of but should know about if I played FFXIII" in some parts of the game, not that she's the more likeable character :p

[Loony BoB]

I alternated a lot, so it's hard for me to pick. I'd say it would be close to 50/50, actually. Serah is nicer to look at, while Noel is a bit more amusing. But for me, I just loved Mog. Nothing was more fun than pressing L1 and making him lose his shit.

[Eagle299]

I tend to play Serah. She's more pleasant for me to look at. And I find Noel kinda bland. I just never find myself caring about him. I don't hate him like I did Little Bitch in the last game. But I don't care for him much either.

Overall, I think I'd rather this game had been about almost any of the characters from the previous game. Anyone but Hope.

Edit: This really should have been Lightning's game.

[Sephex]

Noel. Just felt more natural for me to control him.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

I tend to play Serah. She's more pleasant for me to look at. And I find Noel kinda bland. I just never find myself caring about him. I don't hate him like I did Little Bitch in the last game. But I don't care for him much either.

Overall, I think I'd rather this game had been about almost any of the characters from the previous game. Anyone but Hope.

Edit: This really should have been Lightning's game.

Say it again brother.

[Del Murder]

Hope was great in this game. He was great in the last game too. You watch your mother die in front of you and then get branded as the thing you were taught to fear the most and we'll see how you react.

I'm glad Hope was the prior cast member with the largest role in this game.

[Sword]

Hope was great in this game. He was great in the last game too. You watch your mother die in front of you and then get branded as the thing you were taught to fear the most and we'll see how you react.

I'm glad Hope was the prior cast member with the largest role in this game. Is this a rational analysis of Hope I see? I thought I was the only one.

At the start of the game I alternated between Noel and Serah a lot. Usually I'd stick to one leader for one area, then switch when I visited somewhere else for a change in perspective, but now having finished the game I mostly play as Noel since he's a pretty cool guy. And occasionally I'll switch to Serah because beach wear.

[Loony BoB]

You can have an excuse for being annoying, but you're still annoying. That's how I saw Hope in the first game. I don't mind him in the second game.

[crono_logical]

Serah all the way, except when you had to use Noel - I don't like controlling COMs, RAV/SAB is better for my gameplay style :p

[Formalhaut]

I'm very diplomatic and gave both characters turns to take the lead. I actually like both characters, but I have to agree, Noel is just so much more engaged in the story, and you actually feel for Noel more, simply because he keeps his issues to himself sometime. Poor Noel is almost a guidance councillor to Serah

[maybee]

Serah ! She's kind, gorgeous, beautiful, supportive and really sweet. :jess:

[LunarWeaver]

I stay where Mog stays.

[Night Fury]

I haven't played through much of the game but I find Noel annoying so I just use Serah.

[Reverof Enola]

I'm very diplomatic and gave both characters turns to take the lead. I actually like both characters, but I have to agree, Noel is just so much more engaged in the story, and you actually feel for Noel more, simply because he keeps his issues to himself sometime. Poor Noel is almost a guidance councillor to Serah
And it is weird because he is both taller and wiser than her and comes across as a more mature character. However he is younger than Serah!! Oh yeah Noel all the way despite the game being more bias toward Serah. Probably because I am a guy that I got used Noel and can relate more to him......in a small way.

[Red Mage Coffman]

I felt like this could have easily been its own Final Fantasy game. Starring Noel. Cause, to be honestly, I hate Serah. She is SO annoying. Noel is, well, fucking awesome.

[Del Murder]

Surprisingly, Serah won the poll. I agree that Noel was a great character and should have gotten his own game.

[Aulayna]

I played Serah. To be honest both of them aren't very deep characters but I felt more connection to Serah's plight than I did Noel's - although he did grow on me toward the end of the game. A large part of it was because I also enjoying play RAV more than COM too.

Also I always tend to gravitate toward female characters if I have the choice. It's more immersive for me that way.

(which on a side note is probably why FFVIII aggravated me so much because I wanted to punch Squall in the face)

Noticed it's generally the guys who found Serah annoying and thought Noel was a badass. Generally I thought they were both equal parts annoying as each other.

Seems to come down to gender stereotypes a lot I guess - with Noel wanting to be the knight in white armor and protect Serah from harm as sort of reconciliation for what he's been through. Being the big manly figure, seems to be a position a lot of guys I know want to be in when it comes to relationships. Likewise a lot of girls want that big manly figure to fall back on. Heck it's encoded so much through all the camera angles in the game (how often is the camera looking "up" at Noel compared to "down" at Serah. FFX was particularly notable for this with Tidus and Yuna too).

And now I'm rambling so... Serah

Oh, and the whole sword that turns into a bow thing.... AWWWWWWWESOOOOOOOME

[Jiro]

I've only played Serah so far out of habit; I suppose I should try Noel and see if he plays any differently and, if so, if he's any better.

[Psychotic]

I think Noel is probably the better character, but I'm a traditionalist when it comes to FF games and always play as the default :shobon: