Rank the Espers with Dialogue

Odin: Esper with the deepest backstory which mirrors the main plot, And if I recall he is the only way to get +speed in the snes version
Maduin: He's a love machine
Yura: Loved the name, loved the sprite, shame we never got to see his battle powers.
Ifrit: Good old classic esper, considering the importance of espers in this game I do wish he had a bigger plot role in the game.
Shiva: Same as above.
Ramuh: As much as I love his role in the game, an esper that just looks like a human feels too strange for me.
Esper village Elder: STOP TRYING TO BOSS ME AROUND

Feel free to include anymore in your rankings if you want to bother with the minor npc's of the esper world or indeed if I have forgotten any important ones.

Maduin is such a nice guy. I feel so sorry for the guy. At least he properly meets his daughter eventually, sort of.

Yura and Odin in that order for me. Yura just looked really cool and I always wanted to violate his corpse to learn whatever magic he had to give.

And Odin because he's a pretty nifty tragic character what with dying to save the woman he loved and a bunch of humans and all that. I always wished they would have built a bit more on the War of the Magi and what the world was like then, including more about who was attacking the castle and fighting Odin. Leaving some things unanswered is usually the right way to go, but we never seemed to get much about the war besides there being humand, espers, and humans violating espers.

I have to go with Ramuh. He just seems like a chill guy that would toss you a beer after a hard day. While he certainly gets points for exposition and opening up the game to incorporate Espers, I just find it cool that he seems like he is the most human of the Espers, both in looks and personality.

He also kind of reminds me of Yoda in a way. You know, a wise mentor that survived a vicious attack on the group he is in. I think characters like that are interesting. They move the story along without seeming like they are just being informative.

Does Terra count because she's only half-esper?

I didn't like Bismarck too much because the whale gives me a 'Free Willy' feeling I don't care for.
Phoenix should have a long and ancient history with Terrato.

I guess the poll is too small to include all the Espers but there could also be ones that weren't mentioned in the game. You can tell Maduin shares powers with other Espers. It looks like the designers were trying to give them all something unique.

Kirin is me.

I would have liked to see more of Maduin considering his role in the story of the game. I liked the brief time that you play as him in the Esper Village.

Odin, definitely, for his gripping backstory. Plus, it's Odin.