Benchwarmers

Which characters do you typically ignore through the game?

For me, in Final Fantasy VI, it's quite easy to just ignore Gau and never use him if I don't need to. I don't care much for his rage techniques. And his Mowgli syndrome irritates me.

VII - Although I've really only played this game twice, I still don't think this game gives you much reason to use all of your characters. Through my last playthrough I used Cloud, Yuffie and Vincent all the way until the end. Other than that, I almost never find Barret, Tifa, Red XIII or Cat Sith. I find them all to be annoying. I like Vincent because he's quiet. But I don't like this game much so I haven't really experimented with the characters anyway.

VIII - When I first played this game, I used only Squall, Zell and Rinoa, but over the years I've grow to love all the characters and I've learned how to be able to use them all pretty evenly.

IX - I try to use all the characters pretty evenly, but Amarant just comes into the game far too late. I could grind to make him more useful, but I don't like enough to even care.

X - Using everyone in the game wasn't very hard, especially because you can switch members in battle and your experience isn't divided by how many characters participated. I like this game. :D

XII - Pretty much the same as X. I don't care for Penelo but she isn't hard to use in battle.

FF6 - Gau, Mog, Cyan, Umaro, Relm, Strago. I used Gau for a little bit when I found out how powerful he is if you know how to use him, but then stopped because that still didn't make him fun.

FF7 - Cait Sith, Vincent, Barret, Tifa

FF9 - Vivi, Steiner, Garnet, Quina

FF10 - I rotate everyone in for experience, though I can't think of a single time I found Khimari useful.

FF12 - Fran, Pennello.

I tend to not use any character that I can't control manually, at least in the games where manual control over your party is the norm. That would mean Gau and Umaro in FF6. They sometimes get to take part in some of the dungeons where I need three parties.

Other typical bench warmers for me are Nanaki, Cid Highwind, Cait Sith, Selphie, Amarant, Quina, Khimari, Wakka.

FF6-Mog, Gau, Umaro, Gogo
FF7-Vincent
FF10-Kihmahri
FF13-Fang

FFVI - Gogo and Umaro are usually the main benchwarmers, I use Gau a bit in the WoB but I do tend to ignore him for most of the WoR until he gets his prize monster A.I. I actually enjoy using Umaro and he's a kick to watch in battle but he's not as good as other party members. Gogo is also just mainly a second tier version of other characters and can't be developed so he gets ignored as well.

FFVII - Since Materia is your party I can honestly say most of the cast is the benchwarmer unless the game forces them into my party. I mainly use Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Vincent. Which is funny cause if you saw my rank VII cast, you'll know I don't care for three of these people but Tifa and Vincent's Limit Breaks are at least unique and fun to use whereas the rest of the cast is mainly select command and watch everything die, so I appreciate the attempt at making battles more interesting.

FFVIII - Selphie and Quistis, largely because their Limits are subpar compared to the rest of the casts or can be recreated with the junction system so it's not all that useful.

FFIX - Dagger, Eiko, and Amarant. Amarant just comes too late in the game and he's just not the hard hitter I want him to be. Dagger is a subpar White Mage and only gets her useful Summons late in the game when the rest of my party is getting game breaking skills and weapons, so she pretty much loses her niche entirely. Eiko is a good white mage and an interesting summoner but characters like Quina and the game's customization system makes many of her summons obsolete, and while she's a great white mage, the game doesn't require a dedicated one like say FFIV does.

FFX - Kimarhi, Yuna, and Auron. Kimarhi is much like Gogo, he can never be more than a second tier version of another character in your party. Yuna is here cause she's an awful white mage and Rikku with her Al Bhed Potions is far more useful. Her Aeons are powerful but the game never throws anything at you that really requires them so unless you like playing the game on easy mode she's not a viable option IMHO. Auron is kind of a lie, I actually do use him all the time but it's because I like him, not because he's actually useful because his only strength is not unique to him, once you can get the Pierce skill onto Wakka's weapons, Auron only has one Overdrive that makes him worthwhile and even then it's only useful for boss fights.

FFXIII - Sahz, he's my favorite character but he doesn't have a strong niche in your party once you actually get your whole party.

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

FFVIII - Selphie and Quistis, largely because their Limits are subpar compared to the rest of the casts or can be recreated with the junction system so it's not all that useful.

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Going to disagree with you on Quistis. Her limits are ferocious and lose very little lustre as the game goes on. Of course you can break the game so that physical attacks are all you need, but being able to multitarget enemies with her limits is great. Degenerator is bulltrout useful against tough enemies.

FF6 - Umaro, Sabin, Gogo, and Relm

FF7 - Cait Sith and Tifa

FF8 - Selphie and Zell (I don't really like characters that do just punch attacks as you can see)

FF9 - Garnet and Amarant

FF10 - Lulu, Rikku, and Kimarhi mostly because I was annoyed that I couldnt get his ultimate weapon because that cheating ass butterfly mini game.

FF12 - I don't even remember anything before or beyond this point.

Unlike Shiny, I have a hard on for Monk-ish characters so they were usually in my main 3/4. :x

FFVI - Relm, Umaro, Gogo, Strago
FFVII - Cait Sith, Yuffie, Red XIII
FFVIII - Quistis, Selphie
FFIX - Quina, Eiko
FFX - None really. I guess I use Lulu the least though.
FFXII - Penelo, Fran
FFXIII - Didn't play enough of it. :-/

I apparently am not a fan of Blue Mages though.

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Originally Posted by Jiro

Going to disagree with you on Quistis. Her limits are ferocious and lose very little lustre as the game goes on. Of course you can break the game so that physical attacks are all you need, but being able to multitarget enemies with her limits is great. Degenerator is bulltrout useful against tough enemies.

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Well you don't need group hitting spells cause you have GFs for that, and as you yourself pointed out, a Physical based party (which is the only type of party really in this game since magic is crappy in this entry) pretty much can deal with anything the game throws at you.

Granted, if you know how to manipulate the Crisis Level, I can understand why Quistis gets love since her Blue Magic is completely dependent on it instead of her stats, but you'll need to get to Crisis Level 3 or 4 (out of 4) to see real worthwhile results and before Aura becomes available, that is not something most people are willing do cause of the risk factor. By end game her skills are mostly useless and she only has one move that can damage break and it's a Guide Dang It to obtain. Even then with a party where everyone has multi-hit boss killing Limit Breaks, she's just kind of outclassed.

Yeah anyone that does random trout.

EDIT- when I was younger, I usually put the 'main' male character surrounded by chicks.

Just going to say WK, I clicked that link and I've been on that site clicking more links for a while now xD

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Originally Posted by Araciel

Yeah anyone that does random trout.

EDIT- when I was younger, I usually put the 'main' male character surrounded by chicks.

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I still do.

VI: Terra, Cyan, Setzer, Shadow, Relm, Strago, Mog, Gogo. Obviously I used them all a fair bit, but if I had a full allowance and only one party to create then it was generally made up from the rest.
VII: Barret, Cid, Yuffie, Aeris, Vincent, Cait Sith. Basically I always used Cloud/Tifa/Red where possible. :)
VIII: Irvine, Quistis, Selphie. They all got their turns, but not nearly as much as my preferred three.
XII: Penelo was my least used, but the others all got a lot of gametime. My preferred starting trio were - if I recall correctly - Ashe, Basche and either Vaan or Fran depending on the circumstances.
XIII: Fang, Hope and Snow earlier in the game, although I used Fang a lot near the end and Hope had his uses.

VII was definitely the game in which I rarely used 'subs', though. All the other games either have easy switching mid-battle, few characters to pick from or forced use of multiple parties - or a mix of the lot!

VII- I'm not exactly sure why, but I always rotated my party around, depending on what part of the story it is. Whenever Corel is part of the storyline, I always make sure to include Barret, just because it seems to be the most logical character. Or when it's near the end of Disc One; Aerith is always in my party because she's gone soon. It's self-imposed storyline parties, basically. Whenever there's no need for story (side-quests etc.) it's always been Cloud, Yuffie and Cid. I never really used Cait Sith. I get that he's an avid magic user, but I found his limit hard to use and potentially fatal.

VIII- Well, I never really used Zell often. I don't know if it's his one-sided personality or his "street fighter" style limit, but I don't know. I never really used him. The same can be said for Irvine, I found his many different shots could have been replicated by other means.

X- Finally, we can change out our main characters! I used Rikku, Wakka and Tidus normally. During main-game, I of course made certain to swap characters out for SP, but after Yunalesca my characters were split up. My bench-warmers consistently were made of Lulu (Magic can be used by others), Kimahri (Because smurf you, Kimahri) and Auron (Power superseded by Wakka eventually). Yuna is interchangeable, The sisters trio did help out lots at first, but eventually even they lost favour.

XII- Anyone remember Team BAP? Yeah, I always used Balthier, Ashe and Penelo. The bad thing with this game is that the characters aren't unique in anyway. Their a blank canvas. Because of that, it's just pure visual reasons. I didn't like Vaan's abs, and I didn't like Basch's robot walk and scruffy hair. I did like Fran, so she did sometimes make a guest appearance.

XII:RW- Penelo, because she's the only healer. Basch because his "shining ray" ability just obliterates everything. Ashe because I liked her "hastega" and "comet". Kytes because he has so many damn powerful abilities. Llyud because his "jump" ability can be put to good surprise attacks and he's very versatile and fast. Everyone else, sans Filo for her attribute reducing traps can just disappear. Especially Fran, she's just terrible.

XIII- Were fixed for most of the game, so no comment there. During most of the remainder, I used Lightning, Hope and Fang. It's just the most versatile team. Fang for attack, Hope for support and Lightning does both. It's amazing. I do use Snow and Vanille when their needed, but that's situational. Poor Sazh, I loved his character, but I did miss his battle skill.

During my first playthrough with VII, I would use Aerith, but after each playthrough afterwards I find myself using her less and less. Mostly because I know I'm just going to end up losing her and all the time I spent leveling her up.

>>> Nothing personal..:luca:

FF6: Relm, Strago, Umaro.
FF7: Vincent, Cait Sith.
FF8: Quistis, Selphie, Rinoa.
FF9: Garnet.
FF10: Lulu, Rikku.
FF12: Ashe.
FF13: Hope, Vanille.

VI: I generally have used most characters since the game requires me to use 12 to complete Kefka's Tower. That said, I rarely take Umaro along. Gogo gets some use and sometimes Setzer (seriously who is going to fly the airship while everyone's fighting?) but not usually.

VII: I usually try to use story-relevant characters based on the section of the game. But no matter how many times I've played VII, I've never used Yuffie or Cait Sith in any meaningful way outside of when I was required to. Hell, I've never really even used Cid that much either.

VIII: I've used everyone as a 'main' party member at least once... I think. My gut tells me I've never done much with Selphie though. Don't much like Slot characters.

IX: I've never used Amarant in any meaningful way. Once I might have included Freya for a large portion of the quest, but it's possible that never happened. Quina gets some use because of Blue Magic, but acquiring it sucks. In general my runs of FFIX end up with me using the Main 4 and sometimes Eiko.

X: I use everyone cause the battle system demands it. Kimarhi is usually the outcast by the end though, except for my last playthrough when I made him into a stronger physical damage dealer than Auron.

XII: Played the game once, used everybody. Main party was always differing based on what kind of team I needed.

XIII: Same as XII, except by the end some characters are obviously more suited to a kick-ass party than others, or at least that's what I found. By the end Sazh, Vanille and Snow were on the bench.

VI - I never really bothered with Gau, Relm, Strago or Umaro. Gau and Umaro, because I'm not a big fan of characters I can't really control. Strago and Relm always seem to join too late. In Strago's case by that point I can't be bothered chasing up all the Blue Magic.

VII - There's not really anybody I haven't used at some point except Red XIII, though I've just started a new game and am going to use him. I never bother with Aeris because of her short lifespan.

VIII - Selphie. Her limit break just feels too unexciting to justify using her.

IX - Eiko and Amarant. The former because I prefer Garnet as a summoner/white mage. Amarant, as others have said, just joins too late.

X - I tend to use everyone because of the ease of switching.

XI - I didn't use... myself! As I never played it.

XII - I never really bothered with Penelo or Balthier, though I've only played the game once.

I don't ignore a lot of characters because I like variety and I also like keeping people's levels high.

VI - Gau and Setzer usually ride the pine in Kefka's Tower. Gau because he sucks and Setzer because I'm not a big fan of the Slot skill.
VII - Cait Sith. His limit break can get you a game over and that's dumb.
VIII - they all sucked
IX - Garnet. Eiko could do everything she did and better.
X - Kimahri. Jack of all trades doesn't work in a game where you can switch characters on the fly.
XII - Penelo and Vaan were kind of just 'there'.
XIII - Sazh, Snow, and Vanille were left out of my team down the stretch.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

XIII - Sazh, Snow, and Vanille were left out of my team down the stretch.

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I couldn't do this, if only because it would mean not hearing their voices. I'd almost always have two of these three (along with Lightning) when I was doing anything new, just because I enjoyed hearing what they had to say about things more than I did with Hope/Fang.

I'm half tempted to replay XIII with Snow all the way through at some point because he has the best voice in the game, some of the best dialogue in the game and yet I hardly used him. Regret. :(

Gau, Umaro
Cait Sith
Quistis - couldn't be bothered getting all her Blue Magic together
I used pretty much used everyone in FFIX, X, XII and XIII.

VI-I rarely used Umaro, Gau, or Mog. I leveled them up to reasonable levels, but rarely used them. This is a game that is more forgiving to only using a set few characters.
VII-I used them all evenly. Sometimes I wouldn't use Cait Sith or Tifa as much, though.
VIII-Used them all. Hated them all.
IX-I liked all the characters enough to have them around the same levels.
X-Kimhari is useless Ronso.
XII-I design any games with established character specialties but open advancements (VI, VII, XII) so that all characters have a niche or area they excel at. With only six characters, it's most useful here so I had a balanced party that was evenly leveled.
XIII-I used Lightning, Sazh, and Vanille way more than I should have, considering their best paradigms, but I liked them the most.

Relm is the best character. :aimcry:

FFVII - Vincent, Tifa, Cait Sith, and Nanaki. I hate their Limit Breaks.
FFVIII - Rinoa is seated in the back of the bus. Selphie stays in the back of the train after disc two.
FFIX - Never played enough to get to the point where anyone gets neglected. Amarant is pretty wiggity-whack.
FFX - Kimahri only because I inadvertently made him into a more useless Rikku.
FFXII - Anyone not named Balthier, Basch, or Penelo.

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Originally Posted by Jowy

FFXII - Anyone not named Balthier, Basch, or Penelo.

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Bu-But.. his really weird running gait... that puts me off no end.

FFVI: Haven't finished it yet, but Setzer and Gau are pretty unreliable and therefore make place for some more dependable characters.

FFVII: Cait Sith. Love the character design, pretty useless in battle. Never used Cid much either.

FFIX: Quina, Amarant, Dagger. I lack the patience to learn Blue Magic, Amarant felt like a weaker Zidane and Dagger I just didn't like in general.

FFX: Played this game so much that during the storyline everyone appears at the frontline pretty evenly. Even Kimahri (TipAt first I always send him down Wakka's path. Kimahri's high MP makes him a more sustainable green mage than Wakka.). For most endgame stuff Lulu and Kimahri warm the bench, while Rikku's high agility is abused as first to switch out for Auron/Wakka. So she's sort of a benchwarmer too. Or a bait dummy. Something.

FFXII: All you ever need in this game is Ashe casting haste and berserk on Vaan, Balthier and/or Basch. No need for the Fran or Penelo.

FFXIII: Snow, Hope and Lightning. Didn't like them much and the rest does the job just fine.

I used to be extremely picky about who I let into the party. I have since learned that most games use an emsemble cast and try to use everyone equally even if it ultimately ends up providing more challenge for me in the long run due to experience points being divided in a larger pool. I especially try to cycle to more unused characters if a story segment is focused upon them, yet they aren't forced into the party until a later point in that story arc.

VI: Cyan, Strago, Gau, Relm, Umaro, and Gogo, out of a combination for me not particularly caring about them as characters, and that they weren't as useful as my main team members. I mainly used Terra, Locke, Celes, Setzer, and the Figaro Bros., with the occasional Shadow (because he's cool) and Mog to ward off random encounters.
VII: Cait Sith because he's the worst character ever.
VIII: I don't think I ever once used Selphie unless I was required to (like at the missile base). As a character, I honestly have no opinion on her. I don't particularly like her, but I don't hate her either. So she fell behind.
IX: Quina and Eiko. Quina because (s)he fell behind the others whom I simply liked more, and Eiko because I just can't stand her as a character. Plus, having a second white mage/summoner? I know it was important to the plot and all, but from a gameplay perspective it was pretty redundant.
X: Kimahri. Poor guy, he's the one who tries to do everything without being particularly strong in the same way as a specialist, and in doing so fails to find his niche where he can actually be useful. As a physical attacker, he was outclassed by Auron and Wakka, and as a mage Lulu and Yuna were far better. Combine that with the fact that X freely allows characters to be switched in and out in the middle of battle, and I never found any use for him. :/