FF Characters You Almost Liked But Didn't

What Final Fantasy character/s did you come so close to liking or try your hardest to -- whether because you thought their concept was interesting, they seemed great at their introduction, everyone else thought they were great, or some other reason -- but ultimately fell short in your eyes? This isn't specifically about characters you hate that everyone else loves, though you may well have ended up hating them from the hype backlash.

For me, it's Caius Ballad. I tend to love smart antagonists who have a complex master plan and play the protagonists like fiddles to accomplish their ultimate goal (part of the reason I'm so fond of XV's Ardyn Izunia), I thought his motivations were pretty unique and sympathetic on paper, and I liked his design. However, in practice, I couldn't take him seriously. He was too smart, too powerful, too impervious to any retaliation, to the point that it felt like he was only succeeding and eventually winning out in the end because the plot said he had to rather than because he earned those victories. The sympathetic motives weren't enough to overpower the strong feeling that he was more of a plot device to let Lightning Returns happen than anything else.

Aeris. When I first played the game as a kid I went in expecting to like her because pretty girl character but the more I saw of her the more I felt she was just a jerkass who got passed off by the cast as a sweet lady and I just ended up hating her. Yeah, I get that she's gone through a lot and ultimate sacrifice and blah blah blah, but she was an ass until that point

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pumpkin

Aeris. When I first played the game as a kid I went in expecting to like her because pretty girl character but the more I saw of her the more I felt she was just a jerkass who got passed off by the cast as a sweet lady and I just ended up hating her. Yeah, I get that she's gone through a lot and ultimate sacrifice and blah blah blah, but she was an ass until that point

---

I like Aerith, but I hate the way that she treats Barret. Barret just opened his heart out and shared his traumatising past, about him losing his town to a fire and his best friend and he feels somewhat responsible. What does Aerith do? Use the Gold Saucer Theme Park as an opportunity to hit on Cloud and basically tells Barret that she doesn't care and just wants to "grab " Cloud before Tifa does.

:stare:

I never liked Yuna in X. I find her the weakest part of the story, and she is annoying. I tried to like her, but just felt a better connection to Wakka and Lulu.

I was disappointed by Freya and her story. When first playing ff9 her story piqued my curiosity and I liked her as a character. As the game went on the though it almost feel like the developers forgot about her.

Obviousaly since this list is about characters you "almost liked" I'll save you from my usual tirade against Yuffie, Yuna, and Vanille since I can't bring myself to be just indifferent to them, let alone like.

Krile - If there is one character I don't care for in V, its this spotlight stealing character. She's just little too perfect if you ask me.

Tifa - I originally didn't mind Tifa at first. I'm always a sucker for the "childhood friend" romance, except that's not what's going on here. Tifa winds up being just as delusional about her past as Cloud is, but at least he has some alien parasite as an excuse. I also never really got where the whole "cheerful and optimistic" element of her personality comes from in the various official character bios I've read for her because that's actually Aerith's personality, whereas Tifa is often more insecure, clingy, and constantly needs to be rescued. It's a bit sad that the game's chosen Monk character is also the token damsel in distress who actually likes being that role. I've honestly come to the conclusion that VII's story would have been a whole lot better if Tifa never existed in it. I think every playthrough of VII, I end up hating her a bit more.

Red XIII - I just can't get into him. Once you get over the whole "talking cat" aspect, his backstory is a bit cliche and he honestly doesn't do anything in the story proper. I understand he had a much more prominent role in the early drafts of the script, but none of that ever came to fruition. Other than that, he's pretty forgettable for me. Not as bad as Kimarhi but then Kimarhi wasn't shoved down everyone's throat with all the promotional artwork either. He doesn't offend me, but I'm always baffled by people who like him.

Cloud Strife - If there was one character I disagree with the fanbase on, it's this guy. After a few more playthroughs of the game, I can totally see the fact that "Gloom" Cloud of the Compilation really is the post-revelation Cloud in VII as well. His heroic confidence disappears, he whines a bit more, and almost every conversation he has with the party after that plot twist is them cheering him up. The Cloud of Disc 1 never returns and I liked that Cloud better. While I can commend them on the plot twist, I wish that more had been done to make Cloud a bit more likable in the aftermath of his identity crisis. As it stands, it's just another nail in the coffin for my distaste for the game after Disc 1. I want to like Cloud, but I just like delusional "Zack" Cloud better than the real deal. I don't blame him for idolizing Zack and Sephiroth and wanting to be like them, because real Cloud is a buzz kill.

Vincent - Once upon a time, I really liked Vincent. He was my favorite character in the game actually. Then I grew up and realized that he was a delusional clingy whiny bitch. As an objective observer of his backstory, I feel that Lucretia pretty much treated him like dirt and used him. Yet he beats himself up like he's the badguy? Talk about an abusive relationship, Vincent's the real victim in all this and the fact that's he (and the writers and fans) is oblivious to all of it just makes it kind of stupid.

Zidane - I don't know what it is about him. I mean he's fun on screen and I can dig the fact he's an expy of two of my favorite male FF heroes (Locke and Edgar respectively) but he irritates me as well. I feel it's pretty much the same issue I have with Krile. He steals too much of the limelight from the other more interesting characters and he gets more Mary Sueish the farther in the plot you get.

Amarant - I have a weakness for badass loner types and Amarant really places that irrational like for the archetype to the test. He's not a bad character but he's such a non-entity for most of the script and his two moments of "characterizations" fall flat. I don't hate him, but I can't help but be disappointed by him.

Tidus - He's been a weird character for me, while his perky attitude can be irritating, at least the rest of the story is in my corner about it. Tidus is the exact opposite of Tifa and Vincent for me, I initially couldn't stand him, and I still have serious qualms with his "daddy issues" but I find myself liking him more and more with each playthrough of FFX I managed to get through.

Wakka - Wakka is pretty much every middle school friendship I ever had. He comes off as this cool older brother type with a laid back attitude and then one day BAM! he goes all fundamental religious on you. Like Cloud, Wakka is a real treat for the first sections of FFX but as the game gets further and his religious conviction overtakes the rest of his personality to be the straw theist on the team, he becomes more and more unlikable. The fact his story arch is largely hand waved away just leaves me feeling bitter.

Lulu - Pretty much read the section on Amarant. Lulu was a very fascinating character who should have been given more screen time and development but instead the game focused more on the boring/irritating characters. I want to like her but there just isn't much of a "character" to like.

Snow - You know, I actually like big goofy muscle heads like Sabin and Zell. Snow doesn't really disappoint in that department but I only like him when he is being the goofy idiot of the party. His character arc is all over the place, and due to being put on a bus for most of the part of the game when the cast was being developed, none of his story elements really got a satisfactory conclusion and instead had the more "safe" conclusion than I would care for. I would like him better if they either just dropped his more serious story elements and made him the goofy sidekick, or if they had picked one story arc and actually develop it instead of giving him too many plot threads they had no intention of developing.

Fang - See Red XIII's sections. She doesn't bother me and I kind of like her personality, but I spent the whole game wondering why she was even there to begin with. It made the few times the game tried to force sympathy out of me for her sake laughable because she's such a non-entity in the story for me.

Noctis - I couldn't quite put my finger on what bothered me about Noctis until Yahtzee pointed it out in his review for XV. Noctis broads a lot for a character who is handed most of his awesomeness. It just makes him come across as a spoiled brat at times and one of those apathetic teens who can't appreciate something you worked hard for. He's not quite as bad as all of this, but much like Yuna, for a character who is meant to be the anchor of the plot, the devs could have done more to make him likable. I've read that even Tabata never really warmed up to him either.

itt Wolf Canoe hates half of the FF characters

wow that's a long list

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pumpkin

itt Wolf Canoe hates half of the FF characters

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fynn

wow that's a long list

---

I just have low tolerance for bulltrout.

I really wanted to like Balthier from Final Fantasy XII, but he reminded me of the worst parts of Tidus and a quieter Snow.


Tidus : " THIS IS MY STORY "

Balthier : " Did thou bosom Fran thou thee I'm the main hero thee thou " ?

Snow : " I'M THE TRUUUUUE OF THIS GAME, I'M THE LEADER, I'M THE HEEEEEERO, HONESTLY, HEEERO IS ME. IS ANYBODY LISTENING ?????

Cyan from FFVI

He looks cool and his intro was great with the poisoning of Doma. You really felt for him with the death of his family. I'm just finding him really annoying with his whole Shakesperian-style language. It is getting on my tits. Stop it.

How darest thou

The thing that killed Cyan for me is he was slow in battle. His SwdTec took forever to get off something good, and even when you give him haste he is still starting behind players like Sabin and Locke. with such a large cast he is very easily left behind for good reason.

I agree with Cyan I liked the character and he had a cool piece of music when he was on the scene. Waiting for his sword techs was like reading a novel ha.

Wakka for for me I really liked him in the beginning but his constant bickering about how the al bhed where evil and he continues this almost throughout almost the entire game. Yes we know you don't like them you don't have to say it ten times every single scene ha.

Hope. I almost liked him because of him being great in battle. But I dislike pretty much everything else about him.
until xiii-2 but thats not the same guy. Just an imposter.

amarant because he is cool and has good abilities. Buut... he doesnt really do much. I mean cmon quina does more than him like.... licking a stone and.... teleport into the invincible and say "hoho I have arrived"

I'm actually really struggling with this. I tend to slot everyone into "like, dislike, or am okay with" with little grey area between. I suppose Wakka on occasion would fit the bill...

Yuna. I wanted to like her but I just couldn't. :ohdear:

Basch from XII. Given that I absolutely love Gabranth, you'd think I'd like Basch. But the thing is, he is relevant for such a minute amount of the game, that I just couldn't care about him. He could have been a great character but for 90% of XII, he just exists with nothing interesting to say or do. You could easily cut him from the entire game, honestly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rikku_Yuffie_girl

Yuna. I wanted to like her but I just couldn't. :ohdear:

---

Same. She's pretty. She's the heroine. But she has the personality of a door mat.