Characters You've Changed Opinion On

What characters have you changed opinion on ? You used to hate them, but now you "get them " and now you love them ? Or you loved them but now you hate them or feel like they're okay best ?

I've changed opinion on Kain Highwind. I used to feel like he was handsome, mysterious, misunderstood and "badass ", today I just feel like he's a wiener. Mr Friendzone. I don't hate him as he's still a engrossing character, but he's not "cool ", he's a butthurt loser.

I've also changed opinion on Kimahri. I just used to think that he was the bizarre furry character but now he's one of my faves. Just the way he was willing to die so Yuna could escape from Seymour's clutches is just so poignant. Also his Sphere Path Grid can be fun if you put him down the right path.


What about you ?

I used to like Vaan when I first played XII, saying he was better than Tidus. That was a load of crap. He really has little reason to be in that game, his voice-actor is noticeably worse than everyone else and overall I just wish Larsa was a real party member instead.

My second time through, I was more lenient on Lightning. Only in FFXIII, though. Can't stand her in the sequels.

Cloud has flippy flopped a couple of time with me. When I first played 7 when it was new. He was a cool and awesome guy. But Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children and was kind of bleh. But when it came out on steam and I played it again. He wasn't a cool dude or a bleh, he was a giant dork. And like Psy pointed out, he tries to be a cool dude, but dives headfirst into the whackiness. My opinion on him in everything outside of 7 hasn't changed.

I 360'd on Cloud and Aerith, liking them, hating them, and then realizing how nuanced they are.

Used to not like Yuna very much but she's cool. No longer a fan of most of VIII, Quitsis & Laguna are cool though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Laddy

I 360'd on Cloud and Aerith, liking them, hating them, and then realizing how nuanced they are.

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Hey, thank you for reminding me. Back when I originally played VII I was a total Tifa fanboy and didn't like Aeris at all. As I've gotten older, I've really come to prefer Aerith.

Quite a few actually.

FFIV

Edward - Found him to be a dope and a pussy when I was young, now I appreciate him both as a tragic figure and as a party member.

Tellah - Liked him, then kind of hated him, and now I'm back to liking him.

FFVI

Terra - I liked Celes more originally, but as time has gone on, Terra really grew on me until she became one of my favorite heroines in the franchise.

Sabin - Really liked him initially, but later playthroughs made me realize how flat he really is. I like big dumb guys and his story sequence is amusing, but it's clear to me that Shadow, Cyan, and Gau are the more interesting characters in that part.

Setzer - I liked him, but the Advanced version with the better localization turned him into one of my favorite characters in the game.

Strago - Didn't care originally, but later playthroughs and discovering all the little elements of his personal story with Gung-Ho actually made me like the old coot.

VII

Tifa - I originally liked her, largely because I've always had a soft spot for childhood romances in JRPGs but I've honestly come to really hate her, and she sort of represents a lot of what I find wrong about VII. Female Monk? Awesome, except she's more of a damsel in distress than any girl in the game and Aerith is way more of a tomboy than she is surprisingly enough. Upbeat personality? Nice, except Aerith is way better at it and as soon as she joins the party, Tifa devolves into the Eeyore of the party until Cloud assumes the position after his character development. Like Cloud, she gets attributed with a lot of characteristics that only hold true for the first few hours and then it just seems like people forget the next sixty hours when she reverts to everything everyone hates about characters like Rinoa or Garnet.

Vincent - Used to love him because I love my dark brooding heroes, until I realized that his tragic backstory really shouldn't have given him such a personality and then realized it's because he's one of those annoying people who just eats up guilt and always blames themselves for everything even when it's clear they're not at fault. Lucrecia was a bitch Vincent, you're reunion with her should have been you telling her to smurf off before you set her cave on fire and left giving her a double salute of the bird.

VIII

Zell - Didn't like him too much initially because he was trying way too hard to be the comic relief, but after a few more playthroughs, I appreciate what he does for the story and he does have some interesting character moments if you do his sidequest and bring him along for certain parts of the plot.

Selphie - Probably the only kooky genki girl I don't really mind, just because I like how her oblivious nature discourages Irvine's lecherous advances and Squall's mental commentary about her. Her creepy violent streak is also amusing.

IX

Garland - Felt he was just a boring Zemus/FuSoYa expy but have come to really appreciate him as a character in later playthroughs cause let's face it, he has way more character development than the characters he's blatantly based off of.

Steiner - While I liked him initially as a the big dumb muscle character, he's really grown on me due to his earnest nature and the fact he's an expy of Inspector Zenigata from Lupin III.

X

Tidus - Initially felt he was a whiny bitch, now I've decided he's a slightly mature whiny bitch. I like narrator Tidus more than main game Tidus, and I still feel like his relationship with his dad was hardly the tragedy he tries to make it out to be, but he's grown on me over time.

Wakka - Initially liked him despite his jerky racism and fanaticim, but then later playthroughs made me realize that we never quite get the Wakka we we're introduced back and his story never goes anywhere satisfactory. A good character who was ruined by giving him too many "hats" to wear and not bothering to go anywhere with any of it until the awful sequel.

I'll think of more later.

Im sure there's probably quite a few but nothing as prominent as me hating basically the entire main cast of FF7 as a kid.

"Bunch of tree hugging hippy terrorists! I want to play as Rufus and the Turks!"

I was holding FF7 to an impossible standard. Years later when I decided FF7 was actually a pretty solid game. I eased up up the main characters quite a lot.

I've already mentioned a few times about how I initially hated Squall for being so angsty and emo, but in retrospect he was actually quite a decent character with a lot of depth and development. On the other hand I used to like Quistis but came to realize how much of a worthless doormat she is, constantly making bad emotional decisions and pining after a guy who clearly wants nothing to do with her.

I didn't mind Vincent at first, but in retrospect he's too one-dimensional and self-pitying, even in his own spinoff game he barely receives any development.

I used to like FF9's cast but really besides the main four none of them have any depth or development, Amarant in particular was such a worthless character in both gameplay and story relevance.

At first, I didn't find Quina in FF IX that attractive until I started seriously learning enemy skills. She's got some nasty stuff!

Already touched on Tidus, Balthier and Aerith on another thread. I'll also say I also agree with maybee on Kain. I used to think he was awesome, but he's a total punk. Same with Vincent.

Barret: I used to be indifferent to him because he seemed like another "angry black man" archetype, but honestly he has my favorite backstory of the entire cast. That scene between him and Dyne is really raw, and his anger towards Shin-Ra feels earned.

Sephiroth: Like a lot of people, I used to think he was the bee's knees. Whenever I think of him now though, I think about how cooler it would actually be if he WAS a Cetra, because as it stands, he just seems like a byproduct of infinitely more interesting villains (like the Tyrant from Resident Evil or something), which leads me to...

Rufus Shinra and the Turks: Reno and Rude aside, I would've liked to see these guys a lot more often. Tseng's in there for a pitiful amount and Rufus fares only slightly better. Elena's fun as hell. I never thought much of them when I was a kid, because they had so little presence in the story.

Didn't mean for most of these to be FFVII characters, I think it's because I revisited it for the first time in YEARS, unlike the games I've played fairly regularly or barely ever.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Steiner - While I liked him initially as a the big dumb muscle character, he's really grown on me due to his earnest nature and the fact he's an expy of Inspector Zenigata from Lupin III

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OH SNAP, THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NO WONDER I LOVE HIM