To me it's Rufus Shinra who really makes the game special as it means the game is not just good vs evil. Sephiroth wants to destroy the world, Cloud wants to save it, Rufus wants to rule it. Therefore while they try and stop Cloud and co in their attempts to save the planet, they sure as hell don't want to see it destroyed either.

Then you have the Turks who will do whatever they are told to do..... unless they are on holiday.

I actually don't like Red that much to be honest. He's a good character, but isn't really linked to the plot that much. Yuffie isn't either but she has bundles of character. As for Vincent, making him a secret character was a mistake imo. His backstory is fascinating as is his links with Hojo and Sephiroth. But due to the fact he was a secret character his story never really got finished the way it should have- mainly with him killing Hojo with the limit breaks he got thanks to Hojo's experiments.

Speaking of Hojo, what a character? In my opinion that guy is the true villain of the game as unlike Sephiroth who was born different and turned evil Hojo was born normal human being that chose to be evil. He is also the centerpiece of the game as he has links to all the main characters- Cloud, Sephiroth, Aeris, Vincent, Red etc and ties them all together.


Tifa & Aeris were great heroines too and while Cid's story wasn't the greatest he was a fun guy. Throw in a desperate pimp, a gay bodybuilder and Dyne- the deepest 5 minute character I can ever recall and you can see that VII's cast is awesome.


Cait Sith still sucks as a character however.