I'm Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca!

[The Space Pope]

Basch was just too cliche, it would've been less interesting to have him as the protagonist although the game would have a completely different feel to it if he was, I think.

Basch was a bit cliche but no more than 90% of FF characters.

I really would've liked to see more of what happened through his POV, like expanding on what it was like for him in the prison, and seeing the parts in between the beginning of the game to the "two years later" thing, and possibly seeing other underused parts of the game such as Nabudis. On a quick sidenote, that probably would've meant Reddas getting more screentime rather than him just kind of...appearing like he did.

Vaan and by extention Penelo were nothing but fanservice to Squeenix's target audience. For whatever reason the Japanese really seem to like young, androgynus boys and inappropriately cheerful Mary Sue characters, which didn't ruin the game for me, but kind of cheapened it. This was the first FF in awhile where I was actually interested in the story, and somehow with Vaan taking the lead it felt a bit chopped up and dumbed down.

Then again, Balthier probably wouldn't have been nearly as relevant if it wasn't for Vaan's presense, but it's all just speculation anyhow.