I always disagreed with people about the characters in XIII. To me, there a few things that make characters come alive (personality, history, etc.), but in XIII's case it was the interaction. The dynamic between the characters was just really, really powerful and moving to me. They were the first characters in the history of the game to make decisions based on their feelings toward the others. Instead of all moving on together, they split up on several occasions when their own personal goals demanded they do so. Hell, that angsty teen wanted to kill Snowe--I'm pretty sure nothing like that has ever happened before, at least within the context of the series. And almost everyone else had a reason to hate--or at least strongly dislike--one of the others, too. Yeah, they were token trade-offs of past characters, but the dynamic between them all was one of the most special in the series. I guess I was one of the few people who really liked it. lol