Rank the FF7 Characters!

[Rodney]

This is the sixth of my series of threads and polls, asking all of you for your personal rankings of the characters from each FF game in the numbered games. You can base them on personality, usefulness in gameplay, relevance to the story, general enjoyment of each character, or even frivolous things such as their character themes. Whatever you want to base them on. Also included is a poll on which you can vote for your absolute favorite from each game.

This is my sixth one. It's for FF7! At last, we're back to the games where character development was stronger. But this is another game where, at least for me, personality was the only determining factor. Well . . . that and story arcs, though that was only a secondary factor.

And can we please have some actual rankings here?! Don't wanna go into full-on rankings? Then please don't post, or you'll drive me crazy!

So here are my rankings:

1. Yuffie: Yes, okay? Yes. She's at the top. So all of you hate her. What-smurfing-ever. Main benefit being the requisite PYG character. But I also just love her. She's selfish a lot of the time, but for me, in a funny, entertaining way. I actually like that she has contrasting opinions from the party. (Remember Barret spilling his guts about what happened to Corel? While I appreciated Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, and Red XIII all feeling bad for him, I kinda liked that she was the sole discerning voice who didn't feel bad for him.) I liked that she was seemingly the only one really close to Red XIII (they talk together when Cloud's the one unceremoniously sent to follow Priscilla, and she kind of jokingly says she makes fun of him to blow off steam). I loved that even with her selfishness, she had selfless moments, like wanting to kick Cid's ass over how he treated Shera. And while I know it should annoy me, I like her having Materia on her mind almost all the time! Even her subplot in Wutai and her Pagoda climb, while not having a lot to do with the story, is interesting to me. In fact, it's one of the parts of the game I most look forward to. Oh, and not to mention her "nyuk-nyuk-nyuk" laugh. She can even be vulnerable at times, like when she tells all about Wutai's fall and her drive to get it back on track, and how she hugs Cloud while crying after Sephiroth kills Aeris. If there's anything about her I have to complain about, though, it's the complete random way of having to wait to find her in order to recruit her. And her motion sickness, because . . . what? Oh, and how sometimes, if she's in your party, her tendency to say things only vaguely relevant to what's going on. But other than that, I dig Yuffie. All right. I said it. I. LOVE. YUFFIE.

2. Red XIII: Numbers two and three were both really close for me, but I went with the talking dog. FF7 was actually my first FF game, so seeing a nonhuman playable character was still new to me. And ten years later, that novelty still hasn't worn off. I liked that he was a sea of quiet amongst the louder, more-able-to-freak-out characters. Hell, I just liked that he was a smurfing dog who could talk! And kept to himself around everyone but Yuffie. (Or Cloud, Tifa, or Cid, when you have them talk to him.) Basically, I dug him the second-most, so he's up here in the second spot.

3. Barret: Like I said, two and three were very, very close. But Red XIII's quietness and calmness pushed him above Barret's loudness and recklessness. Not that he's not a cool character, too. He is. Not to mention very interesting. And at the time, I was only marginally into RPGs, and seeing one of the first black characters in one of them gave me endless delight. It was fantastic seeing my peeps finally represented. Also, I was drawn in by Barret's temper, his freakouts, and even, surprisingly, his bond with Marlene. His character arc that revealed his past and showed his gradual realization that he was no leader was also fascinating. My one gripe? Glad to see one of my peeps in an RPG, but perhaps he acted way too much like . . . one of my peeps. :P

4. Vincent: Four and five were another close match. But Mr. Valentine wins out. I liked how quiet and mysterious he was. I liked that he was one of those characters of whose past we only saw snippets rather than a full-on reveal. It invited just enough interest from me that I wanted to see more of it. (Though after sitting through my brother playing Dirge of Cerberus, I now regret having that interest.) And I enjoyed seeing his bi or bi-curious moment with Cid. (Come on. You just know you had fun with his suggestion to Cid in the Ghost Hotel that they go back to their rooms. My brother and I sure did!;D) Him not being a required character, yet still having some plot relation in spite of that, also intrigued me. In fact, even in your party, he'd say things more relevant to what was going on than even Yuffie would. Still, he wasn't more interesting or (to me) likable than the top three, so he's number four.

5. Aeris: She just got edged out by Vincent for one reason: she died. I quite liked and enjoyed Aeris and really wanted to see more of her, and even now, I hate that she didn't get past disc one. If nothing else, they should've let her get at least a little bit into disc two before killing her off. That said, she found ways to be bubbly without being annoying, and I actually liked how she was able to have empathy and compassion toward pretty much anyone she met. I even liked how she befriended Tifa so easily despite her being clear competition for Cloud. Don't see that every day. I liked her attempts to be brave and a heroine, even though they fell flat most of the time and ended with her either in danger of being kidnapped (the chase in the church), actually kidnapped (after Sector 7 got destroyed), or buried in a pond (end of disc one ). Yes, all of those made Aeris one of my favorites, as well as the last of my "absolutely love" characters.

6. Tifa: Here's where we start my "like very much, but no huge love" characters. I'll flat-out say that while she starts out so strong as a strong, kick-ass woman, she kinda loses steam for me when she basically loses herself in Cloud. Her friendship with Aeris was very nice to see, as it was refreshing not to see two women go at it over a man they both clearly liked. But it was a shame to see a woman who was strong on the surface reveal herself to just be a damsel in distress dreaming of actually being saved by a man. It says something when Aeris and even Yuffie were stronger in strength and character than she was. At least they only had to be saved. Tifa wanted to be. Eesh.

7. Cid: Cid would be one of my "love" characters if not for . . . well . . . the fact that there wasn't much to his character except for his love of science and his dreams of going into space. Oh, but there was his temper, I guess. And his swearing. And his smoking after winning a battle. And his order to Cloud to "drink [his] Goddamn TEA!" But . . . that's about it. Well, he was a decent leader during his time in control of the party, but . . . whatever. He was one of my brother's favorites, though. So there's that.

8. Cait Sith: I both am and am not surprised to be putting him this low. When I played, I loved his energy and playfulness, and his fortunetelling machine dances. And his slouching whenever he found out something sad. But then, I remember it was only the cat and moogle. The meat of his character was Reeve, who was controlling him. And let's face it -- other than his arc of coming to see how different the party's motivations were from the Shinra's, who cares about Reeve? (Well, Bob obviously does.) Plus, I rarely even used him due to his Slots Limit. If Cait Sith had been his own character, I'd have more than likely placed him higher. Still, it's not like I don't like him. I do. In fact, all of the top eight I like or love. There's only one character I truly do abhor, and that's . . .

9. Cloud: . . . this guy. I'll start with the good. I liked his early characterization, when he was actually funny, sarcastic, and a bit more upbeat. And he has probably one of the most complex, explored backgrounds, as well as one of the best character arcs in FF history, and is probably one of the strongest fighters in any party, ever. He was my savior, for sure, in all of the hardest fights, including the final one with Sephiroth. Even the rivalry with Sephiroth was one of the best-written. And I felt for him when he clearly blamed himself for Aeris's death. But . . . I still just plain hate the guy. His last name is really fitting, because it seems like that's all his character was really, truly about: strife. After Sephiroth entered the picture, he was all about him, all the time. And his formerly upbeat self got more and more downtrodden and brooding until I was so annoyed with him and just wanted him to shut up and get out of my party and off my screen. For good. But sadly, they wouldn't. And even worse, they totally forgot all about his more upbeat qualities and just carried over his brooding, borderline-emo personality into his subsequent appearances. And soon, that came to be all there was to know about Cloud. Hated that. And hated him. Still do. Oh, and he possesses one other quality in a hero I don't wanna see: the tendency to get into someone's business even after either being expressly told not to be, or just the situation generally not having anything to do with him. (See: getting into Barret's with Dyne and Red XIII's with Seto.) Actually, that particular quality (admittedly along with his other ones) has him fighting it out with Eternal Sonata's Allegretto for my least favorite RPG character ever. Probably even least favorite video game character ever. I know a lot of you out there think he's all that, but I will forever believe that he's not. So he's last.

But these are just my rankings. How about everyone else's?

[Wolf Kanno]

Well, this will be easier than some of the rankings, but not by much since I don't really love this cast very much. So if you don't like listening to someone bad mouth VII, you may want to skip my post. You've been warned.

1 - Cid Highwind is easily my favorite in the cast because he's foul mouthed, a pseudo-Dragoon, has some great lines, and is the parties only realist who was never afraid to call Cloud and the rest of the party out on their stupidity. He's a pretty good party members, has an awesome theme song, and I liked his backstory, hell I appreciate that he's one of the very few cast members who isn't dropped from the story when you go into Disc 2 *cough* Barrett and Red XIII *cough*.

2. Aerith, yes, I actually do like Rosa type characters every once in awhile. Despite having a quite a bit of a crummy childhood and being the last of a race of magic people who can hear voices, she's pretty damn chipper about it, unlike the rest of the cast that kind of angst a bit too much about their problems. Which is why I don't appreciate Crisis Core trying to recast her as Terra Branford. I appreciate the breath of fresh air she brings in party dynamics, including as a battle party member. I also liked her part of the love triangle. I know it's TifaXCloud but that pairing is just too safe and I feel the awkward relationship between Cloud and Aerith was always more interesting since they are pulled together thanks to a dead man's resemblance. Her death scene was also quite touching and I like her theme, since it partly samples Aria di Mezzo Carattere in the opening.

3. Barret, yes, despite all the flak I give him I do actually like him. He's the party's original foul mouthed hot head, but I feel he loses a lot of his thunder once Cid arrives and takes that role from him. I like his backstory and his moment with Dyne was well done, but I always felt sad the writers dropped the ball by not really doing anything with him an Coral when you have to save it, bringing Barret along only gets one new line, so that was a bit sad. I also didn't care how they wave handed the whole "well we we're terrorist but that was bad". There was a lot more that could have been done for the man but the writers just stopped caring after the Gold Saucer.

4. Cait Sith, in an act of defiance to most fans taste, I honestly don't mind him. He's an oddball in a "very serious cast" which is partly why I like him but I also liked that he was tied to Reeve which is what made him more interesting. He was also the last one to think as a traitor since he was just too goofy to take serious. His design is based off a summon from FFVI and he uses a moogle doll as a weapon, which is pretty badass in my book. I also just like how much he pisses off fanboys, which is probably my Freudian excuse for liking him.

5. Red XIII, was a pretty awesome novel character and he was a visually impressive feat at the time. He's got a nice, if a bit predictable backstory and he's not so bad in battle. Sadly, like FFVI's Mog and Umaro, I feel he doesn't have much reason to be in the story other than to be a token non-human character. Though it's sad no FF ever went as far Red XIII's design. He's not bad or anything but he doesn't have much of an interesting personality and his story is resolved rather early in Disc 1.

6. Cloud - I really want to like Cloud, and I actually did really like him in the beginning at Midgard, when he's a cocky selfish mercenary, but after meeting Aerith and getting Sephiroth involved, I always felt like Cloud just became another Cecil, trying to fight the good fight for the sake of the world. His mind trips were interesting but I can't help that the set-up has some annoying holes in it. I understand Cloud is suppose to be a deconstruction of the main hero archetype from previous games, but I kind of didn't appreciate taking a perfectly roguish character in the beginning and eventually turning him into a whiny indecisive nobody who just happens to be able to go toe to toe with the world's greatest evil. Cloud's progression in the plot is more of a regression, and while I can respect the serious balls it took to write this type of character, I personally just didn't care for it. It hasn't helped that fanboys have somehow elevated Cloud into some weird parody of himself where apparently the time he's acting like Zack in the beginning is how he really is, when the Compilation version of Cloud isn't a terrible stretch from the Cloud you meet post-Lifestream mindsmurf.

7. Vincent - I like his concept and after my first intial playthrough, he was my favorite character but subsequent playthroughs have not been kind to him, and I kind of realized that his angst is his own damn problem because his flashback pretty much shows that Lucretia chose her career over him, so I don't understand why he's blaming himself for her mistake. He honestly has nothing to feel guilty about because he tried to save her and got screwed over in the process so I don't see why he's still blubbering on about her. I still like his design and Limit Breaks but I can't help but cringe now, when I see his backstory.

8. Tifa - I don't really like Tifa, she's kind of kick ass in the beginning when you meet her, as the OP mentions, she quickly turns into someone who needs Cloud to do everything to help her. I also blame her for some of the problems I have with Cloud, her keeping quiet is never really rationalized for the player, and I feel it's not for the sake of keeping the player guessing so they can WHAM you with the twist. Her relationship with Cloud is also a bit awkward after you see the flashback and realize that Tifa and Cloud were not close at all, so it kind of makes there whole "we're childhood friends/sweethearts" feel very shallow. She's just kind of a walking plot hole in the game, on the bright side, she's a pretty good party member.

9. The smurfing whore - you know who I mean, the selfish, unfunny, weaselly bitch who is more trouble than she's worth and is a total pain in the ass from beginning to end. What bugs me the most is after all the crap she pulls, she's never properly punished, she just gets away and pulls a teary eyed "I'm sorry" and the party just forgives her and takes the smurfing parasite back. I wish they just left her to Don Corneo. smurf her.

[Raistlin]

1. Cid Highwind. For all the reasons WK said. Plus, have you ever seen him run?

2. Vincent. Hey, I liked his back story. He has a cool concept and design (even though I dislike his limit breaks, and often don't use him for that reason). I don't understand WK's point about him having no reason to feel guilty; even if true, most people would feel terrible anyway under similarly traumatic circumstances. Yeah, there's plenty of angst, but you don't have to listen to it for the entire game, so it's not that big of a negative.

3. Barrett. Racial stereotype, sure. But notwithstanding that issue, he's a good character. He's the badmouthed badass leader to start and is not afraid to call Cloud out, and gradually changes to embrace Cloud's leadership (god knows why). He also has his own very moving side story.

4. Cait Sith. I never used him in battle, but I love the character and concept. I think it could have been developed more, but the writers could have developed pretty much everything a lot more. Reeve is hysterical, and I love the over-the-top "death scene" at the Temple of the Ancients.

5. Tifa. I admit my judgment could be clouded after not having played this game in years, but I liked Tifa. She was a badass with a shy and tender heart. Yeah, I was mildly frustrated she didn't just go for it with Cloud, and yeah, her keeping the truth from Cloud has very dubious logic behind it. But I felt she was real.

6. Yuffie. I know WK may kill me for this, but I actually liked Yuffie. Young, immature, brash, and a nice change of pace. I think I'm the only person in the universe who actually liked the Wutai sidequest.

7. Red XIII. An interesting character with an interest, though minor back story. Nothing fantastic, but not horrible.

8. Cloud. Like WK, I wanted to like Cloud. I really did. He started out interesting but then did a quick 180 into typical hero territory. The mind tripping had an impact on his memories, but didn't seem to do much to his character, which pretty much stayed the same after leaving Midgar. I think his story and development could have been handled a lot better, but what else is new for this game. It's not that I think Cloud is bad, but he definitely has the most missed potential.

9. Aerith. Stupid bitch.

[Rodney]

What bugs me the most is after all the crap she pulls, she's never properly punished, she just gets away and pulls a teary eyed "I'm sorry" and the party just forgives her and takes the smurfing parasite back. I wish they just left her to Don Corneo. smurf her.

It's probably because while the rest of the party is aware that what she did in Wutai was wrong, they knew she'd done it for a good reason. Or at least an understandable one.

[Wolf Kanno]

Except Yuffie is the only person pissed off bout Wutai's current state, so smurf her "good intentions" the bitch still conspired to steal from you and only went all weepy "oh I'm sorry" because the little wench got caught. Had Don Corneo and the Turks not shown up, she would have disappeared into the hills and probably be back in the woods by Cosmo Canyon stealing from people. Besides her whole plan is stupid.

[Jiro]

Cid - what a baddass! hes all swearing and tit, tells everybody to sit down and shut up. so cool, and he has all those planes and tit. i love that hes a astronaut and tit too, the guy does it all and is just cool all the time. loved when we got to control him instead of cloud.

Barret - like cid too hes swearing and tit and being just cool all the time. like when he went into that desert and had to fight his buddy dyne. poor guy was so sad but then he just got back up and kept fighting shinra

Tifa- tifas hot man. love advent children cause shes all real looking. she even sounds cute you know. i would love to date her or something.

Red XIII - cant go wrong with a talking dog. his grandpa is all weird and sagey but hes still cool. i like when you go to cosmo canyon for the first time in like a second play and you call him 'nanaki' and clouds all 'who is nanaki??'

Cloud - hes kind of wimpy and crazy but he has bitches and a bigass sword which is pretty smurfing cool. but he's just not as cool as barret and cid

Aeris - she dies. what a waste. i liked aeris but dead girls suck

Cait Sith - what does he even do. what a stupid little toy. not even good at fortune telling anyway

Vincent- stupid sparkly vampire idiot. he has cool guns but hes too stupid

Yuffie - ninjas are meant to be cool and badass not stupid whiny brats who stael all my goddam stuff

[Sephira]

Yuffie's definitely number 1 because she's such a poorly written character that it amuses me when she gets an opinion into a conversation. She's a bitch to basically everyone in the game, but it's a nice change from characters who are nice all the time. I like characters who are borderline-traitorous and evil, so it's even cooler that her limit breaks are epic. Not to mention she's kinda hot, just saying.

[ryanraze]

I'll add my rankings on Monday, but I"m almost shocked at the general dislike for some of the characters; especially when many consider this to be one of the best ff games (not me at all, I think it's incredibly over-rated).

RR

[Arizona Lively]

I'M TIFA!

[James_Cub]

My ranking is as follows:
1- Cloud- he has a huge buster sword and has those foggy eyes, plus he's hair do is the coolest
2- Aeris- i hated that she had to die as she had one of the best limit breaks and really fit into the archetype of white mage with rod and everything
3- Tifa- a lady with punches, gotta love that. its usually a man role and she does with flair and huge boobs
4- Barret- he curses a lot and has a gun instead of a hand, what's not to love?
5- Yuffie- the perky girl who is an actual ninja? some perky girls have a ninja like personality or skill set, but she is an actual ninja
6- Cid- he also curses a lot and keeps that cigarette in his mouth even while fighting, but the way he treated his assistant was just way too much for him to rank higher
7- Red- a tiger who can talk and can deal damage with a hair clip, how cool is that? Not cool enough to rank any higher
8/9- Cait Sith and Vincent- i couldn't really identify with either of them. They're both cool in their own way, firstly a cat who rides an oversized pompomless moogle and strikes with a microphone and then a vampire who strikes with a gun and turns into monsters. Now that I think about it, Vincent is actually quite cool because he's a vampire, but unlike classic vampires who wield a rapier, or a spear or a medieval weapon of some sort, he actually uses a gun. So he could maybe be a 20th century vampire (For the record, I know he's not an actual vampire, but some people describe him as such since he came out of a coffin and all and I usually go with that anology).

Edit: I moved Cid and Yuffie up a rank and Red down two ranks. I did this ranking before I actually completed the game so I was missing some important back information. The reason why I decided to do this was because I realized that Cid was mistaken and had it in him to forgive Shera, so that made him more worthy of my consideration. The reason why Red went down is because although he is very cool with his flaming tail and all, he is ultimately forgettable. Yuffie basically went up as a standard chain of events, no catharsis there

[Formalhaut]

I'll expand on them later, but for now:

1) Red XIII
2) Vincent
3) Aerith
4) Barret
5) Cid
6) Cloud
7) Tifa
8) Cait Sith

[Heath]

1) Cid Highwind

I barely think I need to explain this choice. He's a great all-round character in battle and I like the fact he uses spears, which are pretty cool weapons. Most of all, I like the fact that he's not afraid to be a voice of reason. He's not afraid to say that a plan is stupid, or that he knows better, is great. I also like the fact that under his gruff exterior, he obviously does care. He's got his dreams, which he's never given up on.

2) Barrett

Shi't. Barrett is a great character. I don't like the fact that he's basically a secondary character after disc one, but I like him. I didn't used to. He's passionate, he's rough around the edges, but he has his sensitive side. Rather similar to why I like Cid, I think. He also has his rather amusing moments too - his sailor outfit (which I can't see without thinking of DK), and his attempts to be leader of the party, etc.

3) Tifa

I've only just started to warm to Tifa. I've started a new playthrough of FFVII this weekend and I've started to appreciate Tifa a lot more. I think her emotional backstory, and how she continues to hold a candle for Cloud, is really rather touching. I don't think she's just a damsel-in-distress type because I think she functions as Cloud's rock for much of the game. She's compassionate and I think takes a hell of an emotional beating throughout FFVII and the preceding five years and you've got to respect that.

4) Yuffie

I actually rather like Yuffie. She's got a comedic element to her, she's handy in battle and I really like the rather sweet scene if you take her on the Gondola at Gold Saucer. The Wutai side quest is annoying, but I like the fact that it forces you to go without materia, which actually makes it rather challenging. Plus she's rather easy on the eyes.

5) Cait Sith

I like how ridiculous you look in battle using him, and I have used him in my main party on a couple of playthroughs. Slots are annoying as hell, but I quite like Dice as a limit break. One of the better elements to his character is his demonstration that Shinra isn't a monolithic evil organisation. There are good people in it, like Reeve, who do want to work to help the planet and help people.

6) Cloud

I find Cloud a bit much-of-a-muchness. I think I've never really found his backstory appealing, and I've always found him to be slightly bland as a main character. Great in battle, but he's never really jumped out to me.

7) Red XIII

I'd probably lump Red XIII in the same category as Quistis and Freya as characters I rather like but are just rather sadly neglected beyond a certain point. A novelty, and I quite liked the Cosmo Canyon stop-off during disc one, as I felt it gave him a bit more depth. Having said that, I don't really think they made the most of him, and I never really bothered with him in battle.

8) Aeris

I always found Aeris rather annoying. I think because I like Tifa, I'm less keen on Aeris. I can see why people like her, and I can also appreciate the importance that she has to the series as a whole, but she's really just not my cup of tea. I never really liked using her in battle, and after my first playthrough I've just never bothered because I know she's not really worth the investment. I can also appreciate WK's point about how she's less safe and a slightly more awkward pairing for Cloud which makes her more interesting. However, I think I found that rather annoying, truth be told.

9) Vincent

I really liked Vincent when I was younger because he's cool, uses guns and turns into monsters. However, I found his limit breaks frustrating (the amount of times I struggled with Materia Keeper when I was younger and Chaos kept using his flare attack to heal him), and I've always felt he was kinda underutilised. I appreciate the 'mystery' element to him, but I'd rather like to have seen more of him in the game. That, and I think I preferred Keith from Shadow Hearts on the vampire front.

[Chris]

1. Tifa

Tifa is my favorite character in this game. She is kickass in the beginning, and she's a caring, but strong female lead. Sure, silence is a bit of a mystery, but I think it is handled well in the game. In battle, she is fun to use, and quite strong, too.

2. Red XIII

Love everything about him. His personality. His completely unexpected voice, and Cosmo Canyon is the bestest place in the entire game. Also, the revelation about the true nature of Seto, is masterfully done. Extremely touching.

3. Cloud

I like him. Sure, he's flawed and an atrocious stereotype, but at least he's good at being a stereotype. Strong, weak, funny, a bore, gloomy, optimistic. He's everything, and that is why everyone can relate to him in some way or the other.

4. Aeris

Cheerful and happy, are the first two words that comes to mind when I think about her. She's always helpful, and quite obviously one of the most important characters in the entire game. In battle, she's useable.

5. Barret

Hohohohoho! Sorta feel like his parents must have been Mr. T and Grace Jones.

6. Cait Sith

I like toys, so I like Cait Sith. Never quite feel like he truly becomes a part of the group, and for good reasons. I won't even get into how Reeve Tuesti controls him. It's bizarre to say the least, and quite frankly, I don't want to know.

7. Yuffie

Like many of you, I was so pissed at the world the first time I encountered this little pest. I got over it, and I've used her several of times since then. She's not bad, but I think Cait Sith puts how I feel about her, quite eloquently: "Lassie, shut your gob!"

8. Cid Highwind

I'm not really into abusing women, which is why he's so far down on my list. :/

9. Vincent

Just no. I care not what Shin-Ra did to him. Just bland.

[Laddy]

1. Red XIII
2. Aerith
3. Cloud
4. Tifa
5. Barret
6. Cid
7. Cait Sith
8. Vincent
9. Yuffie

[Mercen-X]

I'd like to think these lego pics answer the question.

http://images.fanpop.com/images/imag...09_438_440.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/tk...ff/9ff7-98.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5016/...945f988e1e.jpg
http://s.glbimg.com/po/tt/f/original...02/07/lego.jpg
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/tkh/ACG/ff/ff7-99.jpg

Also: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9...mqqvo1_500.jpg