Benchwarmers

[black orb]

>>> Nothing personal..

FF6: Relm, Strago, Umaro.
FF7: Vincent, Cait Sith.
FF8: Quistis, Selphie, Rinoa.
FF9: Garnet.
FF10: Lulu, Rikku.
FF12: Ashe.
FF13: Hope, Vanille.

[Flying Arrow]

VI: I generally have used most characters since the game requires me to use 12 to complete Kefka's Tower. That said, I rarely take Umaro along. Gogo gets some use and sometimes Setzer (seriously who is going to fly the airship while everyone's fighting?) but not usually.

VII: I usually try to use story-relevant characters based on the section of the game. But no matter how many times I've played VII, I've never used Yuffie or Cait Sith in any meaningful way outside of when I was required to. Hell, I've never really even used Cid that much either.

VIII: I've used everyone as a 'main' party member at least once... I think. My gut tells me I've never done much with Selphie though. Don't much like Slot characters.

IX: I've never used Amarant in any meaningful way. Once I might have included Freya for a large portion of the quest, but it's possible that never happened. Quina gets some use because of Blue Magic, but acquiring it sucks. In general my runs of FFIX end up with me using the Main 4 and sometimes Eiko.

X: I use everyone cause the battle system demands it. Kimarhi is usually the outcast by the end though, except for my last playthrough when I made him into a stronger physical damage dealer than Auron.

XII: Played the game once, used everybody. Main party was always differing based on what kind of team I needed.

XIII: Same as XII, except by the end some characters are obviously more suited to a kick-ass party than others, or at least that's what I found. By the end Sazh, Vanille and Snow were on the bench.

[Heath]

VI - I never really bothered with Gau, Relm, Strago or Umaro. Gau and Umaro, because I'm not a big fan of characters I can't really control. Strago and Relm always seem to join too late. In Strago's case by that point I can't be bothered chasing up all the Blue Magic.

VII - There's not really anybody I haven't used at some point except Red XIII, though I've just started a new game and am going to use him. I never bother with Aeris because of her short lifespan.

VIII - Selphie. Her limit break just feels too unexciting to justify using her.

IX - Eiko and Amarant. The former because I prefer Garnet as a summoner/white mage. Amarant, as others have said, just joins too late.

X - I tend to use everyone because of the ease of switching.

XI - I didn't use... myself! As I never played it.

XII - I never really bothered with Penelo or Balthier, though I've only played the game once.

[Del Murder]

I don't ignore a lot of characters because I like variety and I also like keeping people's levels high.

VI - Gau and Setzer usually ride the pine in Kefka's Tower. Gau because he sucks and Setzer because I'm not a big fan of the Slot skill.
VII - Cait Sith. His limit break can get you a game over and that's dumb.
VIII - they all sucked
IX - Garnet. Eiko could do everything she did and better.
X - Kimahri. Jack of all trades doesn't work in a game where you can switch characters on the fly.
XII - Penelo and Vaan were kind of just 'there'.
XIII - Sazh, Snow, and Vanille were left out of my team down the stretch.

[Loony BoB]

XIII - Sazh, Snow, and Vanille were left out of my team down the stretch.

I couldn't do this, if only because it would mean not hearing their voices. I'd almost always have two of these three (along with Lightning) when I was doing anything new, just because I enjoyed hearing what they had to say about things more than I did with Hope/Fang.

I'm half tempted to replay XIII with Snow all the way through at some point because he has the best voice in the game, some of the best dialogue in the game and yet I hardly used him. Regret.

[Mo-Nercy]

Gau, Umaro
Cait Sith
Quistis - couldn't be bothered getting all her Blue Magic together
I used pretty much used everyone in FFIX, X, XII and XIII.

[Laddy]

VI-I rarely used Umaro, Gau, or Mog. I leveled them up to reasonable levels, but rarely used them. This is a game that is more forgiving to only using a set few characters.
VII-I used them all evenly. Sometimes I wouldn't use Cait Sith or Tifa as much, though.
VIII-Used them all. Hated them all.
IX-I liked all the characters enough to have them around the same levels.
X-Kimhari is useless Ronso.
XII-I design any games with established character specialties but open advancements (VI, VII, XII) so that all characters have a niche or area they excel at. With only six characters, it's most useful here so I had a balanced party that was evenly leveled.
XIII-I used Lightning, Sazh, and Vanille way more than I should have, considering their best paradigms, but I liked them the most.

[Jowy]

Relm is the best character. :aimcry:

FFVII - Vincent, Tifa, Cait Sith, and Nanaki. I hate their Limit Breaks.
FFVIII - Rinoa is seated in the back of the bus. Selphie stays in the back of the train after disc two.
FFIX - Never played enough to get to the point where anyone gets neglected. Amarant is pretty wiggity-whack.
FFX - Kimahri only because I inadvertently made him into a more useless Rikku.
FFXII - Anyone not named Balthier, Basch, or Penelo.

[Formalhaut]

FFXII - Anyone not named Balthier, Basch, or Penelo.

Bu-But.. his really weird running gait... that puts me off no end.

[Pete for President]

FFVI: Haven't finished it yet, but Setzer and Gau are pretty unreliable and therefore make place for some more dependable characters.

FFVII: Cait Sith. Love the character design, pretty useless in battle. Never used Cid much either.

FFIX: Quina, Amarant, Dagger. I lack the patience to learn Blue Magic, Amarant felt like a weaker Zidane and Dagger I just didn't like in general.

FFX: Played this game so much that during the storyline everyone appears at the frontline pretty evenly. Even Kimahri (TipAt first I always send him down Wakka's path. Kimahri's high MP makes him a more sustainable green mage than Wakka.). For most endgame stuff Lulu and Kimahri warm the bench, while Rikku's high agility is abused as first to switch out for Auron/Wakka. So she's sort of a benchwarmer too. Or a bait dummy. Something.

FFXII: All you ever need in this game is Ashe casting haste and berserk on Vaan, Balthier and/or Basch. No need for the Fran or Penelo.

FFXIII: Snow, Hope and Lightning. Didn't like them much and the rest does the job just fine.

[Roogle]

I used to be extremely picky about who I let into the party. I have since learned that most games use an emsemble cast and try to use everyone equally even if it ultimately ends up providing more challenge for me in the long run due to experience points being divided in a larger pool. I especially try to cycle to more unused characters if a story segment is focused upon them, yet they aren't forced into the party until a later point in that story arc.

[NinjaCoachZ]

VI: Cyan, Strago, Gau, Relm, Umaro, and Gogo, out of a combination for me not particularly caring about them as characters, and that they weren't as useful as my main team members. I mainly used Terra, Locke, Celes, Setzer, and the Figaro Bros., with the occasional Shadow (because he's cool) and Mog to ward off random encounters.
VII: Cait Sith because he's the worst character ever.
VIII: I don't think I ever once used Selphie unless I was required to (like at the missile base). As a character, I honestly have no opinion on her. I don't particularly like her, but I don't hate her either. So she fell behind.
IX: Quina and Eiko. Quina because (s)he fell behind the others whom I simply liked more, and Eiko because I just can't stand her as a character. Plus, having a second white mage/summoner? I know it was important to the plot and all, but from a gameplay perspective it was pretty redundant.
X: Kimahri. Poor guy, he's the one who tries to do everything without being particularly strong in the same way as a specialist, and in doing so fails to find his niche where he can actually be useful. As a physical attacker, he was outclassed by Auron and Wakka, and as a mage Lulu and Yuna were far better. Combine that with the fact that X freely allows characters to be switched in and out in the middle of battle, and I never found any use for him. :/