Benchwarmers

[Yar]

Which characters do you typically ignore through the game?

For me, in Final Fantasy VI, it's quite easy to just ignore Gau and never use him if I don't need to. I don't care much for his rage techniques. And his Mowgli syndrome irritates me.

VII - Although I've really only played this game twice, I still don't think this game gives you much reason to use all of your characters. Through my last playthrough I used Cloud, Yuffie and Vincent all the way until the end. Other than that, I almost never find Barret, Tifa, Red XIII or Cat Sith. I find them all to be annoying. I like Vincent because he's quiet. But I don't like this game much so I haven't really experimented with the characters anyway.

VIII - When I first played this game, I used only Squall, Zell and Rinoa, but over the years I've grow to love all the characters and I've learned how to be able to use them all pretty evenly.

IX - I try to use all the characters pretty evenly, but Amarant just comes into the game far too late. I could grind to make him more useful, but I don't like enough to even care.

X - Using everyone in the game wasn't very hard, especially because you can switch members in battle and your experience isn't divided by how many characters participated. I like this game.

XII - Pretty much the same as X. I don't care for Penelo but she isn't hard to use in battle.

[VeloZer0]

FF6 - Gau, Mog, Cyan, Umaro, Relm, Strago. I used Gau for a little bit when I found out how powerful he is if you know how to use him, but then stopped because that still didn't make him fun.

FF7 - Cait Sith, Vincent, Barret, Tifa

FF9 - Vivi, Steiner, Garnet, Quina

FF10 - I rotate everyone in for experience, though I can't think of a single time I found Khimari useful.

FF12 - Fran, Pennello.

[Mirage]

I tend to not use any character that I can't control manually, at least in the games where manual control over your party is the norm. That would mean Gau and Umaro in FF6. They sometimes get to take part in some of the dungeons where I need three parties.

Other typical bench warmers for me are Nanaki, Cid Highwind, Cait Sith, Selphie, Amarant, Quina, Khimari, Wakka.

[Laddy]

FF6-Mog, Gau, Umaro, Gogo
FF7-Vincent
FF10-Kihmahri
FF13-Fang

[Wolf Kanno]

FFVI - Gogo and Umaro are usually the main benchwarmers, I use Gau a bit in the WoB but I do tend to ignore him for most of the WoR until he gets his prize monster A.I. I actually enjoy using Umaro and he's a kick to watch in battle but he's not as good as other party members. Gogo is also just mainly a second tier version of other characters and can't be developed so he gets ignored as well.

FFVII - Since Materia is your party I can honestly say most of the cast is the benchwarmer unless the game forces them into my party. I mainly use Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Vincent. Which is funny cause if you saw my rank VII cast, you'll know I don't care for three of these people but Tifa and Vincent's Limit Breaks are at least unique and fun to use whereas the rest of the cast is mainly select command and watch everything die, so I appreciate the attempt at making battles more interesting.

FFVIII - Selphie and Quistis, largely because their Limits are subpar compared to the rest of the casts or can be recreated with the junction system so it's not all that useful.

FFIX - Dagger, Eiko, and Amarant. Amarant just comes too late in the game and he's just not the hard hitter I want him to be. Dagger is a subpar White Mage and only gets her useful Summons late in the game when the rest of my party is getting game breaking skills and weapons, so she pretty much loses her niche entirely. Eiko is a good white mage and an interesting summoner but characters like Quina and the game's customization system makes many of her summons obsolete, and while she's a great white mage, the game doesn't require a dedicated one like say FFIV does.

FFX - Kimarhi, Yuna, and Auron. Kimarhi is much like Gogo, he can never be more than a second tier version of another character in your party. Yuna is here cause she's an awful white mage and Rikku with her Al Bhed Potions is far more useful. Her Aeons are powerful but the game never throws anything at you that really requires them so unless you like playing the game on easy mode she's not a viable option IMHO. Auron is kind of a lie, I actually do use him all the time but it's because I like him, not because he's actually useful because his only strength is not unique to him, once you can get the Pierce skill onto Wakka's weapons, Auron only has one Overdrive that makes him worthwhile and even then it's only useful for boss fights.

FFXIII - Sahz, he's my favorite character but he doesn't have a strong niche in your party once you actually get your whole party.

[Jiro]

FFVIII - Selphie and Quistis, largely because their Limits are subpar compared to the rest of the casts or can be recreated with the junction system so it's not all that useful.

Going to disagree with you on Quistis. Her limits are ferocious and lose very little lustre as the game goes on. Of course you can break the game so that physical attacks are all you need, but being able to multitarget enemies with her limits is great. Degenerator is bulltrout useful against tough enemies.

[Shiny]

FF6 - Umaro, Sabin, Gogo, and Relm

FF7 - Cait Sith and Tifa

FF8 - Selphie and Zell (I don't really like characters that do just punch attacks as you can see)

FF9 - Garnet and Amarant

FF10 - Lulu, Rikku, and Kimarhi mostly because I was annoyed that I couldnt get his ultimate weapon because that cheating ass butterfly mini game.

FF12 - I don't even remember anything before or beyond this point.

[Futan]

Unlike Shiny, I have a hard on for Monk-ish characters so they were usually in my main 3/4. :x

FFVI - Relm, Umaro, Gogo, Strago
FFVII - Cait Sith, Yuffie, Red XIII
FFVIII - Quistis, Selphie
FFIX - Quina, Eiko
FFX - None really. I guess I use Lulu the least though.
FFXII - Penelo, Fran
FFXIII - Didn't play enough of it.

I apparently am not a fan of Blue Mages though.

[Wolf Kanno]

Going to disagree with you on Quistis. Her limits are ferocious and lose very little lustre as the game goes on. Of course you can break the game so that physical attacks are all you need, but being able to multitarget enemies with her limits is great. Degenerator is bulltrout useful against tough enemies.

Well you don't need group hitting spells cause you have GFs for that, and as you yourself pointed out, a Physical based party (which is the only type of party really in this game since magic is crappy in this entry) pretty much can deal with anything the game throws at you.

Granted, if you know how to manipulate the Crisis Level, I can understand why Quistis gets love since her Blue Magic is completely dependent on it instead of her stats, but you'll need to get to Crisis Level 3 or 4 (out of 4) to see real worthwhile results and before Aura becomes available, that is not something most people are willing do cause of the risk factor. By end game her skills are mostly useless and she only has one move that can damage break and it's a Guide Dang It to obtain. Even then with a party where everyone has multi-hit boss killing Limit Breaks, she's just kind of outclassed.

[Araciel]

Yeah anyone that does random trout.

EDIT- when I was younger, I usually put the 'main' male character surrounded by chicks.

[Yar]

Just going to say WK, I clicked that link and I've been on that site clicking more links for a while now xD

[Mirage]

Yeah anyone that does random trout.

EDIT- when I was younger, I usually put the 'main' male character surrounded by chicks.

I still do.

[Loony BoB]

VI: Terra, Cyan, Setzer, Shadow, Relm, Strago, Mog, Gogo. Obviously I used them all a fair bit, but if I had a full allowance and only one party to create then it was generally made up from the rest.
VII: Barret, Cid, Yuffie, Aeris, Vincent, Cait Sith. Basically I always used Cloud/Tifa/Red where possible.
VIII: Irvine, Quistis, Selphie. They all got their turns, but not nearly as much as my preferred three.
XII: Penelo was my least used, but the others all got a lot of gametime. My preferred starting trio were - if I recall correctly - Ashe, Basche and either Vaan or Fran depending on the circumstances.
XIII: Fang, Hope and Snow earlier in the game, although I used Fang a lot near the end and Hope had his uses.

VII was definitely the game in which I rarely used 'subs', though. All the other games either have easy switching mid-battle, few characters to pick from or forced use of multiple parties - or a mix of the lot!

[Formalhaut]

VII- I'm not exactly sure why, but I always rotated my party around, depending on what part of the story it is. Whenever Corel is part of the storyline, I always make sure to include Barret, just because it seems to be the most logical character. Or when it's near the end of Disc One; Aerith is always in my party because she's gone soon. It's self-imposed storyline parties, basically. Whenever there's no need for story (side-quests etc.) it's always been Cloud, Yuffie and Cid. I never really used Cait Sith. I get that he's an avid magic user, but I found his limit hard to use and potentially fatal.

VIII- Well, I never really used Zell often. I don't know if it's his one-sided personality or his "street fighter" style limit, but I don't know. I never really used him. The same can be said for Irvine, I found his many different shots could have been replicated by other means.

X- Finally, we can change out our main characters! I used Rikku, Wakka and Tidus normally. During main-game, I of course made certain to swap characters out for SP, but after Yunalesca my characters were split up. My bench-warmers consistently were made of Lulu (Magic can be used by others), Kimahri (Because smurf you, Kimahri) and Auron (Power superseded by Wakka eventually). Yuna is interchangeable, The sisters trio did help out lots at first, but eventually even they lost favour.

XII- Anyone remember Team BAP? Yeah, I always used Balthier, Ashe and Penelo. The bad thing with this game is that the characters aren't unique in anyway. Their a blank canvas. Because of that, it's just pure visual reasons. I didn't like Vaan's abs, and I didn't like Basch's robot walk and scruffy hair. I did like Fran, so she did sometimes make a guest appearance.

XII:RW- Penelo, because she's the only healer. Basch because his "shining ray" ability just obliterates everything. Ashe because I liked her "hastega" and "comet". Kytes because he has so many damn powerful abilities. Llyud because his "jump" ability can be put to good surprise attacks and he's very versatile and fast. Everyone else, sans Filo for her attribute reducing traps can just disappear. Especially Fran, she's just terrible.

XIII- Were fixed for most of the game, so no comment there. During most of the remainder, I used Lightning, Hope and Fang. It's just the most versatile team. Fang for attack, Hope for support and Lightning does both. It's amazing. I do use Snow and Vanille when their needed, but that's situational. Poor Sazh, I loved his character, but I did miss his battle skill.

[noshowmillk]

During my first playthrough with VII, I would use Aerith, but after each playthrough afterwards I find myself using her less and less. Mostly because I know I'm just going to end up losing her and all the time I spent leveling her up.