Did you like Steiner?

[Skyblade]

Well I think he's funny! Meanies!

It's not that he's not funny, but rather that I don't think he should be funny. His character is presented to us as a complete clown, and it makes it hard to take his story seriously.

And I still don't like the way he looks...

[Rantz]

I reserve the right to call you meanings for any criticisms you have.

[Jinx]

I like Steiner's personality, development, and story.

I hate his visual design.

This. HIS ARMOR GOES DOWN TO HIS CALVES AND HE HAS HIS ANKLES EXPOSED AND HE WEARS GUYLINER WAT.

Jiro's point always gets on my tits a little, too. The idea that we have this exceptionally powerful and skilled knight - one of the only people alive who can fight the legendary Beatrix to a stalemate - and he's all "hurdy gurdy gurdy".

Yeah, the idea to portray him as a Swede was a bizarre one, agreed.

[Rostum]

I love Steiner! One of my favourite characters in the game and possibly the series.

[Spooniest]

No. I thought he was a fool.

You see, rather than be put off by the bumbling (I was too young to know better), or the fact that the gameplay doesn't necessarily match the story (I was too young to know better), I didn't like it that he couldn't see the blatantly obvious: that Queen Brahne was becoming murderous and dishonorable.

That goes against what a Knight would think...or at least what I would think, if I were a Knight.

And of course, I know why they couldn't have done him that way: they already did that in Final Fantasy IV. It would have made the game too "heavy" in comparison to its other elements, and Steiner too central a character.

[TheUmpteenthDoctor]

I hated how thick-headed he was for the first chunk of the plot. Seriously, it was basically "Steiner, my mom's involved in something bad. I have to find out what it is so I can get her to stop." "Nonsense, back to the castle." And then he still kept trying to get her back to Alexandria even after Zorn and Thorn tried to kill her. Gah.

That said, I do like how he grows as a character. He and Vivi are my favorite characters in the game specifically for that reason.

[SirPrizes]

I didn't really care much for his character. One of the only things Steiner-related I really enjoyed was his relationship with Beatrix, who was an amazing character, and it was nice to see the two of them growing closer. Though, Steiner did get a lot better for me after Brahne died.

[Elskidor]

Sure, I like him. He's not my favorite, but he's up there as one of the best characters in this game. He was a wee bit too idiotic at times, but that's alright.

[black orb]

>>> He is a friggin tank, yeah I love Steiner..

[Freya]

When I first played the game I hated his character. Now as an adult I love his character. I mean I've always liked him in my party but in general it went from hate to love.

[Vivisteiner]

Steiner is clearly the best written character in the history of existence. Those who do not love him evidently lack his manly intelligence.

[Mirage]

I really disliked him as he was at the beginning of the game, but I guess I can appreciate the way he developed throughout the game.

[Psychotic]

Steiner is clearly the best written character in the history of existence. Those who do not love him evidently lack his manly intelligence.

100% agreed with this post.

[fire_of_avalon]

Jiro's point always gets on my tits a little, too. The idea that we have this exceptionally powerful and skilled knight - one of the only people alive who can fight the legendary Beatrix to a stalemate - and he's all "hurdy gurdy gurdy".

I do love Steiner, though. He's an excellent character.

I realise that the game wanted comic relief and, early on, he's really the only choice - all the other characters have specific functions. But it really just doesn't work. At the very same time he's bumbling about shouting "the princess! the princess!" he's meant to be starting this internal debate about whether or not he has a choice on how to live even though he is a knight. It's a really deep and mature concept coming from a complete (apparent) imbecile.

There was honestly no reason to have comic relief come from a main character at all, there are tons of supporting characters that provide quite a lot of comic relief. More than I can conveniently count off the top of my head.

Actually, there is a huge reason Steiner should be the comic relief character.

FFIX is structured very similarly to a Shakespearean comedy which are known for archetypical characters designed to move the story forward, to serve as a foil for the main character and to extract a moral or thematic lesson. The really great thing about the storytelling in FFIX is that these character archetypes aren't forced to stay there for the purposes of plot - they get to grow beyond their role, as it were, in a natural pattern to become something better. So while Steiner starts out as the person who is the object of teasing and fun he becomes a trusted friend.

Without first starting out as a bumbler, Steiner would never gain the experience to grow into a confident, exemplary knight. Furthermore, the structure of FFIX would kind of fall apart. Steiner would be competent in his protection of Garnet (the ingenue,) who would never make her escape and meet Zidane (the flawed hero) and neither character would have the opportunity to shrug off their own archetypes.

[Jiro]

I can't think of specific examples but, from memory, Steiner still plays the part of the fool quite late into the game, even after he's demonstrated his capabilities and undergone soul searching and whatnot. I agree entirely that the journey he takes is nice but it's not a complete journey and that creates a pretty unpleasant contrast in my opinion.