Originally Posted by
shion
It's always been obvious to me that Squall cares about others, period. He just has a hard time showing it, and a lot of the time doesn't want to because he's afraid of losing them. Being afraid to lose people obviously shows you care about them or you wouldn't care if they left.
Sure, the first few minutes of the game he comes off like an ass, but it becomes clear pretty early on he is actually a caring guy who wants to take care of the people around him. Heck, he even cares about Seifer and Seifer cares about him in their own weird way. The good thing about this game is that instead of throwing us some emo jerk like in VII and having him suddenly realize he isn't an emo jerk, you get to see his thoughts and his behavior develop. No, it wasn't a super quick, hard hitting development like Cloud had after that big scene when he suddenly became a more positive person, but if you waych and pay attention, you can see it happening slowly throughout the game. Heck, his friends pick up on it, they pretty much understand that he cares about them and just has a shield up, and they let him deal with things his own weird way. I thought it was great to finally have a hero who had a difficult time interacting with others, and not because he didn't care, but just because he was awkward and uncomfortable. That makes him very human and relateable to me, especially since I've been through times where I just can't talk to people to save my life.