Final Fantasy VIII vs. Final Fantasy XIII

[Wolf Kanno]

Okay, if you want a more serious answer to the question about cast and character development, then let me explain why you can't compare the two games like this. You're basically comparing two different writing styles, namely first and third person narrative, and trying to make an argument that third person narrative is objectively superior, which is not really an argument we can make objectively. I can explain to you how XIII is a terrible third person narrative compared to other games that handled it better, and also explain how VIII is not a bad first person perspective narrative game, though I would agree that some games have handled the concept better.

Basically, VIII's cast isn't shallow, you're basically complaining that they lack focus and purpose because the story never bothers to explain their raison d'etre, but the issue here is that you fail to understand that their only purpose in the plot is to support and serve as a foil to Squall because the story is all about him. If you fleshed out the side characters, you then risk having the story become too muddled with different narratives, and in a story about a specific character's growth, that is a no no.

Think about the issues with novel version of the Hobbit versus the film adaptions. The book is all about Bilbo, there is no Necromancer subplot or Thorin dealing with the curse of his family and his rivalry with some Orc. The dwarves barely get much characterization in the novel because their whole purpose in the plot is to serve as the companions to Bilbo and help him grow as a character through his misadventures. The film adaptions struggle to be a coherent piece because it's trying to stay faithful to the original intentions of the book, but also adding all this extra content to make it feel more epic by adding in unnecessary subplots to better connect it to a film adaption long since past, instead it makes the main narrative point of the book feel disjointed and rushed. Thorin's story isn't even that good and he worked better as lazy delegator along with the other dwarves. In fact the films miss the whole theme of the book about Bilbo, the least likely adventurer of the group, being the only one to rise to the occasion on the journey; as opposed to the dwarves that seem more savvy adventurers, but were really no better than Bilbo. The Hobbit is not the longest novel but it's pretty long for a YA novel and it still has a strong story despite Bilbo being the only character of the main group who gets any characterization, so I disagree that having a 40 hour game means that everyone must have some purpose and character development when it doesn't serve the narrative purpose.

Squall and his companions are the same way. Their personalities are meant to be strong and optimistic to counter all the things that Squall is not. Quistis establishes who Squall is in the early sections of the game as a prodigy who is only held back by his loner attitude. Zell is openly emotional but hotheaded, causing problems that Squall has to think through. Selphie is carefree and childlike as opposed to Squall who acts much older than his age and is very serious. Irvine is more confident when dealing with people and the friendliest character, especially to the ladies, whereas Squall is abrasive and socially awkward around others. Rinoa is meant to be the one to drag Squall out of his protective shell. Laguna represents what Squall is not but at the same time they are the same, just opposite in personality. The characters become less relevant after the first two discs because Squall is growing as a person and learning to open up. The game is not about Zell or Irvine's growth, it's about Squall, and their only purpose is to be the foil that gets him out of his shell, which is why all their characterization is defined by their interactions with Squall, as opposed to some personal hangup they need resolved.

This is why you really can't compare the two because XIII's cast is an ensemble cast with focus spread around because it's about the characters dealing with their troutty situation. The reason why I like VIII's cast more is because I feel they serve their purpose in their story and all of them are quite frankly charming. XIII's cast is overly melodramatic and their arcs are rushed and filled with manipulative writing to create drama as opposed to letting their personal stories really get to the player.

Lightning has all of these anger issues because she's been an over protective mother figure all her life and then spends one chapter poisoning Hope's mind into vengeance only to realize that maybe she's being a bad influence after it's too late. She doesn't resolve this though, she just suddenly realizes that if she was maybe more understanding to Serah and Hope, her problems wouldn't be so bad but there is no real moment for her that really defines that this has taken part. It has no dramatic climax, Hope's story is mostly resolved without her input and Serah doesn't really appear again until the end of the game. She just has an epiphany at the start of Chapter 7 and that's kind of the end of her characterization.

Snow is basically a hero wannabe who wants to save Serah but once the intro is finally over and the plot starts proper, he's written out of the plot for several chapters until he shows up to show that's he's really bad at being a hero and Hope is justified to stop him. He then suddenly angsts about not saving Hope's mom in a critical moment for Hope's characterization and then saves Hope's life. After this, everything is forgiven because Snow's heart is in the right place and yeah whatever. So what exactly is Snow's real character arc here? I mean he basically realizes that he's doing more damage than good, gets forgiven when people see his heart is in the right place and yeah... again it's a revelation that comes out of nowhere for the character, made worse than Lightning's scenario since Snow is MIA for several chapters so it's not like he has any real build-up to it.

Hope's story is not bad as much as it is rushed and overly melodramatic. The transition from confused and emotionally unstable to "I MUST SEEKETH REVENGE!" was awkward due to the bad writing filled with too many coincidences and Lightning's troutty personality to make the transition feel natural. Again, the hardest part for me is not comparing it to Ken Amada's story in Persona 3 which was handled better by having several of the glaring logical errors of Hope's scenario not be present or actually accounted for. The real problem with Hope's story is the 180 turn it takes when it's resolved. Going from seething hatred and constant angst, to moody but mostly optimistic is very jarring and makes his drama feel fake. The other issue with Hope's character is that moody is about all we know about him. His characterization before his mother's death is mostly non-existent outside of Japan only prequel novels so it's difficult to get a ring on how much turmoil the death is causing him because it's the only thing that defines him, but the player is never really given any context as to why this is a big deal beyond playing to the player's empathy of what it must feel like to lose a mother. In fact this is probably the biggest problem with XIII's drama overall, is that is plays too much to the idea that the audience is overly empathetic as opposed to people that expect logical consistency.

Sahz has a very original story arc and frankly I will agree he's the game's best character when he's not reduced to being the party's token minority comic relief character, but I'm still pissy about the attempted suicide, because it was so manipulative and so quickly swept under the rug as unimportant. It's obvious that it was written less for being a defining moment for the character and story, like Cele's fateful suicide attempt was, and more played for shock value. Again, the story is written to prey on the player's emotions rather than actually be a story about exploring feelings and issues. It's the main reason why so much of the plot's drama feels fake, because it is.

Vanille is a walking plot device and her only character moment is confronting the fact she is, which like Snow, is forgiven and forgotten as quickly as it comes up. Her whole confrontation with her Eidolon comes out of nowhere unless you read the DataLog, which largely tells her story better, as it keeps bringing in new info the cutscenes don't feel are important. Not to mention the whole scene is laughable since Fang is the most shallow character in the story and thus neither Fang or the player are concerned about it being a big deal.

Fang is a fine example of a character who doesn't really serve any purpose in the plot that Vanille already doesn't fill. She's there to get Vanille and protect her and it's resolved the very next chapter after she joins. She then disappears into the background as the more angsty characters hog the limelight to bemoan there fate; and justify why they are going to fap about for several hours in Pulse before the main villain shows up and convinces them to do the very thing they said they weren't going to do at the start of the game. She really has no character arc because she gets little screen time and little context unlike Vanille who at least was around since the beginning to be living plot device.

So now here's my issue. Do I go with the cast that has no real story but serves as a foil to help rationalize the growth of the central character whom the whole plot is about, or choose the game who does have a cast with motives but are largely over-the-top and manipulative to hide the fact the writer doesn't really know what they are doing? So yeah, VIII's cast is the better written cast in my opinion, they're simply not the type of cast you wanted, but it doesn't change the fact they do serve a narrative purpose in the story, even if it was simply to help one character get more growth and be background support.