Okay, I'm ready to talk more about why the Catholic Church needs to add Final FantaY VIII as a cardinal sin.

Wolf, you think the cast is "charming." What you find "charming" others find one-dimensional and insultingly stereotypical. Take Irvine for example. You realize he's such a garbage character that the fandom has to invent depth for him? Look at all the "he was having trouble shooting Edea because she's like a mother to him" apologists.

That. Is. Crap.

The game tells us in no uncertain terms he can't shoot Edea because he always suffers from nerves. His Scan confirms this:
"An expert marksman. Can use specialized bullets to attack enemies. Doesn't perform very well under pressure."

This completely incompetent buffoon was assigned to handle the most important part of a mission that could result in god knows how many atrocities, deaths and other unpleasant things.



That's not charming. It's enough to make you want to grind your teeth until your teeth fall out. It is a slap in the face to any player who pays even remote attention to the plot and wants said plot to progress in any way that resembles logic.

There's nothing wrong with having Squall be the center of attention. He's a main character, no different from Zidane or Tidus. You place them at the forefront of the story and have them effect the story the most deeply. It does not mean you neglect your other characters and make them look like complete morons.

And finally, your entire argument kind of falls apart when you realize the game DOES try to develop these lousy characters. Rinoa gets plenty of focus, Zell gets plenty of focus, even Quistis will get plenty of focus if you bring her alone at certain points. It's just that this focus goes nowhere. Like Rinoa's relationship with her father, a frickin' key and vital part of the last act of Disk 1. It will go unresolved and unmentioned for the rest of the game though because Rinoa doesn't need to make peace with her dad, she's getting dick from her BAD BOY now.

It's smurfing repulsive.

Nowhere is FFVIII's abominable storytelling better seen than with Seifer, who the game just forgets about for all of Disk 3. Except at the end. Seifer received just as much characterization and development as Squall, in spite of your claims the game only cares about Squall. It's just that the game sucks and can't give him any proper resolution. It forgets about him just like it forgets about every other plot point.