Many years have elapsed since I counted myself among the FFIX fans but back when I did and I had to regularly defend the game, there was one criticism I saw a lot.

"Zidane is a pretty flat character."

And if you countered with the titular scene from Terra, the critic would say:

"That scene was really out of nowhere and made no sense and was stupid."

A lot of people felt very strongly that Zidane's angst there was artificial as helland reeked of forced drama. I read that view several times on this very forum, although it was many years ago now.

What is the current opinion?