Most useless character in the series?

[Lazerface]

I can say but then I can't really say because all characters have their uses. But if it had to be one, then I'd say Umaro from FFVI. Just.....Terrible overall man. Got a most useless character?

[Fynn]

Umaro was awesome. Easily the best physical attacker in FFVI. Not having control over him was actually a boon, since you didn't lose time on choosing commands. He just wrecked trout up. And it was magical.

Sadly, while I love to use him, I think Kimahri wins as the most useless. It's really unfair that his Sphere Grid - both the standard and expert version - is so in the middle of it all that you really have to put in tons of effort to actually make him worthwhile.

[Madame Adequate]

Basically any Blue Mage. They typically have some good moves (Bad Breath, White Wind), but it's usually a MONUMENTAL pain in the ass to actually get them. So I don't bother.

[Fynn]

The Blue Mage is the best job in FFTA. Seriously.

[Saber]

Edward of IV was pretty useless. His ability to use mass potions was surprisingly terrible. I didn't know he used my items like that. Spoony Bard.

Gau was also pretty terrible when they stopped him from using Wild Cat with the Atma Weapon. Getting all of his Rages took me days of playing and it really didn't do anything but make him lose control differently.

Vincent from VII was also in my Outcasts due to his berserk. In the end if it isn't a Warrior who only uses attacks and has no magic... berserk is painful.

[Ayen]

I agree with Fynn on Kimahri. I never used him except the time where you have to and that was just a giant middle finger from the developers.

[Hollycat]

Zell was awful and ate all the hotdogs.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'll echo the sentiment on Kimarhi. His Sphere Grid makes him wind up being a second tier version of better party members in a game where such a trait isn't really useful. He has quite easily the worst collection of Blue Magic spells in the series and he's easily the crappiest Dragoon character as well. Honestly, he's like the poster child of novelty characters in the series and it's obvious the devs didn't exactly know what to do with him.

[Vermachtnis]

Leila or any of the fourth slot members in FFII, starting about halfway through the game. Gorden, Joseph, and Mindu are all alright. When you get them, your characters are just starting out and don't have much. But by the time Leila joins, your team has developed pretty well into there roles, same with Gareth and even Leon. They're just kind of there.

[Madame Adequate]

tbf Mighty Guard isn't useless (though Mix is better, but Mix is the single best ability in the entire game) and I've got some mileage out of Stone Breath and Bad Breath, but yeah, he definitely suffers and a jack-of-all-trades just doesn't really fit into how FFX does things.

However, Zell was the joint-best part of VIII and one of the best characters in the entire series, both in and out of combat.

[Colonel Angus]

Leila or any of the fourth slot members in FFII, starting about halfway through the game. Gorden, Joseph, and Mindu are all alright. When you get them, your characters are just starting out and don't have much. But by the time Leila joins, your team has developed pretty well into there roles, same with Gareth and even Leon. They're just kind of there.

This was pretty much the case once I got to the Dragoon. Balancing the game to a party of 3 would've been better, even if that left Leon out.

[Formalhaut]

I actually used Kimahri a lot. He definitely needs some work, but if you make him as a second thief along with Rikku then battles go so much quicker, and lines your pockets as well. His overdrives are fairly useless, but then so was Lulu's: I never really got the knack of her 'fury' spells and the highest tier spells had really hard rotations. 'Fury' Ultima gets you like 2-3 half power spells; it hardly seemed worth it.

Kimahri really shines when you get the specialist spheres, like the 'White Magic/Black Magic/Skill' spheres which allows you to learn any ability which your other characters have learnt. 'Friend' spheres allow you to move on to another track after you've learnt the fundamental Steal and Use abilities. I tend to make Kimahri either another Auron or another Lulu - I generally go with another Lulu just to spam weaknesses.

In terms of who I would say is the most useless character in the series, I would have to say Snow from FFXIII. Snow is outshone by Fang in almost every comparable metric: Fang is the better Commando, (eventually) becomes the more well rounded ravager, a very good saboteur and is a pretty good Sentinel in her own right. Heck, she even becomes a good synergist with the -ra variants of Bravery and Faith (though never make Fang a medic). Admittedly, Snow is the better Sentinel and has more health, but only in the most specific and hardest battles would you want to utilize Snow for his damage-soaking abilities.

While we're on the subject, Sazh is fairly objectionable as well. He's great at first, with early access to haste, but he has the lowest combined attack/magic stats in the game, and generally becomes the second best synergist before Hope, who is awesome in all but his health stat. Sazh is a decent commando whose only real trick is his unique take on Blitz, and a sluggish ravager with a constrained choice of spells. He's a decent medic, a decent saboteur and a decent sentinel but he's outclassed in all of those roles. Seriously, the best team in FFXIII is either Lightning/Hope/Fang or Lightning/Vanille/Fang.

[Laddy]

Kimahri can be moderately useful if you make him tanker and need a third person to join Tidus and Auron for all-out damage. Plus I dip some White Magic onto him late-game so he can be Paladinesque. Plus his limits can be tough under certain circumstances. Does that make him a Sky Blue Mage?

Edward and Gau, though. Edward is weak and offers nothing. Gau requires a lot of effort to make him even able to keep up with the other characters. Edward is probably the worst overall.

[Pete for President]

Kimahri + Mug = a tanky thief with a high MP pool that still inflicts damage. He's a way better thief than Rikku.

I don't think he's useless, but I do understand why people think he is cause it takes some tricks and knowledge of the game to get the most out of him.

I thought Amarant was pretty useless.

[Fynn]

That's really the point though - he takes way too much effort to just be an inferior copy of anyone on the team. And I'm saying this as someone whose favorite character is Kimahri I just think he's a victim to atrocious game design.