The best character in each game.

[Wolf Kanno]

Simple Question, who do you feel is the best character in every FF you've played? You can choose them by whatever criteria you wish, whether you simply like their story, think they are super useful in battle, or a combination of both. It would be nice if you explained your reasoning though...

[FFNut]

I will give it a go with who my favourites were.

Final Fatasy 1: The Black Mage Loved the Black Mage, awesome power at the tips of the finger if used right.

Final Fantasy II: I have to think on this one

Final Fantasy III: Don't remeber the game great, will get back to it.

Final Fantasy IV: I remeber loving Kain as a kid. Thought Jump was invincibile. May be time to pick it up again

Final Fantasy V: Need more time to think

Final Fanatsy VI: when I was younger it was Edger. Thought tools were the best thing ever and I chainsawed my way around the map. Now oldster I will say Gau. A little bit of work and you got a guy who will make Kefka fall in love with him, and be putty in your hands.

Final Fantasy VII: I never could get past disk one due to life interrupting me every time I tried, but I did enjoy Cloud.

Final Fantady VIII: I only layer this once, and maybe should look back at it. I do remeber thinking Zell was the coolest guy ever though.

Final Fantady IX: Come in, who doesn't love Vivi!

Final Fantasy X: I know I am not in the majority here, but I loved Wakka. Put him down Aurons Skill Grid second and you get a pure damage tank from the back row.

Final Fantady XI: Never played

Final Fantasy XII: I will say Belthisar was cool, he really gives the story a breath of fresh air.

Final Fantasy XIII: Fang. Just wish you got her earlier in the story.

Final Fantasy XIV: Never Played

Final Fantasy XV: So far I am liking Noctis. Still not very deep in the story yet though.

Final Fantady Tatics: I do enjoy Ramza, he is well written and his struggles to understand the world is great with inner conflict.

[Shiva95]

FFI: I remember loving the Black Mage a lot when I was young, so I guess I'll stick with that once, since I haven't played it for a a while now.
FFIV: Kain. He's so badass and strong, and I really love his story arc too.
FFV: Faris. I really love her background.
FFVI: Locke. He's funny and nice, and he's also very tragic. He's one of my favorite character ever.
FFVII: Tifa. She's very sweet to everyone and she's very badass. I do martial arts myself, so I've always connected to her.
FFVIII: I'm not a fan of that cast, but I think it's Rinoa. I love how energetic she is.
FFIX: Zidane. He's very funny but he's also a very deep character in the end, and he could do anything to help other people.
FFX: Tidus. He's funny, and also very loyal, nice and brave. FFX's end just broke my heart.
FFXII: Balthier. I really love his personality, and he's so badass!
FFXIII: Lightning. She's so strong, physically and mentally. And I also love how her personality evolves through the trilogy.
FFX: Noctis. He really became my favorite character ever. He's awkward, he's shy, but he's an emotional bomb, and he loves people around him deeply. He becomes really brave too.

[Elly]

01. none - they're all blank slates
02. didn't get far enough to decide
03. didn't get far enough to decide
04. Rydia - when she yelled "i hate you!!!" on the DS version i got goosebumps
05. Faris - interesting back-story and fun character
06. Tera and/or Celes - it's hard to choose so they both are in my party whenever possible
07. Tifa - too many reasons for a short post
08. Rinoa - see also Tiffa
09. none - just bad character design all around
10. Auron - pure concentrated awesome
11. didn't play
12. Ashe - just loved her story all around
13. Lightning (Sera in XIII-2)- absolutely loved both characters and their stories
14. didn't play
15. Prompto - there's more to Prompto than a plucky chocobo loving kid

these are the playable characters, if i included support characters the list would be very different...

[Sephiroth]

• Garland - He is pretty much the only option if I don't want to take someone who also has marginally any story like Matoya or Astos.
• Mateus - The first villain in the franchise who fulfills some of my classic criteria for a cool villain. Also I think he deserves to be in a Fial Fantasy that is not so overlooked.
• Luneth - Solid improvement on the blueprint of the Onion Knight.
• Cecil - Good design, has the most mature relationship with his romance and has his own problems of finding out what he truly wants to be as a person as well as what his past looks like - Cecil is pretty much Terra's Prototype
• Faris/Sarisa - Good design and adds a humorous element to the story while other moments from other characters do not really work for me. Also she is a pirate.
• Setzer - Sephiroth's Prototype. Genius design and a free spirit. He has a pretty tragic backstory with Daryll which is one of the few backstories in Final Fantasy VI that I think of as way to sad for a side/backstory - just as that of Lock and Rachel. Also he abducts Celes and is tricked by her. The entire thing is comedic. Setzer seems to be very simple-minded at times as he does not really question the Empire until the others come and it is interesting that he at least considers listening to them as a lot would not do that so easily but that is also because of his free spirit-nature. And yet there is more behind this scared face than it seems at first glance.
• Sephiroth - Tetsuya Nomura's best designed character and Kazushige Nojima's best written character of all time. Even these days I find myself surprised all the time that the story so casually has an alien lifeform in it. And not just that but people that where experimented on and on top of that, the ultimate partial human, partial alien lifeform. Sephiroth's entire appearance is so incredible. When you chase his newly formed body while he projects his consciousness into Jenova's headless one, it is always like you are chasing some sort of ghost. And then when you actually meet him he just underlines this feeling of being that superhuman ghost from beyond this world because of how he suddenly appears, how mysteriously he acts, how he speaks and everything. At this point he has already changed so much, left behind almost every bit of humanity that he has as he has decided to use his inhuman, way more powerful side to get what he wants. And YET all of that originally came from his human emotions. He always was a very distanced person. Never really bragging or anything (until later his arrogance becomes a more and more present trait) but he very well was aware of what he can do and was proud of being the living miracle. But he had a life that was not so different from that of people. Yes, he was a legendary hero. But he was an introverted, intelligent person that opened up for the few friends that he had. And his own curiousity made him realize that he was betrayed. That his life was a lie. That he was a lie. Sephiroth is such a perfect combination of the emotional humans that also have their instincts but also have their conscience and ego and the emotionless, merely instinctively acting calamity from the sky, he will never be topped by anyone in the franchise. He has together with Cloud and Lightning the most script and it is just me wanting to finish this post in less than 10 hours that I have to stop here.
• Laguna - This is really tough. Style-wise I think I like Rinoa the most. Especially as I also like Squall, his feelings and his relationship with Rinoa. But Laguna is an entertaining person, one of two components of a tragic love-story that was never meant to be but reborn with the child of Laguna, Squall and the child of Julia, Rinoa. He is just as caring as Squall. Without him who knows in what trouble Ellone would actually be and how much she would be exploited. It is just a pity that so much of Squall, Raine, Laguna and Ellone's story had to be the way it is.
• Kuja - The super-stylish main villain, so desperate when he sees his "little brother" that he sends him off to the other side of the planetary coin. It is really interesting to see how evil and manipulating Kuja has become especially as it seems to be so extreme but he is very similiar to Sephiroth. They both were used and they both think incredibly high of themselves. And while Kuja is no human, he also acts out of very human reasons. He values himself, he does not want to be a tool, he does not want to be a throwaway-replacable person. He does not want to die. Sephiroth also does not want to return to the planet as other than Aerith he thinks that letting go means that "he" will fade, so his consciousness will become non-existent (that means Sephiroth thinks that if he chooses to not just withstand the Lifestream, what a lot of people actually fear will happen; this is further explained in On The Way To A Smile - Black Lifestream). And I can understand many of Kuja's thoughts, just as I can understand a lot of Sephiroth's. It is the irony of fate that characters that are so much victim of manipulation end up being manipulative themselves. But it is also something that happens in our reality. I just wish Kuja would wear a better outfit with pants.
• Seymour - The next tragic soul. A half-breed that has such a tough life that his mind gets so twisted he thinks the only way to end the pain of everything is to finally kill everyone. And he does not even care about them wanting to live as at this point his character is already so much defined to be not reasonable. He is one of the more intelligent villains and a very good speaker, yes - he actually even has many parallels with Tidus. They have this negative feelings for their fathers, they were care about by their mothers, their fate is somehow connected to [Sin] (well, okay, that is pretty much true for everyone). I wish Seymour would get the spotlight he deserves. The story shines on him, then it does not, then it does again and so on. This is not what would have done.
• Vayne - Another good speaker with a stylish appearance. Also he turns into LSSJ Broly.
• Lightning - Great character design, a lot of background story. She is a tough woman who swore on her mother's grave to be there for Serah and became "Lightning". And she is incredibly human. She cares the most about a person close to her and wants to protect her at all cost. For that she becomes incredibly distanced though and comes unable to see life in another light for a very long time.
• Ignis - An absolute dependable person for Noctis and one of the best brothers and friends he could ever dream to have.

[Galuf]

FF1: Grant. He was a pretty good warrior.
FF2: uhhh... Firion really is the only one that does anything. Oh wait no. THE WHITE WIZARD OF FYNN
FF3: damn. Cant chose a 3d character so.... I guess.... the 4 old men !
FF4: Rydia. Dunno just liked her.
FF5: hmm... I wonder....
FF6: Edgar. I like edgar he is cool. He is.... king cool. Ok bye.
FF7: Cid ofcourse! He is an asshole but he is a dragoon asshole!
FF8: damn do I have to reveal the secret... ok... I... I think zell is the best in ff8. Dont kill me.
FF9: anyone already knows quina is the best so yeah.
FF10: Auron. I mean cmon. Its Auron.
FF12: Balthier. I mean cmon. Its Balthier.
FF13: Sazh. He is so useless but he is the only one who actually has some emotion into him and his story.
FF14: *nods*
FF15 "the roads are perilous at night. Let me take the wheel"
FF16: Jim jong is pretty damn awesome imo.
FF type 0: Queen cos... I dunno I barely even remember that game.

[Pumpkin]

FFI: Black Mage. So cutie with that hat
FFII: Josef. His story is so sad. And I'm counting him because he is temp playable
FFIII: Arc because he is so precious
FFIV: Porom because she's a badass amazing white mage and incredibly smart and she's like 6
FFV: Lenna. I just love how sweet she is and caring towards animals. Also pink hair
FFVI: Celes. She's just a good, well-written character, in my opinion
FFVII: Red XIII. Cosmo Canyon best part of that game for me hands down
FFVIII: Squall. I found him relatable and interesting and he's also super sexy and I like his scar
FFIX: Vivi is best caracter in gaming, period for me. His personality, development, story, and adorableness all come together to make the best thing ever
FFX: Yuna. I like how caring and selfless she is while also being strong
FFXII: Penelo. She is adorable, makes a good straight man, and I like her outfit
FFXIII: Fang. I have a girl crush on Fang. She's just very take charge no-nonsense but still a smart cookie and I like her a lot
FFXV: I'm still getting to know the cast but probably Gladio so far?

[KleinerKiller]

IV: Rydia, for reasons I can't quite remember because it's been a long time since my experience with IV. I like her design at least.

VI: Kefka. The game has no shortage of amazing characters, but the world-destroying psycho clown tops them all. Without a doubt my favorite villain in the FF franchise, and I'm a sucker for great villains, so he narrowly beats out even Terra for this position.

VII: Tifa. Possibly the most badass woman ever put in an FF game and one of the most badass women in all of gaming. She doesn't need a weapon or an array of magical attacks -- she just takes on soldiers, dragons, and eldritch abominations with her fists and a few wrestling moves. Also bewbs

IX: Vivi. Garnet comes close, but Vivi (so far) has the best character arc and personality. Also, he's so presh.

X: Auron. A complex and engaging character like a lot of the X cast in concept, but not an obnoxious tool like a lot of the X cast in execution.

XII: Can't pick between Fran, Ashe, and Vayne. Simply because Fran and Ashe are both awesome characters and badass in their own special ways, while Vayne is a great antagonist who was doing terrible things for logical and sympathetic reasons.

XIII: Fang, undisputedly. Pretty much the only character in that game who stayed great for me the whole way through and never dipped into obnoxiousness, and she had the cutest chemistry with Vanille.

XIII-2: Hope in his manly adult man form, because he was just so damn lovable without being obnoxious.

Lightning Returns: Bhunivelze, because by that point I could really empathize with his desire to destroy the XIII universe and Lightning with it.

XV: Ardyn. A cool, competent schemer who plays the party like fiddles to accomplish his grandiose plans without coming close to the tropes I hated about Caius Ballad doing the same, and now one of my favorite FF villains overall.

[krissy]

4: rydia

5: boco

6: the octopus

7: the dolphin

8: rinoa's dog

9: cid but only while a frog

10: the blitzball (i want to be one when i grow up)

11: the modem

12: hamlet

13: cloud strife

13-2: all the pokemon

13-3: cloud strife w omnislash

14: the cable modem

15: justin bieber

[Rocket Edge]

FFIV - Rydia
FFVI - Setzer
FFVII - Sephiroth
FFVIII - Squall/Zell - too hard to pick. Both are my favourites from the entire series.
FFIX - Quina
FFX - Lulu/Auron
FFXII - Basch
FFXIII - Sazh
FFXIV - Y'shtola

[Vermachtnis]

I -Black Belt/Monk/Master, whatever you want to call him. He punches things good.
II- Leila, pirates are cool
III- Dunno, Refia probably
IV- Rydia, Blk and SMN together is awesome
V- Faris, she was a fun character.
VI- Sabin, dude suplexed a train that one time.
VII - Yuffie, she was so fast and got so many turns.
VIII- Quistis, I made her a tank and having all that HP made White Wing broken...er.
IX - Quina, she do what she want. Got problem?
X - Tidus, y'know the little scamp grew on me over the years.
XII - Balthier, leading man
XIII - Fang, accent and Bahamut
XIV - Ali, her name is hard to spell. These past couple of patches have let her and mouth really shine. She got some of the best lines. I really hope (SPOILER)Nero sticks around through Storm blood. Those two played off each other.
XV - There's that scene with her and Ardynn.

[Forsaken Lover]

2: Leon. There's actual hints of a character there.

4: Tellah. Badass mage with a good motivation.

7: Cloud. Best MC in the entire franchise. Just an amazing story arc, backstory and personality.

8: Seifer. One of like three characters with any sort of development. Great design and awesome personality. He's basically a typical shounen hero but on the wrong side.

9: Kuja. Just a very well-written villain who can be both sympathetic, hilarious and intimidating.

10: Auron. Great look, awesome voice, compelling backstory. Oh and dat theme song.

12: Ashe. The other best MC in the franchise. Love her voice and her character arc. It's very distinct from all the others in the series as she's so close to being a villain a lot of the time.

13: Snow. He's just plain likable and he's doing his best to save his girlfriend. What more can you want?

[Lyndis Highwind]

IV: Kain. He's a strong and noble character who had the courage to reform himself and defeat his dark side. His design is also my favorite from the whole series.
VI: Sabin. He was a total beast as a unit, and I thought he was just a cool character.
VII: Cloud. I appreciate that after all he went through, he was still a kind and caring person.
VIII: Zell. Throughout the whole story, he was always upbeat and VIII really needed that. I feel like I was able to relate to him the most as well.
IX: Steiner: He was hilarious and, for me, the most likeable character. He was also a great unit.
X: Auron: He's a beast as a unit and he has an interesting story. He kind of reminds me of Toshiro Mifune for some reason.
XII: Basch. He's the epitome of a noble soldier, and his backstory was one of the best parts about XII.
XIII: Sazh: He was funny and likeable and he had a cool Eidolon haha.

[Wolf Kanno]

Story

• FFII: Josef - Tragic story that shows the player this game is going to be an uphill battle for everyone.
• FFIII: Unei - Kooky old lady with god-like magic powers and a quirky attitude? Sign me up.
• FFIV: Cecil - Probably the best Protagonist of the FF titles Sakaguchi directed. Cecil pretty much set the template for characters like Cloud, Squall, and Lightning.
• FFV: Galuf - Toss up between him and Faris, but Galuf has the stronger story and bigger impact on the game.
• FFVI: Cyan - It was hard to choose, but I feel the tragedy of Cyan's story is one of the game's best written and most poignant tales.
• FFVII: Cid - I can resonate with Cid's backstory and I find him funny as hell.
• FFVIII: Squall - Probably the best written protagonist of the Kitase directed period of FF. Squall resonated more with me than most FF protagonists.
• FFIX: Vivi - Absolutely adorable and I love his story in the game as it touches on some really powerful themes. Vivi also has many of the most memorable moments of the game for me.
• FFX: Jecht - After really thinking about it, I think I like Jecht the most, his journey with Auron was far more memorable to me and I found him to have a better character arc than the rest of the playable cast.
• FFXII: Lady Ashe - The best female protagonist in the series, XII is Ashe's story and I love that she breaks so many RPG cliches.
• FFXIII: Sahz - In a game filled with overly emotional and preachy characters, it was nice to have a character who was more down to earth and simple. I still stand by my feelings that Sahz was wasted on the XIII trilogy.
• FFXV: Ignis - Ignis hits all the right spots for me and again, has many of the most powerful moments in the game having him be the focus of.
• FFTactics: Ramza - Probably the best main character in the FF franchise, Ramza had a great arc that took him through the highs and lows of the game.
• FFTactics Advance: Marche - I've always felt bad for Marche, as both his in-game friends and the player base tend to give him the raw deal despite him being a younger Ramza who simply fights against the selfish tides to do what was right.
• FFTactics A2: Freimelda - It's sad that a secret side character is probably the best written and most interesting character instead of the main cast. Freimelda is the bright spot in a game with a rather bland cast.

Gameplay

• FFI: Monk - I still feel it's the most underrated class in the game despite how good they are.
• FFII: Josef - Taught you how utterly broken Barehanded is in this game.
• FFIII: Ninja/Sage (Famicom) I don't feel I need to explain this. Knight/Geomancer (DS) balanced my ass.
• FFIV: Kain - The fact he's usually playable in the game's harder sections, it's nice to have someone who can survive the worst the bosses can give.
• FFV: Mystic Knights/Samurai/Blue Mage - Easily my three favorite classes in this game.
• FFVI: Terra and Edgar - The two most broken characters in the game, bar none.
• FFVII: Enemy Skill Materia - The MVP of all Materia. For actual party members, Cloud, because he's OP.
• FFVIII: Triple Triad - Why fight monsters when becoming a physical god can be easily obtained by beating people at children's card games. For actual characters Squall for the same reason as Cloud.
• FFIX: Steiner - There are very good reasons why IX keeps this guy out of your party and usually underleveled. Steiner is an absolute beast in combat when he's actually on par with the rest of the cast. Being adorkable helps as well.
• FFX: Wakka - Same attack power as Auron and second highest HP, slightly slower than Tidus, best accuracy, Triple Threat status ability, and satarts with the only Overdirve that can break the damage limit from the get go? Yeah, I don't really understand why people bother switching out other party members.
• FFXII: Shields: Hey, they're actually useful again! Character-wise, technically Vaan since he has the best overall stats.
• FFXIII: Hope - Best support character in the game which is often more important than your offense. Course he's the worst character when he's the party leader.
• FFXV: Ignis - Most balanced member of the team with the best Tech selection. The fact his second tech starts is one of the best anti-boss moves in the game helps. Also, his food skill is way more useful than the other three party members skills.
• FFTactics: Thunder God Cid - One of the best stat growths in the game? Check. Gains all of the Sword Skill abilities? Check. Starts with freaking Excalibur, the best weapon in the game which boosts many said sword skills? Check. Practically trivializes the last quarter of the game's difficulty? Check and mate.
• FFTactics Advance: Ninja - Seriously... Dual-Wield is broken as usual and their ninja skills's secondary status effects almost always work. Throw in some excellent stat growth and you have a force to be reckoned with.

[maybee]

Final Fatasy 1: Garland. * Be careful who you pick on at Middle School meme *

Final Fantasy II: Minwu. This is odd because he's a male White Mage so he feels refreshing from the old cliche, but the game came out 30 years ago almost ?

Final Fantasy III: Cardboard Cutout- the fifth one.

Final Fantasy IV: RYDIA.

Final Fantasy V: Bartz, Bartz, Bartz, Bartz, Bartz, Bartz.

Final Fantasy VI: Terra. Just a strong beautiful girl that don't need no treasure hunter.

Final Fantasy VII: Red XIII/ Red 13/ Nanaki or whatever you call the dog.

Final Fantasy VIII: Squall Leonhart.

Final Fantasy IX: ZIDANE

Final Fantasy X: Daddy Auron. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

Final Fantasy XI: Cloud Strife " Not Interested " pic here.

Final Fantasy XII: Ashe.

Final Fantasy XIII: Fang.

Final Fantasy XIV: Cloud Strife " Not Interested " pic here.

Final Fantasy XV: Prompto !