I was re-reading some of my old WK Plays threads and realized I never got around to a gameplay/character breakdown like I've done since XI. I enjoy doing these analysis and meant to do one but between the site being down and my PC crashing out on me, I opted to just do the final thoughts in case I couldn't post for awhile. So here's my character ranking for FFX in terms of gameplay, starting with my least favorite and working towards my fave.

Kimahri - For anyone who knows me, this is not a big surprise. My overall indifference for Kimahri is no secret and part of the issue is his lack of utility in a game that really wants you to focus on specialization. The issue at hand is that Kimahri is just a second rate version of every other party member for the whole game. His Overdrive is also the second worst of the cast with Jump being subpar in damage and his Blue Magic being one of the weakest in the series that is further hampered by being stuck as an Overdrive only ability. If they were overpowered like VII or V's this could be understandable, but most of his skills are not great with his average stats. I find the best way to give him utility is to push him down Rikku's path so you have a thief until Rikku arrives midway. At which point you have a better thief and a nice collection of items for her Mix ability. Beyond that, his only other usefulness in the Expert Sphere version is just having a secondary character with the other party members Buff skills, but even this can be sidestepped since everyone start next to his part of the Grid and can also just jump quickly into each persons grid to learn the skill.

If I were to improve Kimahri, I would let his Blue Magic be a normal skill and expand the roster of skills. His utility would be the fact he's the only character who can multi-target without a limit break, but since his stats are not as strong as say Lulu, he probably wouldn't be able to take over her role, and likewise, his skill set is very much a Blue Mage list. I'd give him classics like 1000 Needles (still surprised they dropped this skill) and a few other underappreciated enemy skills from FFX proper. Obviously we would need to adjust some other skills like Mighty Guard (make it a late game skill to acquire and likely raise the MP cost) but at least this would make him more fun to bring out to play with. Likewise, I'd make his Jump/Dragoon skills be his Overdrive but adjust it so they do different things. Like his normal Jump would have innate Pierce, he can get a second one that does magic damage and heals the party based on the damage, another that steals an item in addition to damage, and another that does a random debuff. This way his Limit breaks reflect his jack of all trade skill set. I would also make sure Mime is his final skill.

Yuna - Yuna is an odd duck in this game, but I think that's true of all of the bottom three. Obviously her Aeons are very powerful in the main game and ultimately are the equivalent of "I win" buttons if used properly, even against late game bosses that have specific skills to counter them. The real reason she's here is because white magic is fairly useless in this game. The game is not shy about throwing healing items at you and save points are incredibly plentiful and don;t require tents anymore to use, so keeping the team topped off is not difficult. The fact her magic is single target largely hinders her ability to be effective in what is effectively her primary role in the party. Making this more aggravating is that she actually gets a higher magic stat than Lulu meaning by endgame she tends to usurp her role a bit instead of doing her actual job because Rikku is just flat out better for healing. Making this more annoying is that her Aeons are reflective of her own stats, so if she misses too many battles due to not needing her, even her main strength as a boss killing trump card can be jeopardized so like Kimahri, she winds up being a party member I resent because I have to use her in every battle to waste a turn just so she can gain some XP. She does get some weird utility by post-game since her summons can save you from a party wipe by acting as meat shields against some of the optional bosses in the game. I also give her props for having the easiest Ultimate weapon to collect.

Fixing Yuna to my tastes requires some changes to how FFX works. We need to either drop healing at Save Points without an item or the simpler option of just reducing the amount of them. As I said earlier, I think adding a Double or Triple skill would be useful, but I think to make Yuna more unique she should get an ALL skill. Either a skill that let's her next spell work on everyone, or a unique equipment skill that lets her white magic affect the whole party. Finally, to give her more combat usefulness, I'd make her weapons have an innate holy property and introduce more enemies that fall into zombie status and let those enemies be the ones Yuna can one-shot. As for Aeons, I already mentioned before I would change Ixion to Kelpie and make him water elemental, while adding Ramuh back in as the lightning Aeon. Or barring that, add Leviathan in as the Water elemental. I think the other thing I might do for her is have Grand Summon half the time cost of an Aeons abilities isntead of just letting her Aeons tart with a full overdrive. The logic being that Overdrives can be saved anyway, so your aeon will likely be entering a boss fight with one in the ready, but more importantly, if an aeons Overdrive doesn't kill the enemy outright, chances are they may not survive long enough to use the second cast of the overdrive since the time cost means the enemy will likely get four to five turns before the aeon can go again. Lowering the skill cost would really open up summons like Ifrit and Bahamut to more tactical use.

Lulu - FFX robs my favorite class and one of my top five characters in this game. Lulu starts off very strong, elemental magic is pretty powerful and it takes a long time before other characters can damage her enemy types enough to make using her less useful. The real issue for Lulu is that she's great in the field, not so useful in boss fights unless they enemy has a specific elemental weakness or gimmick that requires her magic. Magic just often doesn't hit as hard as I liked and by the time the post-game, she's dead weight as her magic just doesn't hit as hard as melee because I guess everything has insane M.DEF or something. The lone exception is using Demi, which does become a godsend towards the end of the game when normal enemies start to have HP in the +100,00 range. You practically need Doublecast or Magic Booster to help her keep up with your melee options by the time you reach the Calm Lands to keep her viable and you'll need both to help in the post game. Not helping her is that he Overdrive is one of the worst in the game and like Yuna, Rikku can essentially do everything Lulu can but better with her Mix command.

Fixing Lulu is pretty much similar to Yuna and Kimahri where we're going to need to overhaul the game mechanics itself. We need to either lower some late game enemies M.DEF or my earlier suggestion of making Double and Triple spells she can use in the mid-to-late game or a weapon skill she can acquire for herself. Obviously we would drop Doublecast if we go this route. Another option is to create a Magic equivalent of Pierce that can cut through enemy M.DEF and just make it a late game skill. Her Limit just needs to be powered up to be useful. I would also give her Meteor so she can have a late game group hitting spell besides Demi. I would also change the method of getting her Celestial Weapon as that alone likely keeps her in the bottom tier for most players.

Tidus - It shouldn't be a surprise that the main character who can almost never leave your party should fall into the middle of the ranking. Tidus is actually a pretty good character with the invaluable Time Magic spells and Cheer. He's also a pretty good damage dealer and his Overdrives are nice and stay useful throughout the whole game. He also gets the game's best skill Quick Hit. Some of his utility is lost by endgame as most enemies are immune to delay and slow, while Haste will eventually be replaced by auto-haste, but he stats surprisingly relevant since he likely have Quick Hit before anyone else and hit limits are the second best among the party for serious damage. I also love his celestial weapon because I feel it really adds the most personality to his play-style, despite being the third most annoying to acquire.

I honestly wouldn't change too much about Tidus, I think the biggest change would be expanding the amount of bosses and arena creatures susceptible to his delay attacks and slow so they can stay more useful throughout the game. I would also change the Chocobo Catcher game to be a bit more skill based isntead of luck based to make getting his celestial weapon less of a chore.

Auron - Originally I was going to put Auron in the middle and have Tidus here, but my man of mystery does have enough fun tricks to edge him over Tidus for me. Best hp, highest physical damage for a large portion of the game. Sentinel is a great skill and he has all the break skills. What really pushes Auron above Tidus for me is Banishing Blade and Masemune. Banishing Blade is great and can basically be acquired fairly quickly after you unlock the quest to find the Jecht Spheres with a bit of backtracking. This move is amazing because it's the only ability besides Rikku's Frag Grenade that has a 100% chance of inflicting Armor Break, even on enemies normally resistant to the normal skill version. The fact it may inflict some of the other Break skills as well makes Auron the premier party member for boss fights and most of the monster arena. Masemune is easily one of the best Celestial Weapons, especially since it's fairly easy to acquire and First Strike allows Auron to help your party in dangerous places like the Omega Ruins where he can sidestepped the annoying and dangerous Greater Malboro's who almost always ambush the party.

There isn't much I would do to "fix" Auron as he's pretty solid overall, and I feel adding anything serious would likely just turn him into a game breaker. I guess the only thing I would do is make all his weapons innately have Pierce skill without taking up a skill slot as it could open him up for some more use for weapons.

Rikku - Rikku ends up being the character Kimahri wishes he was. While she arrives relatively late in the plot and is physically frail for a good chunk of the game, she makes up for it by ultimately being better at doing other character's roles by the end. Al Bhed Potions make her a better healer than Yuna, several items inflict status just like Wakka, her Mix command allows her to cast better multi-hitting spells than Lulu and give better versions of Kimahri's Mighty Guard as well. Hell, unlike Kimahri where having his Blue Magic turned into a Overdrive is a detriment, for Rikku, it's basically a handicap to keep her from steamrolling the rest of the game by herself. Mix is just that OP. The fact she';s also a Thief who can acquire her own resources for Mix and has several easy to acquire weapons and armor with skills that boost her unique skill set pretty much balances out her weakness of being late to the party, frail, and the sheer nonsense of acquiring all the items needed for Mix.

I think the only thing I would change for Rikku is switching out Gillionare for Alchemy for her Celestial Weapon. Other than that, I think I would change how item customization works in the game. Like I feel the game should have had shops available from the beginning of the game that let you customize equipment. Only when Rikku arrives can you now do it whenever you want. Likewise, Rikku could also allow her shop to remove skills from weapons so you have more control over customization, though in this case I would make it so you need an item to do it.

Wakka - Not a huge surprise, but everyone's favorite, slightly racist, Yevonite is one of the best characters in the game. It doesn't take long before he can effectively start killing other people's token enemies, his only really bad stat is MP, and Attack Reels trivialize most of the game's story bosses and is essential for beating some of the toughest optional bosses in the game. The fact it's easy to exploit to always get perfect score just makes his case stronger. Throw in the fact he can potentially be the first party member to get a weapons with Stonetouch that makes him MVP for the rest of the plot shows that someone at SE loves this dude. He does have the second most annoying Celestial Weapon to acquire due to its close connection to Blitzball, but if you're one of those crazy fans who love the mini-game, then more power to you. His status attacks are also super useful throughout the game and he's tied with Auron as the other character who can decimate bosses. He edges Rikku out due to being available for most of the game, Attack Reels is insanely easy to acquire eight after Blitzball is unlocked, and he has more utility throughout the game instead of being a late bloomer like she is. My only fix for Wakka would likely be to nerf him a bit by making Attack Reels be one of his last Slots to acquire and maybe drop his Stonetouch weapon you can acquire from Oaka at Operation Mi'hen.