[q=Heath]I really dislike Vincent's ultimate weapon, Death Penalty. I believe the lower the HP, the more damage it does (the opposite of Ultimate Weapon) and since I always like to have my characters at full or near-enough full at the start of a battle, the two really don't go well together.
[/q]Actually, the Death Penalty's power increases every time Vincent kills something. If he's defeated virtually no monsters when you get it, it'll be weak; if you've devoted hours to mindless slaughter, it'll be a weapon of unsurpassed whuppage.

Yuffie and Vincent are great characters, in my opinion. Yuffie was exuberant and colourful, as well as fairly entertaining. The date between Yuffie and Cloud is better than any of the others.

Vincent's pseudo-spiritual darkness and his horrific story add an unsettling psychological dimension to the story of (SPOILER)Hojo's experiments.