In my opinion he's one of the best if not the best lead role in an FF game. He wasn't the typical angsty, anti-social teenager with a big sword that we had come to know in FF games. I found I could relate to him a lot more than I could relate to Cloud or Squall. He was outgoing, funny and caring towards his friends (even if he didn't truly understand them half the time) and just generally played the role of the group leader covincingly, unlike Cloud and Squall.