If you want people to ignore your rant then don't make them.

While I feel its completely fair to say that Hope got the short end of the stick it doesn't mean I enjoy listening to him complain about becoming a l'Cie and how Snow and his dad ruined his life for the first couple of hours of the game. Yes its realistic but it doesn't make it any less annoying as if I were listening to some real life jack-ass complaining about all their horrible problems. He's gotten better now that he's finally gotten into the whole "revenge" deal but having to listen to him try to figure out what he wanted to do and getting all bashful around Snow in the beginning just felt so unrealistic and was exasperating to say the least. I f I were in Hope's shoes, Team NORA would have had to drag me off Snow the first time I saw him as I tried to claw his eyes out. Rage is not something I feel one dwells on and act wishy washy about until it grows, it just comes out.

I'm not a bleeding heart compassionate fellow, so my sympathy levels disappeared when I realized the only thing he was ever going to talk about until he confronts Snow is how miserable his life is and its all Snow's fault. This does not really make him an interesting or empathetic character for the first few hours of the game which are being used to make the player like him. Its also annoying how I feel their is a major conflict between how Hope is presented in the game and how he is represented in the Datalog. He's bashful and whiny in the game but the datalog has him "stirring with rage within" which I frankly don't see.

The other issue here is that its very difficult to not compare the guy to Ken Amada from Persona 3. Their storylines are almost exactly the same with obvious differences being their respected worlds. Ken was able to actually be a very likable character. He mentioned his problem but only got emotional about it when he finally had the major confrontation with his mother's killer and that whole scene did not play out like anyone would have thought. Ken was far more methodical and really to me; showed how unsettling mental trauma could be on a child due to his personality and the way he handled his revenge.

Hope to me, brings out two emotions from people. Anger and Pity. You either find his constant complaining and "woe is me cause that bastard took everything from me" annoying and learn to hate him quickly or you go the opposite and pity the poor kid and kick into some parental instinct of wanting to love and protect the kid.

I'm actually trying to like him and despite my rants against him he is not actually my least favorite character. I just want to punch him in the face for having to put up with him. Maybe he'll grow on me when I get to his hometown but I have a sad feeling he won't grow on me until after he finally gets over his baggage with Snow and accepts his mother died trying to protect him rather than dying senselessly thanks to Snow's manipulation. Time will tell.