Well, this will be easier than some of the rankings, but not by much since I don't really love this cast very much. So if you don't like listening to someone bad mouth VII, you may want to skip my post. You've been warned.

1 - Cid Highwind is easily my favorite in the cast because he's foul mouthed, a pseudo-Dragoon, has some great lines, and is the parties only realist who was never afraid to call Cloud and the rest of the party out on their stupidity. He's a pretty good party members, has an awesome theme song, and I liked his backstory, hell I appreciate that he's one of the very few cast members who isn't dropped from the story when you go into Disc 2 *cough* Barrett and Red XIII *cough*.

2. Aerith, yes, I actually do like Rosa type characters every once in awhile. Despite having a quite a bit of a crummy childhood and being the last of a race of magic people who can hear voices, she's pretty damn chipper about it, unlike the rest of the cast that kind of angst a bit too much about their problems. Which is why I don't appreciate Crisis Core trying to recast her as Terra Branford. I appreciate the breath of fresh air she brings in party dynamics, including as a battle party member. I also liked her part of the love triangle. I know it's TifaXCloud but that pairing is just too safe and I feel the awkward relationship between Cloud and Aerith was always more interesting since they are pulled together thanks to a dead man's resemblance. Her death scene was also quite touching and I like her theme, since it partly samples Aria di Mezzo Carattere in the opening.

3. Barret, yes, despite all the flak I give him I do actually like him. He's the party's original foul mouthed hot head, but I feel he loses a lot of his thunder once Cid arrives and takes that role from him. I like his backstory and his moment with Dyne was well done, but I always felt sad the writers dropped the ball by not really doing anything with him an Coral when you have to save it, bringing Barret along only gets one new line, so that was a bit sad. I also didn't care how they wave handed the whole "well we we're terrorist but that was bad". There was a lot more that could have been done for the man but the writers just stopped caring after the Gold Saucer.

4. Cait Sith, in an act of defiance to most fans taste, I honestly don't mind him. He's an oddball in a "very serious cast" which is partly why I like him but I also liked that he was tied to Reeve which is what made him more interesting. He was also the last one to think as a traitor since he was just too goofy to take serious. His design is based off a summon from FFVI and he uses a moogle doll as a weapon, which is pretty badass in my book. I also just like how much he pisses off fanboys, which is probably my Freudian excuse for liking him.

5. Red XIII, was a pretty awesome novel character and he was a visually impressive feat at the time. He's got a nice, if a bit predictable backstory and he's not so bad in battle. Sadly, like FFVI's Mog and Umaro, I feel he doesn't have much reason to be in the story other than to be a token non-human character. Though it's sad no FF ever went as far Red XIII's design. He's not bad or anything but he doesn't have much of an interesting personality and his story is resolved rather early in Disc 1.

6. Cloud - I really want to like Cloud, and I actually did really like him in the beginning at Midgard, when he's a cocky selfish mercenary, but after meeting Aerith and getting Sephiroth involved, I always felt like Cloud just became another Cecil, trying to fight the good fight for the sake of the world. His mind trips were interesting but I can't help that the set-up has some annoying holes in it. I understand Cloud is suppose to be a deconstruction of the main hero archetype from previous games, but I kind of didn't appreciate taking a perfectly roguish character in the beginning and eventually turning him into a whiny indecisive nobody who just happens to be able to go toe to toe with the world's greatest evil. Cloud's progression in the plot is more of a regression, and while I can respect the serious balls it took to write this type of character, I personally just didn't care for it. It hasn't helped that fanboys have somehow elevated Cloud into some weird parody of himself where apparently the time he's acting like Zack in the beginning is how he really is, when the Compilation version of Cloud isn't a terrible stretch from the Cloud you meet post-Lifestream mindsmurf.

7. Vincent - I like his concept and after my first intial playthrough, he was my favorite character but subsequent playthroughs have not been kind to him, and I kind of realized that his angst is his own damn problem because his flashback pretty much shows that Lucretia chose her career over him, so I don't understand why he's blaming himself for her mistake. He honestly has nothing to feel guilty about because he tried to save her and got screwed over in the process so I don't see why he's still blubbering on about her. I still like his design and Limit Breaks but I can't help but cringe now, when I see his backstory.

8. Tifa - I don't really like Tifa, she's kind of kick ass in the beginning when you meet her, as the OP mentions, she quickly turns into someone who needs Cloud to do everything to help her. I also blame her for some of the problems I have with Cloud, her keeping quiet is never really rationalized for the player, and I feel it's not for the sake of keeping the player guessing so they can WHAM you with the twist. Her relationship with Cloud is also a bit awkward after you see the flashback and realize that Tifa and Cloud were not close at all, so it kind of makes there whole "we're childhood friends/sweethearts" feel very shallow. She's just kind of a walking plot hole in the game, on the bright side, she's a pretty good party member.

9. The smurfing whore - you know who I mean, the selfish, unfunny, weaselly bitch who is more trouble than she's worth and is a total pain in the ass from beginning to end. What bugs me the most is after all the crap she pulls, she's never properly punished, she just gets away and pulls a teary eyed "I'm sorry" and the party just forgives her and takes the smurfing parasite back. I wish they just left her to Don Corneo. smurf her.