Why do we find the main characters annoying?

[Chris]

maybee's post... just epic, and I completely agree.

[Clo]

Because Japanese people think we like whiney tween troutheads.

[Pete for President]

I think it's because people's expectations are very high when it comes to main characters, and those are never met.

And then there's the diversity of which people argue about (main) FF characters on these forums; it's not very clarifying. I for one can't stand Lightning, but think Tidus is alright. Just to point out, the main characters are likely to be the most subjective interpretations of any FF game.

EDIT: SpoilerAnd people complain more than they praise, hence the Negativitron-vibe.

[VeloZer0]

^ I'm with you.

[Mercen-X]

You go into it thinking, "I would not do that. What a jackass."

[Del Murder]

I only ever found Tidus annoying. Vaan was just a non-entity, not really annoying. Squall was an emo tit but again not annoying.

I rather liked the other main characters.

I think the main character gets extra scrutiny in these games because they are the portal through which the gamer experiences the world and story. There's a lot invested in them.

[Edge7]

I like most of the main characters (at least for all the games I've played). I'm surprised Terra gets so much bashing. I mean, first of all, I don't count her as the main character, technically she's the main focus of the plot for like, a third of the game, and during that time, she shows a bit more personality than a recessive waifu. I digress.

The characters I do find annoying, I find annoying because I find them hard to relate to, or they do things that don't make sense to me, or they otherwise earn this status they do not deserve. I dislike Squall, for example, because he is promoted to leader of Balamb Garden despite showing no qualities befitting that of a leader. I dislike Lightning because while she is cool and confident, she also comes off as stuck up and I think she even exhibits some of that lone-wolf personality that I grew disdainful of Cloud for.

An honorable mention (because I actually like the character); does anyone else find it kinda overkill that Cecil is like the perfect man, save for his unwavering loyalty to King Baron in the beginning? Like, he's commander of the Red Wings, is the boyfriend of the lovely Rosa, is the son of one of the most influential Lunarians to come from the moon, is forgiven almost overnight by Rydia, and becomes king at the end of the game? I love Cecil, but he practically oozes more success than I can comprehend.

[noshowmillk]

Probably because we're wanting the main characters to be relatable. We may see ourselves in an entirely different way and can't really see the flaws like we see them in the characters.

[Forsaken Lover]

It's all jealousy. Cloud was obviously getting more sex than the people who play these games even though he doesn't exist. Same for Tidus. He was a sports star! He probably got it off with ten girls every day.

And he doesn't even exist in his own world! He's double-fictional and yet gets more ass than the haters.

[black orb]

>>> Talk and laugh loudly is annoying for me, so Tidus is the only annoying one..

[maybee]

Probably because we're wanting the main characters to be relatable. We may see ourselves in an entirely different way and can't really see the flaws like we see them in the characters.

This. If we don't relate to say Cloud. We feel lost and confused and just annoyed.

It's like " Why is this guy so damn important and we should we care " ?

But if you understand the lead. It's a whole different story.

[Greatermaximus]

These days it's easier to create a character for your game inserting your preferred personality. Depends how good of an author you are.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'll echo the sentiments of this largely being an issue of relatability, though I feel all the characters exhibit some flaws that make them legitimately unlikable the difference is largely dependent on your tolerance levels.