LicoriceAllsorts
Donator
Penelo is the most pointless FF playable character.
Most pointless Final Fantasy character
- Thread starter LicoriceAllsorts
- Start date
Carlie
CltrAltDelicious
- AKA
- Chloe Frazer
Dem fighting words.
Fangu
Great Old One
do I know you
LicoriceAllsorts
Donator
Do you know a more pointless one?
Fangu
Great Old One
Super Mario
IT'S A ME!
- AKA
- Jesse McCree. I feel like a New Man
I prefer Fran to be the leading lady or Ashe. Penelo improved in Revenant Wings but I really find her funky hair in XII to be jarring.
I mean, I am Groot.
I mean, I am Groot.
LicoriceAllsorts
Donator
I honestly don't know whether Fangu's gif means she is gobsmacked by my brilliant logic and now totally agrees with me, or is so disgusted by my viewpoint that she's completely done with me. 
Flintlock
Pro Adventurer
Someone define "pointless" in this context and you're onLook's like we have our first debate topic
Posts split into their own thread.
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
quina
and possibly salamander
and possibly salamander
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Perhaps "would the player's experience be drastically different if this character was removed without replacement"?
ForceStealer
Double Growth
This. I am puzzled as to what purpose Amarant/Salamander serves outside of checking the "Monk" box.
Also Selphie.
And why bother fighting about Penelo when Vaan is even more pointless yet masquerades as the protagonist? At least Penelo knows her place
Lex
Administrator
Oh damn this really supported my Sazh suggestion until
:/. I guess I'll go back to my Sazh hating corner while everyone else continues to masturbate to the thought of his continued existence. "shoogaahaaaaeraybooooows" SHUT THE FUCK UP
It's probably Quina, let's be real here.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Quina enhances Vivi's story, and that's purpose enough for me. But Amarant doesn't do anything.
And that's right you stay in your Sazh-hating corner.
And that's right you stay in your Sazh-hating corner.
Super Mario
IT'S A ME!
- AKA
- Jesse McCree. I feel like a New Man
I feel Vaan and Penelo were pointless, if they shafted Vaan in a watson-like role and made balthier the leading man as he always was in my mind then things would be better.
Let's also go to me and Doom's world of FFX. I am unsure as to point out who is pointless in this series but I'm sure I can point out a few in X-2.
Let's also go to me and Doom's world of FFX. I am unsure as to point out who is pointless in this series but I'm sure I can point out a few in X-2.
Flintlock
Pro Adventurer
Amarant's purpose is to prove that it's better to work as a team than alone, which every Final Fantasy player since ever knew already.
When I say I love the cast of IX, I really mean Zidane-Dagger-Vivi-Steiner. Eiko has a role to play in the story but is irritating, Freya's cool but forgets to say anything after Cleyra, Quina is Quina and Amarant... is just a whiny little bitch.
He's definitely one of my most pointless characters, but there are loads of other contenders. VI has a handful on its own.
When I say I love the cast of IX, I really mean Zidane-Dagger-Vivi-Steiner. Eiko has a role to play in the story but is irritating, Freya's cool but forgets to say anything after Cleyra, Quina is Quina and Amarant... is just a whiny little bitch.
He's definitely one of my most pointless characters, but there are loads of other contenders. VI has a handful on its own.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
As I've said before, the cast is the primary reason that FF7 gets the edge over FF9 for me. I love all of FF7's cast (when considering Cait Sith to be Reeve) and find they all have an important role to play. IX's cast is exactly as you describe. Great for the main four, Freya is awesome but is forgotten halfway through, Eiko is annoying, and Amarant is a waste.
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
And Quina isn't worth mentioning in this paragraph, apparently.
Actually, one could just say "Quina isn't worth mentioning," though I feel a much stronger case could be made for Quina as memorable to the player's experience than Amarant.
By the way, in making this determination, should optional characters be considered? I think no. Hell, even then, VII's optional characters easily edge out some required party members from other games.
Strangelove
AI Researcher
- AKA
- hitoshura
in terms of being memorable, quina gets some points. to be completely honest until i replayed ffix before during the community playthrough i forgot he was even in the game.
Flintlock
Pro Adventurer
I think we should take battle usage into consideration as well, seeing as "killing bad guys" is kinda the point of all Final Fantasy characters. Quina is the most powerful character in Final Fantasy IX, and there's really not much room for debate.
S/he can learn Limit Glove and do 9999 damage per hit before you get to Gizamaluke's Grotto on disc one. That's enough to kill half of the game's bosses instantly, and it costs only 10 MP. Later on, she learns Auto-Life, which is an easy way to get her to have the 1 HP she needs for Limit Glove, making her virtually invincible. You can also power up Frog Drop to do the same amount of damage without having to keep Quina on 1 HP if that makes you nervous.
Other characters have guaranteed 9999 abilities too (Thievery, Dragon's Crest), but they take considerable time and effort to power up. Limit Glove is instant power.
Quina also gets the Needle Fork early in the game, which can petrify enemies and therefore end battles very quickly. It's invaluable in both level 1 games and speed runs (or a combination of the two, the Excalibur II Perfect Game challenge).
S/he can learn Limit Glove and do 9999 damage per hit before you get to Gizamaluke's Grotto on disc one. That's enough to kill half of the game's bosses instantly, and it costs only 10 MP. Later on, she learns Auto-Life, which is an easy way to get her to have the 1 HP she needs for Limit Glove, making her virtually invincible. You can also power up Frog Drop to do the same amount of damage without having to keep Quina on 1 HP if that makes you nervous.
Other characters have guaranteed 9999 abilities too (Thievery, Dragon's Crest), but they take considerable time and effort to power up. Limit Glove is instant power.
Quina also gets the Needle Fork early in the game, which can petrify enemies and therefore end battles very quickly. It's invaluable in both level 1 games and speed runs (or a combination of the two, the Excalibur II Perfect Game challenge).
LicoriceAllsorts
Donator
I am here to defend Quina.
Would the player's experience be radically different if it were removed without replacement? I would say yes, for a number of reasons:
1. the world of FFIX is, like the world of FFXII, full of non-human sentient species, of which Quina is just one. A pretty gross and disgusting one, but hey, beautiful species shouldn't have the monopoly on sentience.
2. Zidane, Garnet, Freya, Steiner, and Eiko all join the party in order to put the world to rights. I'm not sure Quina even realizes there's a problem. In its obsessive single-minded pursuit of food, Quina represents all the weird and wonderful ordinary people of their world, going about their daily weird and wonderful business.
3. I think many people, particularly nowadays in the foodie west, can identify with Quina's lively interest in culinary excellence.
4. I really enjoy using Quina in battle, especially if I'm just grinding. I love watching it eat things like ten times its size. Quina can acquire a lot of useful spells which, IIRC, no one else can use.
(It's too bad about the design fail. Quina is like some home-made cuddly toy sold on Etsy, designed to be cute but in reality so horrific that any child given it as a present would not be able to sleep while it was in the room)
If any character in FFIX can be described as pointless, it's Amarant, not Quina. He looked so cool when he first appeared but then he amounted to nothing.
Would the player's experience be radically different if it were removed without replacement? I would say yes, for a number of reasons:
1. the world of FFIX is, like the world of FFXII, full of non-human sentient species, of which Quina is just one. A pretty gross and disgusting one, but hey, beautiful species shouldn't have the monopoly on sentience.
2. Zidane, Garnet, Freya, Steiner, and Eiko all join the party in order to put the world to rights. I'm not sure Quina even realizes there's a problem. In its obsessive single-minded pursuit of food, Quina represents all the weird and wonderful ordinary people of their world, going about their daily weird and wonderful business.
3. I think many people, particularly nowadays in the foodie west, can identify with Quina's lively interest in culinary excellence.
4. I really enjoy using Quina in battle, especially if I'm just grinding. I love watching it eat things like ten times its size. Quina can acquire a lot of useful spells which, IIRC, no one else can use.
(It's too bad about the design fail. Quina is like some home-made cuddly toy sold on Etsy, designed to be cute but in reality so horrific that any child given it as a present would not be able to sleep while it was in the room)
If any character in FFIX can be described as pointless, it's Amarant, not Quina. He looked so cool when he first appeared but then he amounted to nothing.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
This needs to be made into a .gif.Look's like we have our first debate topic
And I agree with Quina and Aramant being pointless. Which is funny because I had Aramant in my party for the rest of the game after I got him as one of his abilities partnered great with Dagger's summoning.