Most pointless Final Fantasy character

[RedFFWolf]

Final Fantasy X: Gonna give it to Wakka on this one, but it was very hard to choose. FFX is the best example of the game working around your party. There are certain types of monsters that can only be defeated by one of the members of your party and then there's Kimahri who is a versatile role and can fill in as a double of anybody (I usually take him down Rikku or Lulu's path myself). So when deciding this I had to factor end-game usefulness and Wakka's status specific skills just become less viable options towards the late stages of the game. He gets nerfed worse than any other character... unless of course you've power-leveled him into Auron's stage in which case he quickly becomes a beast.

Ah, but seeing how limit breaks were a factor you took into account in other games (though I recognise it was on a last factor basis), can I just remind you of the absolute deliciousness of unleashing Attack Reels? I think I need to take a hit right now. Where's my FFX??
And story-wise, definitely represents a lot, he does.


But anyway, all FF characters are beautiful in their own way. Let us embrace them all.
Nah, I'm joking, get out of my party old man!!

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Actually, I don't hate Penelo, or Vaan. When I play FFXII I use Penelo quite a lot. As a character I prefer her to the humourless Ashe.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Ah, but seeing how limit breaks were a factor you took into account in other games (though I recognise it was on a last factor basis), can I just remind you of the absolute deliciousness of unleashing Attack Reels? I think I need to take a hit right now. Where's my FFX??
And story-wise, definitely represents a lot, he does.


But anyway, all FF characters are beautiful in their own way. Let us embrace them all.
Nah, I'm joking, get out of my party old man!!

Oh yeah I mention that. Attack Reels can be absolutely devastating especially if you've sent Wakka into Auron's territory and boosted his strength to ridiculous levels. TBH, if we're talking Limit Breaks, Auron's is the absolute worst, except possibly Kimahri, but at least Kimahri has Mighty Guard and White Wind to help with versatility.


Licorice:

I thought Ashe and Fran were both greatly disadvantaged by falling into the stereotypical "I am woman, hear me roar" tough girl, but at least they were given distinct personalities aside from that. Though the worst offender of that stereotype is Lightning and I actually really like her as a character. One of my friends once commented that the Japanese don't write female characters very well, and it seems like in some of the later Final Fantasy's they've been relying on some cookie cutter tactics (ahem.. Vanille). But they still manage to work around that in my humble opinion. That said, between the female characters in XII (which to be fair I never actually finished) I rather like Ashe's seriousness to Penelo's playfulness.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

One of the things I really enjoy about Penelo are her interactions with Larsa, who is such a great character. If he were crushing on Fran or Ashe it would just feel wrong, as they're too old for him, but Penelo is exactly the right age, just sufficiently older for it to be cute and for us (well, me anyway) to think he might actually have a chance with her in about ten years time. I can forgive Penelo not having a strongly defined character precisely because she is so young. Yes, all in all I'm rather fond of Penelo. I like her much more than Vaan.

 

[Splintered]

I remember talking about with Fangu (on her stream maybe? here) about Ashe and the difference between the english and japanese. Ashe sounds less angry in her Japanese version. I mean she's still has little patience, but she's more... regal? There's an emphasis on being driven rather than her looking down on anyone. That's the impression anyway.

I'm a lot more fond of Penelo than Ashe, but I always liked Ashe's story. I never got the impression of "I'm a super strong woman because i'm a huge dick to everyone." Lightning however, did give that impression... and I'm with JasonTandro, once you get into her defrosting the ice queen stage of her character arc, I really liked Lightning.

Maybe I'm okay with cliches, as long as it's a foundation and they craft a good story and character from it, idk.

Then there's Umaro. Lol.

 

[Drax]

Ashe does a ridiculous amount of sighing in XII.

I want to string a sigh compilation to prove my point.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Final Fantasy VIII: Quistis, again only going by her Limit Break. I love the character, but her most powerful attack, Shockwave Pulsar, is still woefully unimpressive, compared to Renzokuken, Irvine's Pulse Ammo, Zell's Duel, and Rinoa's Angelo tricks. Even Selphie's Slots can bring up some incredibly powerful options.

Final Fantasy IX: Oh Quina, come on now, what a joke of a character. Okay so here's the deal. We're gonna take the Gau and Strago and combine them into one amorphous blob of a character with a limited backstory, limited vocabulary and limited combat usefulness and call it the 8th character. While I ended up using her more than Amarant (just because I don't personally care for him) I still have to say she is the less useful of the two.

Both Quistis and Quina are some of the most useful characters because of their Limit Breaks and skills.

Quistis Degenerator can kill almost any regular enemy in the game, no questions asked. Quina has options with Blue Magic such as Limit Glove, Angel's Snack, so on that no other character can match for a very long time.

 

[XandraH]

Hmmm, it really just depends on the definition of pointless. Pointless in storyline, battle, character wise, etc?

I used to despise Aerith and considered her fairly pointless because she was so dayum selfish all the time, weak in battle, and her holy spell didn`t help anyone in the end. I also wouldn`t really consider her death a catalyst, because the group were already after Sephiroth, her death did not change that. But in other ways, her selfish ways made for a great love triangle between her, Cloud and Tifa, so she served some purpose in that sense.

Then there might be Lulu (FFX). I like her character at times, she`s cool but really I felt the game would be just fine without her little side plot relationship with Wakka`s brother and therefore just fine without her. And as soon as you teach Yuna a couple of dark magic spells, she pretty much becomes redundant, since Yuna`s magic is much stronger.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Holy didn't get the job done, no, but Aerith being dead meant she was able to bring the Lifestream out to stop Meteor.

 

[Ryushikaze]

Mewt Randell and Llednar Twem. QED.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I almost said "Those aren't FF characters." Then I remembered that they are. And that they're basically the same character.

Now I'm finding it difficult to challenge your claim.

 

[Clement Rage]

Don't know if its come up, but can I nominate Tidus? Just finished FFX for the first time, and he has three main plot functions

a)Not understanding anything that's going on.
b)Narrating to the audience that he doesn't understand what's going on
c)Insisting despite this that he's actually relevant. ("This is my story! No, really" even though it's Yuna's pilgrimmage, Yuna that makes all the big decisions, etc.)

There are two possibilities for non-pointlessness.

Love interest for Yuna, that doesn't do anything except almost drown her in Macalania.

Son of Jecht: But that doesn't really impact the plot, nothing Sin does is built on that relationship. Op Mi'ihen could've happened without him, Kilika did happen without him. Auron already knew the Hymn of the Faith thing, you don't need Tidus for that. A couple of lines near the end is the only payoff for that.

He

Spoiler

plots with Rikku to disrupt the pilgrimmage, but never actually comes up with a plan. Any plan, even a bad one

 

[Flintlock]

Would Auron have joined Yuna's pilgrimage at all if it hadn't been for Tidus, and more specifically, the promise he made to Jecht to look after him? I'm quite sure he wouldn't. Using the hymn to calm Sin is actually Rikku's idea (she claims to have come up with it, at least) but only because they know Jecht likes it. Without Auron or Tidus, I doubt they would have known at all that Jecht was Sin. Perhaps Yunalesca would have told them, but that still doesn't reveal that he likes the hymn.

Far from being pointless, I'd say Tidus is pretty indispensable.

 

[Roger]

Rikku would never have gotten into the party without Tidus. And Auron was't going to go out of his way to convince others that sacrificing the summoners was wrong. He feels they should learn that for themselves. Yuna would've done nothing but perpuate the cycle wit one of her guardians without Tidus. (or more likely Jecht-Sin would've been too badass to handle with Tidus and Auron)

 

[Clement Rage]

Would Auron have joined Yuna's pilgrimage at all if it hadn't been for Tidus, and more specifically, the promise he made to Jecht to look after him? I'm quite sure he wouldn't. Using the hymn to calm Sin is actually Rikku's idea (she claims to have come up with it, at least) but only because they know Jecht likes it. Without Auron or Tidus, I doubt they would have known at all that Jecht was Sin. Perhaps Yunalesca would have told them, but that still doesn't reveal that he likes the hymn.

Far from being pointless, I'd say Tidus is pretty indispensable.

Sure, he made the same promise to Braska.


Rikku is Yuna's cousin, she'd have pulled it off, especially since Wakka doesn't know about the spiral eyes thing.

Yuna was willing to perpetuate the cycle because

Spoiler

she thought there was a chance at defeating Sin, permanently, apparently that's one of Yevon's core teachings -atone, and Sin will fade away. When Yunalesca told her that chance wasn't there, that was a massive shock, enough to turn her against Yevon more than Seymour and Mika already had.

Oh, and Tidus was barely relevant to my final bossfight (the time I finally won), I used Auron-Rikku-Yuna with Kimahri cameos.

 

[Flintlock]

Sure, he made the same promise to Braska.

I had forgotten about that. I suppose you're right, then. While I feel like Yu Yevon couldn't have been defeated without Tidus, I can't put my finger on why, so I'll have to accept your point.

 

[Roger]

Rikku is Yuna's cousin, she'd have pulled it off, especially since Wakka doesn't know about the spiral eyes thing.

Lulu and Yuna know about the spiral eyes thing, they aren't gonna be travelling with an Al Beht whilst they are continuesly trying to kidap her. The only reason Rikku was willing to wait and be a Guardian for a while is because Tidus convinced her.

Yuna was willing to perpetuate the cycle because

Spoiler

she thought there was a chance at defeating Sin, permanently, apparently that's one of Yevon's core teachings -atone, and Sin will fade away. When Yunalesca told her that chance wasn't there, that was a massive shock, enough to turn her against Yevon more than Seymour and Mika already had.

Yunalesca doesn't say that stuff to any summoner that comes through there or a thousand summoners and all their multiple thousands of Guardians wouldn't have consented to it without the truth getting out. Taking out Tidus heavily alters every conversation they had in the game.

 

[Ghost X]

Spoiler: Including this one...

 

[ForceStealer]

I've always thought the thing that people hate about Tidus (his "whininess") is exactly the thing that saved Spira, because he was unwilling or unable to handle things going the way they had been for so long. "This is my story, it'll go the way that I want it, or I'll end it here!"

As stated, Yuna was completely resolved to complete her pilgrimage, knowing what it meant. Tidus convinced her otherwise. She balked at having to sacrifice a guardian, but I think she would have without his influence.

 

[Clement Rage]

Lulu and Yuna know about the spiral eyes thing, they aren't gonna be travelling with an Al Beht whilst they are continuesly trying to kidap her. The only reason Rikku was willing to wait and be a Guardian for a while is because Tidus convinced her.

Yuna was willing to perpetuate the cycle because (SPOILER)
Yunalesca doesn't say that stuff to any summoner that comes through there or a thousand summoners and all their multiple thousands of Guardians wouldn't have consented to it without the truth getting out. Taking out Tidus heavily alters every conversation they had in the game.

They do, but they're not prejudiced against Al Bhed, Yuna even has Al Bhed blood. And Auron the legend doesn't have a problem with it, they'd probably trust his judgement. It'd be harder, but could be done.

Spoiler

Yunalesca seems to say that to anyone that thinks to ask (she told Auron), but just kills them if they don't take it well. She isn't pushed hard or anything, she just answers the direct question immediately. Maybe it's just boring to spend so long in the ruins.

Yuna was resolved to complete her pilgrimmage, yes, but then the church of Yevon repeatedly screwed her over, ignored its own teachings (machina, unsent) when it suited their purposes, and forced her into a literal shotgun wedding (Kinoc has one). This was all triggered by Jyscal's sphere, not anything Tidus did. If all these things were lies, what about Yevon's teachings about the pilgrimmage? That revelation was a huge shock to Wakka and Lulu, the religious ones of the group.

 

[Masamune]

Don't know if its come up, but can I nominate Tidus? Just finished FFX for the first time, and he has three main plot functions

a)Not understanding anything that's going on.
b)Narrating to the audience that he doesn't understand what's going on.

Far be it from me to defend Tidus, whiny little cretin that he is, even I'll concede that he's integral to the contextual structure of the story, insomuch that he's the archetypal everyman dumped into a strange, unfamiliar new world. This kind of setting often engenders the quintessential 'fish out of water' type protagonist, one who's fed exposition and acts as a point of reference for the audience, otherwise they're left out of the loop of the narrative. Feel free to dislike Tidus as a character... most normal folk do... but his role serves a purpose.

 

[Blade]

Anyone who mentioned Gogo in this thread is on my shitlist as of right now.

He was my favorite "detour" from the main plot of FF6 which was downright depressing during the World of Ruin.

Mimes are technically the BEST job class, you should ALL know that by now.

Where would you be without the Mimic Materia against something like Ruby Weapon or Emerald Weapon?

 

[Clement Rage]

Far be it from me to defend Tidus, whiny little cretin that he is, even I'll concede that he's integral to the contextual structure of the story, insomuch that he's the archetypal everyman dumped into a strange, unfamiliar new world. This kind of setting often engenders the quintessential 'fish out of water' type protagonist, one who's fed exposition and acts as a point of reference for the audience, otherwise they're left out of the loop of the narrative. Feel free to dislike Tidus as a character... most normal folk do... but his role serves a purpose.

And that would be fine, if he didn't keep insisting that 'this is my story'.

I don't actually dislike him all that much, but that line...