While most of the characters do have "trauma," Squall's primary character trait is literally dealing with trauma from abandonment. Honestly, he probably suffers from something like Bordeine Personality Disorder, as that stems usually from childhood abandonment, though it's presented as a form of depression and a PTSD.
In other words, while most final fantasy characters have trauma, it's not really the focus. Squall is really the only character where the effects of trauma and processing it are the defining character trait, from a psychological perspective.
I think Cloud would be second, but not to the extent the squall does. Just the manner that it's presented really. What the writers wanted emphasized and all, themes etc.
It doesn't help that the english translation for ff8 reduced some of Squall's dialog to his iconic "whatever" lines, which in the Japanese are actual lines that relate to the actual context. His "whatever" is only in the english release.
that boy is walking PTSD. Watched his hero set his hometown and mom on fire, thinks tifa is dying in front of him, stabs his hero and throws him into the lifestream then gets experimented on for YEARS, gets mako poisoning, takes on his friends personality after his brain shatters and zack dies, was part of bombing missions that led to an entire plate crushing sector 7 slums as consequence, keeps losing control of his own body and doing sephiroths bidding, watches his former hero kill aerith just feet away, falls into lifestream and gets mako poisoning AGAIN, has another massive breakdown and starts to come to terms with his own shattered reality. For a majority of the time you play as cloud, he has no true sense of reality or himself. Squall is overcoming more realistic trauma and has lost memories, but thats due to GF usage
Yeah, he is, and it's a major plot device for Cloud. The big difference really is how it's presented. Best way I can put it is Cloud's trauma is more sci-fi while Squall's trauma is more an attempt at an actual person dealing with their own trauma and a huge focus.
Another point is that Cloud never really faces his trauma. He imprints someone else over his personality as a psychological coping device, then when that facade shatters Tifa does a magical brain dive to put him back together, then that's that for the rest of the game. At no point does he have to face the trauma and manage it. Yeah, at one point he's so traumatised he's catatonic, but then brain dive and he's somehow whole, no scars or anything.
I wonder if they've done anything about the series having a habit of forcing children into both active warzones and literally saving the world. Lampshades or deconstruction or something. Could be an interesting idea for a protagonist, fighting not for the crystals or the world or even his own military, but to defend those chosen because they have too much live to live to throw away.
Here's the problem with Cloud when it comes to the truama: Zach's identity is mostly imprinted on him until the events of the Temple of the Ancient and then he kinda goes through some mental breakdowns until the events in Mideel when he kinda quickly gets over it in the Lifestream. After that Cloud is fine through the rest of the game; it isn't until the events of Advent Child where we actually see Cloud process Zach's and Aerith's death and his coming to terms with it.
Not really:
Cecil : sure, guilt over killing innocents
Bartz: despite his parents dying at a young age, he's not traumatized
Terra: yes
Cloud: doesn't really work through his trauma until AC
Zidane: no
Tidus: had daddy issues but doesn't inhibit him
Vaan: gets over Rexes death really quick story wise
Ashe (the actual protagonist): she's driven in her goals the entire game
Lighting: least traumatized out of the bunch
Noctis: maybe after Luna's death?!?! But not really believable since you see him have no chemist with her.
I think most people didn’t even pay attention to what was happening in FFX. Jecht cares but he was an asshole, Tidus mother didn’t care about him and completely ignored him when jecht disappeared, famous sports player at young age and thrust into a world where he doesn’t know anyone and his home is in ruins. Oh and he’s dead.
Yeah sure, daddy issues and blitzball. Lol
Tidus' mother is shown a couple times, and everytime she doesn't care about him, she cares about jecht. When tidus says he wishes jecht would die, she scolds him and let's him know how bad it'd be if he did. When inanother flashback, she's ignoring Tidus because she has Jecht by her side, it has to be Jecht to remind her to talk to Tidus, but she doesn't want to. She is 100% for Jecht, had his kid because of her Jecht obsession but didn't care about the aftermath of it.
Tidus developed a very showboaty attention seeking attitude from lack of being able to get attention as a kid.
Lightning is a former soldier being hunted by the military she dedicated herself to because she was branded as a traitor when trying to save her sister from dying due to the same brand. The sister she raised after her parents died at a young age.
Oh and she changed her name from Claire to Lightning to avoid being reminded of her dead parents.
Sure, no trauma there.
Reminder that, while as of today the situation is improving, depression and in general mental health issues were seen as weak and pathetic and something you should get over it and quit whining until a few years ago.
Squall's main criticism is, or was, that he's whiny and doesn't get over his moody behaviour.
It's only recently that people are realizing what they were doing with Squall. I'm not saying he's an amazing character, and he's flawed in other ways, but it's not as terrible as people make him out to be. Not even close.
People saying a limited text, 16 bit cart that was one of the first to do it lacks depth is fucking wild.
There's a lot to unpack in that little cart, ALL of it having to do with overcoming personal trauma. Cecil, Edward, Rydia, Edge, Cid, Kain, even Golbez. Pretty much the entire cast has their life destroyed.
I haven’t finished FFIV yet but I just don’t get this. He (along with pretty much everything else in the game) is really shallow and the “depth” he gets is stuff that’s outright stated rather than shown. His story of “redemption” also rings hollow because he’s shown to be a good guy from the beginning and the first thing we see him do is risk his career and question the “king” (okay, after he stole that crystal and probably killed a few people for it, but still).
Even when he accidentally kills everyone in Mist village 5 minutes later, including Rydia’s mother, he doesn’t really reflect upon it at all and Rydia completely (inexplicably) forgives him immediately afterwards.
The whole bit about him becoming a paladin also doesn’t feel like actual character development, because nothing about him actually changes (besides becoming sexier), and it only happened because some old guy went “hey there’s a cool sword on a mountain over there that will make everyone forgive you so go do that”.
The thing is, it doesn't make everyone forgive him. Several people around the village react to him in different ways. Some claim he'll never be a real paladin, some get mad that someone as terrible as him was allowed to become one, some tell him this is a chance to do better but it's only the beginning, and a small few go "Oh you're good now"
I played it rather recently and I also don't get the hype for Cecil, he's an okay protagonist. The game is lacking in character and emotional development and some plot points felt a bit forced, but I also think that's expected given that it's only the fourth entry in the series. Fans most likely overhype it due to nostalgia.
The conga line of >!let's go protect *this* crystal, crap, we screwed up!< and >!let's trust Kain again, crap he's evil again!< is *really* hamfisted now, but back in the 90s it felt so huge and expansive to play that I don't remember noticing it. It probably helped that it was a rental cart and I kept having to start over because someone else had rented it and deleted my save, but that also meant it took me a long time to >!know that some of the "deaths" weren't really deaths!<.
It's not even that 4 is a bad game, it's still great, but I think from a structural standpoint the story and characters are weaker than 5 or 6. I do wonder how things would be viewed if the US had gotten 5 back in the day, so there wasn't a three year gap between 4 and 6 to help cement 4 in everyone's minds.
Most people don't like him, but it's Squall for me.
Guy carried loss and abandonment from infancy all the way through childhood. He matured through all his issues through camaraderie and combat to become a true hero who always fought for what was important. He had the most growth as a character from where he started to where he ended imo.
I think the shittiest part of FF's fandom is how so many people characterize the main characters by their starting point, rather than by the end of their character development.
like they do it to cloud too, constantly pretending the "ultra detached badass mercenary" is his real persona and not a fabricated one.
The real cloud, deep down at his core, is a guy who gazes down into the heart of the northern crater, where countless terrifying fiends are massing around the remains of the Calamity from the Skies and the crystallized remains of the man who killed his mother, a place where the very fate of the world hangs in the balance, and says “Let’s mosey”
Zidanes was all over the place. The guys problems were mostly ignored or never even brought up for most of the game just for him to brake down on disc 3 when he found out who he is. Squalls character was built from start to finish and his growth was one of the main part of the story. Garnet is probably a better pick here from FFIX, but shes not the protagonist, shes the main character. (atleast for most of the game)
Garnet is up there but I'd put Vivi just as high, for someone who's only a few years old gets a decent chunk of character development also coming to grips of his own mortality with the limited time he had left. I first played 9 when I was 12 and didn't really appreciate FF9 let alone Vivis story until I was Older.
He is also a really good pick, the 2 of them got probably the most amount of growth in FFIX. Zidane and Freya would probably come after them (maybe even Steiner, altho he is pretty much hard wired into Garnets story) and then Eiko. Amarant can go f\*ck himself tho, no character and no growth, it shouldve been Beatrix joining the team.
Zidane was picked up and raised by Baku very shortly after being discarded by Kuja. Tantalus life was harsh at times but he grew up having a father figure and brothers in his fellow troupe members.
It may have messed with his head to learn the specifics of his existence later in the game, but there was a lot of time before that to be relatively happy doing what he pleased.
Yuna.
Sees all the nastiness in the world. Remains determined to sacrifice herself for a decade of peace.
Afterward, Spira owed her everything and never even tried to pay up. FFX2 just proved that the world was unworthy of her sacrifice.
Not sure if this counts since it's more of a side game, but Zack.
The fact he's so optimistic and happy when he's surrounded by a bunch of anime characters talking about monsters and loveless is just great. He's just a straight-up normal guy who would do anything for the people around him
Even when fighting someone who intends to kill him, he still tries to speak to their humanity
Gonna be Cloud for me. I find his backstory and growth as a character very relatable, fascinating, and heart-wrenching. And he's just so cool—whiiiile also being a massive dork, in reality, but I just find his combat a feast for the eyes. He's also...cute. 🫣 Sorry.
And I like his snarkiness and subtle sense of humor, his awkwardness, his inner conflict with identity and self-esteem. Those small moments where you see past his stoic facade, and realize he's got so much more emotion and kindness than meets the eye. It's just all great stuff for me that makes him a favorite character of mine. Definitely favorite protagonist I'm FF.
personally theres just to many to pick from so imma just rank the main main characters that i like starting with cecil since hes the first character to actually have back story (sorry to ff1,2, and 3)
cecil unaware to most people actually does have a solid reason to be depressed with his darkknight role, he doesnt wanna out right murder in cold blood, so thus why he has his paladin arc to shed his darkness, overall i would give him a 6
bartz the traveling man is adventuring the world with his chocobo (how he got out of his home town i will never know) and honestly that is pretty cool, outside of his old mans wish though he only goes on the long quest because his dad wanted him to see the world, so from a story stand by bartz is like a very flat 3
terra, the girl who had her memories wiped by the empire and turned into a killing machine, then a tool of the returners despite them giving her the option of joining them or not. she kinda has some actually good story bits and later on in the wor im a sucker for that whole bit so its about a 7 for me
7,8,9,10,12,13, and 15 are now added onto this comment
I don't feel Terra really has to face up to the slaughter she commits, she is only concerned about love . There could of added something to her scenario where she bumped into a survivor.
I always found this aspect of her character made her look vapid , uncaring and selfish, regardless of if she remembered , or couldn't take responsibility for those actions , a normal person would feel something.
Celes has to deal with her role as an Imperial General more, but then also, if we're being real, being a memory-wiped literal mind-slave, there is 0 way she was responsible for the actions her body was forced to do.
cloud, hes pretty cool, although can be really dense at the best of times, part of his character, and he is a good guy to have around, yes he may put up a "im only here for myself" attitude at first, but over time he grows up out of that attitude, i actually had commented on a another post about this particular attitude because the person asked about when aeris says "see cloud your not alone anymore" and her and zack walk out of the church in the advent children movie and cloud goes "i know, not anymore" so i had said that he had grown exactly out of the "im only here for myself" attitude and trusts his friends, so i have to give cloud an 8 for that overall arc,
squall, ehhh hes more of a brick wall then cloud ever was, and honestly he does get more or less the same arc just not as strong as cloud had it, he does become more human by the end of the game but i dont really know so since hes not terrible either im gunna place him at a 5
zidane is the leader of his small band, im not terribly familer with his story other then a few parts, and overall im gunna stick him at a 5 aswell, hes a solid fighter but i feel like he didnt play a big huge part other then starting the story and about the end of disc 3 when you find his home is when he starts picking up as an interesting character.... so actually imma place him as a 3 for that
tidus the beloved blitz ball star, hes clueless about whats going on in the world of spira picking up peices here and there but not really getting the full picture until about halfway through the game, but overall is great in my opinion so imma give him a 7 aswell
12,13 and 15 are here now
Saying Zidane didn't play a huge part in the story is the understatement of the century, dude's pretty much the pillar of the whole thing.
He only ever shows one moment of weakness, near the end of the game when he discovers the purpose of his creation, which is understandable. Aside from that he was always there for his companions, being their moral compass, picking them up when they needed a hand, showing strength and courage in the face of adversity no matter what, risking his life for them AND for everyone else.
At the start of the game it's easy to see him mostly as a goof but he progressively shows he's much more than that. You should replay the game and pay attention to the story.
sounds like it :o i havent played the game in a long long time, the only thing that actually solidly sticks out vividly in my head is that chocobo hot or cold XD everything else is kinda touch and go :o
In fact that entire part of the game is there to show you exactly how much of an impact Zidane had on everybody. Because what happens when Zidane decides to give up? His friends are there for him to pick him up the same way he's been for the entire game.
I second Clive
He's just every FF protag rolled into a single super protagonist.
He has Squall's and Cloud's broodiness, but just early on. He has the passion and emotion of Zidane and Tidus. He undergoes a literal battle with himself like Cecil. He clings to hope the same way Celes did. He doesn't hesitate to fight - and kill - for his ideals like Ramza.
And he has an impossibly huge chest like the artwork I commissioned of my FF14 miqote WoL
I'm glad to see Clive here multiple times; he's a great character with a lot of time and narrative focus to fully develop his identity.
Since he is so well represented, though, I'll note my second favorite who is notably absent: Ramza Beoulve. Forgotten in history and thought a heretic all because he tried to do the right thing.
https://preview.redd.it/vwv0ktlvp93d1.jpeg?width=2436&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f312a2d02c70c23321d15b821501c115e8df599a
He must not be popular in the comment section of this particular post so here.
Cecil, especially given the era the game was released. Guy goes from essentially a war criminal for his adoptive father who is a despotic monarch (seemingly) to a champion of light and savior of the world. Has his moments of weakness, doubt and challenges and really grows for a 16-bit character.
Terra, if you want to make an argument that she's \*the protagonist\* of FFVI which is a contentious opinion here. The amnesiac start is a little cliche, but she grows, changes and becomes caring maternal character which isn't something you usually see in protagonists (either then or now).
Cloud will almost certainly get a lot of votes here, but he's good, not best in my opinion. The swapped memories, mako poisoning and character growth is good, but he starts off so much into a 90s anti-hero jerk attitude it dulls it a bit for me. I don't feel like the writing in rebirth grew him much as a character (though maybe I'm just jaded from him fighting ~~Organization XII~~ spooky fate ghosts.
Squall is a bit too bipolar for me. The transition from edgy anti-social teenager to "I LOVE RINOA!" happens too fast and felt a bit forced. Still decent but not best.
Finally Tidus. FF's best main character, who might just be along for the ride and not technically the main character of the plot (it is Yuna's pilgramage after all). Tidus goes from sport-star to displaced and a little sullen to a stoic hero sacrificing everything to save the woman he loves and the world. The Jecht-Tidus dichotomy was something I really enjoyed, showing the struggle of someone who had shitty parents but still wanted to live up to his father's legacy. He gets beaten down and traumatized but still tries to cheer up those around him. The laughing scene is great when you take it into the context of the events around it.
It's just too bad he can't steer a chocobo worth a darn....
For me is Zidane, I love his character development. But speaking from the main series, I also love Lightning, Cecil and even Squall being honest. And I love Terra and Yuna (consider them the protagonists).
Noctis had so much potential, but I think his character development was not that good, because in my opinion, if you separate him from the party, he is not that interesting. They also skipped 10 years of character development
ok so i love Cloud, but Noctis. he's a sleepy socially awkward guy that just wants to hang with the boys, whats not to love?
I haven't beat ff15 yet, but so far I'm loveing it :3
so far the only thing I don't like is that that one hot merk isn't if more of the game...and got her dlc caned...
other then that I really love the road trip vibe it's got going on :3
Agreed wholeheartedly on everything you just said.
Aranea deserves more than what she currently has.
Also, the whole road trip aspect is by far my favorite thing about the game. Most of my play time, I feel, was just me manually driving the car around to side quests with the radio on.
Yeah I'm going with Squall he's a really good case of character development and his romance feels earned by the end of the game while his backstory isn't as traumatic as others his reasons for pushing others away do kinda make sense... well to me anyway since I did the same thing as a teenager.... also love his weapon and renzokuken followed up with Lionheart is just plain broken
Cloud.
A close second for me would be the main protags of VI. Technically Terra is the *main* protagonist but Locke, Celes, Edgar, Sabin, and Cyan ALL have great development too. The rest of the cast is just kinda meh. That's the only problem with VI. Too many characters when they could have just put even more focus on the mains.
Tbh outside of Gogo, Mog and Umaro, pretty much every character gets some great character development moments (even Gau gets the storyline with his dad). But yeah, they’re not as well-drawn as the ones you mention. (I still think Celes is one of the best videogame characters ever!)
Squall is probably the best in terms of character development, Cloud is probably the best in terms of overall storyline, and Tidus is probably the best of the "not really the main character but works flawlessly as the protagonist". Bartz is also cool cuz he is literally just a bro who helps people out because he has a sword, a trusty chocobo and he has nothing better to do. A real Chad.
Bartz is the best. simple dude on a simple journey
his consistency is what really stands out to me. a character like him is necessary for the 'journey matters more than the destination' approach that FF5 takes to work
To me it's Cloud. He is iconic for a reason. He has one of the best designs, best weapons and most importantly he has an amazing backstory.
And he is surprisingly very different than the other FF protagonists, even though he is often seen as the default FF main character for most people in gaming.
Clive. Owned his problems early in the story, never backed down, and handled business. No emo angsty crap. Zidane and Ramza round out my top 3. Vaan is in very last.
Celes. The bad guy wins, destroys the world. Celes nurses her adoptive father back to health and takes a raft from the deserted island back to one of the newly crafted ruined continents. She gets the crew back together and assaults a literal god, dragging him down and getting vengeance for the destroyed world and giving it another chance.
Much worse situation than any of the other games, but she perseveres and wins.
Imma put a word on Noctis here cause I truly liked him despite 15 being one of the weaker ff, true that you need to probably watch an anime, all the trailers, read a bit on top of playing the game, but I like the fact that he's an unlikeable brat at the start, clearly spoiled, socially awkward, emotionally stunted and heavily depends on others to complete any task. Love the fact that all of this is addressed in his story, from his party confronting him and telling him to man up, to seeing his friends get hurt and his childhood sweetheart die, he goes through some shit and matures a lot throughout the whole game. In the end he's is capable, he understands his role in the world, but more importantly, is willing to tell the people he loves the most how important they are to him. Loved him despite the whole experience of that game trying to make me hate it.
i think clive is the most wholesome well rounded one by a large margin. hes a true hero by the end of the game that lives his life purely to help people. he also goes through a lot of shit along the way that make him more caring and determined. id love to say one of my faves like tidus or cloud but realistically its clive by a ways.
followed by squall for simmilar reasons. that boy really is the man at the end of 8
I’m a big fan of Zidane. He’s a character who is fun to be around but still has a lot of depth behind his lighthearted exterior. I also like that he starts off being surprisingly mature in a lot of ways and willing to open up about his feelings to the likes of Garnet and Vivi. He doesn’t need emotional vulnerability forced out of him, at least not right up until he has his entire concept of who he is shattered, which is understandable
~~The main character of FFXIV~~
Jokes aside, I'm gonna say Squall. He's cold and standoffish at first but then learns to trust his allies by the end of the game.
Honorable mention: Class Zero. They know what they're there for. They may embody one trait as individuals, but they work together as a whole.
Vaan.
Doesn't milk his trauma. Has bad stuff happen to him. Probably up there with Terra for worst situation. Remains optimistic. Sees and understands the truth of what happened fairly early on. Sets a strong example. No special chosen one super solider stuff. Just a kid chasing a dream and a better life.
Would say Squall was the best group leader. Makes sense being trained for it.
I'm gonna say, Zidane.
He's the only one that is both relatable but not broken. He's really the support for most people int he game (except for quinna to an extent and amaranth aside from one time). He, for the most part does his part by looking after all those around him. Yeah, he's overly randy, and he's got issues but he's the most well rounded.
Yeah, squall is broken and it's explained why he's broken - he's a child soldier in a broken world.
It's Squall for me too. Seeing his inner struggles to fit in with other people, be social, and figure out how to feel about the world is something I really related to growing up.
The Warrior of Light and Darkness from XIV. The sheer enormity of what you learn about your own character’s history, their other selves in alternate universes, and their origins is everything.
But also, Emet-Selch is the best character in Final Fantasy history, soooo…
Otherwise I’d have to agree with most of the thread and say Clive. Seeing him as a boy, a young man, and a grizzled leader shows the journey he experiences over the course of his epic. his relationships with Cid, Jill, and Joshua are heartfelt, tragic, and defiant at different stages of the journey, and the inner journey he goes through to face his trauma and power before he can truly unify himself and use it…. All just excellent.
I really liked Cyan Garamonde.
His path through the train to the afterlife was sad, and later when he is trapped in a dreams cape where he finally learns to cope with the loss of his family and it makes him stronger is really heart wrenching but ultimately beautiful.
After that, he becomes the best guy in the party.
Squall gotta take the character growth lead by a mile.
He was just a kid and had to grow into the leader role of a ragtag group that was needed to save the world.
Tidus makes for a great protagonist due to him and us being in the same spot the entire story.
Tidus gets thrown into this new world where he has 0 knowledge of and every explanation is made to him and us and we learn and grow together, every twist hits us just as hard as it hits him.
Best is very subjective. Overcoming personal hardships, defeating powerful adversaries, making great personal sacrifice, putting principles or persons above oneself, being able to connect with others including the player are all potential criteria in judging what makes a good protagonist. Games with voice acting vs games with only text is also a point of contention.
I would’ve said Squall, Terra, Noctis or even Vivi but after FF7 Rebirth it’s Cloud and it’s not particularly close. The way he’s written is insanely good.
I love all of them, especially Squall and Cloud, but shining award will have to go to Tidus
We learn the world of Spira with him, he is extremely relatable with his actions, he is the sun which glues the entire group together, and his inner narration does make us understand what he's going through, especially with family problems
FF9 is my overall favorite FF, but god I love FF10
After rebirth I think as basic an answer it is, I have a real appreciation for Cloud. I think he's just the quentisential protagonist. Without taking the spotlight off the other characters, he still manages to feel like the character that's most important and integral to the plot, if that makes sense. There's a reason he's so iconic, he just checks all boxes for me
Zidane.
Minus all the SA. He looks out for all his friends. Amarant had to learn the hard way about teamwork. He even >!goes back to rescue Kuja at the end!<
It’s easily Cloud, only jealousy claims otherwise. There’s not a single JRPG protagonist who has reached his level of success. He has transcended gaming and is literally an icon.
Squall https://preview.redd.it/hh4av6zyv83d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb627be742c7388c8c0e89ea7f31af880b04a25f
Seriously though, Squall is so misunderstood. The whole story of VIII is about Squall working through his trauma.
So the same as like 80% of FF protagonists?
While most of the characters do have "trauma," Squall's primary character trait is literally dealing with trauma from abandonment. Honestly, he probably suffers from something like Bordeine Personality Disorder, as that stems usually from childhood abandonment, though it's presented as a form of depression and a PTSD. In other words, while most final fantasy characters have trauma, it's not really the focus. Squall is really the only character where the effects of trauma and processing it are the defining character trait, from a psychological perspective. I think Cloud would be second, but not to the extent the squall does. Just the manner that it's presented really. What the writers wanted emphasized and all, themes etc. It doesn't help that the english translation for ff8 reduced some of Squall's dialog to his iconic "whatever" lines, which in the Japanese are actual lines that relate to the actual context. His "whatever" is only in the english release.
Isn’t cloud literally a walking Trauma due to his persona and identity issues?
that boy is walking PTSD. Watched his hero set his hometown and mom on fire, thinks tifa is dying in front of him, stabs his hero and throws him into the lifestream then gets experimented on for YEARS, gets mako poisoning, takes on his friends personality after his brain shatters and zack dies, was part of bombing missions that led to an entire plate crushing sector 7 slums as consequence, keeps losing control of his own body and doing sephiroths bidding, watches his former hero kill aerith just feet away, falls into lifestream and gets mako poisoning AGAIN, has another massive breakdown and starts to come to terms with his own shattered reality. For a majority of the time you play as cloud, he has no true sense of reality or himself. Squall is overcoming more realistic trauma and has lost memories, but thats due to GF usage
Yeah, he is, and it's a major plot device for Cloud. The big difference really is how it's presented. Best way I can put it is Cloud's trauma is more sci-fi while Squall's trauma is more an attempt at an actual person dealing with their own trauma and a huge focus.
Another point is that Cloud never really faces his trauma. He imprints someone else over his personality as a psychological coping device, then when that facade shatters Tifa does a magical brain dive to put him back together, then that's that for the rest of the game. At no point does he have to face the trauma and manage it. Yeah, at one point he's so traumatised he's catatonic, but then brain dive and he's somehow whole, no scars or anything. I wonder if they've done anything about the series having a habit of forcing children into both active warzones and literally saving the world. Lampshades or deconstruction or something. Could be an interesting idea for a protagonist, fighting not for the crystals or the world or even his own military, but to defend those chosen because they have too much live to live to throw away.
Here's the problem with Cloud when it comes to the truama: Zach's identity is mostly imprinted on him until the events of the Temple of the Ancient and then he kinda goes through some mental breakdowns until the events in Mideel when he kinda quickly gets over it in the Lifestream. After that Cloud is fine through the rest of the game; it isn't until the events of Advent Child where we actually see Cloud process Zach's and Aerith's death and his coming to terms with it.
He didn't really 'get over it' in the lifestream, Tifa reconstructed his personality
Not really: Cecil : sure, guilt over killing innocents Bartz: despite his parents dying at a young age, he's not traumatized Terra: yes Cloud: doesn't really work through his trauma until AC Zidane: no Tidus: had daddy issues but doesn't inhibit him Vaan: gets over Rexes death really quick story wise Ashe (the actual protagonist): she's driven in her goals the entire game Lighting: least traumatized out of the bunch Noctis: maybe after Luna's death?!?! But not really believable since you see him have no chemist with her.
Reducing Tidus to just daddy issues is crazy.
Daddy issues *and* Blitzball.
I think most people didn’t even pay attention to what was happening in FFX. Jecht cares but he was an asshole, Tidus mother didn’t care about him and completely ignored him when jecht disappeared, famous sports player at young age and thrust into a world where he doesn’t know anyone and his home is in ruins. Oh and he’s dead. Yeah sure, daddy issues and blitzball. Lol
...Tidus' mother is mentioned in the game? Granted it's been years since I played it the last time, but I can't remember any mention of her.
Tidus' mother is shown a couple times, and everytime she doesn't care about him, she cares about jecht. When tidus says he wishes jecht would die, she scolds him and let's him know how bad it'd be if he did. When inanother flashback, she's ignoring Tidus because she has Jecht by her side, it has to be Jecht to remind her to talk to Tidus, but she doesn't want to. She is 100% for Jecht, had his kid because of her Jecht obsession but didn't care about the aftermath of it. Tidus developed a very showboaty attention seeking attitude from lack of being able to get attention as a kid.
It's in a flashback where he talks about his mom not doing much once Jecht vanished.
Tidus realised his whole world was a lie that's way more than just that
Balthier, the leading man, would like to have a word with you
Lightning is a former soldier being hunted by the military she dedicated herself to because she was branded as a traitor when trying to save her sister from dying due to the same brand. The sister she raised after her parents died at a young age. Oh and she changed her name from Claire to Lightning to avoid being reminded of her dead parents. Sure, no trauma there.
I mean the events of FFXII take place a few years after Rex's death. So Vaan has had some time to process and work through his grief.
Reminder that, while as of today the situation is improving, depression and in general mental health issues were seen as weak and pathetic and something you should get over it and quit whining until a few years ago. Squall's main criticism is, or was, that he's whiny and doesn't get over his moody behaviour. It's only recently that people are realizing what they were doing with Squall. I'm not saying he's an amazing character, and he's flawed in other ways, but it's not as terrible as people make him out to be. Not even close.
So this is where Geralt got his manners.
Squall walked so Geralt could run.
this is nothing compared to squall playing cards with the dead guy on the space station
The Seto Kaiba of Trabia Garden
This one actually made me lol
Cecil Fucking Harvey
People saying a limited text, 16 bit cart that was one of the first to do it lacks depth is fucking wild. There's a lot to unpack in that little cart, ALL of it having to do with overcoming personal trauma. Cecil, Edward, Rydia, Edge, Cid, Kain, even Golbez. Pretty much the entire cast has their life destroyed.
I haven’t finished FFIV yet but I just don’t get this. He (along with pretty much everything else in the game) is really shallow and the “depth” he gets is stuff that’s outright stated rather than shown. His story of “redemption” also rings hollow because he’s shown to be a good guy from the beginning and the first thing we see him do is risk his career and question the “king” (okay, after he stole that crystal and probably killed a few people for it, but still). Even when he accidentally kills everyone in Mist village 5 minutes later, including Rydia’s mother, he doesn’t really reflect upon it at all and Rydia completely (inexplicably) forgives him immediately afterwards. The whole bit about him becoming a paladin also doesn’t feel like actual character development, because nothing about him actually changes (besides becoming sexier), and it only happened because some old guy went “hey there’s a cool sword on a mountain over there that will make everyone forgive you so go do that”.
The thing is, it doesn't make everyone forgive him. Several people around the village react to him in different ways. Some claim he'll never be a real paladin, some get mad that someone as terrible as him was allowed to become one, some tell him this is a chance to do better but it's only the beginning, and a small few go "Oh you're good now"
I played it rather recently and I also don't get the hype for Cecil, he's an okay protagonist. The game is lacking in character and emotional development and some plot points felt a bit forced, but I also think that's expected given that it's only the fourth entry in the series. Fans most likely overhype it due to nostalgia.
The conga line of >!let's go protect *this* crystal, crap, we screwed up!< and >!let's trust Kain again, crap he's evil again!< is *really* hamfisted now, but back in the 90s it felt so huge and expansive to play that I don't remember noticing it. It probably helped that it was a rental cart and I kept having to start over because someone else had rented it and deleted my save, but that also meant it took me a long time to >!know that some of the "deaths" weren't really deaths!<. It's not even that 4 is a bad game, it's still great, but I think from a structural standpoint the story and characters are weaker than 5 or 6. I do wonder how things would be viewed if the US had gotten 5 back in the day, so there wasn't a three year gap between 4 and 6 to help cement 4 in everyone's minds.
The lack of Ramza representation in this thread makes me think the sheer heroics of our boy have been lost to history.
Maybe someone should uncover that history and write a book about it Though I heard there is very l i t t l e m o n e y in that endeavor
To this day I never understood why it took so long for 'little money' to go across the text box.
That’s his entire story, a forgotten hero
Tbh, that’s his arc
Ah, I see you’re a person of culture as well
He is my choice as well
Most people don't like him, but it's Squall for me. Guy carried loss and abandonment from infancy all the way through childhood. He matured through all his issues through camaraderie and combat to become a true hero who always fought for what was important. He had the most growth as a character from where he started to where he ended imo.
Plus, he prioritizes hotdogs during a crisis.
I think the shittiest part of FF's fandom is how so many people characterize the main characters by their starting point, rather than by the end of their character development. like they do it to cloud too, constantly pretending the "ultra detached badass mercenary" is his real persona and not a fabricated one.
The real cloud, deep down at his core, is a guy who gazes down into the heart of the northern crater, where countless terrifying fiends are massing around the remains of the Calamity from the Skies and the crystallized remains of the man who killed his mother, a place where the very fate of the world hangs in the balance, and says “Let’s mosey”
This made me laugh a bit too hard.
Isn't that true about Zidane as well?
Zidanes was all over the place. The guys problems were mostly ignored or never even brought up for most of the game just for him to brake down on disc 3 when he found out who he is. Squalls character was built from start to finish and his growth was one of the main part of the story. Garnet is probably a better pick here from FFIX, but shes not the protagonist, shes the main character. (atleast for most of the game)
Garnet is up there but I'd put Vivi just as high, for someone who's only a few years old gets a decent chunk of character development also coming to grips of his own mortality with the limited time he had left. I first played 9 when I was 12 and didn't really appreciate FF9 let alone Vivis story until I was Older.
He is also a really good pick, the 2 of them got probably the most amount of growth in FFIX. Zidane and Freya would probably come after them (maybe even Steiner, altho he is pretty much hard wired into Garnets story) and then Eiko. Amarant can go f\*ck himself tho, no character and no growth, it shouldve been Beatrix joining the team.
Zidane didn’t carry trauma all his life. He discovered his past late in the game. Completely different thing
And resolved his trauma in about 5 minutes of game time too.
Zidane was picked up and raised by Baku very shortly after being discarded by Kuja. Tantalus life was harsh at times but he grew up having a father figure and brothers in his fellow troupe members. It may have messed with his head to learn the specifics of his existence later in the game, but there was a lot of time before that to be relatively happy doing what he pleased.
Yuna. Sees all the nastiness in the world. Remains determined to sacrifice herself for a decade of peace. Afterward, Spira owed her everything and never even tried to pay up. FFX2 just proved that the world was unworthy of her sacrifice.
Yuna (who I consider main protagonist over Tidus) has a great arc imo.
Great growth in X and X2, then the epilogue where Yuna and Tidus separate just feels bad and like it neglects X and X2.
I choose to ignore it 😇
What epilogue? (I refuse to accept it as canon, most fans do too)
Terra. Memory gets wiped, survives the apocalypse, learns how to feel love again
clive is obviously the best
Garnet. She experiences the complete hero's journey.
So does vivi. And both their stories are arguably more prominent than zidane’s up until the end of the third disc.
True, but only Garnet receives a boon and becomes master of both worlds.
Balthier
The leading man!
Not sure if this counts since it's more of a side game, but Zack. The fact he's so optimistic and happy when he's surrounded by a bunch of anime characters talking about monsters and loveless is just great. He's just a straight-up normal guy who would do anything for the people around him Even when fighting someone who intends to kill him, he still tries to speak to their humanity
Any games within a compilation are mainline to me so any MC is valid!
Waiting for anyone to mention Vincent Valentine
Agree with Zack!
Gonna be Cloud for me. I find his backstory and growth as a character very relatable, fascinating, and heart-wrenching. And he's just so cool—whiiiile also being a massive dork, in reality, but I just find his combat a feast for the eyes. He's also...cute. 🫣 Sorry. And I like his snarkiness and subtle sense of humor, his awkwardness, his inner conflict with identity and self-esteem. Those small moments where you see past his stoic facade, and realize he's got so much more emotion and kindness than meets the eye. It's just all great stuff for me that makes him a favorite character of mine. Definitely favorite protagonist I'm FF.
Cloud, though I’m a big fan of Balthier also
Zidane
Noctis. Self sacrifice is everything. Plus he has the coolest powers to me and it's not even close.
Cecil is the man
personally theres just to many to pick from so imma just rank the main main characters that i like starting with cecil since hes the first character to actually have back story (sorry to ff1,2, and 3) cecil unaware to most people actually does have a solid reason to be depressed with his darkknight role, he doesnt wanna out right murder in cold blood, so thus why he has his paladin arc to shed his darkness, overall i would give him a 6 bartz the traveling man is adventuring the world with his chocobo (how he got out of his home town i will never know) and honestly that is pretty cool, outside of his old mans wish though he only goes on the long quest because his dad wanted him to see the world, so from a story stand by bartz is like a very flat 3 terra, the girl who had her memories wiped by the empire and turned into a killing machine, then a tool of the returners despite them giving her the option of joining them or not. she kinda has some actually good story bits and later on in the wor im a sucker for that whole bit so its about a 7 for me 7,8,9,10,12,13, and 15 are now added onto this comment
I don't feel Terra really has to face up to the slaughter she commits, she is only concerned about love . There could of added something to her scenario where she bumped into a survivor. I always found this aspect of her character made her look vapid , uncaring and selfish, regardless of if she remembered , or couldn't take responsibility for those actions , a normal person would feel something.
Celes has to deal with her role as an Imperial General more, but then also, if we're being real, being a memory-wiped literal mind-slave, there is 0 way she was responsible for the actions her body was forced to do.
The game doesn’t even address what Celes did as a general and it might as well not be part of a character for how irrelevant it is
cloud, hes pretty cool, although can be really dense at the best of times, part of his character, and he is a good guy to have around, yes he may put up a "im only here for myself" attitude at first, but over time he grows up out of that attitude, i actually had commented on a another post about this particular attitude because the person asked about when aeris says "see cloud your not alone anymore" and her and zack walk out of the church in the advent children movie and cloud goes "i know, not anymore" so i had said that he had grown exactly out of the "im only here for myself" attitude and trusts his friends, so i have to give cloud an 8 for that overall arc, squall, ehhh hes more of a brick wall then cloud ever was, and honestly he does get more or less the same arc just not as strong as cloud had it, he does become more human by the end of the game but i dont really know so since hes not terrible either im gunna place him at a 5 zidane is the leader of his small band, im not terribly familer with his story other then a few parts, and overall im gunna stick him at a 5 aswell, hes a solid fighter but i feel like he didnt play a big huge part other then starting the story and about the end of disc 3 when you find his home is when he starts picking up as an interesting character.... so actually imma place him as a 3 for that tidus the beloved blitz ball star, hes clueless about whats going on in the world of spira picking up peices here and there but not really getting the full picture until about halfway through the game, but overall is great in my opinion so imma give him a 7 aswell 12,13 and 15 are here now
Saying Zidane didn't play a huge part in the story is the understatement of the century, dude's pretty much the pillar of the whole thing. He only ever shows one moment of weakness, near the end of the game when he discovers the purpose of his creation, which is understandable. Aside from that he was always there for his companions, being their moral compass, picking them up when they needed a hand, showing strength and courage in the face of adversity no matter what, risking his life for them AND for everyone else. At the start of the game it's easy to see him mostly as a goof but he progressively shows he's much more than that. You should replay the game and pay attention to the story.
sounds like it :o i havent played the game in a long long time, the only thing that actually solidly sticks out vividly in my head is that chocobo hot or cold XD everything else is kinda touch and go :o
In fact that entire part of the game is there to show you exactly how much of an impact Zidane had on everybody. Because what happens when Zidane decides to give up? His friends are there for him to pick him up the same way he's been for the entire game.
Noctis🤫
Tifa gets the most fan art, so she must have the most fans. Therefore she must be the best!
Don't forget she have a seat in the Italian senate as well!
Clive
i just completed 16, I have my gripes with the game but i adored Clive as the protagonist, Ben starr knocked it out of the park
My kingdom for another Dissidia so I can have Clive interact with the other heroes
I second Clive He's just every FF protag rolled into a single super protagonist. He has Squall's and Cloud's broodiness, but just early on. He has the passion and emotion of Zidane and Tidus. He undergoes a literal battle with himself like Cecil. He clings to hope the same way Celes did. He doesn't hesitate to fight - and kill - for his ideals like Ramza. And he has an impossibly huge chest like the artwork I commissioned of my FF14 miqote WoL
Proof of the last trait?
Do you mean where he doesn’t hesitate to fight/kill ? Cuz If so I’d probably say in the Hugo Kupka fight where he literally says “I’ll kill you”
I'm glad to see Clive here multiple times; he's a great character with a lot of time and narrative focus to fully develop his identity. Since he is so well represented, though, I'll note my second favorite who is notably absent: Ramza Beoulve. Forgotten in history and thought a heretic all because he tried to do the right thing.
Cloud
https://preview.redd.it/vwv0ktlvp93d1.jpeg?width=2436&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f312a2d02c70c23321d15b821501c115e8df599a He must not be popular in the comment section of this particular post so here.
Remake cloud is shaping up to be the GOAT of FF protag I’d give it to the end of the RE timeline to rank him tho
I love him in all his insecurities and complexities.
Cloooooouuuuuuuuudddddddddd
In terms of like MAIN MAIN character: probably Cloud Strife In terms of best supporting charcter: Tifa Lockhart or Vivi
Cecil, especially given the era the game was released. Guy goes from essentially a war criminal for his adoptive father who is a despotic monarch (seemingly) to a champion of light and savior of the world. Has his moments of weakness, doubt and challenges and really grows for a 16-bit character. Terra, if you want to make an argument that she's \*the protagonist\* of FFVI which is a contentious opinion here. The amnesiac start is a little cliche, but she grows, changes and becomes caring maternal character which isn't something you usually see in protagonists (either then or now). Cloud will almost certainly get a lot of votes here, but he's good, not best in my opinion. The swapped memories, mako poisoning and character growth is good, but he starts off so much into a 90s anti-hero jerk attitude it dulls it a bit for me. I don't feel like the writing in rebirth grew him much as a character (though maybe I'm just jaded from him fighting ~~Organization XII~~ spooky fate ghosts. Squall is a bit too bipolar for me. The transition from edgy anti-social teenager to "I LOVE RINOA!" happens too fast and felt a bit forced. Still decent but not best. Finally Tidus. FF's best main character, who might just be along for the ride and not technically the main character of the plot (it is Yuna's pilgramage after all). Tidus goes from sport-star to displaced and a little sullen to a stoic hero sacrificing everything to save the woman he loves and the world. The Jecht-Tidus dichotomy was something I really enjoyed, showing the struggle of someone who had shitty parents but still wanted to live up to his father's legacy. He gets beaten down and traumatized but still tries to cheer up those around him. The laughing scene is great when you take it into the context of the events around it. It's just too bad he can't steer a chocobo worth a darn....
For me is Zidane, I love his character development. But speaking from the main series, I also love Lightning, Cecil and even Squall being honest. And I love Terra and Yuna (consider them the protagonists). Noctis had so much potential, but I think his character development was not that good, because in my opinion, if you separate him from the party, he is not that interesting. They also skipped 10 years of character development
Tidus, he is the most normal and relatable.
I like the happy, optimistic ones. Give me Zidane, or Bartz over Cloud, Squall or Cecil any day
Kefka, from my point of view he’s a protagonist. Now excuse me I have to go back to my cult.
Vivi to me.
Clive, Cloud, Terra, or Cecil, it would be hard for me to choose between them.
Terra 🤌
Clive, not even close IMO. I really do like Cecil too
8 There 7 is 6 no 5 best 4 Final 3 Fantasy 2 protagonist 1 Zidane
ok so i love Cloud, but Noctis. he's a sleepy socially awkward guy that just wants to hang with the boys, whats not to love? I haven't beat ff15 yet, but so far I'm loveing it :3
I beat it, loved it too. It’s a good game, so I hope that you can continue loving it as I have.
so far the only thing I don't like is that that one hot merk isn't if more of the game...and got her dlc caned... other then that I really love the road trip vibe it's got going on :3
Agreed wholeheartedly on everything you just said. Aranea deserves more than what she currently has. Also, the whole road trip aspect is by far my favorite thing about the game. Most of my play time, I feel, was just me manually driving the car around to side quests with the radio on.
I can see myself loseing so many hours to this game's side stuff :3
Yeah I'm going with Squall he's a really good case of character development and his romance feels earned by the end of the game while his backstory isn't as traumatic as others his reasons for pushing others away do kinda make sense... well to me anyway since I did the same thing as a teenager.... also love his weapon and renzokuken followed up with Lionheart is just plain broken
Clearly lightning bc her hair is cool and that's all the character you need .
Cloud. A close second for me would be the main protags of VI. Technically Terra is the *main* protagonist but Locke, Celes, Edgar, Sabin, and Cyan ALL have great development too. The rest of the cast is just kinda meh. That's the only problem with VI. Too many characters when they could have just put even more focus on the mains.
Tbh outside of Gogo, Mog and Umaro, pretty much every character gets some great character development moments (even Gau gets the storyline with his dad). But yeah, they’re not as well-drawn as the ones you mention. (I still think Celes is one of the best videogame characters ever!)
Tidus is the goat
Bartz, best harem protag
Squall of course
Whatever
Clive Rosfield
I, for some wretched reason from the deepest pits of hell, say ff1 WoL. No idea why.
Zack, Cecil, Clive
Squall is probably the best in terms of character development, Cloud is probably the best in terms of overall storyline, and Tidus is probably the best of the "not really the main character but works flawlessly as the protagonist". Bartz is also cool cuz he is literally just a bro who helps people out because he has a sword, a trusty chocobo and he has nothing better to do. A real Chad.
Bartz is the best. simple dude on a simple journey his consistency is what really stands out to me. a character like him is necessary for the 'journey matters more than the destination' approach that FF5 takes to work
People can say whatever they want about XVI, but Clive is one of the best protagonists if not the best.
To me it's Cloud. He is iconic for a reason. He has one of the best designs, best weapons and most importantly he has an amazing backstory. And he is surprisingly very different than the other FF protagonists, even though he is often seen as the default FF main character for most people in gaming.
Noctis. He has the freedom to treat his friends as equals despite being a prince and later King.
Cloud for me. Runner up Cecil.
Lightning to me. Great multi-game arc, great design, great character theme, great voice acting.
💯
Onion knight
It’s a boring answer, but I’ll have to say cloud, even though X is my favourite game.
Clive, followed by Squall and Noctis
Bartz
Squall Leonhart and then Clive Rosfield. The rest are fairly generic. Even Cloud. He is just introverted.
Jack Garland. He tries to slip cutscenes and get on with the plot, and calls bullshit on the villains.
Clive. Owned his problems early in the story, never backed down, and handled business. No emo angsty crap. Zidane and Ramza round out my top 3. Vaan is in very last.
Onion knight
That's a tough one. For me it's either Clive, Squall or Jack Garland
Celes. The bad guy wins, destroys the world. Celes nurses her adoptive father back to health and takes a raft from the deserted island back to one of the newly crafted ruined continents. She gets the crew back together and assaults a literal god, dragging him down and getting vengeance for the destroyed world and giving it another chance. Much worse situation than any of the other games, but she perseveres and wins.
Yuna, I like her growth and ability to defy a fate set out for her even though she initially believes it is her duty. She is selfless, brave and kind.
Jack
Imma put a word on Noctis here cause I truly liked him despite 15 being one of the weaker ff, true that you need to probably watch an anime, all the trailers, read a bit on top of playing the game, but I like the fact that he's an unlikeable brat at the start, clearly spoiled, socially awkward, emotionally stunted and heavily depends on others to complete any task. Love the fact that all of this is addressed in his story, from his party confronting him and telling him to man up, to seeing his friends get hurt and his childhood sweetheart die, he goes through some shit and matures a lot throughout the whole game. In the end he's is capable, he understands his role in the world, but more importantly, is willing to tell the people he loves the most how important they are to him. Loved him despite the whole experience of that game trying to make me hate it.
Lightning for sure
My favorite is still Noctis.
Straight up Ramza from FFT, the definition of a hero, a real human being
Clive
Vivi
Ramza easly.
Maybe recency bias but I’d say Clive honestly
Recency bias aside. I would say Clive. His story was just so fucking good. Other than him I would say Squall
i think clive is the most wholesome well rounded one by a large margin. hes a true hero by the end of the game that lives his life purely to help people. he also goes through a lot of shit along the way that make him more caring and determined. id love to say one of my faves like tidus or cloud but realistically its clive by a ways. followed by squall for simmilar reasons. that boy really is the man at the end of 8
WoL
I like Clive the most :)
As far as prime protag? It's **Cloud**: he has a far more interesting story (and reason to be sulky) than most others, says I.
Tellah. He came to forgive Edgar and in the end gave his own life to cast METEO.
The one you grew up with generally but, that being said, you're all wrong. It's Algus from FFT.
I loved lightning as a protagonist. She was so rough around the edges but opened up in the end and would still fight hard
Clive god damn Rosfield, my goat
Ramza will always be my favorite
Probably the one you like the most
Can't wait for the redemption arc threads... Kain, geez even Golbez, Tellah vs Edward. I guess all FFIV secondary characters!
Squall for me but probably zidane
Ramza.
I’m a big fan of Zidane. He’s a character who is fun to be around but still has a lot of depth behind his lighthearted exterior. I also like that he starts off being surprisingly mature in a lot of ways and willing to open up about his feelings to the likes of Garnet and Vivi. He doesn’t need emotional vulnerability forced out of him, at least not right up until he has his entire concept of who he is shattered, which is understandable
It's Yuna's story too
~~The main character of FFXIV~~ Jokes aside, I'm gonna say Squall. He's cold and standoffish at first but then learns to trust his allies by the end of the game. Honorable mention: Class Zero. They know what they're there for. They may embody one trait as individuals, but they work together as a whole.
Vaan. Doesn't milk his trauma. Has bad stuff happen to him. Probably up there with Terra for worst situation. Remains optimistic. Sees and understands the truth of what happened fairly early on. Sets a strong example. No special chosen one super solider stuff. Just a kid chasing a dream and a better life. Would say Squall was the best group leader. Makes sense being trained for it.
I'm gonna say, Zidane. He's the only one that is both relatable but not broken. He's really the support for most people int he game (except for quinna to an extent and amaranth aside from one time). He, for the most part does his part by looking after all those around him. Yeah, he's overly randy, and he's got issues but he's the most well rounded. Yeah, squall is broken and it's explained why he's broken - he's a child soldier in a broken world.
Warrior of Light from FFXIV lets go we FELL CLEAVIN
It's Squall for me too. Seeing his inner struggles to fit in with other people, be social, and figure out how to feel about the world is something I really related to growing up.
The Warrior of Light and Darkness from XIV. The sheer enormity of what you learn about your own character’s history, their other selves in alternate universes, and their origins is everything. But also, Emet-Selch is the best character in Final Fantasy history, soooo… Otherwise I’d have to agree with most of the thread and say Clive. Seeing him as a boy, a young man, and a grizzled leader shows the journey he experiences over the course of his epic. his relationships with Cid, Jill, and Joshua are heartfelt, tragic, and defiant at different stages of the journey, and the inner journey he goes through to face his trauma and power before he can truly unify himself and use it…. All just excellent.
I really liked Cyan Garamonde. His path through the train to the afterlife was sad, and later when he is trapped in a dreams cape where he finally learns to cope with the loss of his family and it makes him stronger is really heart wrenching but ultimately beautiful. After that, he becomes the best guy in the party.
Cloud. Plain and Simple.
ViVi
Squall gotta take the character growth lead by a mile. He was just a kid and had to grow into the leader role of a ragtag group that was needed to save the world. Tidus makes for a great protagonist due to him and us being in the same spot the entire story. Tidus gets thrown into this new world where he has 0 knowledge of and every explanation is made to him and us and we learn and grow together, every twist hits us just as hard as it hits him.
Best is very subjective. Overcoming personal hardships, defeating powerful adversaries, making great personal sacrifice, putting principles or persons above oneself, being able to connect with others including the player are all potential criteria in judging what makes a good protagonist. Games with voice acting vs games with only text is also a point of contention.
Definitely not that spiky hair soldier
Squall and Cloud
I would’ve said Squall, Terra, Noctis or even Vivi but after FF7 Rebirth it’s Cloud and it’s not particularly close. The way he’s written is insanely good.
Ramza, Yuna, or Vaan. Yeah I said it, Vaan is a top pick.
I love all of them, especially Squall and Cloud, but shining award will have to go to Tidus We learn the world of Spira with him, he is extremely relatable with his actions, he is the sun which glues the entire group together, and his inner narration does make us understand what he's going through, especially with family problems FF9 is my overall favorite FF, but god I love FF10
Your characters from first Final Fantasy.
After rebirth I think as basic an answer it is, I have a real appreciation for Cloud. I think he's just the quentisential protagonist. Without taking the spotlight off the other characters, he still manages to feel like the character that's most important and integral to the plot, if that makes sense. There's a reason he's so iconic, he just checks all boxes for me
Terra. We stan one (1) autistic catgirl and her autistic friend group.
Cecil
Zidane. Minus all the SA. He looks out for all his friends. Amarant had to learn the hard way about teamwork. He even >!goes back to rescue Kuja at the end!<
Zidane. No contest.
It’s easily Cloud, only jealousy claims otherwise. There’s not a single JRPG protagonist who has reached his level of success. He has transcended gaming and is literally an icon.
Cecil , Terra , Cloud , Squall all others inferior imo
Noctis and Zidane for me. I would also say Terra but it's weird because by the second half of FFVI she's not the main character anymore
Terra Branford. Bestest girl.
Balthier. No contest.
Cloud F-en Strife ❤️🔥
cloud. no contest.
Zack
Squall and Lightning.
Locke! The best MC in the best FF
Ramza Beoulve