Summary
TheFinal Fantasyseries would be nothing without its characters, which, game after game, prove to remain some of the most beloved ensembles in gaming. Still, a few of these characters either fall through the cracks in terms of deserved popularity, or arestraight-up condemned to eternal hatefor nearly incomprehensible reasons.
Pretty much allFinal Fantasygames feature both excellent and (unintentionally) despicable characters, so this list aims to celebrate those easily forgotten and most underrated characters from the series. It’s time to have a look at some of the most unfairly treated characters in the history of theFinal Fantasyseries.
Shera spends most of the game getting eaten away by guilt and being psychologically abused by Cid, who blames her for making a mistake that destroyed his career. It’s absolutely bizarre that Cid is such a popular character — especially in a game withso many popular charactersalready — when he’s so openly monstrous to Shera.
Shera dedicates her entire life to Cid in an attempt to make up for what she thinks she did wrong, but the truth is that she wasn’t even to blame for the accident in the first place. The game goes down a really iffy path here, as Cid supposedly finds redemption by apologizing to her, but for the wrong reason. He apologizes for realizing she was not the culprit, and not because he was awful the entire time. Shera is one of the most loving and dedicated characters in the series, and she never even gets the apology she deserved.
Vaan is easily one of the least-liked main characters in the history of the series, and it’s hard to understand why. Many complain that he has no stakes in the game and is just along for the ride, but that’s not true. He’s not royalty, but he’s lost as much as anyone else to the war, so it’s great to see a commoner’s point of view in such a scenario.
Also, he has his own hopes and dreams, which are very similar to those of Luke Skywalker, a character who doesn’t really have much more spice than Vaan — and who doesn’t catch half as much heat as Vaan does. While it’s true that his jacket is silly, Vaan undoubtedly deserves to be there bothfor the journeyand for himself.
Shinra is a whizz-kid introduced inFinal Fantasy: X-2,but that’s not an innocent inclusion in the game. After the release ofFinal Fantasy X, many theorized that the game was a sequel toFinal Fantasy VII. Shinra was clearly put there to feed the flames, as he shares the name of the evil megacorp players fight inFinal Fantasy VII.Will Shinra eventually become the founder of Shinra Corp, or is this one of those “Cid” scenarios, where unrelated characters just happen to share the same name?
Shinra never gets the characterdevelopment that he deserves— not inX-2,at least. In a funny Easter egg present in theFinal FantasyVIIremake, players can see a photo of the original members of Shinra, with a man wearing the same mask as Shinra fromFinal Fantasy: X-2in the middle. That’s some pretty funny teasing for those who know, so now it’s time for Square Enix to come up with a game that stars Shinra and bridges the gap between the two most successful games in the series. Come on, that’s money waiting to be printed!
Many fans were quick to look at Laguna’s segments inFinal Fantasy VIIIas unnecessary breaks from the main plot, but they do an excellent job of showing, not telling, the background of theworld of the game. On top of being a great tool for world building, Laguna is also a very interesting counterpart to Squall, an immediately more likable character who, despite not being as brave as the true main character, more than makes up for it with his wits.
It also helps that Laguna has one of the best battle songs in the history of the series. Laguna could totally lead a more fleshed-out prequel toFinal Fantasy VIII —or even a sequel where he reconnects with his estranged son — and everyone would gain from it.
One should never judge a book by its cover, but we’retalking aboutFinal Fantasy,where we know fashion is a big deal, and Ardyn is definitely the best-looking character around.
Aside from the obvious, he’s also a master manipulator who’s been playing everyone since the beginning, but always in a way that’s too charming for anyone to hate.Final Fantasy XVleaves players wanting to know more about Ardyn, and there are a few thousand years' worth of his history that players don’t learn about in the game, so that’s a great idea for a spinoff right there.
Final Fantasy VIIIpresents Seifer as the detestable counterpart to the hero, the also not-too-likable Squall. He’s a cocky but seriously capable rival to the hero, one who avoids tropes that so many characters of his kind easily fall into. Instead of being consumed by hatred towards the main character, or by never acknowledging his counterpart’s capabilities, Seifer’s actions reveal he has no problem dropping the facade and admitting Squall’s abilities and even confiding in him.
Seifer’s setup in the first two discs of the game is nothing short of fantastic, but even the game Seifer was created for seems to undervalue him, as he gets very little to do in the final disc. That’s a bummer, but it totally opened up the possibility for a sequel starring Seifer where he’d look for redemption — and that would’ve been awesome.
7Basch (Final Fantasy 12)
He Deserved to Be the Main Character
This is a very easy one. Basch has all the makings of a true protagonist — because he was meant to be the protagonist ofthe gorgeousFinal Fantasy XII.Right at the start of the game, Basch is framed by one side of the conflict in a way that destroys his family and puts the entire continent at great risk, so there’s more than enough drama and intrigue here to carry a whole game.
Sadly, however, Basch was considered too old to helm a game in a series usually led by someone in their teens, so he was relegated to being a secondary character. Strange choice, but at least that resulted inone of the richest and most interesting supporting charactersin video game history, so there’s that.
8Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy 8)
The Most Underrated Protagonist (in All of Gaming?)
From the get-go, Squallhad a mountain to climb.Final Fantasy VIIIwas the follow-up to perhaps the most beloved (and definitely most successful) entry in the series. SquareSoft knew they had to come in hard. The company’s choice of a main character was not a highly likable badass from the start, but an angsty teenager with attachment issues.
Squall had one advantage over every other main character in the main series up until that point, and that was the insight into his mind that the game gave players, likely in the hopes of getting them to understand the character as he grew into the cool hero he is by the time players are rolling credits. Western players didn’t understand that upon release, which can be partly blamed on the weak English translation. Fortunately, however, fans of the series have begun to come around toFinal Fantasy VIIIas a whole, and on Squall as well — meaning he might not stay underrated for all of eternity.
