Look up. Not at the ceiling, at the top of the page. I should’ve done that a long time ago…put a link to all of the Final Fantasy Friday posts in addition to having links to the prior and next ones. I’ll remedy the latter hopefully soon.
Again, I don’t have the time to post the wrathful rant I wish, so you’ll have to accept this more peaceful offering. Hopefully, next Friday I’ll have the time to respond to something that’s been on my radar for the last two weeks, but today I want to ask…
Who is the most underrated character?
********Slight spoilers for Final Fantasy VIII********
We (too) often hear about characters being overrated, and I kind of detest that term as a whole so there will never be a question about that here. Say a character is annoying, useless, boring, etc. and make sure to give evidence and examples on why you think this way. I find the term “overrated” thrown around in a very condescending manner usually to belittle the people who like the character and make them feel bad for their love. I want my site to be a beacon of love for fandom and not a harbor of hatred for any, and many characters suffer from lack of such.
Kiros Seagill from Final Fantasy VIII is woefully underrated and forgotten, and he’s just such a cool guy.
He’s calm and collected to Laguna’s frenetic foolishness, serving as a foil to the irrepressible, yet goodhearted buffoon who someone still manages to become the president of the most powerful nation in the world *cough, cough, hack, cough* At least he’s not a malicious clod, and he also surrounds himself with intelligent people.
Kiros wields dual blades called katals (I’m assuming that’s the plural), and like every other Final Fantasy character he has awesome hair: long, beaded dreadlocks in the back, and dual hanging bangs in the front.
Squeenix also saw fit to not make him a walking stereotype like they did with FFVII’s Barrett. Ughhh, you guys know I love FFVII, and Barrett is a great character (I think he’s the first known in-game father who survives to the end of the story, and his devotion to his daughter Marlene is legendary), but that’s a major thing that dates the game back to the 90s when it was an unfortunate trend.
I’m pretty sure that not only would Laguna not be president of Esthar, but he’d probably have been killed in Galbadia by his own incompetence.
He’s kind of a dumb ass
It really pays to have good people around you. They not only help you attain a presidential position, but also help you be a good leader instead of chasing after the shiniest thing.
Who do you think is unfairly underrated and/or not given their fair due? Whose face never graces fanart and whose name is rarely heard in fanfiction?
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
Sometimes these questions are too deep for my own good lol. I want to answer them, and then can’t come up with a single answer! >.<
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I am like still waters. So dee-oooooh shiny ball!!! *chases*
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Haha, yes. Exactly like that!
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AWESOME idea for a post! I wish I was more familiar with FFVIII… the case you presented has me thinking I need to revisit it.
It’s a tough call, but I think I’d have to go with Cyan from FFVI. The entire cast from FFVI is remarkable, so it can be hard to call any of them underrated, but I find him to be such a goldmine of character: fascinating background, inspired by a tragic history, a fleshed out arc, and a theme song that encapsulates all of these metrics beautifully. One of the things I love most about FFVI is no character really shines above the rest, and they all (for the most part) seem to be granted equally footing in their fight for justice. Regardless, although on the surface he’s a bit of a cliche as a “tragic knight”, I find myself feeling for his character most when I replay the game, and wanting to know every detail about his life.
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Thank you! I thought it would be nice to flip the script for once, and say good things about a character that usually gets the short end of the stick. Kiros isn’t in much of FFVIII, only the flashback scenes and one quick scene later on, but him, Laguna, and Ward definitely make an impression.
I really wish I could find an orchestrated version of Cyan’s Theme, because it’s one of the more beautiful of the leitmotifs. I like that about FFVI, too, though I do have some thoughts about who could be considered the main character. I’m still highly impressed that the game has 14 characters (if you count the two optional ones), and yet enough story for all of them. I challenge anyone to find a movie with an ensemble cast of that many that manages to do the same. It’s VERY difficult to pull off, and the closest I could say is Avengers. None of them feel left out, but that’s only 5 or 6 characters to juggle. Now movie and game formats are a bit different, but they both still follow a narrative, and VI does an excellent job not giving anyone too short of shrift.
That being said, it would’ve been nice to see Cyan happy with his family before they were tragically poisoned. Even though I have to say just that scene with the train as they’re being taken away is heartbreaking ;_;
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Your attention to detail is remarkable. Not that I’m calling the dude a detail (I am, actually, I think). Had forgot about that guy, but I remember now how he balanced out, and we’re kind of a counterpart of Laguna (why did he hang out with Laguna anyways?)
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*were.
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I think he actually says why! Laguna is never boring, and a straight man always needs his buffoon lol.
I don’t know why my brain just absorbs all of these details about Final Fantasy. I just love how it offers so many opportunities for comparison, theory, and discussion 🙂
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Well, I hope it keeps doing that then, ’cause this is awesome 😀
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Oh, I don’t think I’ll ever run out of FF content :p It’s just the matter of having time to post the big ideas.
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Yeah. Some claim this whole writing about video games thing is a waste of time, but I say that’s a philosophical question. At least that’s my excuse
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Psh, those are the same people who insist it’s a bastard medium. It’s pretty ridiculous if you ask me. All narratives are worthy of discourse regardless of the medium they’re in, and I think with games you have an even greater chance of telling an immersive story, because by their nature video games are immersive.
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Agreed. I’ll tell you what’s not immersive. My history teachers through the years. They could not get me interested. At. All. Worst subject ever. Now, I love it. Guess why. Vidja games ignited something in me and made it interesting 🙂
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That’s how I was with science! I couldn’t care less in school about that subject, and even English sometimes bored me if we weren’t reading or discussing things that held my interest, but now I love science and tech. It would be fairly easy to incorporate video games/interactive interfaces into these studies. I’m interested in history now, too. Why? Video games. I need to study the World Wars so I can research essays for FFVII. Pretty much that game has turned me into a history, religious/mythology, psychology, and language scholar among other things lol.
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What better way to learn about the gruesomeness, power struggles and so on, in the world wars than a super-immersive VR-experience? Had this been offered to me as a child. Boy.. Quick thought: Maybe it would help those empathically distanced learn about the suffering of others as well (haven’t thought through this one)
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I’d love to read some peer reviewed awesomeness about VR, but I think it needs to be out for a bit longer to get some good studies going. I could see that though, though it might still fall into the category of people who already are empathetic will feel more empathetic. It’s a decent proposal!
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And maybe get that vertigo thing worked out 🤣
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Oh lord…I’d probably have vertigo and/or migraines for days D: I didn’t even think about that. I get migraines and eye strain from 3D platformers especially if they have really fast motion.
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Don’t get me started on vertigo
(Starts) (again)
As a Chronic nautical vertigo-man, I get enough of false sensory impressions as it is, so whatever people working on ironing out the kinks get my support
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I think I might have lied. I do suffer from dizziness, but I don’t think it’s attributed to vertigo. I *did* have a touch of that years ago, but it was due to riding a roller coaster. It felt like my head was spinning for a week oy.
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You have my sympathies 🙂 If I remember correctly (read a lot about these things, obviously) it was probably because of the “crystals” in the ear being dislocated (coaster loops ftw), making one (or both) ear give conflicting signals, or something like that
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Kiros Seagill is such an awesome guy. I loved his dual weapons! Barrett was my favourite character in FFVII. I admired how he would do anything for the planet and his daughter, his sarcasm, and his badass gun arm. I guess I just never saw him as a stereotype, until I read people’s thoughts online. I still love the big guy though 🙂
My underrated character award goes to: Kimahri Ronso in FFX. He’s a cool beast warrior guy and watched over Yuna before she even became a Summoner. He is very kind hearted but has an internal rage that he unleashes on his foes. I never hear much about him in the Final Fantasy fan universe.
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I *did* really like the Blade look they gave Barrett in the Remake. That’s so bad ass.
I think with Kimahri it’s because he’s literally the strong, silent type hehe. Does he ever even say a word? That might be why he’s sadly forgetable. I do remember the part where those other Ronso are taunting him for being hornless. Come to think of it, I don’t even remember *how* he lost his horn. He’s underrated indeed 😦
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The blade look is so awesome! I really want a Barrett Play Arts figure 🙂
I don’t remember him saying much, if anything, in the game. When I played FFX, I was a silent 13 year old girl who was bullied a lot. Kimahri really spoke to me for that reason I guess. Oh Final Fantasy… you always get me right in the feelz 😭
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I love his updated look. Those Play Arts figures are hella expensive. I STILL haven’t opened my Sephiroth one lol.
They should call it Feel-o-Fantasy or Final Feels.
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Are they ever expensive! I lucked out and picked up a used lot of 8 of them (Great General, Squall, Cloud, and original Lightning included) for $100 CDN. They are also too fragile.
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Yeah, Kiros kind of fades into the background. Laguna’s such a loud and energetic character, he kind of takes over the focus of any scene he’s in. A shame.
I would say FuSoYa from Final Fantasy IV. Dude’s got a lot of involvement in the backstory and central conflict of the game, and he does demonstrate a bit of the game’s lore directly, but he’s involved so briefly in the game’s plot that he ends up becoming little more than a footnote.
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Laguna is such a character that he really does. That often happens with straight man foils.
Right?? FuSoYa is Cecil’s uncle, has probably been alive for millennium, and yet he’s barely in your party for five minutes. From a gameplay standpoint, while he has a TON of spells, he has a small amount of MP, so I found myself being very careful with which spells of his I used. I’d generally keep him for offensive attacks, while Rosa did the healing, since she had a huge amount of MP (like in the 400s). Story wise, he was literally there since the beginning seeing as he was the only Lunarian awake to watch over the others. The things he must know…
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