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no no no! I like vaan

I really don't like vaan. He is my least favorite character that you can control within the game.

Tidus is so way cooler than Cloud!

And Vaan is not totally pointless. Go through the story, and look at all Vaan's interactions with everyone. They add up and make a difference to the plot.

I'm not going to advocate Cloud much more than this, but his character development was far more interesting, albeit retroactive but still more interesting, than any of the other main characters I've come to know.

Vaan on the other hand, only had a minor development. I suppose it was more realistic in that major changes take a long time and their journey was somewhat short, but after Vaan came to terms with Basch being part of the party, the need for his involvement ended and he lacked a defined purpose as the main character other than to keep Penelo company.

The fact of the matter is that to have a strong story that grips an audience without leaving much anyone behind, you have to focus it around a person, so it's easier to relate to. And that story must be something interesting, a great turmoil in their life would be the most appropriate. These have been expressed, starting from FFVII, as: the burning of their hometown and stealing someone else's persona because you're too ashamed of your own(and believing in it completely yourself), being alone most of his life then forgetting his childhood completely after being trained as a mercenary, being a weapon designed to destroy the world, coming from 1000 years in the past and not actually existing in the world you're in...... but what is the personal crisis of Vaan's that would make him so much more interesting than the rest of the group? It would be: His brother was murdered in a war...... If you compare this to the characters around him in FFXII he's far less interesting than almost all the other characters. Thus there lies the problem, he was in fact NOT the main character. He was a supporting role at best, however he was thrust into the spotlight as the character who's storyline was the easiest to begin with.

The main problem the is in using this type of main character/supporting character style is that things can happen and end like this; the main character is actually someone who's not directly involved in the main curves of the storyline. Instead he's someone who's simply watching the event unfold in front of him. What's the point of watching a person watch a story? There isn't instead you should be watching those that control the story, they are the true main characters.

...... ok I think I'm done ranting now.... sorry for the huge post.

There is a big bonus to watching someone watch a story, though: you gain a persective that you'd not have had you actually participated.

Think of it like looking in a window, into a house where a party's happening. The people at the party are having fun, interacting, etc. However, they don't nessicary have the knowledge of what's really happening. The one outside, watching the party, that's the one who'll see what's really going on. That one will see the couple who's unhappy, the drunkard who actually is at fault for the broken vase, what the hostess really thinks of her husband's friend from work.

Of course, this can also lead to a skewed vision of what's happening. Maybe the one standing at the window looking in is upset because they weren't invited, or is spying on their spouse, looking for signs of infidelity.

Playing as Vaan is playing as that person spying through the curtains, and I thought it was very intersting.

Do you mean the picture of him sitting down with his vest hanging off one shoulder like hes posing for playgirl, because that is just as gay as gay can be. I want to custom my main characters look, attitude, and the way he interacts with others.

Sure there's a story! Not as much as in VII or something, maybe, but... The thing is, we just don't hear a lot of the story. In the Collector's Edition interviews, one guy talks about the insane amounts of notes on Ivalice and stuff the creators had. I loved all of the Bestiary notes and whatnot, but I wish more of it was actually incorporated into the story.



Key word? Like.

Me+Vaan= using Ultima/scathe 10 times after hes dead