Ryu2?
Winner.
1. It's not quite how it appears at first.
It really isn't, since Ryu starts as a kid living in his happy village. This doesn't last at all.
2. It's way more messed up than it appears at first, too.
Everyone forgetting you, having to run away and getting mauled by a freaky demon before blacking out? Yeaaah, that's just the tip of the iceberg of messed up.
3. The alternative is a long, hard road but that's what I gotta do.
So off Ryu goes, onto his quest. It's quite the long, hard road, but it's what he has to do.
4. At least I don't have to walk that road alone, yeah? One of my friends is good at making sure we don't have to do that.
A tongue in cheek reference to either Ganer, Mina, Rand or Jean.
5. My friends are really good at transporting things, now that I think about it. Be it by land or air!
No kidding. Four ways of party transportation, not counting magic warping and the whale? Dang.
6. I even have another friend who can do it too, but she wimped out.
Nina and the big bird transformation.
7. At least we didn't make her an outcast when she wimped out. Others weren't so kind before, even if it wasn't for quite the same thing.
Nina was exiled from Wyndia for her black wings, but thankfully the party took the whole Mina/Nina mess with the Big Bird transformation in stride.
8. Who else...there's a special friend that's hard to find, but she's really good at what she does...except transporting us. Oh well, can't win them all.
This was pretty much the giveaway clue since I think I made this way too cute and way too hard.
Go dude.