Final Fantasy IV
Cecil: 4/10. Standard Hero with good stuff early game, but I disagree about him not doing anything overly dumb; he's probably one of the biggest unintentional idiots I've ever seen when you actually look at some of the stuff he does.
EXAMPLE:
Cecil: We're going to the moon to stop Zeromus! Edge, Kain, LET'S GO! Rosa, Rydia, you girls stay back cause this is dangerous! Nevermind, we've been through dangerous stuff the entire game, and you two have been exceedingly helpful, what with Rydia saving us against Golbez and Rosa's being our only healer, WE CAN'T TAKE YOU! Also, lets ignore the fact that failure here means humanity is doomed ANYWAY!
There is no excuse for that, none. The amount of cutscene incompetence Cecil has throughout FF4 is pretty damn insulting when people say he's a great example of an RPG Main...I almost feel like Bartz's idiocy (which WAS intended) was inspired by Cecil's unintentional incompetence, given FF5 itself is a satire.
Rosa: 3/10. Proto-Rinoa. All she does is swoon over Cecil, then have something happen to her which turns her into a Damsel in Distress. I've heard arguments that she's suppose to represent Cecil's "Conscious" except that role kind of dies really early when Cecil clearly is doing the redemption thing, and its completely lost when he becomes a Paladin.
Kain: 3/10. He COULD have had Depth, but everything about him is "He gets mind controlled -> does bad things -> breaks free -> angsts about failures and blames himself!" No, a character whose wishy washy like that can only be pulled off *IF* they actually had free will in the manner; Kain was mind controlled on every front; oh sure, he was weak which caused it to happen, but the game shows on numerous occasions that Kain is a good person who would NOT do wrong if someone isn't controlling him, so I'm not pitying him.
Cid: 6/10. Actually kind of amusing; the only Disney Death in the game I can sympathize with, because it felt so over the top to the point that him LIVING actually adds to the hilarity, since that felt like his thing; a character you're not suppose to take seriously, just exists for the extra entertainment.
Rydia: 4/10. Her stuff as a child was kind of ok, and a stylish entrance as an adult. Thing is, she's dropped far worse than Cecil is as a character; after she rejoins, her entire character is "ho-hum, I'm just here to be a pretty, single black mage that fanboys will gush over, don't mind me." And then she has a "WAAAH! PEOPLE ARE GETTING HURT! I WON'T STAND FOR THIS! STOP PUSHING YOURSELVES ;_;" which comes OUT OF NOWHERE and is NEVER TOUCHED UPON AGAIN.
Tellah: 5/10. HIs stuff is sad, but honestly, that's about all it is. But its more than most of the cast.
Edward: 5.5/10. I'll give him props for having actual development; he does show off that "Really wants to help out, but is too weak to really do much" well enough, but sadly, not nearly enough screen time to really make it work beyond a "Well, he's got something" point.
Yang: 3/10. Personality-less vacuum of a Token Monk, with a bullshit "Hey, I'm alive, see!" scenario.
Palom: 3.5/10. Half a point for having a personality, but otherwise, "SUPER TALENTED KID AWAY!"
Porom: 3.5/10. Half a point for reprimanding Palom with her fist when he was getting annoying, but otherwise "SUPER TALENTED AND WELL-MANNERED KID AWAY!" who happens to be the polar opposite of her brother.
Edge: 5/10. He's kind of funny at times...kind of.
FuSoYa: 2/10. A plot device in the form of a PC, when it comes down to it.
Milon: 2/10. One scene wonder, and that one scene is pretty meaningless.
Cagnazzo: 3/10. He has more scenes than Milon, thus automatically better!?
Valvalis: 3.5/10. Half a point for mocking Kain.
Rubicante: 6/10. Hey look, the Honorable Bad Guy Trope done BEFORE it became the norm! I'll give him respect for that much at least.
Golbez: 5/10. Conflicted here; on one hand, his FF4DS form gives him actual backstory and a remote sense of depth, to the point where he shows shades of a decent character. on the other hand, FF4o, he's just another Kain, who like him, got mind controlled, recovers, then moans about all the bad things he did while controlled, then goes on the redemption thing. As a villain, he gets a point at least for being threatening, since he DOES tend to kick your teams ass when he appears, so that's something. I guess an "average" score works.
Zemus/Zeromus: 0/10. One of the worst Space Fleas of all time. He ONLY exists so Golbez could become a Darth Vader, instead of your standard threatening Evil villain. He exists, gets his ass kicked, his HATRED LIVES ON!!! ...then that gets its ass kicked after showing a single instance of competence, dying to the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!!! done in the tacky idiot style way (contrast to the Giant of Bab-il which was POWER OF FRIENDSHIP done in a more realistic "Your friends are all gonna help you out directly!" style, which I find somewhat better and considerably more stylish), but then he goes "I'M STILL NOT DEAD! MWAHAHAHAH! YES, THIS IS LOOSE SEQUEL BAIT THAT WILL BE TOTALLY IGNORED UNTIL 17 YEARS LATER, I WIN!"
yeah, I have almost no respect for FF4's overall cast; people who hype the cast really make me scratch my head cause there is almost nothing there.
