Oh man, Vaan...
4.9/10
Let me start by saying he's not as bad as people make him out to be. Sure he's the least engaging MC in any mainline Final Fantasy, but when every other MC is a Chosen One, soldier trained from a young age, dark knight, genetic experiment/hybrid, star athlete, womanizing thief, or what-have-you of course a poor orphan boy that's not special in.any other way is going to seem pretty weak in comparison.
That said, he's not nearly as bad as people make him out to be. He's still below average, but he's not terrible really. Not even the worst party member in his game (Yo Penelo). Peeps tend to be harsh on him for a plethora of reasons such as:
1) He contributes nothing to the story. This is not true. He brings the party together. He keeps the party together. He drives the story briefly until Ashe joins for good. Then after that he fades into the background - never a good spot for the MC to be.
2) He's boring. Well gosh, not every MC can be a Chosen One, soldier trained from a young age, dark knight, genetic experiment/hybrid, star athlete, or a womanizing thief, and being any of those things would not have worked for the kind of story FF12 was going for. Unfortunate, but Vaan had to be a nobody special to fit into Ivalice's atmosphere.
3) He has cardboard cut-out abs. Alright there's no defending this one.
4) He's so clueless. He's a young boy who lives in an underground slum with other poor people and interacts almost exclusively with kids even younger than himself. Of course he's not going to be up-to-date on any social faux pas like asking an older woman her age or speaking (too much) when not spoken to. Sure, he's awkward but I can't fault him for that.
5) ... FFXII sucks.... No u.
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I've come to the realization that I need a sig.