LogFAQs > #954860887

Lol that Coca-Cola ad, I guess Cup Noodles wasn't really breaking new ground for the franchise. Vivi holding Dagger's hand at the end is adorable though.

Anyway, talkin' bout the cast. This is not a ranking.

Amarant
...but if it were, Amarant would be last. The poor guy never had a shot. He joins the party right when it's about to hone in its character focus on two-three people. There's no grand adventures of Amarant, no little side team he gets to be a part of to flesh him out, he arrives and is instantly benched. There's some decent moments with him- I like his and Freya's conversation in Treno, and he's at his best when challenging Zidane on his hypocrisy/self-centeredness near the end of the game, but there's not so many, and his one central moment in Ipsen's Castle fell flat for me.

There's potential here, he could've been a darker pseudo-rival of Zidane who forces him to learn inner truths about himself, but there's not really a place for him in the game as-is to properly flesh that out. He's not bad, just not really there.

Eiko
OK time to admit it, I have no idea why people hate Eiko. She has a couple annoying little kid moments when we first meet her. That's it. And that's perfectly understandable considering that she's an orphaned girl and thought to be the last of her kind! Her crush on Zidane aside (and it's hilarious when Zidane realises that this is how he must come across to Dagger), Eiko is pretty interesting. She's outspoken and genuine among a bunch of people who are often passive or not very open with themselves, and she coaxes info out of people that wouldn't usually be gotten. Despite arriving about as late as Amarant she has much more to do, and she's pretty great in battle.

She's not the deepest character and I don't think she's amazing or anything, but I do not get the widespread hate for her at all. In the grand 'little girl party member' archetypes of this series, she lands well above Relm and Porom. Maybe not Krile.

Quina
I like Quina. I like their ridiculous design, I like their personality, I like that Zidane clearly finds it difficult to tolerate their presence, I like their carefree attitude. S/he has many funny moments, and is very aware of the mission the gang is on and doesn't interrupt serious scenes to ruin the tension. S/he is the best blue mage in the series (Eat is great, @ me!), and just all round a fun party member.

Unfortunately there's not a lot more to say about Quina. As far as funny mascot characters go s/he is done well but they needed to add some other layer to the character to make Quina a Riki-tier companion. The hungry jokes do eventually get repetitive, and by the end of the game s/he isn't adding much to the dialogue. I wish there were more serious moments for Quina, the little ones we have are good but so far apart. I don't know what the deal with their gender is, I'm guessing it's some kind of translation from Japanese because they occasionally call Quina 'him' still in dialogue.

Freya
Eagle-eyed followers of this topic may recall a character named Freya.

I wasn't sure on her at first, but I was quickly drawn to her after the events at Burmecia and Cleyra. Dedicating herself to avenging her homeland, then immediately losing in an even worse manner was a great set-up for her to undergo some Disc 3 Dagger style transformation. Her personality is great, she's serious and smart and always asks the right questions I wish everyone else would (I still like that she's the only one actively looking into Kuja at the start of Disc 3), for a while I really really liked Freya. I like her design and the fact that she's just a rat. And when she goes to Alexandria and accepts the help of Beatrix while not forgiving her for her deeds, I was very excited to see how their dynamic would grow.

In a game full of good characters who could've been so much more, none hurt more than Freya. She completely disappears from the narrative after that point. It's so incredibly frustrating how tacked on she is in the back half of the game, did the writers not realise what a great character they had in their hands here? Or did they just run out of time? She barely interacts with anyone in the back half, Amarant is the closest thing to a scene partner she has and he's got almost as little screentime as her. Fratley's amnesia is never developed, and she barely has a single moment from her own perspective in the entire back half of the game. A genuine shame.

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado.
Just beat: Final Fantasy IX!