Final Character

There was a big discussion of the beat to death topic of which tetsuya nomura character was the best the other night online and I began to think about why one person says clouds the best while another swears for squall, terra, etc.

I think Cloud's popularity is sort of based not only on the giant sword but on his personality. Yes he is brooding and determined but what becomes Cloud's biggest trait is wrestling with who he really is. For those who dont know (ie dont read this next sentence if you dont) Clouds recollection of himself for most of the game is a created/altered memory. Cloud then has to decide if he really can finish the quest he started on. This isn't unlike many of us who play games. We often pretend to be this super determined and noble characters but then don't have the courage to follow our dreams and our ambitions. Yes getting more fit or going back to school might not seem as urgent as stopping a crazy clone but why does it seem harder often even in a hypothetical. Maybe thats why when the allure of "holy shit that sword is huge and awesome" wears off so many still like cloud. I could of course now go into way to far interpretation of Aeris as aspirations for high morality and perfection and our eventual failing (her dieing) as a depection making Tifa our mixture of earthly ideals (sexuality~) and noble but less high goals (family, friends etc). But I wont (see what I did).

This brings us to my favorite Squall. I just played back through FF8 and realized how much I had forgotten of the characters. I actually like them even better than before. 8 is above all a romance and theres one thing that makes this narrative work (forget the disc 3 bullshit)- showing squalls inner thoughts. Squall when I first played through was relate-able. Ive always been a hopeless romantic and like him I also had a really hard time letting anyone in. Even now I worry about opening up to people because of the pain of losing friends etc. A scene I had forgotten was Squall on the bridge. I don't know how I forgot because its pretty much where he lays out all his thoughts finally. Squall explains his harsh exterior is entirely out of fear and that his whole motivation is this fear of losing people he loves. It explains why he steps up when he is thrust into a position of leadership, why he tries hard at everything, and why all his text options are either begrudgingly kind or abrasive. He wants to have friends, to smile, to joke around, but he won't allow himself to get hurt. His storming out after the timber incident (I WONT BE REFERRED TO IN THE PAST TENSE) while the inverse points to how afraid he really is. Even griever is an attempt at a friend because its an idea and a thing which cant leave or get hurt.
I think I like Squall because even now after I think I really grew out of this I still worry about this and think really hard before forming real bonds with friends (can i put in the time for friendship? what if they end up hating me by really knowing me? maybe we should just be acquaintences.)

Ill go over some other ones, ff6 and neku later.