All Final Fantasy Protagonists Ranked From Worst to Best

BLG writes: "A game can’t be successful if the leading character isn’t developed and likable. Thankfully Square Enix has produced protagonists that mostly fit that bill – though there are some exceptions. There is much discourse with some leads getting more love than others. Overall, though, Final Fantasy characters, are celebrated. Here’s our ranking of all protagonists from the Final Fantasy series."

[-Foxtrot]

" If you define him solely by these traits though, you’re doing a disservice to his past and the character arc he has over the course of the game "

Which is why when people say shit about Squall I know they probably haven't taken an interest in his character development with the story.

[Meti]

Squall fitted perfect in FF 8 as protagonist.

[Nerdmaster]

He did change by the end of the game. But it was too sudden, and too late in the game.

"He is distant because of just how taxing losing his parents and sister was on him as a kid"
Another reason why FFVIII's plot twist sucks. He can remember that, but he doesn't remember a single one of the people he lived with at the orphanage. It seems like GFs choose very carefully which memories they erase...

[TrueStoryGuy]

Almost like ... Adults are almost unrecognizable from when they were kids.

[-Foxtrot]

Too sudden? You can see him slowly change based on actions and dialogue over the the course of the 4 discs

There’s nothing sudden about it

Hell one of the key parts is in disc 2, where he becomes leader during the Garden battle and gives his speech, it’s only half way through the game there.

[gold_drake]

aaah yes and no.

i feel like the romance between him and rinoa kind of happened too sudden.

the english localisation is also not as good as others.

but i agree that he is a good character.

[dumahim]

Not even listing Zack is kind of a fail.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Ramza is the greatest FF protagonist of all time. Excellent characterization.

[wraith9999]

i like ramza too, best char dev imo but im a zidane simp so there's that too

[343_Guilty_Spark]

I like Zidane and Squall too.

[GoodGuy09]

Worst- Lightening with Noctis up next.

[H9]

Out of everything you could say about Lightning, you picked "Independent", she is the opposite to that, perhaps the only thing that was interesting about her is how mentally fragile she gets when there isn't a goal blinding her

[SDuck]

She can achieve her goals on her own though. Your point is that she's obsessed

[H9]

She could never do it on her own, Hope showed her that she was broken, she apologized to Snow because she saw through him how she could be a good sister, she literally seemed Noel and Serah for help in the second game, this is not a criticism btw, a character that learns and develops is better than a cold block (even if the character is boring)

[Babadook7]

If I’m reading the right. Cloud is ranked no one. Works for me.

[Meti]

My top 1 is Zidane/Cloud. Cant choose whos the best cause they are completely different in personality. Same with the games FF9/7. I Want a FF9 remake!!! Make it happen! I want to trance/monkey the enemies!! Rusty the heck out of everyone and send them to Eden with Red Spears and Holy Forks with Dubble Flares!

[Deathdeliverer]

Finally a man with class. I don’t care which one you put at the top, but Zidane/Cloud are easily the tops. Cloud needs no intro, but Zidane? How people sleep on him is amazing. While EVERY protagonist in the FF series has all kinds of demons, angst, chips on their shoulders, oblivious to women, and so forth, Zidane is the exact opposite. He’s confident, loves the ladies, jokes about things, cheers people up, knows he’s a bad azz, and gets serious when he needs to. Man he was SUCH a breath of fresh air.

I love Cecil from FF4 (2 in America) as he started off one cold conflicted mf, but the whole road to paladin, the other characters arcs actually being interesting with NOBODY feeling wasted, and the actually unexpected losses of characters really makes me love it as a game. Definitely my #3 final fantasy and it needs to be completely remade.

[cerpintaxt44]

terrible list no one cares about sequel games and vaan should be last

[Knightofelemia]

Yet you leave out Zack Fair from Crisis Core

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Because he doesn't feel like a protagonist that stands on his own...he feels like a retcon.

[L1ghtz4lyfe]

The fact that Zack is missing from this list voids the entire thing for me.

[Hofstaderman]

Squall. From the early childhood trauma that defined him to his eventual trusting of the rest of the party and Rinoa.

[Flawlessmic]

Id go zidane for main character.

But fave ff character is auron hands down!

[Nerdmaster]

Putting Lightning ahead of Cecil and Tidus was weird.
In 3 games, two of which she was the protagonist, she didn't have any interesting conflicts or good character growth.

[TrueStoryGuy]

Tidus is a terrible character. Whiny and arrogant. His only redemption was that he's already dead.

[Petebloodyonion]

I think that it's hard to make a list of the best character because each is different in terms of traits and portrayal.
Also, there's no denying that the storytelling evolved with the technology thus explaining why we know so much of a character like Cloud, Noctis, Tidus versus the Warrior of light, and Firion.

For my take, I would say that Cecil is one of my favorite because even with the limitation of the super NES his story is interesting and palpable. You can easily depict him as someone's torn between his honoring his duty and doing what's right.
I'm sure that having a complete remake of FFIV would make CECIL close to Cloud in popularity.

but my personal favorite would be Sqall cause I loved his romancing arc with Rihnoa and how he learn along the way how relying on others can actually help to go further in life.