[Kurisu]

Lightning was a strong and independent female character. This is a big step away from Final Fantasy's usual "damsel in distress" approach, and I'm glad Square decided to make her the lead character in this game.



Snow is the leader of NORA, a rebel group originally set up to oppose the PSICOM. Snow is engaged to Lightning's younger sister, Sara, and he sets out to find a way to save her once she turns in to a crystal.





At first glance Vanille looks like a care free young women. However she holds a huge burden, which becomes aparant later on in the game. Despite the slightly annoying voice, Vanille turned out to be one of my favourite characters within the story. In battle, however...no thanks!





Hope was another surprise for me in Final Fantasy XIII. I thought he was going to be a whiny child...sometimes he is, but it feels real. The emotion portrayed feels real, you can really empathise with him. His relationship with Vanille is also an interesting one, as they have a brotherly sisterly bond from the get go.





Fang is a pulse l'Cie, the same as Vanille. Therefore they have a history together, which is divulged further in to the game. Fang is probably my least favourite party member, although she is great in combat. I love the whole cast of FFXIII, so even though she is my least favourite I still like her.








Sazh, Sazh, Sazh. He has a baby Chocobo in his hair, need I say more? Before I played FFXIII I thought Sazh would be my favourite character, however story wise...SE could have developed him further. He just tags along to find his (adorable) son, which I guess is what any father would do. Sazh is the comedian in FFXIII, and can make you smile in any situation.

This post has been edited by Kurisu: Jul 12, 2010 - 3:55 PM

[bones1988]

Snow was awesome just sucks in the guide he aint a
recommended player ignored that of course.

Just like the big muscly dudes for some reason,
didnt like vaniile and fangs aussie accent though.
think its just because i live here i dont wanna hear it on a game dunno.

[Wanderlustfully]

I loved Fang the most.

Strong-willed, brazen, and independent women. Keep their soft sides suppressed, and fighting usually more than most, to be seen as equals.

[LuckyCharms145]

Snow. Always trying to do good but ends up looking like the bad guy. Know how that feels.

<3 Snow. Plus, he's my tank all the time

[Kurisu]

Interesting that a couple of you are choosing Snow. From reading stuff on the internet it usually seems that he's the most hated because of his "I wanna be a hero!" moto.

LuckyCharm, I never used Snow that much. I prefer Fang over him when in battle. Although Snow comes in handy when you need a SEN!

[Dalkor]

Snow was my favorite as well, because he used his fists and I was waiting to finally have a "monk" character to play with again. Hope wins with summons though, Alexander was amazing! too bad Hope as party Leader meant game overs with a stray hit...

[Val]

My favourite was Hope because appart from being the best RAV and MED, he was a really good character that had nice development. You actualy see him grow throughout the game and it was nice to experience his ups and downs. Im a bit confud though becaus when they realiesed info on his characte, It said that he grows during the game, but when you meet him he may run away from battles until he's stronger.. Now I never experienced that and he was always in my party when I had the choice. I like his character design and I think his english voice actor was great! I loved the scene with him and snow in his hometown!


My least favourite~~~ Snow xD I know he was trying to be the hero but to me it felt like SE was trying to hard to make people like him wih his personality and hero complex.. which Ironically made me like him less xD after him, prob sahz.. not that I hate him.. I dont hate snow either, I just don't like them as much though they both have epic moments...

Hope>Fang>Lightning>Vanille>Sahz>Snow Thats just me anyway..... Yaag <3

[Bewoulf]

I loved Fang. Not only was she a competent fighter, but she was damn hot! I also didn't find Vanille as annoying as most people. Just snow and hope. And Sazh was kind of boring (until a little later in the game). Kind of weak male characters this time around. FFXII, imo, had the strongest male character in a while (not Vahn. Heavens no).

[Cataclysm]

I personally found Lightning to be my favourite character, with Vanille as a close second. I chose Lightning because she's one of those rare, intriguing protagonists, the likes of which I have not seen in a FF title since VII. Squall was fairly dull back in VIII, Zidane was a great character in IX, but could have used more development, I think. Tidus was irritating in X, and the plot was mostly centred about Yuna anyway. And don't get me started on Vaan from XII...

Lightning was just a kind of breath of fresh air for me in XIII. It was nice to have a female character in the game that wasn't constantly in need of help (Yuna, for instance), and I'm glad Square Enix changed this for the game. She was way more badass than all of the male characters. Snow was just trying too hard, Sazh was fairly boring, but provided comic relief and became more interesting as the plot developed (as Bewoulf has said), and Hope was just plain annoying. They need a younger character like Zidane from IX again!

I chose Vanille as a close second because I was intrigued about her character from the very start. I mean, in a Square Enix RPG, a seemingly eternally happy character most definitely has something hidden. Also, I found her accent to be quite cute.

[Galactimus]

Snow had a great theme song.
Vanille had a fantastic sprite.
Vaan had a great summon.

But Lightning brought me back to the good ol days. Even legendary Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura has admitted that, for Lightning, he was asked to design a female Cloud Strife. She was moody, monotone, and an ex-soldier. Not to mention had a fantastic voice actress for both game versions (JP/NA). She doesn't come close to my favorite character of all-time (Rydia [first Summoner ever]) but I thought she was the best FFXIII had to offer.

[Ch1efer]

It was hard to pick, but I ended up with Lightning. For much of the same reasons already posted. Galactimus sums it up nicely. Bringing it back to the roots for sure. And of course her being a strong and independent female character, she's a bad ass, but deep down inside, she's not so bad.

[Konoka]

Lightning was my favorite character, for pretty much the same reasons as above.
Fang next, I liked her attitude.
Sazh and Vanille after that. Sazh was funny, had some great lines, but wasn't that deep of a character. I liked Vanille as a character, but the noises she made running around were pretty annoying. She was fine in the cutscenes though.
Hated Snow and Hope. Just can't stand the pure good wannabe hero types, I like a mean streak or at least a bit of attitude. I can agree that Hope changed over the course of the game, normally a good thing. But he went from whiny brat to Snow Jr. Not any improvement in my opinion.

For combat, it was Lightning, Sazh, and Vanille all the way. All 3 make good ravagers, then Lightning makes a good commando, Sazh with the buffs, and Vanille with the debuffs & healing.

[Momotaru]

I haven't finished the game yet (left it back in the states).

However, a friend is visiting next week and bringing it to me, so I'll be able to finish it and comment in this thread. I'm a little worried to linger too much in case unintended spoilers pop up.