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Top 3 best and worst Final Fantasy protagonist designs

Jeiiya

Member
The only characters I actively dislike in terms of Final Fantasy are the main characters of FF3. They feel so much like the FF1 Warriors of Light, but at least in FF1 they never spoke. The characterization in FF3 is so paper thin that it would have been better to simply have them say nothing.
 
Zidane might be up there with the worst. Never had much of an issue with it on PS1 but seeing the costume in FFXIV made me realise how ugly and bad it really is.

Zidane and Noctis have both boring designs imo, but they are actually the protagonists that I find most likeable.

Vaan and Tidus are worse than boring.
 

Pachimari

Member
Best
1. Noctis
2. Zack
3. Terra

Worst
1. Dunno.

That said, I'm confused. I thought Terra's hair color by default was green, but now I see these pictures of her donning a blonde color? What is the background on this?
 

MegaPanda

Member
This guy has to be on a worst list somewhere

PRfLygx.png
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Best
1. Noctis
2. Terra

Worst
1. Dunno.

That said, I'm confused. I thought Terra's hair color by default was green, but now I see these pictures of her donning a blonde color? What is the background on this?

The SNES version was green, but apparently was always supposed to be blond but they for some reason could not color it in 16bit for some reason.

Later art materials and such had her with blond hair including the PS1 port, and so now its all mixed and matched.

Dissidia PS4 has her normal being blond and her alt having green
 

Golnei

Member
VIII cast (Nomura at his most iconic yet reserved designs best) so will pick Rinoa and Squall

Those two designs are pretty good, but Quistis, Zell and Irvine's casual clothes are awful, and Selphie's not particularly great either. Though with that said, Laguna, Raijin and Fuujin are okay, and Edea is fantastic - even with the shower curtain.

tumblr_meklxr1lX91ru0u8do7_500.gif


BUTT

PANTS

Yoshida's butt contraptions are why we love him. Vagrant Story wouldn't have been the same without it.

That said, I'm confused. I thought Terra's hair color by default was green, but now I see these pictures of her donning a blonde color? What is the background on this?

Her Dissidia incarnation is based on the Amano art. He has a tendency to draw everyone blonde, even Lightning and Squall.
 
The only characters I actively dislike in terms of Final Fantasy are the main characters of FF3. They feel so much like the FF1 Warriors of Light, but at least in FF1 they never spoke. The characterization in FF3 is so paper thin that it would have been better to simply have them say nothing.

I'm guessing you played the DS Final Fantasy 3. In the NES version they really are silent, nameless characters just like in Final Fantasy 1.
 
That said, I'm confused. I thought Terra's hair color by default was green, but now I see these pictures of her donning a blonde color? What is the background on this?

FFI-VI are notorious for having the sprites designed independently of Amano's art. Probably most apparent in V and VI

200


latest


Same character. Fr'really.
 

Madame M

Banned
hey zidane wasn't so bad until they modified him for the game....... maybe....

B5PSHix.jpg


I wonder what happened to that puff ball thing??
 

Madame M

Banned
^^ Does that kid have gout or something?? That's an old people's disease! Also that low cut pants thing is just creepy.
 

Pachimari

Member
The SNES version was green, but apparently was always supposed to be blond but they for some reason could not color it in 16bit for some reason.

Later art materials and such had her with blond hair including the PS1 port, and so now its all mixed and matched.

Dissidia PS4 has her normal being blond and her alt having green

Her Dissidia incarnation is based on the Amano art. He has a tendency to draw everyone blonde, even Lightning and Squall.

FFI-VI are notorious for having the sprites designed independently of Amano's art. Probably most apparent in V and VI

200


latest


Same character. Fr'really.

Hmm. I'm not sure which hair color I should choose when playing through FFVI for the first time soon. I might just stick with the green hair.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Japan loves sasuke, beats me as to why.

I don't think Nomura was intentionally designing his characters based on Naruto, that's just always been his style. he dresses like that, makes his hair like that and used to be much more flamboyant than he is today.

Monty Oum(RIP) was actually directly inspired by his style both in terms of gaming sensibilities, and generally copied his ways of dressing and designing.
 

Hikami

Member
Best:
Terra
Yuna (FFX)
Cecil


Worst:
Tidus: It's the clothes, they're hideous.
Noctis: The hair.
Timeskip look is so much better.
Vaan: The vest, like OP said.
 
It's not Sasuke.

no one watches brave ten. I read the manga and didn't even know there was an anime of it.
I don't think Nomura was intentionally designing his characters based on Naruto, that's just always been his style. he dresses like that, makes his hair like that and used to be much more flamboyant than he is today.

Monty Oum(RIP) was actually directly inspired by his style both in terms of gaming sensibilities, and generally copied his ways of dressing and designing.

the semblance is just uncanny
 

vaporeon

Member
Glad to see Terra on top for a lot of people :^) Best character, design, game, etc, etc, etc.

Interesting that X-2 Yuna hasn't been mentioned for best
or worst.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Interesting that X-2 Yuna hasn't been mentioned for best
or worst.

I would have put her outfit as my second worst behind vaan, but i kindly would like to scrub FFX-2 from my memory altogether.
 
Best Designs:
latest
latest


Worst Designs:
Tidus.png


^ Dude looks like he fell into a clothes hamper, then got snagged on a net.

Though, as much as I like Cloud and Lightning's designs, I always laugh how illogical they are, not how they look, but more than they belong to a specific "military organization", are basically uniforms, yet both are on the run. You'd think those folk would stand out more dressed like that. Same for Cecil, but he eventually DOES get a change of clothes(and job class).
 
I would like to say here that I really REALLY love Noctis' design especially with his jacket off. It's simple and not over the top, a rarity in FF actually. He looks like a real human and dresses up like what a real person would actually dress up in. His
older design with the nice suit
in particular is great as well. As is his angler outfit.
I particularly love a combo of his angler outfit and his old looks, makes him look like a hobo or something and provides me with much laughter.

Noctis_Outfits_FFXV-1-1024x726.jpg


Runner up being Squall. Looks nice, symmetrical and simple.

On a note, I generally dislike the asymmetrical look of most characters. I find it very very distracting to see Cloud's lone shoulder pad or Tidus' shorts being one side longer than the other.


Least favourite would be Vaan I suppose. I don't actually hate his design, but the in game render of his skeletal abs and face is very off-putting.
 
Fave Three:
Lightning
Dark Knight Cecil
Balthier(the actual leading man of FF12)

Worst Three:
Vaan(he could take all 3 spots)
Tidus(just because of his shorts)
I don't know.......Zidane or Butts I guess
 

Sami+

Member
Best:
Terra
Yuna
Bartz


Worst:
Squall
Tidus
Noctis

Interested in seeing trends between different people's picks lol. Genuinely surprised to see Squall on so many best lists, I always thought he was disliked.
 

TDLink

Member
Seriously, no love for the OG?

Warrior%20of%20Light%202.jpg
warrioroflight_amano.jpg


Firion is great too. I dunno how those first two designs were so great and then most of the rest of the series shit the bed hard when it came to great and uniquely designed protags.

Only other standouts imo are Cecil and Terra. VII on they absolutely became generic and bland.

Plenty of the non-main characters have good designs too though.
 

BlueWord

Member
I've always really liked Nomura's Advent Children designs. Cloud's redesign in particular had a really interesting silhouette, and I think Tifa's was actually superior to her VII design.

Other designs I liked: Balthier, Squall and Vivi come to mind. FFXIV also has consistently good character designs.

Those I like less: Tidus' design is a little too busy, and the silhouette is a little too boxy; I like his Dissidia design more. Sazh has kind of a ridiculous design (the hair chocobo), despite being by far the best character in XIII. Zell has a pretty obnoxious design, but I think that's also consistent with his characterization, so I'm not sure if the design itself is actually poor.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Best: Laguna


Manages to look dorky and cool at the same time, just like his personality.

Runner-ups:

Cloud


I like when Barret calls him spiky. That stuck with me as a kid for some reason, like, even other people in this universe realize his hair stands out.

Lightning


Say what you will about her character or games, but she had a killer design. The white/pink color scheme was on point, and they did a good job designing a military girl that still has that Final Fantasy sheen.

Worst:

Amarant


What the fuck is even this thing

Sabin


Way too tough-guy looking for me, and not in a good or cool way. Looks like a Double Dragon boss.

Vaan


What a terrible costume. I don't think I've ever seen anyone say, "I like this character on an aesthetic level."
 

cordy

Banned
latest


Tidus has one of the worst designs I've seen in gaming period. Bruh, all they had to do is lengthen his overalls/pants/whatever to reach his shoes and make sure they're even. If they did that one thing he'd look MUCH better.

If you want to make an even better design, take away the chain attached to only ONE side of his clothing.
Why does he only have 1 gauntlet? Wtf.
What is that some sort of shirt shirt but why is it completely designed like-...bruh!!!

Tidus looks like someone who bought a lot of crap from Wish.com and just sewed that shit together.
 

Orayn

Member
I will defend that Luso art with the pizza cutter sword until the day I die.

Everything about it fits perfectly with the tone of FFTA2, which is a story about a cool kid having fun adventures. It's not what people wanted, but it works within that context.
 
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