10 Final Fantasy Characters Who Almost Ruined Their Own Games

5. Vaan/Penelo (Final Fantasy XII)

When are your main characters not actually your main characters? When they're Vaan and Penelo. Final Fantasy XII's main story deals with Ashe's quest to accumulate power and regain control of her kingdom after it's overthrown by a betrayal. Vaan and Penelo accompany her on this journey, acting as viewpoints on the various events. This seems strange though, given that they're the first characters introduced in the game (aside from the tutorial section which features Vaan's soldier brother Reks). For the majority of the game, you'll be controlling Vaan, yet in a narrative sense, he's not really the main character. Perhaps Square felt that Ashe's tale was told better from a third person perspective but it also undermines Vaan's character somewhat. Vaan's main developments center around his desperate want to obtain an airship and become a sky pirate. Later on, he admits that this is driven by a desire to leave the memory of his brother behind. Penelo serves as his companion and that's legitimately pretty much it. Together, they learn about the world of Ivalice during their travels but beyond this, any story focused on them as characters is pretty much non-existent. Vaan and Penelo's problem isn't even really to do with them as characters; it's more their frustrating role within the story. They're given little opportunity to stand out and by the end of the game, they're only slightly better off than they were before. Plus, there's a section of the game where you're required to run around as Vaan and yell "Don't listen to Ondore's lies!" in the smuggest voice possible - yeah, these two definitely needed more work.