Final Fantasy: Who Is The Best Character From Each Game?

Final Fantasy IX did an outstanding job with almost all of its major characters, playable and non-playable alike. Each has a well-defined arc and though several of these (Freya and Fratley's relationship, Amarant accepting others, etc) were underwritten, the narrative as a whole was one of if not the best in the series.

Never is this more apparent than in the game's ending, where everybody comes together to bear witness to Zidane's return and declaration of love for Garnet, but it goes over a lot of player's heads that there is one notable absentee - Vivi.

The black mage is the emotional heart of the story, and his coming to terms with his origins as an artificially engineered weapon of war and the impending death that comes with his deliberately short lifespan are truly heart-wrenching. Never does his sorrow break him though.

The aforementioned ending goes from triumphant to tragic when you realise that Vivi has passed on by this point and is narrating proceedings, giving thanks and saying goodbye to each of his friends in turn for the teachings, experiences and companionship they shared with him. The appearance of his children and their chance encounter with Puck (the first individual Vivi himself encounters at the start of the game) is a brilliant way to bring things full circle as well.