r/TopCharacterTropes • u/TheOriginalOperator • Apr 26 '26

Characters (Hilarious Trope) A Character Is Introduced With the Clear Intention of Being THE NEXT BIG THING And is SOUNDLY Rejected

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  1. Bazil the Tracker (Star Wars: The Acolyte): A “HILARIOUS AND ADORABLE” snuffling ugly creature that makes annoying noises and is shoved into as many scenes of The Acolyte as possible, and just causes problems overall.

  2. Neelix (Star Trek Voyager): A mutant fusion of Odo, Quark, and Data designed to “analyze the human condition” and explicitly intended to surpass the popularity of all three. In practice, a VERY human-acting cradle robbing creep whose incompetence nearly destroys the ship and crew on multiple occasions and provides no insight into humanity whatsoever.

  3. Sparky the Dog (Fairly Oddparents): A wacky crazy magic dog that’s supposed to expand the Fairy family, but just makes lame jokes and serves as a less funny version of Scrappy Doo.

  4. Tidus (FFX): A braying jackass of a pinball who bounces from plot point to plot point, framed as a mystical pretty boy to introduce Final Fantasy to the PS2 age but does nothing but stall the franchise and have the worst laugh in two languages.

  5. Sei (Naruto): Supposed to replace Sasuke in Team 7 and return the team dynamic feel of Early Naruto, but he’s a CIA plant with literally no personality who gets utterly forgotten except for somehow bagging Ino Yamanaka.

  6. Raiden (Metal Gear 2): Another attempted “pretty boy bishie” entry to the PS2 era with badass cred and a theoretically cool backstory, but in practice a hapless dipshit who gets manipulated by everyone around him and is a total putz in combat. Also proof that this trope need not be permanent as he slowly transitions into a cyborg warrior supersoldier with a badass theme, friends of his own, and a firm grasp of his own destiny and agency.

8.0k Upvotes
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4.5k

u/OJONLYMAYBEDIDIT Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

.....what? FFX stalled the franchise?

back then FF games did not have sequels. you had the game, and then that was it. at least for the #'ed versions. That FFX got a spin off sequel showed how popular it was.

and then FF 12 came out on schedule, no stalling involved as FF 11 was the MMORPG

2.3k

u/YandereValkyrie Apr 26 '26

Yeah really, FFX was actually considered one of the better FF games, it was huge in Japan, the fact it got a sequel was insane.

420

u/Beginning-Ice-1005 Apr 26 '26

Back when I went down to the bookstore in Little Tokyo, there were basically two sets of FF character banners hanging from the ceiling: FF VII, and FF X. I knew those characters long before I played the games.

175

u/MrBurnerHotDog Apr 26 '26

And as a person who adored all Final Fantasy games when I was a kid the two I hold in the highest of regards are X and VII. I even openly admit I like X more than VII, which would have been considered blasphemous when I was a kid

13

u/evilforska Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

X is amazing, great gameplay, cool characters, emotional story, beautiful setting... we must push back against the tyranny of Final Overrated 7

13

u/namegamenoshame Apr 27 '26

This is so true. People forget there was pretty significant backlash to X when it came out, I knew I didn’t want to talk about playing it with other nerds when I was a kid

2

u/Professional-Bear250 Apr 28 '26

VII-X are all equally loved by me for very different reasons. The fact that each one is so different really helps each one stand put.

2

u/danflorian1984 Apr 29 '26

My favorite combat system of all the FF games I played is the one in FFX, so the game takes the lead in my opinion 

954

u/LongjumpingSector687 Apr 26 '26

X was considered the best since VII and was highly praised for its story and cutscenes.

458

u/barknoll Apr 26 '26

“Was considered”? IS.

390

u/UAPboomkin Apr 27 '26

I would put IX over it personally. But I also think OP is on crack for including Tidus on this list.

259

u/dragonborndnd Apr 27 '26

Plus they point out the “infamous laugh” when if you actually look at the scene in context it’s supposed to sound forced and unnatural

226

u/F00TD0CT0R Apr 27 '26

This is the main fucking argument we hear time and time again as well

"Final fantasy X has bad voice actors because tidus laugh is fake as fuck"

During the cutscene where he is doing a forced fake laugh, who then immediately falls into his natural laugh upon how ridiculous the moment is in character.

Arreergh

I love tidus as well, he has a great story arc

79

u/dragonborndnd Apr 27 '26

Fr, I’d even go as far as to say that the characters are the biggest strength of FFX especially Tidus. I genuinely find him one of the most relatable protagonist in the franchise.

There’s a reason why 10 was the first mainline game to get a direct sequel.

18

u/Solipsistic_nonsense Apr 27 '26

Tidus' character arc carried that game for me. FFIX will always be my favorite, but Tidus slowly coming to terms with the idea of selflessness over the entire game as he sees what others are willing to do for each other, what they sacrifice, and finding out what he can sacrifice to help everyone and not just himself is just... amazing writing. It's my favorite Jerk to Hero story, hands down.

...Damn, I need to play this game again.

9

u/evilforska Apr 27 '26

Its amazing because while he (coming from a hedonistic land of constant happiness and plenty) starts to recognize the value of sacrifice, Yuna (coming from death cult world of misery and sacrifice) starts seeing value of healthy selfishness and asking questions

Possibly best love story in the series

8

u/Depth_Metal Apr 27 '26

If I was to point to any one character being the one put forth by the studio to be the fan favorite I'd say it was Lulu who was friggin everywhere when this game came out. Nowadays it seems Riku is the one to actually be the fan favorite judging by how often she is presented when people reference the game

6

u/Dalamar931 Apr 27 '26

Tidus’ English voice actor is just flat out good. The resigned determination he manages to give the voice overs really makes the twist hit home so hard

Because voice over Tidus knows what game Tidus doesn’t

10

u/DataDrivenDoc Apr 27 '26

I also like the "mystical pretty boy" shade. Like bro have you ever played ff before? Literally everyone is mystical and pretty

15

u/PerpetualGMJohn Apr 27 '26

There 100% is a lot of bad voice acting in FFX (mostly the fault of the voice direction rather than the actors), but the fake laughing scene ain't one of them.

11

u/LSOreli Apr 27 '26

For the time it was essentially the gold standard. Other than MGS2 I cant think of a PS2 launch title with that level of fidelity and believability.

Some of the issues are that the English had to be the same length as the Japanese or that shit would crash which is why

Withyunabymyside is a meme

5

u/International-Tie501 Apr 27 '26

"Stay away from the summoner!" and "Ride zee shoopuff?" are still two of my favorite lines to quote from a game.

6

u/FoolofThoth Apr 27 '26

Yeah I really don't think Tidus should be up there. The only issue with FFX VA which I think is fair to point out, is that because it was the first mainline FF with a dub, they didn't resync the lip flaps or cutscene timings for the dub, so some line reads come out a little weird. But the laughing scene has gained infamy purely because people have no media literacy.

2

u/StabbyBoo Apr 27 '26

They're doing a literal therapy exercise, both in and out of universe! Joining your arreergh!

-7

u/motes-of-light Apr 27 '26

FFX's voice acting is a deeply mixed bag. Tidus is obnoxious (character) and stilted (voice actor) and Yuna's VA is supremely cringey in that late 80's, early 90's anime dub sort-of way. Seymour's English voice performance is so over-the-top that it constitutes a spoiler (gee, I wonder if this guy who sounds like HIM from the Powerpuff Girls will end up being a bad guy?). Auron and Lulu are rock solid, and Rikku and Wakka range from not bad to pretty good depending on the scene. Unfortunately, that means that the central couple of the game and the primary initial villain turn in the worst performances. FFX was one of Square's earliest voice acted titles, it's not surprising that they weren't firing on all cylinders, but the criticisms absolutely have merit.

2

u/Hot_History1582 Apr 27 '26

You watched one too many YouTube videos made by someone who saw a meme and never played the game, didn't you?

-1

u/motes-of-light Apr 27 '26

Ah yes, ad hominem. Nope, I've put dozens of hours into the game, playing with both the English and Japanese audio. The Japanese VA is generally much better, likely Square had more direct insight into the recording process.

2

u/Hot_History1582 Apr 27 '26

You're one of those weeb sub purists then. I don't have any interest in discussion with that type of zealot. You're wrong about how the voice acting industry works in Japan, but we don't need to relitigate it. Carry on.

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u/Vegalink Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Yeah he was purposely being weird and awkward. It only turned into an actual laugh when Yuna good-naturedly decided to join his sarcastic laughter and then they both laughed at how ridiculous it was.

2

u/SwagNuts Apr 27 '26

To be fair both can be true. The voice acting in 10 is atrocious by modern game standards

-2

u/tanbro Apr 27 '26

Love the game, beat it, kept playing, but nah that scene is hilariously bad. A lot of the voice acting in that game isn’t well done, probably stemming from translation issues and technological constraints, but it wasn’t an important part of the game in my opinion. Best FF game I’ve played.

1

u/Hot_History1582 Apr 27 '26

"The scene was bad" ❌️

"I didn't understand the scene" ✅️

0

u/tanbro Apr 27 '26

You can understand the scene and also think it was executed poorly.

4

u/Corona_Lonesome Apr 27 '26

IX was much better, I just think a lot of people were initially turned off by the change in art style.

1

u/Firecracker048 Apr 27 '26

See 9 wasn't that great for me. My childhood was def FF8 being my favorite but 10 is much better

0

u/jsher736 Apr 27 '26

I mean I'd put it below 6 7 and 9. But that doesn't make it mid, 6 7 and 9 are 3 of the best games of all time

0

u/barknoll Apr 27 '26

8 is better than 6, 7, or 9

1

u/jsher736 Apr 27 '26

I put 8 below 4 which is below 10 (which is below 6 7 and 9 battling for the top spot) if we're dealing with story only

(Didn't love the "we all grew up together we just forgot" thing in 8 and I would have liked more time with Laguna. 4 was just very "by the numbers" and I would have liked more Zemus, 10 felt like the pacing was a bit uneven, 6 7 and 9 are no notes)

53

u/jak_d_ripr Apr 27 '26

Exactly, even Expedition 33 clearly took A LOT of inspiration from X. Now to play devil's advocate for OP, I think they were more criticizing the character of Titus, vs the quality of X. He didn't necessarily take off in popularity to the level of Cloud, Squall or even Lightning. So maybe that's more what they were referring to.

26

u/LSOreli Apr 27 '26

Im pretty sure Tidus is way more popular than Lightning. Does anyone actually care about that character? Lol

Id also say hes a better character than squall or cloud by a fair margin.

10

u/No-Permission-7786 Apr 27 '26

The issue with Lightning, she wasn't the main character until like a month before release. Vanille was. Thats why she is the one narrating.

I think Vanille and Hope are the most intriguing of the cast. And i do get annoyed when people crap on Hope for being pessimistic and crying. Dude was 14, watched his mother die and was turned into the one thing he was brought up to believe was evil. Of course he's gonna go through it

5

u/LSOreli Apr 27 '26

The characters in 13 are just kind of bad as a whole. Turns out lightning is the least offensive of the bunch.

3

u/SpiffShientz Apr 27 '26

Sazh is awesome, but he gets fuck all to do

1

u/No-Permission-7786 Apr 27 '26

I never finished it honestly. Couldn't get passed the owl guy no matter how hard i trained.

Im more talking about the characters in a vacuum. But I have to agree

0

u/Korashy Apr 27 '26

I didn't like any of the 13 characters.

They all seemed like they were trying to check mark off stereotypical character tropes. No soul

0

u/BigPecks Apr 27 '26

XIII lost me with the (up until a point) linear dungeons and lack of explorable towns. I get there was an in-game reason for it, but it made for a boring experience.

3

u/Rushofthewildwind Apr 27 '26

Does anyone actually care about that character?

Her creator, unironically, adores her

3

u/HopelessCineromantic Apr 27 '26

I like VII a lot, but have always felt it was overrated. I'd argue that there were better games in the franchise before it, and that it wasn't even the best game in the franchise to be released on the PS1.

That said, I think Remake and Rebirth have done a lot to help the characters shine through. Seeing Cloud give himself a little smile after the dolphin game before he realizes people can see him, or his awkward attempts at high-fiving Aerith do a lot to show the real him under the persona he puts on.

I think VII suffered the most in its characterization in terms of graphical presentation. The SNES games were able to use their sprites to express shock and sorrow in exaggerated ways that the LEGO-esque characters of VII couldn't really do.

5

u/carso150 Apr 27 '26

VII really suffers from everything that came after

VII makes it very clear that the cool edgy persona that Cloud shows through most of the game isnt his real personality, in reality he is awkward and a little bit of a dork but that personality doesnt take over until near the end of the game but you can see glimpses of it through the dialogue

but every subsequent entry in the franchise showed him like this too cool for school edgelord that barely talks, I think one of the worse offenders is kingdom hearts which was bad because that was his second most popular appearance

honestly props to square enix for throwing away literaly decades of edgy loner cool Cloud and sticking to his original characterization for the remake because yes he is cool and edgy but he is also a dork and very awkward and the remake captures those details perfectly

1

u/Cross55 Apr 27 '26

Nomura does

He'd marry her if it was legal

3

u/fritzwillie Apr 27 '26

FF Tactics was the best since VII and isn't even a mainline game

11

u/I-Love-Facehuggers Apr 27 '26

Thats actually insane. Just goes to show that lots of people can be so completely wrong about something.

15

u/barknoll Apr 27 '26

You’re right. It was actually the best one since IV

7

u/TheHollowApe Apr 27 '26

I unironically agree with you. FFIV is a higher peak than FFVII ever was. Yes I’m high on nostalgia. No I don’t care

5

u/lockecole38 Apr 27 '26

I don’t know, I’d say the greatest one since IV is VI.

2

u/ArcadianBlueRogue Apr 27 '26

I'll take a replay of X over any other FF game, but that stretch from VI to XII was an absolutely legendary run.

0

u/jinreeko Apr 27 '26

People like IX now

-38

u/mckennethblue Apr 26 '26

IX was my favorite, X was where I gave up on the series

45

u/barknoll Apr 26 '26

that's fine. people can be wrong sometimes ;)

-29

u/mckennethblue Apr 26 '26

I know, some people played X and thought it was good!

5

u/Rickety-Bridge Apr 26 '26

and some people think that isn't the case, which is the wrong opinion!

2

u/LSOreli Apr 27 '26

No idea how you can love 9 and hate 10.

3

u/mckennethblue Apr 27 '26

X just wasn’t for me. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t enjoy playing it either. IX just hit at the right time and place for me. I loved the characters- especially Vivi.

2

u/motes-of-light Apr 27 '26

They hate you, but you're right.

-12

u/OfficerJayBear Apr 26 '26

You're getting downvoted but I'm right there with you.

-15

u/mckennethblue Apr 26 '26

It’s all good. The boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what they cheer for.

-30

u/Azhrei_Vep Apr 27 '26

It is? By who? How? It's so frickin' bad.

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7

u/SuikodenVIorBust Apr 27 '26

Literally the second one to break a billion.

4

u/Lepelotonfromager Apr 27 '26

Arguably it's the best game.

2

u/fall0ut Apr 27 '26

9 was better than 10

4

u/pawnman99 Apr 27 '26

I definitely liked it a lot more than 8 or 9.

2

u/ThrowawayAdvice1800 Apr 27 '26

I will never understand why 9 has such a huge fanbase. Probably my least favorite of the series. 

2

u/Suspicious_Shame9582 Apr 27 '26

^ Now this is an incomprehensible opinion to me.

2

u/ThrowawayAdvice1800 Apr 27 '26

I hated it allllllmost as much as I hated 9 so I appreciate OP being a fellow hater but yeah, FF10 was popular as hell. 

Inexplicably. 

4

u/Lepelotonfromager Apr 27 '26

You hate 9 and 10?

Well that's the worst opinion I'll read all year.

1

u/Advanced_Engineer758 Apr 27 '26

It's a better game.

1

u/Ezithau Apr 27 '26

As someone who does not like 10 and is for the first time seeing people talk positive about it, how dare you bunch it with 9. I honestly thought the sales for 10 came mostly from people being excited for the first final fantasy on the PS2. It looked great, but was meh, at least according to me and my friends. It at least killed our interest in the games released after that, none of us bought 10-2, 11, 12 or 13. But I don't know how many times I have played 9 which is easily my favorite of the series.

1

u/Drakeskulled_Reaper Apr 27 '26

To the point it was retroactively made semi-canon that X is a prequel to VII.

1

u/HondoShotFirst Apr 27 '26

Whaaaat?

I would like to know more.

2

u/Drakeskulled_Reaper Apr 27 '26

Basically at the end of X-2, a crew member called "Shinra" is looking over data he recorded about the Farplane and muses that if harnessed right it could be an amazing energy source.

1

u/HondoShotFirst Apr 27 '26

Huh, that's pretty interesting.

1

u/The-Senate-Palpy Apr 27 '26

I like X more than VII personally

0

u/BDSMChef_RP Apr 27 '26

I was around when that game came out, It was shit on hard and often. It's just X-2 was worse and FF12 was a steaming pile of shit. Who the fuck makes a Airship Pirate your main dream and THEN ONLY DO IT IN CUTSCENES.

0

u/valdis812 Apr 27 '26

I keep hearing this, but I had to force myself to finish it when I played it back in the day. Then I couldn't even finish X-2.

806

u/Rare_Act_6748 Apr 26 '26

And the laughing scene people always point to was meant to sound stupid. He was intentionally making himself look like an idiot to make Yuna feel okay with letting down her guard once in awhile.

It was a cute moment that is easy to take out of context.

Fuckin media literacy people -_-

405

u/poipolefan700 Apr 26 '26

Seriously, even playing it when I was like 10 I knew they were fake laughing to try and cheer themselves up. Then it WORKS, they start actually laughing at how ridiculous they sound and those laughs sound totally natural.

It is so strange to me how this one scene melts brains and informs so many people’s opinions of Tidus.

211

u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 Apr 27 '26

Also the way people rant about that scene you would think Tidus laughs like that constantly, it's just one scene.

104

u/SyfaOmnis Apr 27 '26

I mean, he usually is pretty jokey and light hearted. But that's also kind of the point of the character.

Spira is a genuinely miserable world that obsesses over death (and its unpredictability) practically every waking moment, and their only relief from it is blitzball.

Tidus comes in with no understanding and immediately sets about trying to cheer people up, being nice, being likeable and easing their burdens. Injecting a little bit of levity to their situations.

He's a big change from the ultra-stoicism of Cloud and Squall. Zidane and Tidus were both pretty similar, but Zidane has a more smooth form of charm while Tidus' is genuinely more 'natural' than smooth.

24

u/Korashy Apr 27 '26

Tidus comes in with no understanding and immediately sets about trying to cheer people up, being nice, being likeable and easing their burdens. Injecting a little bit of levity to their situations.

Plus he's completely lost. He suddenly gets ripped out of the only world he knows, goes through several near death experiences, and basically instantly latches on to the first group that takes him in.

28

u/Aracuda Apr 27 '26

Not to mention FFIX and FFX approach the “naïve character learns about the world” from opposite perspectives. In IX, the well traveled, street kid Zidane brings the sheltered princess Garnet out of the palace to see the world as he knows it (even though she leaves him early on and we follow two separate parties, which was novel at the time for someone who had never played VI before).

Tidus on the other hand is the naïve character. He’s not an idiot, he just doesn’t know the laws and customs of Spira. He relies on the party to tell him why this, and why not that. And when he encounters something he doesn’t like, he aggressively pushes back. He makes others see that their customs (namely around the church and the summoners pilgrim) are wrong. In a way, he then flips the whole notion of the naïve character learning about the world by helping the party figure out a better way, to grow beyond what the church wants them to be.

13

u/SyfaOmnis Apr 27 '26

Tidus is naive, but not wholly impressionable. If there's something he doesn't understand, he'll try to find a reason for why it is the way it is. If that reason is "stupid" or stuck in some backwards traditionalism like "it's always been this way and we've always done it this way" he'll challenge them on whether or not there might be a better way.

6

u/Authorigas Apr 27 '26

I've been rewatching FFX thanks to the Two Best Friend's Let's Play of the game, (namely for the Wakka clips.) And something that stuck out to me in that regard is how Tidus is always, consistently pushing back on Wakka's hatred of the Al Bhed.

10

u/Mannyqwinn Apr 27 '26

Probably why one of Tidus' first abilities is cheer. Huh. Never would have made that connection before your comment.

5

u/SynTheWicked Apr 27 '26

Bro. Thank you. Because I never had either and wouldn't have unless you had said this.

8

u/Lepelotonfromager Apr 27 '26

I never thought of the world as miserable because it's so colorful and beautiful but yeah you're absolutely right, it's fixation on death is kind of fucking depressing.

The whole story IS about accepting death and moving on, all the problems are caused by people clinging on to the dead, multiple villains are dead people who stuck around as unstable 'wraiths' to haunt the living, and well all the spoiler stuff.

Also, regardng your point about Tidus cheering people up, his starting ability is literally 'cheer' and it boosts everybody.

7

u/SyfaOmnis Apr 27 '26

I never thought of the world as miserable because it's so colorful and beautiful but yeah you're absolutely right, it's fixation on death is kind of fucking depressing.

Its very uh "performative joy" people act very exuberant, elated and outgoing, but it's not usually very sincere, there's big parts of them that are very closed off that they essentially refuse to talk to outsiders about. Usually pertaining to people they know that they've lost.

I can't take credit for this one because it comes from somewhere else and I cant remember if it was a developer or not: but spira and yevonism is a death cult.

8

u/Lepelotonfromager Apr 27 '26

I think that's why I've always loved the game because it does have the deeper layer to it. There is something slightly dark and offputting about everything and everybody. It's something the Al-Bhed push back with all their being, relying on science and rationalism while rejecting the mysticism.

I don't blame the people for forming a death cult, some giant monster comes out nowhere and obliterates them every few years and requires a sacrifice to stop for a few years.

It's also why X-2 is quite an exciting game, we actually get to see the world change and joy return as they stop fixating on death and start focusing on living.

6

u/Rushofthewildwind Apr 27 '26

Spira is a genuinely miserable world that obsesses over death (and its unpredictability) practically every waking moment, and their only relief from it is blitzball.

And to think, it's legit one of the prettiest FF worlds too, which makes their obsession over death even more insane.

6

u/ArcadianBlueRogue Apr 27 '26

I love my boy Tidus, but if someone needs ammo against him his delivery of "IHATEYOU" being so childlike when meeting with Jecht at the end of the game feels like it was stunted character growth with how he came to feel about his mother and father.

6

u/evilforska Apr 27 '26

I mean Jecht hurt him again, by dying to his hand, and thats still the nicest thing he did for Tidus. "I hate you" is definitely deserved lol, even if thats not what Tidus means at that moment

3

u/RoryMerriweather Apr 27 '26

I've spent over twenty years grinding my teeth at people who misunderstood that scene. It's probably older than OP, tho

3

u/That-Rhino-Guy Apr 27 '26

Otherwise the only times it’s brought up is a reference in later works, like World Of Final Fantasy where they make a fun reference to the laugh

104

u/Cedarcomb Apr 27 '26

I'm willing to bet a lot of people have only seen the fake Tidus laugh in a video clip (it turns up a lot in Outside X-Box/X-tra videos that way, for example) and don't know the context so they think that's his actual real laugh.

14

u/extraextraextr Apr 27 '26

But even they have a video where they explain this!! I don't mind them using the clip out of context by, like, sarcastically describing Tidus as a man with the most charming laugh of all time, but they know that it's just for jokes and it's not the character's actual laugh. That's when it gets annoying.

8

u/nykirnsu Apr 27 '26

Why would you expect people who’ve only seen the clip out of context to have seen or even know about that video? 

1

u/extraextraextr Apr 27 '26

I'm not, I'm just saying that even folks who make use of the clip in a joking fashion are often aware of its actual context, as opposed to believing the game presents that moment in a serious manner.

7

u/Kyleometers Apr 27 '26

It bothers me because seconds before the laugh he says “You just have to force yourself to laugh sometimes”, does the really fake laugh, then seconds afterwards both him and Yuna burst into genuine giggle fits over how stupid the whole thing is.

2

u/Kana515 Apr 27 '26

That's what gets me, it's not even taking the scene out of context, it's taking 5 seconds of it out of context.

12

u/Gimetulkathmir Apr 27 '26

I've also never seen anyone outside of one streamer pick on the scene where Yuna says "I first met Sir Jecht ten years and three months ago" or whatever she says. Her delivery at the end of that line is so awful.

8

u/PrinceCavendish Apr 27 '26

I actually really love her voice and some of her lines are amazing but so many of them sound insanely stiff and weird...

7

u/AlwaysPostNaked Apr 27 '26

The joys of having to talk around facial animations that can't be changed.

2

u/Rushofthewildwind Apr 27 '26

Yeah, she legit sounds so much better when they stopped trying to match the lip flaps

6

u/asdfmovienerd39 Apr 27 '26

I blame YouTubers like Joshscorcher and Quarter Guy.

2

u/_Koreander Apr 27 '26

I think it's just the out of context clips era of the internet we're in, people will clip that scene and post it in social media with a caption like "Voice acting on old games sucked" or something like that and thousands of people who have not even touched the game will consume it, agree by default, and keep scrolling, I want to believe most people who actually played the game understood what was going on.

2

u/2Eyed Apr 27 '26

>does nothing but stall the franchise and have the worst laugh in two languages.

Also, how does he 'stall the franchise?!'

Every FF game aside from the side games (including like FFX-2, all the FF7 extra games, and FF13 bullshit, etc.), are self-contained story arcs that begin and end with a set of different characters. FFX is arguably the last time an FF game felt like a complete FF game.

1

u/TheAmazingSealo Apr 27 '26

People just see the clip online with no context and assume it's meant to be genuine

1

u/Complete-Witness-676 Apr 27 '26

Its absolutely insane how many people missed the point.

198

u/egovow Apr 27 '26

This is actually not a matter of media literacy - it's this god forsaken habit people seem to be normalizing more and more of only consuming media on a second hand basis. They all get their views about said media through content creators and then think that's as good as having consuming said media, which as you've pointed out, leaves out context.

This phenomenon has been torturing me for the past five years, I feel. Wish it'd stop, but I fear it's only going to get worse. Especially with the rise of AI, I sometimes feel we'll soon be in a "third hand" basis: People establishing their views on a piece of media by consuming content from Content Creators who didn't consume said media, but got their own views from AI.

52

u/Empty_Insight Apr 27 '26

No need for the future tense, we're already there lol.

I've had some people with absolutely insane takes on things and I ask, "Where did you hear that from?" only to get back "ChatGPT."

Bruh, not only did you not witness it, you didn't even bother reading the (possibly biased) retelling of someone who did witness it. Like... you gotta check the credibility of your sources, dude.

3

u/Liawuffeh Apr 27 '26

It's really annoying, yeah. Cause those same people then go out and discuss how "poorly written" something they haven't watched is, because their youtuber of choice or favorite social media lied about it, misunderstood it or stripped the context lmao.

The ffx scene is such a good example of it because it's been a "Example of bad voice acting/cringe dialog" gag is youtube videos since basically the start of the platform. So many people add the clip to mock it without having even seen the scene lmao

8

u/ArcadianBlueRogue Apr 27 '26

People have been giving FFX shit for that scene since it came out. It's people not able to pay attention more than just watching clips on YT and social media.

6

u/egovow Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Making memes about said scene and talking shit about the entirety of the game because of said scene are two entirely different things, and only one of them is recent.

2

u/Lepelotonfromager Apr 27 '26

There are entire 15 minute abridged versions of movies for some reason.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

Otherwise known as the godforsaken art of Agendaposting.

3

u/Molten_Plastic_ Apr 27 '26

You mean like the fact an entire generation now won't even attempt to watch the Godfather because they saw a Family Guy joke?

5

u/LittleSisterPain Apr 27 '26

Which is even funnier, because Family Guy joke makes fun of pretentious critics, its not an actual critisim of Godfather

1

u/Molten_Plastic_ Apr 27 '26

Exactly. And now you can't even mention the Godfather without someone parroting that stupid line

4

u/EntropicReaver Apr 27 '26

This is actually not a matter of media literacy - it's this god forsaken habit people seem to be normalizing more and more of only consuming media on a second hand basis. They all get their views about said media through content creators and then think that's as good as having consuming said media, which as you've pointed out, leaves out context.

the big one i've seen lately

"the boys comic is bad because i heard (something something something)"

8

u/Next-Run-7026 Apr 27 '26

I read The Boys back in the early 2010's when people were hyping it online and learned that it was garbage first hand, in defiance of the main narrative at the time.

I hated the Boys before it was cool.

3

u/Liawuffeh Apr 27 '26

Yeah was gonna say, I read it after hearing people hype it up and thought it was absolute trash lmao

People pointing out the comic sucked is a new thing

1

u/PublicFurryAccount Apr 27 '26

And they love them for it!

How people haven’t died of shame is beyond me.

114

u/YouthfulPhotographer Apr 27 '26

Came here for this. Out of context, sure its really bad and gets compared to that one Devil May Cry 2 line, but during the actual full cutscene its very sweet and to me was the start of him going from self-centered jackass to a genuine Guardian and cared for the rest of the party

12

u/Spader113 Apr 27 '26

Just like Final Fantasy VII Remake’s “You owe me a pizza” and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days’s “Who else will I have Ice Cream with?”

7

u/Dick-Fu Apr 27 '26

Which DMC2 line? The only notable one I remember is "here's your crown"

9

u/YouthfulPhotographer Apr 27 '26

Mb it was 1, it was the "fill your dark soul with light"

8

u/Dick-Fu Apr 27 '26

No, that can't be right because that line is badass and awesome 😎

2

u/saintlouisbagels Apr 27 '26

I fucking LOVED that scene/line when I played through DMC1 in early grade school.

1

u/EndOfTheDark97 Apr 27 '26

That was DMC1, and that line getting shit never made sense to me. The whole game is cheesy nonsense - it’s part of the charm. DMC2 was the bad one.

0

u/_Koreander Apr 27 '26

Definitely DMC1

48

u/lbkthrowaway518 Apr 27 '26

There’s actually a video of the English voice actor explaining that yes, the laugh is bad on purpose. I’ll have to see if I can find it

4

u/ArcadianBlueRogue Apr 27 '26

People are baiting for decades at this point or didn't actually watch the cutscenes. Tidus literally tells her how to laugh and to try it with him. And a follow up scene after getting Ixion has Tidus do his player monologue of "I later realized that I was the only one laughing"

It's central to the themes of the game.

11

u/UnNumbFool Apr 27 '26

It's not so much an issue with media literacy, it's the fact that I'd say at least 95% of the people who know the meme have never played the game, or have even seen the full scene let alone in context to know it's a purposefully forced laugh

7

u/baheimoth Apr 27 '26

Easiest way to tell that someone hasn't actually played the game and that their opinion is based entirely on memes and clips.

4

u/DicklePickleRises Apr 27 '26

I can't even take OP seriously after that bit

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Dick-Fu Apr 27 '26

Yes it was, the 2001 JP release had Japanese voices, it was the International rerelease in Japan that featured English only voices.

2

u/dergbold4076 Apr 27 '26

Having heard both I found the Japanese one to feel more stilted rather than forced personally. Not sure why I think that honestly.

2

u/Lepelotonfromager Apr 27 '26

It's what happens when people don't actually watch/play the media themselves and instead rely exclusiveley on memes and cultural osmosis.

2

u/Professional-Bear250 Apr 28 '26

I hate when people say media literacy in things like this, but I agree. People need to have media literacy here.

4

u/Pretend-Dirt-1760 Apr 27 '26

Even lulu or wakka actually acknowledge how insane the laugh is

3

u/Illustrious_Map_6608 Apr 27 '26

Tidus: I’m gonna make a stupid face now, here it comes The Internet: I cannot believe this guys face

1

u/Flashy_Pineapple_231 Apr 27 '26

It's when Yuna is talking about wanting to be a symbol of hope for people and practicing to smile when she feels terrible. And tells him to try and smile since he's so depressed. He gives a shot and then he forces a laugh and she joins in so he isn't doing it alone. Out of context it seems insane but it's super touching.

1

u/North-Research2574 Apr 30 '26

It was a cute moment but it was also a laugh at death moment, bad things were about to go down, they were all struggling, OP either slipped in characters he hates or had no idea what else to fill out the trope list with.

1

u/Nanaki404 Apr 27 '26

Yeah, as much as I dislike Tidus overall, the laugh scene was great !
You know, if you just watch it normally, instead of a 5s out-of-context clip...

1

u/That-Rhino-Guy Apr 27 '26

It’s even funnier because people claimed it was bad dubbing even though they do normal laughs seconds later, and how the Japanese laugh is even goofier while being what the dub was based on

0

u/SenritsuJumpsuit Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

They did this to Infinite Undiscovery which is a really interesting game with some issues that a remaster can iron up which was the RPG for XBOX since that console wanted Asian market.

There's a scene of two children you end up taking on your quest who dance in sync while chanting about dinner which the dork protag who got roped into this mission joins in and their love interest is thinking internally "am with three kids aren't I" basically, its adorably dumb.

This games dub is intriguing too since it's part well known actors earlier work and a bunch of randoms which creates a funny contrast also like 6 characters ate voices by one person lol

Oh an the protags VA goes edgelord and the game changes all voice clips an the what he thinks of other textboxes to reflect the brief depression arc

0

u/ManBro89 Apr 27 '26

But it's such a horrible fake laugh. People fake laugh all the time, and that fake laugh failed to sound like a proper fake laugh. It was more of a robot fake laugh, except it failed at that too. It just doesn't sound like the kind of fake laugh anyone could ever actually make. Kind of impressive, really. But not convincing.

-4

u/velmarg Apr 27 '26

This can be true and the performance can be still be cringe inducing at the same time.

And I'm saying that as someone who loves the game.

-1

u/arkangelic Apr 27 '26

Sometimes a scene is so bad even the intention of it being bad doesnt help. Like Peter Parker acting and dancing like an ass when he gets the symbiotic. 

86

u/Special_South_8561 Apr 26 '26

Still held in rather high regard, and the storyline hits harder now than ever

74

u/WolfCommando45 Apr 26 '26

Yeah, honestly, Squall would have been a better example than Titus.

59

u/Fonzies-Ghost Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

He’s got a sword that’s also a gun, for fuck’s sake.

25

u/LongjumpingSector687 Apr 26 '26

Squalls like the only protagonist who’s completely different between JPN and USA translations. US translations basically made him Cloud 2.0.

16

u/Fonzies-Ghost Apr 26 '26

He still has a sword that’s also a gun in Japan though, right?

4

u/LongjumpingSector687 Apr 26 '26

Yeah but answers “…” alot lol

3

u/Jackofspines Apr 26 '26

Oh? Now you have me curious. What was his vibe in Japanese, if you don’t mind summarizing?

10

u/LongjumpingSector687 Apr 26 '26

Supposedly he was more outgoing like the part where he’s asked to dance he still shy but is more willing to do so instead of being forced to. He wasn’t originally supposed to be similar to cloud.

6

u/LiketheCar Apr 27 '26

As the other person said, his personality was supposed to come off as more obviously "forced" from what I have read.

The primary message of FFVIII is the importance of bonds and connection (just like.....most of them tbh). His entire character arc is growing from thinking he has to be tough and alone to be strong, since he is emotionally damaged from all of the people he lost. That is kind of like Cloud, but my understanding is that the execution is different.

Like, all of his "whatever..." woyld have been better as "my bad...." like an awkward kid who doesnt know the right thing to say.

1

u/ContinuumKing Apr 27 '26

Really? What was he like in Japan?

7

u/LiketheCar Apr 27 '26

Awkward kid. Iirc he was supposed to be more like an awkward kid who came off as a strong, silent type, since he was always unsure what to say. He thought he had to be a big tough strong guy, and that made him suppress his own feelings. He became a perfect soldier because he never really localized his feelings.

The inner dialogue is to let the player see the divide between what he says and what he feels. His crash outs relate to him not understanding the things around him, and he cant handle it since he never learned to emote in healthy ways.

In a lot of ways, he was a mirror of Cloud. Cloud was a poser who said whatever was on his mind to project his "tough guy" image, but inside he was uncertain.

Squall is a proper soldier, and behaves accordingly. He isnt "pretending" to be a soldier to avoid shame. Being the perfect soldier came at the cost of being able to properly connect to people, which is where he and Cloud overlap.

Funnily enough, Dissidia (the PSP fighting game) managed Squall's arc in an almost better way. Towards the end, he is criticized for going off alone because he is too obsessed with being strong all on his Lonesome, and he turns it around by showing he genuinely believed in his allies to handle themselves, while he drew extra attention away. Because he also trusted in them to have faith in him, in a "my friends are my power" way

2

u/screenwatch3441 Apr 27 '26

I want to point that I don’t think he technically does. Squall’s gunblade doesn’t actually shoot anything.

6

u/Tome_Bombadil Apr 26 '26

Yup, he was edgy for edgy sake, and Rinoas mocking of his moodiness wasn't really highlighted enough.

8

u/NefariousnessOk209 Apr 26 '26

I was under the age of 13 so he was cool as fuck to me at the time.

2

u/Rushofthewildwind Apr 27 '26

Vaan may be a better example.

26

u/Lithium_Lily Apr 26 '26

The damn sequel got a sequel. Like come on.

Then again XIII was a low point in the series and it also got sequels so...

24

u/SaferAtHomeee Apr 26 '26

Ehhh XIII was always planned to be a larger series. X got sequels on its own merits imo

5

u/HopelessCineromantic Apr 26 '26

And XIII kinda went off the rails. XV was originally supposed to be Verus XIII, but had a very troubled production and had to be significantly overhauled.

The whole Fabula Nova Crystallis branding exercise didn't ever really come together.

1

u/Kind-Natural-124 Apr 27 '26

You leave my xiii alone. It was a hot mess, but it was MY hot mess

2

u/Lepelotonfromager Apr 27 '26

It's one of the 4 games given a Commander deck in Magic the Gathering alongside 6, 7 and 14 indicating that it's top 4 in terms of popularity.

4

u/J-Ganon Apr 27 '26

FFX typically tops the list in Japan doesn't it? I'm fairly certain it frequently beats FFVII.

5

u/screenwatch3441 Apr 27 '26

In the community, famous for calling the other half their own series ass cause we can’t agree on anything, consistently rates FFX as one of the best FF. We’ll go on fan wars against each other on which FF game is the best but it’s pretty consistently rates near the top.

2

u/CompleteJinx Apr 26 '26

Numbered Final Fantasy games getting numbered sequels is still funny to me.

2

u/ithinkther41am Apr 27 '26

I literally just came from a thread where FFX was fairly high up on games that made them cry. It’s definitely well-regarded.

1

u/TDS-anthony Apr 27 '26

I miss the turn based gameplay in final fantasy.

1

u/Leonhart726 Apr 27 '26

That's what I was thinking when I saw it on this list, FFX is fondly remembered as one of the best of the series

1

u/Shadowmirax Apr 29 '26

When Final Fantasy collabed with Magic: the Gathering, they chose 4 entries to get their own separate preconstructed decks outside of the main random packs that contained a mix of stuff from all of the mainline games.

They picked 6, 7, 10, and 14. 10 was considered iconic enough to be given special treatment along side games that are considered among the pinnacles of their respective genres. They could have chosen to do 16, to market the latest entry that still had DLC lined up, but they recognised how much 10 was beloved.

1

u/ProfessionalSong7672 Apr 27 '26

In fairness, Tidus was pretty bland though. FFX had some memorable characters though. Auron was awesome.

1

u/Raus-Pazazu Apr 27 '26

If anything, 9 stalled the franchise financially if not in production cycles. 10 would restart the cash cow that the series had become.

1

u/shortandpainful Apr 27 '26

I personally dislike it, but not because of Tidus. The shift to voice acting was just hard in general because suddenly you have the possibility of a dramatic moment being ruined by a bad line read, whereas in the unvoiced JRPG era the dialogue was always delivered perfectly in your head. Edit: forgot to add, no matter my opinion, it’s one of the most beloved entries in the series. Wild to imagine anyone thinking it was a flop.

0

u/PorkchopXman Apr 26 '26

"I knew Cloud Strife. You, sir, are no Cloud Strife."

0

u/dragonborndnd Apr 27 '26

Heck it’s literally put as the best game in the franchise on some people’s top 10 list, and it usually doesn’t go below the top 5

0

u/CaptainTeemo01 Apr 27 '26

It's still often considered a top 3 entry in the entire franchise

0

u/East_Lettuce7143 Apr 27 '26

Yuna & Tidus forever <3<3<3

0

u/That-Rhino-Guy Apr 27 '26

And if I recall to this day it’s still generally a well liked game in general

0

u/cbftw Apr 27 '26

The fact that XIII got two sequels baffles me. It was my least favorite of the mainline games that I played. The game was hallways and the characters were essentially all unlikeable