Vaan is the worst since he wasn't originally supposed to be the main character

Sylvando is beautiful and you take that back sir!!!!

How about a "most annyoning kids in JRPG"? No wait, there would be too many potential entries, I'd take forever to find the top 10.

"Who takes pride in being anti-social?" The entire tumblr community for a start XD

Machias was definitely annoying, but I forgave him because "Timelord Machias" is absurdly OP. His status ailment stacks were ridiculous, too.

I think the comment about a “normal” gay character is true even beyond the realm of gaming. Not every gay character needs to be flamboyant, feminine, and annoying. David himself looks like a god damn MMA fighter. I wish people would start learning to separate homosexuality from being a sissy. That was a tired stereotype decades ago.

Squall’s character evolves throughout the story. He starts out being an asocial tough guy jerk because when he was little he was orphaned and then “sis” left so he gets used to not getting attached to people, but by the end he learns to let people in. He also clearly cares about his team as he rushes in to save them without any regard for his own safety on more than one occasion

How about a most annoying cutsey animals/animal-like characters list as well? That's one category of characters that always gets on my nerves

I think the worst thing about twins in fantasy settings is that you ALWAYS know what the dynamic is going to be, regardless of how good their characters are individually. The boy is the brash, hot head and the girl is the calm and composed one who has to reign him in and keep him from doing stupid things.

True story: Squall's original name was Sulky Sulkinson, but, the developers didn't want to make it too obvious.

Machias? He wasn't that bad. I really can't hate on any of the characters in the Trails series though. Now Hope from FF13, there's an irritating character. Whine, whine whine. plus the most useless Eidolon in the game.

“Has there ever been a more punchable face than his?” 😂😂😂😂 golden!

Oh wow, it's nice to know there are more gay guys other than me that play JRPGS

In Squall's defense, A) most of his complaints were in his own head, B) his party members all tended to be varying degrees of unprofessional screw ups, C) he was constantly frustrated by the fact that his -military- *mercenary* academy kept putting him in charge of things (because of temporal shenanigans that we only find out about at the very end of the game) despite the fact that he had just graduated and was obligated to bring screw ups like everyone in his party that wasn't a dog (especially Zell) along onto his missions, and D) equipping Guardian Forces for extended periods during training scrambled his memories so that he was feeling the separation anxiety from his sister being taken from him but had no idea that was what was behind the sensations he was experiencing, so he wasn't able to actually learn how to cope with it and therefore defaulted to trying his damnest not to form bonds with anyone else until Rinoa practically stapled herself to him. Basically, all of Squall's problems basically stem from the fact that Cid was terrible at running an orphanage, a school, and a PMC, which in turn was because Cid was doing most of that in an attempt to (mercy) kill his wife and fulfill a prophecy at the same time.

Zell has a personality?? What did I miss? I've beaten this game twice in my life and all I remember is him saying "OHHHH YEAAHH" and something else about hot dogs.

I'll probably disagree with the whole list since I don't get annoyed with that many characters in general.

Sold my man Squalls character development short as hell... still a good video though.

seeing as Ashe was supposed to be the protagonist and Vaan & Penelo were added in late in development because the higher ups wanted younger characters "in order to boost sales potential", the points made about Vaan aren't remotely surprising....

Wasn't Vaan just put in because they thought an older protagonist would alienate their core audience? I thought he was okay as just a POV character.

Expecting to see Lymle from Star Ocean on the women's list "kayyyyy?"

Squall only started out antisocial. Learning to lead his team was part of his character development. He ended up being quite the dynamic character without flipping a heel-face 180. I could make plausible argument that Squall was in fact a well-written character in a terribly-written story. Same with Luke. It took a tragic plot twist, but he actually picks up some self awareness, and is decent as a character by the end of the game.

Sylvando needs to be in a game-developers manual of how to write and create good stand-out characters well.

Oh God, Nash's introduction made me wish for Ramus to come back, that's how annoying he was.

Please increase the volume. I have my speaker up to max, and I can still barely hear it.

Thank you! Finally someone admits Squall is a terrible protagonist.

Machina from FF Type-0. He’s constantly whining throughout the game and then the ending expects us to like/feel for him. A cardboard cutout would of been a more impactful character!

But where are Hope and Snow from ff13

Like this page and what I do here? Consider supporting me on patreon! www.patreon.com/davidvinc [0:50] - 10) Nash - Lunar Silver Star Story Complete [2:09] - 9) Jupis - Rogue Galaxy [3:18] - 8) Makoto - Enchanted Arms [4:31] - 7) Squall - Final Fantasy VIII [5:20] - 6) Vaan - Final Fantasy XII [6:23] - 5) Chiepoo - Suikoden IV [7:49] - 4) Machias - Trails of Cold Steel 1 [9:34] - 3) Luke - Tales of the Abyss [11:18] - 2) Cooke and Mack - Lost Odyssey [12:58] - 1) Emil - Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Lunar Silver Star Story was one of my faves as a kid but damn, didn't I want to punch Nash's face every time I saw him. If I'm not mistaken, we had to save him from the swamp monster but he had the gall to act arrogant afterwards lol

When you said, "Why can't the gay characters just be normal?" during the Makoto bit, I finally feel like someone shares my pain for a decent gay character in a videogame. Not over the top, not so unnoticeable it seems non-existant, but just how a gay dude might hint to one another. Being bi myself this is also a question I have asked for so long. While it is a little funny, could be done waaaaaaaaay better.

Hope from Final Fantasy 13 is my pick. I hated him so much!!!

You should do some videos on the .Hack game series at some point (I'm mainly referring to the PS2 IMOQ series). I'm longplaying each one of them on my channel, I only have Outbreak and Quarantine left to get through. I'm also the first person to ever record, and upload, a longplay of .Hack//Fragment, which is all in Japanese with a little bit of English patching completed. That was really fun to play through, even though I couldn't understand most anything that was being said.

Honestly, I find Rean hundred times more annoying than Machias. I absolutely cannot stand protagonists with harems and find all of these harem scenes with him incredibly annoying. Though I guess I don't so much dislike him as a character as the concept of him. I also quit Tales of the Abyss for at least several months because of annoying Luke was. When I got back to it, I realized that you are supposed to find him annoying at first and that is actually kind of brilliant. And thanks for reminding me of the existence of Chiepoo. 😩 I don't find him so much annoying as kind of creepy and unsettling, especially in the sequel. Actually, I find all of Suikoden Tactics kind of creepy.

Lost odyssey is such a good game i overlook the kids

I feel an essential part of growing up is realizing the character crushes you had were ill advised, Lol

You will never convince me that Victor is gay. The "is he...?" kind of thing is a trope used for comedic effect in Japan. He's just fiercely loyal to his duty and enjoys the company of people he sees as strong and honorable. If anything, he may lean closer to asexual as he's really only interested in training and his work. Then there's the failed relationship with an old lover of his. One might argue that it failed because she knew he was gay or something but I just don't think that's the case. I think it would be like saying Goku is gay. If you want lgbtq done decently, I think the borderlands series does well.

"Vaan" proceeds to show clips of Basch, smh... Jokes aside, Vaan feels like a last minute addition to the game and I think he was.

Machias was kind of a pain in the ass and sexist in the beginning of the series, but it's cool to see him grow of the course of the games.

I actually liked Luke. His being such an unlikeable tool makes his later transition to maturity more engaging and everyone else's rallying around him (and spoiler: Tear falling in love with him) all the more believable. Luke reminded me of a super exaggerated version of Justin from Grandia 1 in the beginning, and both had a coming of age arc. God I miss Tales of the Abyss now.

Luke is one of my fav tales of chars.

Half of the cast of Chrono-Cross should be on this list, it's actually easier to list exceptions.

Ouch I agree with everyone but with Machias and Luke :( Personally I thought Luke was a super engaging character (Not likeable) but he had such an awesome presence. It was an interesting dynamic to have a jrpg protagonist who was a huge asshole for once. Anyways loved your videos, and I especially agree with the lack of positive LGBT+ party members in jrpgs.

Hey, thanks for doing these awesome videos! You've brought up so many fascinating RPGs I've never of before. I'm so busy with work, but when I get more free time, I'd like to try a bunch of the games you've talked about.

No honor mention to Morgana from Persona 5? What a shame

Me here, loving Luke and Emil... :'v

Disappointed none of the lesser Chrono Cross boys made the list

Emil is the worst, so happy to see him make the list.

I'll admit I hated Vaan my first playthrough of FF12 but he's grown on me and I have no idea why

Omg, bless your heart for sticking Chiepoo on this list. Suikoden IV is such an outlier in the series for me, honestly, but Chiepoo being a mandatory early-game party member is probably the most intolerable thing about it for me. (And then continuing to be a main character after that, too, for some reason...) He is so *incredibly* annoying!! In a game with a slow and muddled plot, frustrating overworld travel, lackluster battle system and *Snowe*, it is honestly a testament to how much Chiepoo bugged me that I still consider him one of the worst things in the game. This was an inspired pic, my dude.

I like Machias but one thing that bothered me is how he was friends with Rean but then all of a sudden started hating him after finding out he was a noble, fortunately they reconciled though. I do find his rivalry with Jusis entertaining to watch

Hey man, just wanted to say that i've been following your videos for some time and really enjoy your work. Love how you put a little personal touch on them. Admire all the knowledge off jrpgs too. Been trying to follow and play them all. Keep up!

just found your channel, great stuff and great rpgs that ive never heard about! looking forward to checking out these annoying characters for myself haha

I mostly agree with your list. I will say though that I'd rather have a person not mention their sexuality on an adventure unless they're going to do something with it.

I’m so glad to see Machias on this list. He would make my list as well.

I heard Chiepoo and straight away recognised it as the voice of Kari from Digimon. Sylvando would probably top my list for how over exaggerated his personality and story is. It put me off using him, even if he was a solid pick for buffs. I didn't really mind Vaan from this list, I always just saw him as the out of place commoner that was giving a different perspective on the crazy stuff he'd been swept up in. He gives me Aladdin vibes (and not just for the outfit and setting)

I definitely agree that Squall is actually very hard to be likable, his whole personality have no strong background at all.

Can I get honorable mentions for Hope from FFXIII and every character from FE Fates?

The Cameraman in Earthbound was pretty random.

I'd argue that Vaan is'nt the protagonist of FF12, Balthier and Ashe are the protagonists. Vaan is just the medium from which the story is told, kind of like a narrator of sorts.

Honestly, the whole cast of FFVIII is pretty annoying. Irvine is probably the least annoying, but even then he's a sniper who can't kill and he follows Selphie around like a puppy.

10:55 How dare you!? Luke constantly harassing and abusing Mieu is one of his greatest redeeming character traits! Granted I have an unreasonable, seething hatred for mascot characters.

I hated Luke with all my heart in the begining, but his "redemption" arc is just amazing, and easily makes the game one of the best J-RPGs ever. With that said, Vaan from FFXII is AWFUL, really. He's overshadowed even by Gilgamesh short appearance, which is a shame, cause the game itself is really good, but daaaaaaamn, the protagonist...

These videos have really gotten me though these lonely times! Makes me look at RPGs in a different way

Explain to me why Vaan was in the game again? Like what was his part in FFXII?

I find it funny that both Squall and Vaan are on this list over the likes of Edward, Cait Sith, and Hope... all who are utterly useless and pointless... At least Squall and Vaan have some redeeming qualities being the MC's of their respective games, even other people outshine them. Name one good thing the other three ever did, besides annoy you.

This list is so perfect, I hated Squall so much that I couldn't even finish FF8. Vaan wasn't originally gonna be the main character in FF12. They originally wrote Basch as the main character but then later in development suddenly decided they should have younger characters to "appeal to the kiddos" so they added Vaan and Penelo. They feel shoe-horned into the story because they literally were. Looking forward to your most annoying jrpg women list :) That's gonna be a tough one to narrow down to just 10 lol

Yeah, Nash is pretty bad. Although it's easy to ignore his Sleep spell on a first playthrough, because if you discover how useful it is (or Luna's sleep song) the game basically becomes broken. I could go my whole life without hearing him say "Check this out!" and doing a spin in the air ever again though.

Vaan is more boring than annoying, how he can be annoying when he has no personnality ...

Finnaly someone to agree with about Luke. I hate this spoiled brat. Jade is the only reason I somehow liked Abyss.

I've never considered Vaan as the protagonist of FF XII. He is just a witness observing the plot develop. It seems to be intended like this. If you list Machias for his initial personality, Jusis isn't better at all. At least Machias is a useful support caster while the only thing useful about his noble classmate is his Noble Command skill. To me, one really annoying character is Lezard from Valkyrie Profile. Even without knowing the story of the first game when I played Silmeria, it was way too obvious that he couldn't be trusted. I already couldn't stand him while he was with the party (and he was useless in battle as well) but when he turned out to be the main antagonist he became downright annoying. I actually like psychotic characters if they are well written, but this self-proclaimed god wasn't. I enjoyed his final scenes even more though.

Awesome video! Totally agree with Squall. Never understood what made him so interesting. I laughed at the Vaan part pretty hard and had to come back to it after the video was over. One word about what you said about Vaan: BRUTAL! Loved it!

I hear a lot of "he gets better" about Luke, but the truth is that he doesn't. He's still a selfish, whiny asshole. It's still all about him, and it's still attention-seeking behavior. He may have cut his hair, but he didn't change. Not really. Machias, on the other hand, does change. He grows more accepting as the game goes on, and we find out more and more about why he feels the way he does. It doesn't make his initial behavior acceptable, but it gives us some much-needed context that lets us empathize. Anyways, Sylvando may be over-the-top, but it fits with his character and motivation, and he's honestly the best-written character that I've ever seen in Dragon Quest. He has personality, goals, insecurities, flaws, everything that makes a character feel really real. Sylvando wasn't the main character, but he was the star of that game (for me anyways). Great list, as always.

Yeah, while I loved Lost Odyssey and it is one of my favorite games on the 360, I will admit that Cooke and Mack can be a bit annoying. I got especially annoyed with Mack when he wanders away the two times. Though I myself found Tolten to be more annoying. One I was surprised that wasn't on here though is Marumaro from Blue Dragon. He probably has the most annoying voice in the world and worse yet he has to scream out all the time.

Thanks for including Vaan on this list. He sums his role up in the story by admitting he's "just along for the ride" later onto the game.

"Vag getting wet!" I died when you said that

Glad for content like yours! I love JRPGs and also wish for more openly gay main characters. I’d love to see myself represented in that way. I loved Sorey in Tales of Zestiria, I related to him a lot, and his sexuality was ambiguous enough that you really could imagine him as gay and it’s not a stretch at all

Ahhh, come on... Vaan's not that bad. He's pretty bland, but he's a good-hearted kid, and he gets some decent lines here and there. His scene with Ashe in Jahara is one of my favorites. At the very least, his revenge subplot is quickly and maturely resolved instead of extended out into the most melodramatic B-plot of all time, COUGH, HOPE, COUGH.

David, my dude. I had Lunar in my queue of games to play, should try to avoid spoilers in the future...

Chiepoo showed up in my dreams last night. He must die now since I never played Suikoden in my life.

God, Emil was such an emo even Squall would tell him to cheer up.

Luke dose get alot better I couldnt stand him myself. But I loved him toward the end

regarding gay characters in JRPG: THANKS exactly my thought. The real only JRPG char which i found ok and funny was the "wrestler" in Shadow hearts 2 (forgot the name).... otherwise.... nah and in western RPGs they either are full on Bi Sexual (EVERY character which is also stupid like in Dragon Age) or over the top

10: Should be noted he wasn't a traitor in the Sega CD version, he was a double agent. PS1 version the made him a straight up traitor. 9: Hey Numbah 1. I like Jupis, shitlord worked for his goals. "Jar Jar Binks knockoff." Darth Jar Jar: Do not compare me to this one, I am the Dark Lord of the Sith, he who was behind ALL! 8: Makoto is hard to defend. Also another example of Japan not being the most understanding of countries. 7: Not defending Squall, boring as hell. People compare Cloud to him, but every single game Cloud appears in outside of 7 don't actually do a good job of showing Cloud's character. 6: A reminder that Vaan stole the Main Character role from Balthier, Vaan's present is borderline pointless. 5: You dissing my homie Chiepoo? Took him to end game. What? I prefer Non-Humans to Humans, they are less boring. :| 7:05 "Does Chiepoo have to smack a bitch?" 4: SKIP! 3: To quote the God Emperor of Man from 'What if the Emperor had a Text to Speech device.' when it comes to Luke's handling in that game; "About Fucking Time, I have so many things to Complain about.". .....But there's no spoilers for the game in this video, So I'll refrain. 2: Hi Phil and Lil from Rugrats (For real, Cooke's VA is them. Maybe Mack's as well, but eh don't feel like looking it up right now.). Yeah, Kids in JRPG, I don't get Japan's insistence on doing this constantly. 1: No defending Emil. None One abandoned LP had a fucking counter for how many times he says "I'm Sorry".

Van was horrible. Probably the worst. He was originally supposed to be Basch. He single Handedly brought an amazing game down by his lack of character and ability to lead all because executives wanted to appeal to younger players

Man i really like listening to your voice, i don't know why 😂

Not to mention number 5 sounds like Kari from Digimon, before Tri.

Hey davidvinc I really love your Channel about (J)RPG Games. Have you ever played Tales of Berseria ?

I just beat Tales of the Abyss today and I thought Luke was a pretty good character

Love this list! But i do think Morgana needs to be on this list lol🤣🤣🤣

Hey! Emil’s my buddy! How dare you...! His development through out the game was good in my opinion. But this is your video so i’ll calm down and i’m sorry

Thoughts on Karol from Tales of Vesperia? I haven’t finished the game yet, but man is he annoying...

I laughed so hard at the Chiepoo part, rofl that pose, outfit and voice acting, it's killing me xD I'd play the game just to see that lmao

Ok but Luke from tales of the abyss was written to be annoying. Literally everyone in the party hates him lmao.

How can you say Vaan doesn't have a clear role in the story? He obviously is the Trophy-barely-legal Twink of the game that you can fantasize becomes some sort of "slave Leia" for whoever you want to drop him to.

Ok but that song the Lost Odyssey kids were singing in this video would be the perfect intro to an epic Melodeath song, maybe with Kalmah’s vocalist performing it.

Nash can be pretty awesome... if you use and abuse Sleep. It has a very high % effect on a lot of enemies, and can really make portions of the game trivial.

*You better not be hating on my boi Sylvando!*

Hinata from Fire Emblem Fates has to be my least favorite FE character ever lmao

Please tell me the twins on the other list are those nitwits from Infinite Undiscovery!

The worst part of ToS Dawn of the New World is actually the like someone's garbage ocs got thrown into an amazing world that had a great story and they destroyed it with this game.