| Galvanizer said: I think it works well with Vaan. If they made him a silent protagonist like Link, Crono, and Hero (from Dragon Quest), he would have been too different from past FF protagonists. In fact, the only previous FF protgaonist he's be similar to would be the protagonists of FFI. They gave him dialogue so as to not stand out too much. with how realistic the script and cut-scenes are in FFXII, having Vaan being there and not saying a word would make him come across as autistic of retarded. It wouldn't have worked and would have been a reall immersion breaker during story scenes. Therefore, they gave him a voice and dialogue, but not too much so as to not function as a player avatar. As for sales, I think that if FFXII was a PS3 launch title, instead of releasing so late on PS2, and was later ported to the 360 and PC, it would have definitely sold 10 million worldwide. |
I think for most people it didn't work. Even most people I've debated FFXII with (both online and off) that actually like FFXII didn't like Vaan as a main character. I think you're the first I've encountered that has actually argued that he was a good protagonist.
I still think Basch should have been the main protagonist and Vaan moved to the side. Basch was a far more interesting character with an emotional tie to the story that would have involved the player in what's one of the more mature storylines to grace a JRPG.
@bolded
He doesn't have to be silent to be a player-avatar, although that is one of the more common methods. The other common option is to make it so the player can make choices, even if the effect is only superficial (the illusion of player input). As it is, they attempt to take a middle ground and it never really takes advantage of either method. He has too much of a personality to become a player avatar but doesn't develop enough or have enough relevance to the story to emotionally involve the player.
