i said lighting, because at least Vaan wasnt annoying and to be fair 12 didnt really have a protaganist

That's why the inner monolog existed, else we'd just see him react or do weird things without knowing. Inner monolog is what's lost in modern FF games, giving us less understanding of the characters. Meaning they have to blurt it out loud while explaining their issues to others, which feels forced and stale.

In the instance you mention, it was a bit different, he was put in charge and everyone was coming to him to find a solution to issues they should have been dealing with, he dealt with them as best he could and in the end worked it out and prevailed. You could see his character getting more frustrated with these issues because he didn't like being in the situation, yet he carried on regardless and did the right thing.

Mandatory:

I haven't played all of them, but It's Vaan for me so far, followed by Tidus even though I liked both characters. I wonder why Cloud isn't on the poll, we should at least have him as an option due to the relevance of FFVII.

It's not that he's inscrutable, since it's pretty clear from early on why he's acting the way he is evem without the innter monolgue. The problem is that the way he acts precludes interesting development and makes the story boring. For instance, what kind of reparte does he establish with Zell? Or Quistis? Or Irving? Or Selphie? Virtually nothing, because he simply ignores them until suddenly he isn't, and they're friends. It just HAPPENS, because the necessary character building that usually precedes that sort of thing is entirely absent.

For perspective, that character was dangling from a crumbling ledge on a moving airship for 10 minutes. And he certainly didn't act very concerned on that point. This would have been a point for actual drama, and instead of working to solve those problems so he could deal with it himself, he pretty much just ignores it. When Zell tells him about it, he sends Zell back to take care of it (despite already failing) and goes off to do grunt work with the others. Shouldn't he have sent Zell off to do that and gone to help her himself?

I think Cecil might have the least votes (has 1 now) is because Cecil is a very moderate character in comparison.  He didn't have no personality, nor had an exceptional one.

zidane is the ultimate FF protagonist! plus he have 2 of the most awesome companions (Vivi and Steiner).
BTW where is the overrated Cloud??

This man knows what's up.

Squall, Lightning and probably Noctis.

Lightning is just a bootleg Cloud with short shorts, Squall's gun blade, and a vagina. So her.