Cyan for me is the one of the worst FFVI character I just can't use him... it is about charisma... not the swordtech itself.

The characters in FF VII have all the personality of wet cardboard. The story sucks, it plays like it was written by a emo 14 yr old drama freshman .  They were more interested in showing off their new SGI workstations than making a coherent tale. And the lousy 20 second ending FMV in VII was a disgrace after the epic ending sequences of IV and VI that were nearly an hour by themselves.  Advent Children had better story execution than VII the game.

FF IV and VI are the best FF games. FFIV is tops for story no doubt. It’s just classic Shakespearean tragedy; a story of betrayal, redemption, friendship, sacrifice, justice, etc. VI is cool too but something about IV's narative and focus on pure linear play write like story with no "kool kustomizingzors" or "733t battle systemz" or "mini games dawg" distracting you.

You just don’t see that in many modern games anymore. 99% of the game dev goes into graphics and HD nades and mad tyte spolisions bro and they basically have a programmer or financial adviser spend 5 minutes writing out the story.

Final Fantasy started it’s present day decline starting WITH VII IMO.

And this is no nostalgia. You are reading the opinion of someone who’s favorite game of all time is Xenogears, and I only played Xenogears for the first time in my 30s in the middle of the 360/PS3 era decades after it's release.  Prior to that it was Final Fantasy IV.  It took another game from the 90s that I didn't play until two decades later to top my previously favorate game of all time from the 90s.  All the games I've played since the SNES and PS1 era through 360/PS3, how can a clunky outdated blockly 240p PS1 game be that good?  And then after all these years something like Ni no Kuni comes out that touches that special spot in your soul like the 16/32 bit JRPGs once did that confirms that your tastes haven't changed at all, that indeed it's the games that have changed for the worse with all their focus on mainstream casual appeal and maximum investor profits these days.

So yes, there was something special in the games of that time that just can’t be matched today save for some games like Ni no Kuni or The Last of Us that the developers really put their hearts into and try.  Where is that sincere charming and tragic story? Enough with the Im too sexy for my gun-sword-transforming-robot-with-a-goatee garbage.

Ni no Kuni is how a modern JRPG should be, FUCK the casual mainstream CoD/Madden playing masses. My god that overworld map. See? It's not hard guys.

And Xenoblade Chronicles...

I stopped paying attention to Final Fantasy after VII.  It's like they were thinking HOW CAN WE DISAPPOINT THEM MORE THAN LAST TIME?! HAHAHA!  Eventually you just get tired of being trolled by those you once held on a pedastal.

As has already been stated, the cast is well developed and they have more of a reason to be in the party than Yuna wanting them to be her guardian two seconds after meeting, or taking the easy way out and just making the entire party a L'Cie.

Also, the characters aren't useless. All of the characters can learn magic from magicite and each character has their own unique skill that makes them worth using. Depending on your build at the end of the game, any character who has a Genji Glove, Offering, Economizer, Dragon Horn, or Gem Box has their skills become useless.

More or less what i was going to say.  

Each character has their own story arc, that they develop through and change... the characters are dynamic.  It's fascinating to see how each character changes in the world of ruin, how loss effects each of them.

Nostaglia can improve peoples opinions on stories, but it can't create stories that aren't there...

It's really interesting because FF4 and FF6 are the perfect opposites of how to tell a story.

FF6 is an amazing example of how to tell a story in a real world where people come off believeable and as individual actors.

While FF4 may be the best game to tell a story as a metaphor.  Practically every character embodies the primary focus of descent and redemption.

None of them were useless.   The unique skills just weren't useful for the entire game.   They all had times in which they shined or served a purpose.