What opinions have changed over the years?

Believe it or not, I used to think there were more connections and deeper mysteries that would be solved by analyzing the game. I used to think the characters were more unique in terms of archetypes than what they were.

General gameplay: I know it sounds unbelievavle, but for the first few years I played this game, I paid no attention to stats except HP, MP, Level, and Experience points, as well as Battle Power and Defense in the equip menu. To be fair, even though I had played the Final Fantasy series since the NES Final Fantasy, I didn't actively pay attention to stats until Final Fantasy VIII (yes, eight), when you junctioned spells onto stats and were thus forced to see how stats were affected. To me, the stats page was just a page of funny numbers. Thus I never really paid attention to how certain characters would do more damage with spells than other. I also didn't pay any attention to Esper level up bonuses and just tried to get everyone to learn every spell.

I also never used the back row with regular weapons. I could never understand why one would decrease their offensive output by purposely giving characters a disadvantage. Just swing the sword and kill things.

As far as general plot goes, the major nuance I did not get was what the Floating Continent was. I didn't get that this was both the risen continent and the former Esper homeworld. I just thought an island started floating in the sky for no reason. Also, the first time I played, I thought the Emperor really did have a change of heart right before his fate, only to realize that he was defiantly obsessed with ruling until the bitter end.

More character notes follow.

Terra - Although there were moments she seemed unsure, for the most part, I didn't see her as a seemingly frail girl hiding power. I actually saw her as more firm and tough and once her initial doubts resolved, positively fearless (showing shades of this before her second encounter with Tritoch). I was absolutely floored in Dissidia when she came across softer and shier...but then I realize that's much how the character originally was, it was just that the pixel art made her seem like a more brawny, brazen girl than her actual self.

I also saw her as a couple of years older (21) than what her canonical age is.

Gameplay wise I liked her, but as a kid I could only figure out the basic heuristics of Morph so I didn't use it. I still don't use it, but that's because I don't need it.

Looking at her now, though, I do see where she does embody some of the tropes of anime heroines and defies other tropes. She is still unique, but not as groundbreaking as I originally imagined.

Edgar - Weirdly, I had attributed his proclivity to flirting to him missing his brother. It was only when I came across information on the Internet that I realize this character trait was flourish and not a manifestation of his loss.

I also assumed Edgar was a little younger, more about 21 or 22. Yes, I thought that Sabin and Edgar were kids, not near-grown when the decision was made to split the kingdom.

Sabin - I assumed that his desire to train and do right wasn't just because that he wanted to do, but latent guilt at abandoning his kingdom. I also didn't understand for several playtrhoughs that Edgar set Sabin up in the coin toss, and I had idly wondered what would have happened if Sabin had lost that coin toss before I realized the truth.

I also didn't use his Blitzes as much because I simply couldn't perform them, and the single-targeted ones were auto-targeted. Thus I had him hit things with his claws and didn't understand his potential until many playthroughs later.

Celes - When I was a kid, despite her being a mirror of Terra gameplay, I didn't understand how much she was a mirror of her in plot. I just saw her as a no-nonsense, super serious general who learned to let herself laugh. I also thought she was a little older than what she was (21 or 22).

Cyan - Because of the Phantom Train sequence, I interpereted Cyan seeing his family board the family and being too late to stop them in a very literal manner. Yes, I thought the intact bodies and souls of the Doma victims were boarding the train, and that if Cyan had stopped them, everyone could have exited the forest and that Cyan's wife and son would be restored to life. I somehow thought that part of his guilt wasn't just that his family died due to the Empire, but that he failed at his only chance to save them (by stopping them from boarding the train) as well.

Gau - In earlier playtrhoughs, I did not catch the significance of Gau's line in Vector. I assumed Gau's father was always a senile old man who was too old to have kids but chose to do so anyway. I also thought that given Gau's ability to mimic monster attacks, and given Mobliz proximity to Thamasa, that Gau was really a descendant of the Magi and that's why he could learn monster techniques.

I also didn't fully appreciate Rages at first. I thought they were cool, but gimmicky.

Shadow - I used to dislike him. Why would this cold mercenary tell me to essentially buzz off when I wanted to talk to him? And why would be be so helpful to Sabin when Sabin was stranded? Either he should make up his mind or sit at the cafe.

I did not catch the significance of the Memento Ring as I was wondering why Shadow's mother would be looking over him.

I also did not understand the meaning of his dreams. Clyde not killing his partner seemed like the right thing to do as a kid, as I thought it was selfish of Baram to ask his friend to kill him. I thought he was doing the right thing and that by killing his emotions he killed his conscience and became a jerk. When I saw he abandoned his daughter for no real reason, I thought he was the WORST PERSON EVER AND HE NEEDED TO TELL HER THE TRUTH RIGHT NOW!

However, with subsequent playthroughs, I see he was running out of fear. Also, I began to realize that while it was never outright said, the Thamasans probably had no small hand in making Clyde feel unwelcome (or maybe even ratted him out) and that he would have to at best, raise a gifted daughter on his own with insular people who may hold resentment for him "killing" one of their own, a great love of his wife. I still think he was SUPER wrong for what he did, BUT it wasn't as black and white as him leaving the family because he wanted to be an assassin like I originally thought.

I used to hate him gameplay wise, since he would join me and then just decide to leave sometimes because he felt like it. This irritated me to no end, especially the one time I did break down and hire him in Kohlingen, when he abandoned me on the way to Zozo. I didn't even make it to Jidoor! Plus, he used consumables for his attacks, which meant that I would have to constantly buy items for him to be useful. I also could not understand why he was mysteriously absent for the second half of the game or why his headshot and theme panned over Thamasa at the end. It was only when I read in a magazine that you have to wait for Shadow that I realized he was dead because I hadn't waited.

Now that I know how to keep Shadow, he's awesome!

Relm - I HATED her character. She was an ungrateful brat who was horrible to the only adult figure in her life, and was too old to be acting like a 6 year old. When I was a kid, I wanted to smack her. I would NEVER talk to my grandfather like that. I didn't even get the point of her flashback in the WoR.

Despite this, I used to like using her...until I encountered the Sketch bug in Phoenix Cave. Before then she was fun and I liked how, she, Strago, and Gau used enemy attacks. I'd form a Veldt party with those three and another character. I actually wished she and Gau would have been more connected, not necessarily shipping, but either as friends or for Strago to adopt Gau so they'd be adoptive brother and sister (and fitting how Gau, the wild child who grew up with monsters, showed more social skills and compassion than this little girl).

Then the Sketch bug turned my screen crazy. I no longer liked using Relm and thought the whole convoluted process of getting her back was a pain in the neck. Why would I have to first go to a cave in the Veldt, then go to Jidoor and go through a haunted mansion AND fight a boss just to get this girl?

Then I saw Shadow's dreams and I realized that's why she was an awful child.

Mog - I thought he was just there. I didn't like him, but I didn't hate him. I thought his Moogle Charm was nice, but at the same time I didn't use it because I knew you had to level up to get stronger, so avoiding battles was not in my gameplay style. Plus Dance was awful to me because not only did it fail sometimes for reasons I did not then know, I could not control Mog for the rest of the battle when it succeeded. With Gau, at least, I could get free spells. With Mog I got some good attacks. However, with Mog, I could attack normally, so that was a plus compared to Gau.

Now that I know you are not supposed to level up if you want the best stats, I think he's awesome.: