| abstract
| - Zidane is not only the main character of Final Fantasy 9, but he manages to break Squaresoft's silly trend of having their main characters act like idiotic, moody badasses. Zidane is actually happy, which was a rarity in Square games for the longest time. Zidane acts like any other good-looking teenage boy would in that he's into girls and himself, but he's very sociable and is good at making and keeping friends. He's very close with virtually everyone in the Tantalus theatre troupe that he's a part of, which is a nice break from the lone line of Final Fantasy leads that never seemed to open up to their party mates until forced. And though Zidane can be immature at times, the quote "You don't need a reason to help people" isn't something that Zidane takes lightly. He is fiercely loyal to his friends, and he literally goes to the ends of the earth to help those he is close to. The one issue with this, of course, is that Zidane is willing to put the needs of everyone else ahead of himself. This comes back to nearly kill him near the end of the game when he learns the truth about himself. Zidane's character may kick ass, but his abilities in battle are no joke either. Anyone who has ever seen a cutscene in Final Fantasy 9 will see that Zidane is a lightning-fast angel of death. He isn't the best with swordplay (he uses a goddamn swallow), but he doesn't need to be. You can't hit what you can't catch, and it's no surprise that Zidane's profession of choice is Thief. Zidane is one of the most underrated characters in the history of Square games, and it's a true pity that the game came out toward the end of the Playstation's lifespan. "Heroic? Human? Those are just things people say after the fact. Why try to give meaning to what the main character chose?" - Zidane
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