Well, Nich, I said I was going to write in on this one, and I've got two words:

John Hardin.

I find the man to be almost as awesome as Sydney, if not just as much so. I'll refrain from listing off all the reasons he strikes me as an interesting character study, but here's the main reason he fascinates me so.

You see pretty much from the start of the game that Sydney scares him half to death (as well he should, I imagine), but one scene really impresses me every time I play through the game - the "We are friends, are we not?" scene. Friends or not, prone to cowering before Sydney's wrath or not, Hardin shows he has tremendous nerve here by actually standing up to this guy, who's immortal, incredibly powerful, and could fry him with a word if he wished, and tells him never to do that again. The first time I saw that, I just sat there staring for a minute after that, going "Whoa... Hardin's awesome!"

And later in the game, as he's getting some real development, he really comes into his own as a very strong, if conflicted, character. His dedication to Sydney is impressive, and his gruff, impersonal attitude makes little Joshua's adoration all that much more endearing - and speaking of those two, I believe Hardin's part of the ending was the closest I've ever come to crying over a video game.

In the game, he gets royally screwed over, and even on the net, you see tons of Sydney and Ashley and Callo artwork out there... but barely any Hardin. Same with fanfics - there's a ton of Sydney and Ashley and even Grissom fics out there, but almost no one seems to notice, much less focus on, my beloved John. Very sad. I suspect it's because he's not even slightly effeminate.

-Andrea Hartmann, obsessed VS fangirl

SHERA. The most underrated, strong, forgiving, forgotten character Squaresoft's ever popped out. Most women would have left Cid to squirm underneath that oxygen tank after the way he treated her, but not Shera. She's a rocket scientist, owns several shotguns, is a great mechanic, and can make a mean cuppa tea to boot.

...And despite all that, how many fanfics does she get written about her? How many shrines? I'd be willing to bet half of you don't even remember who she was. SHAME.

Here's to Shera, my fellow bespectacled sister-in-arms. Girl, I salute you.

-Negative Creep

The obvious answer to me about which video game characters are ignored would be the average bad guys, especially in realistic games like MGS. The guards are all at least 20 with lives and histories that get only a neck-snap's time of notice. They remain nameless and nebulous in relation to the gamer, simply obstacles to get around rather than people with a past and perspective futures. Sure I'm being a little heavy here, but that's my honest answer. As long as you don't think about it too much, you'll be fine. Also, I wanted to ask about how many letters the GIA will get in a day.

As Always,

-Blackmoxa

Salutations, Nich.  Question!  ^_^

I read this column daily, and I hear ranting that there's too much Square focus, and then I hear all this stuff about WD and Konami and what have you, but all the time I've read, I've never heard any Wild ARMs discussion.  Am I imagining things?  I didn't think the WA series was more underground than Suikoden.  Maybe I haven't been paying attention as much as I should, but, hey.

So in relation to the set topic, I'd like to mention, more or less, the entire original Wild ARMs and Wild ARMs 2cd Ignition cast.  Okay, that's foolish.  Nevermind.  :D  Then let's mention Rudy, the -main character- of Wild ARMs.  Rudy is a very interesting character -- I'm not going to spoil the game, so those who have played it know what I'm talking about.  However...

Rudy got one line in the entire game.  And it was something like "Sorry!  I didn't mean--"  And that was all we got into his personality.  Yes, I know that Crono and Serge were silent protaganists as well... but that -worked-.   I didn't feel as distanced as I did from Rudy, a character who I'd have loved to have known better.  :/

-Nezu, the girl who loved Prisoner 666.

Nich,

I think the supremely selfish Princess Mint (of Threads of Fate) is easily one of Squaresoft's most underappreciated characters. Mint's pettiness and vindictivness are truly hilarious, and if she had starred in a better game she no doubt would rival FF9's Vivi in popularity. Unfortunately, Threads of Fate had the misfortune of being merely an above average rpg in a year that witnessed the release of many great rpgs. As a corallary, there were an awful lot of very impressive characters that debuted in 2000 (Ashley Riot, Callo Merlose, Eiko, Mojo, Harle, Kid). So its kind of understandable that TOF and Princess Mint got lost in the shuffle. But, to put it mildly, 2001 is not going to witness anywhere near the quantity or quality of rpgs that 2000 did, so perhaps rpg addicts desperate for a fix with take a second look at TOF and Princess Mint.

-Mark

I think Robo from Chrono Trigger was horribly mistreated. The dude worked for 600 years on a dirt field, turned it into a forest, and knew, if he was smart, that he would probably poof out of existence after Lavos was defeated. Also, without him, you would never get arrested, marry Marle. oh , yeah... He helped Crono and co. get back to their time.

Also, where is Schala? I have looked and looked, and looked, now hoping after a 100 hours of play, she mystically appears in my epoch. There are four seats. You never know.

-Lee

No one can argue that the character that is most ignored and deserves it the least is Ekaru Hoppe do pe Jean from Breath of Fire II.

Jean was not only one of the greatest comic-relief characters EVER, but he also had the small ability to shed his normally-useless battle abilities when he merged with shamans, to become the towering amphibious fighting force that he was in reality.

Not to mention that he pretended he could speak French. "Will you help me? Sil vous plait?"

He was the consummate dreamer. He often didn't understand or didn't care what was going on around him, but still was able to contribute to the party's success in some miniscule way.

-Aaron D. Roberts

Schmidt, from Thousand Arms. He doesn't look half bad, he had pretty decent character development for a guy who joined the bad guys but I haven't seen anyone talk about him. Talk about getting no love at all.

If you mean the playable characters, then, well.....that's a bit harder. How about almost everybody from Valkyrie Profile? You never hear anyone talk about them.

-DMJ