Oh yeah, I realize Cloud's right young in FF7 but it's not like he's worrying about prom night whilst fighting Sephiroth, you know? If they changed the gardens from high schools to like... actual military bases with squads of actual soldiers getting deployed on missions, and not precious Selphie organizing a battle of the bands in between jobs or whatever, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the game.
I mean, I'd still hate Squall but at least the whole crew wouldn't be all "We can do it with the power of friendship!! Scooby gang ho!"
I always thought the Gardens were actually supposed to be analogous to college, what with the whole dorms and people going home to visit their families on weekends and stuff, and their extremely young ages were just because in the genre in question being 20 means you're getting over the hill. Hell, I think the main characters in Tales of Phantasia are like 14-15? Fei, Billy and Bart in Xenogears are like 17-18, while wise old Citan with his 12-year-old daughter is all of 29?
I always imagined these former teen heros become bitter alcoholics by thirty because they'd already passed their peak.
I can see why you might not have liked it, and personally I did feel the Gardens were a little too idyllic. I would have liked to have seen something more like barracks or whatever. I mean damn, these were war orphans they were raising to be soldiers here, you can make it a little bleak if you want to.
In which case stuff like what Selphie did would have actually been more appropriate - trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy in the midst of a war-torn world.
Duffel on
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DunxcoShould get a suitNever skips breakfastRegistered Userregular
The characters in eight were leagues better than the ones in seven or nine.
Someone is wrong on the internet. :P
It's not the fact that Blackjack made the claim that irks me, it's that there's no reasoning behind it, no explanation. If it works for you, great, but why it works for you would be better then what boils down to "VIII > VII/IX".
Secret of Mana - better than Children of Mana? I'm assuming so, but GAME only had CoM.
O.o Seriously? Okay, Imagine this:
A 3 player SNES game that utilized the multitap. It played like a top down beat them up with magic. It had levels, but didn't focus on it. Menues were an easy to understand radial dial. The plot was actually decent and the fights, the fights a pure delight.
Children of Mana...hell anything except Secret of Mana 1 and 2 (which never came over to the US...grrr That's Sekin 3 he's talking about) sucked.
Wait what? Seiken densetsu 3 had a better story and characters than the first 2. What didn't you like about 3?
Oh yeah, I realize Cloud's right young in FF7 but it's not like he's worrying about prom night whilst fighting Sephiroth, you know? If they changed the gardens from high schools to like... actual military bases with squads of actual soldiers getting deployed on missions, and not precious Selphie organizing a battle of the bands in between jobs or whatever, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the game.
I mean, I'd still hate Squall but at least the whole crew wouldn't be all "We can do it with the power of friendship!! Scooby gang ho!"
Wait what? Seiken densetsu 3 had a better story and characters than the first 2. What didn't you like about 3?
Did... did you quote the wrong thing, or is there a joke I'm missing? I have never played any Seiken Densetsu games
DunxcoShould get a suitNever skips breakfastRegistered Userregular
edited May 2009
And "Conflicted child scared of the big bad world" is better than "Insufferably upbeat train fanatic". What's your point? All three have dud characters, and one's with shining moments.
And "Conflicted child scared of the big bad world" is better than "Insufferably upbeat train fanatic". What's your point? All three have dud characters, and one's with shining moments.
And I disagree! Vivi was the closest thing nine had to a good character, though, I'll give you that.
And "Conflicted child scared of the big bad world" is better than "Insufferably upbeat train fanatic". What's your point? All three have dud characters, and one's with shining moments.
And I disagree! Vivi was the closest thing nine had to a good character, though, I'll give you that.
FFIX had some decent characters - especially vivi - but I don't think anybody, even the most hardcore, stick up for amarant. He's more undeveloped than half the characters in your average Suikoden game.
Duffel on
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Mostlyjoe13Evil, Evil, Jump for joy!Registered Userregular
edited May 2009
Zidane was a pimp. A laughing, goofy, wonderful pimp. I loved him the most out of 9...well him and the Knightly Kangaroo Rat people. They were awesome.
I liked Vivi and Freya in FFIX. Everyone else ranged from "sigh" (Steiner, Zidane) to "ugh" (Eiko, Quina). I kind of liked what I saw of Amarant, there just wasn't nearly enough.
gjaustin on
0
DunxcoShould get a suitNever skips breakfastRegistered Userregular
edited May 2009
Amarant just felt like he got stuck on as the arbitrary 8th character. Hell, even Quina gets more development and usefulness in comparison. Should've just denied him being in the party and made Beatrix joinable - bit weaker than Steiner, but has some Holy magic to make up for it.
Reasoning: Because "emo bitch" is still better than "token black stereotype," "talking cat robot thing," and "lovestruck rat"
Seriously, do you really want me to go through every single character in all three games and tell you why I liked/disliked them?
Those who are partaking in this discussion, cease it at once. I specifically put one rule in the OP, and that was no dumbass debates about "My favorite FF vs Your shitty FF".
Man AP, can you at least tell us what we absolutely won't be seeing in E3? There's talk yet again about FFVII Remake being announced.
Amarant just felt like he got stuck on as the arbitrary 8th character. Hell, even Quina gets more development and usefulness in comparison. Should've just denied him being in the party and made Beatrix joinable - bit weaker than Steiner, but has some Holy magic to make up for it.
I loved Steiner's hero worship of Beatrix. I would have loved to have her as the 8th member of the party. Maybe a little more work on the romance plot happening there.
I don't understand the harsh criticism of the FF main characters. Cloud/Squall/Zidane all have leagues more depth than any of their contemporaries in rival series. Breath of Fire, same shit every time. Star Ocean has only become more cringeworthy. Tales of Series has never prided itself with protagonists that are realistic or deep. Dragon Quest does its own thing, and I love it, but there's still no real character arc or progression in most of them (especially barring optional content in 8).
In many ways, I think 7, 8, and 9 represent the series' most admirable work in character development. Cecil, Butz, and Terra receive a lot of backwards admiration, but don't particularly evoke meaningful change or likeability. Tidus just wasn't it for me. Positivity + poor VA = Cringeworthy. I play that game for Auron. In 12, they evade the whole debacle. Cloud, Squall and Zidane look pretty good to me.
Can we get over Barret? What's token Black about a coal miner turned eco-terrorist? Sure, he curses and uses poorly translated ebonics. Whatever. Get past it. Cid's a honky, but nobody gives a fuck.
And I think Ramza is the most developed and likeable protagonist in the series. Naive in a good way, brave as balls, and hardcore as hell. What's not to love?
I loved Steiner's hero worship of Beatrix. I would have loved to have her as the 8th member of the party. Maybe a little more work on the romance plot happening there.
I thought Steiner resented Beatrix at first because the Pluto knights were kind of an afterthought in female-dominated Alexandria?
I don't understand the harsh criticism of the FF main characters. Cloud/Squall/Zidane all have leagues more depth than any of their contemporaries in rival series. Breath of Fire, same shit every time. Star Ocean has only become more cringeworthy. Tales of Series has never prided itself with protagonists that are realistic or deep. Dragon Quest does its own thing, and I love it, but there's still no real character arc or progression in most of them (especially barring optional content in 8).
To be fair to Breath of Fire "same shit every time" sort of is the point, and the one game the main character wasn't a reincarnation (Dragon Quarter), the Ryu had a very clearly defined personality.
In many ways, I think 7, 8, and 9 represent the series' most admirable work in character development. Cecil, Butz, and Terra receive a lot of backwards admiration, but don't particularly evoke meaningful change or likeability. Tidus just wasn't it for me. Positivity + poor VA = Cringeworthy. I play that game for Auron. In 12, they evade the whole debacle. Cloud, Squall and Zidane look pretty good to me.
I swear I am the only one that thinks FFX had perfectly acceptable voice acting It wasn't amazing, and there were some weak parts (some of Yuna's deliveries, a lot of the side characters), but it wasn't as awful as everyone suggests, either.
Can we get over Barret? What's token Black about a coal miner turned eco-terrorist? Sure, he curses and uses poorly translated ebonics. Whatever. Get past it. Cid's a honky, but nobody gives a fuck.
He is a Token Minority because he is the only black person on the entire planet; even his own daughter is white. He is there for "ethnic diversity" and it is clearly obvious and his dialog reeks of unintentional racism.
And I think Ramza is the most developed and likeable protagonist in the series. Naive in a good way, brave as balls, and hardcore as hell. What's not to love?
My favorite part about Ramza is that he's kind of a deconstruction of your typical RPG hero.
He starts out as a naive little boy like most JRPG main characters and then his shit hits the fan. Best friend dead, family betrays him, his whole worldview is shattered in a couple of weeks. He's forced to confront the poverty and desperation that he never had to deal with (Miluda) and the corruption of the aristocracy he had his faith in before (Algus, Dycedarg).
And, yet, he doesn't become a stereotypical badass. He still tries his hardest to be a good person and protect those he cares about; he's disillusioned about the corruption around him but realizes there's nothing he can actually do to change it. He loses his faith but doesn't become an iconoclast.
And of course Delita was awesome too. The farm boy who becomes king was actually a nihilistic, manipulative bastard. Whodathunkit.
I swear I am the only one that thinks FFX had perfectly acceptable voice acting It wasn't amazing, and there were some weak parts (some of Yuna's deliveries, a lot of the side characters), but it wasn't as awful as everyone suggests, either.
The voice acting in FFX was passable. All of the voice actors in question are quite good, but whoever their voice director was was far too obsessed with mouth flap syncing, which killed the delivery on more than a few lines.
korodullin on
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
I don't understand the harsh criticism of the FF main characters. Cloud/Squall/Zidane all have leagues more depth than any of their contemporaries in rival series. Breath of Fire, same shit every time. Star Ocean has only become more cringeworthy. Tales of Series has never prided itself with protagonists that are realistic or deep. Dragon Quest does its own thing, and I love it, but there's still no real character arc or progression in most of them (especially barring optional content in 8).
In many ways, I think 7, 8, and 9 represent the series' most admirable work in character development. Cecil, Butz, and Terra receive a lot of backwards admiration, but don't particularly evoke meaningful change or likeability. Tidus just wasn't it for me. Positivity + poor VA = Cringeworthy. I play that game for Auron. In 12, they evade the whole debacle. Cloud, Squall and Zidane look pretty good to me.
Can we get over Barret? What's token Black about a coal miner turned eco-terrorist? Sure, he curses and uses poorly translated ebonics. Whatever. Get past it. Cid's a honky, but nobody gives a fuck.
And I think Ramza is the most developed and likeable protagonist in the series. Naive in a good way, brave as balls, and hardcore as hell. What's not to love?
Yes 12 evades the problem by not having any character development whatsoever!
Harsh overgeneralisation I admit but seriosuly I'd even take the melodrama and emoness of the cast of 7,8 & 9 over the cast of bores in 12 any day
I didn't have a problem with the voices in X too much, except for the obvious scenes. I guess part of it was that I knew the VAs were usually awesome in other roles and it was just bad direction for syncing, so I cut them some slack.
XII, though. That was some fantastic VA. Too bad the characters are so boring.
I swear I am the only one that thinks FFX had perfectly acceptable voice acting It wasn't amazing, and there were some weak parts (some of Yuna's deliveries, a lot of the side characters), but it wasn't as awful as everyone suggests, either.
I agree. It was fine. Wasn't particularly noteworthy but it didn't suck away the atmosphere.
He is a Token Minority because he is the only black person on the entire planet; even his own daughter is white. He is there for "ethnic diversity" and it is clearly obvious and his dialog reeks of unintentional racism.
If we're being nitpicky,
it's not really his daughter anyway
, and then there's Mr. Coates, but that's hardly much of a difference because he runs a shitty desert prison and acts like a complete dick. But you're right, and it's something I overlooked until just now. Not the whole unintentional racism in his dialogue, but that he's pretty much on his own. How weird. o_O
He is a Token Minority because he is the only black person on the entire planet; even his own daughter is white. He is there for "ethnic diversity" and it is clearly obvious and his dialog reeks of unintentional racism.
If we're being nitpicky,
it's not really his daughter anyway
, and then there's Mr. Coates, but that's hardly much of a difference because he runs a shitty desert prison and acts like a complete dick. But you're right, and it's something I overlooked until just now. Not the whole unintentional racism in his dialogue, but that he's pretty much on his own. How weird. o_O
I actually forgot she wasn't his real daughter, sorry. It's been way too long since I've played.
Forgot about him too. But yeah, two black men in a sea of whites. I suppose we're supposed to just assume there are more black people because of those two, but come on. They couldn't even add a couple NPCs into a town or two?
Not to mention that to the best of my (admittedly very limited) knowledge, there aren't any black people that aren't Barret in the various sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, either. And for the record, this is not to suggest that Final Fantasy is the only video game series that has this problem because, obviously, it is not.
In the same way that I'm sure most of you overlook the flaws in our favorite games from the past, like my dusty SNES cartridge of FF4, we have to overlook some obvious flaws in these games that are now over 10 years old. Dialog used to be shit in games, but whatever. When I replay my old carts, I do it for the gameplay. Do we see any black characters in Final Fantasies 1-6? Is it a good thing 7 included a black primary character, albeit with some profiling? It was obviously a step in the right direction, albeit a tinge awkward in retrospect. Let's hope they get it right in 13. Though it already looks bleak. :?
I'm not going to hold my breath expecting Japan to suddenly develop progressive racial attitudes. If I'm not mistaken they still use blatantly obvious blackface cartoon characters over there.
Should they try to be more racially sensitive? Yeah, obviously. But they won't.
I don't question that there's a ton of unintentional racism in FF7 and Barret's character, but as far as racial diversity goes it's a bit unfair to compare the ratios to American or English standards: Japan is a lot more racially homogeneous than some places, and keep the Advent Children visual updates in mind too: most of these characters are Japanese, not white, so Barret being one of the very few black people in a sea of Japanese seems fairly representative of Japan's population, and it's a Japanese game, so...not a big deal. To me, anyways.
And I think Ramza is the most developed and likeable protagonist in the series. Naive in a good way, brave as balls, and hardcore as hell. What's not to love?
My favorite part about Ramza is that he's kind of a deconstruction of your typical RPG hero.
He starts out as a naive little boy like most JRPG main characters and then his shit hits the fan. Best friend dead, family betrays him, his whole worldview is shattered in a couple of weeks. He's forced to confront the poverty and desperation that he never had to deal with (Miluda) and the corruption of the aristocracy he had his faith in before (Algus, Dycedarg).
And, yet, he doesn't become a stereotypical badass. He still tries his hardest to be a good person and protect those he cares about; he's disillusioned about the corruption around him but realizes there's nothing he can actually do to change it. He loses his faith but doesn't become an iconoclast.
And of course Delita was awesome too. The farm boy who becomes king was actually a nihilistic, manipulative bastard. Whodathunkit.
I agree with this, and it's largely the reason Tactics is tied for favorite game in the series next to VI for me. I don't understand people who say Tactics didn't have a good plot. It had (in my opinion) the best/most interesting plot of any of the PSX final fantasies.
There need to be more JRPG's like Tactics where there isn't a happy ending. It'd be nice to get away from the "Happily ever After" we see every single game once in a while.
There need to be more JRPG's like Tactics where there isn't a happy ending. It'd be nice to get away from the "Happily ever After" we see every single game once in a while.
I can't think of a game with a more mature ending. Ramza wins, but is essentially outcast from society (though he likely doesn't mind). Delita also wins, but we see very shortly what that gets him. Awesome. Fantastic commentary on the nature of power.
I always really enjoyed FF7's ending, as well. Leaving things up to you is half the fun of any good epilogue or conclusion.
I wish Square and Sony had a more playful mind for stuff like this. Do you know how easy it is to deliver a teaser that gets fans raving as well as create more support for the company?
Take the upcoming Sony conference. After delivering all the keynotes and announcements, he can conclude the show while, unbeknown to him, some footage on the big screen starts playing behind him. We get some small render bits like Cloud with his back turned, as he reaches for his sword. The speaker takes note and immediately waves to cut off the feed.
He then responds with "Oh sorry, we're not ready to show that yet."
That's a "megaton" right there.
They pulled something like this last year in the MS conference (brilliantly, I must add), so I'm sure something like that isn't a stretch.
Mostlyjoe13Evil, Evil, Jump for joy!Registered Userregular
edited May 2009
In Deference to the Professor's request I'll avoid any prolonged detraction of aspects of the series. But if it's alright I would love to talk about something I would love to see.
Remakes are one thing, but if they're going to do a remake of 6+ I'd like to see some more plot elements explored or fixed. There is little point to just making a prettier game and not to improve the plotting.
I agree with this, and it's largely the reason Tactics is tied for favorite game in the series next to VI for me. I don't understand people who say Tactics didn't have a good plot. It had (in my opinion) the best/most interesting plot of any of the PSX final fantasies.
There need to be more JRPG's like Tactics where there isn't a happy ending. It'd be nice to get away from the "Happily ever After" we see every single game once in a while.
Another thing I liked about it was the sense of powerlessness you could tell Ramza felt. Delita talks about how everybody, even people like Larg and Goltana, are caught up in this flow and there's really nothing anyone can do to stop it.
In a normal game, Ramza would have stopped the war and exposed the Shrine Knights for what they were. But he can't, because he's just one person. Even knowing what he does and being a member of a noble family, he can't stop the inevitable course of events. The best he can do is try to protect Alma and even that ends up being a pyrrhic victory.
Delita, of course, becomes the very thing he despises. By the end you realize that it doesn't matter how good of a king he is or whether the war even ends, he's the same type of person that Larg and Dycedarg were - the type of person who made him what he is. The only difference is that he's better at it.
Posts
I always imagined these former teen heros become bitter alcoholics by thirty because they'd already passed their peak.
I can see why you might not have liked it, and personally I did feel the Gardens were a little too idyllic. I would have liked to have seen something more like barracks or whatever. I mean damn, these were war orphans they were raising to be soldiers here, you can make it a little bleak if you want to.
In which case stuff like what Selphie did would have actually been more appropriate - trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy in the midst of a war-torn world.
It's not the fact that Blackjack made the claim that irks me, it's that there's no reasoning behind it, no explanation. If it works for you, great, but why it works for you would be better then what boils down to "VIII > VII/IX".
Let's see cloud or squall be man enough to do this -
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
Seriously, do you really want me to go through every single character in all three games and tell you why I liked/disliked them?
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Wait what? Seiken densetsu 3 had a better story and characters than the first 2. What didn't you like about 3?
Edit: Yes I quoted the wrong person........
Did... did you quote the wrong thing, or is there a joke I'm missing? I have never played any Seiken Densetsu games
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Have you not been reading MinionOfCthulhu's amazing FFIX let's play? o_O
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=86796
Get going.
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
What, no love for "The Flaming Amarant"?
I would rather not, since I plan on playing FFIX myself one of these days, and I've been spoiled enough, thank you very much.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Those who are partaking in this discussion, cease it at once. I specifically put one rule in the OP, and that was no dumbass debates about "My favorite FF vs Your shitty FF".
Man AP, can you at least tell us what we absolutely won't be seeing in E3? There's talk yet again about FFVII Remake being announced.
I'm starting to fall for it. Again.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
I loved Steiner's hero worship of Beatrix. I would have loved to have her as the 8th member of the party. Maybe a little more work on the romance plot happening there.
In many ways, I think 7, 8, and 9 represent the series' most admirable work in character development. Cecil, Butz, and Terra receive a lot of backwards admiration, but don't particularly evoke meaningful change or likeability. Tidus just wasn't it for me. Positivity + poor VA = Cringeworthy. I play that game for Auron. In 12, they evade the whole debacle. Cloud, Squall and Zidane look pretty good to me.
Can we get over Barret? What's token Black about a coal miner turned eco-terrorist? Sure, he curses and uses poorly translated ebonics. Whatever. Get past it. Cid's a honky, but nobody gives a fuck.
And I think Ramza is the most developed and likeable protagonist in the series. Naive in a good way, brave as balls, and hardcore as hell. What's not to love?
Been a long time, though.
I swear I am the only one that thinks FFX had perfectly acceptable voice acting
He is a Token Minority because he is the only black person on the entire planet; even his own daughter is white. He is there for "ethnic diversity" and it is clearly obvious and his dialog reeks of unintentional racism.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
He starts out as a naive little boy like most JRPG main characters and then his shit hits the fan. Best friend dead, family betrays him, his whole worldview is shattered in a couple of weeks. He's forced to confront the poverty and desperation that he never had to deal with (Miluda) and the corruption of the aristocracy he had his faith in before (Algus, Dycedarg).
And, yet, he doesn't become a stereotypical badass. He still tries his hardest to be a good person and protect those he cares about; he's disillusioned about the corruption around him but realizes there's nothing he can actually do to change it. He loses his faith but doesn't become an iconoclast.
And of course Delita was awesome too. The farm boy who becomes king was actually a nihilistic, manipulative bastard. Whodathunkit.
You're not. I found it perfectly fine too.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Yes 12 evades the problem by not having any character development whatsoever!
Harsh overgeneralisation I admit but seriosuly I'd even take the melodrama and emoness of the cast of 7,8 & 9 over the cast of bores in 12 any day
XBL, Steam & Tribes: elmartino333
XII, though. That was some fantastic VA. Too bad the characters are so boring.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
I agree. It was fine. Wasn't particularly noteworthy but it didn't suck away the atmosphere.
If we're being nitpicky,
Forgot about him too. But yeah, two black men in a sea of whites. I suppose we're supposed to just assume there are more black people because of those two, but come on. They couldn't even add a couple NPCs into a town or two?
Not to mention that to the best of my (admittedly very limited) knowledge, there aren't any black people that aren't Barret in the various sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, either. And for the record, this is not to suggest that Final Fantasy is the only video game series that has this problem because, obviously, it is not.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Should they try to be more racially sensitive? Yeah, obviously. But they won't.
FFVII remake rumors go!
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
I agree with this, and it's largely the reason Tactics is tied for favorite game in the series next to VI for me. I don't understand people who say Tactics didn't have a good plot. It had (in my opinion) the best/most interesting plot of any of the PSX final fantasies.
There need to be more JRPG's like Tactics where there isn't a happy ending. It'd be nice to get away from the "Happily ever After" we see every single game once in a while.
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
I can't think of a game with a more mature ending. Ramza wins, but is essentially outcast from society (though he likely doesn't mind). Delita also wins, but we see very shortly what that gets him. Awesome. Fantastic commentary on the nature of power.
I always really enjoyed FF7's ending, as well. Leaving things up to you is half the fun of any good epilogue or conclusion.
Then X-2 ruined it.
I like to pretend X-2 doesn't exist.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
I wish Square and Sony had a more playful mind for stuff like this. Do you know how easy it is to deliver a teaser that gets fans raving as well as create more support for the company?
Take the upcoming Sony conference. After delivering all the keynotes and announcements, he can conclude the show while, unbeknown to him, some footage on the big screen starts playing behind him. We get some small render bits like Cloud with his back turned, as he reaches for his sword. The speaker takes note and immediately waves to cut off the feed.
He then responds with "Oh sorry, we're not ready to show that yet."
That's a "megaton" right there.
They pulled something like this last year in the MS conference (brilliantly, I must add), so I'm sure something like that isn't a stretch.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Remakes are one thing, but if they're going to do a remake of 6+ I'd like to see some more plot elements explored or fixed. There is little point to just making a prettier game and not to improve the plotting.
In a normal game, Ramza would have stopped the war and exposed the Shrine Knights for what they were. But he can't, because he's just one person. Even knowing what he does and being a member of a noble family, he can't stop the inevitable course of events. The best he can do is try to protect Alma and even that ends up being a pyrrhic victory.
Delita, of course, becomes the very thing he despises. By the end you realize that it doesn't matter how good of a king he is or whether the war even ends, he's the same type of person that Larg and Dycedarg were - the type of person who made him what he is. The only difference is that he's better at it.