But Red XIII had no distinct personality, nor does Tifa. Tifa is also a slave to the melodrama, and is also popular, so she fits in with the others you mentioned. I think Vincent is too similar to Cloud, and they tried too hard to make him "cool," but I still kinda like him. But yeah, everyone else is pretty vibrant. Something about Cait Sith has always bugged me, though. Wait, that just leaves Cid, Yuffie, and Barret. I guess I don't like the cast of FFVII very much. :P

With FF8, though, you had too dull-as-dirt main heroes in Squall and Rinoa, but they're surrounded by likeable and charming characters. They could have made a game with just Zell, Selphie, Laguna, and Quistis. Make it a 4 person party, implement a job system instead of junctioning *shudder* and make Laguna the lead. Better yet, make it like 6, where it was ambiguous as to who the main character is.

Something I've thought of is mixing the tech system from Chrono Trigger and the relationship systems that are all the rage in modern RPGs. The more you build up the relationship between two characters, the more powerful techs they learn together. I'd better stop here before I get even more off topic...