It hardly matters when he wasn't even the main character.
You start as him, but since the game focuses on completely customizing your play style/party as you see fit, he was just filler for the real main characters that come later.
XIII and not because I am a blind hater it was too linear for FF standards and the excessively long HP only served to drag battles on. It wasn't as challenging as they tried it make it with certain bosses.
8 is a runner up only because it had so many ideas that didn't work out. It became a crowded mess story wise if a FF game needed a sequel it was 8 to even those ideas out.
