Rikku was one of my favorite characters in the story line and to play with.

I think everyone here likes her mix ability and the fact she can go underwater but I think in the game itself she was kinda useless besides with the machina and giving support to Yuna.

Yeah she wasn't a good main character now that I think about it. Still like her though

Sorry for letting this slip for so long, I only just finished the game (take 2) Friday night. GREAT game, beautiful ending.

I have to say, Rikku was very useful. As commented on here, she was hyperactive to begin with, and with hastega and GodHand, she was dealing out 30,000 damage or more on rapid fire. Her magic wasn't as strong as Lulu, or Yuna's Holy (50000+ on Braska's Final Aeon...easy), but the speed with which she could doublecast flares and ultimas made up for it. She is a very useful character, she only takes a little patience to make her so. And for obtaining better armors, her ability to steal proved invaluable. I still haven't relied much on her mixes, but will do so if I play the game for a third time (which will be the Japanese version, there were a number of parts I felt were "lost in translation.")

Thanks for this mature discussion and "useful responses", I can't say the same about nameless other forums I have visited.

-Sponge

Rikku was actually my second strongest by the end of my game, I always ended up switching her into my party a lot so she could steal and dismantle the robots. I dunno about you but she leveled up pretty fast in my game, there was a point where she was stronger than Tidus! (and I always used him)

I also had her go into Yuna's sphere grid so she knew Holy and Yuna went into hers to learn steal and stuff, it was quite useful.

Rikki's main purpose was to be a thief and get the first hit in but her only other use was her overdrives but even then they were only usfull if you new the right combination and on top of that they don't do much when your stronger.

rikku actually has some great mixes to use at the beggining of a big battle, for example there is one (i believe it is 2 fortune spheres but i could be wrong) highly increases your parties luck, making pretty much every hit a critical hit, and doubling your damage for the entire fight

haha i used rikku loads during my first game, she was me first player to get her celestial weapon and for a time the hardest hitter on me side in a fight but yeah she's handy for her overdrive specially with the bosses, i still use her more now then yuna or wakka lol

I found her speed useful. She nearly always had first and second turns in a battle, so I'd get her to mug or cast a spell, then replace her with a slower character like Auron or Lulu!