Because it was much more appropriate to do sidequests in FFVIII when Rinoa was waiting to be saved at the Sorceress' Memorial, or with an enormous Meteor hanging in the sky ready to crash within the next day, or when Sin was killing anything that got in its path. Most every game had a war or similarly urgent conflict - the plots would slug along if there weren't any urgency.

But many of the other games still put in more story about the characters being developed.

There is an optional back story about Quina (You have to visit his father's cave with Vivi and Quina in party), but since (s)he is an optional character in the game, it doesn't leave much room for development.

The two optional characters in FFVII do not develop much either.

Characters don't really *need* backstory. Sure, it's a bonus, but if they're not gonna develop throughout the story, whats the point in having them there? Even with pretty background stories?

Kimarhi. Why was he there again?

Basically a furry breathing safety blanket for Yuna.

I think the story goes that after Auron gets killed, he goes to Gagazet and asks one of the Ronso to fulfill Braska's wish of moving his daughter away from Bevelle to Besaid - and of course, it's Kimahri who does this, and basically he becomes a sort of best friend/bodyguard to Yuna as she grows up.

As for his purpose in the events of the game... um, I'll get back to you on that.

Of course they do, since DoC is a Vincent-vehicle. Let's try to hold backgrounds within one game, or else someone could be dragging Kingdom Hearts into this.

In my opinion, one of the best developed character in the series would be, Yuna. We learn a lot about her past as well as her parents past, she goes from a shy and quiet girl to a battle-harden summoner who in time learns to stand on her own and think for herself. I also thought that she was well developed as someone who is very kind and genuine.

The worst developed character would have to be, Quina. What was it? What’s its history?