Simple question; 2 choices...1 answer/opinion.

Was Paine really needed in this game? Sure Wakka and Lulu are attending to parenting nowadays, Auron and Tidus are gone, but couldn't they have given Kimarhi an educational field trip and brought him laong instead of reaching out and grabbing...Paine? Does anyone even remember how she gets sucked into the 3-some anyway?

they needed the estrogen. Lulu became a mom and they needed to cover a new area. So they picked the "cool and calm". So yea, they needed her. Did I really care for her? Not so much, but Im sure she was someone's favorite character

Well I think Paine's the shit! I mean she has the coolest costume and the coolest sword. Yeah shes the female version of Auron and may be considered a lesbian by most. But I think she is great and is really just a little girl trapped in a teenage body who wants to rebel and wants someone to come and challenge their authority with her....

Although she was 'new' in the sense that we have never seen her before, she did have alot of connections to the plot. Gippal, Nooj, and Baralai all shared a history with Paine, and it is slowly revealed throughout the game.

Putting Kimahri in would result in not having the all-female cast they were going for ^_^
But anyways, I liked her somewhat. I didn't really like her attitude, because she is just a wannabe Auron like someone said. Although, what Aza said is true, she does contribute to the story in that she had previous relations with some of the characters. It's just, she's the only one in this story besides Nooj, Lenne, and a couple others that we had not seen before.