☆ personality

Overall, Yuffie is a spunky and hyper teenager. She can sometimes annoy the other members of AVALANCHE, but most of the time, she's too seasick (or airsick!) to say much. When she gets injured or there is a traumatic event, Yuffie tends to react in an overly-emotional way. This corresponds to her being the youngest in the party. Unlike many young kids in animanga and games, Yuffie doesn't care about growing up quickly or trying to be an adult. She's perfectly content with herself and focuses her energy into external goals.

The biggest storyline for Yuffie in the game was the Wutai arc. Here she displayed the most development and depth. While even the official game describes Yuffie as selfish and greedy, we see her heartfelt and honorable motives in Wutai. Though she's rebellious and sometiems brash (as teenagers are), Yuffie deeply cares of the well-being of her hometown. She has a lot of pride in Wutai, and it kills her to see the city suffer. Surprisingly, she highly values dignity and is determined enough to restore her town using any means. Also, Yuffie seems to understand the grand scheme of things as she returns the materia and rejoins the party after they leave Wutai. She understands there is greater evil in the world to be fought, and that she has come to feel afffection for her travel companions.

Yuffie's obsession with materia is not so different than the average person's hobbies, whether it be a car buff who loves racing or an otaku who loves cosplaying. She claims to desire materia so that she can use its power to restore strength to Wutai. This allegation is suspect though, as Yuffie seems to take an interest in materia regardless of Wutai's condition. She just likes it. In the past, Wutai was a strong nation of freedom fighters. Given Yuffie's pride in her heritage, it makes sense that she would enjoy aspects from its more glorious times, such as ninja weaponry and materia. It is also hinted that Lord Godo loved materia as well, so this could also be an interest passed down from her father.

Yuffie's role is limited because of her status as an optional character in FFVIII. She is left out of many conversations and she does not appear in FMVs. In later spin-offs, she is made into a main character, along with Vincent, another optional character. Their absences in FFVII are accounted for with explanations that they were elsewhere during key moments or FMVs.