I've been avoiding this topic like the plague... but... here's my two cents.
Yes, Magus is a little... overdone. But what do you expect? He's an angsty mage prettyboy with a dark and twisted past, has weird hair, and some could consider him cute. Not me. I'm not into that sort of thing. But the poor man is fangirl bait. And I may fall into that category. But let's not go down that path, shall we?
Every title I've played in my life has someone like this. In FF7, it's Vincent. In FF8, I guess it's Squall. Can't think of any more right now, but you get my drift. I'm sick of seeing too much Magus, but ultimately everyone has a favorite. For some it's Marle. For others it's Frog.
I guess it depends on who you ask.
Let's not forget that he
wasn't really overdone. Most of the lame emo bits were added by fans, not Kato. How I see Magus?
At first, he's Janus. Someone similar to
Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. Except, most of his "pride" and sort is actually hidden for the fear of revealing it to his mother.
When he appears in 600 AG he doesn't cry over it. Instead, he handles everything with the strength of his magic. I can actually see Janus grinning over those dead Mystic corpses. xD And of course, impressing Ozzie.
Magus doesn't get all emo at the medieval age as some might think (or humiliate him on purpose). True, he wants his revenge. And when you have great power with you and you're sent to another era, far away from your own home, and Lavos screws up with your entire family,
who the f**k wouldn't want his revenge? 
The truth is, he doesn't sit in the corner and cry about it. Instead, he takes up the lead, even if it means deceiving his followers, and gets what he wants or what he feels is right (yes, he thinks killing innocent people for the greater good is right). Now THAT is a
TRUE DEMON KING!!Magus doesn't care about people. Everyone thinks that's the problem because he's
emo like Cloud, Squall, etc. But actually, as I said he resembles Draco Malfoy, he doesn't care about people because he feels like it. Of course, that's his negative style and some people don't like him because of this. XD But Sometimes it shows how superior and independent he is.
But other than that, the only person he actually ever cared about is Schala (and perhaps also his father Alphard). The loss of his father hurt him, but even though he was a child then he wasn't easily weakened. He deserves a medal. And since he cares about his sister (obviously, EVERYONE in their lives cares about someone or the other; if you don't have someone you care about you're emo) of course he'd be willing to go to the ends of the earth for her! Yet again, he wouldn't be sitting around crying she's not with him. He's more practical, more logical than that.
But indeed, the new CTDS ending brought about his "emo" side for once. XDDD but then again, that was pretty good too considering it had the theme of an ages old story (I forgot which one) that said something like, "Don't follow revenge; for revenge will burn you. When you fulfill your revenge, you will have no where to go. And that path you chose will bring eternal emptiness and doom."
So in short, Magus has A LOT of great things about him that many do not notice. ^-^ He's a great character.
And who DOESN'T love Froggy?! =D He's the man!!
But I believe that all of the CT characters are great, special and memorable. ^o^ That's why I love the game. Each one has his/her own great quality that shows the great sides of mankind.
