Vincent Valentine - Final Fantasy
Vincent Valentine is a playable character in Final Fantasy VII, an RPG style game released on the PlayStation 1 in the year 1997 by Square. Vincent Valentine shows up a number of other game titles, spinoffs, and remakes, including the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. He also appears in Final Fantasy: Advent Children, a 3D computer-animated film that takes place after the events of the game.
Vincent Valentine's character was conceived by the game’s character designer, Tetsuya Nomura. Vincent Valentine is a commonly chosen character for Final Fantasy cosplay enthusiasts and fan artists alike. He has inspired a number of figures as well. On March 3rd, 2020 he was supposed to reappear in the much anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake, however the release date of the game was delayed to April 10th, 2020. Vincent Valentine was a critical success and has inspired a large following since his original appearance.
Appearance and Profile
Vincent is a young, tall man with crimson eyes and long black hair. He wears a red bandana that matches his distinctive red cloak. The cloak itself is secured over his shoulder and is held around on the lower half of his face by several buckles. The clothing under the cape is made with black leather that has a number of straps and buckles. He wears a holster for his gun on his right thigh and wears brown shoes with golden, pointed sabatons on them. On his left arm, he wears a similarly gold-colored gauntlet that has fingers that seem to sharpen to a point, making them almost seem like claws. On his other hand, however, Vincent just wears a simple brown, fingerless glove. In addition to his weapons, Vincent has the power to shapeshift into various creatures, increasing his stats and gaining additional powerful attacks.
Creation
Vincent Valentine was designed by Tetsuya Nomura who stated that Vincent's original character had gone through multiple different evolutions before his design was finalized. Such evolutions ranged from a horror researcher, to a chemist, and even a detective. It was eventually decided that he should be a former Turk with a troubled past. The director of Final Fantasy VII, Yoshinori Kitase, directed the cutscene where Vincent joins the group, while scenario writer Kazushige Nojima conceived his backstory. Since he is so quiet, it was very difficult for Nojima to write dialogue for Vincent. In the original draft of the game, Vincent was introduced in a similar manner to his final version counterpart, but had a more sarcastic side to his personality.
Originally, he was to join Cloud Strife’s group after learning about Hojo, but would not find out about the experiments performed on him at all. Additionally, he was originally supposed to know more about Shinra's involvement with the creation of Sephiroth, and it was Vincent himself that was supposed to explain much of his backstory to Cloud. Nomura and his team considered taking out Vincent and Yuffie Kisaragi from the game entirely, since there wasn’t enough time to fully develop them as playable characters. However, it was decided they would appear as optional characters instead.
The Japanese voice actor for Vincent in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is Shogo Suzuki. He has stated that he tried to "to hold back as much emotion as possible when playing Vincent," since he is "a bit of a loner" and "appears cold on the surface." Nomura wanted Cloud and Vincent's voices to differ because of similarities in their personalities.
Backstory
Players are able to unlock Vincent Valentine approximately halfway through the Final Fantasy VII game, when Cloud Strife and his allies discover him in the town of Nibelheim sleeping in a coffin in the basement of a Shinra mansion. Cloud talks about his desire to stop Sephiroth, who Vincent knows as the son of Lucrecia Crescent. After learning that the group may meet Hojo, a person with which Vincent has a feud to settle, he joins the party.
When Vincent discovers Lucrecia inside a cave some of his backstory is revealed. Vincent was originally a member of an elite group of Shinra agents named the Turks. During his time as Lucrecia's bodyguard, Vincent fell in love with her, but Lucrecia decided to remain faithful to Hojo, who then convinced her to use her unborn baby in experiments. When Vincent began to question the legitimacy of this experimentation, Hojo shot Vincent and began experimenting on him as well. As a result, Vincent became unable to age and he gained the ability to transform into various monsters. Lucrecia feels incredibly guilty about this and seals herself away in a Mako crystal. When the player enters the cave that she hid herself in, Lucrecia comes back to life and asks Vincent if Sephiroth is still alive. However, when faced with this question, Vincent lies and tells her that he is dead as he cannot bring himself to tell her all of the terrible things that Sephiroth has done.