Vincent Valentine (ヴィンセント・ヴァレンタイン, Vinsento Varentain?) is a fictional character in Square Enix's role-playing game Final Fantasy VII. Created by Tetsuya Nomura, he also appears in various titles from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII as a support character and is the protagonist in the third-person shooter Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and its mobile phone tie-in. He is also present in the fighting game Ehrgeiz. The English voice actor of Vincent is Steven Blum, while the Japanese voice actor was Kazuhiro Nakata in Ehrgeiz and Shōgo Suzuki in all other appearances.
Vincent is a genetically modified human who, prior to the Final Fantasy VII, was a Turk assigned to guard the scientist Lucrecia Crescent. Although both fell in love, Lucrecia decided to carry the child of Professor Hojo, head of the Science Department, for an experiment involving to Jenova's cells, resulting in the birth of Sephiroth. Vincent would become the subject of one of Hojo's experiments and by his introduction in Final Fantasy VII, he joins Cloud Strife's group to defeat Sephiroth, who plans to destroy the planet as well as to confront Hojo. In the game Dirge of Cerberus, Vincent's character and backstory are further explored.
Due to time constraints, Vincent was not originally meant to be playable in Final Fantasy VII, but in the end he appeared as an optional character. Still, in the titles from Compilation, Vincent would focus more in developing his character. Video games have had positive comments regarding Vincent, and his popularity as a character would be capitalized on through Square's decision to make him the protagonist of Dirge of Cerberus.
When Final Fantasy VII was still in development, character designer Tetsuya Nomura commented that the staff thought of removing him along with Yuffie Kisaragi (the other optional character from the game), as they did not have enough time to work them in. As a result, Vincent and Yuffie ended up appearing as optional characters. Director Yoshinori Kitase was in charge of the making of Vincent's cutscene in which he becomes a playable character, while scenario writer Kazushige Nojima wrote his backstory along with Lucrecia's. Game planner Hiroki Chiba crammed his scenes shortly before the game ended production. Nojima found troubles making Vincent's dialogues noting that despite his calm personality, he ends up having several lines.[1]
Vincent appears as a tall, lean young man with long black hair and a ragged red cloak and mantle over black clothes. He wears a metallic, golden gauntlet on his left forearm. Vincent's cloak covers the lower half of his face and is held closed by a series of buckles. His eyes are naturally red. For Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Nomura redesigned Vincent's gun in the same way that Cloud's Buster Sword was redesigned in Advent Children to demostrate he is the protagonist of the game. It was named Cerberus in references the multi-headed hound with the same name from Greek and Roman mythology as Nomura found it suitable for Vincent. It was made with three barrels as Cerberus has three heads, and three revolvers were added to reduce the number of limited bullets.[2] Nomura has explained that Vincent Valentine's character shifted from that of horror researcher, to detective, to chemist, and finally arriving at the figure of a former member of the Shinra Company's Turks with a tragic past. It has been further explained that his crimson cloak was added to symbolize the idea of Vincent carrying a heavy weight—related to death—on his shoulders.[3]
While other characters were given simple costumes in Advent Children, Vincent was given one more complex. Nomura felt that changing his design to something different would "conflict with his personality" and was given attire consisting of "various, complex parts."[4] His cloak was also difficult to animate due to it being very organic; the overall complexity of Vincent's design led to his scenes being "especially hard to create."[4] Vincent's scenes were constantly being adjusted "to convey its elusive nature of seemingly having shape, but not." These adjustments continued until six months before the crews' deadline.[4]
Vincent's Japanese voice actor, Shogo Suzuki, explained that he tries "to hold back as much emotion as possible when playing Vincent," noting that Vincent is "a bit of a loner" and "appears cold on the surface."[4] Nomura wanted Cloud and Vincent's voices to contrast with each other due to their similarities. He felt Vincent was older and more mature than Cloud, and as a result he casted Suzuki due to his very low voice.[5]
Final Fantasy VII
After sleeping for years in a coffin, Vincent is found in the basement of Shinra mansion by Cloud Strife and his friends.[6] After being talked about Sephiroth, whom he recognizes as the son of a woman named Lucrecia,[7] he tells who he was and about Lucrecia, before sealing himself again. When Cloud leaves the room, Vincent catches up to him and joins Cloud after learning that his group may eventually meet up with Hojo with whom he had a vendetta.[8] For the remainder of Final Fantasy VII, the only other time that there is any focus on Vincent is when they find a cave in one of the surrounding mountains of a waterfall. Inside the cave Vincent finds Lucrecia, and through a flashback it is revealed that he was in love with her, but she decided to stay with Hojo. Hojo then experimented on Vincent, which resulted in his current state of being. In her pain and regret Lucrecia had sealed herself away in mako crystals. Reviving briefly, Lucrecia asks Vincent if Sephiroth is still alive, and is told that he's dead. Vincent later encounters Hojo, and states that he should be the one atoning for sins.
[edit] Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
In Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Vincent is seen in his normal attire having a conversation with Verdot, leader of the Turks at that time, in the Shinra basement.[9] In Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, Vincent first appears rescuing Cloud from Kadaj and his gang, transforming into an intangible monster evocative of his cloak. He reveals to Cloud the cause of Geostigma, of Kadaj's intentions to merge with the remaining Jenova cells to bring about Sephiroth's rebirth, and that he rescued two of the Turks, Tseng and Elena, from them. He later aids his friends defeat the Bahamut SIN summoned by Kadaj.[10] !!
In Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, occurring three years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, Vincent acts as the central character, working with Reeve and the World Regenesis Organization to eliminate an organization called Deepground. Deepground targets Vincent for he unknowingly carries the Protomateria inside his body, which Lucrecia placed in his body after reviving him with stagnated Mako containing the essense of Chaos. In a flashback, the absence of himself and Yuffie from the ending sequence of Final Fantasy VII is explained, as it is shown in a flashback sequence that they were helping with the evacuation of Midgar as Meteor was about to fall. The Protomateria is eventually ripped from his body by the Deepground Tsviet Rosso the Crimson. Though he survives, he becomes plagued with flashbacks and feels the stress of Chaos's desire to kill. Eventually he confronts the Deepground leader, Weiss, who he discovers has been possessed by the digitalized mind of Hojo. Hojo reveals information on Vincent and his plans to awaken Omega, whose original purpose was to absorb the Lifestream and leave the planet when it was destroyed. With gathered information, Hojo created the plan to awaken Omega early. However, the renegade Deepground member, Shelke, urges Vincent to take control of Chaos power, and Vincent battles Weiss, succeeding due to Weiss's pure Lifestream force being contaminated by his brother, Nero. When Weiss enters the Lifestream, Hojo's mind dispersed, but Omega was awakened. The full power of Chaos was also drawn out, but with the effort of Shelke, Vincent reacquires the Protomateria and takes control of Chaos's true form, succeeding in destroying Omega's mortal shell, freeing the Lifestream. He survives this attack, with Chaos joining Omega in returning to the planet until they are truly needed. Vincent thanks Lucrecia in her cave, now understanding she was the reason he survived and leaves her resting place, able to begin his life anew.
The mobile game Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII also uses Vincent as the main player, and takes place during Dirge of Cerberus. It recounts what happened when Vincent was traveling by helicopter to Shinra Mansion and was attacked by Deepground. He fights his way to Shinra Mansion, destroying many Deepground soldiers and a battle bot. Zack Fair finds his coffin in the basement of Shinra Manor during Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and, although Vincent is not seen, it is suggested through dialogue that he occupies it.
[edit] Other appearances
Vincent appears in the fighting game Ehrgeiz as an unlockable fighting character, with his Turk uniform serving as an alternate costume. Like the other Final Fantasy VII characters included in the game, Vincent does not serve a role in the main storyline.[11] Although he was meant to appear in Kingdom Hearts, his design was instead used to make Cloud's new one.[12]
Vincent's popularity has led to merchandise being created related to Dirge of Cerberus,[13] games where he was the central character, as well as action figures being released.[14]
Vincent's character has received mixed reviews by video games publications. On IGN's "Final Fantasy VII: Top 10 Characters" list, written by Dave Smith, Vincent was listed as an "Honorable Mention."[15] He received praise for his "striking character design," as well as how "FFVII's 3D engine made his shape-shifting Limit Breaks some surprisingly scary stuff."[15] 1UP.com's Andrew Pfister regarded Vincent as "an optional, albeit cool, character in the original FFVII".[16] His character design and abilities have been praised by GameSpy's Justin Speer who added that with such traits he "capably steps into a leading role" of Dirge of Cerberus.[17] In GameSpot's article "The History of Final Fantasy", Vincent was comically referred to as the Final Fantasy VII character whom female players found to be "the most alluring undead man they've ever met".[18] GameSpot writer Greg Mueller regarded Vincent as one of "the more interesting characters from Final Fantasy VII" and liked how Dirge of Cerberus is focused on him and explains his origins.[19] IGN's Jeremy Dunham had a similar opinion noting that Vincent "is exposed pretty convincingly here".[20] On the other hand, Vincent has been criticized as a not very familiar character to players, even to the ones from Final Fantasy VII by Eurogamer's Rob Fahey who noted that his characterization in Dirge of Cerberus would not appeal to players. However, Fahey still recognized him as very popular character, commenting that he is one of the most common characters from Final Fantasy VII to be featured in fan-fictions and fanarts.[21] Although RPGamer's Michael "CactuarJoe" Beckett said that Vincent was one of the "less well-developed" characters from Final Fantasy VII, he found his development in Dirge of Cerberus to be satisfying.[22]
