Vincent Valentine: Difference between revisions

Vincent Valentine
'Final Fantasy series and Compilation of Final Fantasy VII' character
Vincent Valentine artwork by Tetsuya Nomura Vincent Valentine artwork by Tetsuya Nomura
First game	Final Fantasy VII

Vincent Valentine (ヴィンセント・ヴァレンタイン, Vinsento Varentain) is one of two hidden characters in the PlayStation RPG Final Fantasy VII, the other being Yuffie Kisaragi. He has also appeared in the fighting game Ehrgeiz and is the main character in the Final Fantasy VII sequel, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII. He also serves as a supporting character in the CGI follow-up to Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, in which he is voiced by Shougo Suzuki in the Japanese version and Steve Blum in the English version (both of which voice him in the rest of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII respectively). However, Vincent is voiced by Kazuhiro Nakata in Ehrgeiz.

Character design

Vincent appears as a tall, brooding man with long, unkempt black hair wearing a ragged red cloak over black clothes. His left arm below the elbow is covered by a metal gauntlet terminating in formidable claws.¹ His cloak covers the lower half of his face and is held closed by a series of buckles. His eyes are distinctly coloured red. As of Advent Children, his weapon of choice changed to a triple-barrel revolver named "Cerberus", reflected in the silver charm that hangs from the hilt of the gun as well as the gun's three barrels.

Template:Spoiler Character designer Tetsuya Nomura has explained that Vincent Valentine's character shifted from that of Horror researcher, to detective, to chemist, finally arriving at the figure of a former member of the Shin-Ra Company's Turks with a tragic past, only part of which involves being used as a human test subject. It has been further explained that his crimson mantle was added to symbolize the idea of Vincent carrying a heavy weight — related to death — on his shoulders.

Characteristics and abilities

Vincent, while not the most physically powerful character in Final Fantasy VII, is a skilled gunslinger and can cast magic well, making him an ideal distance fighter. His weapons include various firearms, each described in-game as "Long-Range Weapon".

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Chaos in Final Fantasy VII.

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Chaos in Dirge of Cerberus.

Due to Hojo's anatomic reconstruction of Vincent and the presence of Chaos within him, he does not age² and possesses a number of supernatural abilities, including metamorphosis and the ability to fly. In "Dirge of Cerebus" his melee attacks took on the form of purple auras. In Final Fantasy VII, Vincent transforms into four different creatures as part of his limit breaks: a bipedal version of a Final Fantasy VII Behemoth, the Galian Beast; the Frankenstein's monster-like Death Gigas; Hellmasker, a homage to Jason Voorhees; and the devil-like Chaos. In Advent Children, Vincent also assumes a previously unseen amorphous and intangible red form, evocative of his cloak, which he uses only once, to rescue Cloud from Kadaj and his gang. In Dirge of Cerberus, the Galian Beast was remodelled into a more humanoid form with the ability to shoot homing projectiles and unleash shockwaves, and Chaos was altered to resemble Vincent with demonic features, such as pale skin, yellow eyes, spiked-black hair, monster fangs, and frayed bat-like wings. Chaos had many powers such as a red/black beam that he used to kill Azul; was able to magically recreate his Death Penalty weapon which shot black/white beam; a melee attack that would release a red aura wherever he struck and ended the combo with a strange ball of energy, and an ultimate attack that he used to charge into Omega and destroy him. ==Other appearances==

Ehrgeiz

Vincent is a playable character in the PlayStation version of Ehrgeiz along with Tifa, Cloud, Sephiroth, Yuffie and Zack, though — like the other Final Fantasy VII characters featured in the game — he has no storyline in the game. His alternate costume is his Turk uniform seen in flashbacks in the original game.

Trivia

• The brooding, lovelorn Vincent is named after Vincent Price and Saint Valentine, the former being a horror film legend while the latter was a crusading martyr who has come to be associated with romance. (Also the Latin verb "vincere" translates into "to conquer, outlast, defeat". To "outlast" would be the most fitting translation for ‘vincere’ since Vincent sleeps in the basement of the Shinra mansion for 30 years.)
• Due to the fact that Vincent and Yuffie Kisaragi are optional characters in FFVII, they are not featured in any FMVs, including the ending sequence.
• The phone Vincent carries in Dirge of Cerberus is a reference to a couple of points of comedy relief in Advent Children, in which Cloud tells the phone-less Vincent that he'll give him a call, with Vincent later asking Tifa where he can find a phone shop. In the Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII featurette, he speaks on the phone with Cloud, telling him to pass a message on to Yuffie; "This is my phone, and she has no right to call it".
• Cloud's look in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories share similarities with that of Vincent's FF7 look. Specifically, he bears a red cape that covers the lower half of his face, and has golden claws on the fingers of his left hand. Concerning the claws, Tetsuya Nomura has stated that they were indeed modelled after Vincent's, because Cloud shares many of the "dark" traits that Vincent shows in FFVII. There are subtle differences in the cape and claws as worn by Cloud, which can be seen here: [1] Nomura further commented in the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania interview that he wanted Vincent to appear in Kingdom Hearts.

Footnotes

¹It has been previously suggested that this is an entirely mechanical prosthetic, but the refined character design used in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus shows that there is likely an ordinary, albeit gloved, hand underneath the golden claws, presumably attached to a similarly ordinary arm. It is also interesting to note that brass claws are an ancient Greek chararacteristic typical to monsters (such as a gorgon, with brass claws and wings), which would be in line with Vincent's monstrous associations.

²Vincent's age, as provided in official materials, never changes: It remains fixed at 27, which is presumably how old he was when Hojo altered him. In contrast, the other main characters do age, which can be easily confirmed by comparing their ages in the game to those provided for Advent Children, which occurs two years after Final Fantasy VII. Further, Vincent's character designer, Tetsuya Nomura, has stated that Vincent was left immortal due to the experimentation conducted on him.[2]However, following real time chronology, Vincent is said to be approximately 60 years old as of the events in FF7: Dirge of Cerberus

External links

• Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω Translations FAQ - Translations from the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Ω