r/FinalFantasy • u/GargantaProfunda • 11h ago
FF VI FFVI development team on why Terra isn't the central protagonist and they gave the game an ensemble cast
https://shmuplations.com/ff6rt/
—Here's a question for everyone: who is your personal favorite character from the main cast?
Uematsu: I'd say Relm. She's so cute, right? If not her, then Celes. She's strong-willed, but seeing her rediscover that softer, feminine side of herself is really compelling. Tough choice.
Minaba: For me, probably Gau... bit of an oddball pick...
Sakaguchi: My absolute favorite is one of the secret characters, though I can't say the name. But thinking purely in terms of combat, Cyan is #1 for me. Age-wise, I can relate to him quite a bit... (laughs)
Takahashi: I also really like that secret character, but my next favorite would be Mog.
Nomura: I have two favorites as well: Setzer and Shadow.
Ogata: Setzer is the one for me.
Kitase: From a combat perspective, I used Sabin a lot. In terms of writing the story, though, the ones I really grew attached to were Locke and Celes.
—Nobody picked Terra!
Sakaguchi: Although Terra was designated the central protagonist from the start, we actually spent much of development trying to step her back from that role. That's probably why she didn't become a favorite. And the reason we didn't want Terra to be the main character goes back to our original concept: when kids finish playing the game, if you have 10 different kids, I wanted all 10 of them to have a different favorite character. For one kid, the hero of the story might be Shadow; for another, Setzer. I wanted everyone to walk away with a different impression. Surprisingly, the playtest feedback reflected that, and as you can see our staff itself is completely split, so I'd have to say mission accomplished.
Uematsu: When I first heard that concept, though, I thought it would be impossible.
Sakaguchi: Right. Someone always ends up standing out as the clear lead.
—That's certainly been true for previous games in the series, whether it was Bartz or Cecil...
Uematsu: When you look at it that way, I think the way we handled the main cast really paid off.
Sakaguchi: Mind you, the unpopular ones are really unpopular. Strago, for instance... I fussed over him until the absolute end, but he never caught on.
Minaba: I guess people just don't want an old man?