Vincent Valentine

Vincent Valentine is an optional playable character in Final Fantasy VII and the main playable character in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- and Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode -Final Fantasy VII-.

Vincent is a gun-wielding former member of Shinra's Turks with a dark past, and the only party member to know about Sephiroth's true origins.

Appearance
Vincent appears as a tall, lean 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. He primarily fights with triple-barrel revolver called "Cerberus". Character designer Tetsuya 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.

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." 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." 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.

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." 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.

Final Fantasy VII
After sleeping for years in a coffin, Vincent is found in the basement of Shinra mansion by Cloud and the gang, who had managed to retrieve the key to his room from a safe. Vincent was surprised by Cloud's knowledge of Sephiroth, recognizing Sephiroth as Lucrecia's son, and demanded an explanation. Cloud explains the past events and the atrocities Sephiroth has committed, but this only served to make Vincent feel even more guilty for his failure and he shuts himself back in the coffin. After some further coaxing from Cloud, he emerges from the coffin again and tells who he was and about Lucrecia, before sealing himself again. But when Cloud leaves the room and begins to head back upstairs, 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.

For the remainder of Final Fantasy VII, Vincent plays a very minor role and very little story is centered around him. The only other time that there is any focus on Vincent is when they use the submarine to travel through an underwater cave and surface in a small lake surrounded by mountains. They find a cave in one of the surrounding mountains, and inside the cave Vincent finds Lucrecia, who in her pain and regret 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.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII''
In Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Vincent is seen in his normal attire having a conversation with Veld, leader of the Turks at that time, in the Shinra Manor's basement.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
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 showed up to help his friends defeat the Bahamut SIN summoned by Kadaj. It was Vincent who told his friends not to help Cloud and let him face his own personal battle against Sephiroth, confident in Cloud's ability to win. He was seen in the end with the rest of the characters and appears in a picture all of them took together.In Dirge of Cerberus: 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. 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.

Lastly, he is briefly encountered in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII when he is found sleeping inside a coffin by the protagonist of the game, Zack Fair. Due to the camera angle and darkness, he is not physically seen.

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.

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 * Vincent Valentine character profile at the official Square Enix Final Fantasy VII site
 * Vincent Valentine at the Final Fantasy Wiki