The Seven Most Interesting NPCs - Nomvoting

Okay folks we have settled on a topic for the next "The Seven". LicoriceAllSorts suggest "The Seven Most Interesting NPCs" and it reached the highest support at 9 Votes.

We are going to do this round of nomvoting in the style of the original.

• Nominate as many NPCs as you like.
• Please include a reason you are nominating the character (your reason may be included in the article).
• The characters with the most nominations amongst everybody will make the top seven, so don't be afraid to nominate somebody that someone else has - in fact if you want them to make it this is preferable.

Okay Update: For sake of making the list more interesting - primary villains are not allowed. No Sephiroth, No Rufus, No Kefka, No Golbez, No Shuyin. SECONDARY antagonists however will be allowed, so feel free to include Palmer, Leblanc, The Magus Sisters or Gilgamesh.

I will wait to post my nominations. Let'sa go!

I have a question. Does "NPC" include any non-playable character? Are we excluding major characters such as Sephiroth or Kefka? Are we including second tier characters such as President Shinra and Dr Cid?

Top NPCs:

1. Regent Cid from FFIX
He's crucial to the plot, he has a well-developed personality, and he has a little backstory of his own. Also he's so cute when he's an oglop.

2. The Shinra Middle Manager in the Red Suit
He stands up to Barret (a man with a gun for an arm)

(They meet the well-dressed Shinra manager again.)

"....hoodlums again. God, don't I just have all the luck..."

Barret
"You say sumthin'?"
"I said, 'you say sumthin'!?"

(Barret walks over to the man.)

Barret
"Yo, look at that! It got empty alluva sudden."
"What's goin' on?"

"DAMN!"
"I... it's empty because of... g, guys like you..."

(Barret smacks him.)

"Y, Y, YIPES!!"
"You... you've seen the news, right? AVALANCHE says there'll be
more bombings."
"Only devoted employees like me would go to Midgar on a day like
today."

Barret
"You workin' for Shinra?"

Shinra Manager
"I won't give in to violence..."

Tifa
"Barret!!"

Barret
"&$#%!! You lucky ^$#$,!"

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He hates his job, but he still wants to climb the corporate ladder:

Shinra manager:
It's so shameful!
...and they told me that I would be staying at five star hotels on these trips...

Shinra manager:
How can you guys sleep in a place like this?

After Meteor is summoned

Shinra manager:
I only came to help with the transporting of Junon's Huge Cannon, Sister Ray, but...
Now the company tells me not to bother coming back...
What's being a Shinra employee all about...?

Shinra manager:
Yeeeeee......
If Weapon killed all the upper management... then I'll be President...!!

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He really hates his job, but it's hard finding a safe place to vent. This dialogue takes place when you bump into him in Costa del Sol:

Shinra manager:
Oh, oh, oh!!! I'm gonna quit this company!!
I mean it, I'm really gonna quit!!
Shinra manager:
Heidegger's such an idiot!!
And Rufus, acting all big!!
But!! I got a hungry family waiting for me at home. I can't go back empty-handed.
Shinra manager:
God, that sure felt good...

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He's a salaryman with courage and ambition. In a different life, FFVII could have been his story.

Also, you can find him in the unused files for the Honeybee Inn.

I used to...when I was 14 or something, I used to headcanon that the Shinra Manager was Reeve or Tsengs less successful younger brother

But yeah I second Lic's choice Shinra Manager is one of those characters that really helps flesh out the world.

I'd say Reeve and Sephiroth should be off limits.

President Shinra, Shinra manager, Tseng, Zangan, Seto, Junon Ex-SOLDIER would be mine.

Seconding Tseng, obviously

I'd like to nominate a little-known NPC from Final Fantasy VII known simply as "guard" in the game code, but who I prefer to call Train Man.


Train Man is one of the dozens of unnamed NPCs that turn Midgar from a wonderfully crafted city to a living, breathing one. You, the player, only have three opportunities to talk to him: upon arriving in Sector 7 for the first time, before boarding the train the following morning, and if you go out of your way to visit the station before climbing the pillar. You don't have to talk to him at all - to my shame, it took me until last year to do so for the first time - but I think that's part of why I love him: the writers came up with these short but wonderful monologues in the knowledge that many people would never see them.

After arriving in Sector 7

When you've been a train man as long as I have, you see a lot of people and a lot of lives.

People meeting, parting, joy, sadness... After a while, it doesn't even get to you anymore.

--

I wonder how long it's been... There's an invisible rail between me and the passengers.

I could never live their lives. I'm just a train man plain and simple. It's easier that way.

--

That's not to say that the crossing gate of my heart doesn't hurt now and again.

Back during the war, I remember there was a lot of painful scenes then.

--

But, that's a story for another day...

--

First train leaves Midgar at 05:04am.

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Before boarding the train the next day

Morning. Dawn comes and things never change.

You be careful not to get hurt. Come on back again, hear?

--

ALL ABOARD! The train is about to depart.

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Before climbing the pillar

I heard a rumor that the plate was going to fall, crushing this station, I've worked at so many years.

But I just can't bear to leave here.

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(The double dashes indicate separate text entries in the script - you have to talk to him repeatedly to trigger them all.)

Isn't that just remarkable? In the space of three conversations, we learn so much about this person.

We discover that he doesn't have a high opinion of himself: he identifies as "a train man plain and simple" and claims that he couldn't live the lives of the passengers he sees every day. Yet we also find out that he is emotionally complex and is affected by the events he witnesses, such as the "painful scenes" of the Wutai war - as it happens, this is the very first mention of the war in the game, and foreshadows Elmyra's flashback to that time (perhaps that is the "story for another day"). We learn of his kind nature: despite being a Shinra employee, he shows compassion for Cloud, openly wishing for his safe return. And finally, tragically, we're given a demonstration of his attachment to the station - his station - as he refuses to leave it even in the face of death.

After the pillar falls and Barret cries out for the loss of Biggs, Wedge and Jessie (and Marlene, unknowingly), Tifa adds "...and the other people in Sector 7." She's right. Many fascinating people were crushed by that plate, and in my humble opinion, Train Man was the most fascinating of them all.

I don't actually expect him to make the final list of Seven - there are plenty of incredibly significant NPCs in the series who deserve to be on it ahead of an unnamed guard - but I wanted to share his story with you. It left a lasting impression on me.

Edit: I almost forgot, I just adore his train metaphors. "Crossing gate of my heart"? Come on, that's genius.

I got a couple that's come to mind right now.

Luzzu and Gatta from X. They always stand out for me when I play the game, possibly because of how your own decisions affect their lives, and Luzzu himself has ties to members of the party.

I'm not sure about the actual parameters of NPC's, but if we're talking about more well-known ones, I'd also suggest Jecht. I know he's playable in Dissidia but he's not in the original game, so maybe that can count?

Okay Update: For sake of making the list more interesting - primary villains are not allowed. No Sephiroth, No Rufus, No Kefka, No Golbez, No Shuyin. SECONDARY antagonists however will be allowed, so feel free to include Palmer, Leblanc, The Magus Sisters or Gilgamesh.

Sound fair?

Also in case some people are not aware, this is from ANY Final Fantasy, not just FF7.

I would nominate the nameless commander of the squad that killed Zack, for choosing to let Cloud go. What prompts that decision? You find a report on the wall of Nibelheim indicating that it was reported that Cloud had escaped during Zack's resistance, which means he lied on his report. Why, when there was no need to, he could easily have ordered Cloud shot or brought him back to the labs? No name, no face, barely any lines, but that one decision changes the entire course of the game, and we have no idea why he made it.

Clement Rage said:

I would nominate the nameless commander of the squad that killed Zack, for choosing to let Cloud go. What prompts that decision? You find a report on the wall of Nibelheim indicating that it was reported that Cloud had escaped during Zack's resistance, which means he lied on his report. Why, when there was no need to, he could easily have ordered Cloud shot or brought him back to the labs? No name, no face, barely any lines, but that one decision changes the entire course of the game, and we have no idea why he made it.

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This is the kind of observation that amazing fanfiction is based on.

The Turks, of course. I mean, come on... They were the best part of FF7.

My second vote goes to the girl at the Honeybee who gives Cloud the nickname Pooch. She seems awesome (and there's actually a character in my main fan fiction series that was loosely inspired by her).

Much as I love the Turks, should they count? Isn't the purpose of this exercise to bring into the limelight characters who are too often passed over? The Turks are some of SE's most beloved characters ever.

If they DO count, then I'm casting my vote for them, obvs. If the fact that you battle them means they don't count (you don't play them but you do play against them; they come into play) then I vote for Tseng. And nameless Shinra grunt who spared Cloud's life.

I don't see why the Turks shouldn't count, but I think they ought to be nominated separately. But I'm not running this.

Flintlock said:

I don't see why the Turks shouldn't count, but I think they ought to be nominated separately. But I'm not running this.

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I can see now we should have made a clearer definition of what exactly counted as an NPC. Okay the only thing to do is start over with clearer rules. Excuse me.