Who Is Zack?

For Song Ren, the biggest impression Final Fantasy gave him was its rich cast of characters.

The earlier Xenoblade Chronicles had felt less like an ensemble story and more like a one-man show starring Rex and Homura.

The tomboyish Mòrag, the chubby otaku tiger, the chuuni prince, and the ever-beloved Nia—they did have their moments, but not nearly as many as he had expected.

But Final Fantasy was completely different, with a far richer ensemble cast.

It was not just Cloud, the protagonist. Alice, Tifa, and even Sephiroth all received detailed characterization and excellent scenes.

Sephiroth in particular had only appeared in flashbacks so far, yet combined with the events in Midgar, he created an incredibly oppressive presence.

The stories that happened to the other characters were equally memorable.

Take Barret, for instance. Hot-tempered and deeply hateful of Shinra's use of Mako, he constantly talked about saving the Planet's Mother.

It made him seem like a pure idealist, someone with the grand ambition of saving the planet.

But only after Cloud and the others arrived at Barret's hometown, North Corel, did they learn what had happened to him in the past.

Unlike the Barret of today, who hated Shinra and constantly shouted about saving the Planet's Mother,

the old Barret had actually trusted Shinra deeply. He had even personally pushed for the construction of a Mako Reactor in his hometown of North Corel.

He had persuaded his best friend to abandon the coal mines of their hometown and embrace Shinra's Mako energy instead.

It could be said that Barret had once been thoroughly pro-Shinra.

But Shinra's actions afterward left Barret with a painfully traumatic memory.

The North Corel Mako Reactor in his hometown exploded, and in order to cover up its safety issues, Shinra carried out a massacre in the