Non-playable characters can be just as memorable as playable characters, sometimes even more memorable. I list my favorite NPCs. Even though NPC includes any character that's not playable I'm restricting this to NPCs who are not villains, sidekicks, or help the player throughout the game in any direct way. Those will get their own entry later.
Regent Cid Fabool IX
Game: Final Fantasy IX
Spoilers for Final Fantasy IX. Canonically, Cid has been in every mainline entry of the Final Fantasy series and my favorite one has always been Regent Cid from Final Fantasy IX. When you first meet Cid you find out that he's an oglop and was the one who arranged Tantalus to kidnap Princess Garnet. He's a clever man, king of his country, and has my favorite airship out of the series. I also thought it was quite warming that he became Eiko's father at the end of the game.
Stiltzkin
Game: Final Fantasy IX
Moogles are one of the recurring staples in the Final Fantasy series and the most memorable one for me is Stiltzkin from his first appearance in Final Fantasy IX. This moogle is an an employee of the Mognet mail service and he frequently meets the cast during his travels in the game. He usually always has an item package to sell for a well reasonable price. He makes my list because he has his own arch in the game's story which helps make the game's world feel living and breathing.
Moogles are one of the recurring staples in the Final Fantasy series and the most memorable one for me is Stiltzkin from his first appearance in Final Fantasy IX. This moogle is an an employee of the Mognet mail service and he frequently meets the cast during his travels in the game. He usually always has an item package to sell for a well reasonable price. He makes my list because he has his own arch in the game's story which helps make the game's world feel living and breathing.
Anju & Kafei
Game: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's
Mask
Spoilers for Majora's Mask. The Legend of Zelda is well known for having memorable NPCs, but my favorite comes from the series' second 3D entry Majora's Mask. Kafei is one of the first NPCs you see once entering Clock Town in Majora's Mask. He's the child dressed in purple with matching hair and wearing the Keaton mask. He was mysterious as he was confined to the house sitting all alone by the stream. He would only come out when the postman rang the doorbell and if you rang it yourself he would quickly retreat inside upon seeing you. Anju worked in the town's hotel taking care of her grandmother. She mostly always looked sad and you could find her sitting in the rain outside of Kafei's house on the 2nd day. If you manage to take the side quest involving these two you learn that Kafei is Anju's fiance and he was turned into a child by the skull kid. His journey to reunite with his fiance with the customary ceremonial engagement mask is touching and you feel how well the two really love each other when you see them together as the moon is only a few minutes away from crashing into their town.
Spoilers for Majora's Mask. The Legend of Zelda is well known for having memorable NPCs, but my favorite comes from the series' second 3D entry Majora's Mask. Kafei is one of the first NPCs you see once entering Clock Town in Majora's Mask. He's the child dressed in purple with matching hair and wearing the Keaton mask. He was mysterious as he was confined to the house sitting all alone by the stream. He would only come out when the postman rang the doorbell and if you rang it yourself he would quickly retreat inside upon seeing you. Anju worked in the town's hotel taking care of her grandmother. She mostly always looked sad and you could find her sitting in the rain outside of Kafei's house on the 2nd day. If you manage to take the side quest involving these two you learn that Kafei is Anju's fiance and he was turned into a child by the skull kid. His journey to reunite with his fiance with the customary ceremonial engagement mask is touching and you feel how well the two really love each other when you see them together as the moon is only a few minutes away from crashing into their town.
Merchant
Game: Resident Evil 4
The Merchant from Resident Evil 4 is a weird one. He always ends up managing to be where you are when you need him and even has shooting galleries set up in the most unlikely of places. His voice and mannerisms are eerie and even his eyes are harsh yellow like the game's infected. I let that all slide when he has such an incredible arsenal for sale that he somehow manages to carry in his coat.
The Merchant from Resident Evil 4 is a weird one. He always ends up managing to be where you are when you need him and even has shooting galleries set up in the most unlikely of places. His voice and mannerisms are eerie and even his eyes are harsh yellow like the game's infected. I let that all slide when he has such an incredible arsenal for sale that he somehow manages to carry in his coat.
No comments:
Post a Comment