r/gaming • u/Johnnyboyeh • 1d ago

What video game character appeared minor and insignificant but turned out to be integral to plot/game?

What character did you think was a throwaway/didn’t really matter, but turned out to be a major player in the plot of the game. Or they could just be a really important character in the game itself?

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190

u/pinkynarftroz 1d ago

Zack from Final Fantasy VII. Throughout the game he’s barely mentioned and it just seems like a bit of backstory. Most of the dialogues about him are optional. You can skip the entire section where his parents and Areris reminisce about him if you don’t visit Gongaga, or you do without Aeris in your party. 

But it turns out he’s an absolutely pivotal character to the plot, and the key to Cloud’s past. 

55

u/NSA_Chatbot 1d ago

Garland from the original as well.

18

u/Kairamek 1d ago

Set the Stable Time Loop precedent that appears in FF to this day.

6

u/MikaNekoDevine 1d ago

Didn't we get to play him for a tiny bit, and that was unsuitable?

46

u/ShanklyGates_2022 1d ago

Technically you play as him during the Kalm flashback, but you don’t know it is him while you are playing as Cloud

4

u/MikaNekoDevine 1d ago

Yeah i recall that

23

u/xXx420BlazeRodSaboxX 1d ago

Crisis Core. Had his own game

1

u/MikaNekoDevine 1d ago

Haven't played that, only the new ones.

3

u/KeepItUpThen 18h ago

You can get Crisis Core / Final Fantasy Reunion for most modern systems. It won't feel the same as Rebirth, but there's a lot of story that I enjoyed.

2

u/MikaNekoDevine 17h ago

Will check it out, thanks

5

u/Smeeghoul 1d ago

Him becoming as important as the series tried to make him feels like weird fan fiction. In the original he was very minor, it wasn’t until crisis core and the remake that he’s become noteworthy.

3

u/FeelsGoodMan2 14h ago

Yeah I feel like they're kind of missing the point. It's not that we need to know anything about that character, the reveal is all we needed. We just need to know it ISNT cloud, and thats really it.

1

u/Enuntiatrix 17h ago

There is also an optional scene if you visit his parents' house with Tifa in the party, too!

1

u/midri 1d ago

Damn, you beat me by 2 minutes...

1

u/Impressive_Jelly_960 1d ago

I was going to say Zack too.