Squall Leonhart ( Jap. ス コ ー ル ・ レ オ ン ハ ト all Squall Leonhart , suko: ru reonha: then) is the protagonist of the Japanese role-playing game Final Fantasy VIII , published by Square (now Square Enix ) in 1999. Character design was developed by artist Tetsuya Nomura , under the influence of project director Yoshinori Kitase . Later, Squall appeared in some other games of the company, for example, in the Kingdom Hearts series he appears in the form of a character under the pseudonym Leon, in addition, he is present in the games Dissidia: Final Fantasy , Chocobo Racing and Itadaki Street Special . Squall's invariable weapon is the so-called "gunblade" ( English gunblade ), half sword, half gun. The character’s name translates as “ flurry ”.
| Squall Leonhart | |
|---|---|
| ス コ ー ル ・ レ オ ン ハ ー ト | |
 Concept Figure Final Fantasy VIII | |
| Game series | Final fantasy Kingdom Hearts |
| First the appearance of | Final Fantasy VIII |
| Idea | Yoshinori Kitase Kazushige Nojima |
| Painter | Tetsuya Nomura |
| Scoring | English voice: David Boreanaz (KH) Doug Erholz (other games) Japanese voice: Hideo Ishikawa |
| IMDb | ID 0006157 |
In the original game, Squall is a seventeen-year-old student at a prestigious military academy; during the development of the plot, he meets other heroes and falls in love with a girl named Rinoa. By nature, Squall is a very closed and completely non-communicative person, in accordance with the idea of the developers during the game, the character develops, becomes open and caring [1] .
Creation History
Squall Leonhart became the first character that Nomura developed for the game Final Fantasy VIII , his image was inspired by the American film actor River Phoenix , but, as the author himself later noted, as a result, “no one understood this” [2] . Squall himself is a young man of seventeen years old, 177 cm tall [3] , originally possessed long hair and a effeminate figure. During the development, Kitase insisted on a design change, Nomura had to shorten the hairstyle of the character and add a little muscle to him. To make Squall more memorable, the artist drew him a large scar on his face, passing through the forehead and nose bridge - because of this, the game’s screenwriter, Kazushige Nojima, had to add an additional scene to the plot explaining the appearance of the scar [4] . To complete the design, Nomura dressed Squall in a black leather jacket with a fluffy fur collar, the design of which subsequently caused difficulties for the creators of the videos of the fully mobile video [5] . In addition, a special text display system was developed specifically for Nojima's character, thanks to which the player sees not only what the character is saying, but also what he is thinking about [6] .
Working on the creation of weapons for Squall, Nomura immediately decided to make something silver [7] . The resulting "ganblade" became a hybrid of a sword with a sharp blade, and a revolver with a trigger and a drum. In battle, such weapons are used as a sword, but if necessary, the revolver mechanism is activated, thereby betraying the blade with additional vibrational force [8] . The design of the weapon brought some interactive elements into the gameplay, for example, if a player presses the R1 button while striking, the damage done to the opponent increases dramatically. Looking back at the past, Nomura noted that in the end the weapon turned out to be rather strange [4] .
Notes
- ↑ Square Electronic Arts. Final Fantasy VIII North American instruction manual. - Square Electronic Arts, 1999. - ISBN SLUS-00892GH.
- ↑ Staff. The Bouncer Team Talks About Its Mysterious Game . IGN (September 21, 2000). Date of treatment June 24, 2009. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Studio BentStuff. Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania. - DigiCube / Square-Enix, 1999 .-- S. 12. - ISBN 4-925075-49-7 .
- ↑ 1 2 Sheila Knight. Tetsuya Nomura 20s . FLAREgamer (2003). Date of treatment April 13, 2006. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Studio BentStuff. Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania. - DigiCube / Square-Enix, 1999. - S. 46–47. - ISBN 4-925075-49-7 .
- ↑ Behind The Game The Creators (inaccessible link) . Square Enix North America (2001). Date of treatment April 12, 2006. Archived on September 28, 2007.
- ↑ Studio BentStuff. Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania. - DigiCube / Square-Enix, 1999 .-- S. 13. - ISBN 4-925075-49-7 .
- ↑ Studio BentStuff. Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania. - DigiCube / Square-Enix, 1999 .-- S. 43. - ISBN 4-925075-49-7 .
Links
- Squall Leonhart - FFForever Website Page