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Do the ages of the characters in this game suprise you? Did you ever think "now that guy can't be THAT old?" That happened to me a lot in this game. I never would have thought that Palom and Porom were only 5. I thought they were more like 8-11. How responsible is that elder huh?

Elder:Now kids, I want you to use your magical power to help Cecil on Mt. Ordeals okay?
Palom:Okeydokey! But first, my mommy wants me to take a nap."

How about Cecil. The fact that he was 19 was bad enough, but who would have thought that he was older than Edge? I though Edge was the 19 year old and Cecil was the 26 year old when I first played, not the other way around.

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

Yeah, FFIV is a game where I particularly choose to ignore the "canon" ages.

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

I agree. Some five year olds have trouble getting dressed for kindergarten, let alone casting Comet down on their unholy opponents on the mountan of ordeals. Something is definitely fishy there. Granted, I think the elder is irresponsible if they're 8-12 too.. but that's just part of the story there.

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Oh sure, I don't have to get kicked in the junk to activate it, but I like it anyway. -- Thief commenting on the difference between Throw and Blue Magic.

Yeah, I always thought Palom and Porom were 10 or 11....

Irresponsible Elder.....

It's not just FFIV though. Pretty much every FF has this weird age thing going on. Take Zidane; he was about 17 (?) and was already supposed to have traveled the world over BEFORE joining Tantalus (or in between periods of running away). With a history like his I would think he'd be in his 20s.

Personally, I'm tired of the characters being so young all the time. I'm starting to think the developers have cradle robbing fantasies.

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Do you think we're forever?

veyr interesting. i always thought palom and porom were around 11 as well. as for cecil, i though he was a freakin adult like in his 30s, and edge in his twenties. weird! lol

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Wow, I never got into it that much.. Lol!

I wonder how old Rydia is, when you meet her as an 'adult.'
Older than Rosa maybe?

Tellah must be Old.
Are Cecil and Golbez (Real name? Or was he born 'Golbez' ?) the same age?
What about Yang? He's MARRIED. He even looks old.
Cid, I always thought was younger than Tellah..

Between Cecil and Edge, well..
I suppose Maturity and Age are two very different things.

Word on Cecil. I say Cecil's about 35; Rosa, 29; Kain, also 35; Edge, 20; child Rydia, 7; adult Rydia, 17; and so on.

These are the same people who say Celes is eighteen. I deny them. Terra, maybe, but not Celes.

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

I honestly don't think there's ever been a main character in an FF game was older than 22 or so (Cloud's 21), and every love interest-type character is probably still younger (I think Aeris is the oldest at 22).

It's kind of ridiculous - in my mind I tend to add at least three or four years to every overly youthful character's age, but that doesn't change any facts. If I had to age the characters myself, I'd have Cecil at 27 or so, Kain a year older, Rosa maybe a year younger, Edge at 22 or 23, and Rydia at 20 or 21 (ten years of aging in the realm of monsters sounds about right). It does seem ludicrous that Cecil is so much younger than Edge, especially since Edge acts exactly like a college-age person completely devoid of responsibility prior to his joining your party. Twentysomethings makes way more sense than teenagers with FF IV's characters.

Edit

I forgot that Aeris is older than Tifa. Whoops.

This post has been edited by laszlow on 2nd December 2005 11:46

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

for me palom and porom seemed 8-9ish
cecil 20
kain 22
tellah 77
rosa 21
edge 19
"adult" rydia 17
yang 35
cid 48
golbez 23
edward 14 (he seemed like a soprano to me)


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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

I'd say Cecil and Kain are definitely in their twenties. Rosa is probably about the same age as Cecil. Rydia is said to be 7 when you first meet her, and I'd say she should be about 7-10; when she returns I'd say she's about 20. Edward seems to be at least 19 or so, if not older. Tellah's official age being 60 seems about right. Yang should be about thirty- or forty-something years old. The twins should be about the same age as Rydia, or at least 6 years old (and that's really pushing it, IMO). Cid should probably be in his forties, and Edge in his late teens or early twenties. I don't care what FuSoYa's official age is, as long as it's Tellah's age or older. Golbez should be around Cecil's age.

If you want to find a great example of absurdity in RPG character age, look to our favorite 18-year-old General Celes Chere of FFVI.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 2nd December 2005 05:30

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Yeah, I've always felt that the characters should be older than what's listed in their official stats.

I'll go with what Laszlow said about the ages of the characters. To me it's silly that Cecil would be the Captain of the Red Wings at such a young age, let alone not just a trainee.

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Based on their behaviour here's what I thought

Cecil 24-26

Acted way too mature for a 20 year old and a smart King would not have given him that much responsibilty, he have been talented but way too inexperienced. 24 sounds alot more plausable.

Kain 25-26 only months older than Cecil

Kain showed a great deal of maturity and self control about his feelings until Golbez got a hold of his mind and twisted him. Kain definately would not have been 21 and been captain of the Dragoons a champion maybe but not its overall leader.

Rosa 21-24

She's definatly younger than Cecil but not that younger. I believe 19 for her is believeable but then there would be a huge age gap between her and Cecil.

Edge 17-19

A 26 year old with that much responisibility cannot be that horny or immature. May'be horny but certainly wouldn't make it so obvious and also would be as arrogant and if he is really 26 all that regalness must have gone to his head.

Palom and Porom 13 atleast

Why do I say that remember what Palom says in the Japanese version in the ending

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

"So want to see my fire rod"

A five year old does not say that.

However the rest of the ages in the game are believeable

Quote (laszlow @ 2nd December 2005 03:42)

I honestly don't think there's ever been a main character in an FF game was younger than 22 or so (CLoud's 21), and every love interest-type character is probably still younger (I think Aeris is the oldest at 22). 

Squall and Zidane were 17 and 16 respectivley, but one was emo and the latter was a monkey, so they don't count.

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 2nd December 2005 05:29)

If you want to find a great example of absurdity in RPG character age, look to our favorite 18-year-old General Celes Chere of FFVI.

I've always consdiered that a propaganda thing, like, she had been a fairly low-ranking officer in Miranda at around 16, say a captain, yet showed herself off to high command and found her commission change from Captain to Colonel off the benefits of heroism and the propaganda machine, and then,as war with Doma neared, what better way to point out the army is modern and powerful than making the heroine of Miranda a two-star major-general? And then promoting her again as the war progressed? Isn't it amazing what the produce of our military acadmies can achieve: a General, at eighteen!

Men in suits wanting the sheep to go baa can be used to explain anything when the capacity for beureacracy exists, IMO. My backstory I made up, she'd still be a captain had she not been used as a propaganda tool.

Still, there was a memorial statue apparently of a 13(!) year old general for the Alexandrian Army in FF9...

Anyway, back to the land of relevance, I've always found the canon ages of FF4 a bit suspect, and I'm not a fan of under-20's saving the world,and I'm always happy to arse about with character's ages for the sake of making it make more sense , so, lets rock and roll. Ages as far as I am concerned.

Cecil: 22
Rosa: 21
Kain: 22
Rydia (Young): 10
Rydia (Older): 18
Tellah: 64
Edward: 24
Wossername, Anna: 22
Edge: 20
Yang: 45
Cid: 46
Twins:10

Frankly, the canon background should be hit with cannon in this case. But one last thing:

Quote (MorgueN @ 2nd December 2005 10:57)

Why do I say that remember what Palom says in the Japanese version in the ending

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

"So want to see my fire rod"

A five year old does not say that.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Fnar Fnar, Warf Warf, K-woo K-woo, etc...

This post has been edited by Del S on 2nd December 2005 11:45

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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

I meant older than 21 or 22. I'm an idiot, because contradictions to my original statement are all over this thread. Still I don't think there are any main love interest characters officially older than Aeris. Square really has a bad tendency to have teens as their main characters. It simply isn't realistic.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Every one of FF's main character are younger than 25, except FFI which is inconclusive.

FFII:(Firion) ? (But can't be that old)
FFIII:They're boys, not men, so that's that
FFIV:(Cecil) 19
FFV:(Bartz) 20
FFVI:(Terra) 18
FFVII:(Cloud) 21
FFVIII:(Squall) 18
FFIX: (Zidane) 17
FFX: (Tidus) I don't know, but he can't be more than 24
FFXII: I forgot the heros name, but I think it said he's 19.


How about a 35 year old for a hero eh? Better yet, make him black. We haven't seen many black people in Final Fantasy as playable charcter since FFVIII with Kiros.

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Dead Winter. A nice comic.

Cloud's the oldest protagonist. Something is very wrong with the world.

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

Quote (MorgueN)

Kain definately would not have been 21 and been captain of the Dragoons a champion maybe but not its overall leader.

Observing Barrylocke's post two posts up, I would say the same thing about Cecil. Well, MorgueN's post already says "a smart King would not have given him that much responsibilty", but we don't quite know when that was no longer the case (I'm too lazy to put a huge-arse spoiler tag here).

Butz definitely struck me as a teenager, though, as did his companions. Then again, Cara looked young enough to be about 10-12 years old. Barring that such ages might not have made too much sense, but since FF series ages don't really seem to make much sense from a real-world context anyways...

And LOL@ Del_S for this:

Quote (Del_S)

Squall and Zidane were 17 and 16 respectivley, but one was emo and the latter was a monkey, so they don't count.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

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I thought Cecil was 20, not 19. 20 is what I've always seen his "official" age listed as, to be more clear. Not that it makes much of a difference or anything.

One has to remember that the worlds these games take place in are pure fantasies. Just like how most characters in this series weigh ridiculous numbers - to the point where some of 'em shouldn't even be able to walk... or live, for that matter. That could always imply that gravity on their planets is less intense than ours, which could perfectly explain away the weight oddity.

Same thing could apply to age. Perhaps a single year is longer in their world(s) due to a slower earthly rotation and lap around the sun (that would definitely back up the lesser gravity theory, too), meaning they're still of adequate age for their experiences or professions, it just isn't reflected as such numerically. Numbers are deceiving.

See? It all makes sense: Slower planetary rotation = less gravity = lighter weights.
Slower revolution 'round the sun = longer years = slower aging process.

Now we can celebrate with plenty of cheap whiskey and Moon Pies...

Edit

Oh, and Barrylocke: Tidus is 17 (and Zidane's 16).

This post has been edited by SilverFork on 3rd December 2005 17:42

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If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Why is it that the Final Fantasy characters tend to be so Young?

With the exception of characters that are CLEARLY older like Tellah and Cid and Barret. The Main Character(s). Youth.


...

The ages actually can makes sense if you think about it. Many characters in the earlier games are in the military and most people start military careers early in life. Also in games like IV and VI which take place in a society that was somewhat medieval. In medieval society people often started working at a younger age. Even people in important positions could be younger, there were kings that were under the age of 10 if I remember correctly though mostly as a result of the death of the previous king. Also these younger main characters are somewhat ignorant in some way and learn from the older characters as the story progresses. And in some cases the characters had some sort of special circustance. Porom and Pualam were child prodigeys, not normal children. Rydia was forced into coming with Cecil when her village was destroyed and she had no place to go. Celes being a part of the empire was probably drafted and because of the work the empire did to her giving her magic she was probably promoted quickly.

Quote (whocares @ 3rd December 2005 16:34)

Porom and Pualam were child prodigeys, not normal children. Rydia was forced into coming with Cecil when her village was destroyed and she had no place to go. Celes being a part of the empire was probably drafted and because of the work the empire did to her giving her magic she was probably promoted quickly.

Most of those examples are easy to conclude since they're clearly indicated in the game, but not in the case of Celes. One thing's for sure though: She definitely wasn't drafted. Cid mentions she'd been with the Empire from an early age (hence why she became attached to him as a surrogate grandfather), and she states at one point that she was very young when she was magically infused. I just really doubt that even Gestahl's military would draft toddlers.

It's true that long ago it was normal to see children in positions that're nowadays reserved for adults, but I don't think that applies very heavily to FF games. The people we're regarding as young still aren't that young, and most aren't necessarily kids who hold these occupations or professions. I also don't believe it has very much to do with the medieval or 'high-tech pseudomedieval' settings, as ALL the games feature pretty young main characters, but mostly older supporting characters ('cept IV and IX, which are just screwy).

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Quote (SilverFork)

It's true that long ago it was normal to see children in positions that're nowadays reserved for adults, but I don't think that applies very heavily to FF games.

No specific examples of what you're saying come to mind immediately to me, but I do note something about days long gone. I remember that marriage used to occur earlier back in past centuries, and the idea of having a marriage-ready daughter/son (I think more daughters than sons) was a mark of her/his coming of age, in a way.

If we assume FF games to be referencing to older historical eras, then this could (but isn't necessarily) a valid reasoning.

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Except when it came to militarism, generals and officers still tended to be in their thirties at least (usually because they were higher-born and thus had the luxury of living longer). Alexander the Great is generally regarded as the most remarkable military prodigy of all time, and even he was 18 at his first major battle and 24 when he conquered Persia.

It's all well and good for Square to come up with these random ages (and weight/height ratios, etc), but unless fanfiction writers/fanartists want to present the characters as pimply, squeaky-voiced skeletons, we've got to take them with a grain of salt.

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

Quote (Barrylocke @ 2nd December 2005 09:24)

How about a 35 year old for a hero eh? Better yet, make him black. We haven't seen many black people in Final Fantasy as playable charcter since FFVIII with Kiros.

dont forget about barret...

but other than those two, havent seen many african american ff characters

amano's zande looks black...actually black. as in with black paint.

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Quote (Zeromus_X @ 4th December 2005 08:46)

Quote (Barrylocke @ 2nd December 2005 09:24)

How about a 35 year old for a hero eh? Better yet, make him black. We haven't seen many black people in Final Fantasy as playable charcter since FFVIII with Kiros.

dont forget about barret...

but other than those two, havent seen many african american ff characters

amano's zande looks black...actually black. as in with black paint.

Why is it that most of the Final Fantasy characters look like White Americans?

Look at the close-ups- do any of them have Japanese looking eyes?
I don't THINK so.

Quote (Zeromus_X)

don't forget about barret

He was mentioned earlier (by Alias X Beoulve) as one of those people who was definitely older than about 20 years old. I think it makes sense that he's older, and other characters, such as Kain and (therefore) Cecil, for example, should be too, since they're both involved in some significant leadership role in an army. Barret actually could have been younger, since it doesn't take quite as much experience-gaining time to become a seasoned terrorist and political philosopher.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

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Way back when, the teens weren't a transition between childhood and adulthood. Once pueberty happens, you're expected to be an adult. That puts character ages 5-10 years younger than our standards. Even then, the "canon" ages are way off.

Cecil has to be late 20s/early 30s. If you do a very good job at proving yourself and the higher-ups favor you, you might get a command of your own squad in your early 20s. Cecil commanded a nation's entire fleet at the beginning of the game. Even if he was close to the King, he couldn't advance all that quickly - he's just a bastard.
Same goes for Kain.
Rosa's probably the same age, if not 1-2 years younger. The three did grow up together, so the ages would have to be pretty close for them to be as close as they were. The only thing that makes the official ages for the three even plausible is that none of them are married with kids yet.
The twins are probably 12-ish. Palom did hit on the one girl.

Quote (Alias X Beoulve @ 4th December 2005 14:31)

Why is it that most of the Final Fantasy characters look like White Americans?

Look at the close-ups- do any of them have Japanese looking eyes?
I don't THINK so.

The games are mainly set in a medieval Europe setting, or in a fantasy world primarily based on European mythologies. You'd kind of expect white people there.

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Quote (Dark Paladin @ 7th December 2005 18:34)

Way back when, the teens weren't a transition between childhood and adulthood. Once pueberty happens, you're expected to be an adult. That puts character ages 5-10 years younger than our standards. Even then, the "canon" ages are way off.

Cecil has to be late 20s/early 30s. If you do a very good job at proving yourself and the higher-ups favor you, you might get a command of your own squad in your early 20s. Cecil commanded a nation's entire fleet at the beginning of the game. Even if he was close to the King, he couldn't advance all that quickly - he's just a bastard.
Same goes for Kain.
Rosa's probably the same age, if not 1-2 years younger. The three did grow up together, so the ages would have to be pretty close for them to be as close as they were. The only thing that makes the official ages for the three even plausible is that none of them are married with kids yet.
The twins are probably 12-ish. Palom did hit on the one girl.

Quote (Alias X Beoulve @ 4th December 2005 14:31)

Why is it that most of the Final Fantasy characters look like White Americans?

Look at the close-ups- do any of them have Japanese looking eyes?
I don't THINK so.

The games are mainly set in a medieval Europe setting, or in a fantasy world primarily based on European mythologies. You'd kind of expect white people there.

I never really looked at it that way.. Thanks!

But then why does Yuffie look so white?
She's a 'ninja' from a place that looks like Old Japan or something..