TheFinal Fantasyfranchise is known for its strong characters, and its main heroes are every bit as important in leading their respective rosters. From Cecil’s gradually emerging courage to Bartz and Zidane’s tomfoolery, the main character of aFinal Fantasyoften sets the pace for the rest of the cast and story. There are some leads that don’t quite hold the same role as the others, however, and two of those areFinal Fantasy 12’s Vaan andFinal Fantasy 15’s Noctis Lucis Caelum.
These two are somewhatset apart from otherFinal Fantasyleadsby their need to bounce off of other characters to show their own personality traits. Much has already been said about how Vaan was not originally planned to be the main character of his own game, and Noctis needs his three best friends around to feel complete. Still, comparing the two of them makes for an interesting discussion on how their respective plots and games unfold.
RELATED:Final Fantasy 15 is Much Better Now Than at Launch
Leadership in FF15’s Noctis/FF12’s Vaan
Vaan and Noctis are both young men on quests to save their respective worlds. That’s not a novel thing inFinal Fantasy, but how they go about it is. Vaan starts things as a lowly street urchin whose brother died in a recently-lost war. After an ill-conceived attempt to loot some treasure from his city’s occupied castle, he ends up falling in with some heroic sky pirates and the growing resistance formed by the sole remaining member of the old royal family.
Noctis, on the other hand, is the sole remaining member of his royal family, and is on a road trip with his best friends and guardians to both ensure the safety of his fiance and to stop theEmpire of Niflheimfrom conquering the world. Both of those plans go awry when it turns out that ancient, mystical forces are conspiring to destroy the world, andNoctis experiences significant loss along the way.
So, both Noctis and Vaan are dealing with the loss of loved ones, and they are fighting uphill battles against empires. Things end there in terms of their story similarities, aside from them both sharing a role as the audience surrogate. Noctis is always at the head of his party, leading the charge towards Lunafreya’s current place of refuge. Once the party unites after a timeskip, he cleanly slots back into his role as the leader, and faces down Ifrit and Ardyn to avenge his nation, his loved ones, and save the world;Vaan, unfortunately, mostly just tags along. He does play a key role in influencing the fallen princess Ashe towards taking the path that’s best for her nation rather than herself, but otherwise is just another helper in the rebellion’s efforts.
RELATED:Final Fantasy 12: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Fran
Personality of Noctis and Vaan
The duo are somewhat comparable in terms of their placement as protagonists, but otherwise Vaan and Noctis are very different people. Vaan is an energetic and sly youth, and while he can be rude at times due to his naivete, he is capable of planning elaborate operations when sufficiently motivated. Growing up on the streets, he spends most of his time working for his boss, playing with his friends, and occasionally stealing a little on the side. He wants to become a famous sky pirate and sail around Ivalice, and gets the chance to start working on that through his adventure.In his later appearances in Ivalice Alliance games, he has indeed become a sky pirate of some renown, but has not lost his heroic spirit.
Noctis certainly shares said spirit, but usually in a more subdued fashion. He’s a quiet fellow who enjoys spending time with his friends and pursuing his hobbies. Even though the true stakes aren’t quite clear for a while, Noctis and co. are still on the run from an empire for much ofFinal Fantasy 15, and it is telling that they are still willing and able to make so many stops along the way. Still, despite his quirks,Noctis is also an avengerand duty-bound heir to the Lucian throne, and is determined to kill Ardyn both to satisfy his own hatred and to save the world from the plague of monsters and darkness sweeping across it.
Weapons and Gameplay of FF12/FF15
The two heroes fight in similar, yet very different ways. Both are known for mastery of multiple weapons, with Noctis running the gamut of classic job-associated weaponry and Vaan being able to choose to specialize depending on how heprogresses through his license board. However, the similarities in their base games end there. While they are both generally associated with swords and can unlock big super attacks to wipe out enemies, they ultimately fight in very different ways. Vaan fights with whatever method the player directs him towards, though is typically grounded and does not move around very much. Noctis, meanwhile, moves around constantly with his warpstrikes and frequently takes to the air.
Weirdly enough, Vaan and Noctis do have visually similar fighting styles — when fighting games are brought into the mix. Vaan’s playstyle in the PSP classicDissidia 012: Final Fantasyactually bears a surprising resemblance to Noctis’ typical weapon switching and acrobatic combat.Dissidia 012is a high-flying game that is meant to emulate the fighting seen atthe end ofFinal Fantasy 7: Advent Children, somethingFinal Fantasy 15still aspired to years later.
In addition, Vaan’s unique character gimmick is that all of his Bravery attacks use a different weapon, and every attack that makes him switch weapons is stronger than if he’d used the same attack twice. He doesn’t play like that anymore inDissidia NT, the entry that actually includes Noctis, but the fact remains that his012self foreshadowed Noctis quite well.
Ultimately, Noctis and Vaan are two very different people trying to reach somewhat comparable goals. Vaan wants an adventure, and is happy to help his new friends take back his home kingdom and even humanity’s freedom along the way. Meanwhile, Noctis is the driving force behind his party moving towards hiswedding with Lunafreyaand making peace with Niflheim, but never loses focus of his love for his friends.
Both end up saving their respective worlds in the end, andFinal Fantasy 15’s alternate ending in itsThe Dawn of the Futurenovel ends up surprisingly close to how12ended. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see howClive stacks against these two onceFinal Fantasy 16is out.
Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Ageis available for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.Final Fantasy 15: Royal Editionis also available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
