The Final Fantasy series is full to the brim with some of the greatest video games of all time, making the act of choosing the best out of the fifteen mainline titles a rather hard task indeed. However, even in such a contentious discussion, one can still find a unanimous agreement placing Final Fantasy VI as perhaps the greatest game in the series. This is due to the ambitious ideas that were successfully incorporated in a game that is easily the best 2D Final Fantasy game by a country mile.
There are several reasons as to why most people absolutely adore Final Fantasy VI, with perhaps its biggest draw being an ensemble cast of the biggest party to ever feature in a Final Fantasy game. Locke is one such character who’s introduced, along with Terra, near the beginning of the game and ends up carving his way into the hearts of fans with his endearingly charming persona. However, there’s way more to Locke than meets the eye.
10 He Was Supposed To Be Older And More Mysterious
Initial drafts of Locke’s character lacked any of the charm or quirkiness that he’s pretty much synonymous with now. Fans know him as happy and adventurous, with a personality just as colorful as his vibrant blue outfit.
Instead, Locke would’ve been written as more of a darker character, whose age was greater than his current counterpart. He was to be someone who always had a mysterious aura around them that would’ve made him somewhat harder to figure out.
9 He Could’ve Been A Rival To The “Main” Character
Before the idea of an ensemble cast was thrown into the mix for Final Fantasy VI, the developers intended for Locke to be a rival to the main character who would also be a friend, similar to Kain’s dynamic with Cecil in Final Fantasy IV.
However, this idea was ultimately scrapped once the idea for an ensemble cast became the norm, and Locke ended up being the lovable treasure hunter fans all know and love.
8 His Weapon Of Choice Would’ve Been A Magic Sword
While Locke is pretty powerful in battle as is, this character would’ve been even more of an offensive force had the initial idea surrounding him finalized. His final design paints him as a thief with dual daggers.
He would’ve, instead, wielded a magic sword of sorts, which would’ve served as a stark contrast to the supposed “protagonist,” who would’ve wielded magic in a more traditional form.
7 The Ideas For His Concept Were Transferred Over To Celes
After Locke ended up taking the role of a Thief, or, in his words, a “treasure hunter,” while the idea of his magic sword ended up being in limbo for quite some time. It was an interesting concept, but it seems as though developers couldn’t quite figure out how they wanted to implement it, as well as who should wield it.
Thankfully, this great idea finally found a home in Celes, who could use her sword for the Runic ability that could absorb magic and help the party out quite a bit.
6 His Personality And Story Was Heavily Shaped By Sakaguchi
After the idea of an ensemble cast was finalized for Final Fantasy VI, various members of the team ended up giving their own personal stories and influences to shape the lives of most of the characters in the game. This decision added an extra hint of nuance to many of the characters, making them more relatable and more unique than in previous games.
In the case of Locke Cole, his overall character and story arc was influenced by none other than the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise himself, Hironobu Sakaguchi.
5 Locke’s Goal To Revive Rachel Was Poorly Communicated In The Western NES Release
Rachel was the love of Locke’s life, before a string of unfortunate incidences ended up separating them for good. However, Locke didn’t give up on his goal to bring Rachel back into his life, although the people who played the western release of the title would’ve been confused as to how this would be accomplished.
This is understandable, after all, in the Japanese release, the fact that the Empire had a legendary treasure that could bring life back from the dead was communicated quite effectively. However, in the West, most people never understood this since the translation ended up talking about reviving the dead more generically as opposed to actually giving a concrete solution.
4 Final Fantasy VI Advance’s Western Release Made Locke’s Goal More Clear
Square Enix was aware that translation issues could’ve confused most people and ended up rectifying this error when the GBA version of Final Fantasy VI came out.
Final Fantasy VI Advance brings back the references to the legendary treasure that was missing from the western NES release, eliminating this confusion once and for all. It also addressed other more minor translation errors, creating a much more cohesive story.
3 The Fact That He Couldn’t Save Rachel Still Haunts Him
Locke had a beautiful relationship with Rachel before two instances ended up ripping her out of his life. The first incident happened when Locke failed to save Rachel from falling off a cliff, leading her to have amnesia.
The second instance was when the Empire torched Kohlingen, the city she was living in. Since Locke was not near her at the time, she ended up losing her life. While Locke might act jovial and happy on the surface, the fact of the matter is that his inability to protect his love still haunts him.
2 Celes Reminds Him Of Rachel
Locke constantly feels the need to protect any damsel in distress, which is why he’s so adamant about taking care of both Terra and Celes when he meets them. In fact, he ends up spending a lot of time with Celes and finds her remarkably similar to Rachel, which is probably why he falls in love with the Magitek Knight over the course of the game’s events. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite find a happy ending with her either.
1 His Bandana Ultimately Prevents Celes From Taking Her Own Life
The first person that players can control in the World of Ruin is Celes, who has to find a way to cure Cid who took care of her after the world was torn asunder.
If Cid dies, then a distraught Celes would try and take her own life by jumping off a cliff, only to wash up along the shore along with a seagull wearing Locke’s bandana. This gives her hope that her friends might still be alive, and she embarks on a quest to bring the heroes back together again in order to stand up against Kefka once and for all.
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