Characters of Final Fantasy IV - Concept and Creation

Concept and Creation

According to lead designer Takashi Tokita, Final Fantasy IV was the first Japanese RPG to feature such "deep characters" in response to the popularity it won. The quality from the Super Famicon allowed character designer Yoshitaka Amano to create more elaborated designs than the ones from previous games which were released for the Famicon. Tokita stated although his inexperience may have brought a bad a effect to the story, the characters' personalities and roles made the story appealing. He also points the variety of characters also helped to appeal to a wider demographic as the team worked hard to make all side characters fits into the story, something difficult to do in Japanese media. For the Nintendo DS remake, the characters were handled by Airi Yoshioka. In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years the characters were designed by Akira Oguro.

Regarding the inclusion of voice actors Tokita states that it was pleasing for him as the voiceovers "allowed for a much more dramatic localization." The Japanese voices actors reflected the Tokita's vision of the characters but he noted that others did not feel the same. English translator Tom Slattery had to change various parts of the original script for the voiced scenes since it was required lipsynch the characters.