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Rinoa Heartilly

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Rinoa Heartilly
'Final Fantasy series character
File:Rinoa Heartilly shot.jpg
Rinoa at the SeeD Graduation Ball
First gameFinal Fantasy VIII

Rinoa Heartilly (リノア・ハーティリー, Rinoa Hātirī) is the female lead of Squaresoft's (now Square Enix) Final Fantasy VIII. She is the seventeen year old daughter[1] of General Caraway, a high-ranking officer in the Galbadian army, and Julia Heartilly, a famous singer and former love interest of Laguna Loire.[2][3] Throughout the game, she falls in love with the protagonist, Squall Leonhart.[4][1][5] Rinoa's physical appearance is marked by black hair with brown highlights and brown eyes. Rinoa and Squall are featured in the electronic board game Itadaki Street Special.

Development

File:Ff8-rinoa.jpg
Tetsuya Nomura's sketch of Rinoa Heartilly

When designing Rinoa, Tetsuya Nomura emphasized that he tried to avoid letting the possibilities presented by the recent advancements in FMV technology become the entire focus, believing that these innovations might tempt developers to make their female characters "too beautiful" and focus more on physical appearance than personality. With this concern in mind, Nomura set out with the intention to avoid making Rinoa gorgeous, and to simply make her "cute" instead. To further emphasise this, he wrote a list of vocabulary traits and physical habits for Rinoa's character that he felt conveyed this idea of "cute, not gorgeous," and sent them to Nojima along with the character's design.[6]

Final Fantasy VIII

Outspoken, spirited, emotional, and honest with her feelings, she speaks her mind without reservation.[1] Because of her ambition, she can often be stubborn.[1] The year before the game begins, she was romantically involved with Squall's long-standing rival Seifer Almasy.[7] Rinoa's weapon of choice is the Blaster Edge, a bladed ring mounted to her wrist that acts much like a boomerang.[8] She is assisted by her faithful dog, Angelo, during battle.[9] Later in the game, she acquires a secondary limit break called Angel Wing, in which she becomes uncontrollable for the remainder of the battle, acting on her own by casting spells with greatly increased power.

In the game, Rinoa is a member of the Forest Owls, a small resistance faction seeking to liberate the small nation of Timber from Galbadian occupation.[10] She is called the "princess" of the group.[11] Rinoa first meets Squall at the SeeD inauguration ball at Balamb Garden. During the dance, she manages to charm the usually antisocial Squall[1] into dancing with her.[12] Her purpose for visiting the Garden is revealed when the Forest Owls hire Squall, Zell Dincht, and Selphie Tilmitt as mercenaries. She clashes with Squall during a Forest Owls operation,[13] resulting in her brief departure. However, she decides to stay with them as they are forced to flee Timber, and ends up traveling along with them. At the end of disk one, Rinoa is reunited with her father, with whom she has a rocky relationship.[3]

On disk two, she shares a moment with Squall at Fishermans Horizon, during a concert performed by the remaining party members.[14] After this, both characters become aware of people's efforts to force them into a relationship.[15] The party soon learns that Rinoa is the only main character to not have spent time at Edea's Orphanage.[16] Later, Rinoa is possessed by Ultimecia when she loses her influence over Sorceress Edea, which causes Rinoa to fall into a coma-like state. Consequently, Squall tries desperately to revive her, eventually traveling to the country of Esthar.[17] However, Ultimecia manages to use Rinoa to release Sorceress Adel from her orbital prison.[18]

File:SnRembracescene.JPG
Squall and Rinoa embrace after he frees her from confinement in Esthar.

After Rinoa's use expires, Ultimecia possesses Adel and leaves Rinoa to die in space. Squall rescues her, and the two attempt to share a personal moment on the Ragnarok spaceship while the game's theme song, "Eyes On Me", plays in the background.[19][20] While this is happening, Squall discovers that Edea's power had been passed to Rinoa, turning her into a Sorceress.[21] When they land, Rinoa is sent to the Sorceress Memorial by Esthar, who fear her sorceress powers; however, Squall is convinced by his party members to rescue her.[22] The two share an embrace at the Sorceress Memorial, which is also depicted in the opening cutscene, and continue their quest. During the game's ending, she reunites with Squall, and kisses him for the first time on the Balamb Garden balcony.

Reception and criticism

Although Squall and Rinoa clearly develop a relationship, it is never implied until the final cutscene. IGN criticized this, stating that "considering that the love story is so integral to everything that happens — not to mention forming the central image of the box art — it's incomprehensible why no one says "I love you" to anyone, ever."[4] Game Revolution, however, stated "Frankly, you don't even have to play the game to know that love will win out in some way...very 'Hollywood.' But it is the way in which they tell the story that sets it apart from being just some teen-angst drama".[5]

In terms of Rinoa herself, when the Game Revolution reviewer cited the wish that the game had voice acting, he specifically mentioned Rinoa, stating "there is something sorely missing when I can't hear Rinoa talk".[5] She is also the subject of numerous fansites, as well as an 8.0 rating on WomenGamers.com.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Square Electronic Arts, ed. (1999). Final Fantasy VIII North American instruction manual. Square Electronic Arts. pp. 6–9. SLUS-00892GH.
  2. ^ Kiros: "Heard she recently got married." / Raine: "Oh yeah! To some army general, right? General Caraway or something?" / Kiros: "I'm not too sure." / Raine: "I read in a magazine that her true love went off to war and never came back. General Caraway comforted her while she was feeling down. That's how they got to know each other." (Final Fantasy VIII
  3. ^ a b Squall: "Where's Rinoa?" / General Caraway: "She has not receive the type of training you all have, and may become a burden. It's for the best that she stays out of this operation." / Selphie: "So you're Rinoa's father?" / General Caraway: "I can't remember the last time she called me that." / Zell: "So the father's a top military officer, and the daughter's a member of an anti-government faction!? That's bad... Really BAD!" / General Caraway: "Yes, indeed. It's a serious problem. But it doesn't concern you. It's our problem." {Final Fantasy VIII)
  4. ^ a b Lundigran, Jeff (1999). "IGN: Final Fantasy VIII Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-03-15. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  5. ^ a b c Liu, Johnny (1999). "Game Revolution Review Page - Final Fantasy VIII". Game Revolution. Retrieved 2007-03-15. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  6. ^ Sheila (2003). "Tetsuya Nomura 20s". FLAREgamer. Retrieved 13 April. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Rinoa: "I don't really know. I... I think it was love. I wonder how [Seifer] felt...? ...It was last summer... I was 16." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Squareprofile was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference LimitBreak was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Zone: "Just stand anywhere you want. This is a full-scale operation. Our resistance, 'The Forest Owls', will be forever known in the pages of Timber's independance! Exciting, huh? It all started when we got a hold of top-secret info from Galbadia." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  11. ^ Zone: "Just take it easy. Here, let me introduce you. Looks like you already met Watts. I guess it's just our princess then." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  12. ^ Rinoa: "SeeD members dance quite well, don't they?" / Squall: "Approach your target inconspicuously at a dance party... There may be missions requiring this sort of subterfuge. It's expected of SeeD to learn various skills." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  13. ^ Rinoa: "...Tell me. This is an order. An order from your client!" / Squall: "How serious are you...? Really...? The 3 of you plop down on the floor to discuss strategy? On top of that, you can't make a decision without our input, right? How do you think we feel, working for such an organization?" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  14. ^ Rinoa: "Fine... I guess I'll have to bug you for the rest of the night. And I'm gonna keep chanting 'concert, concert, concert' and drive you nuts. Is that what you want?" / Squall: "...Oh man..." / Rinoa: "I'm getting to you already, huh? Looks like you have no choice!" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  15. ^ Rinoa: "So that's what you call it. You know Zell said he'll make me one exactly like it. Who knows, maybe I can become like a lion, too. That'd be crazy, huh!? I mean, everyone might, y'know, get the wrong idea about us." / Squall: (If it's so crazy, why do you sound so delighted? Everyone is trying to get us together. It's so obvious even I can tell.) "You sound like you want everyone to get the wrong idea." / Rinoa: "No-no-no-no-no!" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  16. ^ Irvine: "Seifer was there, too. Except for Rinoa, we were all there." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  17. ^ Zell: "Is the princess still asleep?" / Quistis: "She might wake up with a kiss from the prince." / Squall: "Is that why you came all the way out here? To tell me that?" / Quistis: "You're going to Esthar, right? We're coming, too." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  18. ^ Rinoa: "But Edea's still... I can't guarantee anything, either, if Ultimecia possesses me again... You saw me. She controlled me in outer space and made me break Adel's seal. What might happen next time? What will I end up doing? Will I end up fighting everyone? ...Scary thought, isn't it?" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  19. ^ Squall: "Why are you holding onto me like this?" / Rinoa: "You don't like this, Squall?" / Squall: "Just not used to it." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  20. ^ Rinoa: "I don't want the future. I want the present to stand still. I want to stay here with you..." / Squall: (Rinoa...) / Squall: (I don't know what to do... This is just another crossroad in my life. But, for the first time, I don't know which way to go. I've come this far because I've...fallen for you. ......Rinoa...... Now...am I just supposed to let you go?" / Voice: "Respond, Ragnarok!" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  21. ^ Voice: "Rinoa? The sorceress!?" She's on the ship!?" / Squall: (So... It's true? Rinoa is a sorceress?) / Rinoa: "I've...become a sorceress. I can't stay with you anymore, Squall." (Final Fantasy VIII)
  22. ^ Squall: (A fool, huh?) "...Maybe." (What am I doing...? I may never get to hear Rinoa's voice ever again... What the hell am I doing? What can I do? ...Of course...) / Quistis: "Have you decided?" / Zell: "Heading to Esthar, right?" / Squall: "Pandora whatever and Sorceress Adel are out of my hands. I don't even know where to look for Sis. The only think I know is Rinoa. The only thing I want to do for sure right now is for Rinoa. We're going to get Rinoa back!" (Final Fantasy VIII)
  23. ^ "Rinoa Heartilly review". WomenGamers.com. Retrieved 2007-03-25.

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