<font face="arial narrow" color="75777C" size="-1">I posted a trivia question about this in this section's trivia thread (which no one got correct) and have now decided to start a thread about it. Seeing as it's some pretty intriguing information for some of you all to know in the long run.

Did you know that River Phoenix was Tetsuya Nomura's inspiration for Squall? :D Here are some photos:






And don't start all this mumbo-jumbo about how it isn't true, alright? Nomura has already confirmed this is many interviews.

Man, he does look like Squall. I've got a friend that looks almost like him.

<font color=2670a8 face=tahoma size=2>I've read somewhere that it has something to do with Gackt Camui. And I had a picture of him in which he looked exactly like Squall. But I don't know where it is now. >=[

He does look like him in some ways, but The dude on the pics.. has a positive aura.. I guess... Squall has quite the opposite... but heh.. that's just blatant rant on my side :p
It's unique that he and Squall has some much a like ness.
cool stuff Rinoa :D

<font face="arial narrow" color="75777C" size="-1">No one has specifically said that Squall was, in fact, based on Kamui Gackt. HE himeself has claimed to have been Nomura's inspiration for Squall mainly because "he had the jacket first," but Nomura says otherwise.

It was stated in various interviews with him on various gaming sites.

<B><U>Edit</B></U>:
In a short interview about his design for Rinoa and Squall, Nomura explained that he wanted to make Squall reserved, but someone told him it resembled Cloud from FF7 too much. He then did many changes to differentiate the characters. Yoshinori and him decided Squall would be calm in the beginning but if something interested him, he'd actually speak alot. They added many details to their characters. The personality of Squall was the opposite of Rinoa's, and this went into their designs and their speech.

Fascinating. :D

Hmm...really? The FF X characters, I hear, aren't based on real people, but that is interesting. I wonder if anyone else was used as inspiration?

<font face="arial narrow" color="75777C" size="-1">Actually, yes.

"Ever since the first Japanese commercials with FMV for Final Fantasy 8, there was a general conscensus in Japan for which (Japanese) celebrities the main characters would have been modeled from. Squall would be GLAY and Rinoa would be Matsu Takako. The theory is agreed with among most fans in Japan, but in the United States different theories surfaced.

Rinoa's European looks made most believe she was based on Shannon Doherty. Both are plausible since Nomura visited the United States often and is into music. Both have the same hair style, shape of face and warm smile as Rinoa. I've gathered some pics which show why.

Matsu Takako is a famous vocal artist/actress born in 1977, is 165cm tall and also plays piano. Although the haircut she used to have was typical for asian gals, her face looks really close. She even has a song called "The Shooting Star!" Matsu also has an official site (http://www.universal-music.co.jp/matsu/index.php).






Shannen Doherty is a famous actress born in 1971, is 162cm tall and is most famous for portraying Brenda Walsh on Beverly Hills 90210. On that show her haircut made many think Rinoa was based on her. She also had her hair with gold streaks for a short time.






Although Nomura didn't say who his inspiration for Rinoa was, he did say that River Phoenix was his inspiration for Squall in many interviews. River was a famous actor born August 23 1970, he died tragically on October 31 1993. You can learn more about him at river-phoenix.org (http://www.river-phoenix.org)"

Shannon Doherty. She plays Pru Halliwell in Charmed. Pleaded guilty to drink driving, she knocked down a kid according to the news...

Aw, Matsu's really cute! And the guy is just plain droolable! Too bad he died ;_;

Squall is not based in any real person, Squaresoft made him half-Asian and half-Caucasian

<font color=2670A8 face=tahoma size=2>Whoa, I totally see the Rinoa thing in both people. The chin, the cheekbones, the eyes. Tis amazing.

Squaresoft really know how to attract their fans,isn't it?;)