Irvine Kinneas
Game series	Final Fantasy series
First game	Final Fantasy VIII
Character designer(s)	Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshitaka Amano
In-Universe Information
Weapon	Rifle
Limit Break	Shot
Age	17

Irvine Kinneas (アーヴァイン・キニアス, Āvain Kiniasu^?) is a playable character from Squaresoft's (now Square Enix) computer role-playing game Final Fantasy VIII. Irvine was originally scheduled to make a cameo appearance in Kingdom Hearts but was ultimately replaced by Wakka in the final version of the game. He was named after the city of Irvine, California, which is located in close proximity to Squaresoft's North American offices. ImageMetadata File history File links This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... For the first installment in the series, see Final Fantasy (video game). ... Final Fantasy VIII ) is a console and computer role-playing game created by Square Co. ... Tetsuya Nomura (野村哲也; Nomura Tetsuya, born October 8, 1970), is a game and character designer at Square Enix. ... Yoshitaka Amano (February 24, 2006) Yoshitaka Amano (天野 喜孝 Amano Yoshitaka, born July 28, 1952) is a Japanese artist, best known for his illustrations for Vampire Hunter D and for his character designs for the video game series Final Fantasy. ... Limit Breaks (sometimes shortened to Limits) are powerful combat moves featured in Squaresofts (now Square Enix) Final Fantasy series. ... This article or section should be merged with Player character A playable character is a character in a video game that can be used as the players avatar within the game world. ... Square Co. ... SQUARE ENIX (Japanese: スクウェア・エニックス) is a Japanese producer of popular video games and manga. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Final Fantasy VIII ) is a console and computer role-playing game created by Square Co. ... Kingdom Hearts ) is a hybrid action-RPG that was released in 2002, which is notable for being the result of a collaboration between the video game developer and publisher Square and Disney. ... Wakka ) is a playable character in the Square-Enix video game Final Fantasy X. He is voiced by John DiMaggio (who also voices Kimahri) in the English version and Kazuya Nakai in the Japanese version. ... Irvine is the name of more than one place: Irvine, California Irvine, Scotland Irvine is the name of a Scotish Clan. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

He is a student at Galbadia Garden, one of three elite mercenary academies featured in the Final Fantasy VIII world; unlike his teammates Squall Leonhart, Quistis Trepe, Zell Dincht, and Selphie Tilmitt, however, he has not yet graduated to the rank of SeeD, nor has he begun training with GFs. Nonetheless, he is considered a valuable companion to have in combat and is known as the most skilled sharpshooter in Galbadia Garden. Garden is a group of elite military academies in Squares computer role-playing game Final Fantasy VIII. There are three Garden schools, including Balamb Garden, Galbadia Garden, and Trabia Garden. ... Squall Leonhart ) is the protagonist from Squaresofts (now Square Enix) role-playing game Final Fantasy VIII. He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura with heavy influences coming from game director Yoshinori Kitase. ... Quistis Trepe ) is a playable character in Squaresofts RPG Final Fantasy VIII. At eighteen years old, she is a young instructor at Balamb Garden, where Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht, and Seifer Almasy are students. ... Zell Dincht ) is a playable character from Squaresofts (now Square Enix) Final Fantasy VIII. Like Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy, Zell is a student at Balamb Garden. ... Selphie Tilmitt is one of the central playable characters in Squaresofts (now Square Enix) RPG Final Fantasy VIII. Selphies first appearance in the game comes when she runs into Squall Leonhart while late for her class. ...

Irvine is depicted as a bishounen cowboy, tall and fair-skinned with long brown hair that he wears pulled back in a ponytail, and blue eyes. He always appears wearing a purple shirt, a long khaki-colored coat, and a black cowboy hat, and is frequently shown wielding a rifle, his weapon of choice in combat. Bishōnen (美少年. literally, beautiful boy) is a specific Japanese aesthetic concept of the ideally beautiful young man. ...

A free spirit and a notorious playboy, Irvine is characterized early on by his relentless pursuit of the opposite sex. He never passes up an opportunity to flirt with a woman, and is revealed at one point to have an adult magazine in his possession. Over the course of the game, however, Irvine comes to focus his romantic attentions more and more exclusively on his teammmate Selphie; a flashback at one point implies that he has had a crush on her ever since they were small children. Although she is never shown to overtly return his affections, Selphie is seen in the final FMV sequence wearing Irvine's hat, and becomes angry when he turns to stare at other women. Most (though not all) fans consider this as evidence that the two are in the early stages of a romantic relationship, and they are a popular pairing in fanfiction. Screenshot of an FMV from Final Fantasy VIII. Full motion video, usually abbreviated as FMV, is a popular term for TV-quality movie or animation in a video game. ... Fan fiction (also spelled fanfiction and commonly abbreviated to fanfic) is fiction written by people who enjoy a film, novel, television show or other media work, using the characters and situations developed in it and developing new plots in which to use these characters. ...

Like most of the characters in Final Fantasy VIII, there is more to Irvine than initially meets the eye. Though seemingly carefree and unattached, he is gradually revealed to have plenty of concerns and insecurities of his own, beginning with his confession to Squall that he always chokes under pressure when called upon to use his sniper abilities (though it is possible that this was a lie - see below). Irvine also frequently finds himself the odd man out among the Balamb cadets, a position which he bemoans at one point to Squall, though his status as an outsider occasionally affords him valuable insight into events which escapes his closer-knit companions.

On Irvine's first mission in the game, he is assigned to assassinate the Sorceress Edea. At the crucial moment, however, he suddenly becomes nervous and is unable to take the shot, telling Squall that he always freezes under pressure. Eventually, Squall is able to bolster Irvine's spirits to the point where he is able to take shot, though it did not prove to be effective against the Sorceress. However, for the rest of the game, Irvine never shows any other sign of difficulty performing in high-stress situations. Contents 1 Main playable characters 1. ...

Motives

As the so-called "odd man out," of this Final Fantasy adventure, Irvine has his own motives for becoming one of the world's unlikely heroes. His motivation stands in contrast to the collective motives of Squall, Zell, Selphie, and Quistis, who were SeeDs serving their duty, and Rinoa, who follows the group under the protective clauses of Balamb Garden's contract with the Forest Owls. Unlike the aforementioned, Irvine could be considered at worst a coward and at best a self-preservationist. His prefered weapon of choice appears to be a large Rifle capable of firing various types of bullets and, strangely enough, shotgun shells.

After the battle with Edea in Deling City, Irvine presumably flees the scene in the confusion that ensues after Squall is downed and a riot forms. Irvine reports back to General Caraway.

When Caraway discovers his daughter Rinoa's involvement even after he tried to prevent her from participating, Irvine is sent to retrieve Rinoa from the D-District prison. He intends only to free Rinoa and leave the others to their plight. On his way there, he falls into a dream-like fugue state and views Laguna Loire's past through the eyes of Kiros Seagill. He wakes up in confusion, but carries on with his mission. Shortly afterward, he rescues Rinoa and escapes the prison. She convinces, or more appropriately, coerces him to go back for the others (after "scratching him to death," as she puts it and, "kicking and punching" him as he recounts). He reenters the prison and a gunfight ensues. Although he had no intention of jeopardizing his life and soldiering career to begin with, Irvine takes the opportunity to pump up his reputation by gunning down the Galbadian guards and saving the SeeDs - at least until Rinoa explains what he did beforehand. Laguna Loire ) is a playable character in the Squaresofts (now Square Enix) video game Final Fantasy VIII. Laguna is Latin for Lagoon and goes along with the motif of water in Final Fantasy VIII, along with both Squall and Raine. ... Contents 1 Main playable characters 1. ...

While helping his friends escape from the prison, Irvine finds that he has lost his place as a Galbadian soldier candidate and now stands a deserter and fugitive in his homeland. With no place to return to, Irvine decides to make a new home in Balamb Garden with Squall and the others. He fights for their cause for the duration of the story.

Irvine's memories

Although it is never made explicit, it is possible that Irvine was actually lying about freezing under pressure to cover up a different reason for being reluctant to kill Edea. Galbadia Garden did not practice the junctioning of GFs. Because of this, Irvine is at first the only character who remembers that he, Squall, Quistis, Zell, Seifer and Selphie were all raised together at an orphanage run by Matron Edea Kramer, who by the time the game starts has become the evil Sorceress Edea, yet inexplicably does not mention this for some time. But it is due to this memory that he doesn't take the shot.

Balamb Garden, where Squall, Quistis, Zell, Seifer, and eventually Selphie were all trained, encourages the practice of junctioning powerful magical beings called Guardian Forces, or GFs. GFs can be summoned to fight in battle, and they convey magic and other abilities to the person to whom they are junctioned. However, the junctioning process causes severe long-term memory loss as a side effect. Garden is a group of elite military academies in Squares computer role-playing game Final Fantasy VIII. There are three Garden schools, including Balamb Garden, Galbadia Garden, and Trabia Garden. ... Seifer Almasy ) (the first syllable is pronounced with a long i sound) is both a playable character and an antagonist in Squaresofts (now Square Enix) role-playing game Final Fantasy VIII. He has short blond hair, green eyes, and a scar across his forehead mirroring Squall Leonharts. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Development

Irvine's design presented Nomura with various difficulties, as he felt that making him too handsome would detract attention from Squall, while not making him attractive enough would result in his being rejected by the game's audience. Nomura eventually compromised by making Irvine reasonably handsome, but also giving him a more laid-back personality so as to prevent him from competing for attention with the other more important characters. Irvine was originally given goggles in an attempt to make him appear less serious; however, as both the Reno and Cid Highwind had worn goggles in Final Fantasy VII, Nomura later opted to recast Irvine as an Old West gunslinger, complete with the traditional hat and cowboy boots. Rufus Shinra and the Turks (left to right) Elena, Tseng, Rufus, Rude, Reno. ... Cid Highwind ) is a playable character in Final Fantasy VII. He is part of a long tradition of Final Fantasy Cids. ... Final Fantasy VII ) is a console role-playing game (RPG) developed and published by Square Co. ...