Beck:I'd say we're owed "compensatory damages"!
Butch:Yeah! Complementary—uh, composite—Uh, I don't get it.
Beck:How stupid can you be? It's crazy simple! Compensatory damages is like, uh... It's like...compensation... For damages!
Beck and Butch in Final Fantasy VII Remake
Beck's Badasses is a gang of bandits in Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Its initial three named members are Beck (ベグ, Begu?), Burke (バド, Bado?), and Butch (ブッチョ, Buccho?), though the trio have also been shown working with other unnamed bandits. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, a previously unnamed bandit they hired as muscle is formally inducted into the gang under the name Burt.
The bandits are minor comic relief characters, led by Beck. Beck's Badasses operates in the slums of Midgar, namely, Sector 6. Beck and his buddies antagonize Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough when they trek through the Collapsed Expressway and find the thieves' campsite. The thieves are beaten into submission and pretend to be unconscious until the two walk away. Cloud and Aerith run into Beck and his gang again at the Corneo Colosseum where the thieves are faced at the second round of the gauntlet. Cloud and Aerith emerge victorious again. If Cloud is doing Madam M's questline for his dress, he will find the bandits stealing donations intended for the Leaf House orphanage in the Sector 5 slums, trying to frame the Angel of the Slums vigilante for the deed.
Profile[]
Beck and his gang are modeled after the bandit enemies from the original Final Fantasy VII. Beck wears a face covering with a symbol that is assumed to be the sign of his gang as his friends also sport it.
Beck and his companions are not very bright, antagonizing Cloud and Aerith despite them simply passing through and arguing with each other about the meaning of words that are too big for them, such as "compensatory". They talk tough, but are easily dispatched. Beck and his buddies pick Cloud as their rival, but soon find they are sorely unmatched against him. Cloud, meanwhile, is mainly bemused by the eccentric trio and does not give them as much as a second thought afterward.
Gameplay[]
Beck, Burke and Butch are faced in battle twice as part of the main quest and once as part of an odd job, all during Chapter 9 "The Town That Never Sleeps". In the odd job they are aided by the Grungy Bandit, and in the colosseum, they are aided by unnamed lackeys. They are not difficult to defeat. After their first encounter in Chapter 9, if the player tries to move over their bodies, they'll comically shudder while playing dead.
The bandit trio is first met and fought during "Dangers in the Debris" in the Collapsed Expressway as Cloud and Aerith. Next, they are fought in the "Underground Colosseum", along with eight Corneo lackeys, again by Cloud and Aerith. Next, if the player is doing Madam M's questline for Cloud's dress, Beck, Burke, Butch and a Grungy Bandit are fought as part of "The Price of Thievery" odd job as Cloud alone.
Regular bandit enemies that have a similar appearance to Beck and his gang are fought as random enemies in the collapsed expressway in Chapters 9 and 14.
Musical themes[]
"The Oppressed - Beck's Badasses" plays during the scene where Cloud and Aerith encounter Beck and his gang. It is the fourth track of the fourth disc of the Final Fantasy VII Remake Original Soundtrack and is a remix of "The Oppressed" from the original game. "Due Recompense" plays during the confrontation immediately afterwards and is the next track on the soundtrack.
Behind the scenes[]
The English translator for Final Fantasy VII Remake, Ben Sabin, cited the scene with Beck's Badasses as one that he felt did a really good job of capturing the nuance of the humor of the Japanese version, stating that Beck's flubs worked well in context and as a catalyst for the characters' animations. He continued that the dialogue still would have fallen flat if not acted well and that the English actors did an amazing job with the characters, given the tiny animations, close proximity of the lines and general ridiculousness of the characters in question.[1] According to co-director Motomu Toriyama, the gag of trying and failing to use big words was really easy to overdo, so the game's staff struggled to get the balance right. Level design supervisor Mastoshi Oochi stated that the characters were given names which vaguely resembled their body shapes, but that even after naming them there was confusion among the staff as to who was who.[2]
Voice[]
Beck is voiced by Wataru Takagi in Japanese and in English by Andrew Kishino.
Burke is voiced by Anri Katsu in Japanese and by Sean Rohani in English.
Butch is voiced by Chikahiro Kobayashi in Japanese, and by Ben Pronsky in English.