A 3-C SOLDIER operator who loves bikes, speed, and anyone capable of going toe-to-toe with him. A demon on wheels, he is ostracized by many in the organization due to his antics and general disregard for anyone's safety.
Roche is a recurring character in the Final Fantasy VII remake project; he is a minor supporting antagonist in Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Roche is a SOLDIER 3rd class within the Shinra Electric Power Company. He is a rebel obsessed with motorcycles and competition. He respects Cloud Strife, considers him a dear friend and worthy rival, and is always eager to compete with him.
Roche is a highly skilled warrior, wielding a sword in battle and usually riding a motorcycle. He is a recurring boss, dueled multiple times by Cloud in both Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
History[]
Early history[]
Roche was born in 1982.[1] He had an unnatural past, joined SOLDIER at some point, and eventually earned the rank of 3rd Class.[2]
Remake continuity[]
Avalanche–Wutai conflict[]
Roche pursued Cloud's group on his motorcycle.
An impressed Roche watched Cloud Strife, Jessie Rasberry, Biggs, and Wedge speed through the Corkscrew Tunnel during "Mad Dash" in Final Fantasy VII Remake and proceeded to give chase on his customized motorcycle. He made a dramatic entrance with flashy tricks and took out Shinra officers before arrogantly introducing himself to Cloud and challenging him to a race. They exchanged taunts while competing, but Roche ultimately lost, hoping their next meeting would be only the two of them.[3]
Roche dueled Cloud at the S7-6 Annex.
Roche later reappeared at the S7-6 Annex, laughing maniacally as he performed motorcycle stunts and weaved through Shinra troops attempting to arrest Cloud, Biggs, and Wedge. He challenged Cloud to a duel, but was defeated again, elatedly declaring there were "higher heights" they could "still soar". Roche expressed his desire for a rematch in the future, encouraged Cloud to stay alive until then, created a diversion allowing Cloud's group to escape, and zoomed off on his bike.[3]
Roche challenged Yuffie to a game of Fort Condor.
Roche traveled to the Sector 7 slums, hollered for Cloud to come out, and caused a commotion among the locals during "Wutai's Finest" in Episode INTERmission. When Yuffie Kisaragi approached him, he remarked that she reminded him of his "dear friend" and asked if she knew him. After Yuffie asked if he worked for Shinra, Roche coyly remarked "maybe", addressed her hostility and "exotic wardrobe", and said she would give him pause if he was on duty, but Roche assured he was in the slums for personal reasons.[4]
An enthusiastic Roche attempted to describe Cloud to Yuffie, who reluctantly asked if he played Fort Condor. He declared his "scorching passion" for the game, but lost to her in a match. Roche praised a bemused Yuffie for her skills and dedication, considered her a close friend, and dramatically bid her goodbye, hoping they would meet again someday on the "open road".[4]
Experiments and rematches with Cloud[]
Roche was voluntarily dispatched to Junon during "Dawn of a New Era" in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to capture Aerith Gainsborough, who was traveling with Cloud's party. He obnoxiously rode into Under Junon, causing a ruckus and yelling out for Cloud. He expressed his desire for a rematch with Cloud and challenged him to a duel topside, madly laughing as he rode off.[5]
Roche won an award for the mobile unit's parade performance and later dueled Cloud.
Roche led Midgar's mobile unit and did tricks during Rufus Shinra's inauguration parade. He was thrilled when Heidegger awarded the unit for an outstanding performance, celebrating by cheering and signing a news camera. After a failed attempt to assassinate Rufus from a masked assailant, Roche joined the search for Cloud's party. He eventually encountered Cloud and felt offended that the latter had not told him about participating in the parade, insisting the mobile unit would have loved to have him. Roche declared himself and Cloud as legends and set the stage for a dramatic duel, but was ultimately defeated. He praised Cloud's growing skills, saluted him, expressed his highest respect, directed him to the exit, and promised he would be right behind him.[5]
Roche volunteered to be a test subject for Hojo's experiments.
During "The Planet Stirs", the desire to become stronger and challenge Cloud again had Roche offering himself to Professor Hojo's experiments, resulting in him being injected with Jenova cells, becoming a Sephiroth-clone marked with an "SC4" tattoo. As a result of the experiments, Roche's cellular degradation accelerated.[6]
Roche challenged Cloud in Nibelheim and ultimately became one of the black robes.
Roche descended on Cloud from a Relnikha outside the Shinra Manor in Nibelheim and recklessly destroyed his motorcycle during "The Long Shadow of Shinra". He went against orders to personally track down Cloud and challenge him to a final duel. As Roche's body began failing him, he rejected Cloud's pity and was determined to finish their "last race". After Roche was defeated, he warned Cloud that cellular degradation was inescapable before collapsing. He was swarmed by the black robes and succumbed to the Jenova cells inside him, turning into another mindless clone and mumbling about the black materia.[7]
Roche as a robed man.
A chained Roche, along with other robed men, were brought to the Temple of the Ancients by Rufus and Hojo in "Where Angels Fear to Tread". He shuffled deeper into the temple and pointed Cloud toward Sephiroth, who possessed the black materia. As Roche mindlessly wandered about, he faintly recognized Cloud, muttering "my friend".[8] After the temple collapsed, Roche was the only black-robed figure taken back to Midgar during "End of the World".[9]
Characteristics[]
Appearance[]
Close-up from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Roche is a young man with a muscular build, fair skin, blue eyes, and long blond hair styled like a mullet and coiffed up top. He wears the standard SOLDIER 3rd class uniform of dark blue with black base layers, paired with black combat boots, black leather straps with the SOLDIER emblem, and silver pauldrons, bracers, and gloves. Roche wields a SOLDIER-issued broadsword and rides a red motorcycle.
After undergoing Hojo's experimentation, Roche receives a "SC4" tattoo on his upper left forearm, his skin pales, and strands of white appear in his hair due to his accelerated degradation. By the time he faces Cloud for the last time, the left sleeve of Roche's fatigues is stripped of armor and torn off, exposing his tattoo. His second motorcycle is identical to his original, except it has the kanji (弐, Ni, lit. two, second) painted in white on the front. After fully becoming a Sephiroth-clone, his skin turns pallid, his hair fully grays, and he wears a tattered black robe with a white symbol on the back.
Personality[]
My name is Roche, but you may address me by the more accurate appellation: Speed Demon!
Roche is a thrill seeker exhilarated by motorcycles, speed, and competition.
Roche is a reckless daredevil who enjoys thrills, high speeds, motorcycles, and competition. He is flamboyant and has a flair for the theatrics, performing flashy tricks on his motorcycle, speaking dramatically and flirtatiously, and often referencing vehicular terms. Roche is arrogant, longing for a worthy opponent equal to his level of skill.[3][2]
Roche has the credentials needed to rank up in SOLDIER, but is uninterested in a promotion. He is rebellious with ambiguous loyalties to Shinra, often defying orders to follow his own whims.[3][5][7] His unpredictable antics and reckless disregard for safety have made him unpopular among his fellow mobile unit officers.[2]
After a bike race and a duel ignited his heart, Roche unrequitedly came to view Cloud as a worthy rival and a dear friend. He antagonizes him for sport, flirts with him, challenges him to honorable duels, and genuinely respects his skill. Roche aids Cloud on multiple occasions, helping him escape Shinra's capture, encouraging him to stay alive, and looking forward to rematches.[3][4][2][5][1] He has a strong sense of honor, noted by him fully healing Cloud before their duel at warehouse in the Upper Sector 7.
Despite his fiery personality, he develops an inferiority complex towards Cloud, expressing his desire to surpass him. This led Roche to become one of Hojo's test subjects and allowing himself to be injected with Jenova Cells. Despite becoming more unhinged after the experiments, he still feels a kinship for Cloud, going against orders to duel him one last time and muttering about him being "my friend" as a black robe.[7][8]
Abilities[]
As a 3rd class SOLDIER, Roche was enhanced with mako energy, granting him superhuman abilities. He is proficient in swordsmanship and magic, having the skills needed to receive a promotion in SOLDIER.[2] He is a virtuoso motorcyclist, capable of performing impressive stunts, flashy tricks, and high speed fights.[3][5] After voluntarily becoming Hojo's test subject, Roche grew stronger and faster, and was able to use dark magic.[7]
Gameplay[]
Final Fantasy VII Remake[]
First encounter[]
Roche is the boss of the biking minigame in Chapter 4 "Mad Dash". The segment is based on the G Bike minigame from the original Final Fantasy VII. Cloud needs to hit his bike enough for a cutscene to trigger where he jumps onto Roche's bike and damages his engine.
Motorcycle segment.
Cloud steers the bike, braking and accelerating, and swinging his sword left or right of the bike. He has a special attack that takes a moment to charge, unleashed with 
, called Spinning Slash, where he spins the bike, dealing more damage than with normal sword strikes. His long range attack is called Sharp Gust, using 
+.
Roche alternates between pulling ahead or to the sides of the tunnel to unleash attacks onto Cloud: either crescent energy slashes, which can be avoided by swerving from side to side, or bolts of lightning that hit the road ahead, which should be anticipated and avoided. After Roche stops his onslaught, he slows down enough for Cloud to get near enough to attack.
The game is over if Cloud takes too much damage and his health is depleted, but the "Continue from Last Battle" option lets him continue from the segment where Roche first appears, starting at full health. Biggs and Wedge's bike also has a health bar and can take damage, but Roche should focus on Cloud; Biggs and Wedge do not particularly need protecting.
Earning praise from Jessie for excelling in this segment (finishing with 80%+ health) yields a trophy.
Second encounter[]
Roche returns at the Shinra warehouse and challenges Cloud to a one-on-one duel, restoring his HP and MP for a fair fight before engaging (this will not happen on hard mode).
Roche employs a flashy fighting style, and uses magic, such as Thunder. After sustaining a certain amount of damage, he will become more aggressive, using dashing attacks that cover great distances and may briefly stun Cloud. At this phase, he will employ new techniques, such as Ignition Flame, which erupts a pillar of flame towards Cloud; and Combustion Sword, which resembles Cloud's Braver. He dodges most of Cloud's attacks when in his neutral stance.
Fort Condor[]
I'm always ready for a round of Fort Condor!
Roche
Roche is an opponent for Fort Condor in "Episode INTERmission" as part of "Mastering Fort Condor". He hangs out in the Pillar Plaza. He is a Rank 2 player who has a mix of ranged and vanguard units, making a mix of defense and vanguard units best against him, leaning more towards defense. It is still ideal to have at least one ranged unit against his M.O.T.H. Unit (Defense), though Magic Attacks can also help deal with it. A good strategy is to use a defense barracks against him early, ensuring a stream of defense units to attack him.
In hard mode, Roche is a Rank 5 player and uses a buffed board with the best speed and more ATK and HP for his towers, but keeps the materia and unit loadouts from Easy/Normal mode. The strategy with the Sorcerer Board II is still viable (though alternate strategies also work) of using all three attack spells on Roche's headquarters to deplete 5/6ths of its health, and sending out fast units from the middle to push the territory line up to Roche's towers to shave off the last little bit of HP with the player's units. As Sorcerer Board II charges ATB slowly, it is best to wait for it to fill until deploying any units, also allowing the player to see where Roche is putting his units to start off his advance. When the player has a full ATB bar, they can send out a Guard Dog (Vanguard) from the middle on the side Roche left clear to push the territory line to the towers, and then immediately place a unit right in front of Roche's HQ.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth[]
Roche is fought as a boss twice, both times against Cloud alone. He is the end boss of chapter 4, "Dawn of the New Era", as well as chapter 11, "The Long Shadow of Shinra". In the first fight, he uses his bike, and on foot in the second.
Musical themes[]
Roche is associated with two tracks in Final Fantasy VII Remake, both heard in "Mad Dash". "Speed Demon", track 11 of disc 2 on the Final Fantasy VII Remake Original Soundtrack, plays while Cloud and Roche battle each other on motorcycles. "Ignition Flame", track 18 of disc 2 on the Final Fantasy VII Remake Original Soundtrack, plays during Cloud and Roche's duel.
Behind the scenes[]
Concept art by Roberto Ferrari.
Roche was originally created as a boss to conclude the bike minigame. The team felt his originality as a character could pan into something more interesting, and instead used his bike minigame appearance to foreshadow a later role, as well as reusing him as a boss battle in the Sector 7-6 Annex. His role would be used to explain the situation for SOLDIER operatives fighting for Shinra.[10][11]
Roche was intended to reappear later. One idea was to include him in Chapter 14, "In Search of Hope", though the developers gave up on this as Midgar's slums had no roads to ride motorcycles along. Another was to include him in the final highway battle, but the developers felt it ruined its serious tone.[12][13]
Roche becoming a "robed man" in Rebirth was not in the initial plans; Roche was only designed to be a mid-boss for the bike minigame in Remake. Since no other details were given, scenario writer Hiroaki Iwaki felt he had free rein to make Roche "a weirdo" based on the logic that he was in SOLDIER. Other writers expanded on this concept, and when Iwaki learned that Roche would become a robed man in Rebirth, he was amazed at how far he had gone. Since Roche stands out, the developers wanted to give him a bigger role, and used him to show that some of the robed men are ex-SOLDIERs. This purpose was meant for Broden, the innkeeper in Kalm, but this event did not stand out enough; Roche standing out more helped to emphasize it, since he can be easily contrasted with Cloud. Kazushige Nojima intended to give Roche a proper death, but in the end he survives the events of the game.[14]
Voice[]
His Japanese voice actor is Kenta Miyake. He shares this voice actor with Biran Ronso from Final Fantasy X, Gladiolus Amicitia from the Final Fantasy XV Universe, and Ignacio from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.
He is voiced by Austin Lee Matthews in English.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
Roche is a real world surname, meaning a person living by a rocky outcrop, from Old French roche "rock".
Notes[]
Citations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Ultimania, p. 34
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania, p. 54
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Mad Dash"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Final Fantasy VII Remake script § "Wutai's Finest"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth script § "Dawn of a New Era"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Rebirth script § "The Planet Stirs"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth script § "The Long Shadow of Shinra"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth script § "Where Angels Fear to Tread"
- ↑ Final Fantasy VII Rebirth script § "End of the World"
- ↑ Shanley, Patrick; Wigler, Josh (2020, July 6). "Inside the 'Final Fantasy VII Remake' Team's "Familiar Yet New" Adaptation of a Classic". From 'Hollywood Reporter'. Archived from the original on July 14, 2020.
- ↑ Robert Ramsey (n.d.) . Interview: Final Fantasy VII Remake Producer and Co-Director on Development, Launch, and Being Grateful for the Fans. Push Square. Archived from the original on May 25, 2020.
- ↑ Romano, Sal (2020, July 21). "Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2 development already underway". From Gematsu''. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020.
- ↑ MKillerby translating the July 22nd Famitsu interview with Naoki Hamaguchi (n.d.) . Translation: Toriyama and Hamaguchi (FF7R co-directors) interviews in Famitsu. Archived from the original on July 22, 2022.
- ↑ (n.d.) . Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Post-Release Interview (Part 2) – Devs Discuss Side Characters, Dialogue, and Sequel. Frontline Gaming Japan. Archived from the original on April 18, 2024.
References[]
- Video games
- Square Enix (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 4.
- Square Enix (2024). Final Fantasy VII Rebirth [Game]. Square Enix. PlayStation 5.
- Bibliography
- Studio BentStuff (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 978-4-7575-6586-9.
- Studio BentStuff (2020). Final Fantasy VII Remake Material Ultimania [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-6869-3.
- Square Enix (2024). Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Ultimania [Book]. SE-Mook. ISBN 4757591349.