So here's something I've wondered from time to time: Why are Square games so autistic about renaming characters? It's weirdly inconsistent throughout all of Final Fantasy, and spills out into some of their other games. Like, off the top of my head:
- Final Fantasy IV: Namingway, a character designed & dedicated to renaming your characters can be found in (I think) every single town in the game, even one right near the end
- Final Fantasy VI: Rename cards are one of the rarest items in the game, and are one-use things to let you rename your character. You can get enough to rename everyone in your party at least once, though you have to bet some rare, very useful items in the coliseum in the latter half of the game to obtain them.
- Final Fantasy IX: Namingway cards are elusive and easy to miss, and you can bring it to someone in a town before disc 4 and rename your party. Fortunately, they're not a one-time-use thing, but it's already a very rare card you can lose in Tetra Master, and the town with the renamer guy is completely optional. Every bit of this is super easy to miss
- Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross: A Nu can be found in very obscure locations that can rename your party, but only near the end of the game.
And speaking of which, Final Fantasy X: The only character you can name is Tidus, and his name is never actually spoken out loud by anyone else because of this. No other party members can have their names changed, and they refer to one another by name. It's just really weird and makes you wonder why they even let you rename him in the first place.
Why on Earth is just renaming your party treated like this big elusive prize, and isn't even available until near the end, when you've already seen most of the story with the names you didn't want? Why isn't there just a rename feature in the options menu?
