background. Nojima had always planned for Cloud Strife's memories of his life to be proven false as the game went on, but he had not decided on how to implement this until he hit on the character of Zack. Nojima also used Zack to link Cloud and Aerith Gainsborough, as Aerith had seen something of Zack in Cloud. Zack was the first person Aerith loved, thus creating an emotional connection between herself and Cloud, because he reminds her of him. Originally, the role of her first love was to have been fulfilled by the game's antagonist Sephiroth. As the game continued in its development, Nojima worked out the mysteries regarding Zack and Cloud, which led to some of the scenes in the game needing revision. Director Yoshinori Kitase was surprised by the revelation of Cloud's and Zack's connection, as until the later stages of development, even he did not know about Zack. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura got the request to design Zack when Final Fantasy VII was reaching the end of development. Prior to the late addition of Zack, Nojima had asked the staff to add details to some scenes so as to give clues about him, despite the fact that he did not reveal to the staff Zack's existence until later. Although Zack is linked with Cloud due to multiple parallls, his personality was based on Final Fantasy X protagonist Tidus as both are rarely bothered by their own thoughts and are generally cheerful when compared with Cloud according to Nojima. For Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Zack made only a couple of brief appearances, and as such, was not difficult to animate; the team had also acquired his design early in production, allowing modeling of his character to be taken care of. Nomura had wanted Zack to have a "nice, upbeat voice," which influenced his decision to cast Kenichi Suzumura. Beforehand, Nomura had had dinner with Suzumura, where he had decided that "at that point [Nomura] wanted him to be in one of his projects if the opportunity ever presented itself." Suzumura was offered the role without an audition. Nomura explained that, because Zack had been chosen to be the lead in Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, he needed "someone who could handle [the] role well." The staff used Last Order as an opportunity to portray Zack "properly" as a "handsome, light-hearted man [who] was in everyone's memory."