 Although Basch was originally intended to be the rugged main character, Vaan was added at the last minute during development of the game to have a more effeminate leading role after "taking into consideration the target demographic".With the casting of Kouhei Takeda for the voice acting and motion capture, however, Vaan became a little less feminine and more "active, upbeat, bright and positive" than planned.He was designed by character designer Akihiko Yoshida to look Asian.