FF7 Character #1 and #2

[Einlanzer]

Is there any way to control who the game recognizes as character #1 and character #2 for the various event scripts, whether in the game itself or through utilities here?  I've been looking for the answer to this only but only found one incomprehensible explanation of how it works.

Thanks!

[Vgr]

This is a tricky question. Info can be found in Shademp's awesome Unused Text series, more specifically at this article. Here is the relevant part:

About Party Member Dialogue

In order to understand why some party member dialogue gets shafted (a problem which we already glimpsed in the previous article) we need to review how these dialogue trees work. The game actually alternates between two systems.

PHS Menu System

The leader who is locked into the party is labeled “Character #0″, while the two others are labeled “Character #1″ and “Character #2″ respectively. Whenever you leave the main menu (or if leaving the PHS menu immediately takes you back to the field) the game will check from top to bottom if a character has a set position.
This is why simply entering the main menu and using “Order” to re-arrange character icons, or switching the optional characters in the PHS menu, will NOT affect which member is #1/#2.
To change this, a member must leave the party and a new one needs to be introduced. Only if you switch both of your optional characters and you are led to the main menu can you affect which character becomes #1 or #2 by using “Order”; the game does the check first AFTER leaving the main menu, so with no new spots settled yet, you can choose which optional member becomes #1 by placing them at the top (or if the party leader is at the top, place the optional member beneath the party leader).

A somewhat complicated affair to explain, but the dialogue system is simple enough. The game calls for Character #1 or Character #2 to speak and accordingly you can adjust members to change which dialogue they are assigned to use.

In the Submarine fields, Barret’s member #2 dialogue becomes unused because at one point the game forces him to be in the member #1 spot. This is the only case I know of in which dialogue becomes unused in the PHS dialogue system.

Priority/Ladder System

If Barret is in the party, he will speak. If he is not in the party, then Tifa will speak. If Tifa is not in the party, then Aeris will speak. If Aeris is not– yeah, you get the picture.
The order in which team members’ lines are prioritized vary greatly, but in general the early AVALANCHE members receive higher spots than the later recruits.
A logical necessity of this system is that when a priority ladder becomes long enough, the character at the very bottom never get to speak. Say that the game calls for the characters in this order; Barret, Tifa, Aeris, Red XIII, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Vincent & finally Cid. With our chain-smoking pilot in the last spot, he never gets the chance to speak because you will always have a party member of higher priority in your team.

In Fort Condor, which uses the ladder system, we shall see examples of characters never speaking up because they are last in line…

Hope this helps.

-Vgr

[Einlanzer]

This is a tricky question. Info can be found in Shademp's awesome Unused Text series, more specifically at this article. Here is the relevant part:

Hope this helps.

-Vgr

Yes, that's exactly what I needed. Thanks!

[Vgr]

You're welcome.