I didn't have a clue. I'd read the manual, so I knew who the main characters were, and I got confused when this random guy showed up, but I had no idea he was going to die. It's been over a decade so I don't remember for sure, but I think I thought that Reks was Vaan, like, he would go into hiding and change his name, or lose his memory, or something. I didn't realize he was the brother that the manual mentions until it was explicitly stated. XD