Thirty years before the events in Final Fantasy VII, Vincent was a member of the Turks, where he was assigned to Nibelheim's Jenova Project. While working on the project, Vincent fell in love with a woman named Lucrecia Crescent, who would later become the mother of Sephiroth.

Vincent later discovered that Lucrecia had been an assistant to his father, Grimoire Valentine, where she worked with him in the discovery of Chaos and Omega. Grimoire died saving Lucrecia from the experiments. When Vincent confronted her on the connection, she ran away, and Vincent pursued her, deciding that he had to tell her how he felt. She rejected him though, for she still felt guilty over the death of Vincent's father, for she blamed herself. She later entered a relationship with Proffesor Hojo, and became pregnant with Hojo's child. Hojo took advantage of the unborn child, and began to experiment on it with Jenova cells. Vincent confronted Hojo on this fact, finding it highly immoral. As Lucrecia entered, Hojo told Vincent that he should not question him, for he was a scientist and knew what he was doing. Vincent asked Lucrecia if she wanted this, and she said that if it only concerned her, than she did. Lucrecia went on with the experiment, but soon became sick, and Vincent confronted Hojo in a rage. Hojo also responded with anger, and shot Vincent in the stomach. Hojo then used Vincent as a test subject, attempting to make him stronger and capable of transformations. Vincent did in fact become stronger and had his anatomy changed, but was still phisically dead. Lucrecia felt guilty over the death of another Valentine, and began attempting to bring hiim back to life. Her experiments eventually began exploring into the unfinished chaos and Omega research. Hojo told Lucrecia that all she wanted to do was to prove that her theory was possible, even though it seemed to be unrealistic. Lucrecia did not want to believe in his claims, so she began spending all her time trying to revive Vincent. After an injection of lifestreamk, Vincent awoke and became a demon known as Chaos. Because of Hojo's experiment, Vincent had become the perfect host, but because of Chaos's violent nature, Lucrecia used the Protomateria to keep Vincent in control.

When Vincent awoke, neither Lucrecia nor Hojo were there. He discovered that his anatomy now allowed him to temporarily take the form of monstorous entities. Vincent responded with rage at his new status, and believed it was his punishment for the sin of not protecting Lucrecia. Vincent then stuck himself in the basement of the Shinra Mansion, and Hojo locked him in, and later locked the key in a safe.

Vincent was next discovered by Avalanche in the Shinra basement 30 years later. Due to Hojo's heavy experimentation, Vincent still appeared 27. When one of Vincent's liberators, Cloud, tells him that he knows Sephiroth, and tells of all the horrors Sephiroth has commited, Vincent becomes even more depressed, believing that all of this was his fault for not forcing Lucrecia to stop the experimentation. Vincent then locks himself back in the coffin, but Cloud was able to get him out. Afterwards, Vincent introduced himself and told of Lucrecia's connection to Sephiroth. Vincent then retreats back into the coffin, but when Cloud leaves, Vincent follows him and joins him in the hope of confronting Hojo.

The next time Vincent has an important role is when they find Lucrecia in a small cave. She asks Vincent about Sephiroth, and he lies to her, saying that Sephiroth is dead in hopes that it will spare her the pain of knowing what Sephiroth has done. If you confront Hojo, if Vincent is present, he tells Hojo that he's the one who should have spent thirty years in a coffin. While Vincent was absent at the final scene of the game, he and Yuffie Kisaragi were helping in the evacuation of Midgar. While Vincent was on the Sister Ray, Vincent Realized that Hojo could have survived their earlier encounter, and it turned out that Hojo had downloaded his conciousness into a computer. Vincent was about to finish off Hojo, but was cut off by the arrival of Meteor. He fled, and was saved by Yuffie. Both of them escaped the impact by a hovercraft.

Vincent appeared two years and saves Tseng and Elena from Kadaj and his brothers. He later saves Cloud from Kadaj and his brothers. He appears in a new form that makes him appear to be a living cloak, though he does appear to shoot from this form. He then takes Cloud to a pool in the forest. Vincent tells Cloud that he knew of Kadaj and his intentions, and that he had saved Tseng andd Elena. He later shows up in the battle against Bahamut Sin. Later, when Cloud faced Sephiroth in the final battle, Vincent told everyone to let Cloud fight it personally. Vincent appeared at the church with the rest of Clouds friends, and he even allowed a picture to be taken with him in it.