Is Cloud a good character?

[Fiery Knight]

Without spoilers, could someone explain to me if Cloud is a well written character?

I have yet to play FF7, but I'm genuinely curious before I start my playthrough whether or not Cloud is a good character. Why I ask? The thing is, I love well written, mature, complex characters. I've noticed that games like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy have a lot of "goof balls" as protagonists, who mostly exists for humour reasons and to make the player laugh. Basically characters that appeal to a younger audience, not exactly adults. Personally, I hate characters as these, the ones that are portrayed as very childish.

I'm just wondering, if Cloud is a mature one, and one who has some complexity to him, who portrays a more "greyer" area of morality, has a philosophical view of the world, etc. B/c I personally hate characters who are childish, immature, paragons who hate all evil, and who travels and beats evil through the power of friendship as such.

 

[Shaissa]

Clouds character changes... without spoiling it...
He is more of the serious type, doesn't joke about anything, and is one that tries to keep to himself (not like Emo like, but tries to keep people at arms length) Also he tends to put himself into danger rather than the company... best way to describe him at the beginning, he does change by the end of the game a little, but you will see why.

 

[Styx]

paragons who hate all evil, and who travels and beats evil through the power of friendship as such.

Well, you’ll be glad to hear that this is not the case with Cloud. With most characters actually. Along with 12, 7 easily has the most grey world in the main series.Villains whose acts are result of ends-justify-means, main characters who don’t care about the state of the world or when they jump ship to save it only do due to pursuing their own personal agendas, others who work towards noble goals but bring destruction to innocents by doing so… Stuff like that.

About Cloud specifically… He doesn’t really have a perspective about the world as his care-range doesn’t fall much further from himself and a select few. Because of that he’s not really the most mature character you’ll find and a lot of his character attributes can be considered cliché but the narrative makes much more effective use of them than other games and by the time that all the whys about him are known you’ll find one of the most multi-layered and developed characters of all time. When it comes to videogames anyway. Things would be even more solid if they game had received better dialogue and a proper translation.

PS. I hope you haven't touched Crisis Core at all cause it's a major spoiler to 7.

 

[Fiery Knight]

I see. Thank you for the summary.

And yes, I actually finished Crisis Core just recently, since it is a prequel to FF7 so I assumed there was nothing wrong in experiencing it first. Anyway, I grew very disappointed over Cloud's presence there, since he acted as such a wuss.

 

[Styx]

And yes, I actually finished Crisis Core just recently, since it is a prequel to FF7 so I assumed there was nothing wrong in experiencing it first.

Yeah, that was a logical assumption to make but unfortunately Crisis Core has the player exposed to certain events that in 7 were used to create a plot twist concerning Cloud. Well, I suppose it won't be as shocking now. Regardless... have fun with the game. Definitely worths a play.

 

[Tmoo]

since he acted as such a wuss.

Crisis Core ruined Cloud's character, IMO, in its pursuit of making Zack a one-man-army-god-sue. FFVII's portrayal (the original) of Cloud is what I take as canon, and the rest of the compilation is mostly fanservice to me. You'll find the two games vary a lot when it comes to Cloud and his behavior.

 

[Chewin3]

Yeah, that was a logical assumption to make but unfortunately Crisis Core has the player exposed to certain events that in 7 were used to create a plot twist concerning Cloud. Well, I suppose it won't be as shocking now. Regardless... have fun with the game. Definitely worths a play.

Damn! I as well expected it would be the logical choice to experience Crisis Core first, and then conveniently have FF7 as a follow up. Ah well, I'm sure I'll enjoy the game even without the plot twist.

 

[Fiery Knight]

Yeah, that was a logical assumption to make but unfortunately Crisis Core has the player exposed to certain events that in 7 were used to create a plot twist concerning Cloud. Well, I suppose it won't be as shocking now. Regardless... have fun with the game. Definitely worths a play.

Shame. Should have asked before I played it. But as Chewin said, I'm sure I'll enjoy it as well without the plot twist. I'm sure there is a lot more to the game and the story than that, at least I hope.
Tmoo Yeah, I really hope he is better in FF7. Will soon find out.

 

[Blank]

And yes, I actually finished Crisis Core just recently, since it is a prequel to FF7 so I assumed there was nothing wrong in experiencing it first.

Shit man. You are going to be very confused for a while.

 

[HighwindPilot]

Clouds character changes... without spoiling it...
He is more of the serious type, doesn't joke about anything, and is one that tries to keep to himself (not like Emo like, but tries to keep people at arms length) Also he tends to put himself into danger rather than the company... best way to describe him at the beginning, he does change by the end of the game a little, but you will see why.

Not a big deal or anything, but I'm gonna have to disagree with this. As austere as Cloud is compared to many of his fellow FF protagonists, he is actually pretty well-rounded. He is cocky and snarky at times, but cheeky and casual in other instances. In a lot of the dialogue trees especially, the user has great options to express more dimensions of his attitude.

It really sets him apart from guys like Squall, for instance, who stays drenched in negativity.

That being said, I would say Cloud is quite the well-written character, even if not always the most embraceable protagonist for some.

Crisis Core ruined Cloud's character, IMO, in its pursuit of making Zack a one-man-army-god-sue. FFVII's portrayal (the original) of Cloud is what I take as canon, and the rest of the compilation is mostly fanservice to me. You'll find the two games vary a lot when it comes to Cloud and his behavior.

Cosigned 100%.

 

[SiderealPassing]

I'm your typical cliche FFVII fanboy but I'll be the first to say that Cloud isn't the best written character in the series or in the game for that matter. I find it kind of hard to describe what his personality is like, especially with the plot twists that kind of jumble up his personality. I suppose you could say he's well-written in the sense that he's supposed to be a very confused individual.

 

[CrazedMonkey]

I personally would say that no, he's not. Cloud is one of the protagonists in FF that I just can't take seriously. Admittedly, I would be more kind to him if any of the lessons he learned in his adventures seemed to stick with him, but the second something bad happens, he reverts to whiny emo brat mode and makes me want to clock him. His little "identity crisis" is another thing that bugs the hell out of me. instead of trying to become his own person he blatantly asks Hojo to give him a number like everyone else that was supposedly like him. This makes him weak willed and, frankly, pathetic. I could just be biased, but I really do hate Cloud with a passion, and it's not unwarranted.

 

[LittleMog]

I think that since Final Fantasy VII, the moody and serious prettyboy/fighter stereotype has been used way too much in videogames and anime. This kind of makes Cloud a less interesting character in terms of how he is written. I suppose that, despite this, he is quite well written for the stereotype. He's just not special or anyone that stands out, it's his Buster Sword and special moves that make him like that.

 

[The Witch]

I'm pretty sure Cloud was FF's first sort of "anti-hero". Before him, most protagonists were all "Yeah! Let's save the planet!" and all... Goku-like, if you know what I mean. But with Cloud we saw this distant and uncaring hero who actually didn't care about the cause (at least in the beginning). Cloud says so himself in the beginning, he didn't care about Avalanche, Shinra, or the planet's life... he really only cared for himself and his money. He was even being uncaring to his friend in the beginning. That sort of anti-hero was something new for the series. So in that sense he is a unique character at least.

We got to see him develop into a good person that had a personal reason for joining to save the planet. It started out as a selfish reason (revenge against his rival Sephiroth who killed his mom and burned his home town) but it soon developed into something that he was doing not just for himself but for someone else, too. A few people might disagree but it really is after he meets Aerith that he starts to honestly care for others and the planet, even Barret points that out when he sees Cloud risking his own life to save Aerith (which was something he didn't do before hand). We got to see him develop in pretty much every way; from caring for others to his development mentally, we got to watch Cloud grow as a character and that is not only intriguing for the viewer but it's a new experience.

Very rarely do we get to see the hero develop that interest or reason to save the world or someone else, and we did with Cloud, and I personally feel that it's because of that that so many people are so attracted to him as a character. We weren't just thrown this "good" guy who knew straight from the beginning that he was gonna be a "hero" and risk his life for the world just for the hell of it. All previous "heroes" that were like "Goku" style really start to become predictable and boring and sometimes you want something new. So it was nice to have a change with Cloud.

Not to mention, he was bullied as a child (something a lot of people can relate to) and even though he had a shit-life, he somehow found a reason to be a good man, still.

But, it's really subjective whether or not he's a good character. I think he is, and obviously millions of others do too, but an individual's opinion (whether good or bad) can't ever really determine whether he's a good character or not, it's--as I said before--subjective. It comes down to what a person prefers. But in my opinion, he is a very mature character with a not-too-complex past and a gloomy future. He's been my favorite video game character since I was 11 years old so I think you'll enjoy him as a character, and especially as a hero.

 

[L]

Not really, he is a very Neutral. Nothing wrong with a Neutral character, but he doesn't usually make the cut for leading role. I like Cloud in many ways, but he is also very uninspiring. I guess that's what made Crisis Core fun, though. Because Zack was a completely different character, polar opposites.

 

[The Witch]

Not really, he is a very Neutral. Nothing wrong with a Neutral character, but he doesn't usually make the cut for leading role. I like Cloud in many ways, but he is also very uninspiring. I guess that's what made Crisis Core fun, though. Because Zack was a completely different character, polar opposites.

Is this at me?

And what do you mean neutral?

 

[ff1-10]

You guys are so mean, attacking Cloud for what he was in Crisis Core!!!! We all know he was so cute in there...

Anyway, only if you play FF7 will you understand why Cloud was the way he was in CC. You only played CC, so that's why you would think of him like that. Also, I dislike that many people think that of him. Everyone has their weaknesses. I'm pretty sure that when Cloud showed up, people liked that he was made into a character that showed those weaknesses, and then did what he could to FIGHT AGAINST them. To me, that's one of the main reasons why I like Cloud as a character. He's a role model for people to face and fight against their weaknesses and become stronger, almost as if he is human. AND he's very modest about it, if he even notices such a good thing in him. It makes him more real. For that, I would say he *is* a good character.

The only thing that I don't like about Cloud is that he IS confusing and very hard to read because he is so into himself, distant from people. You never know what he's going to say, do, or what he thinks and feels until he opens his mouth to express anything.

 

[CryofthePlanet]

He's not really the best character, but he's not bad. His backstory is interesting, and I've always liked him because at heart, he's not this super epic guy who can just use all the best stuff and is all-powerful, sexy, mature, etc etc. He's just this quiet kind of timid guy who's really nothing special.