I didn't even know cloud had those glitchy headaches in the original until I played it again 2 weeks ago, that's how subtle it is. But being subtle is also the original's strong points, mainly due to technological limitations. Being too open is also the Re: trilogy's weak point. I understand that square enix loves to show off in the remake but there are certain criticisms about them being too eager to show too much. Overall, the expansion and elaboration on the story in remake does more good than harm tbh. Plus this whole multiversal stuff going on has my full support while some fans just want a 1:1 Remake which I think understand even after 4 years.
@@CaaaramelApples How about since Tifa and Cloud already went over what Tifa saw in the lifestream, Cloud begins flashing back to his missions as a grunt after his breakdown. He goes through his memories of encountering Angeal and Genesis copies and THAT is what helps him repair his mind.
The most unsettling scene was in the Temple following each of the party’s trials. Aerith gives her impassioned speech to settle the rest of the party down after they just relived such traumatic experiences. Cloud’s response is just “Are you finished?” Just brutal
Honestly Cloud’s sephiroth stance looked way more devastating than Sephiroth himself doing it. Being pierced and cut by that massive sword gotta hurt ouch.
@@memeprez1281he’s the only successful Sephiroth clone… but Cloud isn’t aware of it… although it is not revealed as of rebirth so it’ll happen in the third game
I also felt like that, and it s even more tragical because Cloud is the victim of this process, he s being possessed by the evil cells. But i remain confident the group will save him in the next game.
The fact that if you try moving Cloud away from Sephiroth or Aerith when he’s under his control only to move towards them makes this scene even better.
I commented the same thing. Fighting back in that moment makes Cloud twist like a zombie or a puppet (yes, fitting). It's extremely creepy but it sells the depth in which he's being controlled so perfectly.
@@Banana-cc5rxuh spoilers? Look, I know the original came out decades ago, but this is a Rebirth comment section. A lot of people are playing it and experiencing the story for the first time.
@samgrace7826 this is old info from crisis core though? Stop reading comments and even the internet if you don't want to be spoiled. That's like saying people shouldn't talk about Zack as well
He's already completely mental by the end of this game. If Aerith truly is there through the lifestream or if it's Jenova lil bro is tweaking thinking he actually saved her, he genuinely has no clue what's real or what isn't anymore. Full on psychosis.
@juliogomesdesouza9035 Spoilers Actually at the end of this game Cloud is basically just being delusional and in denial, but he's gonna snap out of it at the beginning of part 3 and he's gonna continue almost totally normal until we get to the Northern Crater. That's what happened in OG at least. The only thing that broke Cloud completely, is his identity being denied by Tifa in the cutscene where Sephiroth shows the picture in Nibelheim with Zack and Tifa can't confirm he's "Cloud from Nibelheim" anymore, Cloud completely loses faith in himself and brings the black materia to Sephiroth's physical body at the Northern Crater. Cloud's lowest point in the game is his loss of identity and him begging Hojo for a number.
@@laurajanco2i The game is different from the original. I agree with you, that's how it worked there, the only thing that breaks him in the og was Zack's death and realizing his whole personality and sense of self was a lie. But him going crazy from Aerith's death on the remakes is undeniable. It's gonna have just as much impact if not more on him in the long run than anything related to his persona. But yes his lowest point in the remakes is absolutely going to be that as well.
@@juliogomesdesouza9035 The game processes things differently, but the outcome is always the same. That's why Aerith still dies. I think we'll have to see the third part, but Cloud's character arc/development is impossible to change, because it's the heart of FF7 and why we're seeing him spiral to begin with. So that he can find himself in part 3.
This is the prove that, of all Final Fantasy main characters, Cloud is the most mentally messed-up character, and not entirely by his fault. He’s nothing like Lightning nor Squall, his true identity was broken by very traumatic circumstances, forcing him to subconsciously create a fake persona to cope with his own flipped mind.
@@veronicapiccinini7956 I'm still on the fence if Cloud really created the fake persona to cope, or it's a result of the mako poisoning that put him in a catatonic state. It's said that "Catatonia is a state in which someone is awake but does not seem to respond to other people and their environment." Considering Zack told Cloud a lot of stories for over a year, and he essentially lived through Zack, it makes sense to me also. And on top of it Zack literally passed on his memories and his dreams to Cloud when he died, which doesn't help much for his mental state either lol. Maybe it's a little bit of both?
@@lolololol7573 It's all of those. Cloud was already a pretty introverted and awkward person as a kid, the lost of Zack right in front of him caused him to create the fake "zack" persona due to guilt, he was trying to live as "Zack" to cope that Zack isn't dead. Then the "mako poisoning" was more of Sephiroth's cell being in him fighting for control thanks to Hojo and messing with his head. All the stuff turned him into a mess since the very start of the story. Part 3 is pretty much redemption arc and we see how Cloud truly is as himself, even in Advent Children he is changing himself for the better.
Instead of walking forward to get to the spot in 20 seconds, i spent 15 minutes to get there just because i forced Cloud to zigzag his way there in hopes it would trigger a different outcome.
@@MissusFailat first I was trying everything to turn back around but then I thought it’s better that Cloud approaches than Sephiroth gets impatient and does it himself, so I started to move forward and give her plenty of time to run.
Angeal: “You should’ve give someone that is mentally stable.” Zack: “Says the guy who is more crazier than Cloud.” Angeal: *Surprised Pikachu meme face*
I love how at 13:19 you can see how small his pupils are but when he takes orders at 13:37 his pupils dialate immediately. These details are so good and just adds to the puppetry that Sephiroth is doing. It’s literally like an on/off switch where Cloud sadly has no control and is essentially brain dead, suddenly trying to complete a task. After returning it at 15:20 we see them get smaller again. And then eventually when he snaps out of it his pupils grow larger again to save Aerith 🥺🩷
Clouds friends are the worst enablers, lol. They see Cloud losing his god damn mind, almost killing Tifa and Aerith, and treat him with the softest of gloves.
Yeah, dude folded a massive stone door in half with just a few sword strike and let’s not forget the snake in the swamp. He is just a terrifying killing machine at this point.
I just love the detail of clouds pupils being dilated or blown out whenever sephiroth is controlling him, and when he snaps out of it they go back to normal
anyone noticed that when cloud was stabbing that big.. thing on the head four times it showed a bit of sephiroth? clouds left arm was having that white armor that's on sephiroths shoulder, and i might be wrong but I think they showed sephiroths hair; it's like sephiroth is inside cloud controlling him.. he's real possessed. his armor / clothing was turning into sephiroths clothes.
Wow, What an eagle eye. I literally think it is one frame and Cloud is heavily obscured by particle effects and motion blur but he does appear to morph into Sephiroth at that moment.
I do appreciate how the Remake trilogy will let it's main character be pathetically fallible like this (I am saying this in the best way possible). I feel like most games wouldn't do *this* to the extreme like what Remake and especially Rebirth does. Cloud Strife isn't a perfect emo badass that's the gold standard for the JRPG industry. He's someome that needs help and no one really kmows what's going on. He's surprisingly fragile, which honestly makes him more human to me, despite the non-human things happening to him. But yeah, I dont think most games would mar their beloved main character to this level. But I think it's really compelling personally and I can't wait to see the lows and the highs of Cloud's mental health next game!
To be fair....he was like that in the original. Instead of him going through stock poses in a silly 3d model while laughing and having electric noises around him, and us all forgetting about how weird that was from the start because lol look at that shit... We now have it fully realized with modern set pieces and direction. It's well done and true to the character.
@cronoesify That's true. OG Cloud was like this too. I feel like in this Trilogy Cloud is doing somehow worse than he did in OG though. *looks at Rebirth ending* But yeah you are totally right.
@@strelitziamystery21 it's better realized, but true to the character. This is exactly why everyone wanted a remake of 7. The nuts and bolts there are fantastic story elements that didn't fully come together outside of our own imaginations at the time.
In that whole black materia chase i was screaming at the start the moment sephi showed up and cloud was working towards him i was screaming someone knock em out this shit aint right. I cant wait to see how avalanche time is going to save him
I thought it was cold-blooded when he chuckled over Cait-Sith’s death….i was like dayum they really are expendable to him when he’s like this. 😢 Great Depiction though 👏🏽 ALL of this.
During the scene where Cloud chases Aerith, if you really want to see creepiness, try to resist the controlls. If you pull back on the stick and try to make Cloud walk away, he instead does this grotesque twist with his body, obviously trying to fight while still being pulled forward. You'll still walk forward while he's doing it as well, making it look extra horrifying. Just because it's so unsettling to see Cloud so thoroughly being controlled like that, it's one of my favorite moments.
During the scene where Cloud went berserk against the Shinra soldiers, i was hyped, and yelling "LETS GO STRIFE!" When he was dodging with just a little head tilt, i was smiling like crazy...but when he executed the guy he knocked up in the air and the dude on the ground, my smile faded into straight horror
Good video, my fave clip tho was at the end of the game in the grass when he says "The Reunion" and looks at the black materia like he forgot it before and then you all know what he did to his sword...
This genuinely unsettled me, like, aren’t they already mass murdering ennemies, and all of a sudden it becomes bad ? Sure he does it with some sadism, but still…
Yeah, it's more the intentions behind the actions. In battle, he is defending himself. Obviously pleading for people not to fight won't get anywhere, so it's self-defense. But in these specific cutscenes, there is a bit of a sadistic enjoyment behind his movements, like slaughtering creatures beneath him.
i've heard a theory that makes cloud even more fu*cked up in the head than you might think. it's really sad but also quite likely. *ending spoilers* the aerith that cloud sees at the end is just a projection of his mind (could be jenova). aerith's very, truly dead but cloud just cannot accept that so instead he creates this projection of her, convincing himself that she's okay. that's why there wasn't the scene where cloud puts aerith's body on the water - because that moment in the og means cloud accepts her death. but it's missing in rebirth. it's a very iconic scene and there's no good reason i can think of (except for this one) that would make them omit it. another thing that proves this theory is when he's holding her body and her eyes are closed + there's blood coming from her body - this is what barret and the others see because that's what's actually happening. but then the glitching starts again and you see cloud's pov - where there's no blood and aerith's eyes are open as she talks to him, comforting him. letting him hear what he _wants_ to hear. it's so upsetting to see just how much trauma cloud has experienced and that it's not over yet. especially with sephiroth. i wouldn't even know where to start with his constant taunting and manipulating - ranging from reciting the last words cloud's mom said to him (run, cloud, run away), to cleaning his sword by splashing aerith's blood on cloud... 😭
I also think this is what is happening. Deliberately denying the player the most iconic visuals of the original is a dramatic choice. We’ll likely see them during the rebuilding of Cloud’s mind scene in 3 when Tifa has to bring Cloud to accept her death. Cloud constructing false realities to deal with the death of people close to him is in line with his character, it’s exactly what he did with Zack. This is also in line with the metanarrative. Fans haven’t been able to accept Aerith’s death for decades. Those who think we brought her back are in for just as rude an awakening as Cloud is.
This video really highlights the similarities and parallel between Cloud in Rebirth and Kadaj - both are unhinged and unsettling as hell, mere puppets for Sephiroth
@@enzoarayamorales7220 lore spoilers? the story reason is probably because Cloud needs to be alive in order for Sephiroth to continue existing, in the Lifestream Black reading it describes that he lives past FF7 by anchoring himself to Cloud's memories of him something like that, although i will say it doesnt explain why he acts fondly (in a backhanded way) to him, which i am curious to see in part 3
@@enzoarayamorales7220 it was initially zack who pissed him off the most lol because he reminded him of his past life and his friends Angeal and Genesis, but cloud did humiliate him in front of what he thinks is "mom" and then tossed him into a mako chemical reactor so there may be just a tad bit of salty rage in his demeanor over that lmao but not just that in his deranged mind he probably thinks that by manipulating and torturing Cloud its the same as mocking Zack who called Cloud his "living legacy" xD
@@enzoarayamorales7220 He's fond of Cloud because he likes cloud. The black materia, the s cells, jenova cells, etc aren't why he specifically wants Cloud to join him and defy destiny with him. I know a lot of men specifically can't comprehend this about their fave villain but he is fruity.
Spoilers if you've not played the original FF7. The reason Cloud is absolutely losing his mind is because he has been directly injected with Jenova cells and also samples of Sephiroth himself (that scene in the lab beneath Shinra Manor alludes to this). Actually, he has been exposed to even more experiments than the typical SOLDIER candidate because he was one of the two found survivors of the Nibelheim incident, the other being Zack who was already a SOLDIER. However, unlike Zack, Cloud was infused with Sephiroth's DNA and regular SOLDIERs up until that point were not. The person behind this was of course... Hojo. Hojo figured that since Sephiroth was assumed dead Shinra would need a replacement. He couldn't do much with Zack because he'd already undergone the creation process but Cloud was effectively a blank slate for Hojo to work with, and he was thorough in the creation of this prototype Sephiroth clone. Hojo almost lets the entire thing slip in Remake before the Whispers carry him off. This is also why Hojo released Jenova at the end of Remake, because he wants to see what will happen whenever his prototype (and magnum opus) comes into contact with Jenova. This will all come to a head in Part 3 when the group reaches the Northern Crater where the physical body of Sephiroth resides and where both he and Hojo will reveal the entire thing. This revelation absolutely SHATTERS Cloud's already fractured mind, leaving him a braindead husk. Cloud is clearly under the direct control of Jenova/Sephiroth throughout the entire journey through The Temple Of The Ancients. What is really creepy is if you listen to Cloud's dialogue... the further in you get the more it changes to becoming more unhinged. It can be hard to discern it from all the noise of battle but if you go to the in-game options and filter everything out except voices you can hear it. He laughs sadistically when his Limit Break is charged. He has new aggressive lines whenever he finishes off an opponent. He becomes increasingly apathetic to his comrades, but doesn't overtly let it slip that he is effectively Sephiroth as to not blow his cover. He nearly murders Elena. He murders the SOLDIERs in cold blood. He says the exact same things Sephiroth does (Tifa notices this way back in Nibelheim and freaks out). He gives Sephiroth the one thing he absolutely must not get: The Black Materia to summon Meteor. Then later at the Forgotten Capital he almost murders Aerith but manages to fight back, only for Sephiroth to then intervene and do it himself. Sephiroth is able to control Cloud directly because of their shared connection through the Jenova cells in their bodies. He is able to do this easily because Cloud's mind is very fragile and he is uncertain as to what his true memories are (the return to Nibelheim spells this out pretty clearly). The only one who can reasonably anchor Cloud is Tifa, which is why Sephiroth encourages Cloud to doubt her and then later when he is in direct control in Gongaga to attempt to kill her. Tifa is Cloud's only lifeline to restoring his mind, and thus breaking Sephiroth's control, which is why he is so set on killing her.
i noticed that all of these instances of Cloud are getting mind-controlled is that he is away from Aerith and it is only getting worse the longer he is away from Aerith like in the temple when he is separated from her the longest.
@@damonlopez2197If this was real life, Tifa is the woman you'd want to be with because Aerith is a dreamer and will not be as loyal or honest as Tifa. But this is a game, and Cloud has different needs as he has some serious issues, he needs both of them. I HATE Aerith as a character and will never write one like her, but Cloud needs her.
Every time i got to each of these points in the game with Cloud being unhinged, I imagine myself being one of the team members and side-eyeing with everyone, like I feel bad bruh, especially for Tifa if you romanced her.
I don’t personally prefer Tiffa over Aeirth but you can see Cloud’s spiral into insanity takes the biggest toll on her. At the end of the game when they are in the grass Tiffa never speaks to Cloud even when it is her, cloud and Barrett together which speaks a thousand words. Yes she is probably in massive grief but still that silence makes me feel like there is a loss of trust and they almost don’t believe the cloud they once knew is with them anymore
Man, Sephiroth is not going easy on Cloud this time around. Just consistently mind screwing him here. It definitely makes me scared of what he’ll do to him in part 3.
I wonder how Cloud will use the Black Materia in Part 3 (Reunion). And I wonder if Aerith will play a part in that game as she’s just in Cloud’s Head, maybe like a Final Fantasy version of Cupid Me from South Park.
My guess the 3rd game will open with northern Crater being the tutorial dungeon, it will end with Sephiroth getting black materia and Cloud being lost, Intro cutscene where meteor is summoned and Weapons are awakened. Then the game begins and 1st quest will be to escape Junon and find Cloud. Aerith will be a voice in Cloud's head that will point him in the right direction, as for the rest of the game my guess is that everything that was optional in OG like Wutai, Ruby and Emerald Weapons will be mandatory, they might add another new weapon as a super boss but we'll see. Who knows maybe a minigame where you have to shoot Sapphire Weapon using Junon Canon. Rocket town will be remade for Cid's story, Knights of Round will be a materia of Cetra heroes that will be mandatory to get to help in fight with Sephiroth.
You forgot to include the last part at the ending, where Cloud finds he has the Black Materia and smirks with "The Reunion." before equipping it into the Buster Sword.
