I'm so genuinely happy Cloud was done so much justice in the Remake, they nailed his character on every aspect Follow me on Social Media! Facebook: / videogamesoutofcontext Twitter: / thegameshelfog
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Do a sequel video: Jessie Is An Abusive Stalker No quote marks. I still wince every time Wedge seems so genuinely terrified of another beating. Also, she starts the game loudly discussing a stranger's ass. Oh, and tell me, who gets their shoe slightly pinched by some debris and pretends to be helpless like that, sheesh, no shame!
a lot o japanese characters are generic tropes to begin wtih. it's how they generate interest and immediate understanding the moment they appear on screen. especially since the average anime has a run-time of only 15-20 minutes. good anime, will then develop said character as episodes progress and the character becomes more than the trope that they were when you first met them. bad anime forget to do that. it's not only anime that does this. this happens across most japanese fiction. in light novels/manga especially. mostly because the market is saturated and the number one priority for publishers is immediate ability to generate investment or grab attention. it's also the reason why most light novel titles are the length of the blurb at the back of the book.
“Just when you started thinking Cloud was cool, he’d do something dorky. When you started to think he was smart, he’d say something dumb” -Cid Highwind
For me, It ain’t FFVII without Cid. Also on a side note, that line always got to me. The only other time in the remake anything made me feel the way I did from that line was when Avalanche told cloud to leave while they all partied at 7th Heaven.
i literally CANNOT get over the scene of cloud hitting his sword on the doorframe. They did indeed nail his character in making him seem like he's trying to hard to be edgy
Cloud is the epitome of that one kid in class who is awkward and doesn't know how to make friends so he tries to sound cool. Nobody hates him or anything and they find it endearing how hard he tries
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="148">2:28</a> "Deep down, he's a big softie." *Is inmediately shown dancing with an excentric and sexually ambiguous owner of a strip club.*
In his defense not everyone comes equipped with master class skills in comforting the terminally ill, younger people would probably assume that playing it light would ease the anxiety and bring them peace, trying to assure them that they'll pull through if they just keep their spirits up.
To be fair, the pizza thing was established like 20 hours ago in the narrative. The other Avalanche members got to have Jessie's mom's homemade pizza but Cloud missed out, so Jessie promised him pizza after that, but he was his usual dismissive self. Cloud saying "you owe me a pizza" at her death scene serves as both "I was giving you the cold shoulder before but not anymore," and "I won't let you die because we have unfinished business together." Sounds awkward without context, but it's actually very sweet coming from him.
@@Wupar I know that. Even the ice cream line had context as Roxas didn't know what else to do for friendship since he was a nobody. Doesn't make it less cheesy tho
Can you imagine Cloud and Sephie being in a tight, low ceiling corridor? They'll just drop their comically fun sized swords and punch each other to death.
Funnily enough, when cloud falls and everything goes white you can see whispers around, and when Sephiroth killed Barrett, whispers brought him back to life. Cloud very may well have died in that fall and the whispers revived him lol.
@@choy8904 ready to be spoiled big time? If you don't want spoilers, don't continue. Essentially in the original game, Cloud suffers a sort of dissociative disorder. It was caused by having Jenova's cells (which can genetically adapt to things), mako poisoning/addiction/overload that put him into a delusional/coma-like state, and witnessing his best friend Zack's death. And Zack died trying to protect him after caring for him during his coma (therefore big survivor's guilt and mental burden). Also he's missing 4 years (mostly his teenage years) which probably hindered a lot of his emotional growth and sense of identity. So Cloud always feels this need to reassure himself of this fake ''dissociated'' identity of being a 1st class ex-soldier
@@ono_o_o Which is the identity he assimilated himself into after feeling so ashamed of not making it into solider. I guess he just convinced himself of it so he would believe the lie as well.
@@Vincent43746 I’d even go as far as to assume that since Zack told Cloud to be his legacy, Clouds mind did the first class thing to not dishonor Zack’s sword.
They’re also both younger guys with the weight of the world, ones got emotional and psychological issues. The other is a prince forced to act like a king. It’s their friends that bring the best out in them honestly.
@@zigslotheon facts, FF7 crew is honestly just a bunch of misfits getting together and becoming friends through like you said circumstances. FF15 crew starts off on as a royal bachelor party which turns into a bro road trip of a lifetime. Either way it’s some great shit.
I also realized that it could be an indication, that he is confused about his age? Because he didn't actually answer the question, even after understanding what Barrett meant.
@justahuman9273 With how much subtle foreshadowing is in the Rebirth demo, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a ton of hints I missed when I first played because I wasn't paying attention
Oh shit you’re right ! He used to be ostracized when he was a kid and even when Tifa tried to get closer to him her friends did everything to stop that and then her father forbade Cloud from approaching her.
Loved that line, but also love that they undercut his sass when he flubs and doesn't understand when Barret asks how old he is. It humanized him, showing he isn't the edgelord he's constantly called.
That was the line that made me say out loud “damn, cloud’s a savage in this game” I know it was like this at the start of the original but I feel like they ramped it up
Cloud's an edgelord in the sense that he is someone trying to emulate what he thinks is cool and keeps failing at it due to not being natural at it at all. He's only cool when he drops the act and just focuses on what he is doing instead of how he looks while doing it. That's what makes him fun. He's a wonderfully confused person who has a big heart beneath all that bravado. Kinda like Barret, but in a different way.
@@CamOfSpam Yeah, I don't know where people are getting that. They have some experience overlap because they were both in Nibelheim. I think Cloud mimics some of Zack's mannerisms, but other than that he's just kinda playing out what he thinks an aloof SOLDIER would be like. Considering Zack is basically just a shounen-hero stereotype of a character (And we love him for it) compared to Cloud's tsundere and false bravado ass.
Cloud: I am dark and edgy and broodi- Tifa: just yesterday you cried about snakes. Cloud: THEY DONT HAVE ARMS HOW CAN YOU HOLD BIG SWORDS WITHOUT ARMS!
@@XanderVJ yeah but remember the years that passed while he and Zack were captured by shinra. I mean he technically went from 15 (or 16, I dont remember) to 21 in a moment
Cloud was perfect in Remake. So much of his true character is set up with subtlety. It doesn't hurt that they found him the perfect voice actor too; Cody Christian nails it.
The mako poisoning backstory and big sword puts him in the edgelord category by default. But at least we see in the remake that it ain't his choice and he would at least try from time to time to choose to be otherwise.
In the original, he spent five years in a test tube so he's only lived about sixteen years. He is a weird mess of Zack and what a sixteen-year-old thinks is cool and mercenary.
I feel the main thing that makes people think Cloud is an anime edgelord is them only seeing him in the KH games and Advent Children movie. Even then he’s got his reasons, in KH1 he’s just a merc doing a job, in KH2 he’s focused on helping rebuild Hallow Baston and also having to deal with Sephiroth. And the plot of Advent Children is him taking the weight of everything that happened and dealing with the grief and loss of ANOTHER CLOSE FRIEND, on top of basically planet cancer virus, and 3 twinks that look and act a bit like a certain one winged angel that one of them transforms into a literal root cause of some major trauma for him. Cloud is a character who is detached emotionally for various reasons and does his best to connect. That’s what makes him a good person, he genuinely cares for the ones around him and a part of his character arc in FF7 is learning/embracing that part of him.
"Planet Cancer Virus" The fact we're dealing with "geostigma" on a global scale, man does that hurt. And yeah, Advent Children wasn't the be-all-end-all of Cloud's character. Guy's gone through some really rough shit in his life, but that's all AFTER these chapters. Really curious to see where they take all this in the grand scheme of things.
@@Metroid22540 Yeah there’s the main thing for Clouds arc that he’s dealing with grief and loss and trying to literally shoulder everything as to not loose anyone without realizing how self destructive that is with him being infected with Geostigma. I really want to see more done with Cloud from that point forward and I hope with the remake being a thing that gets people asking for more FF7 stuff that’s a continuation
@@chaoticzer0688 yes, thank you!! I find it really sad that advent children gets this bad rep of making Cloud sound like a generic emo guy because people dont realize the depth of his trauma, or perhaps didnt back then, as mental health has really gone from something in the shadows to something actually discussed in a daily basis. Even in the original, he showed a few hints that he was carrying that pain and it needed to be dealt with. I've seen it called a reversal of his arc, because he's closed himself off again, but really, learning to work as a team doesnt have to mean entrusting them with your innermost secrets and fears- and the one person Cloud did it with, Tifa, is someone he is avoiding because he feels like he failed her and the children on top of his grief over Zack and Aerith. I dunno, as a brand new fan who binged the compilation, Advent Children was the only piece that actually made me tear up at the end. Even Zack's fate didnt have that big of an impact on me (even tho it punched me in the gut too). It just felt so good, and beautiful, and satisfying to see Cloud FINALLY deal with his trauma, and realize his friends and family are there for him not only physically but also emotionally. That he isnt free of it, but he IS "lighter", because he forgave himself, faced his issues when he fought Sephiroth (that fight had so much emotional weight it was amazing! this is a side note but I have no one to talk about ff7 OTL) and isnt alone anymore. That smile was the best payoff to the storyline I had been following. Its one thing that makes me quite enjoy the fact that the Remake seems to have more going on than just redoing the original, because it means that story IS important and isnt going to be pushed aside or downplayed as if it didnt exist, and (appears to be) an integral part of the new game's plot. I dunno if thats an unpopular opinion but I genuinely love that movie, every aspect of it. Its just a very satisfying, emotional ride with some really cool action on the side, and really well done for a company that focuses on games and not on movies ;;
@@akiriith damn i enjoyed reading that experience of yours. im new to ff7 and will get the remake tomorrow. however im playing the original ff7 before the remake so to appreciate and judge the new changes. Edit: nah i wanna play the remake first lol
I think the way to sum up a lot of this is, Cloud uses a very dry sense of humor to cope with social interaction and to try to cheer people up. "Looks dead now", "You owe me a pizza", trying to overcome his lack of social cues for the high five... he's got issues, but he's trying his best to overcome them and he tries to bring that same wit even in people's dying moment to help them feel more at peace or even search for a reason to keep living.
The genius of Nomura's writing really comes out in how he portrays characters dealing with death. "wHo wIlL i HaVe iCe CreAm WiTh?" "yOu OwE mE a PiZzA."
Because those were some of their key moments of their bonding. Roxas and Xion's friendship started because of ice cream. Their thing with Axel was eating ice cream together. Same with Jesse and Cloud. One of their key bonding moments was talking about her mom's pizza
Thank goodness you mentioned it so I'm not alone there, hah. Roxas's pure definition of friendship was having ice cream with his friends, when he can finally talk and relax and just have a good time. Cloud's pizza line, to me, felt like a desperate "Don't die, I still want to do something with you" sort of thing, if that makes any sense. Out of context both lines are hilarious, but in context I wanna cry
“Kid if you wanna be a champion, just find something you like and practice at it with all your heart and soul. It’s that simple” *Proceeds to shake his ass with all his heart and soul*
If anyone ever says that Aerith was a sweet and innocent engenue, I'm reminding them that she requested permission to kill from Cloud and beat a man over the head with a chair.
She also swears on occasion and told Sephiroth to go screw himself right to his face. Oh, and in the original game, she chose a sexy red dress when going to Don Corneo's mansion instead of going with something more modest. Aerith is a girl from the hood with good PR. lol
I adore cloud. He's not perfect, and it shows. I like his attitude, even though he can be really awkward or emo at times. He's more realistic than most rpg protagonists.
Cloud is the kinda guy that in truth is very dorkly but tries to act cool in front of others but fails but no one gives him shit because they know he is a nice guy
I mean,not exactly. He was never as chill,funny or sociable as Zack even though he tried to pretend to be and the harder he tried to act like Zack especially after the MAKO/JENOVA Cell mindfuckery from Hojo,the more he came off as a callous dick.
Also,a lot of the weird mannerisms Cloud had in the Original were the result of bad localization and Zack was actually the original design for Cloud so the reason the reveal of Cloud and Zack being different characters seems abrupt and forced in the Original is because it literally was!
maybe for a while and kind of a large portion of the game but once he finds out who he really is you see his personality change he becomes more like a cloud that we know
Cloud's honest-to-god last words to a dying woman were "You owe me a pizza." I know it was supposed to be a touching scene but I COULD NOT stop laughing when I got to that part. Holy shit, Cloud.
That’s what Jessie would have wanted. She didn’t want her friends to be sad. When Tifa started crying, she asked if she did something wrong. She was always all about a good time.
@@NinjaSox7 I don’t speak Japanese either but from what little (and I mean LITTLE) Japanese I know, it didn’t sound like he swore in that sentence, but what do I know.
Geez im really unfamiliar with FF as a whole and I barely know who this characters are or what they represent but im kinda feel related afther seeing Cloud, heck I might even play the game just to see more of him
Cloud is a great character, and having his "emo e-boy" be proven false by his true dorky nature is a great thing to witness 7 is one of my favorite Final Fantasy, absolutely recommend it
It's complicated....like every good story there are layers. I'd say while Cloud isn't my favorite character he's a character with more depth than you'd think considering how often people downplay him.
Its.... Really not like that. If you didnt play FFVII before. I higly recomend you do. The og game is on Steam, PS4 and switch. So you can play it on almost everything.
I like that the Remake put more focus on Cloud's insecurities hiding behind the badass merc persona. The original didn't do that much so when his identity crisis did come up it didn't really feel like he was build up to that arc as well.
Remake Cloud is a different character. In the OG game Cloud oozed confidence at every point, almost arrogance. There isn't a single instance at the Midgar section of the game that shows Cloud at even coming close to being insecure. He's always incredibly full of himself and dosen't have any problems with social interactions or Jessie lightly flirting with him. He's a little bit like Zack from Crisis Core (which makes sense because, y'know...) With the difference that he's a lot more of an asshole. He even explains the Nibelheim incident in Kalm and talks about Sephiroth and how he has to stop him like it's just another day at work for him. Honestly, Cloud's characterization is a big mess through all of his appearances in games. In KH he's the edgiest of the edgy edgelords, in Advent Children he's a depressed emo confronting his trauma and in remake he's like a teenager trying his best to act cool and mercenary. I'm glad that all those games are set in different universes, makes it easier to understand why the guy changes so much
@@theazureknight9399 ''He's a little bit like Zach'' not just a little bit a lot like him that was the point, the Cloud in the OG FF7, before he really confronts his identity crisis with Tifa, isn't the real Cloud it's Cloud internalizing Zach's personality and mercenary attitude because of severe trauma. After healing from his identity crisis, the real Cloud is back and his personality isn't the same as before, he's more dorky (symbolized by his famous ''let's mosey'' line), more insecure but still has a heart of gold and is brave. The Remake Cloud is the same as the OG only now more cracks are shown at the beginning specifically to make players already question Cloud's identity. Advent Children Cloud is a realistic portrayal of someone being disease ridden and with severe PTSD from the years catching up to him, it's not just emo for emo's sake.
@@islandboy9381 I wouldn't say Cloud from the early FVII is a carbon copy of Zack's personality though. Sure there's some Zack in there, but some things are very different too. Zack sure is very confident, but he's not arrogant, and he never acts superior to people. Also, Zack's whole arc is about, and i quote Angel on this one, "dreams and honor". Cloud on the other hand, in the beginning of the game was in it for the money, after that it was to help Tifa and Aerith, and after that it was to hunt down Sephiroth. That's why i say that Remake Cloud is a different character. It makes no sense for Cloud in the Midgar section to act like Cloud from after the Tifa cutscene. If he already acts like this, then what's gonna be the difference once he gets his identity back? Is he gonna stay the same? or is he gonna double down in the dorkiness and become Sora from Kingdom Hearts?
I feel like the original Cloud was intended to be similar to remake Cloud, but certain things didn't come across well. The localisation of the original game quite frankly sucks in a lot of places, there's the lack of voice acting to think of, and it isn't exactly easy to convey emotions using blocky lego characters. Revisiting the original after playing the remake was honestly pretty interesting.
When Cloud said, “I’m doing my best…” I felt that, a lot. He’s stiff and doesn’t really understand the people around him. He’s got a lot of his own problems, so many he doesn’t even realize all of them. So when he reacts poorly to criticism, and he gets called out for it, it’s all he can do to try and impress how hard it’s been.
@@agabe3104 wait what? It's an act? I'm not up on JoJo like that and this is the first I've ever heard of it. That's actually hilarious. I thought he was genuinely like that!
As someone who is somewhat similar to Cloud while in public: He's not an edgelord. He's introverted. For real, he has nearly every sign of being an introvert to the point of even trying to cover it up with false bravado. It's why I love him so much as a character.
Cloud: Find something you enjoy and stick with it. Put your heart and soul into getting better. It's as simple as that. *cuts to Cloud killing it in Honeybee Inn dance-off scene*
It's great that when Jessie mentions 'you failed the test' Cloud's actively trying to figure out 'test? what test!??' at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="67">1:07</a>
Introverted people can deal with others just as well as any extrovert. Being introvert means someone feels "charged" spending time alone rather than spending it with others. I see a lot of people using these terms incorrectly lately
I lowkey got mad at Cloud sometimes at how edgy he was and start talking out loud. Like when Aerith was wanting a high five. I'm like, "Shithead just high five her bro." Also I like to add. I like how Cloud walks with the dress on, he tries to be so elegant with his posture when he doesn't have to, just like his edginess. Great intention to detail in this game.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="131">2:11</a> Aw man the only part missing before this was Cloud saying “I ain’t your bro” before he pushes Wedge off, no complaints tho 😂
I'd say he's what an IRL edgelord is like. He tries so hard to be this cool persona that he comes off as a dork. Then it goes back to being sad when you discover he acts that way to patch up his trauma ladden Psyche and try to be functional.
@@jouheikisaragi6075 I’ve met a lot of edge lords some of them I know really well they’re way worse than he is he seems like a dork but all the ones I’ve met really catch you off guard like they’ll say something really stupid and you can just tell they’re trying to be edgy Cloud succeeds at being a good edge lord he has the edge but not all the cringe that comes with it
Imo, I don't think he is. From my experience, the generic edgelord would spout out random smart-ass shit while saying stuff like "The darkness is my power" Or some random thing. Cloud encourages people to be strong. They congratulate people he cares for to be good. Just like how he told Wedge to be proud of him doing something good.
Cloud is unironically one of the most surprising characters I've seen, I expected, of course, the generic anime edgelord. But nah FF7 turned my opinion around once I finally played it, the Remake just did him even better
Know what irritates me? When people call Lightning from FF13 a female Cloud. Fucking, no. They both do come off kinda stoic in the beginning but their reasons for doing so are entirely different and reasonable and they both grow differently into different people. This coming from a person whose favorite game ever is FF7, and who loves the 13 franchise.
@@lens_hunter I think I remember the devs said something about how they were inspired by Cloud somehow when designing Lightning, and the fans kinda... took it to mean more than it did or something?
@@lens_hunter I can see the similarities but Cloud is more of an introvert meanwhile Lightning is more of what we perceive Cloud to be when we’re first introduced to him. Lightning doesn’t make me laugh but she’s cool and Cloud makes me cackle because of his introverted, ‘tough’ persona
Cloud is a fascinating character, he is like 3 persons in one, and those who have played the original will understand. FFVII was also like a psychological thriller, and a Journey to understand who Cloud really is. It was a very well written character, and it will be even more when all remake games will be finished.
I couldn't put my finger on it for the longest time, but you nailed it. I agree FF7 series has its psychological thriller moments. Gives me the same feelings I have when watching psychological thrillers movies.
The Game Shelf yesssss it is easily one of the best LOL I really like when he fails his driving test with Jessie and she says he should let her drive and he’s just like “nope”
Advent Children takes place in a span of like two days, and it showed his struggles with mental illness ( PTSD, survivor’s guilt, and depression), which I think it’s very realistic considering the events...
@@karlas4446 That doesnt explain his total shift of personality. Because they kept this personality in Dirge of Cerberus so it wasnt just ptsd, it was them forgetting he had an actual personality
@@skullofrebellion6653 except it does?? Cloud shifted his personality in the original game after coming out of his identity crisis then Cloud going through his bad funk in Advent Children, clearly he’s not gonna be hunky dory after everything has happened, they even gave Cloud closure by the end of the movie, also in Dirge of Cerberus he barely had screen time but his attitude was obviously better His personality was always there, you just seem to forget he’s a human being going through shit
I used to think cloud was basic when I was a kid but now as a traumatized mentally ill adult I say he's probably my favorite character. how times change....
I like how, even if you think Cloud falls under the edgelord shonen hero trope, at least there's a very good reason WHY he is like that, in fact he isn't: he just thinks he has to act like that
