As with most forms of writing, sometimes in games, writers put in characters we just don't understand, just don't like, or just don't relate to. Jar Jar Binks, Bella Swan, Halle Berry's Catwoman...these characters really shouldn't exist, are badly written, or they're just really badly acted (and possibly all three).
In gaming though, these characters can last entire games, or even series, being the one point of contention most gamers have with the games. Sometimes they're NPC's, sometimes they're party characters...and sometimes, they're the main character. Cloud Strife is one such character.
In gaming though, these characters can last entire games, or even series, being the one point of contention most gamers have with the games. Sometimes they're NPC's, sometimes they're party characters...and sometimes, they're the main character. Cloud Strife is one such character.
By all accounts, Cloud is an emo loser. That alone has put people off from FFVII, Advent Children, and the Kingdom Hearts games simply because he's in them.
Now, if you've played or watched any of these, you know that this is an unfair assessment (well, Advent could definitely be better, but that's a story for another time). FFVII is one of the best in the entire Final Fantasy Line. It was the first major 3D RPG, and brought a lot of the Playstation Generation into the world of RPG's. The Kingdom Hearts Series is one of that line, inspired in large part by FF VII, melding Action and Platforming with an RPG quite well.
Cloud is your main party member throughout FF7 and a boss, summon, and ally in the Kingdom Heart Series. Throughout that time though, he struggles with who he is, why he's there, what's the right thing to do, and how douchy he can be to his friends.
My main problem is that last one...he's just a bastard douche. He lets them worry about him, he lies to them, and, most importantly, he's an asshole to to Tifa. His main motivation throughout the entire game is "I'm gonna be like/better than Sephiroth", who, is actually bigger bastard that Cloud.
The character doesn't even try to be a better person at all. When he does seem to go through a character shift with the mental breakdown, his reasoning for doing so is not, oh, it's right to save the planet, it's...oh, Sephiroth killed Aeris...I liked her...I'll kill him. You can argue this if you want, but everything he does after her death is purely for vengeance, with "Oh, I'll save the world, too" being his side notion.
In some characters, this is a really cool idea...Cloud is not one of those characters, though, and even though Square's love of Star Wars inspired a lot of Final Fantasy lore, hie is not Han Solo. He's Anakin Skywalker pretending to be a bad ass.
The character doesn't even try to be a better person at all. When he does seem to go through a character shift with the mental breakdown, his reasoning for doing so is not, oh, it's right to save the planet, it's...oh, Sephiroth killed Aeris...I liked her...I'll kill him. You can argue this if you want, but everything he does after her death is purely for vengeance, with "Oh, I'll save the world, too" being his side notion.
In some characters, this is a really cool idea...Cloud is not one of those characters, though, and even though Square's love of Star Wars inspired a lot of Final Fantasy lore, hie is not Han Solo. He's Anakin Skywalker pretending to be a bad ass.
Squaresoft, Square-Enix...I love you guys, you've done great things...but you really killed off the wrong character.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you hate Cloud as much as I do? Do you think I was drastically unfair to him? Would you like to see more blogs like this? Let me know in the comments.
-Sara
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