Knuxson
Pro Adventurer
I just watched a top 10 Final Fantasy characters video on gametrailers.com. It is found here http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/3o06vw/gt-countdown-top-10-final-fantasy-characters. They leave Cloud out of the list (only FF7 characters they include are Sephiroth and Zack). The video even has a "haha, no Cloud!" part. I know lists like this are subjective and there are so many characters to choose from all the FF games, but this video got me thinking.
There is no doubt Cloud is extremely popular and has become a video game icon, but I think his over exposure has hurt the character. I feel like he was left off the list because of his popularity. I don't think the people who made the video really dug into his character and tried to make a good judgment based on that. I think they just wrote him off as being the emo pretty-boy protagonist that many see him as today.
But in FF7 he was an extremely complex character. From an angry kid who wanted to prove himself, to failing at achieving his lifelong dream, to tragically losing his family and hometown, and becoming an experiment and losing his identity and sense of self in the process, he has had a pretty crappy life. While at times in FF7 these events in his life cause him to lose confidence, become depressed, etc., these particular emotions are temporary moments of weakness, not defining characteristics. No matter what happened, he always got back up and decided to fight even harder. He also constantly put others over himself, which he shows in many instances of not wanting others to put themselves in danger.
He doesn't just mope around all the time feeling bad about himself. Like I said, he does temporarily act this way, but, given the circumstances, I probably would have moments of doubt too if I were him. The compilation doesn't help much with his portrayal, but I think you can make an argument for his melancholy in Advent Children (he is dying) and even Crisis Core (too weak to get into SOLDIER).
I don't want to go too much into this, since I know his character has probably been discussed to death. But I still think he is one of the better written characters in video games, even if others (like gametrailers.com apparently) scoff at his character.
There is no doubt Cloud is extremely popular and has become a video game icon, but I think his over exposure has hurt the character. I feel like he was left off the list because of his popularity. I don't think the people who made the video really dug into his character and tried to make a good judgment based on that. I think they just wrote him off as being the emo pretty-boy protagonist that many see him as today.
But in FF7 he was an extremely complex character. From an angry kid who wanted to prove himself, to failing at achieving his lifelong dream, to tragically losing his family and hometown, and becoming an experiment and losing his identity and sense of self in the process, he has had a pretty crappy life. While at times in FF7 these events in his life cause him to lose confidence, become depressed, etc., these particular emotions are temporary moments of weakness, not defining characteristics. No matter what happened, he always got back up and decided to fight even harder. He also constantly put others over himself, which he shows in many instances of not wanting others to put themselves in danger.
He doesn't just mope around all the time feeling bad about himself. Like I said, he does temporarily act this way, but, given the circumstances, I probably would have moments of doubt too if I were him. The compilation doesn't help much with his portrayal, but I think you can make an argument for his melancholy in Advent Children (he is dying) and even Crisis Core (too weak to get into SOLDIER).
I don't want to go too much into this, since I know his character has probably been discussed to death. But I still think he is one of the better written characters in video games, even if others (like gametrailers.com apparently) scoff at his character.
