Jimmy XH
Pro Adventurer
That moment was very much a reference toward his mental state being heavily anchored to the false persona he's trapped in due to the Jenova cells and Mako Poisoning he had. It was a moment that pierced the veil of his badassery and revealed the dorky, awkward Cloud that wasn't quite prepared for such an innocuous yet unexpected question.
What's important to remember is that Cloud essentially has two minds existing within him.
There is Cloud's active consciousness which is a construction of false memories and personality traits formed through the Jenova cells within him. This personality is a hodge-podge of Jenova's Mimicry ability utilizing Zack and Tifa's memories, and his perception of what it means to be a SOLDIER 1st Class.
Then there's Cloud's suppressed unconscious mind that is his real personality. The part of him that is hidden and weakened from Mako Poisoning, Jenova cells and trauma. Yet, despite all of these factors, this mind knows the truth behind everything and even carries some recollection of the past. It was the voice in Cloud's head trying to point out the inconsistencies in his memory, tried to resist Sephiroth's control over him and helped Tifa reconstruct his mind.
We're going to see the clash of these personalities in Part 1.
Yes, and this is exactly the sort of story expansion I’ve been wanting to see explored in the remake.
The OG scratched at it with a couple of breakdowns and several sequences of Cloud hearing voices without it being directly referred to who is saying them. It’s understandable why given that we’re not meant to know about it until way into Disc 2, but at the same time it makes the interactions feel more natural.
Asking someone their age is such a normal part of everyday conversation but in this context it has so much more meaning. Cloud stumbling over the answer is such a smart way of hinting at his state in a new way. You can just imagine some other examples of this (e.g. what did you do in SOLDIER?) that could easily set him off, and it’s going to be particularly interesting to see and hear the content of his visions now when he does have one of his moments.
Another thing I am very interested to see is his interaction with Shinra employees. I’ve mentioned it before but it seemed puzzling that in the OG, no one seemed to know who he was despite the Nibelheim Incident. We’ve already seen some subtle (Rude), and unsubtle (Hojo) references to it through trailers so I cannot wait to see how this all plays out.