Gah.
I'm gonna disagree.
When AC first came out, I hated Cloud. D:
He wasn't emo exactly, but at the time, it was just downright irritating how pansy he was. Maybe because I loved him so much in FF7, after the LS sequence, I just wasn't used to this sudden change in attitude with the whole "I'm so full of guilt" thing.
I'm gonna get attacked for this but, the hell with it.
I don't know, AC Cloud just sucked. The way he treated everyone and the way he distanced himself made me think he was pretty selfish. When he got shot, I wanted him to die. He was such an abomination to the character I loved so dearly from FF7, I couldn't even finish the movie without cringing.
It played a part in why I sort of distanced myself from this fandom.
HOWEVER BEFORE YOU ALL JUDGE ME AND GO FOR THE KILL
I liked him better in AC/C and with the OTWTAS novellas, it really got me to better understand why it was he was acting in such a way. Re-watching it, I grew to like him again and dismissed the silly notion that he was being a self centered ass hat.
Although, yeah he still sort of was, he redeemed himself and went back to being himself. The novellas cleared up why he changed from the dorky moseying Cloud from FF7, so I couldn't call him 'emo' anymore.
I guess the compilation sort of justified him for me. It developed his character a bit better in AC and it wasn't just SE going: HE HAS DEADLY DISEASE + HE IS GUILTY = HE HAS RIGHT TO BE EMO/SELFISH/ASSHOLE.
And here it comes.