I liked in FF7 Cloud was the generic soldier, is captured by Shinra and experimented on. However, then it turns out that he was a failure, wasn't given a tattoo, and then turns out to be stronger than Sephiroth...or was that Hojo's intention all along? I have no idea, because Hojo was team Sephiroth until the end and didn't seem to care when Cloud proves himself and kills him.
It was 100% Hojo's intention to create ANOTHER soldier just as strong as Sephiroth. Cloud was a fluke. It did show how anyone who survives the treatment of being injected with Jenova Cells can become just as strong, if not stronger, than Sephiroth. Hojo listed it as a failure, but Cloud being rescued by Zack, learning how Zack fought and his character, and then slowly coming back to the real world after being a veggie, clearly proved that Hojo's experiment was actually a huge success. Cloud developed into the perfect SOLDIER (theoretically). Granted, Hojo could not accept this, and didn't even know until way later.
At the end, Hojo simply went mad. He was still team sephiroth and wanted to give all of Midgar to him as an offering iirc.