LogFAQs > #980077483

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Main Character 3
Cloud Strife

Poor Cloud. It's been 20 years since you won a character contest.

Despite the squeaking of his clothes, I enjoyed role-playing as Cloud once again. Picking up where Remake left off, Cloud is his broody yet affable self (for most of the game). The game really plays up the unreliable narrator aspect of Cloud, but it does so knowing that most of the game's audience knows of Cloud's unreliability. It's a really tough road to walk, and I'm pretty impressed by the devs in how they were able to keep the game relatively accessible for fans and new players.

It's not that Cloud is full or himself or lying. He's a naturally shy kid who also happens to have experienced extreme trauma and had his mind spliced with another dude. It's great how the game communicates this in subtle ways: the Zack-like mannerisms in the flashback, the way the game always shows Cloud putting his sword on as soon as he wakes up. During the Junon section, you can sense the "real Cloud" swimming around back there.

The game's willingness to balance the goofy with the melodrama is again a narrative strength. It would have been very easy for the game to lean in to the edge as Cloud starts losing himself to Sephiroth influence, but we wisely still get a bunch of scenes of Cloud cracking jokes too. Despite Cloud turning into an absolute shitheel, we pity him rather than hate him. This is potentially an improvement over the original game, where we are either confused or unmoved by Cloud's odd behavior.

That being said, once we get through Gongaga, Cloud kind of gets his blinders put on, and he becomes a little too obsessed with Sephiroth and the Black Materia. This makes sense plot-wise, but it's undeniable he kind of becomes a broken record. Aside from the date scene, Cloud becomes a little too serious (which is again, not unlike the original game). Cloud shines in Remake - in Rebirth, he's a little more clouded.

Hint for NPC 5: No Mopheads Allowed.
Hint for Minigame 5: You don't gotta go fast.