#ff gameplay

When it comes to anything that relates with Tifa, he really does become 'himself'

An adult with mentality of 16 y/o boy

"... We're already friends"

Yes, Cloud. U and Tifa were friends since kids.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Yes i know.. Im a stubborn type. I can actually make a conclusion from all these posts yet still decided to explain everything in details.

They found Sephiroth with the Jenova. Zack did try to fight him, alas, it was all in vain. Cloud took his sword and stabbed Sephiroth from behind. Sephiroth didnt die yet, and Zack entrusted Cloud to finish him off

Zack entrusting Cloud to battle with an enemy that he as 1st Class SOLDIER himself couldnt face, and Cloud able to gain the bravery to fight Sephiroth, were something that the we need to point out

Zack was no quitter, he still had faith that Sephiroth can be beaten.

Cloud was just a timid infantryman though. He was even helpless when facing Hollander. But in this scene, Cloud managed to battle and put an end to the fight with Sephiroth.

It could be bcause Tifa was there and Cloud wanted to revenge/protect her but NO.

I want to think that, the main reason behind his daring action was because Zack was there, giving him the strength to clash with the enemy

Praising Cloud for his great work, Zack did try to reach his hand to Cloud but then he lost his consciousness

Okay, remember this long gaze and a smile Zack had when watching Cloud's back?

Maybe.. Just maybe.. It was Zack's own instinct that felt like Cloud was something worth more than just an infantryman.

Zack could be the only person in the military to notice Cloud's potential. And ofc Sephiroth too, after Cloud beaten him

It was just my assumption and theory. This game lacked characters' body language so it was hard to interpret.

Back to the topic, Not to forget that Zack decided to take Cloud along with him to escape from the lab.

Zack could just leave Cloud at the lab and escape alone, but he didnt. He dragged the catatonic Cloud all the way out from the lab. And he fought enemies at the Nibelheim, alone !

He could just leave Cloud at the Nibelheim. It was a lot easier, safer and it was Cloud's hometown too. He could flee from the enemy faster from there. But no, he refused to do that. He never thought of leaving Cloud alone

He even decided to drag Cloud with him, even when he knew it would be a great troublesome to reach to Midgar.

Zack wanting to go to Midgar was only for one reason, to meet with Aerith. They could just stay at the nearest town, but this guy wishing to meet his girl and took Cloud with him

Zack was really a good friend, one in a million like how I mentioned

And he was the source of Cloud's self esteem too

The King | The Saviour | The Soldier

King of Light surrounded with Clouds

Lightning comes from the Cloud during the Night sky may be the most intriguing thing you can ever witness

Bonus +

It's been bothering me for a while. Between Mr Strife, Claudia, Zack and Aerith, whose death gives the most impact in his life? The three of them die before his eyes, and we know nothing about Cloud's father but I believe they gave different blow to him

When Cloud says he feels guilty about the lost of his loved one, I strongly believe it is not about Aerith only.

Let's be specific. Pls dont get offensive, this is just my opinion. Hear me out and correct me if Im wrong

AERITH'S DEATH | ZACK'S DEATH

Alright, I'm gonna assume you guys had read both characters' death. Sorry, no Claudia post since we dont get to see much of her

Sooo long story short,

We hear nothing about Cloud's father, but his absent gives impact to Cloud's personality. Cloud grow up without a father figure making him to appear small, crybaby, low self confident, and had once developed anger prob

And there we have Claudia Strife, can I say she was the first person to die before Cloud's eyes?

Loosing a mother in such tragic way surely would give a deep scar in your memories and heart. How does this effects Cloud?

Let's say, you stab your chest with a 5kg knife (DONT DO THIS) and the depth of the wound is 10cm, sure it hurts like hell but it will heal. The wound will need to close with stitches and a small scar will be there. And what if there is noo stitches? Well, the skin has to close on its own

The same goes to Cloud, he had his first wound of losing someone dear infront of him but then he healed in times. The wound? Its there, scarred with small pain

4 years later, Zack died protecting him, right infront of Cloud's eyes. Stab again the chest with the 5kg knife, at the same place. The old wound will re-open and new wound formed, causing more damage to the cells and a lot painful than the previous stab and the wound is deeper

And how did it affect Cloud? He was in deeper pain now. The same place got attacked again, leaving the scar deeper, painful and unhealed.

A year later (or less?), Aerith died infront of him and he didnt do anything to stop Sephiroth. The previous wound with Zack has not healed yet, but the knife is already stabbing back the chest, at the same place with the same weight

And the result? You can hardly breath air. Your heart, your lung will loss their function, super painful, bleeding, deformity, you can barely feel the presence of your torso, the skin probably has tear off too, it feels like you wanna cut off the whole body but you cant.

And you have to drag the wound all around you. You probably will limp as well. Every steps you make, every breath you take, with the blood dripping down, the pain just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Hell you may get bacteria infection if its left untreated. But who’s going to treat you? (tifa..uhuk) The wound is invisible but its real

How comes the wound can gets serious even though you stab using a knife with the same weight and same place - bcause you stabbed the same unhealed wound continuously, without a rest.

Which event cause the most severe pain? - the third one ofc,

This is how Cloud feels when he lost Aerith. His already massively wounded heart has been continuously stabbed by the same event - the death of his loved ones before his eyes.

Learning that Aerith was related with Zack, and Zack died protecting Cloud then later Aerith died infront of him, the death of Aerith hit Cloud seriously

Soo, when the fans say Cloud suffers from depression and keeps talking about the death of his dear, I dont think Cloud refers this to Aerith only

He refers it to Zack and Aerith, (and probably Claudia too)

Im not trying to offend Clerith shippers. But its just that, try to fix your point of view. Zack is an important person to Cloud. And Aerith connects Zack with Cloud. Aerith is dear to Zack thus Cloud cares a lot about her. Losing Aerith from his hand feels the same weight as losing Zack infront of him.

Cloud is Zack's best buddy but his memory of Zack has lost. Cloud too has special bond with Aerith and the memories intact.

Since the memories of Aerith are there inside his mind, that is why he feels guilty as hell about loosing her. If his memories about Zack are still there, especially all those moments where Zack dragged Cloud with him for one whole year, Cloud probably would felt a lot lot lot guiltier even before he meet with Aerith

And that is why in Advent Children, both Zack and Aerith show up. They both are important for Cloud. Ofc while fighting the summon, Aerith gives the final boost to Cloud, cuz well.. Aerith is an ancient and she has some sort of power with the lifestream

Remember when Tifa fell down from the bridge and was in coma for 7 days, it wasnt his fault, but see how this event lead Cloud to suffer from anger problem?

I bet, if Tifa dies too, even if it isnt his fault and not infrnt of his eyes, Cloud will never be able to recover from her lost. He’ll probably become a breathing functionless pineapple for the rest of his life.

Cloud hardly loves people but once he does, he gives too much love for them, to the point he scares to loose them and too afraid to be happy

Soooo, our hero here has

Panic disorder

Constant headache with flashing old memories

Post traumatic stress disorder

Dissociative personality disorder [This is an arguable topic]

Amnesia

Maybe has depression too

Hallucination and Illusion at its best

Had anger issues back there

Insomnia (he's too light sleeper, probably he has em)

Struggling with his emotion teenager bcause he lacks of adult feeling (has been sleeping for 4 years. He missed his teen experiences)

Struggling to show emotions and behave accordingly to his own feelings

Had (or has) high self-insecurities and self doubts

Too sensitive, shy shy

Has some negative selfish vibes here (Doing things only for the right price- that is his fake persona talking)

Failed to pursue what he wanted in life - to be a SOLDIER

Weak physical body (not that type of 'weak'. He didnt make it too soldier and got infantryman position instead. He is strong but not for SOLDIER's criteria)

Anyone wants to add in some more?

So, that's why his name is CLOUD STRIFE

The cloud easily changes its shape according to the wind, it is light, untouchable, can be dark or bright, can strikes lightning, can pours rain, can have storm, can form rainbow in the tiny rain, can help to shade from sunlight, can also let the sunlight burn your skin, unpredictable - just like his mind.

And strife means issues; conflict - it represents his own life

Omg.. I've been fangirling about Cloud my entire life and I JUST KNEW ABOUT THIS? WHAT KIND OF FAN AM I???

It is rare to come across a hero with pathetic life. Usually, the creator would create a main character with tragic childhood memories, forcing them to mature against their own will and developing some mental strength inside them. Even with tragic past, the main character would still have positive vibrant attitude. Well some of them may not.

Kinds of reminds me to Batman, but quite unrelatable.

But Cloud's story is opposite to the common main charas we've met. Instead of having tragic childhood, he has a tragic early adulthood life (Joker from batman's series has conflict with his entire life too. Lets put it aside)

So when Square Enix said they purposely want to have a 'weak' hero in the team (whole FF series), now I understand the meaning of it.

Wow.. I've liked Cloud since my younger years (cant recall when was the first time I liked FF7) without knowing his entire history. Im not a good fan, i'm a broke fan

Besides Noctis,

Cloud was one of the character that was closest to normal human's life

"I found you"

"Found you"

"Coming.. To.. Get you?"

"You're just trying to help, aren't you"

- "Are you ready?"

- "I'm ready now"

- "Me too"

- "Found you"

- "No way"

"I'm ready. I'm right here. Come get me"

"Mom?"

Tifa - "We found you"

This is part2. Go to PART1 for previous details

Then later, Cloud was trying to act like a cool kid here. Ahahahah. That was so awkward Cloud but you managed to pull it off

Again, look at Tifa's facial expression. She wasnt excited anymore and became even more depressed. Notice that sudden inhale, chest expand with a frown lips from her?

And again. Watch closely, Tifa was about to cry here but she quickly talked about newspaper and acting as if it was nothing to her

CLOUD, PLEASE LOOK BEHIND YOU, YOU DORK. When talking about some life changing matter, it is important to look at your lover listener face

Cant you see she was hurting there??

Clearly here, Tifa tried to stay 'naturally cheerful and calm'. She didnt want to break Cloud's motivation, neither to talk about her feelings. And LOL, this was how Cloud respond to Tifa who had her emotions concealed - he was shocked. Probably he didnt get the reply like how he thought he would receive from her. He wanted to be notice by Tifa, but he saw Tifa looked happy there

I TOLD YOU TO LOOK BEHIND YOU! DONT TELL ME YOU'RE SHOCKED WITH HER ANSWERS

No, actually the two of them didnt understand each others words behind those facial expressions, body languages and voice tones.

Tifa thought Cloud really wanted to become a soldier and leave their hometown to pursue his dream, when the actual truth was, Cloud wanted Tifa to notice him.

And Cloud never realised that Tifa had long noticed him and cared for him since their early childhood memories. He, ofc, didnt see how Tifa's face changed when he was talking about moving to Midgar and wont be back for a long time

And later..

It seemed like Tifa had a sudden idea to ensure she could keep in touch with Cloud. I dont think anyone would easily like to make a promise like this if they dont have any feelings towards the other person.

Thus, they made a vow under the stars

And Cloud -

Wth cloud? Looking at her hair wont tell much about she actually feels on the inside, kay.

You have to look at her face! She was about to cry again there!!!

Here is the full vid if you want to take a closer measurement at their faces and voice tones

Do you still remember this infantryman?

A buddy of Cloud back when Cloud was still in military?

A 'friend' that refuses to shoot Cloud, even gives him a sad look when Cloud tries to run away from the troopers

And i was told he was the same guy that have met with Cloud, Tifa and Barret inside the Shinra building. Wanna see his real face? Scroll down..

I thought his age was somewhere between 30s. But I was wrong.

He looks young though, maybe a bit older than Cloud, but i dont think he has reaches his 30s yet.

Aww maaaaaaaaan.. I wanna see him again !!! I wanna know how exactly did Cloud interact with his military friends when he was one of them. I bet Cloud was a warmth person, and was able to open up with others.

Bcause there's someone that remembers Cloud and he even refuses to shoot him!