Honestly though... i think i'd like Remake+Rebirth a bit more if Cloud was less..stoic? I mean, i am a little unfair, he does have his moment of wonder and openness and some "you blink you miss it" smiles (and also he gets annoyed a lot and also he snarls sometimes). And to be more fair, yeah technically at some point you can choose to have him joke around or stay "focus on the mission and also don't talk to me Biggs i don't want friends" in the original. But listen. Og ff7 didn't have much of facial expressions (like...they sure have a face but it's for the sake of it) but still, the characters have a range of body animations. When he escapes the Turks with Aerith on midgar (on the roof of the church) and they joke a little about how "maybe the turks are trying to hire me haha" he visibly laugh with her. Like, you can see his little lego body shaking with laughter. The high five in Remake was kind of funny but idk i liked when he just laughed You won't make me believe that Cloud in Rebirth was not phased at all by the "hanged man" receptionist in the ghost inn in Gold Saucer when in OG ff7 he flinches every single time he rings that bell. I mean, it's up to interpretation since it cuts to Barret and Cloud's reaction is barely visible so like, it's a statement : you won't make me believe he didn't react even if it does not look like he did In OG it's also not uncommon for him to have this "neck scratching" animation when he gets embarassed . Or to look down and shake his head, or even shrugging! Or have an "oh shit!" animation when shit is happening Or when he jumps of joy when he wins a chocobo race You could argue that since their faces don't move they need to exagerate their body animations and it would not be an irrelevant remark actually. But still, you will notice that the various characters have their own animations, they don't all do the same things. Cloud laughing and flinching and being visibly embarassed is part of his personality (and yeah, i know that Cloud has a bit of an issue with exactly that, personality and stuff. Still, whether you think that him doing all of that is a mask (which i don't quite believe because being arrogant as fuck is more of his mask than him being scared by the receptionist) it does not matter much : the point is that it does happen I mean, that's not my only problem with Remake and Rebirth lol buuuut yeah
Remember : this
And this :
....Are not mutually exclusive. (it's also an official artwork, i think) ....Tbh i am not even ranting at Remake+Rebirth personally, i am ranting about how we collectively forgot Cloud was not always "local stoic guy", just look at this smilling Cloud and print it in your mind
