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How ironic. A strong-willed super soldier becomes the villain, while a weak-willed nobody becomes the hero

I thought with Cloud and Zack with the shoulder armour/pad things, while Zack has both, Cloud only has the one being it like a visual metaphor of Cloud being half a man, trying to live Zack's life.

I like clouds character because there have been other stories where you start out a video game playing a blank monotone main character, which I think is cool because you can impose your own identity onto this “blank slate” main character, but it does get repetitive. Either they have amnesia or it’s “just their personality” or they have a tragic backstory, always one of those. But Cloud on the other hand, has like all that. He “has amnesia” but it’s filled in with Zack’s “tragic backstory” changing his “personality” into a this monotone blank main character which was really refreshing to discover.

Nice video. I found it really impressive when you explained the voice that Cloud hears inside his mind throughout the story. I've never realized that that voice was the real Cloud speaking to the "cocky, cool" persona he basically practiced in the first half of the game. But thanks to your analysis, it makes perfect sense. The Cloud we saw for the first half was just a deeply conflicted with a lack of self-identity. Thanks for uploading this in-depth analysis.

I always thought the inner-voice was Zack as Cloud took on his persona.

Great analysis mate. You've earned yourself a new subscriber. Btw it was always my perception that cloud was able to kill Sephiroth because deep down inside he actually had great potential which is what came out after the Mideel breakdown.

I kinda thought the inner voice in Cloud’s head was Zack. The things he’d expect a well informed friend of his to say and fill in the blanks or warn him about. It seemed more like a way for Cloud to keep Zack’s memory alive in his mind while still repressing the the past.

I think sephiroth literally lowered his guard on purpose simply to enter the life stream as a means to control it as he ultimately did. His strength, speed and durability were so far beyond anyone ever being able to touch him that he consciously weakened himself to reach a new level in the life stream. If he was aware as a child of what he was i likely think he would've not fractured mentally or at the very least not let shinra use his power as he would quickly realize that he was incapable of being stopped.

Zack: I'm the best hero in the SOLDIER franchise; I can get a harem and defeat Sephiroth! Sephiroth: Hahaha. Hold my Jenovah. Cloud: *shows up Sephiroth and Zack: do I hear boss music?

I love how sephiroth was in crisis core. he was willing to donate blood for his friend, he protected Zack. he just came to see Zack and talk to him. I feel bad for him when he found out about his cruel origin. President ShinRa, Hojo and maybe Genesis too were just evil but sephiroth? He is so much more

Clouds still cool because he was still himself during the present day events of ff7,and he doesnt really seem like a fraud.

I've just found you unfortuently. I love your videos. Looking forward to seeing more.

Just found your channel, love the content, very insightful and concisely explained!

omg just realized you uploaded these analysis' and discussions! I'm so glad to see that you're still making these videos. I love hearing your thoughts and breakdowns on these characters. I wish i could contribute to your thoughts but unfortunately It's been years and years since I played FF7 so i don't really remember a lot of the deeper details of the game. I do have one weird little snippet of information though in regards to Sephiroth's visual design. It's not confirmed anywhere i think(at least not anywhere i'm aware of) but i feel like Sephiroth's design HAD to be inspired by Allen Shazar of Escaflowne. It's not something anyone really talks about but when you examine their silhouettes and their kind of hair styles and even the type of weapons they use the two characters have kind of an uncanny resemblance to each other that i can't really believe is just pure coincidence(even down tot he point of how people might perceive them within the world). I feel like Nomura had to have taken inspiration from that character. Even for advent children, when you compare Sephiroths hairstyle to Escaflowne's movie version of Allen, the two are pretty much exactly the same. Anyway, i don't know if it holds any truth but i figured i'd just bring it up i guess. I always thought the resemblance was odd.

Great video man! I just posted a short one about the must read “A Way To A Smile.” I remember that I was Cloud as an RPG you play as the character so as a kid I was like in full live with Aeris/Aerith and when she died, it was brutal. Great breakdown man!

I found quite ironic that both Cloud and Sephiroth has indentity problems.

Well, Cloud's stoic personality doesn't change after he fixes his memories, he's just not undergoing identity crisis.

Great video man!!! Well done

the inner monologues are zach with exception of church scene which is young cloud

Great analysis :)

hi, Redcoat. wondering if u could do a video on the mako reactors and how they function ,and do they put out radiation like our nuclear reactors do in our real world,and how a nuclear reactor functions,and how the mako reactor functions.thankx

Amazing video

One thing that people don't notice and I didn't notice as well till someone told me is how exactly Cloud beats Sephiroth for the first time. 1. Sephiroth is crazy, when he goes on the rampage and then goes to Jenova, his mind has gone insane, he is in an altered state and probably also because of his enormous strenght, he lowers his guard too much. 2. During the flashback you can see the equipment of Cloud. He has only one materia that is "preemptive strike". Thanks to the power of the materia, Cloud managed to give a devastating blow to Sephiroth in his vulnerable state, and then he finishes him off because of both his strong will and the weakness he caused to Sephiroth.

I understand this video is old, it’s not actually my first time viewing it, but Square has since come out and stated that the nuances of Crisis Core are canon and that the Last Order anime is not

I don't know why everyone is prone to elevating one character above the other due to their choices. It's clear that Cloud and Sephiroth are two halves of one whole, like Yin and Yang. They are the natural balance even if Cloud, as of the continuity of FFVII Remake isn't aware of it. This is why Sephiroth will never become a memory, because in a strange way he is necessary to maintaining balance it seems.

Yeah if u actually think about it both Cloud & Sephiroth have pretty similar lives/histories. Both suffer constant loss and massive identity crisis’. Shit they both kinda go insane too (cloud thinks he’s Zack). The only difference there is between them really is Tifa. Tifa keeps cloud grounded and is likely the only reason he doesn’t go as crazy as sephiroth.

hmmm...weird ...even tho cloud is a failed sephiroth clone i always thought he has zack's traits in his head rather just sephiroth's....remember there are many sephiroth clones which manifested the reunion but almost none (as far as we know) was a soldier ...and that's a key ID differential for cloud...i always thought of that about zack even before crisis core....i never thought it was his mom or the real cloud or sephiroth in cloud's head...i ALWAYS thought that it was Zack's "consciousness" talking to cloud and trying to keep him safe and make him realize what happened to him...by accident zack "injected" his personality into cloud since throughout their journey back to midgar cloud was partially listening to zack while his mind was in shambles ...and it took years to make this travel so zack had a lot to talk about....cloud knew that soldiers are different from a normal human thanks to a mako infusion from ShinRa and their trooper training so when he "woke up" at the stairs of midgar train station with tifa in front oh him asking him stuff, he realized his body, his clothes and then he saw the buster sword which cloud had all seen before so zack's traits kicked into action, ergo the victory sword spin, so even if cloud didn't remember the mako infusion and becoming a soldier, he immediately identified himself to tifa as a First Class Soldier...because zack was one...he almost immediately clicked with aerith and SO DID SHE...just like zack...(remember throughout the ff7 journey leading up to aerith's death she said several times "you are just like him" which is why she clicked with him too) ...and the most of ALL, cloud immediately replaced himself with zack in his memories of nibelheim...because even if he is a failed sephiroth clone he mostly identified himself with zack thanks to zack being a soldier A Class, his friend and a good person in general.....but throughout the game's progression his head is becoming crowded with voices and sephiroth is becoming more dormant in his head rather than zack creating this mental breakdown

5:34 Is basically a what now? goober mint?

Cloud lifting Sephiroth while impaled made absolutely no sense to me

Good video but AERES? 🤔

Best stick with the original and Advent. The rest contradict each other and it is a straight up mess. Besides, it's not inconceivable that Cloud could hurt Sephiroth so badly after beating Zack. Sephiroth's back was turned to Cloud and he got a GIANT SWORD stabbed through him.