Personality: Cloud has a rather complicated personality at the very beginning of Final Fantasy 7, due to the combined effects of Mako poisoning and the influence of Jenova's cells in his body. Cloud unknowingly holds a false persona created by Jenova cells mixing with the memories of Zack's personality and alongside the over-confident and selfish attitude that Cloud believes a SOLDIER 1st Class would have. As the story progresses however, and the point he is being taken from, Cloud has eventually begun to show genuine concern for the fate of Gaia, his friends and the others they run into, opening up to them more as he interacts and spends close time with them. It is a very sharp contrast to his personality at the very beginning of the game, where he claims he does not care and only agreed to help AVALANCHE for the right price, shown in his interactions with Barret and Tifa at the Seventh Heaven bar when they prepare for their raid on the Sector 5 reactor.
At the beginning, Cloud is very egotistical, thinking himself better than others and not bothering to get himself close to anyone. Even the new player training is done with him giving dismissive and know-it-all responses to the people in the room, showing off the things he knows. This goes back to when he was a kid, when he held a very strong crush on Tifa, but loathed and hated the other children she was close with. This was partly due to jealousy, but also because of him thinking that he was a far better person to be around. This leada to him picking many fights with the other children, and becoming a bit of a lone wolf.
Later in the game Tifa explains that her and Cloud were never actually that close as children, while Cloud's descriptions and flashback in Kalm that the two were close childhood friends. She knew him as her neighbor, but their actual most major interaction was the night he said he was going off to become a SOLDIER, shortly after the incident in the mountains where she got herself hurt and he got blamed. He never forgave himself for being unable to protect her, and promised her that one day he'd come back and rescue her if she was in danger. His current recollection of the past is that he failed to save her during the Nibelheim incident, and while this is not true, Tifa was unconscious and Zack was the only witness.
Even though he seems cool and confident, there is a bit of levity to Cloud's attitude. Willingly crossdressing in order to save Tifa from the hands of a brothel, Cloud displays not only concern for his friends but begrudging self-sacrifice, it also shows that Cloud can roll with the punches (and still be able to crack a joke or two at his own expense). He also shows a sense of humor at the ribbing and jabbing he makes between other members of his party, teasing Barret about keeping his sailor uniform as pajamas once they arrive at Costa del Sol ("You look like a teddybear wearing a marshmallow")
Though most of his actions are influenced to a certain degree by Sephiroth and the mixture of cells and memories clouding his personality, Cloud seldom shows fear or doubt, running into fights or doing his best to save lives when he can. Even though he may at first he show hesitation, Cloud still performs heroic deeds, such as performing CPR on a young girl after being instructed on how to do so. This further shows Cloud's true selflessness, as well as an ability to perform calmly and collected in a dire situation.
He also has an expansive knowledge of things in their world, as there are a few points throughout the game where Cloud is asked to explain the use of an an item or a term or even a game command. Though these scenes are done as tutorials, it is Cloud who is instructing, showing his broad swath of knowledge. Even though he attributes this to his knowledge from his time in SOLDIER, it more likely comes as a mix of his time as a military grunt and as Zack's best friend. He's also adaptable and a quick learner, able to pilot a submarine without previous training, though as his original personality begins to surface his former symptoms of motion sickness (though not a personality trait) begin to show. It does, however, affect his feelings upon riding vehicles, but in the end he still plows through the pain and carries on.
His relationship with Tifa is a large plot point in the game, and there are several instances where Cloud, hopelessly clueless to Tifa's feelings, doesn't quite catch a phrase or euphemism that Tifa utters. During their gondola ride (if the player is able to achieve the outcome through flirting and correct menu choices), Tifa explains to Cloud that she wants to tell him something, saying that "Aerith would be able to tell you, probably. So I should, too." This alludes to the budding feelings that Tifa has for Cloud, but with Cloud's reply of nothing but a "?", Cloud seems oblivious to her feelings. The bravado he is showing through his SOLDIER persona has him constantly trying to play it cool, but he is overshooting his mark and misses those cues that he shouldn't be. It's not until their conversation at the airship the night before they go to Northern Crater that anything is resolved, though Tifa's reaction and level of embarrassment to everyone listening in depends on how the player has treated her over the course of the game.
When Cloud confronts Sephiroth during their numerous encounters, Cloud doesn't seem to harbor a malice for the terrible things that Sephiroth has done. Rather, Cloud seems to ask a string of questions before bothering to initiate an attack. His concern does lie with trying to stop Sephiroth, but not necessarily trying to kill him. Whether this has anything to do with being controlled by Sephiroth or not, it shows that even with his mortal enemy, the man who killed his Mother and destroyed his home town is a force to be stopped, not one to be snuffed out. Most outwardly, Cloud's driving force seems to be to want to understand, questioning why Sephiroth is doing this, and how he survived the battle in the reactor in Nibelheim. It isn't until later in the game that Cloud's resolve to destroy Sephiroth shows, as the only way to save Gaia is by fighting him to the death, a task that he believes he must handle himself and on his own to prove his self worth and identity.
[Canon] Cloud Strife || Final Fantasy 7 || Reserve || 2 of 4
Cloud has a rather complicated personality at the very beginning of Final Fantasy 7, due to the combined effects of Mako poisoning and the influence of Jenova's cells in his body. Cloud unknowingly holds a false persona created by Jenova cells mixing with the memories of Zack's personality and alongside the over-confident and selfish attitude that Cloud believes a SOLDIER 1st Class would have. As the story progresses however, and the point he is being taken from, Cloud has eventually begun to show genuine concern for the fate of Gaia, his friends and the others they run into, opening up to them more as he interacts and spends close time with them. It is a very sharp contrast to his personality at the very beginning of the game, where he claims he does not care and only agreed to help AVALANCHE for the right price, shown in his interactions with Barret and Tifa at the Seventh Heaven bar when they prepare for their raid on the Sector 5 reactor.
At the beginning, Cloud is very egotistical, thinking himself better than others and not bothering to get himself close to anyone. Even the new player training is done with him giving dismissive and know-it-all responses to the people in the room, showing off the things he knows. This goes back to when he was a kid, when he held a very strong crush on Tifa, but loathed and hated the other children she was close with. This was partly due to jealousy, but also because of him thinking that he was a far better person to be around. This leada to him picking many fights with the other children, and becoming a bit of a lone wolf.
Later in the game Tifa explains that her and Cloud were never actually that close as children, while Cloud's descriptions and flashback in Kalm that the two were close childhood friends. She knew him as her neighbor, but their actual most major interaction was the night he said he was going off to become a SOLDIER, shortly after the incident in the mountains where she got herself hurt and he got blamed. He never forgave himself for being unable to protect her, and promised her that one day he'd come back and rescue her if she was in danger. His current recollection of the past is that he failed to save her during the Nibelheim incident, and while this is not true, Tifa was unconscious and Zack was the only witness.
Even though he seems cool and confident, there is a bit of levity to Cloud's attitude. Willingly crossdressing in order to save Tifa from the hands of a brothel, Cloud displays not only concern for his friends but
begrudgingself-sacrifice, it also shows that Cloud can roll with the punches (and still be able to crack a joke or two at his own expense). He also shows a sense of humor at the ribbing and jabbing he makes between other members of his party, teasing Barret about keeping his sailor uniform as pajamas once they arrive at Costa del Sol ("You look like a teddybear wearing a marshmallow")Though most of his actions are influenced to a certain degree by Sephiroth and the mixture of cells and memories clouding his personality, Cloud seldom shows fear or doubt, running into fights or doing his best to save lives when he can. Even though he may at first he show hesitation, Cloud still performs heroic deeds, such as performing CPR on a young girl after being instructed on how to do so. This further shows Cloud's true selflessness, as well as an ability to perform calmly and collected in a dire situation.
He also has an expansive knowledge of things in their world, as there are a few points throughout the game where Cloud is asked to explain the use of an an item or a term or even a game command. Though these scenes are done as tutorials, it is Cloud who is instructing, showing his broad swath of knowledge. Even though he attributes this to his knowledge from his time in SOLDIER, it more likely comes as a mix of his time as a military grunt and as Zack's best friend. He's also adaptable and a quick learner, able to pilot a submarine without previous training, though as his original personality begins to surface his former symptoms of motion sickness (though not a personality trait) begin to show. It does, however, affect his feelings upon riding vehicles, but in the end he still plows through the pain and carries on.
His relationship with Tifa is a large plot point in the game, and there are several instances where Cloud, hopelessly clueless to Tifa's feelings, doesn't quite catch a phrase or euphemism that Tifa utters. During their gondola ride (if the player is able to achieve the outcome through flirting and correct menu choices), Tifa explains to Cloud that she wants to tell him something, saying that "Aerith would be able to tell you, probably. So I should, too." This alludes to the budding feelings that Tifa has for Cloud, but with Cloud's reply of nothing but a "?", Cloud seems oblivious to her feelings. The bravado he is showing through his SOLDIER persona has him constantly trying to play it cool, but he is overshooting his mark and misses those cues that he shouldn't be. It's not until their conversation at the airship the night before they go to Northern Crater that anything is resolved, though Tifa's reaction and level of embarrassment to everyone listening in depends on how the player has treated her over the course of the game.
When Cloud confronts Sephiroth during their numerous encounters, Cloud doesn't seem to harbor a malice for the terrible things that Sephiroth has done. Rather, Cloud seems to ask a string of questions before bothering to initiate an attack. His concern does lie with trying to stop Sephiroth, but not necessarily trying to kill him. Whether this has anything to do with being controlled by Sephiroth or not, it shows that even with his mortal enemy, the man who killed his Mother and destroyed his home town is a force to be stopped, not one to be snuffed out. Most outwardly, Cloud's driving force seems to be to want to understand, questioning why Sephiroth is doing this, and how he survived the battle in the reactor in Nibelheim. It isn't until later in the game that Cloud's resolve to destroy Sephiroth shows, as the only way to save Gaia is by fighting him to the death, a task that he believes he must handle himself and on his own to prove his self worth and identity.