CLOUD STRIFE
Head in the clouds
You know someone means business when they’ve got a sword bigger than they are strapped to their back. Cloud introduces himself to AVALANCHE as a Mako-enhanced ex-SOLDIER, and offers to help them blow up Shinra’s Mako reactors in exchange for cash. The only thing the group really knows about him is that he shares a past with another member, Tifa. While most people know him from spin-off media as being a grumpy loner, the Cloud of this game knows how to crack wise, with Barret a prime target for his sarcastic comebacks.
At points the rest of the gang gently prod at him, trying to get him to open up (and in Jessie’s case work out if there’s something going on between him and Tifa). But while Cloud can be witty and sarcastic, he keeps his real feelings close to his chest. However, we get to see what’s on his mind from early on. He has flashbacks to his childhood with Tifa, in the wild-westlike town of Nibelheim; but also to something much more sinister. His flashbacks keep showing him a dark-clothed figure with long, silver hair: Sephiroth. The memories of his time as part of SOLDIER are all linked to the mysterious individual, and seem to be closely tied to why he left.
But that decision has put him in the same boat as AVALANCHE. As an enhanced super-soldier, going rogue’s put a Shinra-shaped target on his back, as he’s an investment gone bad. And that Mako experimentation doesn’t only have positive effects. Generally, all SOLDIERs die young because of the gene-meddling. But is his hatred of Shinra and enigmatic past all that draws him to working with AVALANCHE? Maybe Cloud cares more for the planet that he lets on.
“GOING ROGUE HAS PUT A SHINRASHAPED TARGET ON HIS BACK.”