[Balfree]

A valid reason as any.

Still he/she is an awesome character to have in your party.

[Armando]

Thank you. Am I the only person sick of that word being used to describe every main character with emotional issues? You'd be fucked up too if you were in Cloud or Squall's shoes. Cloud was just a wuss (and apparently some kind of genetic super-freak) that ended up with a bad case of amnesia/mistaken identity. Squall was abandoned as a child at an Orphanage by his only family. How would you feel if the only person you were close to and depended on just suddenly disappeared without a trace one day while you were very young?

I wouldn't know, but I also don't know how the hell he's lived so long with that intense apathy and emotional blockage. I really didn't care for him.

Was Squaresoft on some kind of chibi-high?

Pre-PS2 era, when were they not? FFVIII was the exception.

[DakAttack]

Originally Posted by Malacite

Thank you. Am I the only person sick of that word being used to describe every main character with emotional issues? You'd be fucked up too if you were in Cloud or Squall's shoes. Cloud was just a wuss (and apparently some kind of genetic super-freak) that ended up with a bad case of amnesia/mistaken identity. Squall was abandoned as a child at an Orphanage by his only family. How would you feel if the only person you were close to and depended on just suddenly disappeared without a trace one day while you were very young?

Wasn't Cloud completely average until being infused with Mako? The side-effect was some kind of catatonia, during which Zack completely saved his ass several times. I believe Zack said something to motivate Cloud to take up his sword, but he took up his idendity as well. He went from being a Shin-Ra guard, to train-hopping rebel, to superhero. I believe the emotions came after being mind-controlled by Sephiroth and realizing he wasn't who he thought he was after falling into the Lifestream.

[Armando]

(Spoilers) Yes, Cloud was completely average. He didn't even make the cut for SOLDIER, and like you said he didn't take well to the Mako infusion either.

But as far as I remember all Zack did was to tell him to kill Sephiroth at the reactor. Cloud wasn't conscious when the Shinra soldiers killed Zack; they just left Cloud there for dead/vegetable/useless. When Cloud came to Zack was already dead, that's when he took Zack's Buster Sword as his own and started pretending to be someone he's not. I think Zack had already given him clothes identical to his when Cloud was still high on Mako.

[Malacite]

He tells Cloud to kill Sephiroth, and his final words to Cloud were "you are my living legacy" which is likely how Cloud got himself confused for Zack (well, that and the severe mako poisoning)


While I'm not one for messing with classics, in some ways FF7 may have been a far more enjoyable story had Zack simply not gotten cheap-shotted and actually survived as Cloud is basically his stand-in which makes him one of the weakest "main" characters ever, second only to Vann. Oh god what a poor excuse of a character Vann was... (Playing Crisis Core gave me renewed appreciation for the complete story, and a new found hatred of Cloud)


Also, Quina's gender was never defined, assuming its species even has one

[DakAttack]

Well, it seems Cloud had a lot of potential. He had the SOLDIER trademark Mako eyes, so that must have meant that at some point his infusion fulfilled it's purpose. He was strengthened by materia, and he kept a large collection, as seen in Advent Children. I believe his indifference was due to different events during the game.

[Karinya]

Originally Posted by Ketaru

He had Mighty Guard, calculated damage spells that ignore defense, the earliest and most accessible form of Auto-Life, got a petrification weapon very early on, and gets some of his best spells early in the game. Many of them are just as good later on as they were early on. Oh, and Bad Breath...

Why wouldn't anyone use him?

Also, there's an area you can get to surprisingly early in the game that has only one kind of enemy, which is quite high exp value and level 60. And not immune to L5 Death.

Even that doesn't make IX nearly as easy as VIII, though.

The thing I mainly like IX for is that you have some useful level of control over your characters' abilities, but still can't turn them into complete clones of each other like in VII or VIII where almost all abilities come from something outside the character and can be transferred to another character at the drop of a hat. It's a nice balance of customizability and character uniqueness. (You also can't get all abilities at once and turn into an uber-god like in X.)

I really, really wish FFXI merits worked like the passive abilities in FFIX (well, except for having to earn the points through exp instead of gaining them as you level, I guess). Being able to respec your merits (even in MH only) would solve a lot of problems with the current system IMO.

[Caspian]

I never played 9 much and never played 8 at all, so I really have no opinion on that matter.

In regards to Cloud in 7:
SPOILERS>>>
Based on what I remember last time I played it (playing it again right now on PSP just no that deep into it, yet) and more recently from Crisis Core: Cloud was just a regular sentry who Zach took under his wing. On Mt. Nibel Sephiroth went nuts and smacked down Zach. Cloud got pissed and ran in. Sephiroth ran him through with his sword, but Cloud had enough determination to grab the sword while it was still in his gut and throw it and Sephiroth over the edge, killing him. After that is when Hojo had both Zach and Cloud and thats when Cloud got his Mako injections, which increased his physical capabilities by a crapton (if I remember there was journal log about how significantly stronger he'd gotten or something to that effect) but w/o the 3rd injection it severely fucked with his head. He didn't get the 3rd "injection" until he disappeared and was lost in the lifestream for awhile.
And I agree with Armando, the falling to his knees and grabbing his head was less because he was emo and more because of supressed memories trying to break through and causing an immense amount of pain.

[hexx]

Gotta say I liked both equally. Yeah the story was kinda wierd in VIII but I liked the world itself, the idea of private military schools (hey, you get taught to kill, then automatically have a job when y ou graduate =P) but IX was just an awesome throwback to the old school FF games too. I really liked the music in IX also, and all those little side stories and events you could do while in town.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I think I just don't like the FFIX ability system. I don't mind synthesis systems, but I don't want to be reliant on luck or a guide to get all of them. FFVII, VIII, X and XII give you an idea of where you can go and I think that's a good thing.

Its not like you HAVE to homogenize each character to have the same abilities, anyway. With the materia system, you could use materia to highlight strengths of each character. Same with the GF system and junctioned magic or the Sphere and License Grids.

I think FFX struck the best balance - characters could cross the grid to learn other abilites, but they still had combat functions that made them all useful (except Khimari until he learned Mighty Guard, poor guy). Wakka and Lulu specialized in aerial mobs, Wakka was also a key enfeebler. Rikku dismantled machines and was the only one that could really utilize Al Bhed potions, Auron was your piercing attacker, Tidus learned Time Magic the earliest and Yuna was, well, the summoner. And then the limit breaks added further distinctions.

In FFXII, more often than not, I designed my characters to resemble FFXI jobs. The only downside was I couldn't fully realize stuff like Blue Mage or Dragoon (no jumps, but hey, Zodiac Spear makes up for it).

[Malacite]

Originally Posted by Karinya

I really, really wish FFXI merits worked like the passive abilities in FFIX (well, except for having to earn the points through exp instead of gaining them as you level, I guess). Being able to respec your merits (even in MH only) would solve a lot of problems with the current system IMO.

Every time I've suggested that I've been shot down, as if everyone woud suddenly stop meriting. I say good for those who would because that's less crowding for the rest of us.

[Coinspinner]

There's a lot I love about VIII, but the things I dislike about it I dislike enough that the whole game is spoiled for me. I did play it twice though, just to break the game as much as I could.

FFIX is one I could never replay, but I enjoyed it quite a lot the first time through. By the time I got around to FFIX I was just no longer able to replay RPGs - it's not a problem with that particular one.

[odjnlinus]

I liked both, but VIII appealled to me more because Squall's attitude as a main character is something more RPGs need nowadays even though most people didn't like him bc he was a jerk or something to that nature, bah that's why I liked him, he took no bullcrap.

Zidane was pretty cool also, not so much as a badass except at the end of the game where he totally brushed his friends off to the side for about 20 mins of gameplay .

Maybe I just like characters that are hard to understand, not so opening to others, and just want to be that guy that doesn't socialized.

In theory I liked FFVIII better than FFIX.

[Kailea]

I liked IX, did not care for VIII much. Basicly to me IX was more on the classic side of FF< and thats what I like, VIII was to "soapopera" to me.

[Malacite]

Zidane was a tool and a poor attempt at recapturing the awesomeness that was Locke.