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195-422: Midgar is a major aspect of the metaseries' industrial or post-industrial science fiction milieu with recurring appearances in related media, and is the centerpiece of Final Fantasy VII Remake . Midgar is considered to be one of the most memorable aspects of the original Final Fantasy VII , and has been well received by critics and the video game community for its cyberpunk aesthetic and dystopian setting. Midgar

390-476: A minigame involving Cloud driving a motorcycle at the start of the game's development, and Nomura's illustrations included Cloud riding a "Hardy-Daytona" ( ハーディ＝デイトナ , Hādi-Deitona ) , a Shinra motorcycle based on a real-life motorbike, the Yamaha VMAX . For Advent Children , Nomura agreed to direct the project largely because of his attachment to Cloud's character. Although Nomura stated that Cloud

585-472: A "big mission" whenever they became available, as the conclusion of Shinra's war with the people of Wutai ended his chances for military fame. Sephiroth started questioning his humanity after accompanying him on a job to Cloud's hometown of Nibelheim and discovering documents concerning Jenova , an extraterrestrial lifeform and Sephiroth's "mother". This ultimately led to Sephiroth burning down Nibelheim. Cloud confronted Sephiroth at Mt Nibel's Mako Reactor and

780-901: A "dorky character". According to Nomura, although post- Final Fantasy VII titles featuring Cloud have emphasized his "cool side", "in the original game, Cloud had many comical or lame moments". Nomura believes that the reason Cloud became popular with audiences is due to the impact his personality made on Nojima's scenario. In addition to testing models ported from Square's 1995 SIGGRAPH demo , Nomura and several other artists created new characters, including an early design of Cloud. Sakaguchi, impressed with Nomura's illustrations and detailed handwritten notes for Final Fantasy V and VI , tasked him with designing Final Fantasy VII 's main characters. Nomura's notes listed Cloud's job as magic swordsman ( 魔法剣士 , mahō kenshi ) . Cloud's design underwent several revisions. Nomura's first draft of Cloud featured slicked-back black hair to contrast with

975-455: A "failed experiment", then goes missing. The party later discovers a comatose Cloud suffering from Mako poisoning. It is revealed that Cloud never qualified for SOLDIER, and instead enlisted as an infantryman in Shinra's army. During the mission to Nibelheim, he served under Sephiroth and Zack and hid his identity from the townspeople out of embarrassment. Following Sephiroth's defeat of Zack at

1170-424: A "more mature and cool" individual, struck Amano as "intriguing", though not unusual as a pairing. When designing Cloud and Sephiroth, Nomura imagined a rivalry mirroring that of Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō , with Cloud and Sephiroth representing Musashi and Kojirō, respectively. Kitase and Nojima developed Cloud's backstory and his relationship to Sephiroth. While drafting the game's scenario, Nojima saw

1365-496: A Limit Break gauge allows characters to perform more powerful attacks once charged. While the game has more real-time elements, strategic elements still remain, such as selecting weapons and magic for each character to wield. Cloud Strife ( Cody Christian / Takahiro Sakurai ) is a former member of SOLDIER, the elite warriors of the Shinra Electric Power Company. Shinra uses Mako, a refined form of

1560-501: A better sense of the city and its culture. The roles of previously minor characters were also expanded for this purpose. Despite being marketed as a remake, the narrative has multiple changes from the original game, such as Barret being attacked by the antagonist Sephiroth and saved by a Whisper. Sephiroth appears during the Midgar scenario despite not being properly introduced until a flashback Cloud experiences. Vice noted that Cloud sees

1755-421: A central pillar and a system of smaller columns, and a network of slums beneath the plate. The upper plate contains office buildings and similar complexes, as well as theatres, bars and various residences. The plate is divided into eight sectors, with each sector punctuated by two walls and a Mako reactor. The city's prosperity is due to the abundance of Mako energy near it, and the reactor complex meaning that there

1950-476: A child from a rural area rather than an established actor, and ultimately went with 13-year-old Yukihiro Aizawa. In most English adaptations, Cloud is voiced by Steve Burton , who was first hired to voice Cloud after a Square employee saw his role in the 2001 film The Last Castle . Burton's work as Cloud in Advent Children served as his first feature-length role, an experience he enjoyed. Calling

2145-454: A city" in the original. EGMNOW praised the themes of ecoterrorism and war and the prominent role Midgar had in the narrative. Nadia Oxford of US Gamer found that the visual upgrade of Midgar in Remake provides an unsettling observation on how Midgar's expansion damages the planet it is located in environmentally, as well as the parallels of "human excess and hubris" between the real world and

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2340-423: A completed scenario in advance. Left to imagine the stories behind the characters he designed, Nomura shared these details in discussions with staff or in separately penned notes. Frustrated by the continued popularity of Final Fantasy IV 's characters despite the release of two sequels, Nomura made it his goal to create a memorable cast. The contrast between Cloud, a "young, passionate boy", and Sephiroth,

2535-546: A complex fictional character, comparing him with Metal Gear ' s Solid Snake , Final Fantasy VI ' s Terra Branford , and Tekken ' s Jin Kazama due to his identity issues. Kurt Kalata of Gamasutra stated that Cloud is "somewhat of a weakling" with grandiose delusions and other psychological issues. He also called Cloud one of the first unreliable narrators in a role-playing video game. According to Patrick Holleman, "no RPG has ever deliberately betrayed

2730-458: A connection between the player and the protagonist. Jack Ridsdale of PCGamesN argues that Cloud is a deconstruction of the hero archetype and toxic masculinity , and compares the plot twist about his true identity to that of Fight Club . In Alana Hagues from RPGFan said Cloud's shock when Sephiroth kills Aertih has a major impact on her as Cloud properly expresses depression over death, something no video game has ever done to her. While Cloud

2925-422: A device to provide details about the world that would be unknown to the player but considered common knowledge to its inhabitants. To emphasize Cloud's personality, event planners repeated elements they found interesting, such as Toriyama's standing animation and Cloud's use of the phrase "not interested". In retrospective, Nomura and Final Fantasy VII Remake co-director Naoki Hamaguchi have described Cloud as

3120-644: A different character. His model was primarily based on his appearance in the Dissidia series, with slight alterations under Nomura's supervision. He was made available as in-game downloadable content alongside a stage based on Midgar in December 2015. A pair of Cloud amiibo figures were released in July 2017. He returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018), and is now playable in

3315-456: A false personality largely based on Zack's, inadvertently erasing the latter from his memory. After piecing together his identity, Cloud resumes his role as leader and silently expresses his mutual feelings with Tifa the night before the final battle. At the game's conclusion, Sephiroth reappears in Cloud's mind a final time, but is defeated in a one-on-one fight. Cloud appears in a minor role in

3510-619: A few days to sell more than 100,000 units within Germany, for which it won a Gold Sales Award. It was the fourth most downloaded PlayStation 4 game of April 2020 in Europe. After its release, Final Fantasy VII Remake was awarded the Editors' Choice from PlayStation. It was also named IGN Japan's Game of the Year in 2020. Both Anime News Network and Siliconera and RPG Site also listed

3705-467: A flower girl named Aerith. As Cloud is leaving the area, Aerith is accosted by a man demanding payment. Cloud returns to help Aerith escape, and Ramza and his party catch up to him. After the battle, he joins Ramza's party as a playable character. Cloud also appears as an enemy unit in the "Brave Story" series of battles as part of Rendezvous, the unlockable cooperative multiplayer mode in The War of

3900-413: A friendlier manner with AVALANCHE's members. After being approached by his childhood friend and AVALANCHE member, Tifa Lockhart , Cloud agrees to continue helping AVALANCHE. Cloud encounters Aerith Gainsborough , a resident of Midgar 's slums, and agrees to serve as her bodyguard in exchange for a date. He helps her evade Shinra, who are pursuing her because she is the sole survivor of a race known as

4095-464: A fully three-dimensional map in Midgar along with expanded story content, is enough to cover an entire game. The story and scenario writer for Remake , Kazushige Nojima, said that stopping the game at the point the party departs Midgar would also allow for an adequate amount of planned story scenarios to be incorporated throughout its narrative. Midgar is located on a world referred to as "the Planet" by

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4290-470: A game". RPGamer ' s Aujang Abadi called Cloud "one of the most complex characters Square has created", as well as "the first truly complicated main character". Sharon Packer identifies Cloud as having mental illness in the form of dissociative identity disorder (DID), while Katie Whitlock identifies him as having involuntary memory resulting from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The book Japanese Culture Through Videogames addresses Cloud as

4485-515: A great RPG on its own. Shacknews wrote that the story in the remake is one of the strongest ever achieved by the company. In general the voiceactors were well received, with Cody Christian 's performance as Cloud standing out as he enhances his character arc. His interactions with the cast and the expansion of the minor characters in Avalanche was also well received by writers with his confrontations with Sephiroth Destructoid agreed about

4680-660: A level or stage in various Final Fantasy spin-off titles outside of the Compilation metaseries. These include Final Fantasy VII G-Bike ; Dissidia Final Fantasy and its sequels Dissidia 012 and Dissidia NT ; Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and its sequel Curtain Call ; and Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade . Outside of the Final Fantasy franchise, Midgar has appeared in the Itadaki Street series,

4875-520: A mysterious entity known as " Jenova ," connected to the extinction of the Cetra. In a confrontation at the top of Shinra headquarters, Sephiroth murders the president of Shinra. Shinra's son Rufus ( Josh Bowman / Tōru Ōkawa ) assumes control of the company and fights Cloud, but is defeated. Cloud and his allies flee the scene via the Midgar Expressway but find Sephiroth waiting for them at

5070-530: A new costume for him. This was inspired by Cloud's Advent Children fights which producer Ichiro Hazama thought was "very cool, and radical", and influences from the title went into the game. CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama sought to improve Cloud's popularity with this game. Cloud appears as a playable guest character in the 2014 Nintendo crossover fighting games Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U , sporting his character designs from both Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children . According to

5265-493: A new generation of voices for the characters was part of the game's rebirth as Remake . The Japanese voice actors remained the same with Takahiro Sakurai being surprised by this younger take on Cloud, having not played Cloud in the original unvoiced PlayStation video game. For the English dub, Cody Christian commented on replacing Steve Burton voicing Cloud, stating, "Steve, you paved the way. You made this character what it

5460-555: A normal teenager, and modified his approach accordingly. Cloud's scream over Zack's death left a major impression on Sakurai, who says that he worked hard to convey the emotional tone of the ending. Sakurai has come to regard Cloud as an important role, commenting that Cloud reminds him of his own past, and that, as a Final Fantasy VII fan himself, he is happy to contribute. For the remake of Final Fantasy VII , Sakurai found Cloud more difficult to portray than his previous performances. He re-recorded his lines multiple times, and credited

5655-426: A particular track are played simultaneously, which fade in and out with the player's actions, such as entering or exiting a battle. Arrangements also shift within a battle depending on the emotions the developers wanted players to experience from moment to moment. Because cutscenes in Remake have voiced dialogue, the sound team needed to rearrange some tracks to accommodate this change but they were careful to preserve

5850-539: A playable character opposite Sephiroth in the series' third entry, Dissidia NT , wearing his Advent Children outfit. The development staff worked carefully to translate Cloud's original moves from his previous role, most notably his swordplay Omnislash which was developed to be his strongest move. Although Cloud does not appear in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII , his Final Fantasy VII attire appears as an alternative for

6045-604: A positive example of Black representation in games . Briana White (Aerith) studied Maaya Sakamoto 's acting in order to appeal to fans. Meanwhile, Britt Baron had little knowledge of Tifa when being cast, but grew to like her character. Other prominent actors include Erica Lindbeck (Jessie), Gideon Emery (Biggs), and Matt Jones (Wedge). The game employs an algorithm to adjust characters' facial motions while speaking in order to automatically match lip syncing and emotion in every language. The game's soundtrack consists primarily of arrangements of pieces Nobuo Uematsu wrote for

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6240-637: A power overload incited by Professor Hojo , the head of Shinra's Science Department. The game's ending cutscene reveals that the Meteor nearly destroyed Midgar, but it is stopped by the combined effort of a Holy spell summoned by Aerith and the planet's Lifestream. In a post-credits scene set five hundred years later, Midgar is shown to be abandoned and overgrown with greenery. In the prequel Before Crisis , Midgar experiences an insurgency waged by an earlier iteration of AVALANCHE. The story follows several Turk operatives working with Shinra's armed forces to combat

6435-501: A primarily internal project. When the company first started the Remake project, the team had to decide the entire scope of the project. There were two directions possible: expand upon the original with multiple releases or include the entire scope of the original game in a single release. The team started to investigate what were the essential parts of the original and what parts are what the fans absolutely had to see; they quickly decided that there were so many parts that are essential and

6630-644: A remake, and passing the project on to a new generation did not feel right. Another reason for developing the remake was that Square Enix was creating a growing library of PlayStation 4 titles, and the team hoped to increase the console's popularity. Nomura was appointed as director much to his own surprise when it was decided to create the remake but he was busy with the making of the video game Kingdom Hearts III at that time. The game entered full production by late 2015, led by Business Division 1, an internal production team within Square Enix . While Nomura

6825-511: A rock song with male vocals and an image of "rain". It was performed by Yosh, the vocalist for Survive Said the Prophet. Hamauzu also expressed honor in doing the music alongside Uematsu, as the original game was his first exposure to the series. Suzuki stated that the themes for Wall Market, Honeybee Inn, and Midgar Highway were among his favorite contributions. Remake employs adaptive music in its gameplay wherein multiple arrangements of

7020-481: A script by Kazuhiko Inukai, several scenes diverge from Final Fantasy VII 's depiction of events, such as reinterpreting Cloud's rescue of Tifa by having her view his face. Although it is associated with and makes references to the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII , Last Order is considered an outside work. Cloud has also appeared in various games outside of the Final Fantasy VII continuity. He

7215-418: A smart mashup of action and RPG gameplay in order to deliver a must-play experience. Tom Marks of IGN calls the game a "complete reinvention", praising the combat system. Nahila Bonfiglio of The Daily Dot regarded it as one of the best games of 2020 based on multiple aspects that would appeal to the audience. EGM claimed the game was captivating like the original. Eurogamer also highly regarded

7410-410: A standing animation created by event planner Motomu Toriyama that depicted "Cloud showing off". The animation impressed Nojima and inspired the idea that Cloud had developed a false persona. This later led Nojima to create Zack Fair , a SOLDIER whom Cloud aspired to be like, to expand on the mystery of Cloud's past. Nojima left the unfolding of events regarding Cloud's identity unwritten, and Kitase

7605-635: A supporting role in the PlayStation 2 game Dirge of Cerberus . A year after the events of Advent Children , Cloud, working alongside Barret and Tifa, lends his support to the ground forces of the World Regenesis Organization and his ally Vincent Valentine in their siege of Midgar and counterattack against the rogue Shinra military unit, Deepground. In the PlayStation Portable game Crisis Core , Cloud

7800-494: A taller head and body and more muscular physique. Yoshitaka Amano , who handled character illustrations for previous Final Fantasy titles, painted promotional images for the game by taking Nomura's "drawings and put[ting his] own spin on them". According to Amano, because of the hardware limitations of the PlayStation , the platform Square had settled on for Final Fantasy VII , characters could not be rendered realistically. Amano thought that Cloud's baggy pants, which taper at

7995-415: A toned-down scene written by Kato depicting the night before, which has Tifa speak a risqué line of dialogue before a fade to black . According to Nojima, none of the staff expected that the scene, despite "the line in question", "would be something so important". Nojima wanted to write scenes in such a way that players themselves could decide what Cloud was thinking. Nojima used Cloud's foggy memories as

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8190-402: A transfer student arriving mid-term. In early scripts, Sephiroth would have deceived Cloud into thinking that he had created him, and he had the ability to exert control over Cloud's movements. As in the finished game, Cloud would discover that Shinra's experiments and his own insecurities had made him susceptible to Sephiroth's manipulation. Cloud would have also somehow injured Tifa prior to

8385-537: Is a playable character in the PlayStation version of Ehrgeiz . In Chocobo Racing , Cloud is a hidden character that rides a motorcycle. Cloud is one of several playable Final Fantasy VII characters in Itadaki Street Special for the PlayStation 2 and Itadaki Street Portable for the PlayStation Portable . LittleBigPlanet 2 features Cloud as a downloadable character model. Cloud

8580-480: Is a playable character representing Final Fantasy VII in the rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy , with his Advent Children persona serving as downloadable content. Players in Final Fantasy Explorers can briefly transform into Cloud, enabling use of his Omnislash Limit Break from FFVII . Cloud is the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII G-Bike , a mobile game for which Nomura designed

8775-430: Is an exemplary JRPG setting which "stands as one of the best examples of world-building in the genre", and the "crowning achievement" of the entire Final Fantasy series. Tom Senior from PC Gamer perceived Midgar's "contradictory identity" to be fascinating in its level of detail, "a breathtaking vision of industrial living gone wrong". Joe Juba of Game Informer lauded the handling of the city in Remake , specifically

8970-408: Is and have contributed in shaping a legacy" and thus wanted to not let Burton down with his take on the character. John Eric Bentley voiced Barret, a character he admired when he played the 1997 game. He felt his familiarity with the original work improved his performance, aided by the translators who explained the context for his scenes. He wanted his portrayal of Barret to be multifaceted and serve as

9165-637: Is defeated. A digital replica of Cloud also appears in Kingdom Hearts coded in the Olympus Coliseum, helping Sora and Hercules battle Hades. Cloud also appears in the Kingdom Hearts manga adaptations, reprising his original role. The OVA Last Order: Final Fantasy VII serves as an alternate retelling of Nibelheim's destruction and Zack and Cloud's escape from Shinra imprisonment. Animated and produced by Madhouse , based on

9360-463: Is delicate in some respects. A fan of VII , Sakurai had believed Cloud to be a colder character based on his original impression of him, but later came to view him as more sentimental. After the final product was released, Sakurai was anxious to hear the fans' response, whether positive or negative, and says that most of the feedback he received praised him. While recording Crisis Core , Sakurai felt that Cloud, though still introverted, acted more like

9555-468: Is featured prominently in discussions about Final Fantasy VII 's themes of class conflict and environmentalism . Final Fantasy VII was originally envisioned to be set in an alternate version of New York City , before the development team decided to switch to the fictional city of Midgar. Yusuke Naora , the art director for Final Fantasy VII , designed many of the locations for the game. Contrary to popular belief that Midgar's steampunk aesthetic

9750-556: Is included with the purchase of Intergrade , but must be purchased separately if using the free upgrade from the PS4 version. Intergrade adds the ability to use traditional turn-based controls while in the game's normal difficulty mode, a photo mode, and better overall performance in framerate and resolution. A port of Intergrade was released for Windows on December 16, 2021, via the Epic Games Store . While anticipation

9945-473: Is influenced by works such as Blade Runner , Naora said that he had the image of a pizza in mind when he originally designed Midgar and its distinctive plate-like structure. Other in-game elements themed after pizza include Midgar's mayor Domino and the musical theme "Underneath the Rotting Pizza", which plays in various Midgar levels. Like other story elements in Final Fantasy VII , Midgar's name

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10140-454: Is inspired by Norse mythology. The 2020 video game Final Fantasy VII Remake focuses on the city of Midgar due to it being a highly recognizable symbol of the world of Final Fantasy VII . The iteration of Midgar for Remake had to be redesigned from scratch, as the process of converting the original's 2D backgrounds into a 3D space reveal many "structural contradictions". The planning process began with Midgar's original design, and from there,

10335-415: Is little to no vegetation within or near it. A commuter railway system carries workers to and from the slums, and security measures are implemented throughout the city. A network of maintenance platforms are suspended beneath the plate. Many citizens live in the slums beneath the sections of the plate. Most buildings there are made of collected scrap shaped into dwellings; most lack architectural planning, with

10530-558: Is never addressed as a God, he has to protect the peace as Sephiroth plays the role of Satan and his Shadow, with Cloud having to surpass him in the narrative. Cloud's respective relationships with Aerith and Tifa were also popular with writers. The popularity of both relationships, how they were written and their partial ties to the original game's affinity mechanics have led to multiple instances of fan creations, fandom debates and ship wars , with many debating and arguing topics ranging from Tifa and Aerith's compatibility with Cloud to

10725-440: Is planned to be on a similar scale to Final Fantasy XIII . The first part focuses on the city of Midgar due to its iconic status among the Final Fantasy community. Regarding the scope for the first part of the Remake , Nomura mentioned that many were worried about how the company would be able to make a whole game based solely on Midgar, but he didn't think it would be a problem. Nomura said it takes about 7 hours to go through

10920-415: Is presented as a young Shinra infantryman who befriends Zack. During the game's conclusion, a dying Zack gives Cloud his Buster Sword, telling him that he is his legacy. The game ends with Cloud heading to Midgar, reprising the start of Final Fantasy VII . Zack and Cloud's connection was meant to be expanded upon near the game's ending, with both of them planning to flee to Midgar, but due to limitations in

11115-498: Is searching for Sephiroth, and in turn Tifa is searching for him. Cloud fights alongside Leon 's team during the Heartless invasion of Hollow Bastion. Should the player choose to engage Sephiroth and win the battle, Cloud returns and fights Sephiroth, which ends with both of them disappearing in a flash of light after Tifa gives Cloud her support. Sora concludes that Cloud is still fighting with Sephiroth, and will not stop until he

11310-607: Is searching for someone. In Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix , there is an additional scene where he battles Sephiroth. During the credits, Cloud is shown reuniting with the residents of Hollow Bastion. A memory-based version of Cloud appears in the Game Boy Advance sequel Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as a boss in the Olympus Coliseum and later as a summon card for Sora. Cloud reappears in Kingdom Hearts II , depicted with his Advent Children design. He

11505-469: Is set two years after the conclusion of Final Fantasy VII , Cloud lives with Tifa in the city of Edge along with Marlene , Barret's adopted daughter, and Denzel , an orphan affected by a rampant and deadly disease called Geostigma . Having given up his life as a mercenary, Cloud now works as a courier for the "Strife Delivery Service" ( ストライフ・デリバリーサービス , Sutoraifu Deribarī Sābisu ) , which Tifa set up in her new bar. After Tifa confronts him following

11700-538: Is the first in a planned series of games remaking the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII . It covers the first section of the original game, set in the metropolis Midgar. Players control Cloud Strife , a former Shinra soldier turned mercenary who joins the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE to fight the Shinra Corporation, who have been draining the planet's life energy. Every element has been remade, using real-time polygonal graphics as opposed to

11895-479: Is the last descendant of the Cetra, a near-extinct precursor race who resided in a "Promised Land," which Shinra covets for its boundless Mako reserves. The group meets a talking feline-like creature called Red XIII ( Max Mittelman / Kappei Yamaguchi ), who explains that the ghostly entities are called Whispers. They exist to ensure that the course of destiny is not altered by correcting any deviations from this course. Meanwhile, Sephiroth infiltrates Shinra and steals

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12090-411: Is the truly canonical romance despite the suggested complexity surrounding it in the sequel film Advent Children . These particular relationship aspects as well as other facets spanning the entire main cast of the Final Fantasy VII franchise were given more prominence within the character writing and story of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth , with the latter specifically having

12285-410: The Super Smash Bros. series, Rampage Land Rankers , and PowerWash Simulator . Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children expands upon the original ending of VII , and reveals that the survivors of Midgar used debris from the city to build a new town called "Edge" on the outskirts of Midgar, though much of the population suffer from a plague known as "Geostigma". Julie Muncy from Wired noted that

12480-620: The Ehrgeiz fighting game, Kenyu Horiuchi voiced Cloud in the arcade version and Nozomu Sasaki voiced him in the home console version. Since Kingdom Hearts , Takahiro Sakurai has been the Japanese voice of Cloud, with Teruaki Sugawara, the voice director at Square, recommending him to Nomura based on prior experience. Nomura had originally asked Sakurai to play the protagonist of The Bouncer , Sion Barzahd, but found that his voice best suited Cloud after hearing him speak. Sakurai received

12675-418: The PlayStation 5 , titled Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade , was released on June 10, 2021, featuring improved visuals and shorter load times, available at no additional cost to owners of the PS4 version. It includes a PS5-exclusive DLC expansion titled Episode Intermission featuring the playable character Yuffie Kisaragi , who does not appear in the Midgar segment of the original game. The DLC expansion

12870-533: The mobile game Before Crisis , a prequel set six years before the events of Final Fantasy VII . The player, a member of the Shinra covert operatives group, the Turks , encounters Cloud during his time as a Shinra infantryman working to join SOLDIER. The game portrays Cloud's natural talent for swordsmanship, and recounts his role during Nibelheim's destruction. In the 2005 animated film Advent Children , which

13065-404: The pre-rendered environments of the original. The story includes major expansions to character development and some notable plot additions. Exploration and battle mechanics both take place in real-time, like Final Fantasy XV . The game features an altered Active Time Battle (ATB) system from the original, which gradually fills up slowly, or can fill faster with attacks. Once it is filled,

13260-552: The "cool and collected" Cloud as seen in other games, Remake depicts his apathetic attitude as a façade to mask his insecurities. Nojima wanted to convey that his standoffishness could be seen as lame. Cloud's initial redesign for Remake departed more dramatically from the original's, but was later altered to more closely resemble Nomura's design. Tifa's desire for revenge against Shinra is complicated by her reluctance to enact violence. Barret's passion and charisma rallies other characters to follow his lead. Nojima worked hard to make

13455-506: The "exchanges he has with Tifa can be pretty painful", with Sakurai commenting that Cloud—whom he empathized with as his voice actor—has a hard time dealing with straight talk. Sakurai says that there were scenes that took over a year to complete, with very precise directions being given requiring multiple takes. According to Sakurai, Cloud's silence conveys more about him than when he speaks. While possessing heroic characteristics, Sakurai describes Cloud's outlook as negative, and says that he

13650-535: The 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII . An enhanced version, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade , was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows in 2021. Set in the dystopian cyberpunk metropolis of Midgar , players control the mercenary Cloud Strife . He joins AVALANCHE , an eco-terrorist group trying to stop the powerful megacorporation Shinra from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. The gameplay combines real-time action with role-playing elements. Final Fantasy VII Remake

13845-558: The 2008 San Diego Comic-Con that Cloud's likeness has produced some of the company's best-selling items, and that fans could look forward to further adaptations of the character in the future. Popular models at the time included Cloud's Advent Children figurine and Final Fantasy VII Hardy-Daytona bike set, both of which sold particularly well in European and North American markets. Square has also released two promotional books primarily focusing on Cloud's character: Cloud vol.1 , which

14040-515: The 2015 PlayStation Experience, demonstrating cutscenes and gameplay from the opening sequence. During the Final Fantasy 30th anniversary opening ceremony event hosted by Square Enix in Tokyo on January 31, 2017 – the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII – the game's first piece of CGI key art was unveiled, along with announcements for a collaboration event with Mobius Final Fantasy . On February 18, Nomura revealed two screenshots, showing off

14235-408: The Cetra. During the course of their travels, a love triangle develops between Cloud, Tifa and Aerith. Following the player's departure from Midgar, Cloud narrates his history with Sephiroth, a legendary member of SOLDIER and the game's primary antagonist, and the events that led to his disappearance five years prior. Cloud joined SOLDIER to emulate Sephiroth, and explains that he would sign up for

14430-573: The Lifestream completely. Cloud's battle with Kadaj takes them back to Aerith's church, where Cloud recovers from his Geostigma with Aerith's help. After merging with the remains of Jenova, Kadaj, resurrects Sephiroth. Cloud, having overcome his doubts, defeats Sephiroth once more, leaving a dying Kadaj in his place. At the film's conclusion, Cloud, seeing Aerith and Zack, assures them that he will be fine and reunites with his friends. Cloud appears in On

14625-609: The Lions . Cloud serves as the representative hero of Final Fantasy VII in Dissidia Final Fantasy , a fighting game featuring characters from the Final Fantasy series. He is depicted in his FFVII design, while his Advent Children design is also available. His fight against Sephiroth in this game is based on their battles from VII and Advent Children . Along with the entire cast, Cloud reappears in

14820-572: The Midgar section in the original game, going through the same gameplay in the Remake with 3D map in Midgar and new scenario, plus the time it takes to go from one point to another adds up. The overall gameplay of the Remake would be well enough to cover a whole game. The story and scenario writer, Nojima, also added that stopping the game at the end of Midgar would also allow for an adequate amount of story scenarios to be put in as well. Nomura further added that level designs would have to change again after

15015-458: The Mt. Nibel Mako reactor, Cloud managed to ambush him and throw him into the Lifestream, and believed him to be dead. Both he and Zack were then imprisoned by Shinra's lead scientist, Hojo, for experimentation. Zack later escaped with Cloud to the outskirts of Midgar before Shinra soldiers gunned him down. As a result of exposure to Mako radiation and the injection of Jenova's cells, Cloud's mind created

15210-535: The Northern Crater after summoning the planet-destroying spell "Meteor". The cannon succeeds, but a simultaneous attack by a rampaging Weapon damages some areas of Midgar and destroys the upper floors of the Shinra headquarters. At the same time, Cloud's party infiltrate the city, defeating several of Shinra's remaining Shinra and disabling the Sister Ray, which is on the verge of destroying the city due to

15405-447: The Planet's spiritual energy harvested by massive reactors, to power the metropolis of Midgar and develop cutting-edge technology. Disillusioned with Shinra, and at the request of his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart ( Britt Baron / Ayumi Ito ), Cloud takes a mercenary job for Avalanche, an ecological resistance organization led by Barret Wallace (John Eric Bentley / Masahiro Kobayashi ). Barret believes excessive Mako harvesting harms

15600-550: The Sector 7 plate fall. Sometime later, Yuffie has left Midgar and muses that to achieve her desire to see Shinra's downfall, she will need a team to help her. Final Fantasy VII was developed by Square for the PlayStation console and released in 1997. Its staff included producer, co-writer and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi , director and co-writer Yoshinori Kitase, artist Yusuke Naora , character designer and co-writer Tetsuya Nomura , and writer Kazushige Nojima . The game

15795-487: The Way to a Smile , a series of short stories set between Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children . "Case of Tifa" serves as an epilogue to VII , and portrays Cloud's life alongside Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel. "Case of Denzel" relates how Cloud first met Denzel, and was later adapted as a short original video animation for the release of Advent Children Complete , On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel . Cloud appears in

15990-555: The animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005), and appears in several other instalments in the wider Final Fantasy series . He has also appeared in other media, such as the Kingdom Hearts series by Square Enix and Disney and the Super Smash Bros. series by Nintendo . Cloud was designed by Tetsuya Nomura , a character artist for the Final Fantasy series, whose role expanded to include supervision over Cloud's personality. Yoshinori Kitase , director of VII , and Kazushige Nojima , an events planner, developed

16185-415: The beginning of Final Fantasy VII 's development that the game would follow a single identifiable protagonist. In Hironobu Sakaguchi 's first plot treatment, a prototype for Cloud's character belonged to an organization attempting to destroy New York City's "Mako Reactors". Kitase and Nomura discussed that Cloud would be the lead of three protagonists, but Nomura did not receive character profiles or

16380-452: The bombing mission into the streets was insufficient to convey the impact the destruction of Mako reactors has on people's lives. The developers also wanted to add nuance to the events before and after the explosion of the Mako reactor by making players question AVALANCHE's eco-terrorist activities and emphasizing that innocent people suffer regardless of who is responsible for the chaos following

16575-712: The bottom, reflected a "very ... Japanese style", resembling the silhouette of a hakama . Early renditions of Cloud's weapon, the Buster Sword ( バスターソード , Basutā Sōdo ) , depicted a smaller, thinner blade. Variations included additions such as a small chain connected to the pommel, magnets securing the blade to Cloud's back, and a more detailed design that resembled a "Western-style sword". The Buster Sword's blade grew in subsequent illustrations, and Nomura called it "the Giant Kitchen Knife", envisioning it as unrefined steel. Square's staff conceived of

16770-521: The canonicity and intent of his feelings towards either heroine through story and character analysis and authorial or supplemental materials (such as the Ultimanias, developer interviews and tie-in novels) across much of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII in the years since the original game's release. RPGamer writer Marie Freed states that she saw Tifa's loyalty and love for Cloud, even in

16965-427: The cast, most notably Aerith, noting her fun characterization. The handling of the city of Midgar and expansion of minor characters were praised by the media too. Critical response to the new combat has been positive, partly due to the strategy needed and the distinctive fighting style of each playable character, such as Cloud wielding a sword, in contrast to Barret's shooting from afar. GamesRadar also praised

17160-403: The character a rare opportunity for him as an actor, Burton describes Cloud as having a "heaviness about him". Burton says he is surprised when fans recognize him for his work as Cloud, whom he has referred to as "[one of the] coolest characters there is", and considers himself lucky to have voiced him. Although Burton expressed his desire to voice Cloud for the remake of Final Fantasy VII , he

17355-454: The character. Hamaguchi pitched an alternate ending in which Cloud faces off with Sephiroth, which led to him appearing more and more in the remake. The game is fully voiced, with the original plan being for the voice actors from the CGI film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children to reprise their roles. Ultimately, the English characters were recast for Remake . According to Kitase, choosing

17550-539: The character. Teenage Cloud was voiced in English by Major Dodson. For the next installment, Christian said that that the character differed from Remake as he aimed to explore more his sensitive side like his past or intimate relationships he is often involved. Cloud is introduced as a mercenary employed by AVALANCHE, an eco-terrorist group opposed to the Shinra Company, and who claims to be formerly of SOLDIER 1st Class, an elite Shinra fighting unit. Beginning

17745-481: The characters, and which is retroactively named "Gaia" in some Square Enix promotional material and by Square Enix staff. Midgar is originally formed from the consolidation of several smaller, independent towns in the distant past; each settlement made up one sector and gradually lost its original name. The city is ruled by the Shinra Electric Power Company and powered by Shinra's "Mako" reactors. The city has two principal components: an elevated, circular plate supported by

17940-446: The city of Midgar, along with characters like Cloud Strife and Sephiroth, have achieved a level of cultural impact far beyond the games they originate from and "exist with power outside of their context". Stephen K. Hirst from Ars Technica suggested that a major theme of Final Fantasy VII , which involves an armed struggle between members of the working class and a "hyper-capitalist machine hellbent on extracting every ounce of value from

18135-399: The combat for the strategy required, due to each enemy having a weakness, and the variety among the characters thanks to their unique traits. RPGamer praised both the return of Materia used to provide magic attacks and the addition of upgradeable weapons in order to let players decide which equipment they want to use. RPGamer felt that Remake relied on "padding" to expand on the areas of

18330-404: The company's E3 2019 press conference, including different editions of Remake . Kitase later clarified at the event that Square Enix had yet to determine the number of games in the Remake series, adding that they were in the process of planning the second installment. An extended gameplay showcase and demo was playable at E3 2019, demonstrating parts of the opening mission, including some of

18525-417: The connection between protagonist and player like FFVII does". The game's use of the unreliable narrator literary concept has drawn comparisons to films such as Fight Club (1999), The Sixth Sense (1999), American Psycho (2000), and Memento (2000), with Patrick Holleman and Jeremy Parish arguing that the game takes the unreliable narrator concept a step further, by its interactivity establishing

18720-420: The console's hardware, these scenes could not be implemented and they instead decided to focus on Zack. Cloud reprises his role from the original Final Fantasy VII in the 2020 remake , which is part of a planned trilogy of games remaking the original 1997 game. While marketed as a remake to the original 1997 game, Square claims that there are other different meanings in this game. He was featured once more as

18915-538: The dark side in the game. Nomura also stated that he wanted to leave the question of whether Cloud was searching for Aerith open to the player's interpretation. In the first game, Kingdom Hearts , Cloud appears in the Olympus Coliseum world, with Hades hiring him to kill Hercules , and fights Sora as a prerequisite. After the fight, Hades sends Cerberus to attack Cloud and Sora, who Hercules saves. Cloud meets with Sora afterward and explains that he

19110-537: The density. In Remake , Midgar's sights and locales references different types of world architecture and channel these influences through the developers' use of materials, light, and space. For example, the city's bus signs heavily resemble their real-world counterparts in New York City . Remake producer Yoshinori Kitase noted that the developmental team wanted to show a different design aesthetic which presents Midgar with strong elements of colour and variety, and

19305-476: The disappearance of Denzel and Marlene, it is revealed that he also suffers from the effects of Geostigma, and he responds that he is unfit to protect his friends and new family. However, after Tifa urges him to let go of the past, Cloud sets out for the Forgotten City in search of the children. There, he confronts Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo , genetic remnants of Sephiroth left behind before he diffused into

19500-579: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on distribution. This did not apply to downloads, as they were not directly affected by the global supply chain. Artwork of Cloud was used on buildings in Los Angeles to promote the game. The same year in June, a scene from Final Fantasy VII Remake was reproduced for the 8-bit NEC PC-88 computer by Japanese programmer Soba P. An upgraded version of Remake for

19695-487: The effects of the Meteor crisis, Midgar becomes a battlefield during the events of Dirge of Cerberus as the World Restoration Organization (WRO), led by Reeve Tuesti, battles the re-emerged Deepground forces. Final Fantasy VII Remake , the first in a planned series of games remaking 's Final Fantasy VII , is set in Midgar. The narrative of Remake covers the beginning of the original game to

19890-584: The end. After defeating Whisper Harbinger, an entity formed by an amalgam of Whispers, Cloud's group battles Sephiroth. Sephiroth separates Cloud from the group, asking him to join him and defy fate. Cloud refuses and fights Sephiroth, but is defeated, although Sephiroth spares him and departs. Meanwhile, as Cloud's group leaves Midgar to stop Sephiroth, SOLDIER Zack Fair (Caleb Pierce/ Kenichi Suzumura ) ends up alive and defeats an army of Shinra forces, and departs with Cloud to Midgar. Intergrade adds additional ending scenes showing Cloud and his group arriving at

20085-402: The escape from Midgar by the surviving members of AVALANCHE and their allies with expanded story content. The setting of Midgar in Remake is noted for its linear nature; while the upper plate regions were mostly inaccessible in the original game, Remake allows players to explore many of these areas and interact extensively with its residents through new story scenarios. Midgar has appeared as

20280-422: The expanded detail of its "political conspiracies, everyday desperation, and quiet hope". Marty Sliva of The Escapist approved of the developers' decision to expand the early hours of Final Fantasy VII into a "30-40 hours" experience, noting that he could experience a "new side of Shinra and Midgar", the latter now with its distinct district and fully realized populations instead of the "single amorphous blob of

20475-438: The expanded story and the updated battle system for its strategic elements and visual flourishes, but the linearity and repetitive side-quests received criticism. The game was one of the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 games, selling more than 3.5 million copies in three days and more than 7 million by September 2023. The second game in the remake trilogy, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth , was released in 2024. Final Fantasy VII Remake

20670-496: The exploration, combat system, and first boss battle. The playable demo received positive reception in early previews, with praise towards the graphics, gameplay and combat system. It won three awards at the Game Critics Awards for Best of Show, Best Console Game, and Best Role-Playing Game, as well as the best looking Unreal Engine game at E3 2019. Extended footage of the demo, as well as an additional trailer,

20865-407: The fans would be upset if the team had to cut out anything. A single release with more depth would not be possible without cutting out parts of the original story. In the end, the team decided the best option for the project was to go for the highest level possible (such as within the city of Midgar, which was mostly inaccessible in the original) with an expanded story in multiple releases. Each game

21060-590: The fastest-selling Final Fantasy title in the franchise's history, surpassing the launch record previously set by Final Fantasy XV (2016), and was the most downloaded PlayStation 4 game of April 2020 in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the game debuted at the top of the weekly sales chart, selling an estimated 60,000 physical units in its first weekend. German trade association GAME reported that it took Final Fantasy VII Remake only

21255-455: The fight between Cloud and Sephiroth was expanded by several minutes, and includes a scene in which Sephiroth impales Cloud on his sword and holds him in the air, mirroring the scene in the game where he performs the same action. The decision to feature Cloud suffering from blood loss in the fight was made in order to make his pain feel realistic. In the making of the fighting game Dissidia: Final Fantasy , Nomura stated that Cloud's appearance

21450-526: The film. In the original game, Cloud's strongest technique was the Omnislash ( 超究武神覇斬 , Choukyūbushinhazan , lit. "Super-ultimate War-god Commanding Slash") . For his fight against Sephiroth in the film, Nomura proposed a new move, the Omnislash Ver. 5 ( 超究武神覇斬ver.5 , Choukyūbushinhazan ver.5 ) , a faster version of the original Omnislash. The staff laughed at the name of Cloud's move during

21645-472: The focus on Midgar's ruins as a parallel with psychological trauma due to how some of its survivors suffer from Geostigma, a disease that cannot be fought physically. Final Fantasy VII Remake Final Fantasy VII Remake is a 2020 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4 . Released in April 2020, it is the first in a planned trilogy of games remaking

21840-541: The framerate, making the PC version highly recommendable to play rather than the other ones. Final Fantasy VII Remake sold over 3.5 million units worldwide within three days. This made it one of the biggest launches for a PlayStation 4 game and the fastest-selling PS4 exclusive, surpassing the launch sales of Marvel's Spider-Man (3.3 million; 2018) and God of War (3.1 million; 2018). By August 2020, that figure had increased to over 5 million on PS4. By September 2023,

22035-498: The future of Aerith in the original 1997 game, leaving her fate unknown to returning fans. Yoshinori Kitase refrained from explaining the reason for the changes from the narrative: "I want to let you know is that all of the lore from the works created after the original game, the [ Compilation of Final Fantasy VII ], that's all very much in the base of the canon for the remake, and going forward it will be too". The main characters were adjusted in various ways for Remake . Rather than

22230-412: The game as one of the best games of the year. Cloud Strife Cloud Strife ( Japanese : クラウド・ストライフ , Hepburn : Kuraudo Sutoraifu ) is a character in the media franchise Compilation of Final Fantasy VII by Square Enix . He is the protagonist of the role-playing video games Final Fantasy VII (1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020) and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024) and

22425-401: The game did not appear too nostalgic. They needed to make decisions about what could be carried over from the original and what needed adjustment due to changes in social norms since the original's release. Despite there already being a story in place, which greatly simplified production on some fronts, Nojima was brought back in to create new story material. The scenario for the first part

22620-414: The game had shipped and digitally sold over 7 million units worldwide. In Japan, Final Fantasy VII Remake sold over a million units during its first week, with the game sold out in many stores. In North America, Remake was the top-selling game of April 2020 and the third best-selling game of 2020, behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020). It became

22815-518: The game with the placeholder name "Ex-SOLDIER" ( 元ソルジャー , Moto Sorujā ) , Cloud assists AVALANCHE's leader, Barret Wallace , in bombing a Mako reactor, power plants which drain the planet's "Lifestream". Despite appearing detached and more interested in the pay of his work, Cloud demonstrates moments of camaraderie , such as prioritizing Jesse's security over his escape during the Mako Reactor 1's explosion. Players can choose to interact in

23010-422: The game's base roster. As part of the update adding Sephiroth to the game as downloadable content in December 2020, Cloud was given his "Omnislash Ver. 5" to use against opponents, being exclusive to his Advent Children costumes. Cloud was considered for inclusion as a guest character in the PlayStation 2 version of Soulcalibur II , but this did not come to pass, with Heihachi Mishima from Tekken taking

23205-399: The game's events, leaving her with memory loss of the event and a large scar on her back. Kitase rejected a proposed scene written by Masato Kato involving Cloud and Tifa walking out of a Chocobo stable the morning before the final battle, with Tifa following only after checking around. Kitase found it "too intense" and Nojima described the proposal as "extreme"; however, Kitase maintained

23400-426: The game's original illustrations, but concluded that doing so left his eyes unrealistically big, which "looked gross". Further revisions were made to Cloud's face after completion of the pilot film, which featured a more realistic style. In contrast to his hair, Cloud's clothes were difficult to make in the film. After deciding to give Cloud a simple costume consistent with the concept of "clothes designed for action",

23595-402: The game's world. In regards to the remains of Midgar from Advent Children , Destructoid noted the message within its writing regarding the characters' lives in Midgar, as its people are able to move on with their lives, but Cloud is unable to due to past trauma. They compared this to how the team behind Final Fantasy VII and its fans are still attached to it and unable to move on. Kotaku saw

23790-425: The game, some of them jokingly threatening that they would not forgive him if he did not meet their expectations. During recording, Sakurai was told that "[n]o matter what kind of odds are stacked against him, Cloud won't be shaken". Sakurai says that while he recorded most of his work individually, he performed alongside Ayumi Ito , who voiced Tifa, for a few scenes. These recordings left him feeling "deflated", as

23985-399: The game, which they considered linear for the genre. GamesRadar criticized some of the side-quests in the game as lackluster though the interactions were better received. EGM claimed that some quests had too much padding, citing an example where the player has to constantly change the playable character to open multiple doors in the Shinra headquarters. Easy Allies said that despite

24180-445: The gameplay mechanics popular in the original game, including Active Time Battle , while merging them with the action-based system. Rather than using the character models and graphical style of Advent Children , which by that point had been developed using ten-year-old technology, the team decided to create new designs and models for characters: Nomura wished to balance the realism of Advent Children with cartoon stylization. Nomura

24375-503: The games' director Masahiro Sakurai , Final Fantasy characters were heavily requested to appear in the Super Smash Bros. series, with Cloud receiving the most support out of all of them. Reflecting on his inclusion in an interview with Tetsuya Nomura, while other characters from the Final Fantasy series were considered, Sakurai ultimately felt that none of them could match Cloud's popularity and he could not imagine including

24570-434: The ground while cradling his head, and appears not to remember things that he should, such as the existence of a SOLDIER First Class named Zack. As Sephiroth begins manipulating his mind, he takes advantage of his memory by telling him that his past is merely fiction and that Shinra created him in an attempt to clone Sephiroth. Cloud learns he cannot remember things such as how or when he joined SOLDIER and resigns himself as

24765-477: The ground without needing Mako reactors to siphon it, which would increase Shinra's profits exponentially. Some time later, Shinra moves a large Mako-powered cannon from a military installation in Junon to Midgar. It is modified into a superweapon called "the Sister Ray" through its integration with the city's Mako reactor network, with the goal of destroying an energy barrier Sephiroth conjured to protect himself in

24960-500: The help of a local Avalanche cell, Yuffie and Sonon infiltrate the lab under Shinra headquarters and fight through Shinra's forces before discovering that the Ultimate Materia is not yet complete. As they try to escape, they are confronted by a Shinra supersoldier named Nero ( Sean Chiplock / Ryōtarō Okiayu ). Outmatched, Sonon sacrifices himself to ensure Yuffie can escape. She leaves Shinra headquarters just in time to see

25155-573: The idea was later modified to six interlocking swords. While the idea wasn't "logically thought out" and the staff did not think that they could "make it work physically", it was believed to provide "an interesting accent to the story". Cloud's new motorcycle, Fenrir ( フェンリル , Fenriru ) , was designed by Takayuki Takeya, who was asked by the staff to design an upgraded version of Cloud's "Hardy-Daytona" motorcycle from Final Fantasy VII . The bike got bigger as development continued, with Takeya feeling its heaviness provided an impact that worked well within

25350-421: The interactions between these three natural. It was important to Hamaguchi to include a scene wherein Cloud has an intimate conversation with one of his teammates based on the player's choices in homage to the "date" scene from the original game. The development team avoided playing favorites between Tifa and Aerith, treating them both as main heroes. In addition to returning characters, the team decided to expand

25545-438: The latter game was developed using the same engine. The game's lighting is augmented with the lighting engine Enlighten. To help with the action gameplay and video quality, Square Enix originally partnered with video game developer CyberConnect2 , with the two companies keeping in close contact due to different development styles. In 2017, the game's development focus shifted from being developed with external partners to being

25740-400: The light of having to relive her own traumas, as admirable, and a welcome contrast to the "destined" romance seen in previous title Final Fantasy IV . Siliconera writer Cory Dinkel claims that Final Fantasy VII ultimately has no love triangle by the end due to multiple story and character developments and revelations surrounding the characters involved and that Cloud and Tifa's relationship

25935-405: The lighting and colouring used in Remake is intended to accentuate the uniqueness of the game world. The development team opted not to use a "photo-realistic approach", but instead something more stylized to honor the artistic designs and choices of the original game. Environment director on Final Fantasy VII Remake Takako Miyake noted that whenever the team extracted Midgar's design elements from

26130-407: The linear gameplay, the reviewers finished the game in 38 hours, and still had plenty of quests left to complete. In regards to Intergrade , Siliconera praised the focus on Yuffie's story even if she comes across as annoying due to her younger personality but felt her relationship with Sonon improved it. Besides the new minigame, Siliconera praised the improved graphics from Intergrade . Enjoying

26325-447: The lives of Midgar's ordinary citizens to give players a better sense of it and its culture, which is why they expanded the roles of previously minor characters. The original game opens with Cloud's first bombing mission with AVALANCHE, as the intention at the time was to start the game in the middle of the action. Remake instead opens with mundane scenes of everyday life for Midgar's citizens, as it developers felt that going straight from

26520-483: The long silver hair of the game's primary antagonist, Sephiroth, and to minimize the model's polygon count. However, to make Cloud stand out more and emphasize his role as the game's lead protagonist, Nomura altered Cloud's design to give him spiky, bright blond hair. Nomura also made Cloud taller than he appeared in the SGI Onyx demo, while a discarded iteration drawn "more on the realistic side" depicted Cloud with

26715-629: The main character alongside the Buster Sword. The Advent Children outfit is also present in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn . Cloud's original attire is also present in the mobile phone game Mobius Final Fantasy , and Final Fantasy Explorers-Force . Cloud has been merchandised extensively, in many different forms, including figurines and jewelry. In commemoration of the franchise's 20th anniversary, Square released figurines of him alongside other Final Fantasy protagonists. Square Enix's manager of merchandise, Kanji Tashiro, said at

26910-486: The making of it, as Nomura was inspired by a sports move from Final Fantasy X , whose protagonist, Tidus , explained the addition of a more specific name would make people more excited. Themes expanded upon in the director's cut Advent Children Complete include Cloud's development with links to other Final Fantasy VII media in which he appeared. To further focus on Cloud's growth , Square decided to give him more scenes when he interacts with children. Additionally,

27105-471: The most iconic video game protagonists. He has also been cited favorably as an example of complex character writing in video games, as one of its first unreliable narrators and for the game's depiction of his mental disorder. Additionally, he is seen as a messiah figure in both the game and film for opposing Sephiroth 's schemes and supported by his allies. In contrast to Final Fantasy VI , which featured multiple "main characters", Square's staff decided in

27300-435: The opening act of Final Fantasy VII in Midgar is the game's mostly fondly remembered aspect, and that the city recalls the cyberpunk themes of Akira and Blade Runner . Konstantinos Dimopoulos from WireFrame concurred, noting that Midgar is a "place that managed to define, encapsulate, and summarise a whole setting – a pithy urban symbol of FFVII ' s world". Jason Faulkner from GameRevolution opined that Midgar

27495-401: The option of playing directly with the sidestory, Destructoid found Yuffie instead likable to the point of coming across as realistic and enjoyed her own style of gameplay. GameSpot gave it a perfect score, also finding the graphics superior, most notably due to its framerate, fitting for a PlayStation 5 game which is more notable when Cloud becomes involved in fights. PC Invasion also praised

27690-520: The original Final Fantasy VII , with original tracks by several other series veterans, such as Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki. Uematsu contributed one new track: the theme song for the game, "Hollow". It was the first time Uematsu and Kitase had worked together since Final Fantasy X (2001), with Kitase initially believing Uematsu would refuse as he had long since left Square Enix and found success as an independent composer. Nomura intended "Hollow" to reflect Cloud's state of mind; he wanted it to be

27885-416: The original game offered the option for the player to decide Cloud's interest in a female character, he wanted the remake to retain this in the form of an intimate conversation when splitting from the main team. The theme song "Hollow" is meant to reflect Cloud's state of mind, with Nomura placing high emphasis on the rock music and male vocals. The original Final Fantasy VII did not have voice acting. For

28080-454: The original game. Tamoor Hussain of GameSpot states that, while Remake is only the initial entry in a full reimagining of the original game, it is rich in details that were previously unexplored, realizes new storytelling ambitions with confidence, and presents fresh perspectives that feel both meaningful and essential in his review. To summarize, he says that the game tells a smaller, more personal Final Fantasy VII tale and marries it with

28275-471: The original melodies. Following years of rumors and fan requests, Final Fantasy VII Remake was announced during Sony's conference at E3 2015 . Visual Works created the announcement trailer. Square Enix's stock prices rose to their highest rating since November 2008, and the YouTube release of the reveal trailer garnered over 10 million views in the following two weeks. The game was next showcased at

28470-414: The original, they were "focused on combinations that unconditionally inspired excitement, consistency aside". In retrospect, the team praised Midgar's eclectic aesthetic from the original game, as they felt it was the most captivating aspect of its setting, and felt that it is important to ensure each area felt distinct to prevent it from becoming monotonous. The developers of Remake wanted to show more of

28665-413: The party leaves Midgar. If the developers were to do that, they would also have to split up other scenarios and even if they add new gameplay, it would have to end in an abrupt point of the story. That's why they felt that if they had everything focused in Midgar, they wouldn't have to split up any of the story elements that happen there. While developing the scenario, the team needed to work carefully, so

28860-541: The planet and leads a bombing attack on a Mako reactor. In the aftermath, Cloud is haunted by memories of Sephiroth ( Tyler Hoechlin / Toshiyuki Morikawa ), an enigmatic former SOLDIER member, and meets the florist Aerith Gainsborough ( Briana White / Maaya Sakamoto ). Strange ghost-like entities, who alternately help and hinder Cloud throughout the game, cause him to be recruited for another attack, in which he goes missing in action. Cloud meets Aerith again and protects her from Shinra forces. After they reunite with Tifa,

29055-579: The planet" to benefit Midgar's elite, resonated with a generation of players and inspired some to become environmentalist advocates and activists. The city is the namesake and inspiration behind Midgar Studios, the developer of the role-playing game Edge of Eternity . Midgar has been a popular subject of fan labor , with some fans attempting to recreate the city's likeness in a real world or fictional context. Midgar city has been digitally recreated by fans within other game worlds like Minecraft , and Second Life . Harry Mackin from Paste Magazine said

29250-598: The player can halt the action and use special abilities such as magic, items, and special moves. The player can assign these special abilities to shortcut buttons, allowing them to play in real-time without pausing. Each special ability uses up a segment of the ATB bar. The player can switch between party members at any time during battle. Each party member has their own individual skills, such as Cloud's close-quarters melee attacks and Barret's long-range distance attacks. Players are able to use magic and summons of large creatures, and

29445-432: The populace of the upper plate to Midgar's slum sectors prior to the ending of Final Fantasy VII , storms spawned by the intense gravity generated between Meteor and the Planet tore apart several of the city's upper plates. The main antagonistic faction of Dirge of Cerberus is Deepground, a SOLDIER sect developed as an experimental military project by President Shinra prior to his death. Trapped deep underground in Midgar by

29640-403: The prequel Dissidia 012 as a Warrior of Chaos. Concerned for Tifa, who is on the opposing side, Cloud tries to defeat Chaos alone; after nearly being killed, he is saved by the goddess Cosmos, and becomes one of her warriors. Cloud's main outfit is based on Yoshitaka Amano 's original artwork concept, while his Kingdom Hearts outfit is offered as downloadable content. Cloud again appears as

29835-501: The protagonist in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth . Nomura redesigned Cloud for his appearance in Kingdom Hearts . He is depicted with a crimson cape and a clawed version of his left-handed glove, while the Buster Sword's blade is wrapped in bandages. Nomura stated that Cloud's left arm was inspired by Vincent Valentine , and explained that he wanted to give the character a more demon-like appearance due to his ties to

30030-419: The reactor's destruction. Director Tetsuya Nomura acknowledged that concerns were raised regarding the scope of Remake , but did not feel that expansion of Midgar as a setting would be problematic. He explained that while it takes about seven hours to go through the Midgar section in the original game, he said the overall gameplay of Remake , when taking into consideration travel time involved with traversing

30225-418: The remake, to the point of finding it superior to the original title. The narrative was praised for the characters and their arcs. IGN called its "story fleshed out with real emotional arcs", praising its nostalgic feel, while criticizing the game for having "filler" and sometimes convoluted new plot points and side missions, but concluding that the remake brings a new life into a classic while standing as

30420-530: The role of minor characters and write new characters. Cloud's interactions with AVALANCHE members Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie further his character development and deepen the world of the story. Sephiroth was initially intended to be a looming presence, inspired by the shark in Jaws , to mirror his role in this section of the original game. However, Kitase reasoned that the original's Jaws -like approach would be ineffective because even new players were too familiar with

30615-444: The same level as a main numbered entry in the Final Fantasy series. While the team had the option of simply remastering Final Fantasy VII with better graphics as many fans had requested, they noted that its graphics and many of its mechanics had become dated by modern standards. With this in mind, they decided to do a full remake, rebuilding the game systems to suit contemporary tastes and using current gaming technology to recreate

30810-496: The script without any accompanying visuals, and first arrived for recording under the impression that he would be voicing a character other than Cloud. For Advent Children , Nomura wanted to contrast Cloud and Vincent's voices because of their similar personalities. As a sequel to the highly popular Final Fantasy VII , Sakurai felt greater pressure performing the role than he did when he voiced Cloud for Kingdom Hearts . Sakurai received comments from colleagues revealing their love of

31005-447: The script, commenting on the difficulty players who had finished Final Fantasy VII would have had imagining Cloud's smile. Nomura sought to make Cloud's design distinctly different from the other characters. About thirty different designs were made for Cloud's face, and his hair was altered to give it a more realistic look and illustrate that two years had passed since the game's conclusion. The staff attempted rendering Cloud based on

31200-475: The setting of the opening section of Final Fantasy VII . The eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE, with assistance from Cloud Strife , engineered successful bombing missions that temporarily put two Mako reactors out of commission by the events of Final Fantasy VII . In retaliation, the Turks destroyed the pillar holding up the section of the upper plate above Sector 7's slums. This caused the plate to collapse and crush

31395-449: The slums as a whole littered with wreckage. At some point in its history, Midgar went to war with the nation of Wutai. Shinra developed a means of mass-producing and weaponizing "materia", small spheres of crystallized Mako energy that grant their user magical abilities, as well as an army of genetically enhanced elite military units called "SOLDIER". Shinra ultimately won the war and established Midgar as their seat of power and influence in

31590-469: The slums below, killing many residents. Shinra executives, hoping that all of AVALANCHE's members would be killed in the incident, blamed it on them to sway public opinion against them. Following Shinra's capture of Cloud's party during their raid on the company's headquarters, President Shinra reveals his desire to discover the supposed Promised Land, where a "Neo-Midgar" would be built. He claims this land would be so abundant in Mako that it would flow out of

31785-576: The spot instead. In the PlayStation game Final Fantasy Tactics and its PlayStation Portable update, The War of the Lions , Cloud is accidentally pulled into the world of Ivalice by an ancient machine called "the Celestial Globe", which was activated by Ramza Beoulve. Cloud is disoriented after arriving in Ramza's world, and after a short exchange with Ramza and the others, he leaves. He wanders into Zarghidas Trade City, where he encounters

31980-464: The staff began with the idea of a black robe, eventually parring it down to a "long apron" shifted to one side. Cloud's weaponry was based on the joking observation that because his sword in the original game was already enormously tall, in the sequel, he should use sheer numbers. Referred to as "The Fusion Swords" ( 合体剣 , Gattai Ken ) during the film's development, early storyboard concepts included Cloud carrying six swords on his back, although

32175-411: The story and wanted to create a mysterious character who acted atypically for a hero. After VII , Nomura redesigned Cloud for Advent Children , giving him a more realistic appearance alongside new weaponry and a new outfit. For Remake , the team aimed to adapt his classic design for a more realistic artstyle. Cloud has garnered primarily positive reception from critics, and has been described as one of

32370-406: The team created architectural documents outlining how its various aspects should work. The development team aimed to make Midgar's environments larger and denser while taking into consideration their functionality, as they wanted to expand the city in a way that made sense. The developers set out to make Midgar's environments realistic by adjusting its scale regarding the size between the buildings and

32565-430: The theme of the story as one of forgiveness, which he believed required hardship; by taking up his sword and fighting, Cloud struggles to achieve it. Nojima sought to establish Cloud's withdrawn personality by depicting him as having a cell phone, but never answering any calls. He originally intended for Aerith's name to be the last one displayed in the backlog of ignored messages that appear as Cloud's cell phone sinks into

32760-427: The threat. During the game's events, Midgar is nearly destroyed by the large cannon stationed at Junon, which AVALANCHE had temporarily seized. Eventually, the original incarnation of AVALANCHE was crushed and its name was taken up by a new group that only consisted of a handful of operatives. Dirge of Cerberus reveals that while Reeve Tuesti , Yuffie Kisaragi , Vincent Valentine and the Turks managed to evacuate

32955-462: The trio learns that Shinra plans to collapse a piece of the "plate" onto the Sector 7 slums. Avalanche fails to stop Shinra's plan, and the plate falls. Aerith helps most of the population, including Barret's daughter Marlene , evacuate in time but is captured by Shinra. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret infiltrate Shinra headquarters and rescue Aerith from being used as an experiment by Shinra scientist Hojo ( James Sie / Shigeru Chiba ). She reveals that she

33150-403: The updated HUD . Due to its lack of footage since 2015, switch to internal development, and other projects Nomura was involved in, there were concerns about the status of the project. Speaking following E3 2018, Nomura stated that the game was in development, with his full attention shifted to it when Kingdom Hearts III was completed. After years without substantial footage, a teaser trailer

33345-400: The village of Kalm after hitching a ride with Chocobo Bill, as well as Zack entering the Sector 5 church searching for Aerith. Shortly after the bombing of Mako Reactor 5, Yuffie Kisaragi ( Suzie Yeung / Yumi Kakazu ), a ninja working for Wutai, arrives at Midgar and meets up with her partner Sonon Kusakabe (Aleks Le / Yoshimasa Hosoya ) in order to steal Shinra's "Ultimate Materia." With

33540-449: The voice director with guiding him. Nomura elaborated that the remake's interpretation of Cloud has a distinct personality; he attempts to act cool, but often fails to do so and instead comes across as awkward, which Nomura asked Sakurai to reflect in his acting. Another challenge for the developers was finding a suitable voice for the teenage Cloud seen during flashbacks. In order to better match Cloud's rural upbringing, they decided to hire

33735-516: The water, but altered the scene because it "sounded too creepy". The wolf which Cloud imagines "represents the deepest part of Cloud's psyche" and "appears in response to some burden that Cloud is carrying deep in his heart", vanishing at the film's end. Nomura cites one of the film's final scenes, in which Cloud smiles, as his favorite, highlighting the lack of dialogue and Cloud's embarrassment. The scene influenced composer Nobuo Uematsu 's score, who grew excited after coming across it in his review of

33930-524: The wider world by the events of Final Fantasy VII . At one point, Shinra had developed a space exploration program, but following the war with Wutai and the discovery of how profitable processing Mako energy was, Shinra prioritized research on Mako and its applications and consolidated their operations around harvesting Mako energy, effectively cancelling the program. In Final Fantasy VII and spin-off media, player characters may visit multiple sectors within Midgar. Noteworthy sectors include: Midgar serves as

34125-483: The world. An overarching goal of the project was to make the game feel both "new and nostalgic" for players of the original game while exemplifying the idea of Final Fantasy VII for new players. This decision led to the creation of Remake 's action-based battle system, which draws from that action-based style of Dissidia Final Fantasy . Teruki Endo, who had previously worked on Monster Hunter World , served as battle director. The team aimed to retain all of

34320-407: Was a critical and commercial success, and established the Final Fantasy series as a major franchise. It was expanded through the multimedia project Compilation of Final Fantasy VII , comprising additional games, films, and other media. In the early 2000s, Square announced a remake for PlayStation 2 alongside Final Fantasy VIII and IX , but nothing further was heard of the project. It

34515-720: Was a more positive character in Final Fantasy VII than in Advent Children , he did not believe that such an "'upbeat' image of him is what stuck in the minds of the fans", and the script was written to explain why Cloud returned to a state of mind "consistent with the fans' view of him". Nomura describes Cloud's life as peaceful but, hurt by the losses he experienced during the original game, one which he grew scared of losing. Blaming himself for things outside of his control, Cloud, Nomura elaborated, needed to overcome himself. In contrast to other heroes, who Nomura sees as typically possessing character defects amounting only to quirks, he believed Cloud's weakness to be humanizing. Nojima viewed

34710-554: Was abandoned because of the increased challenge of developing on new hardware and would have necessitated cutting content. The staff were preoccupied with developing Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels, and Remake would have been an equally large or larger project hard to undertake at the same time. Once the XIII series ended, the team was free to pursue other projects. Kitase claims that since XIII , he had been asked multiple times about developing this game. Co-director Naoki Hamaguchi

34905-502: Was announced in 2015 following years of speculation. Several key staff members from the original game returned, including Tetsuya Nomura as the director, Yoshinori Kitase as the producer, Kazushige Nojima as the writer, Motomu Toriyama as a co-director, and the composer Nobuo Uematsu . The staff redesigned the characters to balance realism and stylization. Final Fantasy VII Remake received positive reviews, with praise for its graphics, gameplay, narrative, and music. Critics praised

35100-417: Was believed to have killed him, but Cloud dismisses this as a lie, as he knows he would be no match for Sephiroth. He is troubled with the fact that although he most likely would have lost the fight, he lived after challenging Sephiroth. However, numerous visual and audio clues suggest the unreliability of Cloud's memory . Cloud will spontaneously remember words or scenes from his past, sometimes collapsing to

35295-409: Was changed to make her look more realistic as members from the staff realized her design would not fit fight scenes. Instead of creating a new engine, Square Enix licensed Epic Games ' Unreal Engine 4 to develop the game, with Square Enix and Epic Games Japan working together to optimize the engine for Remake . The team received technical assistance from the developers of Kingdom Hearts III , as

35490-476: Was completed in December 2015, covering the beginning of the game to the escape from Midgar. Kitase observed that despite 23 years passing since the original game was released, the themes of economic inequality, corporate monopoly, and environmentalism were still relevant to the current day. Nomura expressed regret that other areas of Midgar, such as the upper plate, were inaccessible in the original game and wanted to address that in Remake in order to give players

35685-584: Was featured at the 2019 Tokyo Game Show . Final Fantasy VII Remake was initially PlayStation 4 exclusive until 2021, with no further details about its release on other platforms at the time. The release date was pushed back from March 3 to April 10, 2020. A demo was released on the PlayStation Store on March 2, 2020, covering the first chapter. In March 2020, Square Enix revealed that Europe and Australia would receive physical copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake early, due to growing concerns of

35880-440: Was high, the port was criticised by players and critics for its stuttering and lack of customization, both stemming from a lack of optimization. It was released on Steam on June 17, 2022. Square published a novel focused on the backstories of Tifa and Aerith, Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts . Remake is the first in a planned trilogy of games remaking Final Fantasy VII . The second, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth ,

36075-450: Was in charge of the revamped main character designs, while designer Roberto Ferrari was in charge of designs for secondary characters. Character modeling was supervised by Visual Works , Square Enix's CGI development branch. Cloud Strife's initial redesign for Final Fantasy VII Remake departed more dramatically from the original's, but was later altered to more closely resemble Nomura's original concept. Tifa Lockhart's original appearance

36270-540: Was in development, for reasons including their focus on new games, the necessity to cut elements to make a remake manageable, the difficulty of developing for modern hardware, and the amount of development time it would require. The Remake project began when Final Fantasy producer Shinji Hashimoto broached the subject to Kitase, Nojima, and Nomura. All three were reaching a stage of life that they defined as "that age": all felt that if they waited much longer, they might not be alive to or would be too old to develop

36465-538: Was involved with the project from the start, he only discovered he was the director after seeing himself credited in an internal company presentation video, as he had expected Kitase to fill the role. Nomura filled the role director for both Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts III concurrently. Another project leader was Naoki Hamaguchi, who had previously served as a programmer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and project lead for Mobius Final Fantasy . Square Enix approached developing Remake at

36660-556: Was originally just a fan of the game so he was glad about his inclusion into the core development team. Demand for a remake grew following a PlayStation 3 tech demo at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo , showcasing the opening of Final Fantasy VII with Square's new Crystal Tools engine, in which, at the time, was known as its codename, the White Engine. Further demand came during the game's impending tenth anniversary in 2007. On both occasions, Square denied that any remake

36855-573: Was popular with the fans and reassured that the remake would keep this part. On the other hand, the character designer stated that their final design was not decided yet. Kazushige Nojima worked on making Cloud's interactions with Tifa and Barret natural. Despite fear of the possible result, Nojima also wanted players to connect with the character once again. Kitase further claimed that in the remake they aimed to make Cloud more inexperienced and informal than in Advent Children , due to him not being fully mature. Co-director Naoki Hamaguchi noted that since

37050-440: Was released in 2007, and Cloud message , in 2008. In 2013, a replica of the Buster Sword was created by blacksmith Tony Swatton for the webseries Man at Arms . Cloud has been mostly well received by critics. In his review of the PC release of Final Fantasy VII , Ron Dulin of GameSpot commented that "a simple understatement will have to suffice: Cloud is easily the most interesting and complex character ever presented in

37245-438: Was released on February 29, 2024. A prequel, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion – a remaster of the 2007 game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII – was released in December 2022. Music from Remake was included in the 2023 rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Bar Line . Final Fantasy VII Remake received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic , with critics praising its faithfulness to

37440-456: Was replaced by Cody Christian ; Burton thanked Square for his work, and wished Christian luck. Christian said that he was honored to portray what he described as an iconic character, and vowed to give his best performance. He also commented on Burton's previous work, stating, "Steve, you paved the way. You made this character what it is and have contributed in shaping a legacy". Christian used Burton's works as an inspiration for his portrayal of

37635-461: Was shown during PlayStation's May 2019 State of Play broadcast. Kitase revealed that the team wanted to "try something new" on the State of Play broadcast by showing the trailer. The release date, March 3, 2020, was revealed the following month in a second teaser trailer during an orchestral concert dedicated to the music of Final Fantasy VII in Los Angeles. Further release details were announced at

37830-635: Was slightly slimmer than in Final Fantasy VII because of the detail the 3D of the PlayStation Portable could give him. While also retaining his original design and his Advent Children appearance, Cloud was given a more distinct look based on his Final Fantasy VII persona. Cloud's initial redesign for Final Fantasy VII Remake was initially more different than the original, but was later altered to more closely resemble Nomura's original design. Early on in Final Fantasy VII , Cloud crossdresses in order to find Tifa, and Nomura noted this event

38025-438: Was unaware of the significance of Zack's addition until playtesting . Kitase reviewed Nojima's scenario and felt that Cloud, who was neither single-minded nor righteous, offered a fresh take on a protagonist. The love triangle between Cloud, Tifa Lockhart , and Aerith Gainsborough was also viewed as novel for the series. Nojima likened Cloud and Tifa's relationship to one of friends since nursery school, and compared Aerith to

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