Cloud Strife is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Square's 1997 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII, its high-definition remake, and several of its sequels and spinoffs.
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Cloud Strife is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Square's 1997 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII, its high-definition remake, and several of its sequels and spinoffs.
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In Final Fantasy VII, Cloud Strife is a mercenary claiming to be formerly of SOLDIER, a group of elite supersoldiers employed by the Shinra Electric Power Company, a megacorporation responsible for draining the life from the planet.
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Cloud Strife reappears as the protagonist in the 2005 computer-animated sequel film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, in which he fights a new threat composed of a trio attacking his allies while dealing with his own terminal illness, "Geostigma".
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Cloud Strife was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, a character artist for the Final Fantasy series, whose role expanded during the title's development to include supervision over Cloud Strife's personality.
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Cloud Strife has ranked highly in various character lists compiled by video game publications, and remains popular among fans, continuing to place highly in popularity polls conducted by Famitsu, Guinness, and other organizations.
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Cloud Strife has become the basis for a variety of merchandise, such as action figures and jewelry.
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Cloud Strife has been voiced by multiple actors, with Steve Burton and Cody Christian's English vocal performances being the subject of praise.
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Cloud Strife isn't a straightforward hero like Superman; rather, he has many mysteries, self-doubts, and a real dark side.
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In Hironobu Sakaguchi's first plot treatment, a prototype for Cloud Strife's character belonged to an organization attempting to destroy New York City's "Mako Reactors".
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Kitase and Nomura discussed that Cloud Strife would be the lead of three protagonists, but Nomura did not receive character profiles or a completed scenario in advance.
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Nomura's first draft of Cloud Strife featured slicked-back black hair to contrast with the long silver hair of the game's primary antagonist, Sephiroth, and to minimize the model's polygon count.
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However, to make Cloud Strife stand out more and emphasize his role as the game's lead protagonist, Nomura altered Cloud Strife's design to give him spiky, bright blond hair.
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Square's staff conceived of a minigame involving Cloud Strife driving a motorcycle at the start of the game's development, and Nomura's illustrations included Cloud Strife riding a "Hardy-Daytona", a Shinra motorcycle.
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Kitase reviewed Nojima's scenario and felt that Cloud Strife, being neither single-minded nor righteous, offered a fresh take on a protagonist.
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In early scripts, Sephiroth would have deceived Cloud Strife into thinking Sephiroth had created him, and Sephiroth could exert control over Cloud Strife's movements.
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Cloud Strife would have somehow injured Tifa prior to the game's events, leaving her with memory loss of the event and a large scar on her back.
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Nomura believes that the reason Cloud Strife became popular with audiences is due to the impact Cloud Strife's personality made in Nojima's scenario.
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Cloud Strife, by taking up his sword and fighting, struggles to achieve it.
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Nojima sought to establish Cloud Strife's withdrawn personality by depicting him with a cell phone, but never answering any calls.
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Cloud Strife originally intended for Aerith's name to be the last of those displayed while the backlog of ignored messages appears as Cloud's cell phone sinks into the water, but Nojima altered the scene because it "sounded too creepy".
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Cloud Strife'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.
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The staff laughed at the name given to Cloud Strife's move during the making of it as Nomura was inspired by a sport move from Final Fantasy X whose protagonist, Tidus, explained the addition of a more specific name would make people be more excited.
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Main reason for Cloud Strife acting more reckless than people of his age was because he spent five years in a coma, so he was made to have social problems.
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One example was Cloud Strife trying to emotionally support Tifa during a sad scene, imitating Barret's actions but he fails to cause the same impact.
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When it comes to being close to other characters, Cloud Strife is annoyed by Jessie's flirting but instead tries acting cool with Aerith.
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Cloud Strife re-recorded his lines multiple times, and credited the voice director with guiding him.
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Nomura elaborated that the remake's interpretation of Cloud Strife 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.
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Cloud Strife is introduced as a mercenary employed by AVALANCHE, an eco-terrorist group opposed to the Shinra Company.
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Cloud Strife learns he cannot remember things like how or when he joined SOLDIER.
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Nibel Mako reactor, Cloud Strife managed to ambush him and throw him into the Lifestream, and believed him dead.
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Zack later escapes with Cloud Strife, bringing him to the outskirts of Midgar before Shinra soldiers gun Zack down.
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Cloud Strife appears in a minor role in the mobile game Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, a prequel set six years before Final Fantasy VII.
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Cloud Strife, having overcome his doubts, defeats Sephiroth once more, leaving a dying Kadaj in his place.
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At the film's conclusion, Cloud Strife, seeing Aerith and Zack, assures the two that he will be fine and reunites with his friends.
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Cloud Strife appears in On the Way to a Smile, a series of short stories set between Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children.
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The game ends with Cloud Strife heading to Midgar, reprising the start of Final Fantasy VII.
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Zack and Cloud Strife's connection was meant to be expanded upon near the game's ending, with both of them planning to flee to Midgar.
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Cloud Strife 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.
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Nomura stated that he wanted to leave the question of whether Cloud Strife was searching for Aerith open to the player's interpretation.
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Cloud Strife meets with Sora afterward and explains that he is searching for someone.
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Cloud Strife reappears in Kingdom Hearts II, this time depicted in his Advent Children design.
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Cloud Strife is searching for Sephiroth, and is himself being sought out by Tifa.
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Sora concludes that Cloud Strife is still fighting with Sephiroth, and will not stop until he is defeated.
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Besides the video games, Cloud Strife appears in the Kingdom Hearts manga adaptations, reprising his original role.
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Cloud Strife's character has appeared in various games outside of the Final Fantasy VII continuity.
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Cloud Strife is a playable character in the PlayStation version of Ehrgeiz.
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In Chocobo Racing, Cloud Strife is a hidden character that rides a motorcycle.
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Cloud Strife 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.
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Cloud Strife is a playable character representing Final Fantasy VII in the rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, with his Advent Children persona serving as downloadable content.
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Players in Final Fantasy Explorers can briefly transform into Cloud Strife, enabling use of his Omnislash Limit Break from Final Fantasy VII.
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Cloud Strife is the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII G-Bike, a mobile game for which Nomura designed a new costume for him.
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Cloud Strife appears as a playable guest character in the 2014 Nintendo crossover fighting games Super Smash Bros.
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Cloud Strife's model was primarily based on his appearance in the Dissidia series, with slight alterations under Nomura's supervision.
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Cloud Strife was a candidate guest character for Soulcalibur II but he was replaced by Heihachi Mishima from Tekken, which similarly to Soulcalibur is a Namco fighting game franchise that even shares Yoshimitsu as a regular character for both series.
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Cloud Strife is disoriented after arriving in Ramza's world, and after a short exchange with Ramza and the others, he leaves.
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Cloud Strife 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 the Lions.
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Cloud Strife serves as the representative hero of Final Fantasy VII in Dissidia Final Fantasy, a fighting game featuring characters from the Final Fantasy series.
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Cloud Strife is depicted in his Final Fantasy VII design, while his Advent Children design is available.
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Cloud Strife's fight against Sephiroth in this game is based on their battles from Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children.
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Concerned for Tifa, who is on the opposing side, Cloud Strife tries to defeat Chaos alone; after nearly being killed, he is saved by the goddess Cosmos, and becomes one of her warriors.
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Cloud Strife again appears as a playable character opposite Sephiroth in the series' third entry, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, wearing his Advent Children outfit.
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Whether or not you handicap for the massive marketing push that introduced him to the world back in 1997, [Cloud Strife] is probably the most famous hero in the history of the Final Fantasy series.
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Kurt Kalata of Gamasutra stated that Cloud Strife is "somewhat of a weakling" with grandiose delusions and other psychological issues.
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Cloud Strife called Cloud one of the first unreliable narrators in a role-playing video game.
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Cloud Strife criticized Cloud's "childish motivations", stating that Final Fantasy VII could not "match the depth of screenplay in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane or the complexities of characters exhibited in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver".
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Joystiqs Andrew Yoon opined that the director's cut version of the film provides more depth to Cloud Strife's development, taking advantage of its longer runtime by better "humanizing [him]".
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GamesRadar stated that while Cloud Strife felt like a "miserable" character in the film, his coming to terms with his past was appealing alongside his new swords stored in his bike.
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Cloud Strife set a trend in the Final Fantasy series in regards to the characterization of main characters.
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Famitsu in 2010 published a seven-page tribute to Cloud Strife, showcasing his many appearances throughout the years.
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Cloud Strife took the same place in the Final Fantasy VII title alone as well.
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Cloud Strife was named best character of all time in Dengeki PlayStations 2007 "Den-Play Awards".
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Cloud Strife has been merchandised extensively, in many different forms, including figurines and jewelry.
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Square Enix's manager of merchandise, Kanji Tashiro, said at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con International that Cloud Strife'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.
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