From the very beginning, one of the more important missions of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake project was to tie the original game much more closely together with the content found in the Compilation of FF7. One of the ways Square Enix sought to help promote the Remake project as one of the more definitive FF7 experiences was to completely recast the English voice actors for the series. This cast would eventually be used in the remaster Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion.
After Steven Burton was the voice of Cloud for twelve years, Cody Christian was brought in to voice the iconic ex-SOLDIER merc as of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. While fans had their reservations, many adjusted to Christian's portayal as he brought an emotional range hidden behind Cloud's stoic attitude that was the perfect to how Cloud's broody exterior was always an act to hide the shy country boy underneath. This shines even more with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, and this range will only expand with the critical scenes awaiting in Christian's Cloud's future.
Cloud Strife Was Always More than Just an "Edgelord"
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If gamers take Cloud's character at face value, it's easy to understand why the general opinion tends to mark him as an "edgy" character. However, the entire point of Cloud's jaded personality was to be a cover-up for his trauma caused by a combination of his own insecurities and the Jenova S cells in his body. Many fans were concerned that, as later projects like Advent Children tended to focus on Cloud's depression, FF7 Remake would make Cloud into a shadow of what he used to be instead of focusing on him as a mentally ill unreliable narrator like in the original game.
Once fans got a hold of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, it was made rather clear that there was nothing to be afraid of as Christian made Cloud have plenty of awkward blunders that showed he wasn't used to playing himself up as some former SOLDIER hero or even socializing much in general. The fact that Christian got to make the implied awkwardness clear in Cloud's voice in these revisited classic moments brought players confidence in Christian's portrayal and in the Remake project overall.
Cloud's New Voice in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion
However, it was hard to truly compare the two actors as Burton never actually got any projects that dealt with scenes from the original game, as strange as that is. That changed with the recent release of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion as the remaster brought in the new English voice cast to tie the game even closer to the Remake project. Christian, once again, brought new life to Cloud in the remaster with a higher voice to emphasize the character's innocence and lack of experience.
On top of that, Christian was actually given much more work than Burton had for Crisis Core Reunion as many small scenes of the game that went without voice acting before were given new lines from the game's actors. This includes small, but important details of Cloud's character like the scene where Zack finds him suffering from motion sickness, all of the DMW scenes, and more. While these scenes may seem like minor parts of Christian's lengthy future as Cloud, many of them will play bigger roles as the Remake project continues.
How Cody Christian's Cloud Will Continue to Go Beyond
Cody Christian has made it rather well-known in interviews and the care put into his performance as Cloud on all fronts that he's incredibly passionate about his role and aims to give the depth to the character the dedication it deserves. At this point, he's not only played classic scenes from FF7 that had never been voice acted previously, but he's now brought his voice to Cloud's past as an infantryman. Both of these experiences will without a doubt help Christian going forward when it comes to the Remake project's future.
As emotionally charged that the ending of Final Fantasy 7 Remake was, there are many more dramatic moments that have a chance to blow them out of the water. While the Remake trilogy has the chance to shake up many of the game's iconic moments, Cloud's later mental breakdowns, and even his soulsearching in his own mind with Tifa might be made even more incredible with Christian handling them.
Christian has managed to not only handle the gruffness that hides Cloud's trauma, but with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion under his belt, fans now know he can definitely handle the innocent, more vulnerable sides of Cloud with care and detail. The scream heard at the end of the newly remastered release was heartwrenching, and it only bodes well for what Cody Christian will be asked to do for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Even though the next installment of the Remake project seems far away, Square Enix has said that news will be revealed when the time is right.
Of course, this is provided that everything goes well on both the development side of things as well as in terms of what happens between now and then with the Remake cast. While things seem to be going smoothly, and Rebirth's latest teaster trailer implies some voice work has been done if not all, there are all sorts of reasons as to why voice actors change between titles; ranging from as far voice actor deaths and entire teams not wanting to continue with even one specific actor not coming back for any reason. Luckily, Square Enix seems to be confident in Christian's work as the English voice of Cloud Strife, so fans should get used to hearing him for quite a long time.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.