There are few video game characters that can truly be considered "iconic". Characters that the layperson on the street would be able to recognize by a silhouette of them. Mascots like Mario and Sonic or cultural phenomena like Pokemon also come to mind. However, in the realm of the RPG, one character stood out above the rest for the longest time: Cloud Strife.
Cloud, the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, has made dozens of appearances and has countless references in other games. He's the definitive JRPG protagonist of an entire generation of game players. No other JRPG protagonist comes close in the West, aside from Persona 5's Joker. Some people think Cloud is overrated, and in some ways he is. However, there are plenty of other traits that show that Cloud deserves all the hype around him.
10 Overrated: The Archetype Is Overdone
Cloud is a character in the school of "edgy anime boys". He has ridiculous hair, a goofy sword, and is often depicted as an ultra-serious bad boy. At the very least, he's mostly ambivalent to the world around him. In the Final Fantasy series alone, Square has tried to make lightning strike twice and duplicate the success of Cloud as a character. Some characters, like Final Fantasy VIII's Squall, are more than meets the eye. Others, like Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning, just feel lazily written. While it's hardly Cloud's fault that Square forgot how to write good characters, his character feels a bit too tropey these days.
9 Deserves Hype: He's The First Of His Kind
In the SNES era, the biggest JRPG's all tended to have one of two types of protagonists. The first was the silent protagonist, which remains a staple of series like Dragon Quest or Shin Megami Tensei. The second were the plain, save-the-world noble-types. Final Fantasy tried to step away from this box, but characters like Cecil aren't the most memorable. Cloud is a different character from a different time; he's a self-serving mercenary on the surface. He has a mouth on him and he's not afraid to talk trash. There's a ton of complexity to Cloud's character that is revealed over the course of Final Fantasy VII, and he's the first of many characters that tried to copy him.
8 Overrated: His Character In Spin-Offs Is Awful
Cloud was a hugely successful character in his own game. However, for any fan who's seen him outside of his element, he just feels off. When Cloud appears in Kingdom Hearts, for example, he's just a brooding anime boy with a big sword. He's too cool for all the Disney nonsense and avoids the plot at all costs.
Again, Cloud can't be blamed for wanting to avoid the plot, but he's woefully underdeveloped as a character. His character in the Dissidia games shares a similar tragic fate, where the ultra-seriousness is all he has to his name. Advent Children, while technically a sequel, has bigger problems than Cloud. Cloud is more than just edge and sadness, and it's a good thing Square remembered that for Final Fantasy VII Remake.
7 Deserves Hype: He's Actually Very Dorky
One thing that was always a part of Cloud's character and got a spotlight in the remake was his sense of humor. Cloud has always been a snarky guy, but the original translation didn't do him many favors. The remake shows that Cloud is a bit of a dork. He enjoys messing with people, talking-trash, and sliding in snide comments when they're needed. He's a guy who definitely just needs a good nap to be less grumpy. Some of the best lines in the remake come from Cloud, including his attempt at a show of concern for Wedge earlier in the game. This is the guy who said "let's mosey" before challenging a being with supreme power, after all.
6 Overrated: Powerful Plot Armor
An absurd moment in both the original and the remake happens early on. After the battle with Airbuster, Cloud is send falling down from the upper crust of Midgar down into a church in the slums. He shatters the roof, but lives with hardly a scratch on him. Aerith claims that magic flowers kept him safe, but it's just one example of his powerful plot armor. His strength and skill often goes beyond what is reasonably possible even in a sci-fi fantasy world with magical rocks (Materia). Cloud can certainly take a beating at times, but he's never counted out. Taking away this kind of weakness makes him a weaker character overall.
5 Deserves Hype: He's An Empathetic Boy
One of the most interesting parts of Cloud, especially in the remake, is that his "uncaring mercenary" personality is just a front. It's not even a particularly convincing front, since literally everyone sees through it. Aerith and Tifa especially can tell when Cloud is being genuine and when he's not. Underneath all the edge is a guy who really does care about people and world around him. His interaction with the kids in the Sector 5 slums helps to highlight this characteristic especially. Even if he doesn't always know the right words to say, Cloud still does his best to help people.
4 Overrated: The Buster Sword
The Buster Sword is the crown jewel of absurd with Cloud's character. This hulking chunk of steel is completely and totally stupid as a weapon. Cloud may at least be less scrawny in the remake than he is in some of the spin-offs, but suspending disbelief can only do so much. The Buster Sword, while iconic, is the weakest weapon he can wield in the original. The remake helps make it maintain its usefulness, at least for a little while. There are so many cooler swords that Cloud can wield in both the original and the remake, so the fact he always has his Buster Sword is unfortunate.
3 Deserves Hype: Surprisingly Good Dance Moves
Cloud is obviously incredibly nimble. In combat, he's able to weave in and out of attack despite having a chuck of metal strapped to his back. But the fans still had one question: can Cloud dance? Unlike the Persona series, Final Fantasy's rhythm game Theatrhythm actually tried to be an RPG and have some self-respect.
However, thanks to genius Nomura, the fans could finally see Cloud dance in the remake. In quite possibly the most ridiculous moment in a game full of ridiculous moments, Final Fantasy VII Remake becomes a dancing game. And it turns out Cloud has some sweet dance moves. Truly he is a man of many talents.
2 Overrated: He's Bland On His Own
Final Fantasy VII has a great cast of characters for a lot of reasons, but especially because they all work well with Cloud. Cloud is like the bread of a good sandwich; as the other characters build off him, the whole of the cast gets better. But Cloud on his own is just a little bland. The bread may be good, but it's still bread. Sometimes it's good to indulge in bread, but eventually that gets tiring. This is especially true when the breadmakers lose the recipe for how they made the bread good in the first place. Cloud is great, but he's hardly a character that works out of the context of his own game and AVALANCHE.
1 Deserves Hype: Still Rocks That Dress
One of the debates about Final Fantasy VII Remake back during the constant rumor cycles about the game was over the Honeybee Inn. Wall Market is essentially the red-light district of Midgar, and that includes Don Corneo and the Honeybee Inn. Aerith's idea to have Cloud crossdress to get into Corneo's mansion is one of the stand-out moments of the original, but many had questions about how that would translate in a remake. Fortunately, it was genuinely incredible how they handled it. The fact there are so many different dresses just makes it all the better. Cloud was right when he said that he nailed it.