Who was the superior protagonist?

[Example]

Pretty self explanatory topic. Not including Vincent for obvious reasons. I can understand why many people love Zack more than Cloud, but I personally think the latter was better developed and had a more interesting backstory and characterization. While Zack was designed to be the archetypal hero, Cloud was designed as a deconstruction of that. Anyway, what do you guys think?

[Wolf Kanno]

Cloud is more interesting, but I find Zack more likable.Zack's personality alone got me through the awful Crisis Core, whereas Cloud's moodiness starts to wear thin for me by the second disc of VII.

[maybee]

Cloud. Cloud just feels more realistic imo. While Zack feels more like a anime protag.


While Zack was designed to be the archetypal hero, Cloud was designed as a deconstructionism of that. Anyway, what do you guys think?

Yeah Cloud was a cliche breaker, especially at the time. While Zack is very cliche. Not a bad thing, just what you prefer when it comes to heroes.

[Fynn]

Not a big fan of either, really, but Wolf’s reasoning is similar to my own experience

[Shiva95]

I prefer Zack. His personality is simply more interesting for me, even if I also really liked CC!Cloud. I just don't think he's that interesting in the original game. I understand why he's popular and I really like him, but I prefer charismatic protagonists who talk and joke a lot, but who end up having a sad story, like Zack, Noctis, Tidus or Zidane.

[Freya]

Cloud. Cloud just feels more realistic imo. While Zack feels more like a anime protag.


While Zack was designed to be the archetypal hero, Cloud was designed as a deconstructionism of that. Anyway, what do you guys think?

Yeah Cloud was a cliche breaker, especially at the time. While Zack is very cliche. Not a bad thing, just what you prefer when it comes to heroes.

I agree with maybee here

[Skyblade]

Cloud is more interesting, but I find Zack more likable.Zack's personality alone got me through the awful Crisis Core, whereas Cloud's moodiness starts to wear thin for me by the second disc of VII.

How did you get through Crisis Core then? Because Zack's moodiness gets WAY worse than Cloud's. That's why I couldn't finish. Happy and bubbly protagonist became eternally depressed and it was terrible.

[WarZidane]

I'm not really a fan of either one, but I prefer Zack out of the two.

I have nothing against more complex protagonists but I feel like they didn't do it well in Cloud's case.

[Wolf Kanno]

How did you get through Crisis Core then? Because Zack's moodiness gets WAY worse than Cloud's. That's why I couldn't finish. Happy and bubbly protagonist became eternally depressed and it was terrible.

Zack only gets depressed once you fight with Genesis for the first time and lose Angeal. After the time skip, he's actually back to being his cheerful self up until the ending. It helps that Gloom Cloud overshadows whatever moodiness Zack can have, and I was honestly more disturbed by Aerith being uncharacteristically gloomy in the game.

[Example]

I'm not really a fan of either one, but I prefer Zack out of the two.

I have nothing against more complex protagonists but I feel like they didn't do it well in Cloud's case.

Care to elaborate why you feel that?





How did you get through Crisis Core then? Because Zack's moodiness gets WAY worse than Cloud's. That's why I couldn't finish. Happy and bubbly protagonist became eternally depressed and it was terrible.

Zack only gets depressed once you fight with Genesis for the first time and lose Angeal. After the time skip, he's actually back to being his cheerful self up until the ending. It helps that Gloom Cloud overshadows whatever moodiness Zack can have, and I was honestly more disturbed by Aerith being uncharacteristically gloomy in the game.

Did that actually happen in CC? Dear god, did they get ANYTHING right in that game?

[Wolf Kanno]

Zack only gets depressed once you fight with Genesis for the first time and lose Angeal. After the time skip, he's actually back to being his cheerful self up until the ending. It helps that Gloom Cloud overshadows whatever moodiness Zack can have, and I was honestly more disturbed by Aerith being uncharacteristically gloomy in the game.

Did that actually happen in CC? Dear god, did they get ANYTHING right in that game?

For a PSP game it was pretty? I honestly feel the only returning characters done well in the game were Zack and possibly Tseng. Everyone else is surprisingly out of character from VII's version of them, or have at least had one or two personality quirks cranked to 11 in Cloud's case.

CC implies that Aerith gets all her spunk cause it rubbed off on her from Zack, despite VII showing in Aerith's childhood scenes that she was always spunky and optimistic.

[Skyblade]

How did you get through Crisis Core then? Because Zack's moodiness gets WAY worse than Cloud's. That's why I couldn't finish. Happy and bubbly protagonist became eternally depressed and it was terrible.

Zack only gets depressed once you fight with Genesis for the first time and lose Angeal. After the time skip, he's actually back to being his cheerful self up until the ending. It helps that Gloom Cloud overshadows whatever moodiness Zack can have, and I was honestly more disturbed by Aerith being uncharacteristically gloomy in the game.

I got right past the time skip, and it seemed like he was depressed the whole time and he was certainly still depressed immediately after it. In fact, the entire time skip seemed to be just "Zack's too busy sulking, so nothing happens".

I don't think I played a single mission past that.

[Wolf Kanno]

His interactions with Cloud post-time skip generally have him being the more optimistic one. Granted, Zack is certainly more serious post time skip, but it's kind of understandable, but I wouldn't describe him as mopey though. He gets a bit moody when Genesis turned out to still be alive, but I feel even the player would find that relatable since we were all sick of dealing with his whiny ass. I mean maybe Zack is moepy, but frankly, he's a big ol bag of sunshine compared to the rest of the cast who wear grim like they were all wannabe goth kids.

[Example]

Zack only gets depressed once you fight with Genesis for the first time and lose Angeal. After the time skip, he's actually back to being his cheerful self up until the ending. It helps that Gloom Cloud overshadows whatever moodiness Zack can have, and I was honestly more disturbed by Aerith being uncharacteristically gloomy in the game.

Did that actually happen in CC? Dear god, did they get ANYTHING right in that game?

For a PSP game it was pretty? I honestly feel the only returning characters done well in the game were Zack and possibly Tseng. Everyone else is surprisingly out of character from VII's version of them, or have at least had one or two personality quirks cranked to 11 in Cloud's case.

CC implies that Aerith gets all her spunk cause it rubbed off on her from Zack, despite VII showing in Aerith's childhood scenes that she was always spunky and optimistic.

CC also showed us more of pre-insanity Sephiroth. Also that didn't make sense to me either since she's still overly sweet and dainty at the end of CC.

[maybee]

Both of them get mopey.

Cloud because he was stuck in a experiment lab for about half a decade and then had to watch his "bff" die right in front of his face. Cloud also felt like a worthless failure since childhood.

Zack because he had to kill his "bff" and Genesis being a massive troll.

This may sound awful, but I'm happy that Zack had his mopey moments- it made him more human, and not something that felt like a manga main lead.


He gets a bit moody when Genesis turned out to still be alive, but I feel even the player would find that relatable since we were all sick of dealing with his whiny ass.

[Loony BoB]

This was way harder than I thought. WK summed it up best for me in his first post. Zack was way more likeable - but Cloud was more interesting while still (for me) remaining likeable to some extent, without being too likeable... Cloud for me is the better protagonist for that reasoning. I will say, however, that I hated Cloud in Crisis Core. He was way too weak and it grated on me. I know that was the point but they made him sound pathetic. I love how he sounds when he's in full-on hero mode, as seen in World of Final Fantasy.

[Cell]

I always preferred Zack to Cloud. Zack seemed to have some form of personality, whereas Cloud was quite often bland and uninteresting.

[maybee]

whereas Cloud was quite often bland and uninteresting.

I've never understood this reasoning ? How is Cloud bland and uninteresting ? The character isn't who you think he is for most of the game, and you find out that he was this kid who just wanted to be noticed.

How is that bland ?

[Example]

whereas Cloud was quite often bland and uninteresting.

I've never understood this reasoning ? How is Cloud bland and uninteresting ? The character isn't who you think he is for most of the game, and you find out that he was this kid who just wanted to be noticed.

How is that bland ?

He must be talking about Advent Children. And to be fair Cloud was pretty bland and uninteresting in that movie. It's like Square completely forgot everything that made him compelling and deep in the game.

[maybee]

whereas Cloud was quite often bland and uninteresting.

I've never understood this reasoning ? How is Cloud bland and uninteresting ? The character isn't who you think he is for most of the game, and you find out that he was this kid who just wanted to be noticed.

How is that bland ?

He must be talking about Advent Children. And to be fair Cloud was pretty bland and uninteresting in that movie. It's like Square completely forgot everything that made him compelling and deep in the game.

Yeah Advent Children Cloud is bland. Same with Kingdom Hearts Cloud, which was originally supposed to be Vincent.