Quote Originally Posted by Example View Post

I get what you're saying, but there is still a difference between avoiding personal attachments with no basis and outright being an unlikable douche who only responds with "...whatever" when directly spoken to. Squall being an emotionally unstable shy kid with no social skills does not excuse the way he kept telling Quistis to piss off or just outright ignoring her every time she looked to him for advice and/or emotional support. Especially since he's supposed to be the team leader he should at the very least know how to inspire faith and boost the morale of his comrades even without being close friends with them. I won't even get into how Squall is supposed to remember having parents or a sister in the first place despite suffering from amnesia. And last time I checked, Zell was the only orphan who was adopted and whose adoptive parents you actually see, but I could be wrong on that so feel free to correct me. And maybe it's just me, but I don't see that much of a difference between a guy who tries to be an adult but fails miserably due to his insecurities and a guy who tries to be someone else but fails miserably due to his insecurities.
Honestly, I actually really like Squall's jerkass facade, and understanding how it's a defense mechanism still follows logical consistency psychologically speaking. Now whether you like that persona is completely subjective, and I feel we'll have to agree to disagree on that front since I prefer more misanthropic (again, I would point out that Squall and I are not so different personality-wise) characters over some paragon of virtue,

As for the amnesia stuff, it was shown that strong memories tend to fade last. As for the others being adopted, Zell is the only one shown, but I remember Quistis mentioning that she was taken in but didn't like her parents so she enrolled into Balamb when she was ten. Irvine in passing was mentioned to be adopted but nothing else about is ever brought up and Selphie is unknown. We know that Squall and Seifer were the last two of Edea's orphans who simply transferred to Balamb Garden when it was created.

As for their being no difference, there is. Squall doesn't want to form attachments because he doesn't want to be hurt by losing people he cars about, so he purposely pushed people away so he can't form such bonds. Cloud wants to be acknowledged by others and the Jenova cells allow him to imprint the best qualities of Zack and Sephiroth to create the ideal version of himself. He's afraid no one will like him because he has a poor self-image of himself. Squall comes across as a child who is emotionally stunted due to traumatic abandonment issues. Cloud is your typical middle schooler who simply wants to find his place in society, shoots for the moon and fails because he's just average and not special, well until Jenova and Hojo come along at least. So they're actually on a opposite emotional spectrum, Cloud wants to form bonds , Squall doesn't. The difference for me is that Squall is actually a fairly accurate psychological study, whereas Cloud's issues stem far more from fictional issues and the game doesn't really bother addressing his actual insecurities when they finally come to light. Again, I appreciate the idea, but not the execution, whereas Squall still intrigues me because his story is a real character study and I find his circumstances to be more relatable.