[q=Joel]or the "I don't wanna save the world, I just wanna go home and be with my 2 girlfriends, wah wah wah (Cloud)"[/q]I'm trying to figure out if you actually remember FFVII, or if you're just making stuff up since you've decided to hate Square for making FFVII sequels.[q=Originally posted by me in a different forum]Cloud is hard. That dude went through absolute hell - living out a delusion, discovering the genuine horrors of his actual past, witnessing the destruction of nearly everything that mattered to him - but then he accepted the help of his friends and, without a second thought or regard for his own future, flung himself into the final battle, believing it'd probably be his last, but not caring (or allowing his doubts to affect others) because it was the right thing to do.
Cloud's one of the most genuinely heroic characters that the FF series has ever produced, in my opinion. Confident but humble, charismatic but not over-the-top, able to overcome adversity for the greater good.[/q]But where other heroes fell abandoned their responsibilities, he pulled himself together and persevered. Squall (FFVIII) abandoned the people under his command - both during battle, and afterward - to look after he woman he cared for. Admirable compassion, but dangerously poor and selfish leadership. Zidane Tribal (FFIX) never cared for the opinions or rights of others; instead, he just insulted or assaulted who disagreed with his view or 'right' and 'wrong'.

Alongside Cloud, I'd have to rank Solid Snake from MGS2 as a 'great hero'. In Sons of Liberty, Snake's gone above the high standard he set in MGS, and gained an even greater sense of morality - even though he's more hated by the world than he was before. He's (SPOILER)aging prematurely and can never have a family, but he doesn't let that stop him being both iron-hard or compassionate, as circumstances require. A fighter, but a resolutely 'just' man. Not unrealistic, either - he's no 'pure' man, or in possession of higher ideals or morals; but he keeps doing what Gray Fox taught him - fighting for what he believes in, refusing to be used by any other group.