Quote Originally Posted by Sephiroth1999AD
Quote Originally Posted by Squall of SeeD
First of all, he still had Mako in him (look at his eyes during the close-up when Sephiroth returns), so he'd still be uber. Second, he was uber even before he was infused with Mako or injected with JENOVA's Cells. Watch Last Order. He pulled himself down the length of Sephiroth's blade and threw Sephiroth into a wall by gripping the blade; further, the wall crumpled like paper when Sephiroth hit it. Sephiroth was dumb-founded that Cloud could do this and said "What the hell are you?!"
The thing is, it's not told anywhere in FFVII when he was showered with Mako. Sure, he had the glow in his eyes, but Jenova cells could have caused that as well. Mako is given to those joining the SOLDIER, and Cloud never made it into the SOLDIER. When he killed Sephiroth in Nibelheim's Mako Reactor, I think it'd be safe to say he had neither Mako nor Jenova cells at that point. So it must have been Hojo who gave him Mako, which is quite weird when he just wanted to experiment with Jenova cells by putting them on Nibelheim's survivors.

So, yeah, Cloud was always really powerful. In any event, anyone is capable of surge in strength from the Spirit Energy. Limit Breaks/Trances are something anyone can undergo, and in Cloud's case, his Spirit Energy is just really strong.
No. The only people who have seemingly been able to reach a Limit Break are the nine party members and the kid in the inn near Avalanche's hideout. As for Trance and Spirit Energy giving you the power to reach it...
In some respects, every single one of us can perform a limit break. If you will recall general biology or psych classes, the activation of a person's "fight-or-flight" instinct results in increased strength, agility, and stamina. This alone is not enough to account for a limit break, but there have been some relatively weak people who could perform feats as spectacular as lifting up a car when, say, the life of a loved one was in danger; the increased adrenaline flow allows for much higher capabilities.

Cloud says he never made it into SOLDIER. I don't buy that, especially not from someone as confused as he is. Dialogue analysis is always less substantive than physical analysis. The FFVII: Last Order anime shows that he possesses Mako eyes in the reactor incident, as did Zack. In my opinion, the best fix is to say that at the time of the reactor incident, Cloud was a candidate for SOLDIER, but not a full-fledged member. Of course, seeing as he even made it that far in the first place, he's got to be fairly strong under his own power. The reactor incident was after Shinra went to war with Wutai, by about five years or so. By all accounts, the warriors of Wutai were fierce and powerful, but seemingly no match for Shinra's superior technology. Nevertheless, they very well could have taken a mighty toll on Shinra's ranks, such as in World War II's Pacific Theater. Alternatively, Wutai could have had more manpower at the time. Whether it's a case of history repeating itself or a simple allegory, Shinra would need new blood. Someone like Cloud fits the bill perfectly.