Quote Originally Posted by Hypoallergenic Chie View Post
Even in crisis core, that scene is almost the same. After fighting off thousands of soldiers and dodging missles, he is killed by the last two soldiers.

And to be fair, any character from ff would die if they were shot up all day.
Cloud was stronger than Zack by virtue of everything he overcame. He didn't resist the influence of Jenova the way the strongest SOLDIERS like Zack did (nor did he become a mindless drone like the Sephiroth clones); he overcame it. In doing so, he became the most powerful person alive, which he proves by outright annihilating Sephiroth in their one on one battle at the end of FFVII. Zack was a strong soldier, but I think it's safe to say that his will was weaker than Cloud, and that's why even when Cloud was a wimp, he turned defeat into victory (by pulling Sephiroth's sword out of himself and throwing it [and Sephiroth] into the lifestream).

Zack was as strong as he was going to get, I think. And it wasn't enough to beat the newly awakened Sephiroth at Nibelheim. We all saw how strong Cloud became.

Besides, Sneak Attack+KotR would outright destroy Zack.

Note: Sneak Attack didn't exist in CC.