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Lightning is a Better Character than Cloud

Lightning or Cloud

  • Lightning

    Votes: 274 19.8%

  • Cloud

    Votes: 807 58.3%

  • Thor 2: The Dark World

    Votes: 303 21.9%
  • Total voters
    1,384
spman2099

spman2099

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,892
Cloud is one of the more interesting characters in a mainline Final Fantasy game. Lightning isn't.

BlueBomberX said:
Basically. They're extremely similar characters but she's easier on the eyes.
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I feel like Lightning is Cloud as remembered by someone who played Final Fantasy 7 twenty years ago and doesn't really remember much.
 
doodlebob

doodlebob

Member
Mar 11, 2018
1,401
Lightning has the most basic a character arc you can ever write. She just goes from slap-happy to sorta understanding.

I'm gonna plug the worst cutscene I've seen in any video game. Shit is comical.

 
ultramooz

ultramooz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,339
Paris, France
A cactuar has a more expressive face than both of them, and is more endearing.

Actually I would play FFVI if a cactuar is the main character. But only if.
 

Deleted member 19533

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,873
spman2099 said:
Cloud is one of the more interesting characters in a mainline Final Fantasy game. Lightning isn't.



I feel like Lightning is Cloud as remembered by someone who played Final Fantasy 7 twenty years ago and doesn't really remember much.
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Or you could say by someone that played the remake recently but didn't play the XIII games in a long time.

She reminded me of him back then, and he reminds me of her now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Gold Arsene

Gold Arsene

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
30,757
TheChungusAmongUs said:
The thing that always gets me is the whole "Cloud is a deconstruction of the cool protagonist, he's actually a dork" is always lost on me when literally every other depiction in subsequent media post FF7 of Cloud is him being "the cool protagonist"

Noctis is a giant dork, and he isn't ashamed of it.
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Writers not getting the point of a character is hardly a new phenomenon. See comic books.

Square screwing up writing doesn't change what was written in the original AND the remake.
tvtropes.org

Character Derailment - TV Tropes

When an established character becomes largely different, exhibiting behavior contrary to what has been previously shown. This is not a matter of organic growth. Rather than gradually changing in response to events and experiences, a derailed …
tvtropes.org tvtropes.org
tvtropes.org

Character Rerailment - TV Tropes

Character Rerailment is what happens when a derailed character returns to their previous characterization. Generally this signals the end of an Audience-Alienating Era. This may also follow a changing of the guard at the asylum. May also happen …
tvtropes.org tvtropes.org
 
Lunar Wolf

Lunar Wolf

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
16,237
Los Angeles
TheChungusAmongUs said:
The thing that always gets me is the whole "Cloud is a deconstruction of the cool protagonist, he's actually a dork" is always lost on me when literally every other depiction in subsequent media post FF7 of Cloud is him being "the cool protagonist"

Noctis is a giant dork, and he isn't ashamed of it.
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That depiction of Cloud is only in the Kingdom Hearts series and Advent Children. Kingdom Hearts flanderizes all the FF characters though to make them almost borderline unrecognizable from their original depictions.

Advent Children was a bad attempt at showing how Cloud is no longer a tryhard but legitimately cool as a way to show he's grown up. It just was incongruent with the story they were telling about how he's fallen into a deep depression and that he's still a bit mentally weak.

That said, Cloud's a pretty big dork in Crisis Core.

The kind of dork that emails you when you step out the room to invite you to his mom's house for dinner because he's too embarrassed to ask you face to face.
 

Mattakuevan

Self requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
765
Lightning is easily one of the worst protags in the series, whereas cloud is arguably one of the best.

It took her three games and she still sucks
 
Gold Arsene

Gold Arsene

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
30,757
BlueBomberX said:
Basically. They're extremely similar characters but she's easier on the eyes.
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FINAL-FANTASY-VII-REMAKE_20200407191435.jpg


I don't think so Tim.
 
spman2099

spman2099

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,892
BlueBomberX said:
Or you could say by someone that played the remake recently but didn't play the XIII games in a long time.

She reminded me of him back then, and he reminds me of her now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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The problem there is that FF7R concludes before we start to really get to know Cloud. None of the juicy story beats have occurred for his character yet. That being said, I think FF7R already does a fairly good job indicating his social inadequacies (AKA how dorky he is). Cloud is standoffish, but his dorkiness keeps bleeding through. Lightning is all business. That is who she is. Her arch has her be a little more empathetic and understanding... while still primarily being all business. Lightning is the type of personality Cloud is trying to emulate (while failing to do so effectively). More and more as the game progresses that all falls away.
 
Lunar Wolf

Lunar Wolf

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
16,237
Los Angeles
You know I actually like Lightning though. She deserved to be in a much better game.

Like, I'd switch out Vaan and Lighting as protagonists of their games if I could.

FFXII was too good for Vaan.

FFXIII was too bad for Lightning.
 
Gin

Gin

Member
May 2, 2018
310



Only cool people fight awesome bosses against this music

Winner - Lightning
 
Mimosa

Mimosa

Community & Social Media Manager
Verified
Oct 23, 2019
795
I would love to see a poll for those of y'all who are voting for Lightning

I have a theory that this is due to the Waifu Effect (TM)

but let's be real even if Cloud's character sucked he's still hot enough that it doesn't matter to me lmao
 

Deleted member 61909

User requested account closure
Banned
Dec 5, 2019
1,161
Lunar Wolf said:
You know I actually like Lightning though. She deserved to be in a much better game.

Like, I'd switch out Vaan and Lighting as protagonists of their games if I could.

FFXII was too good for Vaan.

FFXIII was too bad for Lightning.
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eh i don't know if i can agree with that. FF12 serviced Vaan differently than FF13 serviced Lightning (ignoring how bad of a game it is). Lightning as a character would not work well with Ashe and Basch, you need that vaan optimism and naivety.
 
Jencks

Jencks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,451
Lightning is barely a character in XIII. She says something semi-interesting maybe once or twice throughout the entire game.
 
Wazzy

Wazzy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,070
Nope. Lightning has some of the worst and most boring development throughout three games and she is completely overshadowed by characters in her own series. Both Vanille and Fang have more interesting personalities, backstory and growth in XIII and basically become the leads in the second half.

Cloud has a tragic past and we get to see him work through his trauma with the help of his friends. He also has better growth just in Midgar alone.

Now the real answer is Squall is the best and that is final.
 
SgtCobra

SgtCobra

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,865
Cloud is a GOAT status Final Fantasy protagonist so I had to go for the second best choice. Thor 2: The Dark World it is.
 
Lunar Wolf

Lunar Wolf

Banned
Nov 6, 2017
16,237
Los Angeles
Wazzy said:
Nope. Lightning has some of the worst and most boring development throughout three games and she is completely overshadowed by characters in her own series. Both Vanille and Fang have more interesting personalities, backstory and growth in XIII and basically become the leads in the second half.

Cloud has a tragic past and we get to see him work through his trauma with the help of his friends. He also has better growth just in Midgar alone.

Now the real answer is Squall is the best and that is final.
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Squall like Lightning is just a worse Cloud.

Squall is still the one of the best characters in FF8 though.



BlueBomberX said:
15c94cd43d4be0fec0cfc5a72e886954.jpg


The best version of Cloud
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I ship it tbh:

5b5665c58e165f861460cf8536f061e3.png
 
MechaX

MechaX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,044
the fact that people here are actually able to debate Cloud's character arc with different interpretations kinda answers the poll here.

XIII flat out stops letting Lightning do stuff in the story around Gran Pulse outside of reiterating permutations of "we're no one's slaves!" as the group continues to perform everything the main villain has explicitly told them he wants them to do, and kinda hope for a Hail Mary at the end.

XIII-2 Lightning barely functions as a character outside of "wow cool goddess powers she's so powerful"

haven't gone through Lightning Returns
 
Shan

Shan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,956
Hmm...nope!
The only good thing Lightning ever did is beat the shit out of Snow.
 
Inugami

Inugami

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,995
Both Terra and Celes are more interesting characters and they go through more believable character arcs in a much more timely fashion all in one game.

Final fantasy needs more strong female leads, but they need a writer who can write characters with at least 2 dimensions.

All modern (post ps2) need to lay off the dozens of proper nouns to describe their stories though.
 
Yata

Yata

Member
Feb 1, 2019
2,962
Spain
swaggy said:
Lightning has the most basic a character arc you can ever write. She just goes from slap-happy to sorta understanding.

I'm gonna plug the worst cutscene I've seen in any video game. Shit is comical.

Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


I was ready for the hyperbole to kick in like always with this forum and disagree but that "Worst birthday ever" line had me laughing out loud lol. Awful story or not, I always really wanted to play this trilogy.
 
SilverArrow20XX

SilverArrow20XX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,467
Her design is great, she's cool, and Ali Hillis voices her perfectly.
Her character arc is nothing special though. Everything in VII is miles ahead writing wise.
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,334
TheChungusAmongUs said:
The thing that always gets me is the whole "Cloud is a deconstruction of the cool protagonist, he's actually a dork" is always lost on me when literally every other depiction in subsequent media post FF7 of Cloud is him being "the cool protagonist"
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Nomura not getting why his game worked so well doesn't take away from the original depiction of Cloud. Especially since they did a hard 180 on that in the remake and gave us our boy back.
 
Bavera__

Bavera__

Member
Feb 3, 2019
98
Italy
OP i wanna believe you and respect you opinions but saying World of FF is the best/one of the best single player game of this generation is making me think you're trolling us lol
 
JEH

JEH

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,220
Can we talk about how Lightning became a louis vuitton model
 
Orion

Orion

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,784
If we just do the math, I'm sure we can reach a reasonable conclusion. Now, let's see...

Lightning:
Occupation: Soldier, model, Goddess' knight. Diverse talents! +3
Fashion: Iconic, unique wardrobe. +2
Personality: Honest, takes no shit, remains unbothered by haters. +2
Strength: Legendary warrior queen. +3
Appearance: Pink hair. +2
Familiar: Odin. +1
Total = 13

Cloud:
Occupation: Soldier, delivery boy. Not as diverse. 0
Fashion: More subdued, but unafraid of a bold new look. +1
Personality: Better sense of humor, amazing dance skills. +3
Strength: Big sword. +1
Appearance: Extremely handsome. +4
Familiar: Cait Sith. -2
Total = 7

After careful deliberation, it would appear that Lightning takes it for now by a considerable lead! Cloud still has multiple games on the way though, so he could still potentially turn this around. Stay tuned!
 
OP
OP
The Pet of the Month

The Pet of the Month

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
3,116
Amalthea
Bavera__ said:
OP i wanna believe you and respect you opinions but saying World of FF is the best/one of the best single player game of this generation is making me think you're trolling us lol
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Best single player 'FF' game. Reread my post lol

But on a serious note I do agree that both characters develop differently and that technically the comparison doesn't make all too much sense IMO.

Lightning is still better tho. Combat in 7R was awful too.
 
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