Cloud or Zack

  • Cloud

    Votes: 597 69.6%
  • Zack

    Votes: 261 30.4%

  • Total voters
    858

PhoenixAKG

Member
Aug 14, 2019
8,667
Between Cloud and Zack in terms of their personality, design, character, powers, etc who comes out on top for you.

Cloud:

1000


latest


Zack:

latest


latest
 

Tycho Kepler

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Apr 22, 2018
2,538
I might have liked Zack more if I had played Crisis Core when it came out, but as it is Cloud is the loser that I adore
 

Bard

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,408
People with taste know that Zack is the superior protagonist. So much so even Cloud tried to be him and failed at it.
 

Simon-chan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,141
Italy
Zack is designed to be more likable, no question about it.
But Cloud is a far more complex character and has a sublime development arc (Advent Children doesn't count), so he gets my vote.
 

Tornak

Member
Feb 7, 2018
8,512
Cloud.

I love Zack, but there's a dychotomy with him for me: he's an actual character mostly thanks to the Compilation, which I found incredibly awful, no exception. His biggest claim to fame, Crisis Core, too, both in execution and what it changes and introduces.

That said, he's an incredibly charming dude, despite the bullshit he has to endure (or maybe because of that, his reactions to the stupid shit happening around him are golden).
 

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,807
Cloud is more relatable.

Zack is fun but he's also a very traditional JRPG hero who is a foil for Cloud.
 

Saladin

Alt Account
Banned
Apr 27, 2021
5,220
Out of the two of course its Zack. We need a third option that says neither
 

Chocobo Blade

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,004
It's refreshing to see Zack on the bottom. People usually think of him being on top rather than Cloud but I believe they can work both ways.
 

QisTopTier

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,435
Cloud barely existed as a character, though actual cloud is a pretty fun character
 

Niosai

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,011
I like Zack more in general personality-wise, but Cloud was given a lot more expressiveness in FF7R so it's almost a tie for me.
 

MrCibb

Member
Dec 12, 2018
5,353
UK
Remake Cloud > Zack > OG Cloud

I've always liked both characters but preferred Zack to Cloud up until the remake. I like what they're doing with Cloud in the remake. Maybe it's just because it's fully voiced or something I'm not sure, but Cloud's on top for me.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,065
Cloud.

He was a relatively complex character for the late 90s and they've done a pretty good job updating him in Remake.

He also taught me the valuable lesson to always do the right thing and make sure you get paid for it.
 

fixing ranger

Member
Aug 24, 2021
668
Zack is just a straightfordward badass, which is rather bland in videogames, we always play as cool guys. Cloud is refreshing and his ark is very interesting, I think, so Cloud wins for me.
 

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
65,903
I have play Crisis Core first.

However, Remake Cloud and original Cloud are very very different beasts.

Remake being essentially an alternate reality sequel makes this tricky.
 

Renna Hazel

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,135
Cloud.

I'm surprised so many people think OG Cloud and remake Cloud are all that different. Seems like the same character to me.
 

Sasliquid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,445
OG Cloud > Zack > Compilation Cloud

OG cloud is a good well rounded character

Zack is a fun, if a bit slight and occasionally annoying, dude.

Compilation cloud is a oversimplification of the original character.

Edit: FF7R cloud is hard to judge as it's only part of his original arc.
 

Y2Kev

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,378
People forget that fun loving goofy Zack disappears midway through Crisis Core and he becomes super serious and aggrieved.
 

Pheonix

Banned
Dec 14, 2018
5,990
St Kitts
Cloud...

he's that kinda character that carries a cast, making other supporting characters shine.

ZAck... well he IS the cast. Always at the center of it. Cloud is better suited for a character you will spend a LOT of time with.
 

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
125,025
Cloud.

I love Zack, but there's a dychotomy with him for me: he's an actual character mostly thanks to the Compilation, which I found incredibly awful, no exception. His biggest claim to fame, Crisis Core, too, both in execution and what it changes and introduces.

That said, he's an incredibly charming dude, despite the bullshit he has to endure (or maybe because of that, his reactions to the stupid shit happening around him are golden).

I think this is entirely fair to say, yeah. Zack is at his core a more likeable person but all of the content based around him is staggeringly incompetent in execution due to bad writing.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,065
Cloud.

I'm surprised so many people think OG Cloud and remake Cloud are all that different. Seems like the same character to me.

Yeah, only difference between OG Cloud and Remake Cloud is that FFVII takes a lot longer to reveal that the badass persona is just a facade, whereas Remake is much more upfront about him being traumatised and struggling with intimacy.
 

Comet

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,590
Part of me wants to say Cloud because he's a dynamic character that shows growth - but Zack has never been given that chance so they designed him to be fairly likable from the start.
 

Thornquist

Member
Jan 22, 2018
1,517
Norway
I just finished FF7 (original) for the first time and its funny how Zack became a thing.

He is just a shitty model-swap of Cloud, that has like 3 lines of dialogue and barely features in the game at all.
 

Verelios

Member
Oct 26, 2017
14,913
I like them both equally, just in different ways. I'd rather be friends with Zack but I'm more invested in Cloud's story and happiness.
 

Deleted member 8257

Oct 26, 2017
24,586
Cloud. Zack has a whiny ass voice lmao.

Also my 15 year old self hated Zack because he was Aeris' real boyfriend and you playing as Cloud was the third wheel.
 

Trisc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,530
Cloud's character development over the course of the original game is absolutely phenomenal. Even with the lousy localization, his gradual transition from "I'm so cool, I'm a SOLDIER and I don't give a damn about any of you" to a surprisingly kind and empathetic man is really well done. He's a guy with a lot of deeply repressed trauma, and when finally able to reflect on who he actually is versus who he believed he was, he winds up maturing into one of the most compelling protagonists in Final Fantasy. He heals through his trauma in a way that's both appropriate for the setting, and yet is surprisingly easy to connect to and empathize with.

I haven't seen Advent Children, and I consider myself a better person for it.
 
Last edited: