Cloud's Confusing Voice | Jaynalysis

[@JayniacJr]

All right, everyone, let's mosey.

[@ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.9777]

Iconic.

[@R0B5e55or001]

And he says it kzbin.info/www/bejne/aX3EeoyiecyblZY

[@Koniving]

Iconic, and a line never actually said by Japanese Cloud.

[@desireheard3540]

cid bashes him then he scratches his head. I always found the original cloud polygon animations goofy

[@JackInABeanstalk98]

@@Koniving very unintelligent comment. that's the OP's joke. and it isnt true either

[@TheGameCupboard]

I think the best Cloud line in Remake has to be "Nailed it, I know. Thank you. Moving on." haha

[@Belagu1]

Haha TRUE!

[@ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.9777]

My personal favorite is "No" (DJANGO ZOOM IN) "Its fine the way it is"

[@XanderVJ]

Fun fact, that line was made up by the English localización team. The original Japanese says: "Don't act so surprised! There was no other way!". Normally a translation should stick to the original as much as possible, but sometimes, changes like this one just work too well.

[@lordbauer5983]

@@XanderVJ Direct translations rarely work out for the best due to cultural differences. Japanese humor and American humor, for instance, aren’t very compatible.

[@Bad4bizbrad]

That line was great lol Mines was, “Bring it on, bitch”.

[@LinkachuHQ]

I really like Cody Christian's voice as Cloud. Cody gives a more softer voice to him

[@The-Azure-Knight]

We don't want a softer voice for Cloud.

[@phxsqhenes]

@@The-Azure-Knight “we”?

[@notgeorgesigua]

@@phxsqhenes yup.

[@justsomedudeontheinternet1998]

@@The-Azure-Knight we meaning you?

[@blackjackgabbiani19]

@@justsomedudeontheinternet1998 The royal "we". They must be a king or something.

[@junewhales]

I absolutely love Cody's voice as Cloud. It just feels so right. I think the remake is where they finally fixed the "moody inaccurate Cloud". Can't wait to see how Cody sounds post-lifestream, maybe more dorky and light hearted! I already adore how he played shy young Cloud in CCR.

[@phxsqhenes]

Same!!

[@almark6548]

I love how people say they fixed it the moody inaccurate cloud. He's still quintessentiallly moody. Just with a better vocal performance with more nuance.

[@junewhales]

@@almark6548 yes of course he’s still moody but it’s not the core of his character anymore. it’s a facade. at his core he’s awkward and dorky and that’s different from how they portrayed him in advent children or kingdom hearts.

[@almark6548]

@@junewhales I like how you say 'of course' like it's obvious. When you literally just said they fixed him from being moody. He STILL is moody. I get what you mean but you weren't clear about it at all.

[@junewhales]

@@almark6548 yeah i guess. either way Cody is great!!

[@janoswozniak]

All the respect in the world to Steve Burton because that dude’s voice as Cloud was plastered all over my childhood. But MAN Cody Christian is just absolutely killing it as Cloud especially in FF7 Remake. We got so many hilarious and cute moments in Remake that were amplified by his spot on performance. I’m excited to hear more of him as Cloud in the upcoming games

[@kirara2516]

I completely agree. The company did Steve so dirty by replacing him, but Cody is an amazing choice, and both of them respect each other. I'll ALWAYS love Steve's version, but Cody really is nailing it beautifully.

[@didinau]

Cody's voice is just very pleasent to hear, at least for me. He is a good actor, and he makes his voice fit Cloud. We can argue that other voices suited Cloud best, but Cody is the best actor of them all, Cloud just feels more real and natural when he is voiced by him.

[@leviathan.7756]

Cody Christian absolutely killed it. The actor really gets Cloud, too, so I think it helps.

[@xXhaibanFFfanXx]

His performance in advent children is a little more contextual he's not just fighting disease he's fighting with his failures he feels personally responsible for everything that happened and he then fails again with Denzel so he's at a very low point so his stand off ish longer vibes fit

[@TempestRyuno]

That's what nobody seems to understand. That movie was fantastic going into Cloud's personal struggles and development. Everyone seems to want dissociative identity disorder Zack-Cloud 24/7 when that's clearly not who he is.

[@kirara2516]

@@TempestRyuno Exactly. Everytime I hear someone call Cloud "Emo" I say, "Have you ever been in a war? Or lost someone close to you and you couldn't do anything to help them?" My introduction into FF7 was through the movie. I didn't know who anyone was and just followed the story. I didn't understand everything, like the terms for "Mother" or "Materia" etc. But During the time I first saw it, I was dealing with depression. And when I watched Cloud, I saw a man struggling to find himself again. He was lost in a fog of sadness just like I was, and as corny as it sounds, he kinda helped me take the first important steps into climbing my way out of depression.

[@TempestRyuno]

@@kirara2516 That's pure facts, same for me. I didn't mind as much back then but as people just kept using that argument in regards to stoic characters in media, and after understanding the whole FF7 story for myself, I couldn't stand people calling him emo anymore. Because it's almost like a weird level of apathy and that does sort of reflect on how society views very real issues with mental health and stuff. On top of them clearly not grasping Cloud's character development in the original. Aside from that, characters like Cloud and some other FF characters are a breath of fresh, relatable, and inspiring air when a lot of protagonists in general are just surface level with little to no deep thought put into them.

[@Akkumako]

While I absolutely agree with this take there are times where he should sound less depressed or indifferent in AC and he just doesn't. That's why I was glad (but a bit scared also) when they announced they were changing voice actors (also because years have passed irl but the characters are still children for the most part in Remake), and after playing through Remake 4 times now I think Cody is the perfect embodiment of Cloud.

[@chronica6457]

@@TempestRyuno No one complains because they want dissociative identify disorder Cloud lmao. It's the opposite, they want confident Cloud from the end of OG-7

[@Nifflie]

Cody sounds natural and he sounds smooth in the flow of sentences. His voice sounds younger which fits with Cloud’s personality as he’s always trying to act cool and awkward like a teenager.

[@kirara2516]

Thank you for saying it was the direction that was the main problem with Cloud and not the actors themselves. Steve Burton WANTED to give more emotion into his performance, but he was told no. They wanted him to be more monotone. I'm glad you brought up the bit in Dirge where Vincent spoke to Cloud over the phone and you hear the much more light-hearted Cloud go so far as to give a slight chuckle in his voice. To be fair to the character in the movie though, it wasn't just Geostigma. He was also still grieving the loss of his friends, both Aerith and Zack. He watched both of them die right before his eyes, and when he was seeing someone else he cared for, a kid named Denzel dying slowly and painfully from the same sickness he had, he only fell into deeper depression and felt more useless than before. Also, regarding the red cape and claw in Kingdom Hearts one, Vincent was the one who was originally planned to be in the Hercules world, but they changed it to Cloud at some point, and so some reason kept the cape and claw... not really sure why.

[@maninblack3410]

Okay this defense of advent children is all over the comments. Imo that’s an excuse, not a legitimate reason. Cloud dealt with Aeris’ death *in* ff7, at the very least in part. If they wanted to have him working through Zack’s death they could have, but they didn’t have to make him mopey for that, have him trying to discover who Zack was and try to keep Zack alive through his memories and discovery. He wasn’t mopey at the end of ff7, he was full of life and finally understood who he was. As much as I love ac, Cloud’s regression just doesn’t make sense coming off of the original game and the only reason they wrote it that way was so they could align him more to his fusion with Vincent. The biggest shame is that even though the remake is the closest Cloud has ever gotten to the original, you can still feel VincentxCloud in the way he talks and his mannerisms more than his mannerisms in the original.

[@kirara2516]

​@@maninblack3410 The difference was in the game, he and his friends had a world to save. In Advent Children, the world is trying to recover. With (before the three goons show up) no real threat showing up to try and destroy the planet, Cloud is finally given time to reflect and grieve without his mind broken. There's also this to consider. Everyone deals with grief differently. Sometimes people start to recover, only to relapse especially when a new similar issue arises. For Cloud, it was Denzel being sick, and while searching for a possible cure and doing research, he noticed he had it too. That played on his depression of being a failure. He failed to save his home, failed to save his mother, failed to save Aerith, Zack, the Sector 7 plate from falling, etc. And that's not even adding into account his mental break that he wasn't a SOLDIER and he was used to try and recreate Sephiroth as a clone, and used as Hojo's toy for 4 years. On the reality side of the game, the reason Cloud was 'lighter' towards the end of the original game is because the game makers originally wrote that Cloud and his team died when the planet used the lifestream to stop Meteor itself. Cloud wanted to find Aerith in the Lifestream because they were originally going to join her there. Thankfully, that's not what happened. Also, my roommate reminded me of another good point. Have you read the "On the Way to a Smile" series? It's a canon set of short stories that goes over what the characters go through from between the end of the original game and Advent Children. During a delivery, Aerith's mother asks Cloud to deliver flowers to the place where Aerith died. the place where he watched her die. That's what made him regress and head down the road to his depression.

[@maninblack3410]

@@kirara2516 so, my issue is that you’re explaining things that could happen based on our reality and not whether or not they are true to the themes and messages of the original story. A realistic scenario (like you’ve described advent children having) could have all the things cloud went through making him so depressed and despondent that he… KZbin shadow deletes comments now you gotta be careful 🤦‍♂️… unalives himself. That would be something that could happen to a real person who went through these things. It wouldn’t be a good twist for the story, and it certainly wouldn’t be true to the spirit of the original character and his story. If you can see how that scenario I set up would be unsatisfying or upsetting to you, then all you have to do is dial it back just a couple of clicks to where he *almost* feels that depressed and despondent and that’s where square put him. That’s why those of us that don’t like CloudxVincent don’t, or why we feel square betrayed the character and franchise to milk it.

[@ScrewyGirl]

Actually, his regression makes perfect sense. I'm guessing that you haven't read "On The Way To A Smile", which tells us some of the events that happened in between FFVII original and Advent Children. Cloud is, indeed, trying to move forward and live a good life. Then Aerith's adoptive mother calls his delivery service, asking him to deliver flowers to the place where Aerith died. This triggers the grief and feelings of guilt to resurface in Cloud, since he feels responsible for her death. He's had to watch two people he loved die, and it made him feel helpless. Taking care of Denzel and knowing the kid was going to die right in front of him... and him being helpless yet again probably didn't help matters. Also, don't forget that Cloud, himself, was infected with the Stigma and believed he was going to die. If anything, I think Cloud bore those emotions well. At the end of the OG, he was not "full of life", as you put it. He was riding the adreniline of defeating Sephiroth. He never had a chance to think about Aerith's death, or Zack's for that matter, and so he buried it, moving on. Then Elmyra called him, and that forced him to rehash it. This is a common occurence for a lot of people who experience loss. You think you're done and finally moving on, and then something happens to remind you and makes the pain just explode. As for unaliving himself... Cloud would never do that. Zack made him promise to "live for the both of them." Living Legacy and all that. Cloud takes those promises seriously. I know people like to paint Cloud as a snarky go-getter in the OG, but that was only a persona that he created when Zack died. His broken mind took Zack's personality traits and merged them with his own, and that was what he presented to others. The real Cloud Strife was a rebel with a temper who wasn't good with people. He often got into fights when he was younger, thinking himself better than the other kids... more mature. He continually alienated himself, but his crush on Tifa drove him to interact with her every now and then. At the end of the original, he was just starting to figure out who he was, but he hadn't started to really grasp the full extent of everything that happened to him. I hope I'm not coming off as angry or hostile in any way. I have experienced loss and still feel the guilt from it, so I thought I would share my perspective. Thanks for reading.

[@maninblack3410]

@@ScrewyGirl okay so I wanna start off saying your interpretation isn’t wrong or bad and it’s super valid, if anything it’s “canon” in the sense that that’s what square and several of the original writers say is canon, so to me this isn’t an argument of who’s right or wrong. It’s more of a “you guys essentially have the creators behind you, but we feel this way, can you see where we’re coming from” type of argument. Your entire reasoning that cloud would never unalive himself, that’s how we feel about how depressed cloud became in the first place. It’s not necessarily that cloud would never become that depressed, he essentially did in the original game when he had a breakdown and didn’t know who he was, the issue is that he *did* get over that and, yes, he *was* alive and enjoying life as himself by the end of the original game. Whatever is in the book, I read it so long ago I don’t remember it at all, but it doesn’t matter to what I’m saying because it wasn’t in the original game. Like I said before: you could write a realistic story to where cloud became so depressed he thought there was only one way out. Even if you feel like he would never do that, the writers *could* write it in such a way that it’s believable. That’s my point, it’s that no matter how many believable excuses there are for cloud’s behavior in the compilation series, it goes against the growth he made in the original game. It goes against the lessons learned and themes displayed. Cloud was a rebel and terrible with people when he was a kid. Cloud was still terrible with people when he emulated Zack. But by the end of ff7 cloud was an amazing leader, gave advice to his crew, empathized when they needed one night with those they loved before the final fight, and motivated them when they were at their darkest hour. He goes from being the leader to a crew of his closest friends to being a loner that gets social anxiety at answering his phone. Come to think of it… cloud’s entire struggle in ff7 had nothing to do with feeling guilt for what happened to Aeris. It might have started that way when he thought he was a puppet, but that was part of his larger conflict: his identity vs sephiroth. Once he realized his actions were caused from being a clone of sephiroth and that sephiroth and jenova’s actions weren’t his because he actually exists as cloud, he never has an issue with his attempted (but failed) role in Aeris’ death. To me, for him to go back and try to say that he had some part to play in her death is to actively take away character growth from ff7. Quick edit: again, your interpretation is valid and I’m not trying to change how you see advent children cloud. I actually still love advent children in spite of how much harm I think it (and kingdom hearts, and the compilation series) did to the original story. I don’t want to change how you feel about that version of cloud, I just want to give some insight into why I feel the way I do about their story writing decisions.

[@somethingunoriginal17]

To be fair in Advent Children and Advent Children Complete The whole entire movie is portraying PTSD and Depression after the battles with Shinra and of course Bizzaro, Safer, and Mind Sephiroth and the moment of Aerith’s death he sounds mono tone because he’s depressed and wants to be forgiven for the death of Aerith while also trying to keep the legacy of Zack and Angeal without knowing it so I say it’s fair that he sounds more mono tone in the movies

[@13cloudstrife13]

Cody Christian is THE CLOUD no one can't do it better than him

[@AgentQV]

I grew up with Steve Burton’s take on the character, so I think that’s led me to unconsciously reading Cloud (even in the og ffvii) as a stoic no nonsense character. And I’ve really enjoyed the “country bumpkin” element you’ve noticed in his voice. Though Cody’s performance has been wonderful, I did miss Steve Burton in Crisis Core reunion, his take on the epilogue with cloud was so iconic to me.

[@oreotaku4017]

I agree. That stoicism really always fit well for his Soldier persona as well as his more brooding phase. Plus the country energy fits well when he’s finally being himself.

[@HDGamerofficial]

I really like this video! I’m a huge fan of Cody’s Cloud, it definitely has nuance like no other Cloud voice in my opinion 👍

[@LOREWITHBLAZER]

I believe Cloud sound that way in Advent children because he was depress in Deirge of Cerberus he sound much happier taking to Vincent

[@luigiboyinblu]

Cody’s performance works really great portraying a guy who lives in a world full of weirdos and he is the only “sane” person, but he has to just get on with everything that’s happening even if it’s ridiculous.

[@DefMM123]

Cody sounds perfect as Cloud he's gonna do great moving forward

[@campbellz_soup6071]

Cody christian is my favorite voice actor as cloud and when I go back to playing the original game sometimes I can hear his voice saying the lines like throughout the whole game

[@thrasherwartooth]

This was a great video! I was always so frustrated with how Cloud was portrayed with his English voice. Love how Cody Christian gave him the voice I always imagined instead of the stoic bored standard we had for so long.

[@attyart4785]

Did you all missed the point of the movie Advent children and Cloud's character development?... That dude went from teenaged awkward boy to adult men, that lost his memory of his friend. He went through Hojo's experiment making him another soldier even though he didn't recieve the soldier training. His friend managed to get him out of the experiment that was still in process thus the lost memory and confusion. When he wakes up, he finds his friend deadly wounded in a pool of blood telling him he IS HIS LEGACY while he's still confused from all the toxins and lifestream and sephiroth's cells so obviously his brain takes the legacy part literally and takes Zack as part of himself maybe to coop with the situation. In his early adult years he goes through a war and so many bad guys and finally loses his love interests bcs he was beeing manipulated by Sephiroth.... Aerith is killed bcs of him which can't forgive himself. Hence Advent children and his depressive fase.... He even says in the movie he wants to be forgiven more then anything.... That's why he's so down and speaking monotone... But at the end of the movie you can see him moving on and even smiling for the first time. That guy went through hell and still got from the bottom back up.... (Even the soundtrack to the movie has a track called "cloud's smile" ...... That's why in a Dirge of Cerberus he sounds much more coroy and happier than before

[@I_EAT_QUARTERS]

remake cloud is fucking phenomenal

[@Independent365]

Burton will always be the best Cloud to me. He really sold the battle hardened merc tone of the character. Cody is fine, but sounds at times like hes TRYING to sound like a tough guy.

[@TyLavoy]

Isnt that what Cloud does? He TRIES so hard to act tough but on the inside hes just a goofy teenager? Thats the whole point!

[@Ares_-JM]

Because that’s the literal point

[@overnightsiren]

Cloud was so refreshing in the Remake because it really felt like we were getting CLOUD again for the first time since 1997.

[@ryanstaiger1712]

Cody Christian does it the best imo. He’s not as dry as Steve and makes Cloud feel more realistic.

[@oh-ix8ub]

I think the voice fit him in Kingdom Hearts after playing crisis core. The way he said the first voiced line shown, reminded me how how Zack would speak. Cloud would've probably mimicked that. Confident, stoic, Soldier.

[@gamma00crucis]

Zack is not nearly so.... monotone.

[@docplays6508]

I’m new to FFVII so I didn’t grow up with hearing Steve Burton’s voice as Cloud but I think Cody Christian’s voice is the best modern interpretation of Cloud’s voice

[@baylaust]

Something I find interesting is that for as long as Steve Burton was the single voice of Cloud, he never actually got a chance to play the version of Cloud straight out of FF7. Every single role was some kind of variation, from spin-offs to sequels and prequels. Never from FF7 directly.

[@natileroxs5226]

I'd love to see you talk about Dante's voices in Devil May Cry since the difference in portrayals are even starker in contrast to Cloud

[@JayniacJr]

Definitely a great idea. Thank you!

[@amala1333]

But its one guy for the last 3 games, age really does make a difference

[@xxreyoxx]

Cody as Cloud and Rick as Zack would be an epic duo.

[@gamer-thrones6757]

Cody blows it out of the water! I might say i wouldn't mind Cody continue to voice cloud. Zack on the other hand....just leave it to Rick.

[@the-NightStar]

Disagree., new Zack is miles better. Everyone is wrong about this.

[@skybluenerd219]

@@the-NightStar Well damn man

[@JustKelso1993]

@@the-NightStar I think it is nostalgia mostly. Both do a good job honestly, people are definitely too hard on the new VA.

[@awsomeboy360]

@@the-NightStar Disagree. Lmfao. It's not even nostalgia. Rick IS better.

[@ziontea7045]

@@JustKelso1993 it doesn't take nostalgia to sense when a line is delivered flat.

[@TheSmallestJo]

I barely noticed the differences in VAs in that Cody didn’t change it up as much. With both VAs, Cloud has a voice that is soft and there’s something specific about the bass in both voices that makes it Cloud.

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

man after seeing the scenes in ff7 remake after playing crisis core reunion, they absolutely nailed it. loved seeing the difference between cloud and zacks meeting with aerith, and cloud's reactions are just so entertaning.

[@Aussieroth7]

After Tifa's voice, I would LOVE to hear an editorial on Sephiroth.

[@palebutterfly]

Even though some may still prefer Steve Burton, I'm glad SE found Cody Christian, his voice sounds close to Steve's and it's honestly amazing because that's just his normal voice. It's almost like he was born for this role lol.

[@rcf483]

It helps that Cody sounds a lot like Burton thus making the transition to the new cast less jarring

[@WillTheGreatest]

While I do love Cody's take on cloud very much in remake I still do wish steve had a chance to properly be directed and get a chance to leave a greater mark on the character. Same for most of the old voices like barret and sephiroth

[@Koniving]

So first voice outing, Cloud's been through some crap. Second voice outing, Cloud's depressed and filled with regret, and while trying to revert to his facade, he is also convinced he isn't worthy of actually helping. Third outing, Cloud finally felt he could move on and start to be himself.

[@dankbiscuit9466]

Bro no matter what you say I love the Remake Cloud voice

[@Seferioth]

About the sword, it mentions in Reunion on the road to Nibel reactor, and also from the position the sword is hanged - Zack canonicaly (not in gameplay) uses blunt side of the buster, so the not usage must be about that.

[@MrRemmington]

Maybe it was because I was younger when first hearing Steve Burton's portrayal of Cloud and I'm simply nostalgic now, but I always liked his voice. Calm but unsure, and in a way strong when necessary. Contrasted with the Japanese voice there is indeed a clear difference in direction, but this does often happen when Japanese media gets an English dub. Though after watching your video I do see where you're coming from. Lastly, my clear love for Clouds English voice was solidified when first playing Dirge of Cerberus, the first time you hear his voice is in the whole game is in this scene 7:46. The first thing he says is "Vincent" , and for some reason I was giddy, it was Cloud. And despite the noticeable differences between Japanese and English, Steve Burton was the perfect Cloud voice.

[@Ikuraga]

bruh in advent children he is depressed

[@popstarprincess123]

Yay somebody else who loves Tifa and her VA I can’t wait

[@rync1372]

Clouds old voice always bothered me, like he sounds too passive.

[@cazares0991]

On my first ever playthrough I used to read him with a much more confident somewhat arrogant yet calm voice, kind of like zack's voice until the part where he is in coma state then his tone got less arrogant and more friendly, like the dissidia games, yet it never got to the depressing sad voice it got after the movie Well, this happened in my own interpretation of the original game

[@EastToWestTCG]

Cody Christian all day. No competition.

[@kyranina]

ROXAS NEXT PLEASE! I loved everything you had to say about Zack's new voice, and this video had a lot i agreed with too. your videos on ff are all great !!

[@JayniacJr]

Thank you for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed. Maybe I will continue as the year goes on.

[@b.h.4249]

As a FFVII fan, I couldn't be more excited for Rebirth. I absolutely loved Remake and the ending had me vibrating in my seat thinking about the possible paths the next parts could take. I really loved Cody's performance, he's the definitive Cloud for me.

[@OmegaSon]

Idk I can be completely wrong that’s cool I’ve only recently gotten into ff7 recently, but in my opinion, cloud kind of has plenty to be moody about. As fractured as he is, lost everything and was experimented on. I can imagine why he could be portrayed like this at the least, again in my opinion but uhhh. Idk even in advent children, we may have had years to process aerith’s death but to him it was only two years. I imagine that can be haunting for a person especially with how it went down. And with geostigma infecting everyone, everyone living in essentially the ruins of Midgar after meteor ripped it apart. Cloud visiting where zack died with a rusted buster sword like dude, again I could be wrong and stuff but I think the man cloud has some heavy stuff that he has to deal with and overcome for the majority of the time we’re there with him. Doesn’t mean he can’t be a weird funny man tho. Just my opinion

[@GracielaIbanez-n5w]

14:03 I HAVE NEVER NOTICED THAT!!!! OMG!!! Lol, thanks for that man! Made my night!

[@MaxBraver555]

the type of voice I had in my head even just reading Cloud's line in the original even before Advent Children, is Steve Burton's

[@ShirouBrando]

"Like I give a Shit"

[@bunnychu15]

To be fair, when they added Zack to the mix, portraying Cloud as dark and brooding was understandable. Witnessing the death of an ally isn’t easy and if you add Aerith to the mix (who Cloud also saw die), portraying Cloud as dark after that would make sense. However, those elements are not alluded to and in the case of Kingdom Hearts, Aerith is alive so that argument is invalid. I really think it was a dumb idea for Kingdom Hearts to fuse two characters together, but considering they also did that with Yuffies design (they gave her an outfit closer to Rikkus), I’m not surprised. Anyway thank you for uploading this analysis. It was very thoughtful and provided another argument on why Cloud is so beloved.

[@Snzn_7]

to be fair Squall in KH was also a mix of Laguna and Squall

[@JayniacJr]

Interesting observation. I never thought of that!

[@kronim1624]

I feel like Aerith had a very similar problem to Cloud. In the original game she was fun, spunky, sarcastic and playful, though the dodgy English localization hindered that a bit, admittedly. Then in Advent Children and the KH games she sounds like shes about to fall asleep and has no discernible personality traits. For some reason she was directed to be as flat as possible, even more so than Cloud I'd argue. She's a bit better in Crisis Core but still doesn't feel quite right, and then in remake her performance finally brought the character to life and then some.

[@immortalfrieza]

My name is Cloud. I have a sword. I fight cactuars... because I'm bored. I like to ride on Chocobos. It's better than... having afros!

[@apex_prey]

Idk I've always liked Steve's take on Cloud.

[@michellek2882]

I've been pretty satisfied with both the takes of the English voice actors. They've been struggling to find good voice actors for FF characters since KH, so Steve's performance was really refreshing. While others may have been hit-or-miss, Cloud's never felt a miss. Cloud is a complex character who has shown a range of everything (shyness, boldness, positive energy, negative desperation). But I can definitely see KH1 and AC as someone else's first impressions of Cloud being a negative impression, so Remake being a return to this complex form helped correct that. I think it's funny Cloud robbed Vincent's for some of his clothes, but the mix of designs felt fitting for the more over-the-top world of Kingdom Hearts.

[@ObviousHUN]

There was one other instance for Burton: Mobious Final Fantasy Sadly the game is dead, but you can find it on youtube

[@bonkers386]

The cut off to AC 😂

[@hopefaith4595]

I gotta say if there’s ever an older Cloud, Steve Burton would fit right in haha. I think the new VA did good for Cloud, but I do miss how Steve Burton pronounce words with a Southern twang (fits in with the ‘Backwater Country boy’ vibe)

[@antivanramun6998]

I LOVE Cody's Cloud because it sounds a little more boyish. Cloud's a big baby to me so the mature voice he has in japanese throws me off. I don't care for the first English VA

[@R0B5e55or001]

Don't care what the haters say, while the Teen Wolf guy at least tried(and yes he did great, not that he could do a twinning voice like Steve's), but Steve Burton is the definitive voice of Cloud Strife. Can't thank him enough for bringing him to life ever since Kingdom Hearts 1 up to Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. I know if it weren't for him, then the spinoff titles, Compilation, and the Remake would've never happened. If he's not so good, then he would've been replaced as well with Mandy Moore, Lance Bass, David Boreanaz, and Billy Zane, but he didn't. It proves he's as much equal to his own original Japanese counterpart. He, Rick Gomez, and George Newbern were all very missed and they deserve to come back as their FF7 characters.

[@kirara2516]

While it was so disgusting and dirty how the actors were treated, we don't know if Cody could pull off a "twinning" as you say. He hasn't been given the chance to yet. I love both Steve and Cody's portrayal equally. Tyler is passable and with him most lines hit, but a few miss (I haven't played CCR yet) and I would prefer George 100% if given the option. But you cannot deny how amazing Cody did with the remake. I am definitely not a fan of Caleb. He is not Zack. It's not his fault, but he's just the wrong fit for Zack.

[@Independent365]

FACTS!!!

[@notoriousalien]

as someone literally in acting school i literally don't see any problem with cloud's vocal direction with steve considering his background, experiences and personality. as for the japanese version you're comparing it to and thinking there's more emotion because of the tone variation, the language quite literally has annunciations/tones or else it could mean a different word lmao. anyways i love both of them, and cody does a good job portraying YOUNGER, more innocent cloud, but still prefer steve's icey cloud. i find this opinion kinda funny considering you love AC tifa's voice lmfao

[@rickydargence5948]

My only gripe with Cloud "pretending" to be a cool ass SOLDIER 1st class is that he still does crazy shit that probably only 1st class Soldiers could (Even if he was enhanced, he was still a nobody in the army), he never misses a jump or a cool maneuver, this was all well and good in the OG release but the remake makes him look 100 times cooler, which is ok from a visual standpoint but it clashes a bit with his supposed character.

[@JayniacJr]

I've always thought about this too. Maybe they'll find a way to justify it in Rebirth.

[@dragonrider8891]

I honestly think it's a bit unfair to say Cody's Cloud sounds "The way he was always supposed to." Technically this is the first mainstream voiced rendition of Cloud as his SOLDIER persona. Comparing that to most of Burton's content which is specifically set After FF7 (Which of course never existed in FF7 OG) save for Crisis Core, is a little unfair. Cloud has always been a mentally unwell character, to fault him for having self-doubt and canonical identity issues protrayed perfectly through eng dub is weird. Cloud Strife is a character going through that exactly-- an incredible amount of strife while still having so much empathy and love in his heart. I love all renditions of Clouds voice because they all portray different parts of him at different points in his life. Imo you can say "I'm glad we finally get SOLDIER Cloud voiced", but saying his other interpretation was not up to par for his character is just not true

[@TailzDMW]

Cody Christian’s voice really dunks on the original imo

[@disgaealikerasapOG]

Takahiro blows cody out of the water though

[@TailzDMW]

@@disgaealikerasapOG He definitely does

[@gamma00crucis]

@@disgaealikerasapOG I honestly don't agree. most of the jp voices rly feel like a letdown. Zack especially... I tried to play jp but just couldn't.

[@TrvisXXIII]

Now this is an incredibly well thought out and beautifully executed video 🔥🔥

[@JayniacJr]

Thank you

[@zelohendricks51]

I think you missed the whole point of AC tbh. Steve did fine for his time as Cloud imo. Cody and Steve both embody Cloud perfectly in different ways

[@GunKeyBladeWielder]

I miss Steve Burton so much 💔

[@animestyle92]

I want to see you do sepheroth next I’d like an analysis on his voice actor, the new one personally, I like the original voice actor a lot better which is George Newbern There’s just more base on his voice And Tyler has very little

[@gamma00crucis]

I don't think newbern ever suited sephiroth. deep voice, 0 nuance. it was always so boring having to listen to him.

[@animestyle92]

@@gamma00crucis OK that’s cool. We can agree to disagree though.

[@pointbreak747]

Honestly if Steve Burton was given a better direction imo he would sound better than the cody christian in the remake again IMO

[@blackjackgabbiani19]

I don't think you're understanding Cloud's "true" personality completely. While it's true that Cloud comes out of his shell a bit at the end of 7, it's established that his default is withdrawn, quiet, and bad at communicating. It's the reason that he and Tifa didn't spend much time together in their youth, despite a mutual interest, and why Zack was his only real friend in SOLDIER. He's only as warm and open as he is with Zack because he's reciprocating Zack's own amicability. The SOLDIER facade is more nuanced than Cloud just pretending to be someone else. It's more like Cloud patching parts of his personality that don't fit his new image with his interpretation of Zack's traits that made him a great SOLDIER. Of course, none of those traits work for Cloud the same way, as he's still the same person beneath the facade. So, instead of friendly, warm, and confident Zack, you get brazen, aloof, and arrogant Cloud.

[@blackjackgabbiani19]

Anyway, tl;dr, I agree with a lot of your points on the direction, but I disagree with the idea that post VII-Cloud won't still be a quiet, awkward person.

[@chronica6457]

@@blackjackgabbiani19 Quiet and awkward doesn't mean Monotone, that's the whole point. Cloud in the scene shown from DoC is still quiet, just more expressive with his voice

[@almark6548]

People bash the dry voice acting but I actually like it. The one person who I don't like is the new Zack Fair.

[@handlerone5172]

To me, as a kid playing ff7 when it came out and growing up with the franchise I always thought Cloud sounded like he has been voice acted. Instantly in Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children that voice was the only way he could sound. I have never heard his Japanese voice until stumbling upon this video and still the English voice is how I see him forever sounding. I think it's great, and can be paired with comedy so well like in the game.

[@eveningrice]

Mate cloud is the LEAST of our concerns. Zack's new voice is an abomination.

[@nathanm5533]

I might be in the minority here but I prefer Steve Burton's portrayal of the character. No shade to Cody he's a phenomenal actor and has a great portrayal of Cloud but especially in Advent Children I think the dryness in the way Steve delivers his line really fits this more depressed, closed off Cloud. I admit I wish we got to see more of him getting to play Cloud more like he did in Crisis Core outside of just that one game but to me he will always be the voice of Cloud Strife.

[@queenaerithgrace1384]

Cody did an amazing job, however I still sincerely miss Steve's voice.. (^^;)

[@RaverRacer]

YESSS LETS GOO ANOTHER RACHAEL LEIGH COOK ENJOYERRR undisputed best tifa va

[@burritowyrm6530]

cloud strife is the final fantasy character ever

[@PrincessNine]

There are 2 other major instances of Burton from World of final fantasy, and brave exvious or whatever the mobile game was

[@KeyThrast]

14:33 I love second and the series as a whole!

[@gamma00crucis]

the new VAs are superior in every way in all honesty. outside of Zack.

[@HupCapNinja]

I really can’t hear Japanese Cloud after what the VA did. Cody is amazing but Steve Burton will always be my favorite! They both sound exactly like how I imagined Cloud to sound like.

[@frozenvoltz6739]

What happened with Takahiro?

[@chronica6457]

@@frozenvoltz6739 I think he had a (very long) affair without even telling the mistress that he was married

[@Harutjun]

14:00 damn never even saw that, awesome i watched the movie 2 times XD

[@Kennethwells7594]

Is it fake?? I mean the guy literally saw his friend get murdered. The same friend that entrusted everything to him...I know ppl think cloud just went crazy and everything but I truly believe he was hurt by that ordeal he started to look at the world differently. Revenge for Zack probably took precipice over any and everything and he feels partially responsible for Zacks demise

[@wc999]

Cody just sounds like a younger Burton

[@NaitomeIya]

I can't judge American English intonation because I'm not even a native English speaker, so my only comment on Cody's Cloud compared to Steve's Cloud is... they sound the same except Cody sounds more consistent between talking and screaming. It's probably the timber or whatever, but Steve's Cloud starts to sound different when he raises his voice, which is amusing, but also makes my brain lag. And iirc, I've read somewhere (forgot where) that Cloud in the JP version of the OG FF7, speaks in a *very specific* manner that hints early on that he's putting on an act, or that he thinks he's someone he actually isn't. He has a level of theatrics going on. Indeed, sometimes, his tone is like a poem. This was unfortunately lost in translation... Ultimately, the majority of what I knew of FF7 franchise came from the wiki. At first I couldn't understand sh in the original AC so I checked the wiki. Then came AC Completed when I realized he was battling... some personal demons. So how is he actually like without the baggage? And so came CC. Now that's the Cloud I know. He speaks on a lowkey "I want to out and disappear" manner lol. Definitely made my brain lag when FF7R came and he's like so snaaarkkyyyy! How did this ambiguously obnoxious guy come from a cinnamon roll?! Zack would be turning in his grave. Though true to what one of the FF7R scenario writers/directors said, they made Cloud slip out his true self in certain interactions and situations, while he maintains his brave and badass no nonesense pretense in other interactions and situations. This is irrelevant, but I'll never forget that part in Duodecim where Cloud literally tried to one on one the fxing God of Discord...

[@JackInABeanstalk98]

That missed "not interested" is a big missing of the reference in KH1. In Japanese he says "kyou mi nai ne" which is his catchphrase from the OG game. should also be mentioned that Crisis Core is only re-dubbed, its not revoiced in Japanese

[@TheBronf]

im allways going to prefer the origional VAs. but i do like the new ones on most characters.

[@HappyRattata]

amazing video loved it

[@jamesgravil9162]

_Shouldn't_ Cloud sound dry and monosyllabic, though? At the start of Final Fantasy VII, he's an emotional wreck who has spent five years in a coma. He's dealing with PTSD, childhood trauma and a ton of other issues. Even as a kid he was a loner and never very good at expressing himself. That's bound to take the wind out of anyone's sails.

[@gamma00crucis]

monosyllabic isn't monotone. also at the beginning cloud doesn't even know he has issues so...

[@jamesgravil9162]

@@gamma00crucis "at the beginning cloud doesn't even know he has issues" On a subconscious level, Cloud is aware that he has issues, even if he doesn't want to admit it to himself. He is repressing his trauma, like many people who suffer from PTSD do. He has no memory of the last five years (which is likely to worry anyone), but he remembers some things - his hometown burning down, the death of his mother, his unhappy childhood. Even if you leave out the Mako poisoning, Sephiroth's mental manipulations and Cloud believing he's someone else, he is a messed-up individual. Cloud's tough-guy attitude at the start of the game is an act to hide who he really is from other people. Dare I say it, the Remake does a better job of showing us the real Cloud during this sequence than the original FFVII (we see flashbacks of his childhood with Tifa, and witness his caring side through interactions with minor characters such as the kids in the slums.)

[@fjolliff6308]

Don't call me 'bro'.

[@culturedonnanoko]

Exactly!!!

[@goofboy96]

I would like to see a Sora voice video as well.

[@JayniacJr]

Maybe one day

We have not had the chance to see Steve do his rendition of the og cloud at all so of course people will say that Cody knocks out of the park. I'd love to see Steve give cloud a rendition of his og portrayal. I'd love to see him voice the old dialog too but the blizzard lead replaced the old actors on purpose luckily we have voice ai and the og actors so if some fortunate soul where to contact them, give them proper voice directions on the character, save their voiced wave file lines, and then do a voice over impression with the voice. . . I guarentee a more promising result would happen.

[@MinhLe19303]

I feel like after watching Sasuke from Naruto and see a lot of artword of Cloud depicting his stoic and serious emotion, they equalize cold and stoic = angst and give Cloud the most angsty personality so far. I'm still in my opinion that Cloud's problem makes sense in the movie, as he's never have time to grief and let his sense of failure sink in. 7:04 Nope, he's just genuinely depressed with low mood, even in JP voice. 11:04 Well, this is the full post-AC Cloud, so he's more confident at himself while have moment of seriousness. Overall, I feel like you missed a lot of in-universe reason why Cloud is depicted differently. Most of the time are due to depression (AC) and lack of memory that made him fully who he is (Dissidia). But yeah, a lot of older English voice of Cloud and FFVII characters in general have weird and monotonous performance. I always find the recast of FFVII Remake and their performance is the best ever as they got their characters and emotion right.

[@kriblar98]

Ever thought of doing Bayonettas…?

[@JayniacJr]

Hmmm not a bad idea

[@danieloftamriel]

0:06 is pretty badass

[@Geozone117]

Cloud is different in kingdom hearts. Shouldn't be used.

[@kirara2516]

That's a good point. Cloud's creator even said the KH version of them have entirely different backstories.

[@redmagelala]

Cody is better than Steve when it comes to Cloud Strife English Dub Voice Acting. Don't get me wrong, Steve is iconic and I love all of his performances, but still. It's night and day different.