Cloud supposedly takes up Zacks persona and acts like him at the beginning of FF 7 (according to winki and message boards)

In the begging of FF 7 Cloud acts like a tough coldblooded unscrupulous mercenary who�s a bit of an ass that only care about himself. He threatens people over a drop of a hat (even Barret) and his motivation is clearly money; he charges an arm and a leg even for an old childhood friend. He�s an antisocial lone wolf who�s a borderline sociopath. He�s basically acts like a complete badass.

Zack in Crisis Core is a zealous outgoing individual who�s a bit of a ladies� man (as described in FF 7 as a girl loving flirt. ) He�s described as a Nice imaginative all round guy, all though sometimes he can get very serious. He never gives up and always holds onto his dreams. It�s also obvious he�s a team player and his motivation is to become a hero.

Honestly they�re as different as Night and Day even at the beginning they�re nothing a like except that they both wear Soldier uniforms and use the same weapon which originally wasn�t even Zacks. Granted Cloud borrows some of Zacks past to create his own demented reality in his head but as far as taking his persona I don�t see it.

Basically, Cloud wasn't actually living out Zack's personality, just recalling scraps of war stories Zack had told Cloud, fused with Cloud's own memories, creating Cloud's 'ideal' self where he had overcome his own ingrained mental weakness and was the hero he always dreamed of.

Naturally though, this very weakness made him easily influenced by Sephiroth through the Jenova cells Hojo injected in him after the Nibelheim Incident (Zack was unaffected by the Jenova cells because he was mentally strong enough and had already undergone the procedure once before as a part of his SOLDIER training.)

Of course, Cloud eventually does break free of this psuedo-persona and starts acting truely as himself, no thanks in part to Tifa helping him unravel his real memories from his fractured persona while in the Lifestream.

Plus, after what happens to Cloud and Zack at the end of Crisis Core, would you be all sunshine and sugar-blossoms with a cherry ontop? I sure wouldn't be.

Plus, after what happens to Cloud and Zack at the end of Crisis Core, would you be all sunshine and sugar-blossoms with a cherry ontop? I sure wouldn't be.

And of course FFVII LONG BEFORE Crisis Core, so there could be inaccuracies on the interpretation of Zack Character in Crisis Core.

Realise this thread is a little over a month old but wanted to add some thoughts.

For the most part I agree with much of what's been said in here re: facts about both FF7 and CC that disprove the theory of Cloud absorbing Zacks memories to the point of him literally taking on the whole of his personality and living it in FF7. But after recently re-discovering some interest in FF7's storyline, there are some things I've spotted which - at least to me - are suggestive of this happening to a certain degree.

Firstly, in CC Cloud generally appears to have a pretty shy quiet personality. In FF7, my own observation of the early stages of the game was he's actually quite outgoing in the way he talks. Admittedly not in the most polite respectul ways possible and at times he undoubtedly comes across as arrogant (which Zack wasn't) but there's still an obvious contrast between his typical conversation style in CC and in FF7. Also to a certain extent I noticed in the FF7 I noticed the strong impression that he's into theatrical appearances is given - which also applied to Zack. For example, the opening scene to Crisis Core which introduces Zack, has an obvious similiarity with a couple of train scenes that take place with Cloud in Midgar. Admittedly it's possible that Cloud observed enough about Zack's typical behaviour - durng the story events of CC - to work out how to imitate this some extent. But he wasn't present during the train scene with Zack at the start of CC. Also, as far as I remember, there's no specific scene in CC in which Zack shares information about his past war experiences with Cloud. As far as I could make out, they barely had time to find all that much out about each other - beyond what must have been obvious to each of them abou the other - as a result of the experiences they shared with Sephiroth and Hojo.

Another thing I also noticed, is how Cloud apparently appears to have all the confidence/skill of a typical person who's been trained as a member of SOLDIER (despite not having been) at the beginning of FF7. There's even a moment when Barret openly admits to his lack of doubt about the plausibility of his story, as a direct result of having observed Clouds performance in battle. During CC the only evidence we see (at least that I remember!) of Cloud's level of sword skill is when he attacks Sephiroth at very close range from behind (when Sephiroth isn't looking) and also the second time he tries to attack - only that time (as Sephiroth's given ample warning before the attack) it's high ineffective and only too easy for Sephiroth to deflect the attack before coming back with his own near-fatal strike. Also there was nothing in CC to suggest that Zack - or anyone else from SOLDIER - ever gave Cloud actual sword training.

Just my thoughts! ;-)

Also, as far as I remember, there's no specific scene in CC in which Zack shares information about his past war experiences with Cloud.


Actually, have realised since my last post I made a slight error on this. It's been so long since I last played FF7 I'd forgotten there's a scene in which Cloud openly admits to using information from a story Zack told him to create a false past - which pretty much cancels out the point I was trying to make there. Retracting the comment! Though still think if they'd included a scene in Crisis Core showing Zack sharing the related information with Cloud this'd be alot more plausible. As things are, seems to me the game and CC give conflicting impressions on this!

Realise this thread is a little over a month old but wanted to add some thoughts.

For the most part I agree with much of what's been said in here re: facts about both FF7 and CC that disprove the theory of Cloud absorbing Zacks memories to the point of him literally taking on the whole of his personality and living it in FF7. But after recently re-discovering some interest in FF7's storyline, there are some things I've spotted which - at least to me - are suggestive of this happening to a certain degree.

Firstly, in CC Cloud generally appears to have a pretty shy quiet personality. In FF7, my own observation of the early stages of the game was he's actually quite outgoing in the way he talks. Admittedly not in the most polite respectul ways possible and at times he undoubtedly comes across as arrogant (which Zack wasn't) but there's still an obvious contrast between his typical conversation style in CC and in FF7. Also to a certain extent I noticed in the FF7 I noticed the strong impression that he's into theatrical appearances is given - which also applied to Zack. For example, the opening scene to Crisis Core which introduces Zack, has an obvious similiarity with a couple of train scenes that take place with Cloud in Midgar. Admittedly it's possible that Cloud observed enough about Zack's typical behaviour - durng the story events of CC - to work out how to imitate this some extent. But he wasn't present during the train scene with Zack at the start of CC. Also, as far as I remember, there's no specific scene in CC in which Zack shares information about his past war experiences with Cloud. As far as I could make out, they barely had time to find all that much out about each other - beyond what must have been obvious to each of them abou the other - as a result of the experiences they shared with Sephiroth and Hojo.

Another thing I also noticed, is how Cloud apparently appears to have all the confidence/skill of a typical person who's been trained as a member of SOLDIER (despite not having been) at the beginning of FF7. There's even a moment when Barret openly admits to his lack of doubt about the plausibility of his story, as a direct result of having observed Clouds performance in battle. During CC the only evidence we see (at least that I remember!) of Cloud's level of sword skill is when he attacks Sephiroth at very close range from behind (when Sephiroth isn't looking) and also the second time he tries to attack - only that time (as Sephiroth's given ample warning before the attack) it's high ineffective and only too easy for Sephiroth to deflect the attack before coming back with his own near-fatal strike. Also there was nothing in CC to suggest that Zack - or anyone else from SOLDIER - ever gave Cloud actual sword training.

Just my thoughts! ;-)

Well just for the record, it's made clear in BC that Cloud has natural talent with swords.

But yeah, Ultimania suggests that fighting abilities stem from Zack, Meteorain is compared to Zack's Cloud DMW, but Cloud acts in Disc 1 as he feels SOLDIER should act, I mean he has Jenova's ability to copy memories and characteristics from other people, but he used it to become the SOLDIER he thought Tifa wanted, not specifically Zack himself. And it has been a while, Cloud never put his forehead against the Buster Sword to pray in FFVII like he does at the end of Crisis Core, should there ever be a remake, he may act quite differently.

Accidental double post pls delete.

Well just for the record, it's made clear in BC that Cloud has natural talent with swords.

But yeah, Ultimania suggests that fighting abilities stem from Zack, Meteorain is compared to Zack's Cloud DMW, but Cloud acts in Disc 1 as he feels SOLDIER should act, I mean he has Jenova's ability to copy memories and characteristics from other people, but he used it to become the SOLDIER he thought Tifa wanted, not specifically Zack himself. And it has been a while, Cloud never put his forehead against the Buster Sword to pray in FFVII like he does at the end of Crisis Core, should there ever be a remake, he may act quite differently.

Thanks for the BC and Ultimania mentions Shikamaru. Have to admit I've never checked either of those out. I mistakenly got the idea before CC was the sole FF7 prequel game out there, but obviously assumed wrong - and while in general I'm not really one for reading game companion books, in this instance realise it's probably worth me checking that one out to get a more accurate perspective of how the stories tie in together. Thx again!