He has also become the basis for a variety of merchandise, such as action figures and jewellery. He remains popular among fans, and continues to place highly in popularity polls. Described as "iconic," the character has been ranked highly in various published character lists. Cloud has also appeared in several other titles outside the Final Fantasy VII continuity, such as Itadaki Street Special, Final Fantasy Tactics, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Ehrgeiz and the Kingdom Hearts series.Ĭloud has garnered a primarily positive reception from critics. Fighting against Shinra in the resistance group AVALANCHE, and driven by a feud with the primary antagonist, Sephiroth, Cloud learns to accept his troubled past and adapts to his role as a leader. In Final Fantasy VII, Cloud is a mercenary and self-proclaimed ex-member of SOLDIER, an elite, genetically augmented military unit operating under the de facto world government, the megacorporation Shinra Electric Power Company. Cloud's appearance is marked by spikey blond hair, striking blue eyes, dark clothing and his Buster Sword (バスターソード Basutā Sōdo?), which previously belonged to his friend Zack Fair. He was originally designed by Final Fantasy VII character designer Tetsuya Nomura. If the player unlocks Vincent, he will join Cloud Strife's group to stop Sephiroth, as well as to seek revenge on Hojo.Ĭloud Strife (Japanese: クラウド・ストライフ Hepburn: Kuraudo Sutoraifu?) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Square's (now Square Enix's) role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII and several of its sequels and spin-offs. Soon after, Vincent himself became subject to experiments performed by a Shinra-affiliated scientist named Hojo. In the backstory of Final Fantasy VII, Vincent is a genetically modified human assigned to guard the scientist Lucrecia Crescent, who gave birth to the game's antagonist, Sephiroth, in one of Shinra Corporation's experiments involving the cells of an extraterrestrial life form called Jenova. The English voice actor of Vincent is Steven Blum, while the Japanese voice actor is Shōgo Suzuki.
Designed by Tetsuya Nomura, he also appears in various titles from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, a series of prequels of and sequels of Final Fantasy VII, and is the protagonist in the third-person shooter Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and its mobile phone tie-in. Vincent Valentine (ヴィンセント・ヴァレンタイン Vinsento Varentain?) is an optional player character in Square Enix's console role-playing game Final Fantasy VII.