Well, y'know, assuming you ignore the fact that the characters in the movie look, act, and talk exactly like they did in the video-game, are referred to by the same names, refer to events that happened in FFVII, visit locations visited in FFVII, fight to remixed versions of songs from the FFVII soundtrack, use Materia, fight against Bahamut (who appeared in FFVII), and pick up the storyline where Final Fantasy VII left off. Yeah. Totally unrelated. Really, though, I'm willing to agree that Nomura took a bit of poetic license here, but it's still obvious that they're part of the same continuity even without knowing the title of the film. The only thing that the audience might've found a bit odd were the superhuman stunts.

http://thegeekrevolution.files.wordp...y-vii-cast.jpg

http://alastair.adversaria.co.uk/wp-content/cloud.png

http://www.tao.cx/tos/fullbody.jpg

Now, I dunno about you, but...those pictures look a lot like anime to me. The problem wasn't really the anime style. In fact, I really liked the anime-like art style Nomura used in the original FFVII. What we see in Advent Children are characters who look like obnoxious J-Rock stars. *coughlikeGacktcough* THAT'S what I find ridiculous.

Wait...you were referring to their superhuman abilities. Sorry. Ahem...yeah, I'll get to that later.

Quote:

Again, Cloud simply jumps very far. Not once in the FFVII Compilation does he do anything to suggest that he can fly, only that he can leap great distances and land unharmed. Notice how Cloud never changes directions in mid-leap. Once his feet leave the ground, all he can do is fly forward in a straight line in any given direction, which suggests that he can't manipulate his body in an advanced way once he goes into the air. Also take note of the fact that Cloud always loses altitude just before landing. Even in the example you gave me, Cloud floats downward just before touching down on the building. It isn't as though he had a lot of time to build up momentum/kinetic energy/velocity. He fell all of five feet once he emerged from the building. Obviously, he isn't going to hit the ground very hard.

Once more, I ask you why Cloud needed help to reach Bahamut if he had the ability to fly. Clearly, if he didn't have a limit to how far he could travel once he left the ground and could control himself in mid-air, he wouldn't have needed his friends to give him a boost. He simply would've jumped up in pursuit of Bahamut, swerved around his Mega Flare, and continued his assault. If he could fly, he wouldn't have just continued falling and let Sephiroth hit him during their duel. He would've at least attempted to fly out of the way. The only time Cloud can fly is when he's using Omnislash Version 5, which I'm going to say is due to his gathered Spirit Energy.

Yeah, that most certainly is absolutely correct, but it's not really what I was saying. I was simply saying that, in the original FFVII script, SOLDIERS were said to have strength beyond that of a normal human being. While it's definitely a stretch to peg Cid or Tifa as superhuman, I think it's fairly obvious that Cloud was always supposed to be beyond human in terms of strength. Granted, I definitely think that Nomura laid it on a bit too thick with all the jumping around to the point where they jumped more than they clashed swords (which I find more disappointing than anything), but Cloud was pretty much always portrayed as superhuman.

Well, I'm not arguing the quality of the Compilation. Advent Children sucks, no doubt about it, but I'm afraid I can't just pretend it never happened in a Vs. Topic.

Well, Advent Children does have a habit of stomping all over established laws of physics. However, I believe that Cloud's slow dissent to the ground as well as the fact that he seems to stay up in the air for a split-second are at least rooted in some sort of realistic law of physics. I believe it's the same as how, when you throw a baseball up into the air, it will appear to hang there for a fraction of a second before falling to the ground. That's Cloud's "glide" ability. He simply loses his gathered kinetic energy, having traveled upward in exactly half of an arc, hung in the air for a second before he started to fall.

Besides, if Cloud were able to fly, don't you think Square would've made it a bit more...I don't know...obvious? It's fairly clear to me that they were trying to tell us "He's jumping really far." If they wanted us to think that he was actually flying, they would've shown him making uses of the advantages flying has over jumping (i.e. changing direction, reaching impossible heights, etc.). They wouldn't have simply shown him leaping great distances and occasionally hanging in the air for a fraction of second. They definitely wouldn't have shown him losing altitude towards the end of his leaps if they wanted to show him flying.

i think one crucial evidence that displays that although cloud beats sephiroth in AC, sephy didnt excerpt any force whatsoever, is that miraculously sephiroth never even blinks when fighting him..... therefore meaning cloud did not even put enough of a fight to make him blink sweat or any give any effort at all to fight him fully or half of wat he can do..

sry for no detail and or bad grammer.. on my psp..

Yeah, I mean, I'm usually up for a good debate, but...this particular point isn't even worth arguing anymore. It's been confirmed by several sources and is blatantly obvious within Advent Children itself that Sephiroth is putting forth no effort at all against Cloud. Even without taking into consideration the fact that he only used one of his vast array of supernatural powers AND the fact that- even with only basic swordsmanship- he had several opportunities to kill Cloud, you can just tell from his body language that he was just having fun with the fight. Whereas Cloud was exhausted by the end of the battle and struggling just to stay on his feet, Sephiroth was still having a hell of a time tormenting him. I mean, honestly, he was smiling and hadn't even broken a sweat.

So yeah, it's certainly a valid point, Dreamer, but not one that really has to be brought up at this point in the argument. I believe we're currently on "Credibility of Advent Children and Beyond."

Well, until I play Crisis Core, I'll know for sure, but until then, the protoge would receive my vote. As far as I'm concerned, the one I KNOW who uses Omnislash will end up winning.

Sorry, Zack, but this is an unbiased opinion....sniff.....

Cloud did surpass zack but it would be a great battle to see all those limit breaks put into play would be crushing

Man Oath, that was the biggest sign of ownage I have ever seen one person do in a forum debate, or any type of debate for that matter. You definetly didnt come with weak stuff. YOU SIR CAME WITH FACTS!!! Kudos off to you man.

Now onto the question at hand. Me personally I think Zack is stronger than Cloud. As others have already stated Cloud needed help to defeat Sephiroth and never really did this on his own. Now I havent seen the movies, so dont flame me for this. But I have heard of how much crap they are so I'm trying to hold out on watching them. But however I can guarantee that any1 on this forum if they were put in an 8 on 1 confrontation, then sent to a 3 on 1 would easily be killed. If not killed just minutes into an 8 on 1. Excluding if Chuck Norris is on this forum he'd pwn. Hell, he'd bust off a round house kick, and send them flying across the globe atleast 2-3 times. And of course you can't forget the fight with Genesis and Angeal, and the ShinRa soldiers which have already been touched on. So I feel honestly that Zack is the strongest of the 2.