Character changes

[Vladislak]

Has anyone else noticed the character changes from the original FFVII to AC?

It's something that really bugged me about the movie, many of the characters acted, well... Out of character.

Cloud
Cloud wasn't Emo like he is in AC. In the original game he went out of his way to cheer Tifa up on disc three:

Tifa: The airship is too big for just the two of us. Yeah, it's a little lonely without everyone.
Cloud: Don't worry. It'll be okay.
*Cloud starts doing squats*
Cloud: I'll make a big enough ruckus for everyone.

Now he ignores all her feelings and broods every minute of the movie. Cloud also gave motivating speeches from time to time to get the party pumped up, now he can hardly even motivate himself. He interacted with people, he went out of his way to welcome the party members that temporarily left in disc 3. When Cid told him to leave the rocket and save themselves when he got stuck, Cloud refused to do so:

Cid: Don't worry 'bout me. Hurry up and go! If you don't hurry, the rocket's gonna crash into Meteor!
Cloud: ...I can't go without my friends.
Cid: You ^%#@&%......! No time to worry 'bout other people!
Cloud: I'm gonna do whatever I can.

The Turks
In the original game the Turks were rather ruthless in general, they wouldn't go out of their way to save children like they did in AC.

They didn't think twice about crushing all the people in sector 7, they didn't ever show remorse for doing so either.
If you remember, when the Turks captured Aerith, Tseng slapped the heck out of her for even opening her mouth to tell Tifa that Marlene is alright.

Also notice that Elena (while she didn't get a lot of screen time) was actually competent in AC, but she was a complete ditz in the game.

Reno and Rude weren't really changed that much, except that Reno was more feisty. He was rather angry about being defeated by the party when they met before sector seven was destroyed, he said he wanted to pay you back for it.

Rufus
In the movie Rufus had become a repenting idiot who acted nothing like he used to. He was absolutely ruthless in the game, he was the one who said:

"I'll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my old man. A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."

Then, when meteor appeared it was his idea to execute Tifa and Barret and use them scapegoats.
"You are to be executed for causing this situation. People are ignorant. They'll feel better as long as someone is punished."



Other party members
I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure Cid should have been swearing the whole movie like he did in the game, instead there wasn't a single swear word that passed through his lips. Not to mention naming his new airship after the woman he constantly abused in the game.

Red XIII was originally portrayed as very intelligent, he was by no means the kind of character that refrains from talking for a whole movie (with like maybe one line as an exception), He always had something to say. It's my understanding that they rarely showed him because animating his fur was "difficult", but that's really no excuse.

Cait Sith didn't exactly change aside from his moogle disappearing.

I'm not too sure about Yuffie, I never use her in the game so I never really got a feel for her personality aside from her constant love of materia, and that made it into AC.

Tifa was rather depressed in AC, but that's understandable because the guy she likes all of a sudden is always depressed as well.

Vincent didn't have enough personality to be changed in the first place.

We can't really say whether Sephiroth changed, since he had very little screen time both in AC and in the original game.


Anyway, my point is that for the most part all of the major characters were changed. I mean, for some of them I didn't even feel like I recognized them aside from how they looked.

Anyone else notice this?

 

[CassinoChips]

Characters that stay the same are boring. A significant enough plot forces characters to confront situations that will challenge them physically and psychologically. Change creates tension, resolving tension creates change. And really, how can you stay the same after going through something like what they went through?

 

[Vladislak]

I agree that change is inevitable, but there's a point where it stops being natural character changes and starts to be more along the line of reinventing the character entirely.

 

[Smorlock]

I think that the changes represent the gradual 'maturation' of Tetsuya at the helm of character design. He has this obsession with incredibly introverted main characters, and bland, uninspired heavy metal rock stars for everyone else. His villains just tend to be egotistical versions of the main character with unreasonable hairdos. The difference between FFVII and AC is he has matured into his style more. And thank god, because what new FFs need is more goddamned belts and zippers on every piece of clothing more complicated than a hat. Oh wait.

 

[Ifrit]

Of course there are changes

All those changes revolve around FFVII, a battle that can mean the differance between the world living and blowing up can Change you.

As for cloud, he was just thinking it was his fault that Aerith died due to the fact that he swore he would protect her. But he could not beat himself up knowing sephiroth was still alive.

I personally think sephiroth is a huge part of clouds personality. Notice when sephiroth reappeared, clouds personality reverted back to what it was.

And then when seeing finally how happy he makes everyone every time he kills sephiroth, he did the one thing I never even thought he could do, He accually smiled.

Sephirtoh is the hugest part of his personality. So of course he was different after his death.

 

[Ashe B'nargin]

Don't know but believe that Cloud ( and everybody's change in AC ) is realistic.

Cloud- Cloud was hiding his true emotions and his true identity. He was hiding his true sadness and pain, with a identity that is not his own. When Cloud noticed that he was pretending to be somebody else, he told his group that he was still going to keep the lie until Sephiroth is gone. Cloud acting the way that he does, is realistic because it's like all of his past mistakes and sadness is all coming together at once. His true emotions and true regret are finally showing. Kind of dislike how his persona shows the symbol of the wolf which is taken from Squall Leonhart's persona . But he is still Cloud.

Tifa-Tifa would have to mature because of Denzel and Marlene. She would have to take the Motherly role much faster than usual. Didn't really feel that she was depressed in AC.
But kind of felt that she was more worried about Cloud and his disease. Not to mention the man she loves, refuses to visit her or even speak back to her. Think Tifa is wondering throughout AC does Cloud love me, does Cloud even care ?

The Turks- Was kind of annoyed with their Clownish behavior too. Until found out that in the Japanese version Reno & Rude are meant to be Villain like Clowns but the English translation screwed that up. Reno was meant to fall down the pillar because he didn't think before acting, and the same with stepping on Aerith's flowers. The Turks helping everybody is a case of '' Forgive and Forget '' and them trying to start anew.

Rufus-He's still sly and cunning. He lies to Cloud.
[Cloud- What's up with everybody shouting around saying Mother now ?
Rufus- Everybody misses their Mothers, it's normal human nature..]
Some crap like that, but Rufus doesn't tell Cloud about Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj's true ambitions he hides it from Cloud. Not to mention he hides the Jenova box from Kadaj and then mocks him when Rufus finally shows the box to him.
Rufus is still the sly dog he once was in the original video game.

Avalanche- Everybody is still the same expect for Cid. Barret is still tough yet clumsy.
Yuffie is still obsessed over Materia. Cait Sith still speaks in a goofy accent. Nanaki may say very little, but what he says is still very intelligent. The only one changed is Cid. Like you said he no longer swears, and he acts like some kind of a yokel >_>

 

[Loveless]

The only person who i thought had a significant change was Cloud. When i played the game i never saw him as the emotional distressed soul as he was in AC which if anything kind of ruined his character for me at least. After he realized that he wasn't Zack in FFVII i figured that he was just a normal guy going to save the world and fight Sephiroth and what not.

 

[Vladislak]

Cloud- Cloud was hiding his true emotions and his true identity. He was hiding his true sadness and pain, with a identity that is not his own. When Cloud noticed that he was pretending to be somebody else, he told his group that he was still going to keep the lie until Sephiroth is gone. Cloud acting the way that he does, is realistic because it's like all of his past mistakes and sadness is all coming together at once. His true emotions and true regret are finally showing. Kind of dislike how his persona shows the symbol of the wolf which is taken from Squall Leonhart's persona . But he is still Cloud.

Cloud never said anything of the sort. He said the opposite:

I'm...... Cloud. ......the master of my own illusionary world. But I can't remain trapped in an illusion any more...... I'm going to live my life without pretending.

Cloud was depressed in the original from time to time, and he went through hell from start to end. But he still had some flare to him, he wasn't just an empty shell that brooded all the time. He dealt with his problems in a completely different way.

Tifa-Tifa would have to mature because of Denzel and Marlene. She would have to take the Motherly role much faster than usual. Didn't really feel that she was depressed in AC.
But kind of felt that she was more worried about Cloud and his disease. Not to mention the man she loves, refuses to visit her or even speak back to her. Think Tifa is wondering throughout AC does Cloud love me, does Cloud even care ?

I agreed in my first post that Tifa has an excuse to be depressed.

The Turks- Was kind of annoyed with their Clownish behavior too. Until found out that in the Japanese version Reno & Rude are meant to be Villain like Clowns but the English translation screwed that up. Reno was meant to fall down the pillar because he didn't think before acting, and the same with stepping on Aerith's flowers. The Turks helping everybody is a case of '' Forgive and Forget '' and them trying to start anew.

It's understandable that the Turks may want to redeem themselves, they never showed a hint of regret in the game. But in AC they're portrayed as a bunch of good guys that run around and save people. In the original games they never showed that they qualms or regrets with destroying sector seven, smacking the heck out of Aerith, and all the rest.

Rufus-He's still sly and cunning. He lies to Cloud.
Rufus is still the sly dog he once was in the original video game.

Sly and cunning wasn't the issue. His philosophy in the game was to control everything with fear, and when that doesn't work a public execution should do nicely. Now his philosophy is: "let's go help the world!"

Barret is still tough yet clumsy.

I don't recall Barret being clumsy. And they completely removed his temper. D:

Yuffie is still obsessed over Materia.

Yuffie... Well as I said, I didn't know her character very well in the first place.

Cait Sith still speaks in a goofy accent.

How would you know if Cait Sith originally had an accent? There was no voice acting! xD
Either way, I was talking about personalities, not voice.

Nanaki may say very little, but what he says is still very intelligent.

The only thing he said was "There are still children with the stigma." Where's the intelligence in that? D:

 

[Psychomaze]

About Cloud's personality - after he faced his personal demons, there is a few hints that he's happier and all that jazz -- I found this in DC when Vincent was in the Shin-Ra building and he got a call by Tifa who passed the phone onto Cloud. When Vincent asked him how's everyone out side, his response was "What do you think?" with a soft smirk.

So yeah, he's become quiet and soft-spoken but he isn't emo after AC