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Final Fantasy 16’s Clive is easily a better Final Fantasy protagonist than FF7’s Cloud, despite the classic character’s widespread popularity. The new hero, Clive Rosfield, is the main character in FF16, and is the heir to the Grand Duchy of Rosaria in the world of Valisthea. After a series of unexpected and tragic events, his life is led off track, and he is reduced to a lowly soldier. During the game, players get to witness Clive in three distinct moments of his life, and how his coming-of-age story told with time skips is molded by what plays out around him.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Final Fantasy 16.]
Clive’s story is the backbone of the campaign in Final Fantasy 16, and it is exactly what makes him a much better hero for the series than Cloud in the classic FF7 – and even his revamped version in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Aside from the obvious differences in the games’ settings and the character’s own stories, there are also personality traits that differ from one hero to another, and these are extremely relevant when comparing Clive to the franchise-beloved Cloud. In fact, it is exactly this that puts Clive miles ahead of Cloud when it comes to character development in Final Fantasy.
Cloud Is A Stoic & Tough Guy In Final Fantasy
Cloud is a product of his time; a stoic, toughened-out, and silently kind-hearted hero. When he was conceived, this was the standard for most RPG heroes. This type of silent yet bold and kind personality was the staple of the late 90s and early 00s when it came to gaming and, at that, he thrives. Nevertheless, this archetype of a hero is also what pins Cloud down into being a fairly two-dimensional character that does not really seem to evolve much, like Clive does. Over Final Fantasy 7 and FF7R, players discover more about Cloud’s backstory and see how he interacts with the world around him.
Clive Is Fleshed Out & Feels Like A Believable Character In Final Fantasy
Nevertheless, Cloud’s general response to everything is either silence or a single-worded cool-guy answer. In direct opposition to Cloud from FF7, Final Fantasy 16’s Clive is a fleshed-out character with a more present personality in everything that he does. Despite being very tough, he steps away from the macho persona that was abundant decades ago and allows himself to be more human. Clive laughs, cries, screams, and adequately reacts to what happens around him in a very believable way. The fact that he is simultaneously charming and has self-doubt issues grounds him and makes FF16’s Clive an equal to his allies, despite having more affinity with aether and Eikonic whatnots.
The quality of being able to be fleshed out as a human being ahead of the magic savior of Valisthea makes Clive a better Final Fantasy hero than FF7’s Cloud. The hero from Final Fantasy 7 is not bereft of motivations or emotions altogether, but his lack of expression and overall involvement makes him seem much less credible – and dream-worthy, at the time. Curiously enough, all the FF7 deuteragonists, like Tifa, Barret, Aerith, and even Red-XIII seem much more developed and interesting than Cloud himself. This is what they share in common with Clive.
Clive’s range of emotions in Final Fantasy 16 makes him a three-dimensional character that experiences and reacts to pain and loss, as well as joy and pleasure. He has a sense of humor that can make players laugh with him, and not simply at how he stoically states a fact, for instance. Although his relationship with other characters is, in fact, the heart of FF16, he does not rely on others to be a fully developed character himself. This type of construction is what makes Clive so much better than Cloud, even if he never reaches the paragon of popularity which the FF7 hero has obtained over the years.
Clive’s Voice Acting In FF16 Really Stands Out
Another important element that makes Clive a better Final Fantasy hero than Cloud is the voice acting behind him, combined with how he is written. Clive’s range of emotions in Final Fantasy 16 is only possible due to how he is portrayed. The character is brought to life in a stellar fashion by the English actor Ben Starr, who is capable of molding Clive’s words into grounded and regular conversations that seem adequate for every situation in which he finds himself. Throughout Clive’s journey, he witnesses a few deaths, and with each one, he will scream out as if something had been torn out of his chest.
Alternatively, his characteristic Final Fantasy-hero speeches will reach the player and make them reflect on what is said and how it was said. There is a gentleness to Clive’s voice in Final Fantasy 16 that makes him a lovable character, and a brutish force that shows just how far he is willing to go to execute the plans he believes in. This breaks the mold for most Final Fantasy characters and is certainly the opposite of how Cloud presents himself in FF7.
FF16’s Character Writing Is Deep & Similar To That Of FF14 – Which Is No Coincidence
As was aforementioned, another part of Clive’s superiority in comparison to Cloud in Final Fantasy games comes from how he is written. The secret is making them vocal in even the small things, showing how much of a human the character actually is. Clive is introspective about his nature in comparison to Ultima in Final Fantasy 16, and while this is extremely deep, his thoughts on the smaller aspects of his life also keep him grounded. This type of thoughtful writing is very similar to that of the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Final Fantasy 14.
The similarity that Final Fantasy 16 and FF14 share when it comes to writing characters comes as no coincidence – FF16’s lead writer, Kazutoyo Maehiro, is also the writer for Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn and the Heavensward expansion. Final Fantasy 16’s producer, Naoki Yoshida, is also FF14’s game director. The MMORPG’s character development and writing are staples in the series, and this has also been passed on to Final Fantasy 16. The attention to detail shared with the words that Clive speaks and how he acts when something happens around him is yet another part of why the Final Fantasy 16 hero is much better than FF7’s Cloud.
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