Cloud Strife/Dissidia (PSP)

Cloud Strife is one of the heroes fighting for the side of Cosmos in Dissidia Final Fantasy. An acerbic young swordsman with glowing eyes who wields a blade as large as he is, dealing powerful attacks that send his foes flying. Though he is considered composed in the eyes of his comrades, Cloud often questions the reasons and methods for fighting, as well as the purposes that it would serve, and struggles to understand them. During the war he is also forced to battle his nemesis, Sephiroth, who manipulates him into fighting at every turn.

Crystal and Attire
Cloud's costume in Dissidia is identical to his original Final Fantasy VII costume. He wears an indigo outfit, a metal pauldron, a brown belt with the SOLDIER symbol on it, brown gloves and black boots. His hair is spiky and blond and his eyes glow bright blue, the sign of a Mako-infused SOLDIER. Cloud's alternate costume is his outfit from Advent Children, a sleeveless turtleneck sweater, a black cloak covering his left leg and arm, different boots and a different pauldron with a Fenrir motif. His hair also has more spikes, and he wields the main blade of his Fusion Swords. Cloud's Crystal resembles a Materia from Final Fantasy VII, and may be a homage to Aerith Gainsborough's White Materia, which emits a green glow when active.

Cloud's Manikin version, Imaginary Soldier, is light blue.

Destiny Odyssey
After a battle through Chaos' forces, Cloud finds himself with Firion, Cecil, and Tidus, who view him as a calm and collected figure. However, Cloud secretly questions his reasons for fighting and admits he feels anxious. Cloud later asks his allies why they fight; Cecil says he does not know either, Tidus says he fights to settle things with Jecht, while Firion takes time to think his answer over so he can explain it to Cloud properly.

Sometime after, Cloud finds Firion alone and Firion produces a wild rose, and tells Cloud he dreams of a world where they can bloom freely. Cloud challenges him to a sparring match to see how strong that dream is, and though he prevails, Firion still has the will to fight him further. Cloud grows increasingly worried that he may not have a dream at all and confides in Cecil for answers. The group encourage Cloud to go find his own reason for fighting, and he promises to return to tell them when he finds it. Continuing alone, he encounters Sephiroth, who prepares to duel him. When Cloud refuses to fight him, Sephiroth reveals to Cloud that he holds Firion's rose, indicating that he has attacked Cloud's comrades, and invites Cloud to pursue him.

Cloud tracks Sephiroth to the Planet's Core, where Sephiroth calls him a puppet who has no motivations of his own, which is why he readily accepts the influence of others on his decisions. Though Cloud insists he tracked Sephiroth of his own will, Sephiroth counters that Cloud followed him because he gave him a reason. The two battle, and Cloud emerges victorious, reclaiming Firion's rose and revealing his Crystal. Sephiroth warns Cloud that the Crystal will lead him into more battles he cannot comprehend, a fate Cloud accepts stoically before taking the Crystal. Sephiroth accepts Cloud's decision, but declares he will continue to manipulate Cloud, and it was only through his guidance that Cloud was able to come as far as he has.

After his fight with Sephiroth, Terra arrives at the Planet's Core and begins to lose control of her Esper powers. Cloud walks in on her and looks on, and even though she warns him to stay away, Cloud decides to step in and battle her without a word of explanation, not knowing what else to do. After the altercation, Cloud successfully calms Terra down, and she realizes that his intent was to provide her an outlet to vent some of her power, allowing Terra to regain control of herself. Cloud admits he battled her because he did not want to see her suffer, although he was not expecting Terra's formidable transformed state. Terra thanks Cloud for saving her, then proceeds to explain how she and the Onion Knight were separated after being ambushed by Kefka, and Cloud joins her to look for him, realizing that he can still help despite his indecisiveness, and thanks her for helping him recognize that.

During the search, Cloud reveals that he also has hesitations about fighting, and shows Terra Firion's rose, explaining Firion's dream for a peaceful world. Though neither warrior can figure out their own reason for fighting, Terra suggested that they should share the same dream, along with the wild roses their own preferred flowers representing a bright future. The pair continues to Kefka's Tower and confront Kefka, who tries to compel Terra to give in to her Esper powers once again and cause senseless destruction, but she refuses. Kefka then summons the Cloud of Darkness to attack them, at which point the Onion Knight reappears, and he and Cloud together fight the Cloud of Darkness while Terra has her final showdown with Kefka. After Terra obtains her Crystal, the three go on to rejoin the other Warriors.

Much to Firion's surprise, Cloud, who arrived after helping Terra, and Tidus, who had just defeated Jecht, join him at the last minute when he is attacked by the Emperor, declaring that they could not leave him alone for too long and that they all share a dream. The Emperor attempts to attack Firion again, but Cloud and Tidus deflect his blows, and the Emperor then flees and invites Firion to his stronghold for a final battle. Firion decides to go face the Emperor alone in order to end this, and Cloud returns the wild rose to him, expressing his desire to see more of Firion's dream. Afterward, he is seen traveling with Tidus and Squall back to the Warrior of Light.

Shade Impulse
With the Crystals in their possession, the Warriors of Cosmos return to the Order's Sanctuary in an effort to restore the goddess's strength, only to have Chaos incinerate her before their very eyes. But with the last of her strength, Cosmos prevents the heroes from fading back to their worlds, giving them one final chance to strike back at Chaos and end the war for good.

With Cosmos' strength dwindling, Cloud and the others confront Chaos' minions regarding how and why Cosmos disappeared, and along the way, he faces his nemesis Sephiroth once again. Though his enemy is strong, Cloud perseveres and emerges victorious. After the battle, Sephiroth asks Cloud what drives him to fight, and Cloud simply answers that it was his own will. He further declares that he no longer has any ties with Sephiroth, who counters that his shadow will forever be in his heart, and that he will always return as long as Cloud exists. Upon his enemy vanishing, Cloud admits that he would rather prefer to never see him again. Shortly after that, he and the other nine heroes band together to defeat Chaos.

At the battle's end, Cloud finds himself on an open field of flowers, in reference to Aerith's flowers, near Cornelia Castle, along with the other nine Warriors, where they find each other parting ways to their respective worlds. Cloud declines Squall's offer of fighting together again with his famous line, "Not interested", and walks off into the flower field, returning home with his Crystal in hand.

Battle
Cloud's fighting style is Buster Basher. He specializes in slow, powerful melee attacks that do heavy damage and knock the opponent across arenas. Many of Cloud's attacks have the Wall Rush ability, letting him slam opponents into floors and walls to deal additional damage. His Limit Breaks from Final Fantasy VII are included as attacks, and his two chainable HP attacks do a great deal of additional Brave damage. However, Cloud is a slow ground mover, his attacks are fairly easy to block or dodge, and he lacks ranged capabilities. His HP attacks require him to charge before attacking, leaving the opponent time to dodge and counterattack.

Boss
Cloud is fought in Destiny Odyssey VI, Distant Glory, and Inward Chaos.

EX Mode
thumb|300px|right|Omnislash. Cloud's EX Mode is Equipped Ultima Weapon, which transforms the Buster Sword into the Ultima Weapon from Final Fantasy VII. In addition to the Regen status, Cloud gains the abilities "Ultima Weapon (ATK)" and "Ultima Weapon (CRUSH)". The former boosts Cloud's Brave damage according to the amount of HP he currently has in relation to his max HP, and the latter causes all his attacks to break guards and/or deflect enemy attacks. Only Exdeath's Omni Block, Terra's Tornado, and Jecht's Jecht Block can stop Cloud's attacks, but this will cause both characters to stagger.

Cloud's EX Burst is Omnislash, his strongest Limit Break in Final Fantasy VII. The player rapidly taps to fill up a Limit Break meter, leading Cloud to bombarding his opponent with fourteen sword slashes leading up to a stronger fifteenth slash. Failing to fill the meter will have Cloud perform up to three swings and an upward finishing slash.

In his alternate costume, Cloud's EX Mode is The power of Mako, and his weapon transforms from the main blade of the Fusion Swords into the complete assembly. His EX Burst and his EX Mode bonuses remain the same.

Equipment
Cloud can equip the following: Swords, Greatswords, Shields, Bangles, Hats, Helms, Clothing, and Light Armor.

Allusions

 * Several references are made to Zack Fair, who had the Buster Sword before Cloud. Cloud states Firion reminds him of a friend, and when Tidus questions the difficulty in using the Buster Sword due to its weight, Cloud replies, "It’s not heavy. It’s...a memento." Cloud casts his Fire spells and runs reminiscent to how Zack does in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Cloud's victory quote, "I won't sleep well tonight", refers to a Crisis Core cutscene, where Zack states his reason for sparing a Wutai soldier.
 * In the cutscene of Cloud's battle with Sephiroth in Destiny Odyssey VII, several scenes allude to other titles in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. The scene where Cloud crosses the Buster Sword over the Masamune is identical to part of Sephiroth's battle with Cloud in the Nibelheim reactor in Crisis Core. After being knocked back, Cloud descends after Sephiroth, who rights himself and knocks Cloud through the air, a reference to Sephiroth's first scene in Advent Children. When Cloud lands, the camera pans along the Masamune up to Sephiroth's face, similar to the climax of their Advent Children battle. Finally, as the two face off at the end of the scene, the camera angles and poses are identical to their scripted battle at the end of Final Fantasy VII.
 * The final battle in Cloud's Destiny Odyssey against Sephiroth has the camera pan around and show close-ups of Cloud's and Sephiroth's faces before the battle starts. This is identical to the cinematic one-on-one final battle against Sephiroth at the end of Final Fantasy VII.
 * Cloud's strongest weapon, Fenrir, is named after his motorcycle and the symbol on his pauldron. His other exclusive weapons, the Force Eater (also known as the Force Stealer) and the Butterfly Edge, are weapons he uses in Final Fantasy VII.
 * Before returning to his world, Cloud stands in a field of flowers of the same colors as the ones Aerith used to grow in her church.
 * If the player completes Chapter IV of Shade Impulse with Cloud, they will unlock a set of "Pretty Princess" equipment set for Cloud, Kefka, and female characters. The equipment consists of the Sexy Cologne (weapon), Member's Card (glove), Blonde Wig (helmet), and Silk Dress (armor). This is a reference to Cloud's cross-dressing scene in Final Fantasy VII, where he dresses like a girl to save Tifa from Don Corneo. The equipment set is made up of the best items the player can obtain for Cloud to wear during the quest. The combination that results in equipping all four items, Allure of Honey, is a reference to the Honeybee Inn.
 * Cloud's museum character file states that his hobbies include motorcycling, Chocobo racing, and snowboarding, all of which were minigames in Final Fantasy VII.
 * Cloud's reply to Squall's line in the ending before disappearing is his usual "Not interested" line, commonly said during the earlier stages of the game while he was still in his cold mercenary persona, and also said towards Rufus Shinra in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete. During a scene in Destiny Odyssey VII-V, Sephiroth also uses this line. Cloud's intro quote "Do I feel sorry for you" is what he said to Rude upon meeting Rufus again in Advent Children.
 * When using an HP attack in his normal outfit, the Buster Sword glows orange, but in his alternate outfit, the Fusion Swords glow blue. This is a reference to Advent Children, where the swords glowed blue when Cloud used his Limit Breaks.
 * One of Cloud's victory quotes, "I will live your life for you," is a reference to Cloud being Zack's living legacy, as seen at the ending of Crisis Core.
 * While performing his EX Burst, Cloud declares he's "breaking [his] limits," a clear reference to the Limit Break term.
 * After the battle with Sephiroth on Shade Impulse, Cloud states that he wants to meet someone again, referring to the ending of Final Fantasy VII where Cloud says "I think I can meet her...there," referring to Aerith.

Trivia

 * Cloud is the only character that has a different EX Mode for his two outfits, although they function in the same manner.
 * At 21 years of age, Cloud is presumably the oldest current Warrior of Cosmos, though the Warrior of Light, who has no explicit age, may be older than he is, and previous warriors Jecht and Shantotto were older when they aided Cosmos.
 * Cloud is storyline-wise the second character to gain his crystal, according to Destiny Odyssey 38.
 * Cloud, Terra, Squall, and the Onion Knight are the only ones who fight an ally as a boss. Cloud's boss fight is against Firion. Cloud himself is fought as a boss in Terra's story, making him and Terra the only two heroes who both fight another hero as a boss and are fought by another hero as a boss.
 * When Cloud lands on the ground after using Omnislash Version 5, if the player looks closely, his weapon has vanished - after the opponent is damaged and Cloud holds up his hand, his weapon reappears and falls into his grasp. It is most easily noticed defeating an opponent with Omnislash Version 5 and the speed has slowed before fading to the Victory Fanfare.
 * Excluding Shantotto and Gabranth, Cloud and Terra were the last two characters confirmed for the main roster of characters.
 * According to the game developers, Cloud's storyline is the easiest to play, and the character's abilities are the most suitable for "pick-up-and-play" game players.
 * Cloud's Buster Sword has no lines or indentations running across the blade as it is shown with in Crisis Core and Advent Children, instead having a smooth finish as it appeared in Final Fantasy VII.
 * Cloud's EX Burst is the strongest in the game, assuming he has full HP when using it.
 * Cloud is the only character to gain all three tiers of a spell - Fire, Fira, Firaga.
 * Cloud and Zidane share a defeat quote, "a loss is a loss."
 * In Destiny Odyssey 3,when it first shows Cloud,the blade part of his Buster Sword is facing up.After this it is facing downward.

Cloud Strife/Dissidia