Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Square Enix's highly anticipated game from the FFVII remake projects, promises an in-depth exploration of Cloud's character. Read on to learn about insights from Cloud's VA in an interview with the franchise maker itself.
FFVII Rebirth Interviews Cloud VA Cody Christian
An "Unhinged Side" of Cloud Will Be Unleashed as His Complexities is Explored
Screenshot © Square Enix
In an interview with Square Enix, Cody Christian, the voice actor (VA) for Cloud, discussed the upcoming game and the evolution of Cloud's character. Described by Square Enix as an experience that delves "deeper into Cloud and his fellow party members’ backgrounds than ever before," Final Fantasy VII Rebirth reveals new layers of Cloud's personality and offers a vaster telling of his complexities.
Cody shared the challenges of portraying Cloud, considering the beloved hero's intricate storyline and traumatic past. "Executing the part of Cloud and really pulling it off… it has to go with just humanizing as much as possible. You know, he has a crazy storyline and crazy history. A lot of stuff has happened. There’s a lot of trauma, a lot of things impacting him," said the actor.
Screenshot © Square Enix
The actor shared that witnessing Cloud "grow out of his shell" has been quite the journey, which required him to understand "who he is at the core". Cody explained, "I think in the first game we saw a much more guarded, closed off version of Cloud. A lot of stoicism involved, right? The second game allows us to go a bit deeper in his character and his emotional journey, and there’s a lot more depth to explore."
Cody revealed that the voice acting process involved meticulous changes to truly capture Cloud at various stages of his life. The actor said that he had to "do some actual physical changes," to lightening up the tone of his and reach a higher octave. "Naturally, my voice sits a little lower, so that was fun to explore," the actor said.
"There was like a younger, younger cloud and then a slightly older version of that. And then the current state that I voice them in," explained Cody. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will see different phases of Cloud's life, as revealed by the actor, "We see young Cloud in the village, we see Cloud beginning SOLDIER training… there’s all different phases of his life."
Screenshot © Square Enix
The actor expressed excitement for fans getting to see a rare and "unhinged" side of Cloud in the game, teasing a scene sequence that promises to be one for the books. Cody shared, "There’s a whole sequence - I don’t know where exactly in the game and I don’t want to give away too much - but we’ll just say that we see a very… unhinged side of Cloud. Exploring that, and the interactions with the core characters and who know him… I’m getting chills thinking about it - it was really, really cool! I’m excited for fans to see it."
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth releases on February 29, 2024, exclusively for the PS5. More details on the game is expected to come soon as a showcase will be unveiled in the State of Play February 2024.
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FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH: Cody Christian talks Cloud Strife
