There are a lot of reasons why Square Enix will likely never publish that Final Fantasy VII remake they’ve been teasing us with for so many years, and no one likes to see a man beat a long-dead horse. But I noticed something while doing an image search for FFVII protagonist Cloud Strife this morning which reminded me that a remake of the game would be a pretty lousy idea.

Even if redoing FFVII up to HD specs wouldn’t be insanely expensive and impractical, I’m not at all confident that Square Enix even remembers what made FFVII so compelling in the first place.

Based on all the sequels and spin-offs that have followed in FFVII’s wake over the past 15 years, the impression I have is that they think people loved FFVII because Cloud was a mopey dishrag of a man. But let’s compare these very similar yet very different illustrations I came across this morning. Both are images of Cloud drawn by designer Tetsuya Nomura — the first from FFVII, the second from Dissidia: Final Fantasy:

Despite their almost identical poses, these two versions of Cloud couldn’t be more different. The original Cloud stands with a confident posture, chest thrust outward, feet spread apart, free fist clenched, ridiculously huge sword supported firmly.

The Dissidia Cloud stands meekly, shoulders slumped, left hand dangling limp, sword held aloft only because it’s resting against his back.

The one on the left is the guy who would brag about his skills, flirt with flower girls, and make sarcastic cracks to his party members’ faces.

The guy on the right wants to sit in a dimly lit room and listen to sad music while weeping quietly into a scented pillow.

The one on the left is the Cloud who actually was the hero of FFVII, barring a brief period where he experienced a severe identity crisis.

The one of the left is the Cloud who has appeared everywhere else, and one suspects, would be shoehorned into any prospective remake.

And even if Square kept Cloud the same as he originally was, can you imagine the caterwauling from people who have let his sulky Advent Children personality overwrite their memory of the character as he was originally conceived? Awful.

I’m OK with FFVII being left as-is.